Postseason Thread 2022, ECFinals Version 1.0

AirP. · Post #101 » by **AirP.** » Thu May 19, 2022 1:54 pm

It's going to be a sad day when he retires (which he's mentioned happening in the next couple of years).

MHeat0279 · Post #102 » by **MHeat0279** » Thu May 19, 2022 2:02 pm

greg4012 wrote:
MHeat0279 wrote:
greg4012 wrote:The Celtics are going to reinforce their few defensive holes whenever Smart and Horford return. We will need to test each vigorously to make sure they're in proper form. In addition, I'm starting to think we're well served hunting Robert Williams and going straight at him. He is most impactful when he can reside near the baseline simultaneously playing a triangular area to serve as off-ball rim protection, corner 3 point contesting and elbow 3s.

We need to negate that off-ball rim protection by getting him on the ball and testing his play in space. I know he's a guy that has good feet to defend on switches and use his length to recover. But, the playoffs is the time where a big man caught in space needs to be better than good to keep up. Plus, if he has residual issues from his meniscus tear, that is more likely to be exploited by making him defend on the ball in space rather than being able to wreak havoc as an off-ball rim protector.

How do you think we will fair with Hortford and Smart from a strategic standpoint?

Tough to say. A couple thoughts:

Smart's return should result in Pritchard's minutes disappearing. Offensively, that means less reliable open 3 point shooting but more ball handling support (any Pritchard 3 pointer being replaced by a Smart 3 pointer is a win for us). A lot of our 2nd half defensive success came from attacking the ball handlers earlier and exploiting the fact that Boston only has 2-3 ballhandlers on the floor at a time. Defensively, Smart is a clear upgrade that will take away matchup hunting. I hope we have solutions for that.

Horford will likely mean Theis losing minutes. Horford will provide benefit on both sides as well as a release valve when the offense gets stuck. He's a hub that can help move the ball side to side. Defensively, he's the glue and a QB for the defense. I think we need to attack him with our speedier guys.

Definitely more challenges ahead.

Lets see, Smart can shoot you out of games too, it all depends. The only player i saw dominate on our side was Jimmy, and for the first half Herro kept us in the game. We definitely need to find holes in Boston's defense because they do look dominant with their defense and i am worried about are offensive stagnation sometimes.

greg4012 · Post #103 » by **greg4012** » Thu May 19, 2022 2:26 pm

MHeat0279 wrote:
greg4012 wrote:
MHeat0279 wrote:
How do you think we will fair with Hortford and Smart from a strategic standpoint?

Tough to say. A couple thoughts:

Smart's return should result in Pritchard's minutes disappearing. Offensively, that means less reliable open 3 point shooting but more ball handling support (any Pritchard 3 pointer being replaced by a Smart 3 pointer is a win for us). A lot of our 2nd half defensive success came from attacking the ball handlers earlier and exploiting the fact that Boston only has 2-3 ballhandlers on the floor at a time. Defensively, Smart is a clear upgrade that will take away matchup hunting. I hope we have solutions for that.

Horford will likely mean Theis losing minutes. Horford will provide benefit on both sides as well as a release valve when the offense gets stuck. He's a hub that can help move the ball side to side. Defensively, he's the glue and a QB for the defense. I think we need to attack him with our speedier guys.

Definitely more challenges ahead.

Lets see, Smart can shoot you out of games too, it all depends. The only player i saw dominate on our side was Jimmy, and for the first half Herro kept us in the game. We definitely need to find holes in Boston's defense because they do look dominant with their defense and i am worried about are offensive stagnation sometimes.

Yup, I really don't think Smart adds net benefit to their offense relative to what we see. The holes in the defense will become minimized though.

I'm suspicious of Smart being fully healthy even if he plays. Feet sprains are tricky and he's barely resting it if he plays tonight. Maybe he'll got shot up, but that will do him no favors as the series goes on. We definitely need to test him.

We're not the only team with concerns of offensive stagnation. THese are 2 very legit defenses.

al bondiga · Post #104 » by **al bondiga** » Thu May 19, 2022 2:51 pm

greg4012 wrote:
al bondiga wrote:miami is a very solid thing as it is... we are not better than in the bubble...80% of what we were that year...but are competition is eliminating itself...yes!!! We are more patient

We're better than the bubble squad

think about it...
younger determined Butler, bam looked like a future Superstar, same as hero and Robinson going of, nunn Unstoppable, dragic...etc etc

bubble competition was 10 times better and we had an important element no crowds distractions, we gel...okay it's not a normal environment
( if you take that into consideration, this team is good, but our competition compared to the one in the bubble...

greg4012 · Post #105 » by **greg4012** » Thu May 19, 2022 3:12 pm

al bondiga wrote:
greg4012 wrote:
al bondiga wrote:miami is a very solid thing as it is... we are not better than in the bubble...80% of what we were that year...but are competition is eliminating itself...yes!!! We are more patient

We're better than the bubble squad

think about it...
younger determined Butler, bam looked like a future Superstar, same as hero and Robinson going of, nunn Unstoppable, dragic...etc etc

bubble competition was 10 times better and we had an important element no crowds distractions, we gel...okay it's not a normal environment
( if you take that into consideration, this team is good, but our competition compared to the one in the bubble...

Full disagree

Our defense is an entirely different specimen and we're more cohesive and adaptable offensively

IceColdCubano · Post #106 » by **IceColdCubano** » Thu May 19, 2022 3:41 pm

Smart being back is gonna slow Jimmy down a bit, he may not be 40point jimmy he could still go for 25-30 with lots of effort. We will need Bam, Dipo, Herro to make up the difference, we also need another playmaker next to jimmy in the starting lineup so Smart can't completely go 1v1 with Jimmy without having to help and switch on another difference maker shot maker.

3ammy3uck3ts · Post #107 » by **3ammy3uck3ts** » Thu May 19, 2022 3:45 pm

Smart will help them but not as much as a healthy Lowry would help us. It’s funny to me how the media isn’t even mentioning that.

Smart is a fraudulent DPOY btw, we all know Bam is the best defender in the world but the media had to give it to a Celtics player because they had the best defense. They still managed to screw it up by not giving it to their best defender in Rob Williams lol. They were pushing that first guard to win it since Payton narrative super hard

al bondiga · Post #108 » by **al bondiga** » Thu May 19, 2022 4:14 pm

greg4012 wrote:
al bondiga wrote:
greg4012 wrote:
We're better than the bubble squad

think about it...
younger determined Butler, bam looked like a future Superstar, same as hero and Robinson going of, nunn Unstoppable, dragic...etc etc

bubble competition was 10 times better and we had an important element no crowds distractions, we gel...okay it's not a normal environment
( if you take that into consideration, this team is good, but our competition compared to the one in the bubble...

Full disagree

Our defense is an entirely different specimen and we're more cohesive and adaptable offensively

I'll give you that, we are a more cohesive defensive team and our maturity level has risen... but I don't think as much as our offense has fallen

MHeat0279 · Post #109 » by **MHeat0279** » Thu May 19, 2022 4:19 pm

Man it would be nice to have one of those games cooking from 3

twix2500 · Post #110 » by **twix2500** » Thu May 19, 2022 8:56 pm

MHeat0279 wrote:Man it would be nice to have one of those games cooking from 3

I don't. I hop we sweep the Celtics without hitting one three. Just to make tv commentators brains explode

3ballbomber · Post #111 » by **3ballbomber** » Fri May 20, 2022 5:16 am

You know Bam is f*ckin' up when Eric Reid has had enough....Herro too. The criticism is validated. Do better Bam. You're robbing Miami.

Read on Twitter

Post #112 » by **Wiltside** » Fri May 20, 2022 5:28 am

Can’t argue with Eric there. Jimmy been doing everything and those 2 need to lift.

3ballbomber · Post #113 » by **3ballbomber** » Fri May 20, 2022 5:38 am

Wiltside wrote:Can’t argue with Eric there. Jimmy been doing everything and those 2 need to lift.

Read on Twitter

Slot Machine · Post #114 » by **Slot Machine** » Fri May 20, 2022 5:43 am

3ballbomber wrote:You know Bam is f*ckin' up when Eric Reid has had enough....Herro too. The criticism is validated. Do better Bam. You're robbing Miami.

Read on Twitter

Wow, E. Reid laying it down. Great takes.

3ballbomber · Post #115 » by **3ballbomber** » Fri May 20, 2022 9:18 am

Cute kid. but we bout to destroy daddy in your home lil buddy :nod:

Best bring your iPad & watch some Blippi.

Read on Twitter

BaffLer · Post #116 » by **BaffLer** » Fri May 20, 2022 9:32 am

3ballbomber wrote:You know Bam is f*ckin' up when Eric Reid has had enough....Herro too. The criticism is validated. Do better Bam. You're robbing Miami.

Read on Twitter

Eric Reid being all kinds of professional. You can tell he just wanted to yell and say how he really felt about Bam and Herro's performances so far. But he kept it tame.

HeatingUp3 · Post #117 » by **HeatingUp3** » Fri May 20, 2022 9:40 am

Bam and Herro got exposed last night. If they won't show up and help us get a win in Boston we are not coming back from a 3-1 hole. If that's the case then their time in Miami might be over soon.

BaffLer · Post #118 » by **BaffLer** » Fri May 20, 2022 9:49 am

Decided to look at my posts from last year during our series with the Bucks and it seems nothing has changed. :lol:

BaffLer wrote:Bam needs to stop playing like wet tissue paper and grow a pair. We keep saying it's "time" for Bam to take it to the next level. Welp, I'm just about done waiting on it. This is his 3rd playoff appearance in his career. He even has a Finals appearance under his belt. He shouldn't need to have Butler baby him to make quick decisions. Not trying to give Butler a pass on this, though. He also played like doo-doo.

Split these road games and Bucks will get nervous. Go down 0-2 and we're cooked.

BaffLer wrote:Bam playing like a bitch quite honestly.

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2083841&p=91005473#p91005473

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2082239&p=90979310#p90979310

Shootit · Post #119 » by **Shootit** » Fri May 20, 2022 10:12 am

Seems like Bam may be that guy that never takes that last step to being a consistent force at PF/C.
He played well pre-contract and while he's not on the Hassan Whiteside level he sort of stopped playing with that consistent passion/hustle that got him that big deal.

Herro isn't worth anywhere near the max with his consistency.

Tough night for sports in S. FL.

3ballbomber · Post #120 » by **3ballbomber** » Fri May 20, 2022 10:13 am

BaffLer wrote:
3ballbomber wrote:You know Bam is f*ckin' up when Eric Reid has had enough....Herro too. The criticism is validated. Do better Bam. You're robbing Miami.

Read on Twitter

Eric Reid being all kinds of professional. You can tell he just wanted to yell and say how he really felt about Bam and Herro's performances so far. But he kept it tame.

Both Bam & Herro have been asked the question. How will they now both respond in gm3 in Boston!

Bam specifically has been criticised entire PO's. The frustration has even reached Reid to come out & challenge Bam. He didn't mince his words - was direct & specific. Will Bam respond, dig deep & deliver a performance he's capable of!