Eastern Conference | Round 1 | (2) Boston Celtics vs. (7) Brooklyn Nets

[Perseus1966]

As Pachinko says ,its easy to watch the game but playing against them its difficult.
Griffin scored 18 pts in first game ,Brown was quite good ,mike james scored 15,even kyrie played great defense.

[Ice Trae]

This is goona be a fun one. Can see it going either way honestly. You can just never count out KD and Kyrie

[ajones9219]

Thats a weird take. Kind of shows you don't know what you're talking about.

There is not "might need to play KD and kyrie 40+ min" they ARE playing 40 and have been most of the year. There is zero problem with this, it's the play-offs.

It's weird that you don't see why playing injury prone guys 40mpg and absolutely needing that to win every game is not good.

ok then, i look forward you celtics giving their star players rest days in the play-offs.

Tatum averaged 36 minutes this year and sat several fourth quarters. Nobody is talking about resting stars.

Tatum and Brown are also not injury prone. Durant and Irving have had several very serious injuries. Nets fans should know better than anyone.

[rickbrunson]

I think Dee Brown and Dino Radja are going to have a tough time with the Kenny Anderson/Derrick Coleman PnR.
Raps in 4.

[Ill News]

I wish some Celtics fans in this thread would stop puffing their chests and saying the Celtics would surely beat the Nets because they've been statistically better since the start of the year. I still remember the arrogance of Bucks fans in 2019 when they kept flouting their "historic" SRS rating or whatever like it's some surefire ticket to a title, only for them to be embarrassed by the Raps in the ECF. Stats and net ratings often get thrown out the window in the face of a team peaking at the right time. Not saying the Nets are anything close to that Raps team (their defense is miles apart), but they still have KD and Kyrie who can wreck any defensive gameplan thrown at them.

I'm predicting Celtics in 6, but I'm cautiously optimistic about this prediction. The C's shouldn't fall into the trap of getting into a shootout with KD and Kyrie, they need to beat them by sharing the ball and making life tough on the defensive end (in their epic regular season game, the Celtic defense was pretty bad tbh). If this goes 7, it's gonna be a toss-up. It's gonna be a very tough battle.

[QUIZ]

As someone who also fasts during Ramadan, I expect game 1 to be a rough one for Kyrie. The entire game will be prior to sundown, as compared to the 7pm or 7:30 games which are starting right around when he can start eating and drinking. I expect the Celtics to win the first game convincingly.

[K For Three]

I wish some Celtics fans in this thread would stop puffing their chests and saying the Celtics would surely beat the Nets because they've been statistically better since the start of the year. I still remember the arrogance of Bucks fans in 2019 when they kept flouting their "historic" SRS rating or whatever like it's some surefire ticket to a title, only for them to be embarrassed by the Raps in the ECF. Stats and net ratings often get thrown out the window in the face of a team peaking at the right time. Not saying the Nets are anything close to that Raps team (their defense is miles apart), but they still have KD and Kyrie who can wreck any defensive gameplan thrown at them.

I'm predicting Celtics in 6, but I'm cautiously optimistic about this prediction. The C's shouldn't fall into the trap of getting into a shootout with KD and Kyrie, they need to beat them by sharing the ball and making life tough on the defensive end (in their epic regular season game, the Celtic defense was pretty bad tbh). If this goes 7, it's gonna be a toss-up. It's gonna be a very tough battle.

Same. I'm cautiously optimistic like you are.

[rilamann]

It's crazy that if just 3 months ago, you said that the Celtics and Nets would be playing in the 1st round of the playoffs in the #2 vs # 7 match-up and you asked NBA fans which seed the Nets would be. Most would have been like The Nets slipped to the #2 seed?

I would be a bit nervous if I was a Celtics fan.

Ummmm…..it’s the Nets that slipped to 7 seed, not the other way around. Even at their best last year, the Nets were just a 48 win team. They won just one playoff series last year against a 36-36 Celtic team. At their best….the Nets with Kyrie and Durant have done absolutely nothing! This is year 3 of this experiment and every year it’s been a dumpster fire. Yet you guys talk about them like they are the 1996 Bulls or the 2017 Warriors. There is no reason to be nervous at all. This series will be a fight. Durant and Kyrie are great players but literally no reason to dodge a team that has accomplished so little.

Even with all the Kyrie stuff, the Nets still would have been a top 2 seed this season if Durant hadn't missed 27 games. That's the point.

Even with Kyrie missing 53 games and Durant missing 27 games, the Celtics only finished 7 games ahead of the Nets. All I am saying is I would be a bit nervous if I was a Celtics fan.

[th87]

We were beating the Celtics with or without a few games of Rob Williams and everyone knows it. Give me a break.

The series wasn't close.

The Bucks was decided by KD's big toe.

We were missing Rob, brown, and kemba.
You can argue you still may have won but to act like that series wasn't a sham due to injuries is just biased

Its not "we may have won."

We were winning the series. We were the far better team.

And the Celtics were basically .500 all year despite having Brown/Tatum/Williams healthy for most of the season. Nets with KD this year had the #1 seed in the East.

Kemba isn't even good so pretending that made a big difference is comical.

Completely different from the Bucks series. We had a higher seed and were winning by far till Kyrie got undercut by Giannis.

Bucks were well on their way tying the series when that happened.

[jirrit]

As someone who also fasts during Ramadan, I expect game 1 to be a rough one for Kyrie. The entire game will be prior to sundown, as compared to the 7pm or 7:30 games which are starting right around when he can start eating and drinking. I expect the Celtics to win the first game convincingly.

FYI Jaylen Brown also fasts during Ramadan.

[Pachinko_]

I wish some Celtics fans in this thread would stop puffing their chests and saying the Celtics would surely beat the Nets because they've been statistically better since the start of the year. I still remember the arrogance of Bucks fans in 2019 when they kept flouting their "historic" SRS rating or whatever like it's some surefire ticket to a title, only for them to be embarrassed by the Raps in the ECF. Stats and net ratings often get thrown out the window in the face of a team peaking at the right time. Not saying the Nets are anything close to that Raps team (their defense is miles apart), but they still have KD and Kyrie who can wreck any defensive gameplan thrown at them.

Well... yes and no. Regular season basketball and playoff basketball, despite how it seems in our minds, is actually remarkably the same. I just finished putting together some data (let me know if you want to see it) but if you compare last year's PO teams how they did in the POs Vs regular season, as a total everything was about the same: scoring, FGs, shooting efficiency etc. The only real diff was in the POs overall it was 11% harder to get an assist. That's it. That was the whole difference made by the "half court game, defensive intensity, and refs swallowing their whistles in the POs". That's not to say those things don't happen or don't matter, they do, but on the other hand teams tend to play their best players more so they still find ways to get back to their normal production.

So what I'm getting at is if you take some key regular season metrics and use it to predict playoffs you'll probably be right more often than not. Just not always. Sometimes some veteran teams change in the playoffs and that was certainly the case with the 2019 Raps. The Bucks did have a historic SRS and every reason to feel good about themselves, and then lost to a team that would probably have an even better SRS if they ran Kawhi to the ground like they did in the playoffs instead of sitting him 1 game out of 3 all year. After all they only finished 1-2 games behind the Bucks in the standings from memory, and then won a hard series after going down 0-2 and then almost 0-3 in overtime. It wasn't a huge difference between them, but the Raps were a little better and a lot stealthier.

Celtics for sure have peaked at the right moment (minus Timelord) and show some strong numbers that makes them legit favourites, that's not a crazy thing to say and no reason to call it chest puffing. The only question is if Nets have a lot more in the tank than what they've shown so far. And that is hard to gauge because they certainly didn't rest anybody at all, but they did lose a lot of games to injuries which makes their healthy sample too small for any real conclusions.

[Hello Brooklyn]

We were missing Rob, brown, and kemba.
You can argue you still may have won but to act like that series wasn't a sham due to injuries is just biased

Its not "we may have won."

We were winning the series. We were the far better team.

And the Celtics were basically .500 all year despite having Brown/Tatum/Williams healthy for most of the season. Nets with KD this year had the #1 seed in the East.

Kemba isn't even good so pretending that made a big difference is comical.

Completely different from the Bucks series. We had a higher seed and were winning by far till Kyrie got undercut by Giannis.

Bucks were well on their way tying the series when that happened.

No they were not. It was a 4 point game less than halfway through Game 4.

Up 2-1 with homecourt. And both Brooklyn games were blowouts.

[Hello Brooklyn]

As someone who also fasts during Ramadan, I expect game 1 to be a rough one for Kyrie. The entire game will be prior to sundown, as compared to the 7pm or 7:30 games which are starting right around when he can start eating and drinking. I expect the Celtics to win the first game convincingly.

Jaylen Brown also fasts apparently. So it might even out.

But will be tough.

Kyrie did drop 42 his last afternoon game though while fasting.

[th87]

Its not "we may have won."

We were winning the series. We were the far better team.

And the Celtics were basically .500 all year despite having Brown/Tatum/Williams healthy for most of the season. Nets with KD this year had the #1 seed in the East.

Kemba isn't even good so pretending that made a big difference is comical.

Completely different from the Bucks series. We had a higher seed and were winning by far till Kyrie got undercut by Giannis.

Bucks were well on their way tying the series when that happened.

No they were not. It was a 4 point game less than halfway through Game 4.

Up 2-1 with homecourt. And both Brooklyn games were blowouts.

Bucks were on a major run and had momentum at that point.

Games 1 and 2 against the Suns were blowouts too.

Both the Nets and Suns serieses turned when the Bucks realized they were bigger.

Bucks should've won the Nets series in 6, if not for a complete choke in game 5.

[Hello Brooklyn]

It's crazy that if just 3 months ago, you said that the Celtics and Nets would be playing in the 1st round of the playoffs in the #2 vs # 7 match-up and you asked NBA fans which seed the Nets would be. Most would have been like The Nets slipped to the #2 seed?

I would be a bit nervous if I was a Celtics fan.

Ummmm…..it’s the Nets that slipped to 7 seed, not the other way around. Even at their best last year, the Nets were just a 48 win team. They won just one playoff series last year against a 36-36 Celtic team. At their best….the Nets with Kyrie and Durant have done absolutely nothing! This is year 3 of this experiment and every year it’s been a dumpster fire. Yet you guys talk about them like they are the 1996 Bulls or the 2017 Warriors. There is no reason to be nervous at all. This series will be a fight. Durant and Kyrie are great players but literally no reason to dodge a team that has accomplished so little.

Even with all the Kyrie stuff, the Nets still would have been a top 2 seed this season if Durant hadn't missed 27 games. That's the point.

Even with Kyrie missing 53 games and Durant missing 27 games, the Celtics only finished 7 games ahead of the Nets. All I am saying is I would be a bit nervous if I was a Celtics fan.

48 wins in a shortened season too. What a dishonest argument lol.

In a normal season thats 54-55 win pace. Better than anyone in the East right now.

Similarly, this season with KD in the lineup its a pace slightly better than anyone.

Only reason the Nets even have a worse record is because Harden torpedoed the locker room and the team lost 11 in a row.

[QUIZ]

As someone who also fasts during Ramadan, I expect game 1 to be a rough one for Kyrie. The entire game will be prior to sundown, as compared to the 7pm or 7:30 games which are starting right around when he can start eating and drinking. I expect the Celtics to win the first game convincingly.

Jaylen Brown also fasts apparently. So it might even out.

But will be tough.

Kyrie did drop 42 his last afternoon game though while fasting.

Oh wow I didn’t know that. That’s a super interesting dynamic to follow in this series.

[Hello Brooklyn]

Bucks were well on their way tying the series when that happened.

No they were not. It was a 4 point game less than halfway through Game 4.

Up 2-1 with homecourt. And both Brooklyn games were blowouts.

Bucks were on a major run and had momentum at that point.

Games 1 and 2 against the Suns were blowouts too.

Both the Nets and Suns serieses turned when the Bucks realized they were bigger.

Bucks should've won the Nets series in 6, if not for a complete choke in game 5.

Yeah Bucks were on a run after the Nets started the game with a run.

Acting like they had that game won with a 4 point pre halftime lead is pretty stupid.

Yeah except the Suns didn't have KD. Which allowed them to win Game 5 and push to OT in Game 7.

Kyrie easily makes them good enough to win one of those 3 games.

And Nets should have won Game 3 if not for a dumb choke job too.

[th87]

No they were not. It was a 4 point game less than halfway through Game 4.

Up 2-1 with homecourt. And both Brooklyn games were blowouts.

Bucks were on a major run and had momentum at that point.

Games 1 and 2 against the Suns were blowouts too.

Both the Nets and Suns serieses turned when the Bucks realized they were bigger.

Bucks should've won the Nets series in 6, if not for a complete choke in game 5.

Yeah Bucks were on a run after the Nets started the game with a run.

Acting like they had that game won with a 4 point pre halftime lead is pretty stupid.

Yeah except the Suns didn't have KD. Which allowed them to win Game 5 and push to OT in Game 7.

Kyrie easily makes them good enough to win one of those 3 games.

And Nets should have won Game 3 if not for a dumb choke job too.

Kyrie's increased usage would've taken opportunities from Durant (who was near-perfect), which would've led to a cumulatively poorer result.

[Hello Brooklyn]

Bucks were on a major run and had momentum at that point.

Games 1 and 2 against the Suns were blowouts too.

Both the Nets and Suns serieses turned when the Bucks realized they were bigger.

Bucks should've won the Nets series in 6, if not for a complete choke in game 5.

Yeah Bucks were on a run after the Nets started the game with a run.

Acting like they had that game won with a 4 point pre halftime lead is pretty stupid.

Yeah except the Suns didn't have KD. Which allowed them to win Game 5 and push to OT in Game 7.

Kyrie easily makes them good enough to win one of those 3 games.

And Nets should have won Game 3 if not for a dumb choke job too.

Kyrie's increased usage would've taken opportunities from Durant (who was near-perfect), which would've led to a cumulatively poorer result.

Considering they were playing great together the first 3 games your argument makes little sense.

[th87]

Yeah Bucks were on a run after the Nets started the game with a run.

Acting like they had that game won with a 4 point pre halftime lead is pretty stupid.

Yeah except the Suns didn't have KD. Which allowed them to win Game 5 and push to OT in Game 7.

Kyrie easily makes them good enough to win one of those 3 games.

And Nets should have won Game 3 if not for a dumb choke job too.

Kyrie's increased usage would've taken opportunities from Durant (who was near-perfect), which would've led to a cumulatively poorer result.

Considering they were playing great together the first 3 games your argument makes little sense.

Sure, but going to Durant only was better for the Nets.

In this series, for every Kyrie miss, there will likely be a better Durant attempt that was the opportunity cost paid.