NBA Eastern Conf. Finals: Gm 1 – Celtics vs Heat – 6:30PM, Tues. 09/15/20

[FlatearthZorro]

We need to hunt Robinson and Dragic on offense.

And Herro, we actually have a lots of favorable matchups. The Raptors barely had a weakness on defense. These guys are a lot easier to exploit.

[keevsnick1]

Will Kanter play in this series??
Grant should get minutes over Semi.

He'll probably get some minutes against Bam, but he cannot see the floor against Olynyk (or Leonard if he plays).

I mean even against Bam the issue isn't really which big man he starts off on, its the fact that MIA just has to run a pick and roll with Butler/Dragic/Hero and all of a sudden Kanter has to guard in space all the way out to three against that guy, and he's toast. can't really see consistent minuets for Kanter this series.

[threrf23]

We need to hunt Robinson and Dragic on offense.

And Herro, we actually have a lots of favorable matchups. The Raptors barely had a weakness on defense. These guys are a lot easier to exploit.

More favorable matchups perhaps, but Butler, Adebayo, and even a past his prime Iggy are all better defenders than the Raptors had to offer. And Spo is a better coach than Nurse. Won't be that easy.

[FlatearthZorro]

We need to hunt Robinson and Dragic on offense.

And Herro, we actually have a lots of favorable matchups. The Raptors barely had a weakness on defense. These guys are a lot easier to exploit.

More favorable matchups perhaps, but Butler, Adebayo, and even a past his prime Iggy are all better defenders than the Raptors had to offer. And Spo is a better coach than Nurse. Won't be that easy.

I'd say Siakam played really well and OG is kinda elite. I don't know OG's stats, but he passes the eye test for sure.


And tbh, to me Butler is largely overrated. Both Tatum and Brown are better than him on defense. To me Tatum has been first team all defense this year, he boddied Kawhi basically twice this season, something nobody does.

[Bill Lumbergh]

I can't wait to see Smart guarding Butler, which will happen often enough. Butler tries to bully people, and guaranteed, Smart is having none of that. Another one I can't wait to see is Butler guarding Tatum. Want to see how Tatum responds. Guessing Brown will be the main guy guarding Butler, though. I sure hope we get Gordon back by game 3 or 4 at least.

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Yeah, I remember the "about that life" stuff well, and I bet none of it is forgotten. Really looking forward to that matchup. Be so great if Marcus can just shut him down. We'll see.

[threrf23]

I'd say Siakam played really well and OG is kinda elite. I don't know OG's stats, but he passes the eye test for sure.

OG does pass the eye test but he doesn't look elite and metrics say he is merely good at best. The Raps defense was better with him on the bench in the postseason.

Siakam was close to being statistically elite in the regular season, but idk, I just don't think he's that good.

Butler's elite, Iggy used to be DPOY caliber and still probably is situationally, Adebayo I'm not so sure but he is more of a defensive anchor than anything Toronto had to put on the court.

[carnageta]

Once again we will have the best player in the series.

[Bar Fight]

Once again we will have the best player in the series.

Celtics in 5

[Parliament10]

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[CavemanDoctor]

We're going to see more of Grant against Miami. He has some good matchups.

[djFan71]

I just remembered this is also Gordon Hayward's first ever trip to the Conference Finals. Hope he gets a chance to play dominate.

FTFY.

[K For Three]

This is a confusing series to me and hard to move onto yet (I will in a day or two) since I remember thinking pretty lowly of Miami most of the regular season. I pretty much had Miami in my head mentally on par with the Pacers as a contender. I had the Sixers ahead of both due to the Embiid matchup.

Bucks/Heat is kind of a blur to me for some reason now. Giannis was hurt eventually, they got exposed and I hate to say this....never got the feeling the Bucks heart was in the bubble since it started. Especially after the Wisconsin social unrest, I think they were ready to about leave the bubble. Heat beating the Bucks did give me pause, but I am still a bit confused.

Heat swept the Pacers and lost one to the Giannis-less Bucks. Sounds impressive but I feel like we are that much more battle tested since I respect the hell out of the Raptors.

Miami should be feeling pretty fresh but our guys might be worn out. In a few days our guys should feel ready to battle again though, maybe they should just practice shooting free throws? lol

[GoCeltics123]

I think the path to victory vs. Miami is to take their shooters away and don't double Jimmy.

Both Celtics wins occurred early in the season (I was at the one in Boston actually) and I noticed that the Celtics made a concerted effort to pressure shooters and force a lot of turnovers.

Miami's defense is not nearly as good as Toronto's which helps but obviously their offense is great. They move the ball so well. But the turnovers are key; we need to force them.

Also the Celtics need to hunt Duncan Robinson, Herro and Dragic on defense. Kemba is absolutely going to torch Miami if they go man and they put Dragic or Robinson or him.

[Floody100]

The disrespect Theis gets is insane. Just went over to the Heat forum & they all think Bam’s going to have a field day on offence not realising Theis is one of the best defenders in the game. The only center’s Theis struggles are the really big ones (I.e. Embiid). Bam’s 10 pounds bigger & 1 inch taller than Theis, I think he’ll do just fine.

[ConstableGeneva]

I don't think they'll specifically attack Theis in the post using Bam, who's more of a faceup big that takes you off the dribble. Theis can defend that. Bam also has a sweet midrange game so you can't sag too far off from him. Theis can defend that. I worry more about Bam beasting on the offensive boards. Our wings should help Theis here.

On the other end, I wanna see the return of our pet plays -- the Tatum drives via the Theis seal & the Kemba pullups via the Theis screens up top. Toronto totally eliminated those with their defense.

Heat btw has the 3rd best defensive rating and 3rd best opponent effective FG% in the playoffs. (Celtics are 1st in both.) Hard to gauge how real their defense is. Pacers without Sabonis and not-fully-recovered Dipo aren't exactly offensive juggernauts. Bubble Bucks were also not their usual selves in the seeding games. Those two teams were 16th and 14th in offensive rating after the restart. Boston (w/ Hayward) would've been 2nd in offensive rating without the throwaway Wizards game.

[Curmudgeon]

Well, you can't play zone or box and 1 against the Heat because their three point shooters will kill you. I think you try everything but the kitchen sink on Jimmy Buckets (Smart, Brown, Ojeleye, even Romeo) and guard their perimeter shooters.

The dangerous guy is Dragic, who knows how to get to the rim.

It won't happen, but when Hayward returns, I would bring Kemba off the bench. Kemba's best role given this team's makeup is Lou Williams 2.0.

[TheMartian]

I think the path to victory vs. Miami is to take their shooters away and don't double Jimmy.

Both Celtics wins occurred early in the season (I was at the one in Boston actually) and I noticed that the Celtics made a concerted effort to pressure shooters and force a lot of turnovers.

Miami's defense is not nearly as good as Toronto which helps but obviously their offense is great. They move the ball so well. But the turnovers are key; we need to force them.

Also the Celtics need to hunt Duncan Robinson, Herro and Dragic on defense. Kemba is absolutely going to torch Miami if they go man and they put Dragic or Robinson or him.

I agree with this. Close out on the shooters. Guard Jimmy 1 on 1 as best they can, he won't be hitting all his shots i would think.

I also agree about Dragic. He somehow always kills us when we play against him, like Middleton does when we play the Bucks.

[MagicBagley18]

The disrespect Theis gets is insane. Just went over to the Heat forum & they all think Bam’s going to have a field day on offence not realising Theis is one of the best defenders in the game. The only center’s Theis struggles are the really big ones (I.e. Embiid). Bam’s 10 pounds bigger & 1 inch taller than Theis, I think he’ll do just fine.

How many times did u see the phrase “heat culture”

[3D Chess]

So when's the earliest u guys think we will see Hayward? Game 3?

Game 1. 2021.

Have heard pretty reliably that he's coming back and if the TOR series was the Finals (or he wasn't so neurotic) he could have given it a shot.

[KGboss]

If you weren't riding during these days we dont need ya now.

RIP fab melo

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