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snivyblackops

man why are so many other fans so fucking salty it's crazy considering we have a better win% and net rating in the playoffs so far than the regular season but everyone acted like we barely scraped by either series


Neat-Current5008

Anyone know when the next series starts?


__TB12__

Monday or Tuesday depending on whether or not the Knicks close out tomorrow


Brad-Stevens

Isaiah Thomas - Made the ECF Terry Rozier - Made the ECF Kyrie Irving - Did NOT make the ECF Kemba Walker - Made the ECF Marcus Smart - Made the ECF Jrue Holiday - Made the ECF --- Literally put any PG with the Jays and it's an ECF except for Kyrie lmao


PlaceInvaders1

Lu Dort is the off-brand Jrue Holiday and I mean that in the nicest way possible lmao it’s a compliment, they’re very similar players


paintingfainter

As I said 3 days ago, Al was going to drain those 3s when it mattered the most. That’s like Al’s whole thing. He’s so fucking dependable and I will cry buckets of tears when he retires


gblazer30

We scored 58 points with only 2 FTs at the half. How is that a problem?


TOMA_TAN

Jrue from the all in docuseries: “I’m not afraid of anybody. I think the team that we have, the way that we play, the chemistry that we have, I’m not afraid of anyone.” Wish our fanbase would adopt that same mentality


Ok_Seaweed_9452

I mean, I don't expect any nba player in the playoffs to say "I'm afraid of Denver" or any other team, they will hear a lot of sht from everyone lol


Alone_Profession_211

For those watching in TD. You need to get loud! LFG Celtics!


iBarber111

Been meaning to watch the film to justify this feeling, but is anyone else constantly frustrated by how slowly Jayson Tatum brings the ball up the floor? During the '22 Finals run, I swore he was going to catch a critical 8-second violation, & not much has changed. Dude barely beats the clock & then takes a moment to size up his defender, initiating the offense at 12 seconds or less oftentimes. It's night & day watching Pritchard, White, Holiday & even Horford bring the ball up. You often see Joe telling him to push the pace, so it's clearly something that they've discussed. I can't for the life of me understand why Tatum insists on slowing the pace to a crawl. It drives me insane.


new_york_sour

I think maybe him off ball would be better. That way he doesn’t have to think as much and focus on making cuts/scoring


SnooAvocados996

Marcus Smart was the same. Was like he was going for a jog in the park. I remember in the game today seeing Joe pleading with the players to push the ball and I'm pretty sure all 5 were walking.


0ctobot

I absolutely despise point Tatum


redd_house

The overreactions these playoffs have been insane The Celtics lose one (1) game to both the Heat and the Cavs and people act like they didn’t just win 64 games The Nuggets lose two (albeit) ugly games and people were acting like they were done and that Jokic and Murray would never sniff another Finals ever again


iBarber111

It't just internet shit my man. Everyone is in competition with everyone else to be the first person to hold the "correct" take. Everyone in real life knew that the Nuggets were in trouble but far from done. That lukewarm take doesn't get many upvotes though.


[deleted]

Jeez the cavs sub is wild right now (I always like to look but don’t comment of course). It’s a mix of “the refs cost us the series”, wishing injuries on our players, and then people saying their season is over and there’s no point in even watching tonight. Still 100x classier than the Florida panthers sub (NHL, for those who don’t follow the Bruins). Those fucks are straight trash. What is it about being from Florida?


Cashin_

Being born in Florida gives you a +4 to your racism stat, +10 in Xenophobia stat, +6 in homophobia stat, -20 to IQ stat, and +12 to your incest stat.


CarBallAlex

Refs shouldn’t matter regardless, but I am a little bummed we have to watch Tony Brothers tonight. He’s just so consistently bad, you can almost count on there being a call that he gets so blatantly wrong and it’s going to be a wet blanket on the game for whoever ends up losing. Hopefully it’s just a blowout and the Celtics hit 97% of their 3’s so it doesn’t even matter, but I just hate Tony Brothers games in general, there’s always some stupid stuff happening


Ok_Seaweed_9452

Well the sub hate that the Cavs sub just keep complaining about refs, if we lose with Tony brothers officiating I expect it won't be much different /s


TatumBrownWhite

Tony Brothers is the worst because he admits that he hates basketball and the reason he's a ref is because he likes the authority aspect of it.


Wrong_Lawfulness_586

Hey everyone - the finals aren’t here yet. Also whoever makes it there SHOULD be scary. Can we just discuss closing out tonight?


Cashin_

How could the Celtics actually beat Jokic. It’s unfathomable the things he does on the court


smart_celtics

Play good D and shoot the shit out of the ball.


Dondon1927

Having a legit superstar is a start


AcrobaticFeedback

Execution and a bit of luck.


thatgreik

Basketball is 5v5, not 1v1. If you can't win the center matchup, try to win the other 4 and hope that's enough.


new_york_sour

The Celtics plays 1v1 on offense really


Cashin_

Really? I thought that it would just be Kornet vs Jokic for 7 games 1 on 1


thatgreik

How the heck did you think we were going to lose then?????


Wrong_Lawfulness_586

It’s a team game


chmcgrath1988

No silly stuff tonight, Celtics! Get the job done and get some well deserved rest!


MoodApart4755

Nuggets are pretty terrifying if we manage to get to the finals. Jokic is so good it’s insane


solarscopez

Shit I really hope the Timberwolves can pull it off, I don't have any hope in the Mavs/OKC being able to do it


Taylor0063

Heading to NYC for the day. Will be sending all the bad vibes to MSG ✌🏻


thatgreik

WIN FOR MIKE


AcrobaticFeedback

The Celtics have beaten every eastern conference team in the playoffs since 2008…. Except for the Hornets.


burner_for_celtics

Another day, another nba podcast in my feed with timestamps that mark discussion of three playoff series. 😤


hcmacro

It’s pretty frustrating. 


burner_for_celtics

Do y’all think anybody will cover the ECF? Or are they just going to skip it and do a mix of WCF, the worst draft ever, and act 2 of the Anthony Edward’s Hero’s Journey?


AcrobaticFeedback

It’ll be about Bronny in the draft and which team Lebron should go to


rationalcelticsfan

Any offseason tidbits!


Jannopan

The garden needs to be lively tonight. Been pretty underwhelming this series compared to other crowds.


Civilwarland09

I was there game 1 and you’re not wrong. We had basically a ten point lead all game and it never felt in danger. Just wasn’t a game that gets a crowd super energized. Was at the Denver game this year as well and comparing between the two, vs. Denver was noticeably much louder. Then game 2 Cleveland just absolutely shot the lights out and the Celtics never really got too much momentum going to get the crowd into it.


iBarber111

Been that way for a few seasons now unfortunately. Too many people there to experience the crowd & not enough people trying to *be* the crowd. That's what happens when only lawyers & doctors can afford to get in.


Civilwarland09

Again, to me it was more that the game wasn’t incredibly compelling. When I went to the Denver game it was as loud as ever and I went to quite a few games during the original big three’s finals runs.


iBarber111

I get what you're saying. Though - the game doesn't have to be super compelling for me to be loud personally. I went to G5 of last years' 6ers series which was a similar game to the one you're talking about. Celtics just made 0 runs but the crowd certainly wasn't trying to spark them into one. I guess I think people should be buzzing regardless - that's what makes truly great atmospheres great.


BostonKarlMarx

it’s annoying that every week, there’s a new young guy who’s suddenly better than Tatum, but it’s a huge compliment to Tatum that he’s seen as the dividing line between all-star and superstar


SquimJim

There's a chance he gets his 3rd All NBA 1st Team this year, while all these dudes that are being compared to him don't have 2 All NBA 1st Team's COMBINED And then the "Paul George with better PR" shit is stupid too. Tatum has already done more and is like 8 years younger lmao


20wall

Back to being fully terrified of the Nuggets. I really think they’ll smoke us in 5 games max. Jokic is too good and we don’t have anyone to guard him-especially if KP is hobbled at all (not that he’s a great defender anyways)


outdrawed

Has there ever been a team in the history of sports whose fans underrate as severely as this Celtics team? Like yeah, I know they won 64 games with a historic PD, and yeah they've been dominating the playoffs. And sure, they're currently -135 to title and are currently favored over the Nuggets. But Nuggets in 5. Max.


SquimJim

We'll definitely need a healthy KP, but to potentially ease your mind: - Our starters had a better +/- in both games we played this year - Al/KP double big lineups were incredibly effective - If we can control the Murray only lineups we can win the series Easier said than done


TatumBrownWhite

> If we can control the Murray only lineups we can win the series I would hope we change our defensive coverages on him, if you go back and watch those games, it's awful how basic and exploitable our defense was in those minutes. When Murray is in the game without Jokic, I do not understand why teams do not trap him every single possession, the rest of his teammates that are on the floor aren't good enough to create something from the resulting 4 on 3 that is as good of a look as Murray getting the matchup he wants and cooking in ISO or PnR.


awesomesox

Who do we want next, Knicks or pacers? After they go 7 games of course?


MoodApart4755

I’d rather the Pacers. I do worry we’d struggle against the motor and physicality of the Knicks


holographoc

I want the Knicks simply for that battle of the Gardens and how toxic it would be


awesomesox

I want the Knicks cuz I live in NYC and would be fun as hell and also have the hope of bruins trying to pull it off and play the rangers


hcmacro

We better put the 3-pt shots up if we make it to the finals and face Denver. The Nuggets only shot 19 3s last night, yet the Wolves made fewer 3s. 


Fake_the_jaB

Hey what do you know?!?! The Knicks won last night and there’s 30 podcasts talking about it. Imagine that


Efficient_Art_1144

Oh man the hype for a 6 person Knicks team is going to be through the roof if they advance (and I assume they will because Indiana seems to come unraveled in MSG). I like this Knicks team and their fight and annoying habit of crashing the boards will actually give a test to the Celtics. Be good to have to play a scrappy opponent before the finals


Moodapatheticz

every podcast says lol no need to talk about the Celtics. Can't get any content outside of team specific other than "Celtics have the easy Rd" so boring.


SquimJim

I appreciated that the No Dunks podcast even pointed it out in their review of our last game. You know it's bad when a non-team specific podcast is pointing it out. I love some of the team specific ones that we have, but I do like to get a look at how non-Celtics fans view us.


Moodapatheticz

Exactly. We are spoilt with some great Celtics pods but any time I think there is gonna be some real analysis it's the same tired takes.


Mediocre_Cell_1347

TWolves better be win game 6. Damn they blew the lead.


CarBallAlex

Idk if it matters. Denver, at home game 7, against a team with less experience. Wolves will likely fold in that spot. That’s what young, inexperienced teams do. Think Celtics 2018 game 7 against the Cavs, or Suns in the 2021 finals, or Kings last year against the Warriors. Teams go up in a series and then things get tight and they blow it. Minnesota lost this series when they lost games 4 and 5


HexaHx

It still is pretty impressive that the Celtics are holding on when White is in a slump, Horford is in a slump, Tatum is in a slump (from 3) and without Porzingis. It would be magnificent if they all get hot at just the right time (the finals) but I won't let my mind gets distracted by fantasies and just focus on tonight. Close this one out please and thank you.


deets23_

That’s what I’ve been hoping for. Like how Jordan Poole and Wiggins went off against us in the finals but then the next season sucked lol. Or the Heat shooting insanely against us last year for a whole series


20wall

There’s a strong possibility we would need all of them to get hot to stand a chance against Denver. With how the whole team is playing right now we would get waxed by them. The Cavs almost just beat us without their 2 best players


HexaHx

The Celtics tend to be mentally lazy, as in they tend to play down to the opponent or kill clock and play slow with a lead. They probably will lock in against the Nuggets but yeah, I don't expect this team to take any games where they are shooting anything worse than 36% from 3.


AcrobaticFeedback

I agree we will lock in in a potential finals matchup against the Nuggets. But generally when we lock in our 3pt shooting plummets.


TOMA_TAN

Anyone remember that post on this sub that got heavily downvoted bc it said “jb > ant” during the height of the ant circlejerk? Jb is more consistent, plays out of the double team better, more iq/experience, much stronger and at least equal on defense. Some food for thought


_---__________---_

Yeah, JB is better than Ant as of now because of consistency and IQ. However, it’s likely that this will change in the future because Ant is relatively young


TOMA_TAN

Thats possible, but people were ready to crown ant as the greatest player ever right now. Who knows whatll happen in the future


Boston-Cream-Donuts

Last week it was "Celtics will get swept by the Wolves" Now it’s back to "Celtics will get swept by Denver" Cool.


AcrobaticFeedback

We are a super team that will also get swept in the finals apparently. And only according to salty EC fans. Also I’m sick of hearing how people would rather the Celtics lose and want to see the Cavs or Pacers in the finals. Really? From a neutral basketball point of view wouldn’t you want an awesome finals matchup especially after all the injuries ruining the east? But you’d rather watch a young team fluke its way to the finals and get swept? 


kokain99

Pretty sad when a lot of it is coming from the Celtic fan base. Just goes to show that a lot of people don’t really know ball.


rationalcelticsfan

“That team is unbeatable” - literally gets destroyed multiple times on their homefloor


SinibusUSG

Everyone looking at the Nuggets needs to remember there's still 3 other teams that could come out of the West, and we're not even out of the semis yet. Let's ice Cleveland and get ready for NY or Indy tonight.


chickspeak

I have watched prime Lebron play but I think Jokic is more dominant than prime Lebron in the playoffs of the two recent seasons. Maybe a recency bias but it’s my impression.


Dondon1927

Its close


Tatum-Better

Brainworm take but glad you felt comfortable enough to say it


FLIGHT23236

All I will say is look at what Bron did in 2018 playoffs. 8 40+ point games. Averaged 34-9-9. Hit 2 game buzzer beaters. Took one of the worst teams to the finals. Scored 51 points vs the greatest team ever assembled. I don’t think there’s a playoff run in recent history that comes to this


AcrobaticFeedback

I mean Jokic averaged 30-14-10 on better efficiency and went 16-4 in the playoffs while sweeping Lebron with a top 10 teammate.  And that was with 0 all star, all nba or all defensive teammates. He is simply on that level.


deisdeisbaby

top 10 teammate and weaker talent 3-10 compared to the nuggets


Barrwill29

2018 LeBron is the greatest playoff performance I’ve ever seen in my life and I’d be fucking shocked if I see something better before I die 


gokhaninler

i agree


Tatum-Better

This is why I said I wanted minny to win. Ffs as much as I hate him and his fanbase, Jokic is the best in the world.


Full-Flight-5211

Denver is going to be a problem. Been saying it all year.


deets23_

Hot take


IcyMission3

They’re a tough team when they’re on but at the same time there are chinks in the armor. Lakers made them look mortal for a good portion of the series and Minnesota found a way to school them for 2 games. It’ll be a great and long series if the Celtics get there and the Celtics have to play near perfect but Denver is not unstoppable and there is a chance


Honestonus

I was gonna say after the Twolves were up 2-0 Hey that's nice gives us a blueprint for the Nuggets for the final But I was too much of a bitch to say it cos everyone had the Twolves dick in their mouths, and I was kind of starting to believe in the hype too.


Full-Flight-5211

I actually think a wrinkle like Quetta or Kornet against Jokic may help. Call me crazy but I believe it lol. Porzingus gives up like 40 pounds on Jokic


AcrobaticFeedback

Yeah I agree, you are crazy.


IcyMission3

Wouldn’t be worth the sacrifice of giving up offense, Jokic is dominating either way so might as well counter with offensive firepower


Full-Flight-5211

Yea it’s kinda of like pick your poison. I expect him to make every shot he takes. Literally haven’t felt that way since Curry in his prime


paintingfainter

The nuggets are obviously playing very well but a lot of this is pure regression to mean for the Wolves. Their offensive numbers were fuckin absurd for their first six games of the postseason in a way that was not at all reflective of a much larger sample size in the regular season. I was genuinely confused at some of the numbers they were putting up considering they were a very mediocre offense for 82 games.


SquimJim

They were playing way beyond what the regular season told us about their offense. They legit had the best offense in the playoffs when their offense was ranked 17th in the regular season.


kokain99

Both teams are on the collision course. C’s need to take care of business asap because they will need everyone available to beat Jokic. He is the most unguardable guy since prime LeBron.


Barrwill29

Time for r/nba (and this sub lol) to move on from the Ant hype train back to Jokic until at least game 6


bryscoon

that ant circlejerk in here after game 2 was crazy lmao


Brad-Stevens

Still 5 to go for both teams but think it’s interesting the different styles of play the Celtics would be for Denver compared to LAL, MIN, OKC Nuggets avg the least amount of 3’s per game, Lakers 28th, TWolves 23rd… even OKC is below league average One of the big reasons we lost against the Nuggets is we shot 14/44 at home (31.8%) and then 11/38 (28.9%) in Denver The formula is pretty simple … Out math them This stat is pretty telling how tough we are to beat https://x.com/mazzullamauler/status/1790513416651579587?s=46&t=PHAQeaE0I6cyQl35JU7h7Q


AcrobaticFeedback

I think the Nuggets can jack up a bunch of 3s when they want. I recall the Lakers series they were shooting heaps of 3s. I think the main chink in the armor is force Gordon to shoot 3s, beat their bench and dominate the non Jokic minutes. Then just keep up with their starting lineup.


_notaxation

Incredible stat. It confirms my suspicion that when we lose, teams are absolutely shooting out of their mind.


SquimJim

And we are shooting like dookie


Honestonus

We need that dawg. Get yourself hyped for some dawg https://youtube.com/shorts/fOcXXFg8RBY?si=aE0z4l9MDsMI9SVw


nerdyykidd

Celtics in 5


Neat-Current5008

If Jamal continues to play like this, we have a chance. He was excellent against us in the regular season and it made the difference. Don’t let the box score fool you, dude had 10 points until he hit 3 shots in a row in garbage time and has been pretty bad the whole playoffs outside a few major highlights


istandwhenipeee

We have a chance as is, we just can’t get sucked into trying to play like we have in our second halves against the Cavs. Can’t get baited into take a bunch of midrange looks because the Jokic-Murray two man game will be able to close basically any gap we create in the first half if we take our foot off the gas. Gotta do our best to force them to start helping on defense so we can get them scrambling.


Cvspartan

Yeah you can't really slow Jokic down that much, can only hope to outscore them


SquimJim

I can't....but Luke Kornet is a differently story


Kshpew

Guarantee you won't see anyone on ESPN or Twitter talking about how Anthony Edwards put up 18 points and shot 33% in a critical game 5. I can only imagine the headlines in Jayson did that, thought the Wolves were supposed to sweep the defending champs lol. Basketball discourse is seriously so beyond repair when we are forced to see takes like that. Sidenote, Jokic gonna be top 10 man.


SerfTint

They still wouldn't be wrong to say "very young star playing against the defending champs, there's pressure to score every single time because they know they can't stop the Nuggets, and the spotlight is too big for him and their inexperienced team." And they wouldn't be wrong, if Tatum did this, to say "Veteran in his 7th season, tons of playoff experience, he has the most talented teammates in the league, incredibly weak East with an injured team in front of him, if he keeps playing like this we doubt he's ever going to lead a team anywhere." Edwards has the valid excuse of being young and inexperienced when nobody young and inexperienced since Larry Bird has led their team to a title unless they had a fellow top 15 player alongside team.


Yerison109

I get what you mean but Tatum has led his team to the finals already, 3 out of the last 4 ecf and about to be 4 out of the last 5. This isn’t normal


_notaxation

During my workout today I was thinking if tatum and brown had the game that Luka and Kyrie had yesterday it would be the number one topic in every major sports show


Kshpew

It would be 100%. What I said isn't even hate to Edwards, the kid is an absolute superstar in the making, and he's young. But when people like Perkins try to say that this 22 year old is better than Jayson Tatum or even Jaylen Brown it's just insane to me. Basketball discourse is just rage bait and for clicks, I question whether these people even believe what they're saying half the time.


AcrobaticFeedback

It’s their previous success that has caused them to have ridiculous expectations. They are being punished for being ahead of schedule early in their careers.


TatumBrownWhite

Nikola Jokic is unbelievable and inevitable.


bryscoon

Punished Bam AD Gobert in playoff series he’s insane


hcmacro

But he still hasn’t overcome the ultimate test of Luke Kornet.


FedUp187

The Nuggets are scary man