NBA Playoff Games 2025, Non-Celtics

[ThePigeon]

I love IND style
They play with pace, a lot of movement and passing and with a lot of JOY & pride
They are fun to watch and I hope they win it all

[flintsky21]

One thing I don't miss about the playoffs is being at the short end of heartbreakers like this.

Nesmith finally living up to the "Absolute Sniper" self-declaration when he was drafted. Always thought he had a bad case of the jitters when he played for us. That was some Tmac stuff he did there.

Can't stand Haliburton but glad he's not our problem lol. (Yeah, I'm coping).

[Smart2Nesmith43]

14 point lead with less than 3 minutes in regulation and you end up losing ? Fire Joe.

[ThePigeon]

Last basket by Topin - don't play with your food. Go fo the kill even if there are 12 sec left
Get the easy basket and deal with the defense

[Ill News]

People ragged on Danny for that draft so badly
They goofed on Nesmith, they goofed on Pritchard, they said the one good player Ainge took (Bane) he gave away to salary dump Enes

Looking at it now, PP and Aaron Nesmith, those are two solid picks

I'm just happy for Nesmith, man. Watching him blossom into a pretty good player has been satisfying, it's a shame he couldn't develop with us.

I forgot that they were drafted in the same year. Pritchard just had more impact almost immediately despite being the lower pick.

Imagine if we had Pritchard and this current version of Nesmith on our bench...he'd provide that sorely needed athleticism we were missing from our reserves this year.

[meatball sub]

classless taunting from mitchell robinson

[Green89]

Knicks were up NINE with under a minute left??? HOW?!?

Aaron Nesmith is this generation's Reggie Miller, and apparently there is no one better than Hali when it comes to crazy improvised buzzer beaters

Knicks were a little tired and I'm sure they wish they could go back & do things differently, but really, I didn't even think they choked. Indy straight up stole this one from them. Catch a replay if you can...

When the time started elapsing, even when they were up 9-11 points, they stopped attacking and just dribbled a lot near halfcourt. They did what we had done many past regular season games, when we stood around and watched clock when we were up big. They got complacent. That was a choke job.

[Celts17Pride]

Moral of the story is that no lead is safe in the NBA and you have to play for 48 minutes. I think this year's playoffs are proof of that.

[bfchs123]

Boston level choke job

Nope, if you see the post above, no one has ever choked to that level. We did choke though, in three games, we can hang our hat on that!

Not quite choking 99.7% win probability but game 1 we had a win probability of 98.3% at one point and game 2 we had 99.0% at one point (both in the second half nonetheless)

[TheMartian]

I was listening to the ESPN post game analysis and they were talking about Rick Carlisle's strategy of attacking Jalen Brunson and how it worked perfectly. Then I think about Joe, and all I can do is sigh.

[ThePigeon]

I was listening to the ESPN post game analysis and they were talking about Rick Carlisle's strategy of attacking Jalen Brunson and how it worked perfectly. Then I think about Joe, and all I can do is sigh.

We tried by isolating JT and others against him
IND just attacked him on the movement and whomever he guarded just attacked him straight on (just like JB did in game 5)
He is better stationary defender against isos

[FlatearthZorro]

I was listening to the ESPN post game analysis and they were talking about Rick Carlisle's strategy of attacking Jalen Brunson and how it worked perfectly. Then I think about Joe, and all I can do is sigh.

Why didn't we straight up offer Rick the job? Maybe he'd still go to Indiana, but just offer it. Instead, we got the passive-aggressive, cocky weirdo, who pretty much does the same stuff every game.

[Fierce1]

I was listening to the ESPN post game analysis and they were talking about Rick Carlisle's strategy of attacking Jalen Brunson and how it worked perfectly. Then I think about Joe, and all I can do is sigh.

Why didn't we straight up offer Rick the job? Maybe he'd still go to Indiana, but just offer it. Instead, we got the passive-aggressive, cocky weirdo, who pretty much does the same stuff every game.

Brad had an agenda.

Joe is the only fruit of the Brad Stevens coaching tree.

Brad needed to hire a veteran coach, like Carlisle, but Brad wanted to prove that his system works and can win a championship.

Joe is using Brad's system.

[threrf23]

Knicks were up NINE with under a minute left??? HOW?!?

Aaron Nesmith is this generation's Reggie Miller, and apparently there is no one better than Hali when it comes to crazy improvised buzzer beaters

Knicks were a little tired and I'm sure they wish they could go back & do things differently, but really, I didn't even think they choked. Indy straight up stole this one from them. Catch a replay if you can...

When the time started elapsing, even when they were up 9-11 points, they stopped attacking and just dribbled a lot near halfcourt. They did what we had done many past regular season games, when we stood around and watched clock when we were up big. They got complacent. That was a choke job.

They attacked on a few possessions within the final minute or two, scoring on at least a couple of them. They went up by 16 at the 7:24 mark in the 4th, and proceeded to score another 17 points over the final seven minutes.

Hindsight is 20/20, and yeah they should have played with more urgency beforehand. But just to tie the game, Indy needed Nesmith hitting 6-6 from 3 and adding another 2 from the FT line (in less than five mins), an overturned foul call that often wouldn't be overturned as it looked 50/50, and an acrobatic buzzer beater from Hali that bounced on and above the rim for a second or two before falling in. And they needed the Knicks to miss three free throws in the final minutes.

From the 6:12 mark in the 4th, the Pacers scored 31 points on 10-11 shooting. And the Knicks might have been tired and might not have made immediate adjustments, it's also not like they gave up and stopped playing D.

My point being, the Knicks still did enough down the stretch to secure a victory on maybe 99.8% of occasions, the Pacers pulled off an impressive, improbable comeback.

[redslastlaugh]

Crunchtime edit of Celtics podcasters watching last night's Knicks/Pacers on playback.tv:

Watch on YouTube

lol ... nutso ... if you don't like that, you don't like NBA basketball!!!

[Parliament10]

Ref, Scott Foster got a bloody nose, from getting hit on a Jumpball.

[Shak_Celts]

Caruso was such a steal. Wanted him.

[ConstableGeneva]

SGA showing why he's the MVP. As much as I love Jokic, this is well-deserved for Shae.

[ConstableGeneva]

They'll be one of the better champions we've had in this millennium. Defense is special with enough juice on offense.

Pacers relentless offense vs. OKC's relentless defense is gonna be something to watch.

[NYCelticsfan136]

SGA showing why he's the MVP. As much as I love Jokic, this is well-deserved for Shae.

SGA was by far the MVP of the league this year.