Finally, this is the year for Celtics

Petergrifindor · Post #41 » by **Petergrifindor** » Thu Apr 18, 2024 6:58 pm

They are my favorites too.

Very good team, in a weaker conference.

It's in their hands.

Bank Shot · Post #42 » by **Bank Shot** » Thu Apr 18, 2024 7:07 pm

It should be. They were about as dominant during the regular season as the 2017 Warriors were. Anything less than a title should be considered a major flop.

ChipotleWest · Post #43 » by **ChipotleWest** » Thu Apr 18, 2024 7:24 pm

Bank Shot wrote:It should be. They were about as dominant during the regular season as the 2017 Warriors were. Anything less than a title should be considered a major flop.

2022 Suns also won 64 games and lost in the second round. I'm not sure if Celtics are made of tougher stuff. Holiday is, not sure about the other guys.

nbafan38 · Post #44 » by **nbafan38** » Thu Apr 18, 2024 8:16 pm

The path to the ECF is certainly soft (banged up 8th seed and then either banged up cavaliers or inexperienced magic). Maybe they get challenged in the ECF.

nbafan38 · Post #45 » by **nbafan38** » Thu Apr 18, 2024 8:17 pm

Johnny Bball wrote:
LeBronSpaghetti wrote:They have perhaps the easiest path to the finals of any team in NBA history. Especially so now that Jimmy is out.

Nah. That was every Lebron Cavs team in the 2010's.

Agree this is nothing new for the east yet I still don't see the celtics team as much a lock to get out of the east as Lebrons cavs/heat were.

Exp0sed · Post #46 » by **Exp0sed** » Thu Apr 18, 2024 8:31 pm

yes, this is their year
Tatum and Brown had their finals baptism and lost to an inferior, hugely successful and experienced yet aging and over the hill team

Miami and their curse might have been the toughest matchup for them (even though lightning rarely strikes twice) and they are now out of contention with Butler out

Giannis is out, so they don't have to face Giannis and Dame (Indy will make quick work of the Bucks)
76ers and Knicks are their only semi challenging matchups in the East (at least if we don't include the young Magic team, the C's kryptonite) and those two are set to face off against each other, so Boston only needs to get past one of the two

it's kind of ideal tbh
maybe the Hawks players prefer cancun over a sure sweep from the C's, which woud have them facing the Butler less Heat in the first and even if not, Hawks and C's are many tieres apart as teams

meanwhile, the West is an historically stacked blood bath
the Nuggets who are considered the favorite to come out of the West, have a very tough matchup against a very hot Lakers team. tho I expect the Nuggets to prevail - that's your WCF of last season, teams are similar but now they are facing each other in the first round!

any team in the West is going to have to go through grueling battles, while the C's can sleep walk to the finals as they have been sleepwalking all rs

this is def their year, KP's health is always a question mark but honestly the C's can afford to manage his mins probably till the finals, meanwhile whoever comes out of the West is going to come out bruised, fatigued or even drained

ryguy613 · Post #47 » by **ryguy613** » Thu Apr 18, 2024 8:35 pm

TinmanZBoy wrote: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

they should breeze through the east, but i dont buy them as the best team in the league. The West was insanely stacked this season. The East was not. Depending on who makes it out of the West, I would probably take them over the Celtics.

Cubbies2120 · Post #48 » by **Cubbies2120** » Thu Apr 18, 2024 8:38 pm

Special_Puppy wrote:
UcanUwill wrote:I still trust Denver more, still think Boston will have it harder in the East than how it's being painted for them.

Their path is easy compared to the Nuggets.

Yes, their path is much easier than Nuggets, but the Nuggets have the greatest player since Jordan who was #BUILT for this.

If Nuggets win the title, it'll be the greatest carry job ever by Jokic.

ScrantonBulls · Post #49 » by **ScrantonBulls** » Thu Apr 18, 2024 8:49 pm

ChipotleWest wrote:
Bank Shot wrote:It should be. They were about as dominant during the regular season as the 2017 Warriors were. Anything less than a title should be considered a major flop.

2022 Suns also won 64 games and lost in the second round. I'm not sure if Celtics are made of tougher stuff. Holiday is, not sure about the other guys.

This is the high level insight I come here for. We just don't know if the Celtics players have enough tough stuff.

dc · Post #50 » by dc » Thu Apr 18, 2024 8:50 pm

Bank Shot wrote:It should be. They were about as dominant during the regular season as the 2017 Warriors were. Anything less than a title should be considered a major flop.

I wouldn't say that. I'd say anything less than winning the East is a flop.

Their biggest problem right now is Jokic in the Finals, so it's hardly an automatic.

KamikazeK · Post #51 » by **KamikazeK** » Thu Apr 18, 2024 8:55 pm

Charlesareed wrote:If they don’t win it all this season then it’s time to trade Jaylen brown

Nah, if they fail,it'll be a coaching issue. We'd need to find someone who isn't a guy off the street to lead the team's coaching staff.

SFour · Post #52 » by **SFour** » Thu Apr 18, 2024 8:55 pm

Nuggets were my team at the start of the season to win the championship....even if they don't my other prediction is that it will be a Western team (Clippers if they stay healthy).

Celtics got an easy road to the finals though...they've been knocking on the door of a championship for awhile so this could be the season. When you keep making it to the ECF and finals it's inevitable you eventually win it.

PedroFlu · Post #53 » by **PedroFlu** » Thu Apr 18, 2024 8:55 pm

I have a hard time deciding who would win a series between Celtics and Nuggets. But I think the likelihood Dever doesnt even make it, or makes it banged up is big.

I really think Celtics will stroll to finals and will handily beat the West to win it all. Good time to bet on them. Whats the odds they win it all?

dc · Post #54 » by dc » Thu Apr 18, 2024 9:19 pm

PedroFlu wrote:I have a hard time deciding who would win a series between Celtics and Nuggets. But I think the likelihood Dever doesnt even make it, or makes it banged up is big.

I really think Celtics will stroll to finals and will handily beat the West to win it all. Good time to bet on them. Whats the odds they win it all?

Definitely whoever makes it out of the West is going to be more tired, and it could be factor.

Celts were definitely the more worn out team in 2022, not only because they had a tougher playoff road to the Finals than the Warriors, but because they wore themselves out in the 2nd half of the regular season making up for the 1st half, when they had a lot of missed player games due to injury/COVID. Sure, they were red hot in the 2nd half, but they kind of had to go balls out for an extended period. They never cruised like they did pretty much all this season.

People forget that, at one point fairly deep into the 1st half of the season, they were behind the Hornets in the standings.

Bank Shot · Post #55 » by **Bank Shot** » Thu Apr 18, 2024 9:28 pm

dc wrote:
Bank Shot wrote:It should be. They were about as dominant during the regular season as the 2017 Warriors were. Anything less than a title should be considered a major flop.

I wouldn't say that. I'd say anything less than winning the East is a flop.

Their biggest problem right now is Jokic in the Finals, so it's hardly an automatic.

They were a 10.75 SRS team this season despite resting KP and Horford during B2Bs all year long and rotating their top six in and out of the lineup over the last month of the season. That mark was good for fifth all time. All four teams above them and the now sixth-placed 96/97 Bulls got it done. The Celtics played like an all-time team during the regular season. When you do that, the bar should be as high as it goes.

ChipotleWest · Post #56 » by **ChipotleWest** » Thu Apr 18, 2024 9:54 pm

Cubbies2120 wrote:
Special_Puppy wrote:
UcanUwill wrote:I still trust Denver more, still think Boston will have it harder in the East than how it's being painted for them.

Their path is easy compared to the Nuggets.

Yes, their path is much easier than Nuggets, but the Nuggets have the greatest player since Jordan who was #BUILT for this.

If Nuggets win the title, it'll be the greatest carry job ever by Jokic.

Talk about hyperbole, Jokic has one ring and his team didn't have to face a seed above #4 last year, including two #8 seeds and a #7 seed. Seed wise that's the easiest path to a championship in NBA history. You can argue the Lakers were better than their seed or whatever but it wasn't some historical run. How about let him win this one at least before making some crazy Jordan comparison?

ReddoverKobe · Post #57 » by **ReddoverKobe** » Thu Apr 18, 2024 11:00 pm

The-Stallion70 wrote:
ReddoverKobe wrote:
The-Stallion70 wrote:
Jrue is not guarding Embiid in the playoffs any time soon.

Nor is smart, so I have no idea why you would bring that up lol

Because he did, kiddo.

RB34 · Post #58 » by **RB34** » Thu Apr 18, 2024 11:13 pm

LeBronSpaghetti wrote:They have perhaps the easiest path to the finals of any team in NBA history. Especially so now that Jimmy is out.

Going through the Jeff Teague led Hawks must have been real hard for LeBron.

myronbolitar · Post #59 » by **myronbolitar** » Thu Apr 18, 2024 11:34 pm

Exp0sed wrote:yes, this is their year
Tatum and Brown had their finals baptism and lost to an inferior, hugely successful and experienced yet aging and over the hill team

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.

Fencer reregistered · Post #60 » by **Fencer reregistered** » Thu Apr 18, 2024 11:48 pm

The-Stallion70 wrote:
ReddoverKobe wrote:
The-Stallion70 wrote:It really is theirs to lose this year.

When Tatum got hurt in the game 7 against against Miami last year and couldn't handle the offensive load any more and the C's found out that Jaylen Brown couldn't carry them in Tatum's absence, they went out and addressed the need for a guy who can create shots in the halfcourt and got KP while also addressing the need for interior defense.

I still can't believe they went and replaced Smart with Jrue Holiday, a guy who's almost as good as a defender and is a better overall player anyway.

"Oh we lost the heart of the team"

Yea but you replaced him with another all star so..

Jrue is a much better defender.

Jrue is not guarding Embiid in the playoffs any time soon.

He probably will, if the Sixers make it to the ECF.