Around the League

[Cowology]

You know, I dislike how much everyone overreacts to the home team winning the first two games. Boston just barely beat the Nets at home and now folks have written the Nets off. Congrats to the Celtics for winning those two games, but man, just managing to defend your homecourt does not exactly mean you're on your championship bound way.

Brunson definitely earning a paycheck right now. Still don't know for sure it should be with Detroit.

It's long been said that a series doesn't start until a team loses on their home floor. Super common to see series start 2-0 and then quickly turn to 2-2.

That said, the thing impressive about the Celts is the way they locked down KD/Irving. It had some serious '04 Piston vibes. And the main advantage to playing at home is usually how your role players perform. In the case of the Nets they couldn't shoot much better. Brown, Curry & Dragic are already shooting lights out, so it's hard to imagine them playing any better.

I think the question will be whether Boston is able to continue shooting as well on the road.

I did pick Boston to come outa the East about a month ago though and I'm sticking with it. I started to waver a lil when Lopez got back, but now Middleton is out for a while and that's pretty huge. But I got Phx over the Celts in 6.

[bstein14]

Williams was great for Boston defensively this year its really impressive that they are locking up the Nets without him out there. Boston has the best defense we've seen in a few years for sure. They didn't do it all year because they had a poor start to the season, but from like January forward their defense has been great. Boston had like the 9th or 10th ranked defense at the end of 2021 and in 2022 the last 3.5 months of the season they really stepped it up on defense to be the top ranked in the league.

[Cowology]

Is there some unwritten rule that everybody with the last name Green be a scrappy defender? I'm pretty sure there must be.

[vege]

I have no idea how Minny lost this game, they were leading by 20 almost the entire game. I don't think they'll ever be able to contend with KAT, every time they need him, he disappear.

[tmorgan]

KAT is the anti-Stew. Uber talented with very little heart.

[DBC10]

Is there some unwritten rule that everybody with the last name Green be a scrappy defender? I'm pretty sure there must be.

Yeah that was one of the hardest 37 points Jokic has ever gotten. And that's not a slight to Green for letting him get 37 either. If not for Green, Jokic would've gotten 50. Jokic did not want to back him down at all in the post

[edmunder_prc]

Williams was great for Boston defensively this year its really impressive that they are locking up the Nets without him out there. Boston has the best defense we've seen in a few years for sure. They didn't do it all year because they had a poor start to the season, but from like January forward their defense has been great. Boston had like the 9th or 10th ranked defense at the end of 2021 and in 2022 the last 3.5 months of the season they really stepped it up on defense to be the top ranked in the league.

BOS gets really physical and doesn't get called for a lot of stuff. I was surprised to see many slight fouls called on the Nets and Boston would be slapping guys arms, looking for steals and no calls.

I hate that kind of reffing, just make the rules the same for each side, but Boston has a reputation as a scrappy defense so they dont get called as much.

[Pharaoh]

We need to get to the point that Boston is at - there's the blueprint.

What they're doing defensively in the modern game is insane, especially without Robert Williams.

And it's not even the results they've got - if you watch games they are all over Durant at all times making everything uncomfortable for him.

As much as I'd like to see the Celtics lose - old hatred dies hard - the way they play...would never complain if we played that way

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[Snakebites]

You know, I dislike how much everyone overreacts to the home team winning the first two games. Boston just barely beat the Nets at home and now folks have written the Nets off. Congrats to the Celtics for winning those two games, but man, just managing to defend your homecourt does not exactly mean you're on your championship bound way.

Brunson definitely earning a paycheck right now. Still don't know for sure it should be with Detroit.

A team that goes up 2-0 in a seven game series in the NBA wins 92.4% of the time.

Sure, that 7.6% chance exists and those few counterexamples weigh more heavily into the narrative than their statistical significance, but more than 9 times out of 10 if you go down 2-0 you're losing the series.

[Cowology]

I feel dirty even saying it... but I like watching Boston play. I'm happy they are winning.

Tatum with 6 steals tonight to go along with his 39 pts.

[Pharaoh]

I feel dirty even saying it... but I like watching Boston play. I'm happy they are winning.

Tatum with 6 steals tonight to go along with his 39 pts.

They're a next level defensive team man - long, switchable, almost every dude in the rotation can guard.

Williams × 2
Horford
Tatum
Brown
Smart

That's 6 really good dudes then just have 3 & D dudes around them.

Hopefully this Draft we get Cade his running mate, free agency brings another stud and we rolling:

Stewart, Bags, KO
Grant, Bey, Livers
Cade, Hayes

Plus the rook and FA and we MIGHT be on the up and up real quick



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[Cowology]

Steph Curry just doing Steph Curry things here in the 4th. He's absolutely abusing Jokic in the pnr.

[DBC10]

Say what you want about the Sixers and Harden but at the very least he shows up to play which is huge of in itself. Ben Simmons keeps calling in sick every time they try to get him active

Harden at least showed up, even when he had a pulled hammy last post season, he still played with one leg just due to how thin their backcourt was. BS doesn't have the same motor nor the mentality to do that

Morey won the trade and it's almost solely due to the fact that they won't have to deal with the Simmons he said she said nonsense anymore

[kierkegaard]

CP3 is a chump, made more so by the fact that he's presented via commercials, etc as such a cool guy. Very nice to see the young Pelican rooks standing up to him.

btw, he started the whole Herbet Jones exchange with a cheap shot on an out of bounds play clearly intended to goad Jones into a retaliation. After that Jones wouldn't back down while resisting the temptation to retaliate with a cheap shot of his own.

I hate entitled players at any level!

Ok, Zen breath, Zen breath, entitled players do so much to distract from the true joy of the game. Very unfortunate.

[DBC10]

CP3 is a chump, made more so by the fact that he's presented via commercials, etc as such a cool guy. Very nice to see the young Pelican rooks standing up to him.

btw, he started the whole Herbet Jones exchange with a cheap shot on an out of bounds play clearly intended to goad Jones into a retaliation. After that Jones wouldn't back down while resisting the temptation to retaliate with a cheap shot of his own.

I hate entitled players at any level!

Ok, Zen breath, Zen breath, entitled players do so much to distract from the true joy of the game. Very unfortunate.

He's always been a flopper and one of the most annoying small guard stars the league has seen. Seeing Jose and Herb dismantle their offense and rattle them back is pretty good Schadenfreude as an outsider looking in

[Cowology]

LOL @ New Jersey getting swept.

[vege]

LOL @ New Jersey getting swept.

Feels good, now all I need is to see Philly eliminated and I will be happy.

[DBC10]

Getting swept while KD was playing over 42 minutes a night has to be a nightmare. They have no bench and relying on KD that much at his age is not going to end well

Really don't know where they go from here

[Cowology]

KD I kinda waffle on. I respect the hell outa him as a player and even though he's boring I generally like his interviews. He's pretty respectful and gives credit where it's due. I liked how he handled Bruce Brown talking nonsense by immediately shutting it down. That's actually good leadership from your Superstar.

That said, I think he's kinda a weak ass b---- for joining the W's and then he tried to pull a LeBron and build his own Super Team in BKN, so I'm happy to see that blow up.

But Irving?? Dude might be a top 5 talent in the league but I wouldn't want him anywhere near my team. He's a friggin' diva. Delusional, entitled, etc. Listening to him talk after the sweep; "When I say I'm here with Kev, that entails us managing this franchise together -- alongside Joe and Sean," ... I mean... wow lol. What a jackass. You couldn't even be bothered to show up for half the games and now you wanna talk about your role managing the franchise? If I were one of his teammates I'd be telling him to F-off.

[Pharaoh]

Throw in Ben Simmons not playing a single minute and you have to wonder if KD regrets leaving GS.

Going to be a interesting off-season for them


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