CELTICS CLUTCH AGAIN, SWEEP PACERS! ECF G4 Victory Cigar vs IND 5/27 (BOS WINS 4-0! WE'RE GOING TO THE FINALS!)

[Celts17Pride]

Tatum and Brown were both magnificent in the Pacers series

Tatum 30/10/6 46% FG Pct, 31% 3PT Pct
Brown 30/5/3 52% FG Pct, 37% 3PT Pct

A number of timely plays from both both offensively and defensively.

I would take another series like that from both of them and let the chips fall where they may.

[Celts17Pride]

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[Triple7]

atum was nearly unstoppable when he attacks the basket. Dunking on people and layups to the rim. I’m glad he got rid of those ugly turn around fadeaways against smaller defenders. If he cuts back on those forced 3pts shots, especially if his shooting is not there, i think he’ll have a good game from the start.

[Larry_Russell]

Kind of weird having the number 1 team in basketball, the team that Vegas has as fvorites to win it all, somehow be the underdog in the media.

[JaMarco]

Kind of weird having the number 1 team in basketball, the team that Vegas has as fvorites to win it all, somehow be the underdog in the media.

They're taking advantage of the fact that KP is out which makes the Cs a little vulnerable. Cs are just an easy target to troll right now.

[tfribs45]

Kind of weird having the number 1 team in basketball, the team that Vegas has as favorites to win it all, somehow be the underdog in the media.

A ton of salty fans right now....If we win banner 18, the general board is going to explode lol. Enjoy the saltiness, that's what it's like when a teams on top. Everyones trying to drag these guys down.. Enjoy the ride because they could possibly have to complain all off season! Jobs not done yet, go C's!

[165bows]

Kind of weird having the number 1 team in basketball, the team that Vegas has as favorites to win it all, somehow be the underdog in the media.

A ton of salty fans right now....If we win banner 18, the general board is going to explode lol. Enjoy the saltiness, that's what it's like when a teams on top. Everyones trying to drag these guys down.. Enjoy the ride because they could possibly have to complain all off season! Jobs not done yet, go C's!

It's funny because this is the kind of team that should be easy to root for. There is no all-time elite athlete barrelling through everyone, just a bunch of good dudes that are good at basketball.

[London2Boston]

Had a family health scare yesterday so by the time the game came around I crashed out from exhaustion. But my Father came through and so did those Celtics!! 4 more.

[Tyakack]

The Celtics made the clutch plays needed to win in EVERY close game.... This team does appear to be different. Now go prove it one more time.

[Larry_Russell]

Had a family health scare yesterday so by the time the game came around I crashed out from exhaustion. But my Father came through and so did those Celtics!! 4 more.

awesome

[Slax]

Had a family health scare yesterday so by the time the game came around I crashed out from exhaustion. But my Father came through and so did those Celtics!! 4 more.

Wow I'm sorry to hear about your father's health issues but happy that he is seemingly ok!

[Memokerobi]

Our guys really need to step it up on D. We really need KP gor his rim protection, or for just being tall out there in the middle bothering shots. Nembhard, TJ, siakam, and even Nesmith had it easy with the midranges. Nembhard at times attacked inside with no problem, same with siakam. We had no one to bother them inside. They were just missing shots in the end. Just imagine if that were Kyrie and Luka. Those guys won’t miss much if we don’ play D. That’s why having KP back is important. Else Luka would just kill us on mid ranges or lobs to their bigs. I think Queta would have been a better matchup with lively and gafford because of his size and athleticism, but i doubt Joe would even play him. Tillman is just too slow, and kornet is just too soft, and both are below average rebounders.

Not comparable imo, Pacers offense is very free flowing and designed in a way that anyone can come at you in any way at anytime depending on what you take away. That's why they have the highest ORTG in the playoffs at 120. Dallas offense is way more structured, slower and you know what you're getting. They have mastered the PnR with their two bigs and two elite ball handlers with their role guys spacing the floor. Defending Dallas will be much simpler. I'm not saying it will be easier but it will be simpler and I trust our guys to execute.

[31to6]

Kind of weird having the number 1 team in basketball, the team that Vegas has as favorites to win it all, somehow be the underdog in the media.

A ton of salty fans right now....If we win banner 18, the general board is going to explode lol. Enjoy the saltiness, that's what it's like when a teams on top. Everyones trying to drag these guys down.. Enjoy the ride because they could possibly have to complain all off season! Jobs not done yet, go C's!

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[zoyathedestroya]

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It's frustrating as hell. No opportunity to go into a second action if defense shuts down your first. End up with an iso pullup or a one-pass contested shot.

Taking time off the clock means your opposition gets a much worse scoring opportunity. That's more valuable than having a 1.15 ppp offensive position vs. .95 ppp one. And it's not like you are not allowed to grab offensive rebounds if you start your action late. That's why every team does it. In the last Dallas-Wolves game, the Mavs up four and 2 minutes on the clock started their action with 14 seconds left on the clock. After a miss and a stop, they went back and started their action 14 seconds on the clock. They won and so did we.
TLDR; if starting an action a few seconds earlier makes it a lot easier for us to score, the same logic applies to the other team. In fact, 10 seconds vs 5 is a bigger difference than 19 seconds vs 14.

I don't mean with little time on the game clock left. They do this even with just a 10-pt lead with 8 minutes left in the game. And sometimes they do it on B2B possessions. While we chuck a semi-contested three with 1 second left on the clock, the other team runs it down our throat off the miss and gets a layup (not waiting 14 seconds to set up their offense).

[Fierce1]

Mavs looking like they mastered the PnR because Finch won't sit Gobert.

Can't play double big against Luka.

The Wolves lineup is designed to beat the Nuggets.

But it won't work against the Mavs.

[31to6]

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It's frustrating as hell. No opportunity to go into a second action if defense shuts down your first. End up with an iso pullup or a one-pass contested shot.

Taking time off the clock means your opposition gets a much worse scoring opportunity. That's more valuable than having a 1.15 ppp offensive position vs. .95 ppp one. And it's not like you are not allowed to grab offensive rebounds if you start your action late. That's why every team does it. In the last Dallas-Wolves game, the Mavs up four and 2 minutes on the clock started their action with 14 seconds left on the clock. After a miss and a stop, they went back and started their action 14 seconds on the clock. They won and so did we.
TLDR; if starting an action a few seconds earlier makes it a lot easier for us to score, the same logic applies to the other team. In fact, 10 seconds vs 5 is a bigger difference than 19 seconds vs 14.

I don't mean with little time on the game clock left. They do this even with just a 10-pt lead with 8 minutes left in the game. And sometimes they do it on B2B possessions. While we chuck a semi-contested three with 1 second left on the clock, the other team runs it down our throat off the miss and gets a layup (not waiting 14 seconds to set up their offense).

I wonder how much of this is the coaching staff, and how much is the players, specifically Tatum. I'm pretty certain I've heard Joe say things like "we want to continue to play with pace", but I don't have any specific link to such right here right now, and I feel like JT is the primary 'sloooww it down' culprit, though Jaylen was with him wasted second for wasted second last night. To his credit, JB several times dribbled an entire possession and then got all the way to the cup for scores. With JT, you KNOW that the slow-it-down is going to lead to a low % step back 3pt FG chuck.

Big picture, strategically, it makes some sense to shorten the game with longer offensive possessions. But if you get junk shots out of it 2 out of every 3 times (or worse), then of what use was the rule?

[Gant]

Shams update on Porzingis:

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[zoyathedestroya]

Tougher Finals opponent: Curry/Dray/Wiggins++ or Luka/Kyrie++?

[31to6]

Tougher Finals opponent: Curry/Dray/Wiggins++ or Luka/Kyrie++?

TBD but those Warriors had just enough gas left in them.
The difference -- hopefully -- is on the Celtics' side.
They should be "ready to do this" instead of "happy/excited to be there."

[zoyathedestroya]

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