Celts Advance To ECFs, Send Cleves To Cav-cun! Game 5 Victory Cigar vs CLE 5/15 (BOS WINS 4-1)

[Captain_Caveman]

TNT guys don't really know anything. They don't watch any of the games, they just know talking about "moving the ball" or "playing the right way" or "playing with intensity/consistency" gets people to perk up. They are essentially a following a script regardless of what team is actually playing and how that team actually plays.

They showed multiple clips to support the point. Whatever value one chooses to assign to this team having a tendency to just stop moving completely on offense for significant stretches, the fact that it happens pretty regularly should be plainly obvious to everyone, quite frankly.

More to the point, if we play like we have been in the playoffs so far vs Denver or Minny in the Finals, we are going to get slapped. Maybe against OKC as well.

Showing a clip is not support. You can find clips of 5 out possessions where everyone stands around for any team, including Denver and Golden State.

Same **** I have been posting about for a couple of years now tbh. It happens again and again and again, usually in crunch time or against top teams/good defenses. I would say it happens every third game they play, which makes it a habit in my book.

It's maddening to me, because when they move the ball, they win, and when they don't, they lose. Our defensive effort is pretty consistent. The offensive ball movement is definitely not.

[Captain_Caveman]

Overall, the C's currently do not look as dominant and heavenly as they did 3-4 months ago. Obivously, it could change as they've done it before, they have it in them.

Net rating of +12.6 in the playoffs. +11.6 in the regular season. Won 80% of the games in the playoffs, won 80% of the games in the regular season.

I am happy with the results but there is still room for improvement. They are not playing for their full potential. Heck, I think they play 60%-70% of their potential.
Lost 2 games at home to depleted teams - shouldn't have happened
At times the offense grinds to a stop leading to all sorts of trouble
At times the team lacks interest/intensity/plays lackluster defense

Just make this lapses shorter and play like we all know they can. Faster, movement, passing, tight D. We can win it all this year

Agreed. I give us about 35% chance to win it. Slightly higher than anyone else, in part because we are sure to have the easiest conference finals matchup. But I do think people have gotten too hung up on regular season stats that were largely a product of (a) playing in the East, and (b) feasting on bottomfeeders, if not outright running up the score on them.

The idea of us as some big favorite is a mirage IMO. Defending champions Denver is every bit as good as us, and Minny not far off. Jokic and Luka would clearly be the best player on the floor in a series against us, while Antman, SGA, and Brunson have also all been playing as good or better than Tatum for the past several months now.

Our coach lacks experience, KP could easily reaggravate his injury anytime, and our bench not very deep as far as playoff performers go. Most troubling for me is that we seem to lack an intensity and/or killer instinct that other teams and most every champion has had. When our shots aren't falling, we tend to just shut down rather than buckle down.

We'll see. Other teams have weaknesses too. Would not want to rely on KAT's fortitude or Denver's bench.

[itrsteve]

They showed multiple clips to support the point. Whatever value one chooses to assign to this team having a tendency to just stop moving completely on offense for significant stretches, the fact that it happens pretty regularly should be plainly obvious to everyone, quite frankly.

More to the point, if we play like we have been in the playoffs so far vs Denver or Minny in the Finals, we are going to get slapped. Maybe against OKC as well.

Showing a clip is not support. You can find clips of 5 out possessions where everyone stands around for any team, including Denver and Golden State.

Same **** I have been posting about for a couple of years now tbh. It happens again and again and again, usually in crunch time or against top teams/good defenses. I would say it happens every third game they play, which makes it a habit in my book.

It's maddening to me, because when they move the ball, they win, and when they don't, they lose. Our defensive effort is pretty consistent. The offensive ball movement is definitely not.

That's why I coin it as panic ball. It's not as anybody is being stubborn or trying to go full Kobe/be a hero. They go fully on mom's spaghetti and become a prisoner in the moment - instead of wanting to win they're terrified of losing.

If they're able to squeak out a championship this year, you're going to find these guys playing untethered for 3+ seasons if that monkey is off their back.

[seiffert82]

Showing a clip is not support. You can find clips of 5 out possessions where everyone stands around for any team, including Denver and Golden State.

Same **** I have been posting about for a couple of years now tbh. It happens again and again and again, usually in crunch time or against top teams/good defenses. I would say it happens every third game they play, which makes it a habit in my book.

It's maddening to me, because when they move the ball, they win, and when they don't, they lose. Our defensive effort is pretty consistent. The offensive ball movement is definitely not.

That's why I coin it as panic ball. It's not as anybody is being stubborn or trying to go full Kobe/be a hero. They go fully on mom's spaghetti and become a prisoner in the moment - instead of wanting to win they're terrified of losing.

If they're able to squeak out a championship this year, you're going to find these guys playing untethered for 3+ seasons if that monkey is off their back.

Completely agree. JT and JB say all the right things, but they still tense up in the moment.

Hopefully the return of KP can keep them a bit more relaxed.

We have a starting 5 that can all win you a finals game on their day. The two Js don't need to feel like they should carry the team.

We need the starting five to engineer 8 wins out of the next 14 games between them.

Sent from my CPH2021 using Tapatalk

[shi-woo]

Who would you guys like to face in the ECFs? The Knicks or the Pacers?

Knicks at this point. Robinson and Randle out for year, and who knows what's going on with OG at this point. Seems like he's in a similar position to Kristaps. They have less size, won't run us out the gym and tire guys out, and and play a style of ball right now that revolves around 1 player. I like our chances in that spot.

I like our ability to contain Brunson and run their guys off the 3pnt line, nor do I think they have anyone that can stop Tatum, I think he would have a big series, and if that happens in any series, Celtics probably win.

Storylines better too, Thibs back in Boston, KP back in NY. NY v Boston rivalry back at it, and you know how that goes. Feel bad for Pacers, even if they win game 6, you just know the NBA and the Zebra Mafia isn't going to pass up the opportunity of NY v Bos to go to the finals

[Captain_Caveman]

Showing a clip is not support. You can find clips of 5 out possessions where everyone stands around for any team, including Denver and Golden State.

Same **** I have been posting about for a couple of years now tbh. It happens again and again and again, usually in crunch time or against top teams/good defenses. I would say it happens every third game they play, which makes it a habit in my book.

It's maddening to me, because when they move the ball, they win, and when they don't, they lose. Our defensive effort is pretty consistent. The offensive ball movement is definitely not.

That's why I coin it as panic ball. It's not as anybody is being stubborn or trying to go full Kobe/be a hero. They go fully on mom's spaghetti and become a prisoner in the moment - instead of wanting to win they're terrified of losing.

If they're able to squeak out a championship this year, you're going to find these guys playing untethered for 3+ seasons if that monkey is off their back.

Absolutely on that last line. On a semi-related note, this year reminds me of the 18-1 Pats season in the sense that it is championship or failure. There is nothing even that fun about it. Like Dray said the other night, no one cares that we made the ECFs and might make the Finals again. Literally no one. No. One. Cares.

It's not unusual in the NBA for a team to need to get the taste their own blood in their mouth before they break through. Even MJ and LeBron had to go through that process. But this is it for us. We have tasted that blood a couple of times now, and it is time to nut up or shut up. At the end of the day, I think teams like ours get a couple of chances to break through, and if they don't, that's that. You become the Webber Kings. Instead of that championship swagger, you just have that doubt and the swagger gets stripped away. In this context, this is why this team's outages of intensity are particularly troubling for me. After the disappointment of the last couple of years, they should be ready to eat people's bone marrow for a ring.

In terms of panic ball, for me it is more confusion. Just way too many important possessions where they are just standing around with no plan. I put that on coaching, personally. More than that, there is just this "**** you, you're not winning this **** game" mentality that the greats in sports have, and I do not see it at all with this group. We saw it with LeBron in that Game 6 in 2012, and Curry in Game 4 of the Finals. Both times on our home floor. And we certainly saw it with all the Celtics greats, from Russell to Bird to KG/Pierce.

Is it fair to compare Tatum to those guys? Probably not, but in the context of winning a championship or not, and how glowingly many Celtics fans speak about him and this team, it probably is.