Finally, this is the year for Celtics

[PierceFan4ever]

Not only they are the best team in regular season by a mile…. They are also relatively healthier than other teams…. This is their year

the Celtics have been the luckiest and healthiest team for years. Feels like every single year one or more of their playoff opponents is missing a key piece and the Celtics have been able to barely squeak by them. Whenever there's been a level playing field they have failed to make the Finals. This is bar far their most talented roster but already they're getting lucky with the Butler injury and Embiid hobbled. There's no excuse this year. Tatum has to get it done or he's going to be the next KD and Harden and will end up chasing rings by joining super teams.

Do you even watch the nba

[reload141]

I see your jinx thread and comments.

My Celtics won’t make it out of the first round.

HA! Reverse jinx activated!

[FarBeyondDriven]

Not only they are the best team in regular season by a mile…. They are also relatively healthier than other teams…. This is their year

the Celtics have been the luckiest and healthiest team for years. Feels like every single year one or more of their playoff opponents is missing a key piece and the Celtics have been able to barely squeak by them. Whenever there's been a level playing field they have failed to make the Finals. This is bar far their most talented roster but already they're getting lucky with the Butler injury and Embiid hobbled. There's no excuse this year. Tatum has to get it done or he's going to be the next KD and Harden and will end up chasing rings by joining super teams.

Tatum severely twisted his ankle against Miami last year dude, in game 7 nonetheless. Miami also shot a historical rate on jumpshots and threes. If anything, the Celtics have been unlucky in that their opponents have caught absolute fire over small sample sizes during conference finals (Heat) and finals series (Warriors).

no doubt bad luck but at least Tatum was healthy until literally game 7 of the ECF. Butler and Lowry were banged up the whole series, Vincent missed a game and Herro (their 3rd leading scorer) and Oladipo didn't play that series at all. To even get to the Warriors the previous season they beat a Bucks team without Middleton (still took them to 7 games) and a Nets team without Harden.

[durden_tyler]

Butler getting hurt is a god send. It felt like the Heat would be a tough 1st round opponent for the Celtics.

Eh, even with Butler that series would be a sweep.

[ChipotleWest]

Butler getting hurt is a god send. It felt like the Heat would be a tough 1st round opponent for the Celtics.

Eh, even with Butler that series would be a sweep.

I'm sure people said that last playoffs too.

[CodeBreaker]

I wanna see them choke in the ECF

[zero rings]

I'm not crowning them champions until they actually win it.

Nobody asked

I don't need you to ask for me to speak my mind. Your team hasn't done anything yet. Porzingis is a choker I have the receipts on that. You'll see.

This is a guy who was supposed to be a #1 guy in New York, traded for peanuts. Then he was asked to just be the #2 in Dallas, traded for peanuts. They traded him for Spencer Dimwiddie who got waived this season.

Right. Now he's a walking mismatch and one of the best post scorers in the game.

You ever wonder why Porzingis became the most efficient post scorer in the league the moment he left Dallas?

[ChipotleWest]

Nobody asked

I don't need you to ask for me to speak my mind. Your team hasn't done anything yet. Porzingis is a choker I have the receipts on that. You'll see.

This is a guy who was supposed to be a #1 guy in New York, traded for peanuts. Then he was asked to just be the #2 in Dallas, traded for peanuts. They traded him for Spencer Dimwiddie who got waived this season.

Right. Now he's a walking mismatch and one of the best post scorers in the game.

You ever wonder why Porzingis became the most efficient post scorer in the league the moment he left Dallas?

When the playoffs is over I'll bump this and I'll either say you were right or you were wrong. I predict him come up small in the playoffs. Just because you can do it in the regular season doesn't mean you automatically do it in the playoffs. 13 ppg in Dallas against the Clippers, he didn't have a problem scoring in Dallas in the regular season where he averaged 20. So was it that he was in Dallas during the playoffs only? Or was it just him? He still averages 20 during the regular season that hasn't changed. He also benefited from being the #3 guy.

The Mavs had a 3-2 lead and lost Game 6 by 7 points. Porzingis gave us 7 points. We had that series if not for him. He may pull a repeat with the Celtics.

[RB34]

I wanna see them choke in the ECF

The salt is real

[dc]

You ever wonder why Porzingis became the most efficient post scorer in the league the moment he left Dallas?

I think it takes longer for an oversized guy like KP to recover from a major injury like an ACL. Add the fact that (at the time of the injury) he was still a young/developing guy even though he had already made the all-star team. He wasn't a really efficient scorer for the Knicks.

Combination of him needing to develop at the same time as recovering from a devastating injury.

[ChipotleWest]

You ever wonder why Porzingis became the most efficient post scorer in the league the moment he left Dallas?

I think it takes longer for an oversized guy like KP to recover from a major injury like an ACL. Add the fact that (at the time of the injury) he was still a young/developing guy even though he had already made the all-star team. He wasn't a really efficient scorer for the Knicks.

Combination of him needing to develop at the same time as recovering from a devastating injury.

His average was 20 in Dallas every season, his average was 20 in Boston. He just came up small in the playoffs for Dallas that's all, had nothing to do with injury.

[zero rings]

I don't need you to ask for me to speak my mind. Your team hasn't done anything yet. Porzingis is a choker I have the receipts on that. You'll see.

This is a guy who was supposed to be a #1 guy in New York, traded for peanuts. Then he was asked to just be the #2 in Dallas, traded for peanuts. They traded him for Spencer Dimwiddie who got waived this season.

Right. Now he's a walking mismatch and one of the best post scorers in the game.

You ever wonder why Porzingis became the most efficient post scorer in the league the moment he left Dallas?

When the playoffs is over I'll bump this and I'll either say you were right or you were wrong. I predict him come up small in the playoffs. Just because you can do it in the regular season doesn't mean you automatically do it in the playoffs. 13 ppg in Dallas against the Clippers, he didn't have a problem scoring in Dallas in the regular season where he averaged 20.

He was worse in Dallas because Luka and Carlise treated him like he was Ryan Anderson. He was misused even in the regular season.

It's hard to shine when your point guard and coach don't trust you to do anything.

[ChipotleWest]

Right. Now he's a walking mismatch and one of the best post scorers in the game.

You ever wonder why Porzingis became the most efficient post scorer in the league the moment he left Dallas?

When the playoffs is over I'll bump this and I'll either say you were right or you were wrong. I predict him come up small in the playoffs. Just because you can do it in the regular season doesn't mean you automatically do it in the playoffs. 13 ppg in Dallas against the Clippers, he didn't have a problem scoring in Dallas in the regular season where he averaged 20.

He was worse in Dallas because Luka and Carlise treated him like he was Ryan Anderson. He was misused even in the regular season.

It's hard to shine when your point guard and coach don't trust you to do anything.

His average for 3 years in Dallas is the same as now.

Dallas
20.4
20.1
19.2

Boston
20.1

[zero rings]

When the playoffs is over I'll bump this and I'll either say you were right or you were wrong. I predict him come up small in the playoffs. Just because you can do it in the regular season doesn't mean you automatically do it in the playoffs. 13 ppg in Dallas against the Clippers, he didn't have a problem scoring in Dallas in the regular season where he averaged 20.

He was worse in Dallas because Luka and Carlise treated him like he was Ryan Anderson. He was misused even in the regular season.

It's hard to shine when your point guard and coach don't trust you to do anything.

His average for 3 years in Dallas is the same as now.

Dallas
20.4
20.1
19.2

Boston
20.1

Are you serious? His TS% is up almost 9 points from where it was in Dallas. If Luka and Carlise actually let him play his game, you guys might have a championship by now.

[AussieCeltic]

the Celtics have been the luckiest and healthiest team for years. Feels like every single year one or more of their playoff opponents is missing a key piece and the Celtics have been able to barely squeak by them. Whenever there's been a level playing field they have failed to make the Finals. This is bar far their most talented roster but already they're getting lucky with the Butler injury and Embiid hobbled. There's no excuse this year. Tatum has to get it done or he's going to be the next KD and Harden and will end up chasing rings by joining super teams.

Tatum severely twisted his ankle against Miami last year dude, in game 7 nonetheless. Miami also shot a historical rate on jumpshots and threes. If anything, the Celtics have been unlucky in that their opponents have caught absolute fire over small sample sizes during conference finals (Heat) and finals series (Warriors).

no doubt bad luck but at least Tatum was healthy until literally game 7 of the ECF. Butler and Lowry were banged up the whole series, Vincent missed a game and Herro (their 3rd leading scorer) and Oladipo didn't play that series at all. To even get to the Warriors the previous season they beat a Bucks team without Middleton (still took them to 7 games) and a Nets team without Harden.

Ok. Let’s look at the Celtics injuries

2022 - Rob not 100%, Tatum not 100% in finals.

Nets: Rob Williams missed 2 games

Bucks: Rob Williams 2 games, Smart 1 game

Heat: Smart 2 games, Rob Williams 1 game, Horford 1 game, White 1 game

2023

Heat - Brogdon injured game 5, missed game 6. Only 7 mins game 7.

Injuries are apart of the game. Some guys (Embiid) are more prone to injuries than others. You can’t say it’s luck. You play who is in front of you.

[ChipotleWest]

He was worse in Dallas because Luka and Carlise treated him like he was Ryan Anderson. He was misused even in the regular season.

It's hard to shine when your point guard and coach don't trust you to do anything.

His average for 3 years in Dallas is the same as now.

Dallas
20.4
20.1
19.2

Boston
20.1

Are you serious? His TS% is up almost 9 points from where it was in Dallas. If Luka and Carlise actually let him play his game, you guys might have a championship by now.

Please that was no championship contending team. Brunson wasn't who he is now he was averaging 8 ppg. We started Boban, Tim Hardaway Jr. was the next best guy, Luka was 21. Plus Porzingis is supposed to score like way more than he ever did? His highest ppg was 22. In Washington he took less shots than Dallas, in Boston even less than Washington. There was one season in New York where he got the most shots he ever took but other than that he took his most shots in Dallas.

You're highly overrating Porzingis. He is now the 3rd guy on a team that is where he belongs because he's not a #1 guy and he's not a #2 guy. Just not good enough. You're putting him as a championship carrying guy he's only played in 10 playoff games for his career.

Not to mention how injury prone is, no guarantee he would have lasted 4 series with Dallas, and there's no guarantee he will last 4 series with Boston.

[zero rings]

His average for 3 years in Dallas is the same as now.

Dallas
20.4
20.1
19.2

Boston
20.1

Are you serious? His TS% is up almost 9 points from where it was in Dallas. If Luka and Carlise actually let him play his game, you guys might have a championship by now.

Please that was no championship contending team. Brunson wasn't who he is now he was averaging 8 ppg. We started Boban, Tim Hardaway Jr. was the next best guy, Luka was 21. Plus Porzingis is supposed to score like way more than he ever did? His highest ppg was 22. In Washington he took less shots than Dallas, in Boston even less than Washington. There was one season in New York where he got the most shots he ever took but other than that he took his most shots in Dallas.

You're highly overrating Porzingis. He is now the 3rd guy on a team that is where he belongs because he's not a #1 guy and he's not a #2 guy. Just not good enough.

So, he's taking less shots and scoring the same amount of points. Sounds like he's better than ever!

Interesting that you bring up Brunson. Here we have another talented player who made an enormous leap the moment he left Dallas.

I think I'm detecting a pattern here.

[ChipotleWest]

Are you serious? His TS% is up almost 9 points from where it was in Dallas. If Luka and Carlise actually let him play his game, you guys might have a championship by now.

Please that was no championship contending team. Brunson wasn't who he is now he was averaging 8 ppg. We started Boban, Tim Hardaway Jr. was the next best guy, Luka was 21. Plus Porzingis is supposed to score like way more than he ever did? His highest ppg was 22. In Washington he took less shots than Dallas, in Boston even less than Washington. There was one season in New York where he got the most shots he ever took but other than that he took his most shots in Dallas.

You're highly overrating Porzingis. He is now the 3rd guy on a team that is where he belongs because he's not a #1 guy and he's not a #2 guy. Just not good enough.

So, he's taking less shots and scoring the same amount of points. Sounds like he's better than ever!

Interesting that you bring up Brunson. Here we have another talented player who made an enormous leap the moment he left Dallas.

I think I'm detecting a pattern here.

Well yeah Luka is a playmaker you don't take the ball out of his hands to give it to Brunson. They were not really a good fit together because both are better with the ball, yet they still made the WCF with a 3rd point guard Dimwiddie as the 3rd best player. Still not sure how they beat the 64 win Suns.

Brunson is a winner that carried the Knicks to the 2 seed, I don't think Porzingis carried the Celtics. That would be Tatum and Brown and Holiday. He had a good season though but he hasn't done it in the playoffs yet. When he does, I'll congratulate him. This thread is just gross congratulating the Celtics who have won nothing saying they're finally going to do it. It's just talk until they deliver.

[GrandTheftRondo]

Not only they are the best team in regular season by a mile…. They are also relatively healthier than other teams…. This is their year

the Celtics have been the luckiest and healthiest team for years. Feels like every single year one or more of their playoff opponents is missing a key piece and the Celtics have been able to barely squeak by them. Whenever there's been a level playing field they have failed to make the Finals. This is bar far their most talented roster but already they're getting lucky with the Butler injury and Embiid hobbled. There's no excuse this year. Tatum has to get it done or he's going to be the next KD and Harden and will end up chasing rings by joining super teams.

Ah yes so lucky in this Brad Stevens era.

Let’s just conveniently ignore Gordon Hayward snapping his leg two minutes into his first season with Boston, followed up by all sorts of other injury issues which have been repeated on here a million times.

WTF are you talking about?

Lucky my ass

[Exp0sed]

One thing about this -- for some reason, people seem to forget that the Celtics were .500 well into that season, and the Warriors were favored in the Finals.

Steph Curry also had an All time great level finals series in 2022. His shooting was like 43.4% from three on 10 attempts per game and that 43.4% INCLUDES a game where he went 0 from 9 from three lol.

Crazy

it's not that crazy
it was an incredible finals performance by Curry, legendary even..but the league average is around 35% and was probably around 34% back then. that includes all the stretch 4's and 5's trying to extend their range, not just high volume shooters or high volume shooting Guards. if you let a random starting NBA guard the green light to jack up 10 3's, ur gonna end up with something around 40% (slightly below) anyway

even if we stick with the league's average 35% we're talking about a difference of 1.5 total PPG, that is 10 3's on 43% vs. 10 3's on 35%
that's not nothing and certainly signficant but let's not get carried away

it's true, the C's were obviously trying their best to avoid giving Curry any space from beyond the arc but let's not forget it cuts both ways and the Dubs were scheming and running actions designed precisely for that purpose - to get Curry some space to operate