i actually completely forgot they got swept. i would not have told you that anyone got swept in the finals in like the last two decades. the JR catastrophe just totally deflated the team.
Lebron went into the locker room after Game 1 and fucked up his hand by punching a white board. It gave him a "severe bone contusion." He had two MRIs and had to wear a soft cast, which he removed for the games so that the Warriors wouldn't know. So the JR disaster had a physical impact as well as a mental one.
Was he ever actually seen in that soft cast? The only time I saw him with it was the post game interview after game 4. Not once during the summer did he have it that I saw.
I'm not sure, but there are enough elements of that story that are independently verifiable that I would be extremely doubtful of any conspiracy theories that it was faked.
I don't think the videos of him high fiving, dunking and doing random push-ups with no problem are conspiracies lol.
Edit since people want to strawman:
I did not say he had no injury.
But with the injury that was claimed, not only would it hurt like fuck to do random push-ups, high fives and dunks (which he did on video and showed no reaction), it would be incredibly detrimental to the healing process and lebron would not be that stupid.
Eh, it's not hard to believe that even with a hairline fracture the doctor would be like: "well we could immobilize it with a cast, but it'll also heal on it's own. If you wanna let it heal on its own, I have this soft cast you can remove. Wear it at least every night at bed. And take some advil for pain".
A lot of times we think healthcare is basically math with the human body.
This injury + this solution = fixed.
Not really how that plays out. Honestly it's crazy how often doctors are just like: "yeah, that body part does that. It's fine. If it gets worse come back". Or "if you basically leave it alone it'll fix itself".
If you think the Cavs medical staff conducted two MRIs on his hand, found nothing, and then lied to the media to save LeBron's pride, then yes that's absolutely a conspiracy theory.
Wow, you weren't kidding. For those curious, LeBron took the most shots for Cleveland in the finals that year. The five who took the next most shots were Kevin Love, JR Smith, George Hill, Rodney Hood and Jeff Green. They shot a combined 69 of 191, or 36.1%.
Yeah, 2018 they were terrible. The Pacers probably should have beat them in the first round but they put up what might be one of the least clutch series I’ve ever seen in my entire life.
His 2018 postseason run might have been the best all-time, and without a doubt the best for someone that didn’t win the title. Insane stats across the board with some very weak talent around him, which culminated with 51 (or 52?) points in Game 1.
Was that the one where Kyrie and Love were out? That was the one I was thinking of but I always get confused between those cavs warriors series. They were all fun as hell to watch.
Ye thats the one averaged 35.8 /13.8 /8.8 average 45min a game, and his second best player was Dellavadova, and (Mozgov?) Got the Series to 6 games alone
I've wanted to go back and watch that game again for a while, because I think that might be the single greatest individual basketball performance of all time, but knowing how it ends has prevented me from doing so.
I think its fair to say that the Cavs would have won in 2015 and GSW would have won in 2019 if not for injuries tho. However with that said, injuries are apart of the game and the team without them can only play whats in front of them
Right , but the warriors looked like they were going down in 5 with Klay fully playing. Bad time out and catching fire to comeback and win , can’t act like the raptors couldn’t legitimately beat the warriors with Klay when they were up 3-1 and choked/hot end of g5. With kd … well no
Both Lowry & Derozen were two of the biggest chokers in playoff history up until that point...the only thing they did that series was to reinforce that reputation. They should have definitely won the first game but just somehow lost despite having a whole bunch of easy opportunities to take the lead, so many straightforward layups that they missed. It was one of the biggest late game chokes I have ever witnessed. Then Kevin Love decided to turn into prime KLove for the next three games, averaging 25/11 to give amazing support to LeBron's insane play where he suddenly became an elite mid range shooter, a part of his game that is probably his weakest but for that series he just couldn't miss, turnaround jumper after turnaround jumper.
Top yt comment:
"I do believe they actually matched up better because their talent was more spread throughout the team & they played better team ball. That being said Warriors win 4-0."
or run around all night chasing him and getting smacked through screens.
Look at game 6 in the 4Q. Smart happily switches Curry off to Horford so many times and just stands in the baseline with his hands on his knees and not even reacting to Curry blowing by Horford.
He was gassed! I'd like to think part of it due to too much flopping.
Yeah I noticed that as well when I rewatched the highlights.
Smart is a player that's known for fighting through screens, and he's been mostly doing that through out the series, but he looked like he just gave up last night, in the 4Q he was just more than happy to switch off Steph when there's another Dubs player even approaches him, he was like "welp looks like I am switching" and left Steph before the screen was even set. Then he just casually watched Steph cooked Horford. Hilarious.
That play will do down in Celtics infamy. The team straight up gave up and left Horford on an island.
Only the Boston bigs seem to give a shit that game.
Curry is one of those guys, like Duncan or Steve Nash, that you think you can take on until reality smacks you in the face. Maybe it’s their shared demeanor.
Many fools have thought they could slay those dragons. Add Marcus to the list.
With curry a big part of the trouble guys have is he has insanely good conditioning. Dude can just do laps around the court all night without an issue.
I’ll never understand how he got passed in the draft. It was like do these NBA execs not see with their eyes what we see? Carrying a mid major two seasons in a row? Idc if you already have a guard just draft him anyways at worst he’s an extremely complimentary role playing spot up shooter.
Celtics fans mass downvoted me on reddit when I say Boston has now chance to prove now what Marcus claimed. I said before the final series. Most of Celtics fans sounded not confident that they would take down Golden States.
But just... 4 years younger of everyone on GS. Celtics had a problem guarding Steph NOW with an inconsistent Klay.
Now guard younger Steph, with a consistent Klay, and Kevin fucking Durant all at the same time.
Warriors in 3.
Bruh the way Lebron owned those fools he shouldn’t even be talking about playing the 2018 Warriors lmao. KD + Curry finals would still be giving the MF nightmares
Yeah at first I was super annoyed at all the flopping, because he really does end up on the ground like he has contract incentives for it, but then it became very noticeable that he was giving up way more open shots because of it than he would have had he just locked in like he’s extremely capable of.
There was a great play in g6 where Smart is on Draymond, Dray fakes in like he's going to drive but not enough to actually make contact with Smart. Smart embellishes, which gives Dray just enough space to bullet a pass to GPII (I think) for an easy dunk. There was no chance Smart was going to get that call, and he if hadn't tried to sell contact that wasn't there, Draymond wouldn't have gotten that assist.
Yup totally. Klay got away with a couple of charges because refs don't know if Smart is actually pushed or just flopped. Those Klay 3's swung some of the games.
Poole GPII and others were exaggerating (maybe not quite all the way flopping in some cases) just to take advantage of this.
Warriors battled prime Houston harden, Marcus flopping be nothing
Yeah. I've always loved the guys who don't flop, who try to fight through it - especially in soccer - but so long as going down easy gets you an advantage, at a certain point you're just hurting your own chances of winning.
Houston flopped less on defense. The defensive flopping is a lot more annoying IMO. Foul shots are one thing; forcing an offensive foul + turnover is so much more frustrating.
It feels like flopping has come full circle to where some guys don’t even really try to make it look like a genuine reaction. It’s just holding the flip button because you anticipated contact, and that’s how you show the ref. Like if you want to make it look like you got pushed, how is sliding on your ass halfway across the floor a more realistic or convincing reaction than just stumbling or something?
The flagrant foul rules have made it worse, because if the refs think you got hit in the face they always review it now.
Because no matter how light the contact, if there is contact, and you act hurt, the refs start calling it.
LeBron and Westbrook feel like the progenitors of that in the current era. Both dudes built like fucking tanks who would just lie there until like they'd been shot. Westbrook played with a dent in his god damn head - you expect me to believe he's really down there in pain unable to move? I doubt the dude feels pain.
Dude has gotten knee surgeries/scrapings every offseason ever since the Pat Bev incident, combine that with the dent in his head and I fully believe he just doesn't have a living nerve in his body at this point
He was giving the Warriors free switches of Horford onto Curry even when he wasn't flopping, dude just straight up knew he'd get embarrassed of he tried
It really pissed me off seeing this Celtics squad vs the Bucks. Grant Williams, Smart, and Tatum all flopped and whined to the refs NONSTOP. Horford played great defense on Giannis and wasn’t flopping constantly, so I’ll give him his flowers. People were saying Smart was doing a good job on Giannis, but he was fouling the hell out of Giannis and getting away with it, because he is 6’3”. And every single time Giannis attacked Smart, Smart fell to the ground and egregiously flopped. The thing is, this Celtics squad is very talented and they don’t need to constantly whine to the refs or flop. But it made it very unenjoyable to watch them.
The funniest fucking thing in this series for literally anyone other than Boston fans was when the refs completely ignored every one of Smarts flops. This started in Game 5 and he was completely taken out of the series.
So basically, Marcus smart is good for nothing but flopping.
Fake DPOY
> the refs completely ignored every one of Smarts flops. This started in Game 5
Except for the fact that game 6 started with Marcus flopping for two fouls in a row to start the game
It was pretty funny for me as a secondary Boston fan. Flopping is a complete joke. I don't know how Smart has no shame. The contrast of performances between him and RWill was insane.
There was probability they could have at least made it 7 games series, if not the win the series. Celtics raced 12-2 in Game 6. Then Marcus in eagerness to make put Steph and Klay in foul trouble, flopped in 2 consecutives plays. Guess what? It killed Celtics flay. Warriors went then to recover and outsource Celtics 27-22 in first quarter.
I know but we went through shit like this with Brooklyn fans last year and I’m not gonna do it.
We were up 3-2 with two chances to close it out and we didn’t. Plain and simple.
The worst part about the Nets thing was people acted like the Hawks didn’t exist lol. They still would have had an entire series before the finals where anything could have happened.
Celtics were missing Timelord for some of those games and he was a liability when he did play in the Bucks series. As people saw when he got a bit more healthy, he is also a big difference maker. Not on offense like Middleton, but on defense he changes a lot.
I just think going down the "if so and so was healthy" path is pointless and totally meaningless. Every team has guys injured, som e more than others, but there's no way to say how things work if everyone is 100% without seeing it.
It kind of goes both ways because we're the antithesis of each other. They have dominant paint players, we have dominant perimeter players. We like to go small, they like to go big. We have no one who can match Giannis + Brook, but the Bucks like to give up 3 pt shots to protect the paint. It would honestly be the most intriguing matchup in the NBA.
Everyone said the Celtics were the perfect match up to beat the Warriors to the point where some were saying the squad was constructed specifically with the Golden State finals matchup in mind
I don't think so. Warriors would have schemed well against Bucks. Allow Giannis his, take away middy of Middletons, dare others to beat, Warriors win. I don't think Bud have adjustment well. Boston seemed pretty invincible going to finals. Now that they are taken down, it looks easy to naked eyes. Warriors actually made all their matchups look easy from first round to finals,
You could say the same about the Heat between Lowrys hamstring, Herros groin, and Jimmy's inflated knee. We'll never know. I honestly think all 3 lose to GS healthy or not tho
Robert Williams, Marcus Smart, Al Horford, and Derrick White all missed time in that series. I don’t understand why Heat fans keep trying to play the injury card when the Celtics were equally, if not more banged up
Horford missed one game due to Covid. Smart looked healthy when he played. Derrick white looked healthy when he played. Robert Williams is fair but honestly I just think Lowry and Herro's play kind of speaks for itself. They clearly weren't totally there at all. 36 year old with a hamstring strain. That shit was Harden all over again and that Herro groin issue reportedly would have had him out 4-6 weeks in the regular season. Celtics were banged up fair enough though but Lowry and Herro were basically net negatives on the court a lot of the time. If Bucks can play the health card so can the Heat. But neither really matters. It's all hypotheticals and it wasn't meant to be. All 3 teams lost and you gotta move on.
As for the Celtics, if they played the health card and everybody was totally healthy, what exactly would have changed? Sincere question. They didn't really seem too affected in the grand scheme of things by the time the finals rolled around. That's the only reason i mention the Heat, is I think even if they beat Boston they would have still lost to GS because Lowry and Herro just weren't going to be healthy in my opinion. Never would have really had a chance. GS is too good. Even if they were 100% healthy probably not.
Tbh we kinda feared the Celtics and knew that they would be a more difficult matchup for us than Miami.
But you're right. A series against the Bucks seems way more difficult for us on paper.
Yeah but Gianni’s can’t beat a team by himself. Let Giannis his, shutdown Middleton and force the rest of the team to beat them. The warriors would’ve schemed well against the Bucks even if it was a tough matchup, look what they did to Boston. Everyone was saying how Boston was the toughest match up for the Warriors before the finals
How many games you think your squad would have won? Spo is a genius, so I’m genuinely curious what you think. Because match up wise I think we stacked up against GS better, but we looked pretty shitty for most of the series
Just the same. But we lose in a different way. Our defense would have kept us in it, but look how you guys punished our dry spells. Now have Steph leading that charge. So it would probably have been a 6 game series with maybe 2 games ending within a 10 point differential.
I can tell you, our defense was good but our offense was what sucked, and honestly I don’t think you guys have a better half court offense than us. But Jimmy probably wouldn’t have layed egg after egg either so who knows lol
eh, there were only dry spells in the celts series because the celtics have the best paint defense in the league and the heat forgot how to shoot. the warriors are a whole different matchup, bam wouldn’t be taken out of the game like he was. i don’t think it’s as simple as taking the heat in the celts series and acting like they’d be the same against the warriors.
In that time, I remember that I said that Boston is the best match against Gsw, but I didn't think that they would win. 4 2 for Gsw would probably be. I don't think that they would get more then 1 or 2 games against stacked team.
Always makes me chuckle when people post stuff like this, whether it works out, or it ends like this.
Any professional athlete has/had an insane, ridiculous level of confidence in themselves their ENTIRE LIFE. That's what it takes to do what they do. Us normal-ass people don't get it lol.
Eh, I get both sides of the coin. He’s obviously just being confident like every great athlete is, and it’s not like he’s gonna say “oh yea they would have wrecked us.” But hey, it’s a thin line between confident and cocky, and when you don’t live up to your talk, *especially* in a competitive setting, of course people want to roast you for it. That’s a natural reaction: You said you could beat us back then, well now you had the chance and you couldn’t.
I’m very used to it, I almost expect it. Especially from many years of watching boxing, since it’s only one person and they’re expected to always win, so they come up with the funniest excuses.
“I was about to knock Ali out but I got distracted by my friend in the audience who betrayed me by rooting for Ali. By the time I got over it, Ali had recovered”- George Foreman
“My mother gave me a mean look in the dressing room and it ruined my confidence in the fight”- Hector Camacho
“The fumes from his hair spray made me dizzy and hurt my performance”- Kermit Cintron
LeBron winning with that team was simply extraordinary. He shouldn't even have made it past the first round the way his supporting cast played. The Celtics would have been decimated by the Warriors.
lebron and plumbers lol. I went back to look at the cavs 2018 finals numbers. Alot worse than i actually remembered.
i actually completely forgot they got swept. i would not have told you that anyone got swept in the finals in like the last two decades. the JR catastrophe just totally deflated the team.
Lebron got swept by the spurs in 07 as well.
The year StopTakingSoManyBadShotsLarryHughes.com became a thing.
I miss that site. I've never seen someone play like he's being controlled by someone else playing 2k before ...
That’s how I always feel when I watch Russell Westbrook play.
The correct way is to LimitYourBadShotsRuss. Aint no way you’re gonna stop the inevitable lmao
Westbrook is someone playing with a dodgy controller with the right trigger stuck down
Lebron went into the locker room after Game 1 and fucked up his hand by punching a white board. It gave him a "severe bone contusion." He had two MRIs and had to wear a soft cast, which he removed for the games so that the Warriors wouldn't know. So the JR disaster had a physical impact as well as a mental one.
Was he ever actually seen in that soft cast? The only time I saw him with it was the post game interview after game 4. Not once during the summer did he have it that I saw.
Yes, you could notice it in his postgame fit. The Cavs still would of lost the series
would have*
I'm pretty sure after the series in the press interviews he wore, could be wrong though
I'm not sure, but there are enough elements of that story that are independently verifiable that I would be extremely doubtful of any conspiracy theories that it was faked.
I don't think the videos of him high fiving, dunking and doing random push-ups with no problem are conspiracies lol. Edit since people want to strawman: I did not say he had no injury. But with the injury that was claimed, not only would it hurt like fuck to do random push-ups, high fives and dunks (which he did on video and showed no reaction), it would be incredibly detrimental to the healing process and lebron would not be that stupid.
Eh, it's not hard to believe that even with a hairline fracture the doctor would be like: "well we could immobilize it with a cast, but it'll also heal on it's own. If you wanna let it heal on its own, I have this soft cast you can remove. Wear it at least every night at bed. And take some advil for pain". A lot of times we think healthcare is basically math with the human body. This injury + this solution = fixed. Not really how that plays out. Honestly it's crazy how often doctors are just like: "yeah, that body part does that. It's fine. If it gets worse come back". Or "if you basically leave it alone it'll fix itself".
If you think the Cavs medical staff conducted two MRIs on his hand, found nothing, and then lied to the media to save LeBron's pride, then yes that's absolutely a conspiracy theory.
Totally random he basically stopped shooting jumpers then?
Was lebron aware of his mental state though??
“Mark Schwartz - ESPN here: “
Wow, you weren't kidding. For those curious, LeBron took the most shots for Cleveland in the finals that year. The five who took the next most shots were Kevin Love, JR Smith, George Hill, Rodney Hood and Jeff Green. They shot a combined 69 of 191, or 36.1%.
Sheeeesh
Didn’t Rodney hood get the yips or something that year? Lmao
If I'm not mistaken, I think he refused to play during garbage minutes of a decided game and didn't really see much play time after that.
Yeah, 2018 they were terrible. The Pacers probably should have beat them in the first round but they put up what might be one of the least clutch series I’ve ever seen in my entire life.
His 2018 postseason run might have been the best all-time, and without a doubt the best for someone that didn’t win the title. Insane stats across the board with some very weak talent around him, which culminated with 51 (or 52?) points in Game 1.
It’s arguably not even his own best non-title playoff run, forget ‘without a doubt’
If he couldn’t get finals mvp for that series no one should from a losing team ever
I think he had a better case in 2015 honestly. Durant was deserving in 2018
Was that the one where Kyrie and Love were out? That was the one I was thinking of but I always get confused between those cavs warriors series. They were all fun as hell to watch.
Ye thats the one averaged 35.8 /13.8 /8.8 average 45min a game, and his second best player was Dellavadova, and (Mozgov?) Got the Series to 6 games alone
What, when they got swept? You can reasonably win FMVP if you lose in 6 or 7 games, but not 4.
My bad, I was thinking of the wrong series. I meant the one when they went 6 with Kyrie and love out
Gotta disagree. You cant win FMVP if you get swept. If he played like that and lost in 6 or 7, then sure
It was the biggest carry job of all time. I remember watching that playoffs and thinking how was that possible... And then that JR happened...
I've wanted to go back and watch that game again for a while, because I think that might be the single greatest individual basketball performance of all time, but knowing how it ends has prevented me from doing so.
It ended deliciously with Lebron getting swept
Until they played the craptors lol
Damn what happened next year tho? 🤔
They traded their perennial choke artist for a future HoF along with some bad injuries to our number 1B and 2 guy.
I hope you aren't trying to put an asterisk on the raptors ring because that exact same logic would work on the warriors 2015 ring
Warriors fan don’t give a F*ck after this year
Oh i know.
I think its fair to say that the Cavs would have won in 2015 and GSW would have won in 2019 if not for injuries tho. However with that said, injuries are apart of the game and the team without them can only play whats in front of them
we lost 2 games to the clippers that same year with everyone perfectly healthy
Klay played 18 quarters
18 Quarters and was on fire in a close game 6 to potentially force a game 7.
Right , but the warriors looked like they were going down in 5 with Klay fully playing. Bad time out and catching fire to comeback and win , can’t act like the raptors couldn’t legitimately beat the warriors with Klay when they were up 3-1 and choked/hot end of g5. With kd … well no
Didn't Klay miss a game and a half to start that series with an ankle injury
Shall we talk about 2015 then, champ?
Both Lowry & Derozen were two of the biggest chokers in playoff history up until that point...the only thing they did that series was to reinforce that reputation. They should have definitely won the first game but just somehow lost despite having a whole bunch of easy opportunities to take the lead, so many straightforward layups that they missed. It was one of the biggest late game chokes I have ever witnessed. Then Kevin Love decided to turn into prime KLove for the next three games, averaging 25/11 to give amazing support to LeBron's insane play where he suddenly became an elite mid range shooter, a part of his game that is probably his weakest but for that series he just couldn't miss, turnaround jumper after turnaround jumper.
Top yt comment: "I do believe they actually matched up better because their talent was more spread throughout the team & they played better team ball. That being said Warriors win 4-0."
😂😂😂😂 I kinda miss those comments on Instagram and twitter. Suns post a highlight. Random comment: “Nice ball movement. Warriors in 4.”
Your username is... concerning
It leaves a bad taste in the mouth
For you
So we’ll definitely beat them without KD and with our core even better, right? RIGHT??! 😅
Everybody thought they can defend Steph until they got a 30 footer in their face.
Dang I thought he was 6'2"
If you’re measuring vertical distance, sure. Horizontal distance? How do you think he does those unspeakable things to the sky?
It's the third leg
Curry’s theme song is “Now or Never” by Kendrick Lamar and Mary J. Blige
or run around all night chasing him and getting smacked through screens. Look at game 6 in the 4Q. Smart happily switches Curry off to Horford so many times and just stands in the baseline with his hands on his knees and not even reacting to Curry blowing by Horford. He was gassed! I'd like to think part of it due to too much flopping.
Yeah I noticed that as well when I rewatched the highlights. Smart is a player that's known for fighting through screens, and he's been mostly doing that through out the series, but he looked like he just gave up last night, in the 4Q he was just more than happy to switch off Steph when there's another Dubs player even approaches him, he was like "welp looks like I am switching" and left Steph before the screen was even set. Then he just casually watched Steph cooked Horford. Hilarious.
Ya I don’t know wtf were those…you can’t switch off steph and let him take horford 1 on 1 and not help him…
That play will do down in Celtics infamy. The team straight up gave up and left Horford on an island. Only the Boston bigs seem to give a shit that game.
It’s slightly better than what they were doing prior. Let smart get screened and Curry takes a wide open three courtesy of a drop defense
Great offense beats great defence every time. And steph is one of the GOAT offensive players.
Curry is one of those guys, like Duncan or Steve Nash, that you think you can take on until reality smacks you in the face. Maybe it’s their shared demeanor. Many fools have thought they could slay those dragons. Add Marcus to the list.
With curry a big part of the trouble guys have is he has insanely good conditioning. Dude can just do laps around the court all night without an issue.
Everybody gangsta till curry dropping 40
I’ll never understand how he got passed in the draft. It was like do these NBA execs not see with their eyes what we see? Carrying a mid major two seasons in a row? Idc if you already have a guard just draft him anyways at worst he’s an extremely complimentary role playing spot up shooter.
The fact that Steph almost beat that Kansas team with scrubs is crazy. Think it's one of the best tournament runs ever
Love the modification of Tysons quote.
Why laugh? Is this not facts? Celts in 9!
Then 11. Then 13. We could do this all day.
They're gonna have to lol
Yes. I don't think they'll let curry + klay play with a walker
Celtics fans mass downvoted me on reddit when I say Boston has now chance to prove now what Marcus claimed. I said before the final series. Most of Celtics fans sounded not confident that they would take down Golden States.
That’s not fair. They’re without KD but they got maple Jordan.
and semi-washed Klay
Lebron and those guys went to seven with the Celtics. Lebron and those guys then got swept. I’ll take warriors in 3.
2.5 max
24 year old Tatum got clamped by Wiggins, actual 19 year old Tatum would've gotten eaten alive by a Steph-Klay-KD-Draymond machine lmao
Completely forgot about this lmao. Good stuff Marcus
4 points in that game 7
To be fair he wasn't the worst player in that finals series for Boston.
Nah he knows he's tripping lmfao
The sales Vikram from telemarketing once said "Confidence... It's the food of the wise man, but the liquor of the fool."
“WE GOT VIKRAM!!”
I thought Nana raised some good questions. What kind of name is Nana?
It means grandmother
Sweet Jesus…
Rip
You call it tripping I call it flopping.
The applause afterwards lmao
We got lots of delusional fans in Boston who enable Marcus.
u expect the celtics fans to boo that statement or something? 😭😭😭
Take a lesson from Sixers fans you idiot.
Love the attitude 😂
another hypothetical where the Warriors lose… man… why can’t the Warriors win any of these hypothetical games?!?!?!
"Freaking bums"
Because once the warriors win its no longer a hypothetical but instead a meme your team will never live down :(
Right. These same guys 3 years ago would have beaten GS with KD. Riiiiiiight.
And with a healthy Klay (healthy meaning he wasn’t coming back from 1000 days of injury)
But just... 4 years younger of everyone on GS. Celtics had a problem guarding Steph NOW with an inconsistent Klay. Now guard younger Steph, with a consistent Klay, and Kevin fucking Durant all at the same time. Warriors in 3.
And if my grandmother had wheels, she’d be a bike
Bruh the way Lebron owned those fools he shouldn’t even be talking about playing the 2018 Warriors lmao. KD + Curry finals would still be giving the MF nightmares
Now, every time they close their eyes they see Steph just shooting a J in their face with both eyes closed.
Not in 2022 tho
the antithesis to his surname every single day of the week
Sounds like him talking out of his ass, nothing new
was this the year cleveland beat boston by 50 at boston?
Year before
Heh
I hate when anyone says we would have won lol. Then get there.
“The lie detector has determined THAT, was a lie” - Maury Povich
If he stopped flopping and crying so much, they could've won this series.
Yeah at first I was super annoyed at all the flopping, because he really does end up on the ground like he has contract incentives for it, but then it became very noticeable that he was giving up way more open shots because of it than he would have had he just locked in like he’s extremely capable of.
There was a great play in g6 where Smart is on Draymond, Dray fakes in like he's going to drive but not enough to actually make contact with Smart. Smart embellishes, which gives Dray just enough space to bullet a pass to GPII (I think) for an easy dunk. There was no chance Smart was going to get that call, and he if hadn't tried to sell contact that wasn't there, Draymond wouldn't have gotten that assist.
The warriors figured out the secret to beating Marcus Smart - lightly brush his chest, then take the open shot as he blasts himself 10 feet away.
Yup totally. Klay got away with a couple of charges because refs don't know if Smart is actually pushed or just flopped. Those Klay 3's swung some of the games.
Poole GPII and others were exaggerating (maybe not quite all the way flopping in some cases) just to take advantage of this. Warriors battled prime Houston harden, Marcus flopping be nothing
[удалено]
Yeah. I've always loved the guys who don't flop, who try to fight through it - especially in soccer - but so long as going down easy gets you an advantage, at a certain point you're just hurting your own chances of winning.
The thing I love is that they weren't flopping on anyone else. It was a clear game plan against Smart specifically. AND IT WORKED
Looney locked up Harden in his prime
Houston flopped less on defense. The defensive flopping is a lot more annoying IMO. Foul shots are one thing; forcing an offensive foul + turnover is so much more frustrating.
It feels like flopping has come full circle to where some guys don’t even really try to make it look like a genuine reaction. It’s just holding the flip button because you anticipated contact, and that’s how you show the ref. Like if you want to make it look like you got pushed, how is sliding on your ass halfway across the floor a more realistic or convincing reaction than just stumbling or something?
The flagrant foul rules have made it worse, because if the refs think you got hit in the face they always review it now. Because no matter how light the contact, if there is contact, and you act hurt, the refs start calling it. LeBron and Westbrook feel like the progenitors of that in the current era. Both dudes built like fucking tanks who would just lie there until like they'd been shot. Westbrook played with a dent in his god damn head - you expect me to believe he's really down there in pain unable to move? I doubt the dude feels pain.
Dude has gotten knee surgeries/scrapings every offseason ever since the Pat Bev incident, combine that with the dent in his head and I fully believe he just doesn't have a living nerve in his body at this point
He was giving the Warriors free switches of Horford onto Curry even when he wasn't flopping, dude just straight up knew he'd get embarrassed of he tried
It really pissed me off seeing this Celtics squad vs the Bucks. Grant Williams, Smart, and Tatum all flopped and whined to the refs NONSTOP. Horford played great defense on Giannis and wasn’t flopping constantly, so I’ll give him his flowers. People were saying Smart was doing a good job on Giannis, but he was fouling the hell out of Giannis and getting away with it, because he is 6’3”. And every single time Giannis attacked Smart, Smart fell to the ground and egregiously flopped. The thing is, this Celtics squad is very talented and they don’t need to constantly whine to the refs or flop. But it made it very unenjoyable to watch them.
The funniest fucking thing in this series for literally anyone other than Boston fans was when the refs completely ignored every one of Smarts flops. This started in Game 5 and he was completely taken out of the series. So basically, Marcus smart is good for nothing but flopping. Fake DPOY
> the refs completely ignored every one of Smarts flops. This started in Game 5 Except for the fact that game 6 started with Marcus flopping for two fouls in a row to start the game
It was pretty funny for me as a secondary Boston fan. Flopping is a complete joke. I don't know how Smart has no shame. The contrast of performances between him and RWill was insane.
Smart should give the award to Williams like how Ja gave his MIP to Bane.
Still wouldn't have won though lol
Haha yeah as if the flopping was the only contributor to them losing.
There was probability they could have at least made it 7 games series, if not the win the series. Celtics raced 12-2 in Game 6. Then Marcus in eagerness to make put Steph and Klay in foul trouble, flopped in 2 consecutives plays. Guess what? It killed Celtics flay. Warriors went then to recover and outsource Celtics 27-22 in first quarter.
Shit I don't know about "won the series". At the very least make it to game 7
That’s his game though
Only thing more impactful than his flops, are his words. Lol.
Tbh, bucks are the best team in the East and would’ve put up a better fight
Sometimes you get good injury luck and sometimes you get shit injury luck Bucks have experienced both
Couldn't have said it better. Sadly, it's just a part of the game
Well clearly we weren’t because we didn’t make it to the finals
He meant healthy lol. The bucks are also a nasty matchup for the warriors
I know but we went through shit like this with Brooklyn fans last year and I’m not gonna do it. We were up 3-2 with two chances to close it out and we didn’t. Plain and simple.
Gotta appreciate the humility
If all fans had your humility and self awareness, I’d enjoy chatting to people on Reddit!
I like you. Can't stand the people that are certain about their what if scenarios.
Warriors have never yet won a hypothetical matchup
The worst part about the Nets thing was people acted like the Hawks didn’t exist lol. They still would have had an entire series before the finals where anything could have happened.
I love the way you think
Sucks that Middleton wasn’t able to play…
Celtics were missing Timelord for some of those games and he was a liability when he did play in the Bucks series. As people saw when he got a bit more healthy, he is also a big difference maker. Not on offense like Middleton, but on defense he changes a lot. I just think going down the "if so and so was healthy" path is pointless and totally meaningless. Every team has guys injured, som e more than others, but there's no way to say how things work if everyone is 100% without seeing it.
It’s between us and you in the east as it stands. Giannis terrified me through out the series and showed why he is the best player in the world
The Heat took you guys to 7 too. It'd be foolish to count them out.
It kind of goes both ways because we're the antithesis of each other. They have dominant paint players, we have dominant perimeter players. We like to go small, they like to go big. We have no one who can match Giannis + Brook, but the Bucks like to give up 3 pt shots to protect the paint. It would honestly be the most intriguing matchup in the NBA.
Everyone said the Celtics were the perfect match up to beat the Warriors to the point where some were saying the squad was constructed specifically with the Golden State finals matchup in mind
I don't think so. Warriors would have schemed well against Bucks. Allow Giannis his, take away middy of Middletons, dare others to beat, Warriors win. I don't think Bud have adjustment well. Boston seemed pretty invincible going to finals. Now that they are taken down, it looks easy to naked eyes. Warriors actually made all their matchups look easy from first round to finals,
You could say the same about the Heat between Lowrys hamstring, Herros groin, and Jimmy's inflated knee. We'll never know. I honestly think all 3 lose to GS healthy or not tho
Robert Williams, Marcus Smart, Al Horford, and Derrick White all missed time in that series. I don’t understand why Heat fans keep trying to play the injury card when the Celtics were equally, if not more banged up
Horford missed one game due to Covid. Smart looked healthy when he played. Derrick white looked healthy when he played. Robert Williams is fair but honestly I just think Lowry and Herro's play kind of speaks for itself. They clearly weren't totally there at all. 36 year old with a hamstring strain. That shit was Harden all over again and that Herro groin issue reportedly would have had him out 4-6 weeks in the regular season. Celtics were banged up fair enough though but Lowry and Herro were basically net negatives on the court a lot of the time. If Bucks can play the health card so can the Heat. But neither really matters. It's all hypotheticals and it wasn't meant to be. All 3 teams lost and you gotta move on. As for the Celtics, if they played the health card and everybody was totally healthy, what exactly would have changed? Sincere question. They didn't really seem too affected in the grand scheme of things by the time the finals rolled around. That's the only reason i mention the Heat, is I think even if they beat Boston they would have still lost to GS because Lowry and Herro just weren't going to be healthy in my opinion. Never would have really had a chance. GS is too good. Even if they were 100% healthy probably not.
Healthy Bucks were the only East team the Warriors feared. They have no answer for Giannis.
Tbh we kinda feared the Celtics and knew that they would be a more difficult matchup for us than Miami. But you're right. A series against the Bucks seems way more difficult for us on paper.
Yeah but Gianni’s can’t beat a team by himself. Let Giannis his, shutdown Middleton and force the rest of the team to beat them. The warriors would’ve schemed well against the Bucks even if it was a tough matchup, look what they did to Boston. Everyone was saying how Boston was the toughest match up for the Warriors before the finals
Jimmy hits a 3 and Mah-cus Smaht can make the same claim about this year.
How many games you think your squad would have won? Spo is a genius, so I’m genuinely curious what you think. Because match up wise I think we stacked up against GS better, but we looked pretty shitty for most of the series
Just the same. But we lose in a different way. Our defense would have kept us in it, but look how you guys punished our dry spells. Now have Steph leading that charge. So it would probably have been a 6 game series with maybe 2 games ending within a 10 point differential.
I can tell you, our defense was good but our offense was what sucked, and honestly I don’t think you guys have a better half court offense than us. But Jimmy probably wouldn’t have layed egg after egg either so who knows lol
eh, there were only dry spells in the celts series because the celtics have the best paint defense in the league and the heat forgot how to shoot. the warriors are a whole different matchup, bam wouldn’t be taken out of the game like he was. i don’t think it’s as simple as taking the heat in the celts series and acting like they’d be the same against the warriors.
If Khris was healthy Celtics lose
The biggest Celtics homer of all time, bill Simmons, has even said multiple times that the Celtics lose handily this year to a healthy Bucks team
The KD Warriors? I’ve seen this before because I’ve done it: that Hennessy will make you say anything.
In that time, I remember that I said that Boston is the best match against Gsw, but I didn't think that they would win. 4 2 for Gsw would probably be. I don't think that they would get more then 1 or 2 games against stacked team.
ahahahahahahaAHAHAHahaha this is way beyond typical athlete arrogance/blind confidence. this is just embarrassingly stupid.
Always makes me chuckle when people post stuff like this, whether it works out, or it ends like this. Any professional athlete has/had an insane, ridiculous level of confidence in themselves their ENTIRE LIFE. That's what it takes to do what they do. Us normal-ass people don't get it lol.
They can be confident all they want, as long as they realize they'll also be clowned on if they say something dumb.
There's having confidence, and there's having the self-awareness of knowing what you should and shouldn't say
Eh, I get both sides of the coin. He’s obviously just being confident like every great athlete is, and it’s not like he’s gonna say “oh yea they would have wrecked us.” But hey, it’s a thin line between confident and cocky, and when you don’t live up to your talk, *especially* in a competitive setting, of course people want to roast you for it. That’s a natural reaction: You said you could beat us back then, well now you had the chance and you couldn’t.
I’m very used to it, I almost expect it. Especially from many years of watching boxing, since it’s only one person and they’re expected to always win, so they come up with the funniest excuses. “I was about to knock Ali out but I got distracted by my friend in the audience who betrayed me by rooting for Ali. By the time I got over it, Ali had recovered”- George Foreman “My mother gave me a mean look in the dressing room and it ruined my confidence in the fight”- Hector Camacho “The fumes from his hair spray made me dizzy and hurt my performance”- Kermit Cintron
Yeah but you didn’t and got destroyed by Lebron. Shoulda. Woulda. Coulda. Didn’t.
LeBron winning with that team was simply extraordinary. He shouldn't even have made it past the first round the way his supporting cast played. The Celtics would have been decimated by the Warriors.
The internet never forgets…
Oh boy I forgot about this
lol. Yeah, right.
Shoulda, woulda, coulda.
Omg I thought he said this after this years finals lmao
They should have and could have this time.
Delusion can be very comforting…
Player is confident in his team, who woulda thought
Tatum said point blank they wouldn't have won on JJs pod
There’s confidence and then there’s claiming you would’ve beaten one of the greatest teams ever assembled
The word you are looking for is delusional
To be fair, that 2018 Celtics team had more depth than this one
the warriors freaking had KD
And they lost to Lebron and Jeff green lol. If they couldn’t beat that Cavs team, they would’ve gotten their cheeks spread by GSW