NBA Playoffs, Rnd 1: Nets @ Celtics – 3:30pm ET, Sun, April 17, 2022

[steefP2]

Some more stats

Stats for Celtics playoff rotation; aka the numbers where any 5 man combo of the following players are on the floor: Brown, Horford, Pritchard, Smart, Rob, Theis, White, Tatum, Grant:

2855 possessions, +17 net rating, +18 net rating in the halfcourt, 122.3 ortg/105.3 drtg

Playoff rotation without Rob: 1235 possessions, +13.6 net rating, +14 net rating in the halfcourt, 124.3 ortg/110.7 drtg.

Nets likely playoff rotation (relatively small sample): 1539 possessions, +10.6 net rating, +6.5 halfcourt net rating, 123.9 ortg/113.3drtg


Serious caveats with the non rob and Nets rotations though, most likely not a representive sample size since quality of opponent is hard to represent decently when most of these possessions have come in relative short periods.

[Feed Your Head]

Sounds like Brooklyn is going to go hard with the Tatum traps and make everyone else beat them. Sounds good to me lol, White/Smart are such quick decision makers out of that PnR. If the Nets go that route, there will plenty of open shots, which I trust the guys to make.

Also, how the HELL is this game still so far away?!

[captain green]

Nobody on nets mentioned brown that's going to cost them imo brown is going to have a chip on his shoulder in this series.

[BigTrade92]

It’s pretty funny hearing Bruce Brown say the Nets can attack Horford and Theis down low, when they have the BBQ chicken rotation of Andre Drummond and Nic Claxton down there themselves.

[celticfan42487]

Rob Williams not being able to play really changes everything.

The offense will be slightly different and the defense will certainly be not the same.

Not having rob hurts us but losing game 1 even without rob doesn’t mean it’s over for the Celtics.

We can win a **** series without winning game 1.

I will concede tho that game 1 is decently crucial and I’d like very much to win it. I think it’ll give the team a nice boost of confidence.

What's your prediction?

Who wins series and how many games?

I mean not just this series but isn't the stat something along the lines of the team that wins game 1 wins the series X amount of times. I think last I heard it was 75% or something.

Given usually the home team wins that has the higher seed because they're flatly the better team. But still, this isn't the first time a team with injuries or star out most of the season plays as the lower seed. So I think the game 1 win predictor still has merit.

[celticfan42487]

Sounds like Brooklyn is going to go hard with the Tatum traps and make everyone else beat them. Sounds good to me lol, White/Smart are such quick decision makers out of that PnR. If the Nets go that route, there will plenty of open shots, which I trust the guys to make.

Also, how the HELL is this game still so far away?!

I feel way more confident with our offense if Tatum gets doubled than single covered.

Smart and Horford thrive off being the middle man of the hockey assist. Jaylen Brown thrives off receiving a ball in rotation and having a lane to attack or just shoot a 3.

Our entire team outside of Theis due to shooting talent is a bunch of 3 and D guys lol. So if it's just a matter of passing out of a double and letting our connectors in Horford, White, Smart make the connecting pass for an open shot that just plays in to our teams entire strengths lol.

I'm hoping we see a lot of pick and roll with Smart setting the pick and get Tatum on Irving in isolation consistently lol. If Durant follows, that leaves Smart open for hopefully the connection pass to a shooter but often enough Smart will take the open shot too and he's decent at catch and shoot 3s himself.

[Feed Your Head]

Sounds like Brooklyn is going to go hard with the Tatum traps and make everyone else beat them. Sounds good to me lol, White/Smart are such quick decision makers out of that PnR. If the Nets go that route, there will plenty of open shots, which I trust the guys to make.

Also, how the HELL is this game still so far away?!

I feel way more confident with our offense if Tatum gets doubled than single covered.

Smart and Horford thrive off being the middle man of the hockey assist. Jaylen Brown thrives off receiving a ball in rotation and having a lane to attack or just shoot a 3.

Our entire team outside of Theis due to shooting talent is a bunch of 3 and D guys lol. So if it's just a matter of passing out of a double and letting our connectors in Horford, White, Smart make the connecting pass for an open shot that just plays in to our teams entire strengths lol.

I'm hoping we see a lot of pick and roll with Smart setting the pick and get Tatum on Irving in isolation consistently lol. If Durant follows, that leaves Smart open for hopefully the connection pass to a shooter but often enough Smart will take the open shot too and he's decent at catch and shoot 3s himself.

I would guess they’ll start out with Bruce Brown on him in single coverage, but it he comes out and is hitting his shots, I think you’ll see them either go blitz heavy on him, or zone. Which if they want to go zone when Tatum is in the game, go ahead.

For the Nets to have a good shot in this series, they NEED Claxton to play really well.

[Triple7]

Man i hope White, Smart, Grant and Pritch over performs with their shooting in this series. Not the time to go on slumps. JB’s gonna get his mid range no problem. It’s the other guys that’s gonna make a difference. They gonna trap JT hard. If guys don’t make shots, JT might go to iso mode, which can be our downfall. Sucks we don’t have the lob option that Rob provides.

[celticfan42487]

Sounds like Brooklyn is going to go hard with the Tatum traps and make everyone else beat them. Sounds good to me lol, White/Smart are such quick decision makers out of that PnR. If the Nets go that route, there will plenty of open shots, which I trust the guys to make.

Also, how the HELL is this game still so far away?!

I feel way more confident with our offense if Tatum gets doubled than single covered.

Smart and Horford thrive off being the middle man of the hockey assist. Jaylen Brown thrives off receiving a ball in rotation and having a lane to attack or just shoot a 3.

Our entire team outside of Theis due to shooting talent is a bunch of 3 and D guys lol. So if it's just a matter of passing out of a double and letting our connectors in Horford, White, Smart make the connecting pass for an open shot that just plays in to our teams entire strengths lol.

I'm hoping we see a lot of pick and roll with Smart setting the pick and get Tatum on Irving in isolation consistently lol. If Durant follows, that leaves Smart open for hopefully the connection pass to a shooter but often enough Smart will take the open shot too and he's decent at catch and shoot 3s himself.

I would guess they’ll start out with Bruce Brown on him in single coverage, but it he comes out and is hitting his shots, I think you’ll see them either go blitz heavy on him, or zone. Which if they want to go zone when Tatum is in the game, go ahead.

For the Nets to have a good shot in this series, they NEED Claxton to play really well.

Yeah Drummond and Claxton are going to clog the paint. Durant himself is one of the better shot blocking Centers when it's the playoffs and he needs to be on a team. It's going to be tough to finish in there against a set defense.

I do think ironically a lot of our offense will be decided by Tatum mid range shots when he's not passing it or we're running a set that doesn't start with Tatum.

And I'm no coach so I don't know if they will but to me whether it's Brown or Durant running a pick and roll with Smart as the pick setter having Irving on him seems legit.

Or anyone who has Irving on him.

Irving doesn't want to play real defense, and even if they try to hide him on Theis that's a pick and roll straight into an alley oop to Theis at the rim. Not that Theis can jump much higher than Irving but Irving isn't gonna challenge that at all lol.

[playa-hater]

Man i hope White, Smart, Grant and Pritch over performs with their shooting in this series. Not the time to go on slumps. JB’s gonna get his mid range no problem. It’s the other guys that’s gonna make a difference. They gonna trap JT hard. If guys don’t make shots, JT might go to iso mode, which can be our downfall. Sucks we don’t have the lob option that Rob provides.

They don't have to over perform IMO, just shoot anywhere near what they are capable of. Make just enough shots to stop Tatum from getting blitzed. whatever shooters are shooting well on that given night, play them more.

[Triple7]

Man i hope White, Smart, Grant and Pritch over performs with their shooting in this series. Not the time to go on slumps. JB’s gonna get his mid range no problem. It’s the other guys that’s gonna make a difference. They gonna trap JT hard. If guys don’t make shots, JT might go to iso mode, which can be our downfall. Sucks we don’t have the lob option that Rob provides.

They don't have to over perform IMO, just shoot anywhere near what they are capable of. Make just enough shots to stop Tatum from getting blitzed. whatever shooters are shooting well on that given night, play them more.

I agree. Play the guys that’s shooting well more. Well, i want our guys to over perform in this particular series. We need to have a comfortable lead going in the last minutes at home. Wish we had an extra shooter in our fold. Hope Nesmith can be that. Stauskas can get hot, but i doubt he gets time at all.

[Feed Your Head]

I feel way more confident with our offense if Tatum gets doubled than single covered.

Smart and Horford thrive off being the middle man of the hockey assist. Jaylen Brown thrives off receiving a ball in rotation and having a lane to attack or just shoot a 3.

Our entire team outside of Theis due to shooting talent is a bunch of 3 and D guys lol. So if it's just a matter of passing out of a double and letting our connectors in Horford, White, Smart make the connecting pass for an open shot that just plays in to our teams entire strengths lol.

I'm hoping we see a lot of pick and roll with Smart setting the pick and get Tatum on Irving in isolation consistently lol. If Durant follows, that leaves Smart open for hopefully the connection pass to a shooter but often enough Smart will take the open shot too and he's decent at catch and shoot 3s himself.

I would guess they’ll start out with Bruce Brown on him in single coverage, but it he comes out and is hitting his shots, I think you’ll see them either go blitz heavy on him, or zone. Which if they want to go zone when Tatum is in the game, go ahead.

For the Nets to have a good shot in this series, they NEED Claxton to play really well.

Yeah Drummond and Claxton are going to clog the paint. Durant himself is one of the better shot blocking Centers when it's the playoffs and he needs to be on a team. It's going to be tough to finish in there against a set defense.

I do think ironically a lot of our offense will be decided by Tatum mid range shots when he's not passing it or we're running a set that doesn't start with Tatum.

And I'm no coach so I don't know if they will but to me whether it's Brown or Durant running a pick and roll with Smart as the pick setter having Irving on him seems legit.

Or anyone who has Irving on him.

Irving doesn't want to play real defense, and even if they try to hide him on Theis that's a pick and roll straight into an alley oop to Theis at the rim. Not that Theis can jump much higher than Irving but Irving isn't gonna challenge that at all lol.

Drummond is a drop big, Tatum will light them up anytime he’s in. He’s a poor rim defender as well. Claxton is much more versatile defensively, but you can overpower him at the rim.

I don’t expect much Tatum from midrange, he’s almost entirely cut it out of his game. When the Nets play drop coverage, it’s bombs away from three for Tatum and Jaylen. If they go switch heavy, Tatum will live at the rim, and if they go blitz heavy/zone, you’ll see a lot of ball movement for open threes or good looks at the rim, and Jaylen would do serious damage.

Celtics should be able to get whatever they want offensively, as long as everyone makes quick decisions. Nets have made it clear that obviously slowing down Tatum is their first and second priority, but they aren’t the type of defense who can dictate much.

[playa-hater]

Man i hope White, Smart, Grant and Pritch over performs with their shooting in this series. Not the time to go on slumps. JB’s gonna get his mid range no problem. It’s the other guys that’s gonna make a difference. They gonna trap JT hard. If guys don’t make shots, JT might go to iso mode, which can be our downfall. Sucks we don’t have the lob option that Rob provides.

They don't have to over perform IMO, just shoot anywhere near what they are capable of. Make just enough shots to stop Tatum from getting blitzed. whatever shooters are shooting well on that given night, play them more.

I agree. Play the guys that’s shooting well more. Well, i want our guys to over perform in this particular series. We need to have a comfortable lead going in the last minutes at home. Wish we had an extra shooter in our fold. Hope Nesmith can be that. Stauskas can get hot, but i doubt he gets time at all.

Though I am a big Nesmith fan, I don't expect he will play much. Just have Smart-D White-PP rotate and stay out of foul trouble.

[tfribs45]

PP may take a back seat this series. He's a defensive liability.... Going to see a ton of Cobra and White, unless PP's three ball is flowing! Nesmith's effort/defense may help slow their studs down. Hard to tell, but Ime is going to ride his studs unlike Brad ! Gone are the days of 12 man rotations.

[KGboss]

Twitter saying Rob is in the gym practicing like he hasnt ruled himself out for game 1.

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[Fantaxp7]

PP may take a back seat this series. He's a defensive liability.... Going to see a ton of Cobra and White, unless PP's three ball is flowing! Nesmith's effort/defense may help slow their studs down. Hard to tell, but Ime is going to ride his studs unlike Brad ! Gone are the days of 12 man rotations.

If Nesmith is playing good defensively he'd be good to have out there to guard Patty Mills or Seth Curry who I am sure the Nets will be looking to get open while we focus on Durant and Irving. I can't imagine those two will be shooting as poorly as they just did against the Cavs the other night.

[Floody100]

Twitter saying Rob is in the gym practicing like he hasnt ruled himself out for game 1.

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Just imagine how deflated the Nets players would be if Rob was fit for game 1

[playa-hater]

Twitter saying Rob is in the gym practicing like he hasnt ruled himself out for game 1.

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don't do this to me

[Shak_Celts]

Twitter saying Rob is in the gym practicing like he hasnt ruled himself out for game 1. [img]//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220414/0a9c4b2686473def728660a30db6e3f7.jpg[/
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don't do this to me

Nope. I'm 39, in here with my hands over my eyes, singing la la lala! I'm tuning this tweet out because he won't be ready for a while longer and I can't do this!! My heart!! No no no!!

Stop it, don't imagine it!! No!! What is that small twinkle in my spine?? (trying to talk myself out of crazy)

[jordb2k7]

Twitter saying Rob is in the gym practicing like he hasnt ruled himself out for game 1.

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don't do this to me

Guys this is not true. He meant it in jest with all the Simmons rumors. His tweet before said he was going to start this rumor. Sorry