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

[Tyakack]

Miami has been a challenge for us. But at least they don't have Lowry and Van Vleet on D. The Raptors were realy able to take out Kemba/ screw up our offense. We outplayed them by a lot and won by a little- because of that D. I don't see the heat doing that.

Yup, the heat are a good defensive team but not on the same level as the raptors. I don't see them disrupting our offense as much. I would be, not completely stunned, but somewhat stunned if we don't win this series. I truly believe the raptors were our biggest test in the east *now that the bucks are eliminated* and we passed. There's nothing the heat can bring that this team isn't ready for.

[zoyathedestroya]

Not to get ahead of ourselves, but I'm just amazed of how young this group is. I can't even think of a team this young and inexperienced that made the NBA Finals (I think we have a good shot against Miami).

Checked the OKC team that made the 2012 Finals and even that team had Derek Fisher (15-yr vet), Perk (8), Collison (7), and Thabo (5) on their regular playoff rotation. KD and Cook had 4 years of prior experience. Harden, Ibaka, and Westbrook were all under their rookie contracts.

In comparison, the Celtics have -- Kemba (8-yr vet), Smart (5), everyone else with 3 years or less of NBA experience. Kanter (8) appears 10th in most minutes this postseason. Hayward (9) is still recovering.

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[The Corey's]

Miami already getting disrespectful.

Must resist the urge.

[themoneyteam2]

Need Hayward back badly in this series. If he’s back and healthy, gonna be extremely tough for Miami to match up with all of Boston’s wings

[The Corey's]

Need Hayward back badly in this series. If he’s back and healthy, gonna be extremely tough for Miami to match up with all of Boston’s wings

I would love hayward to embrace the bench role.

It would do wonders for us the next two rounds if we can move on.

[themoneyteam2]

Need Hayward back badly in this series. If he’s back and healthy, gonna be extremely tough for Miami to match up with all of Boston’s wings

I would love hayward to embrace the bench role.

It would do wonders for us the next two rounds if we can move on.

Ehh I guess I don’t think who starts really matters since Hayward and Smart both when healthy play over 30 minutes a night.

[The Corey's]

Need Hayward back badly in this series. If he’s back and healthy, gonna be extremely tough for Miami to match up with all of Boston’s wings

I would love hayward to embrace the bench role.

It would do wonders for us the next two rounds if we can move on.

Ehh I guess I don’t think who starts really matters since Hayward and Smart both when healthy play over 30 minutes a night.

It matters alot. The team as it is has been doing fine. Bringing in a player who hasn't played in a month, is our 4th best option on a good day and giving him too dog minutes out the gate is a recipe for disaster.

Meanwhile, coming off the bench he can provide the offense the team struggles to find 5 minutes at a time.

To be frank, hayward has not earned the right to start.

[themoneyteam2]

I would love hayward to embrace the bench role.

It would do wonders for us the next two rounds if we can move on.

Ehh I guess I don’t think who starts really matters since Hayward and Smart both when healthy play over 30 minutes a night.

It matters alot. The team as it is has been doing fine. Bringing in a player who hasn't played in a month, is our 4th best option on a good day and giving him too dog minutes out the gate is a recipe for disaster.

Meanwhile, coming off the bench he can provide the offense the team struggles to find 5 minutes at a time.

To be frank, hayward has not earned the right to start.

I guess we’ll disagree on this. No idea how Hayward will look when he comes back but let’s say he’s 100% and no mins restriction (will likely have one though):

Hayward and Smart will both get around 35-38 MPG. They’ll leave 2 or 3 starters on the court at all times and Hayward can be with another guy running the “bench unit”.

I truly don’t think it matters who is starting since eventually both Hayward and Smart will play most of their minutes with the starters anyways. Bench will barely get any minutes if Hayward gets his usual 35 MPG.

Doesn’t matter since he’ll be on a mins restriction and will probably come off the bench but even if he could give 20 minutes off the bench that’s huge

[Taget]

Not to get ahead of ourselves, but I'm just amazed of how young this group is. I can't even think of a team this young and inexperienced that made the NBA Finals (I think we have a good shot against Miami).

Checked the OKC team that made the 2012 Finals and even that team had Derek Fisher (15-yr vet), Perk (8), Collison (7), and Thabo (5) on their regular playoff rotation. KD and Cook had 4 years of prior experience. Harden, Ibaka, and Westbrook were all under their rookie contracts.

In comparison, the Celtics have -- Kemba (8-yr vet), Smart (5), everyone else with 3 years or less of NBA experience. Kanter (8) appears 10th in most minutes this postseason. Hayward (9) is still recovering.

They had more vets backing them up but the team that comes to mind is the 1994-1995 Orlando Magic led by Shaq and Penny Hardaway. Way older than anyone else on that team was Tree Rollins of Tree bites Man/Danny fame.

[Triple7]

Ehh I guess I don’t think who starts really matters since Hayward and Smart both when healthy play over 30 minutes a night.

It matters alot. The team as it is has been doing fine. Bringing in a player who hasn't played in a month, is our 4th best option on a good day and giving him too dog minutes out the gate is a recipe for disaster.

Meanwhile, coming off the bench he can provide the offense the team struggles to find 5 minutes at a time.

To be frank, hayward has not earned the right to start.

I guess we’ll disagree on this. No idea how Hayward will look when he comes back but let’s say he’s 100% and no mins restriction (will likely have one though):

Hayward and Smart will both get around 35-38 MPG. They’ll leave 2 or 3 starters on the court at all times and Hayward can be with another guy running the “bench unit”.

I truly don’t think it matters who is starting since eventually both Hayward and Smart will play most of their minutes with the starters anyways. Bench will barely get any minutes if Hayward gets his usual 35 MPG.

Doesn’t matter since he’ll be on a mins restriction and will probably come off the bench but even if he could give 20 minutes off the bench that’s huge

If both healthy and playing great, Brad would have good problem of who stays in the court for the final minutes of a close game. That would be tough. I’ll go with Smart for his D, especially if Tatum, kemba and brown has good offensive games, but if one or two struggles, Gordon’s offense and playmaking definitely helps.

[Triple7]

Celtics in 5!

[zoyathedestroya]

Celtics in 5!

Wasn't this your prediction too against the Raptors? I hope you're right btw.

[zoyathedestroya]

Not to get ahead of ourselves, but I'm just amazed of how young this group is. I can't even think of a team this young and inexperienced that made the NBA Finals (I think we have a good shot against Miami).

Checked the OKC team that made the 2012 Finals and even that team had Derek Fisher (15-yr vet), Perk (8), Collison (7), and Thabo (5) on their regular playoff rotation. KD and Cook had 4 years of prior experience. Harden, Ibaka, and Westbrook were all under their rookie contracts.

In comparison, the Celtics have -- Kemba (8-yr vet), Smart (5), everyone else with 3 years or less of NBA experience. Kanter (8) appears 10th in most minutes this postseason. Hayward (9) is still recovering.

They had more vets backing them up but the team that comes to mind is the 1994-1995 Orlando Magic led by Shaq and Penny Hardaway. Way older than anyone else on that team was Tree Rollins of Tree bites Man/Danny fame.

Good one! Sophomore Penny and 3rd-yr Shaq leading the way. Rest of playoff rotation (top 9 in minutes) -- Jeff Turner (8-yr vet), Horace Grant (7), Anthony Bowie (5), Anderson (5), Shaw (5), Royal (4), Scott (4).

This version of the Celtics still younger by a bit. Kemba (8), Smart (5), Jaylen (3), Tatum (2), Semi (2), Theis (2), Timelord (1), Wanamaker (1), Grant (R)

Note: I'm not counting the current season in years of previous experience.

[zoyathedestroya]

Inject this into our players' veins.

Read on Twitter

[Triple7]

Celtics in 5!

Wasn't this your prediction too against the Raptors? I hope you're right btw.

Well if not for that anomaly in game 3, that would have ended in 5.
I think the series with the raps would do our guys good. I’m pretty sure they’ve learned a lot from it. Especially the pressure of having a game 7. The Heat players doesn’t have that. Nunn, DJJ, Herro and Robinson are all first timers in the playoffs, Bam had one as a rookie, i don’t count that as an experience, as he averaged 15mins for one series. I’m glad that game 3 happened, im sure they won’t let that happen again. Plus Kemba won’t play that awful again. Hayward would probably come back game 2 or 3. I like our chances better. The fact that they lost to the bucks minus Giannis doesn’t help their case either. So yeah Celtics in 5!

[FlatearthZorro]

Miami already getting disrespectful.

Must resist the urge.

Miami is in for a rude awakening. We are 10x better at defending the 3 than the Bucks and we match up much better with them than the Bucks:

- As good as Adebayo is, Theis matches up pretty well. Adebayo is not a physical guy.
- Our starting 5> their starting, easily.
- I really am not scared of a team led by Butler. I literally have more faith in both Brown and Tatum than I do Butler. I actually think both of them are better than him defensively, too.
- Kemba is gonna play Nunn and Dragic.
- Mustache, 80's porn star Gordon Hayward is coming back and if he's anything close to what he was doing in the bubble, ain't nobody on their team stopping him. We got 4 guys who can average 20.
- We will be able to abuse Dragic, Herro, Robinson, I also like how Theis and Bobby match up against Olynyk. They are both better rebounders and athletes than him and both are tougher than him.
- We were the best team at defending the 3 throughout the NBA season, which also doesn't bodd well for Miami.

[BRUNiNHO91]

Celtics in 5!

Wasn't this your prediction too against the Raptors? I hope you're right btw.

He would have had it if OG didn't hit that stupid shot that he had no business hitting.

[ConstableGeneva]

Fun stat: After the All-Star Break, the Sixers led the league in 3-point shooting at 40.6% (13.6 makes per game). Then they ran into the Celtics in the first round... They shot 26.4% from 3 (8.0 makes per game) in four games, worst 3P% in the playoffs.

I can't stress enough though how different the Heat and Sixers are in generating their threes (esp. with Simmons out who was great at finding the open man). Miami's perimeter guys are harder to defend than the Sixers'. Celtics contested 25.5 out of the 30.3 threes per game Sixers took in the 1st round. Heat can still make those contested shots (Bucks contested 30.2 of the 40.2 threes per game Heat took and they still shot at 37.3%). I think the trick is to limit those attempts by running them off the arc and forcing them to dribble or pass. I'm a bit concerned about fatigue factor chasing these guys around and scrambling to challenge their shooters. We never had that issue with the Sixers and Raptors, who both have more of a stagnant half-court offense.

[BleedGreen1989]

Please be 8:30, please be 8:30. have to work late on Tuesday...

[BleedGreen1989]

Fun stat: After the All-Star Break, the Sixers led the league in 3-point shooting at 40.6% (13.6 makes per game). Then they ran into the Celtics in the first round... They shot 26.4% from 3 (8.0 makes per game) in four games, worst 3P% in the playoffs.

I can't stress enough though how different the Heat and Sixers are in generating their threes (esp. with Simmons out who was great at finding the open man). Miami's perimeter guys are harder to defend than the Sixers'. Celtics contested 25.5 out of the 30.3 threes per game Sixers took in the 1st round. Heat can still make those contested shots (Bucks contested 30.2 of the 40.2 threes per game Heat took and they still shot at 37.3%). I think the trick is to limit those attempts by running them off the arc and forcing them to dribble or pass. I'm a bit concerned about fatigue factor chasing these guys around and scrambling to challenge their shooters. We never had that issue with the Sixers and Raptors, who both have more of a stagnant half-court offense.

Absolutely. Two biggest factors that scare me with Miami is their 3PT shooting and their ability to get to the line and put guys in foul trouble. Both Dragic and Butler are super crafty at getting the whistle. Until Gordon comes back that lack of depth could really show if guys like Smart or Brown start picking up lots of early fouls.

Butler is averaging nearly 11(!) free throw attempts per game this postseason placing him first among remaining players. Defending without fouling is going to be crucial in this series.