2021-22 NBA Season Discussion

[70sFan]

It's a really nice game one, full of exciting moments. Curry was incredible in the first quarter, but Celtics looked lost then trying to defending him. I don't think Smart on him full time is the best idea, I like White on Curry more to be honest.

It's only one game guys, don't overreact. I don't expect Green to play this bad in next game and I'm sure Poole will at least one great game in that series. On the other hand, Celtics winning it with Tatum playing this badly is definitely a good sign for Boston.

MVP of game 1: tie between Curry and Horford
Sneaky contributor: Rob Williams (he had some huge plays on defense in that game)

Worst star: tie between Green and Tatum

Can't wait to see Warriors response next game.

[Gooner]

This was a historic shooting performance from Boston, especially in 4th quarter when they just couldn't miss. Warriors lost concentration at the beggining of the quarter and it fueled Boston, but the way they seized the momentum was unbeliveable. Now all the pressure is on Golden State for game 2. I don't see them losing 2 in a row at home, but we'll see. This is good for the series.

[HeartBreakKid]

Lets not overreact. Boston played great and GSW outside of Steph (who lost his shoe and twisted his ankle) were awful and it still took a crazy run of White and Horford threes to catch up and get past them. DO you think Celtics will play like that every game? I still have the Warriors in six or seven

If youre saying GSW is winning in 7 games that doesn't sound very confident.

The Celtics already had caught up and took the lead when Curry "twisted" his ankle.

[HeartBreakKid]

Picked Boston to win in 6 before the series and feeling pretty good about it now. Truly feel like the Heat, Celtics, and Bucks would've all beaten the other 7 teams in the West.

Not saying it's a guarantee Boston wins but I think people are not used to assuming the best Eastern teams are as good as the best Western teams.

Boston went through a murders row all the way from round 1 to now. Could make the argument every team Boston beat would beat the Mavericks. I actually fully believe that would be the case.

Some people saying GSW would sweep is crazy.

[LesGrossman]

Lets not overreact. Boston played great and GSW outside of Steph (who lost his shoe and twisted his ankle) were awful and it still took a crazy run of White and Horford threes to catch up and get past them. DO you think Celtics will play like that every game? I still have the Warriors in six or seven

If youre saying GSW is winning in 7 games that doesn't sound very confident.

The Celtics already had caught up and took the lead when Curry "twisted" his ankle.

Yeah C's would have won wtih this crazy quarter regardless. I have no stakes in this, i like and dislike players on both teams. I just have seen the Warriors often enough in this setting and most of the time they are winning, while the C's are relatively unexperienced, so i'd still give a slight edge to the Warriors, but its nowhere clear.

Arent those amazing playoffs / finals?

[LesGrossman]

Picked Boston to win in 6 before the series and feeling pretty good about it now. Truly feel like the Heat, Celtics, and Bucks would've all beaten the other 7 teams in the West.

Not saying it's a guarantee Boston wins but I think people are not used to assuming the best Eastern teams are as good as the best Western teams.

Boston went through a murders row all the way from round 1 to now. Could make the argument every team Boston beat would beat the Mavericks. I actually fully believe that would be the case.

Some people saying GSW would sweep is crazy.

I dont see how KD + scrubs, getting swept, are part of "a murders row". Fully enabled Nets - different story. Kyrie having his head up his ass and mostly occupied letting everyone know how he prioritizes ramadan over his job he gets paid millions for, and Simmons still being unable to play, and KD being forced to play point forward which is certainly not his forte, i'd say thats a rather easy task.

[cupcakesnake]

Picked Boston to win in 6 before the series and feeling pretty good about it now. Truly feel like the Heat, Celtics, and Bucks would've all beaten the other 7 teams in the West.

Not saying it's a guarantee Boston wins but I think people are not used to assuming the best Eastern teams are as good as the best Western teams.

Boston went through a murders row all the way from round 1 to now. Could make the argument every team Boston beat would beat the Mavericks. I actually fully believe that would be the case.

Some people saying GSW would sweep is crazy.

I dont see how KD + scrubs, getting swept, are part of "a murders row". Fully enabled Nets - different story. Kyrie having his head up his ass and mostly occupied letting everyone know how he prioritizes ramadan over his job he gets paid millions for, and Simmons still being unable to play, and KD being forced to play point forward which is certainly not his forte, i'd say thats a rather easy task.

I'm a hater of that Brooklyn team, but I do think they're a fairly brutal 1st round opponent, historically, for a 2-seed to face. Totally broken defense and ill-fitting parts, but their offense was a LOT to endure. They posted a 117 offensive rating against the best defense in the league in that series. If Boston underperformed on either end of the ball, it's easy to picture that offense just overwhelming. Had Boston only managed slightly their regular-season offensive output (against Brooklyn's awful defense) they would have likely lost that series. I know it was a sweep, but sleep on an offense that potent and you get upset. Had Brooklyn been playing in the 2018 Eastern Conference (for example) they probably would have offended their way to the finals.

I think they qualify as a notable opponent in Boston's run. Especially because it was the first round. Usually high seeds have a weak first round opponent and then start their "murders row", even in a strong conference.

[cupcakesnake]

Picked Boston to win in 6 before the series and feeling pretty good about it now. Truly feel like the Heat, Celtics, and Bucks would've all beaten the other 7 teams in the West.

Not saying it's a guarantee Boston wins but I think people are not used to assuming the best Eastern teams are as good as the best Western teams.

Boston went through a murders row all the way from round 1 to now. Could make the argument every team Boston beat would beat the Mavericks. I actually fully believe that would be the case.

Some people saying GSW would sweep is crazy.

I think we're catching up on our mindset with the East. The Eastern Conference has won 2 of the last 3 titles. Since 2019, the East had boasted multiple title contenders, and when the Warriors and Durant broke up, a juggernaut did not replace them (though the Clippers tried).

[Homer38]

Picked Boston to win in 6 before the series and feeling pretty good about it now. Truly feel like the Heat, Celtics, and Bucks would've all beaten the other 7 teams in the West.

Not saying it's a guarantee Boston wins but I think people are not used to assuming the best Eastern teams are as good as the best Western teams.

Boston went through a murders row all the way from round 1 to now. Could make the argument every team Boston beat would beat the Mavericks. I actually fully believe that would be the case.

Some people saying GSW would sweep is crazy.

I dont see how KD + scrubs, getting swept, are part of "a murders row". Fully enabled Nets - different story. Kyrie having his head up his ass and mostly occupied letting everyone know how he prioritizes ramadan over his job he gets paid millions for, and Simmons still being unable to play, and KD being forced to play point forward which is certainly not his forte, i'd say thats a rather easy task.

In fact for the Nets, their role players were great on offense but KD and Kyrie were just awful outside of game 1 for Kyrie and maybe game 4 for KD

[Homer38]

Great sign for Boston to win game 1 even if Tatum was awful shooting the ball.

True that I don't see White to have another game like last night on offense but I always loved when my team were able to steal a game like the celtics did last night when they were down by 12 points.Always great to win game 1 on the road but much better when you are able to make a comeback like last night

Game 2 is a must win for Warriors.The celtics are much better on the road that at home in their playoff run so far

[LesGrossman]

Not saying it's a guarantee Boston wins but I think people are not used to assuming the best Eastern teams are as good as the best Western teams.

Boston went through a murders row all the way from round 1 to now. Could make the argument every team Boston beat would beat the Mavericks. I actually fully believe that would be the case.

Some people saying GSW would sweep is crazy.

I dont see how KD + scrubs, getting swept, are part of "a murders row". Fully enabled Nets - different story. Kyrie having his head up his ass and mostly occupied letting everyone know how he prioritizes ramadan over his job he gets paid millions for, and Simmons still being unable to play, and KD being forced to play point forward which is certainly not his forte, i'd say thats a rather easy task.

In fact for the Nets, their role players were great on offense but KD and Kyrie were just awful outside of game 1 for Kyrie and maybe game 4 for KD

KD looked terrible with the weak handle and the zillion turnovers; to me, because he tried to do things that he usually doesnt do. I just dont know why he did it. Normally he gets to his spot and receives the feed from a half way competent PG; then does his post up or face up 1 on 1 game that is absolutely unstoppable. Normally takes one or two dribbles at most.

In this series he tried to play like Luka or LeBron or Jokic, bringing the ball up and initiating the offense. Thats just not his game, it felt like he lost the ball 5x per quarter. Until we know why they thought this would be a good idea we dont know whom to blame for the poor showing.

Kyrie was mostly more irritant than useful imho. And their borderline all star center was gone for that punk Harden (or his other incarnation Simmons, both equally useless). I hope for KD that he gets rid of the noise and distraction and gets to play with a competent team; he is one of the greatest players of our generation and wastes his last few years.

[Texas Chuck]

Could make the argument every team Boston beat would beat the Mavericks. I actually fully believe that would be the case.

It's definitely possible of course. Dallas far from a juggernaut. Still Dallas beat the team that lapped the regular season field, so its hard for me to suggest the Mavs would just lay down for the 3 Eastern opponents particularly Brooklyn who deserved the sweep they received and likely would have gotten from almost every other team in the playoffs.

But Dallas isn't in this series. GSW is. Maybe Boston would have humiliated Dallas but Dallas didn't do enough to get there so they don't really matter here. It would be one thing if you think Dallas wasn't a worthy conference finalist, a team you believe to not be as good as the worst East playoff team despite them matching Boston win for win in 2022, and Golden State struggled to beat them. But Golden State didn't struggle to beat them. They dispatched them with relative ease.

[HeartBreakKid]

Picked Boston to win in 6 before the series and feeling pretty good about it now. Truly feel like the Heat, Celtics, and Bucks would've all beaten the other 7 teams in the West.

Not saying it's a guarantee Boston wins but I think people are not used to assuming the best Eastern teams are as good as the best Western teams.

Boston went through a murders row all the way from round 1 to now. Could make the argument every team Boston beat would beat the Mavericks. I actually fully believe that would be the case.

Some people saying GSW would sweep is crazy.

I dont see how KD + scrubs, getting swept, are part of "a murders row". Fully enabled Nets - different story. Kyrie having his head up his ass and mostly occupied letting everyone know how he prioritizes ramadan over his job he gets paid millions for, and Simmons still being unable to play, and KD being forced to play point forward which is certainly not his forte, i'd say thats a rather easy task.

thats their first round opponent. that's an incredibly strong opponent to face in the first round - compare that to the nuggets? saying the nets are durant+scrubs (which isn't true) and somehow not realizing that is substantially better than the atypical low seed opponent.

A LOT of people thought the Nets would win. Typically a lot of people do not think the 7th seed will win at all. The Celtics had threatening opponents in every round.


Nets, Bucks, Heat and Warriors for a championship is a murders row dude. What championship team has went through 4 opponents like that in the past years?

[HeartBreakKid]

Could make the argument every team Boston beat would beat the Mavericks. I actually fully believe that would be the case.

It's definitely possible of course. Dallas far from a juggernaut. Still Dallas beat the team that lapped the regular season field, so its hard for me to suggest the Mavs would just lay down for the 3 Eastern opponents particularly Brooklyn who deserved the sweep they received and likely would have gotten from almost every other team in the playoffs.

But Dallas isn't in this series. GSW is. Maybe Boston would have humiliated Dallas but Dallas didn't do enough to get there so they don't really matter here. It would be one thing if you think Dallas wasn't a worthy conference finalist, a team you believe to not be as good as the worst East playoff team despite them matching Boston win for win in 2022, and Golden State struggled to beat them. But Golden State didn't struggle to beat them. They dispatched them with relative ease.

Dallas beat the team that lapped the RS field when their key player got injured (as he often does). Not sure why that detail is left out there.

Brooklyn would not have gotten swept by every team. I don't agree with that take.


Also, what is the point of the bold? Dallas not near Boston during the RS and certainly did not match them in wins, much less SRS.

Unless you mean like...they were 1-1? When Dallas beat Boston in their 10th game when Boston had a losing record. If that's what you meant was that statement really worth bringing up in your post, chuck.


I'm not saying Dallas is a terrible team, I am saying there is no reason to think that because GSW beat them while the Celtics struggled to beat Milwaukee and Miami that somehow means that GSW>>> Boston. As this trickles back to the utterly bizarre conference bias that still exist, it basically infers well if a team can easily beat the Mavericks obviously they can beat any Eastern team.

The Bucks and the Heat would likely beat the Mavericks comfortably. I am aware Khris Middleton is not available, the Bucks are a more talented team than the Mavericks without him.


A bit off topic but

My post wasn't to slander the Mavericks. It's this perception of the West. In addition to that, there is also this huge source of anticipation for the Warriors to win. It feels like all season people have been waiting for reasons to give Curry extra accolades and props. The guy was in the MVP conversation months after he had what was by his standards a lack luster RS, and people were still saying "oh, it's just a shooting slump".

I almost feel like this post season is an extension of that. Somehow Curry is the catalyst for the Warriors success relative to last year, despite the fact that he was a much better player last year. Just seems very opportunistic. Poole and Thompson are the reasons why the Warriors are real contenders this year, and some good bench contributions from the RS with Looney, Payton, Porter.

[jalengreen]

It's a really nice game one, full of exciting moments. Curry was incredible in the first quarter, but Celtics looked lost then trying to defending him. I don't think Smart on him full time is the best idea, I like White on Curry more to be honest.

It's only one game guys, don't overreact. I don't expect Green to play this bad in next game and I'm sure Poole will at least one great game in that series. On the other hand, Celtics winning it with Tatum playing this badly is definitely a good sign for Boston.

MVP of game 1: tie between Curry and Horford
Sneaky contributor: Rob Williams (he had some huge plays on defense in that game)

Worst star: tie between Green and Tatum

Can't wait to see Warriors response next game.

Relative to expectations/normal level of play I think Tatum was worse than Green but in terms of absolute impact, I thought Tatum did things well outside of scoring (initiated offense well, played strong defense) unlike some other games where his shot wasn't falling.

Another sneaky contributor: Payton Pritchard. This series could be one where Pritchard has a better chance at getting minutes if the Warriors aren't able to exploit his height like the Heat did with Butler in G1.

[jalengreen]

Could make the argument every team Boston beat would beat the Mavericks. I actually fully believe that would be the case.

It's definitely possible of course. Dallas far from a juggernaut. Still Dallas beat the team that lapped the regular season field, so its hard for me to suggest the Mavs would just lay down for the 3 Eastern opponents particularly Brooklyn who deserved the sweep they received and likely would have gotten from almost every other team in the playoffs.

But Dallas isn't in this series. GSW is. Maybe Boston would have humiliated Dallas but Dallas didn't do enough to get there so they don't really matter here. It would be one thing if you think Dallas wasn't a worthy conference finalist, a team you believe to not be as good as the worst East playoff team despite them matching Boston win for win in 2022, and Golden State struggled to beat them. But Golden State didn't struggle to beat them. They dispatched them with relative ease.

The average margin of victory in the BOS-BKN series was 4.5, the third-smallest in NBA history in a 4-game sweep. And the Celtics are a team currently up 1-0 - clearly a fantastic squad. I'm not sure it's fair to say almost every other team in the playoffs would sweep them. Not sure any other team would sweep them honestly or even if the Celtics would've if the series was simulated again.

[HeartBreakKid]

Hmm maybe here is a better example rather than picking on the Mavericks

If the Warriors had beaten two Western teams that had recently gone to the finals in 7 games, let's say the Lakers and Suns - I think people would be absolutely jizzing their pants and they would say the Warriors are going to win the championship, even though that's effectively what Boston just did.

If Boston beat with relative ease an upstart team with a hot young player that made some noise in recent post seasons, like say the Hawks in the conference finals - I think people...would just say meh "it's the hawks" and they're going to get destroyed by the West anyway.

I still have the feeling that people have not gotten used that the East is not the little brother to the West anymore

[Texas Chuck]

I was trying to point out the three teams with the best record since 1/1 were Boston, Dallas, and Phoenix. Dallas was also one of the last 4 teams standing. I don't think that means Dallas was necessarily one of the 4 best teams and I definitely don't think they were the 4th most likely team to win the title this year.

But they were a really good team once Luka returned from injury and they got the team back from COVID. I don't know that its fair to say that GSW got a cakewalk beating Memphis and Dallas, two very competitive basketball teams.

I was probably too strong in suggesting that the Nets would get swept by every playoff team, but I strongly disagree they were a stronger opponent than Memphis(even missing Ja for part of the series) and Dallas.

And I seem to recall Paul playing the whole series and not making an injury excuse. Dismissing Dallas beating the team that was 8 wins clear of the field in an effort to downplay GSW feels like a lot of mental gymnastics to me.

[Texas Chuck]

Oh and if you are thinking I am sort some of Curry or Warriors apologist you have missed basically every post I've made itt lol.

[Yabusele_arrow]

All I know is if the Mavs made the finals Luka was going to put up an all timer series and give them a chance to win it all. Dude takes the Celtics soul every game, its actually ridiculous how many daggers he has against them