Eastern Conference | Round 1 | (2) Boston Celtics vs. (7) Brooklyn Nets

[GiannisAnte34]

Let me understand this. You're admitting the Bucks "forced" the Celtics to play a legit team, while the Bucks, as you say chose to skate. The defending champs make a conscious decision to avoid playing someone may be a strategy but a bad look.

In the end if it helps the Bucks win a Championship, nobody is going to remember or care that they sat players for the final game. They did earn the ability to choose that destiny by beating Boston, Brooklyn, and Philly to end the season

Well, they won't be up there with Rudy Tomjonovich's "never underestimate the heart of a champion" LOL, but sure if they repeat........not many will remember. There was at least a little chatter to allow the team that earned the tiebreaker the choice in the future. That would be wild and fun.
There is also absolutely a scenario where people will remember the Bucks decision for a long time. Celtics are fortunate enough to beat the Nets. They then get to set the tone with first two games in Boston against the Bucks. Game 7 in Boston. 100% people will remember if Celts beat the Bucks in round 2.
If

Celtics had a lot of familiar names and faces on that team that got spanked 4-1. Regular season switching defensive scheme is very effective if you have the personnel to run it. The problem with the Celtics is their coach never experimented with other things, if they get punched in the mouth with their plan A they could easily flail out.

[danvato]

Who says all night? If Ben plays in the 4th, we have a ton of players on the bench to foul him. It’s not like KD gets to the line that much anyways, same with kyrie. Also most teams gets into the penalty anyways. Plus good luck with your horrible bench. You might need to play KD and Kyrie 40 plus mins for you to have a decent chance. Not sure they would hold up till the end of the series. Plus with Ben playing, i like our chances playing 4 v 5, coz ben is as useless on offense as a scorers table lol.

Thats a weird take. Kind of shows you don't know what you're talking about.

There is not "might need to play KD and kyrie 40+ min" they ARE playing 40 and have been most of the year. There is zero problem with this, it's the play-offs.

It's weird that you don't see why playing injury prone guys 40mpg and absolutely needing that to win every game is not good.

ok then, i look forward you celtics giving their star players rest days in the play-offs.

[KIRAG]

Also, please stop calling each other homers you guys. It's not the most egregious insult in the world but when you're saying it to insult and dismiss the other person, yes it counts as an insult and borders on a personal attack. And regardless of forum guidelines, I think most of the people enjoying this thread would really like it to not become a middle school locker room. Thx.

meme upgrade

[reload141]

Its not "we may have won."

We were winning the series. We were the far better team.

And the Celtics were basically .500 all year despite having Brown/Tatum/Williams healthy for most of the season. Nets with KD this year had the #1 seed in the East.

Kemba isn't even good so pretending that made a big difference is comical.

Completely different from the Bucks series. We had a higher seed and were winning by far till Kyrie got undercut by Giannis.

Ok so you're blinded by homerism then. Good to know which posters to avoid

Im blinded by homerism yet youre acting like the .500 Celtics had any shot beating the Nets last year?

The team that was an inch away from beating the reigning Champions.

Stop projecting. Only homer here is you.

Why the hell are you talking about last year?

You've gone off your rocker mate.

No one cares.

[Pachinko_]

Funny you say that when they literally did that with Harden last year and it worked perfectly.

Both KD/Kyrie play better off ball.

you got me, I have no recollection of them 3 being simultaneously healthy

[sam_I_am]

The Nets were definitely a better team than the Celts a year ago when they beat us.

Our starting lineup last season was Tatum, Brown, Kemba, Fournier and Tristan Thompson lol. Brown was injured and didn't play vs Nets, and Kemba sucked and was ruled out a couple games in. Rob was also injured for that series. Meanwhile the Nets had KD, Ky and Harden all healthy and playing, as well as a better supporting cast than they have now.

I don't really get C's fans who won't admit the Nets were the better team a year ago. Tatum's main healthy sidekick was Evan Fournier lmao.

I also don't get why Nets fans keep bragging about it as if it has any impact on this series. It's two vastly different teams.

Of course the Nets were better last year. They were also a second round elimination last year and a play in this year. Let’s not pretend they are something they are not.

This is Year 3 of the super team experiment and they had to play in to be a 7 seed. Has a super team ever performed worse in NBA history?

[Hello Brooklyn]

The Nets were definitely a better team than the Celts a year ago when they beat us.

Our starting lineup last season was Tatum, Brown, Kemba, Fournier and Tristan Thompson lol. Brown was injured and didn't play vs Nets, and Kemba sucked and was ruled out a couple games in. Rob was also injured for that series. Meanwhile the Nets had KD, Ky and Harden all healthy and playing, as well as a better supporting cast than they have now.

I don't really get C's fans who won't admit the Nets were the better team a year ago. Tatum's main healthy sidekick was Evan Fournier lmao.

I also don't get why Nets fans keep bragging about it as if it has any impact on this series. It's two vastly different teams.

Of course the Nets were better last year. They were also a second round elimination last year and a play in this year. Let’s not pretend they are something they are not.

This is Year 3 of the super team experiment and they had to play in to be a 7 seed. Has a super team ever performed worse in NBA history?

Completely disingenuous.

They were a "second round exit" after losing Kyrie and basically Harden to injury.

And they played better against the Bucks than any other team.

This year they had the best record in the East when KD played. And basically fell off a cliff when KD got hurt and Harden decided to quit.

Injuries have been the biggest issue for the Nets. Not talent.

What other Super Team basically never got a chance to play together? Its never happened,

[Triple7]

Good luck hacking Ben all night, putting yourself over the limit and then putting KD/Kyrie on the line who both shoot 90%. I'm sure it will work out great.

Who says all night? If Ben plays in the 4th, we have a ton of players on the bench to foul him. It’s not like KD gets to the line that much anyways, same with kyrie. Also most teams gets into the penalty anyways. Plus good luck with your horrible bench. You might need to play KD and Kyrie 40 plus mins for you to have a decent chance. Not sure they would hold up till the end of the series. Plus with Ben playing, i like our chances playing 4 v 5, coz ben is as useless on offense as a scorers table lol.

The Celtics bench is good?

I'll take Patty Mills and Claxton over anyone on your bench.

Patty Mills and Claxton??? You have got to be kidding me. Lol big NO!

[Hello Brooklyn]

Who says all night? If Ben plays in the 4th, we have a ton of players on the bench to foul him. It’s not like KD gets to the line that much anyways, same with kyrie. Also most teams gets into the penalty anyways. Plus good luck with your horrible bench. You might need to play KD and Kyrie 40 plus mins for you to have a decent chance. Not sure they would hold up till the end of the series. Plus with Ben playing, i like our chances playing 4 v 5, coz ben is as useless on offense as a scorers table lol.

The Celtics bench is good?

I'll take Patty Mills and Claxton over anyone on your bench.

Patty Mills and Claxton??? You have got to be kidding me. Lol big NO!

LOL Payton Prichard. Just stop.

[ajones9219]

The Nets were definitely a better team than the Celts a year ago when they beat us.

Our starting lineup last season was Tatum, Brown, Kemba, Fournier and Tristan Thompson lol. Brown was injured and didn't play vs Nets, and Kemba sucked and was ruled out a couple games in. Rob was also injured for that series. Meanwhile the Nets had KD, Ky and Harden all healthy and playing, as well as a better supporting cast than they have now.

I don't really get C's fans who won't admit the Nets were the better team a year ago. Tatum's main healthy sidekick was Evan Fournier lmao.

I also don't get why Nets fans keep bragging about it as if it has any impact on this series. It's two vastly different teams.

Of course the Nets were better last year. They were also a second round elimination last year and a play in this year. Let’s not pretend they are something they are not.

This is Year 3 of the super team experiment and they had to play in to be a 7 seed. Has a super team ever performed worse in NBA history?

Completely disingenuous.

They were a "second round exit" after losing Kyrie and basically Harden to injury.

And they played better against the Bucks than any other team.

This year they had the best record in the East when KD played. And basically fell off a cliff when KD got hurt and Harden decided to quit.

Injuries have been the biggest issue for the Nets. Not talent.

What other Super Team basically never got a chance to play together? Its never happened,

Availability is an ability itself. One of the big reasons a lot of teams don't want Kyrie on top of the off the court stuff.

The Nets with KD and Kyrie and no harden have beaten a lot of teams that are out of the playoffs and gone around .500 against playoff teams.

[Triple7]

Who says all night? If Ben plays in the 4th, we have a ton of players on the bench to foul him. It’s not like KD gets to the line that much anyways, same with kyrie. Also most teams gets into the penalty anyways. Plus good luck with your horrible bench. You might need to play KD and Kyrie 40 plus mins for you to have a decent chance. Not sure they would hold up till the end of the series. Plus with Ben playing, i like our chances playing 4 v 5, coz ben is as useless on offense as a scorers table lol.

Thats a weird take. Kind of shows you don't know what you're talking about.

There is not "might need to play KD and kyrie 40+ min" they ARE playing 40 and have been most of the year. There is zero problem with this, it's the play-offs.

Oh ok i forgot KD is still on his 20’s and can play intense ball for 40 plus mins haha. Goodluck with that. He’s been showing signs of fatigue in the latter part of the regular season, just because he needed to play big mins to get to the play-in. Not saying he can’t play big mins, but it takes a toll on the body. Good luck running your guys to ground haha.

[sam_I_am]

The Nets were definitely a better team than the Celts a year ago when they beat us.

Our starting lineup last season was Tatum, Brown, Kemba, Fournier and Tristan Thompson lol. Brown was injured and didn't play vs Nets, and Kemba sucked and was ruled out a couple games in. Rob was also injured for that series. Meanwhile the Nets had KD, Ky and Harden all healthy and playing, as well as a better supporting cast than they have now.

I don't really get C's fans who won't admit the Nets were the better team a year ago. Tatum's main healthy sidekick was Evan Fournier lmao.

I also don't get why Nets fans keep bragging about it as if it has any impact on this series. It's two vastly different teams.

Of course the Nets were better last year. They were also a second round elimination last year and a play in this year. Let’s not pretend they are something they are not.

This is Year 3 of the super team experiment and they had to play in to be a 7 seed. Has a super team ever performed worse in NBA history?

Completely disingenuous.

They were a "second round exit" after losing Kyrie and basically Harden to injury.

And they played better against the Bucks than any other team.

This year they had the best record in the East when KD played. And basically fell off a cliff when KD got hurt and Harden decided to quit.

Injuries have been the biggest issue for the Nets. Not talent.

What other Super Team basically never got a chance to play together? Its never happened,

Excuses. 3 years together and 1 playoff win against a 0.500 team. Put up or shut up. No one cried for the Boston Celtics when KG got hurt. They still went to ECF by the way.

[Triple7]

The Celtics bench is good?

I'll take Patty Mills and Claxton over anyone on your bench.

Patty Mills and Claxton??? You have got to be kidding me. Lol big NO!

LOL Payton Prichard. Just stop.

Patty Mills can’t even play regular minutes haha. Look at your **** bench. Aldridge, griffin can’t even sniff time. You are relying on small ball patty mills and dragic for your bench??? Who else is there? Don’t tell me Ben Simmons?!! Haha get real man!
No wonder KD/Kyrie plays 40 plus mins. You don’t have anyone on the bench! Now if you ask them to play some D, definitely takes a toll on their offense in the 4th.

[PierceFan4ever]

Love watching KD play and wished he got his revenge against the bucks and other teams, just sad he has to get bounced in the first round

[Triple7]

Thats a weird take. Kind of shows you don't know what you're talking about.

There is not "might need to play KD and kyrie 40+ min" they ARE playing 40 and have been most of the year. There is zero problem with this, it's the play-offs.

It's weird that you don't see why playing injury prone guys 40mpg and absolutely needing that to win every game is not good.

ok then, i look forward you celtics giving their star players rest days in the play-offs.

Rest days??? Grow up!

[Pachinko_]

All I can tell you is how I perceived the Nets after playing them last year: they are a different team in the playoffs. Durant is not just a guy who scores but it seems they actually listen to him, and he makes them rally especially on defence. At 33 years old he has grown to be a true leader and he leads by example, he puts his body on the line at both ends until he finishes the game completely out of breath. It's great to watch actually, and when I managed to look past my fandom I did marvel at it. He got KI to get down in a defensive stance, Harden to play on a bad hammy and risk snapping something, he got all other starters to settle into their roles without complaints, and he took the crappiest assignments on D himself. I don't know what it feels like to take every tough shot and then run back to put your rib on Giannis's elbow, but it can't be great.

Nets are still a deeply flawed team, they are predictable, they run into each other sometimes, generic D, no solutions when someone sits, no plays or sets for role players or any sort of recognisable system. But that guy is smart, he wants it bad, and he knows how to get the best of what he's got to work with. The Cs look great but I predict this team will be a giant PITB to get rid of.

[Perseus1966]

So afraid of Beta 1 point Simmons!!!!!!!!

You can be afraid of KD/Kyrie who sent you packing last year. Never forget.

Did you ever look at the roster Boston was fielding in that series? Acting like that series has anything at all to do with this series, or this team, is hilariously stupid.

Boston in the playoffs last year did not have Brown. They did not have Horford. They did not have Theis, or White, or anyone. They started Romeo Langford. Tatum was on an island alone in that series. It's just a completely different team in every way this year and you're a fool if you don't realize that.

I think its not "did not have Horford or Theid" but we let them go because we were sure that 19 years old Tatum can make the finals

[Hello Brooklyn]

Of course the Nets were better last year. They were also a second round elimination last year and a play in this year. Let’s not pretend they are something they are not.

This is Year 3 of the super team experiment and they had to play in to be a 7 seed. Has a super team ever performed worse in NBA history?

Completely disingenuous.

They were a "second round exit" after losing Kyrie and basically Harden to injury.

And they played better against the Bucks than any other team.

This year they had the best record in the East when KD played. And basically fell off a cliff when KD got hurt and Harden decided to quit.

Injuries have been the biggest issue for the Nets. Not talent.

What other Super Team basically never got a chance to play together? Its never happened,

Availability is an ability itself. One of the big reasons a lot of teams don't want Kyrie on top of the off the court stuff.

The Nets with KD and Kyrie and no harden have beaten a lot of teams that are out of the playoffs and gone around .500 against playoff teams.

Harden was supposed to be a durable player. Him getting injured all the time was bad luck. Same thing with Harris.

Simmons was also supposed to be healthy after not even playing all year. Him being hurt all year is more bad luck.

On top of that Curry's ankle is hurt. Nets can't catch a break.

[Hello Brooklyn]

Of course the Nets were better last year. They were also a second round elimination last year and a play in this year. Let’s not pretend they are something they are not.

This is Year 3 of the super team experiment and they had to play in to be a 7 seed. Has a super team ever performed worse in NBA history?

Completely disingenuous.

They were a "second round exit" after losing Kyrie and basically Harden to injury.

And they played better against the Bucks than any other team.

This year they had the best record in the East when KD played. And basically fell off a cliff when KD got hurt and Harden decided to quit.

Injuries have been the biggest issue for the Nets. Not talent.

What other Super Team basically never got a chance to play together? Its never happened,

Excuses. 3 years together and 1 playoff win against a 0.500 team. Put up or shut up. No one cried for the Boston Celtics when KG got hurt. They still went to ECF by the way.

1 playoff win against a .500 team?

4 wins against the Celtics. 3 wins against the Bucks. Lets not make stuff up.

Celtics had multiple year of their Big 3 healthy. Nets never had 1.

[Hello Brooklyn]

Patty Mills and Claxton??? You have got to be kidding me. Lol big NO!

LOL Payton Prichard. Just stop.

Patty Mills can’t even play regular minutes haha. Look at your **** bench. Aldridge, griffin can’t even sniff time. You are relying on small ball patty mills and dragic for your bench??? Who else is there? Don’t tell me Ben Simmons?!! Haha get real man!
No wonder KD/Kyrie plays 40 plus mins. You don’t have anyone on the bench! Now if you ask them to play some D, definitely takes a toll on their offense in the 4th.

Mills does play regular minutes.

No one is saying the Nets have some great bench.

But neither do the Celtics. Like Prichard is not game changer