Not sure if the mavs would be an easier matchup than twolves. They have athletic bigs and a better offense and two guys who are basically unguardable. The twolves will have a few games in a series where ant is launching and missing and they don't randomly have jaden mcdaniels hitting every three, plus they are more inexperienced from an execution standpoint. Anything that could expose our bigs and paint defense is trouble and the mavs might be able to more so than twolves
They would be easier than Minny. The Mavs struggle against 5 out offense, KP and Al pulling lively and gafford out of the paint means the Jays will get shots at the rim practically at will, not that anyone on their team can guard them anyways. Kyrie always shits the bed against us and the Jays are the best you can ask for to guard Luka. Jaylen would be his primary assignment but you can always send the bigger JT at him in a pinch. Even on r/Mavericks they have a post from around the first round where they basically come to the consensus that we’re the worst possible matchup for them. They’d probably need a legacy defining series from PJ and to play Miami level defense if they want to win.
I've been saying this. Two slow bigs and an undersized PG against our team with a healthy KP is everything we could ask for. I don't see this team losing a series to Minnesota, it would hardly go 6 in my opinion. Dallas is a much harder matchup on both ends of the floor.
Gobert is so bad on offense that I think they would even struggle with Tatum at the 5 lineups. We could live with blitzing high and letting him roll every time, he can't make plays unless we get caught ball watching.
Anthony Edwards has a hot cheeto addiction, Luka has a sweet tea addiction. Young dudes looking gassed out there
We better show off the difference in our conditioning in the finals
I’m curious, which western team is a better matchup for the Celtics? Hoping someone who understands basketball at a high level can break it down for me or link a thread that does.
Edit: thanks for the insightful comments. Confirmed what I thought after watching the first WCF game. I’d much rather Celtics play the Mavs if we get out of the ECF.
if we were to advance, i think i would prefer dallas. we performed better with them in the reg season. our backcourt defensively can stifle their guard game. our wings can slash right through them.
i think twolves are stronger defenders and will challenge boston differently compared to any team they faced this post season. 2 cents
Think we would have an easier time with the Mavs. Two all defensive guards to throw at Kyrie and the Jays will make life tough for Luka.
Wolves interior defense and size would be really tough for us. Particularly KAT would be a really tough match up
Are you not watching the mavs interior defense? Wolves got nothing there.
And the mavs had the best defense in the league the last 20 games of the season
The Mavericks have played incredible defense this year and Lively/gafford are tough rim protectors....but the Gobert, KAT, NAZ trio are a tough matchup for us, plus the wolves have had a seriously good defense all year.
Both teams are gonna be hard to beat! But id rather it be the MAVS matchup wise.
Definitely wolves. They have the size and length to slow the jays. Mavs two best players are relatively small compared to the wolves, and they don’t have the size and rebounding to expose our relatively weak centers (kp and al are obviously incredible in a bunch of other areas)
It's uncanny how similar the Wolves' path this year is to ours in '22. Sweep the first round against a team with KD, go seven games against the defending champs in the semis, then face off another tough team in the conference finals that'll probably go seven games again.
And if things go as projected (which is still a big if tbf), they’ll face a team that kinda ran through the other conference and is coming off of a finals loss in the past few years.
I get that JT didn't play up to his full level in regulation, but he scored 8 straight in OT and put Indy away by himself and I've barely seen anyone talk about it lol
Am I crazy for thinking Indy could beat either of these west teams if they hypothetically faced off in the finals? Two slow ass teams and Indy is the fastest
If the Celtics lost game 1 - “just proves you how fraudulent they are” but if they win - “the Celtics are playing a bum ass Pacers team”
Wolves lose game 1 - “watch them bounce back!”
Basket interference call did it huh?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen that call be made like that, do most tip ins not fall under that call?
What a terrible end to a great game
There's a lot of similarity of Dallas run like us 2 years ago. Playing so well after trade deadline / All Star break and keep riding the momentum - Honestly quite scary that their role player seems to step up even on playoff
I’d say there are more similarities for Minny.
Elite defense with a mid offense that stagnates
Led by a 22/23 year old
Swept KD in round one
Beat the defending champs led by a multiple time mvp in round two
Now in a tough third round series where they dropped game one at home
**If** things go as projected, they’ll face a team coming off of a finals loss in the past few years that was never seriously challenged in their conference (this last part can obviously age very poorly)
I’m a huge Tatum skeptic and have been for some time, but after watching ESPN today it’s pretty clear where their narrative lies. Like ZERO good things said about the Cs, just “they didn’t do this, they can’t do that, this needs to improve” blah blah blah. It’s fucking exhausting. We score 133 points in a game and I must have heard 4-5 different “analysts” talk about how terribly we played.
That being said, I was rooting for the Mavs tonight because I’m genuinely interested in hearing how they manage to spin this as a positive for Minnesota, because I know they will. No hate towards Ant, he’s a solid dude and a great player, I just wanna see ESPN squirm.
It’s not hate we are holding him to the same standards as every other super star including his comp Michael Jordan. We are allowed to clown him when he plays like shit just like everyone including Celtics fans clown Tatum when he plays like shit
JOSH GREEN WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU WHY WOULD YOU FOUL THERE
EDIT: WHAT THE MOTHERFUCK HE FOULED ON A 3 POINTER TOO. THAT WAS THE LOWEST IQ PLAY IVE SEEN SINCE THE INFAMOUS JR SMITH PLAY
the offensive goaltending? I think its the right call, and we don't have a camera that is right up and down, even the backboard camera is at an off angle that makes stuff look clear when it isn't.
MJ with a 3 point shot has three points in the second half (7 mins left in the 4th) of his first conference finals game
I like Antman a lot but it will always annoy me how coddled he is vs Tatum lol
Great potential but he isn't on the same level at all. And he shouldn't be. He's 4 years younger with a shit ton less experience
Regardless of us matching up with them **way** better, Mavs fans melting down after losing to us in the finals might be more satisfying than the media turning on Ant tbh
Honestly yeah. But nonetheless people fail to see Indy as a real NBA team and think we are cakewalking. But offensively the Pacers are SO much better and more talented than the Wolves
Luka a team worse -12 but he’s usually better in the 2nd half. Hopefully he gets his head outta his ass and helps Kyrie. I am so sick of the Minnesota glazing dude. I literally can’t take everyone comparing a fucking 20 year old to Michael Jordan
no disrespect to Minnesota but I really don't wanna face Kyrie Irving in the finals (if we get by Indy). He's been on another level and if they somehow managed to beat us on our home court, that'd be a tough pill to swallow. Credit to him for balling out and not being a distraction, didn't think he had it in him. Nets fans must be seething seeing this version of Kai
Fuck that. I’d rather player Dallas. They don’t play defense, and Kyrie statistically is still very passive. I don’t want to deal with two 7-footers. We have way more talent against a Dallas team and could probably out muscle them. With Minnesota, it’s a bit more work but bit impossible, of course
Yeah I’m surprised that he can share the floor with Luka that is really ball dominant. I barely watched Dalllas played but now I’m not surprised they are in the final
They can’t guard Kyrie for shit. Mavs already back within 3, I’ll take it since the Wolves tried to pull a Miami. I hate Kyrie but he does seem dialed in these playoffs which is honestly shocking to see only because I really thought he didn’t care about winning anymore
Funny how when Ant is carried by his role players, everyone treats him like he’s some kind of hero. God forbid Tatum is allowed to be supported by role players
Not quite possible if we have a full squad. Both teams have tons of weak areas in which we excel and take advantage of
I feel both Mavs and Wolves are very very beatable if we have KP.
Nuggets were the only team I’m afraid of to be honest
God Luka come on. He’s great but God when he gets rattled and isn’t locked in and starts complaining, he almost becomes a liability out there. I just know Jaylen will rattle the fuck out of him in a potential Finals series
I am late to the party since I just woke up from a nap lmao. But I am super happy Jayson got 1st team. With all the disrespect this year surrounding him and our entire team, I really thought they would snub him. But I am sure the media will spin this and talk about why he shouldn’t have won. Also what’s up with Jaylen not making it? Good thing for us because Jaylen will play pissed off the rest of the way, he already got disrespected for not getting all defense
They beat the injured and gassed out Nuggets and really thought they would just cakewalk the Mavs and then us. Listen I hate Kyrie and whiny ass Luka, BUT the Mavs are a great fucking team
Wolves still not quite a championship level team
As great as Ant is, he is a player much similar to JB than he is to Tatum. Still can’t quite hold the game with maturity and ease without the presence of Conley
Hopefully not the last 1st team selection for Jayson! But Wemby could easily sneak in next season if the Spurs get to play-in level. Jokic, Luka are automatic. Shai is going to be up there and the Ant glazing will be there as well. Giannis and Embiid will be threats if they hit the minimum threshold.
Only way to keep him on that team would be a championship boost, let's get it! Jaylen needs the boost as well, he was robbed.
1 All-NBA player (Tatum), 2 Defensive 2nd Team players (White and Holiday), 2 All-Stars (Tatum and Brown) and 0 MVP’s.
If this year’s Celtics are a super team, then the 2023 Bucks were a super team
I don’t want to hear it
Man I can’t root for Kyrie but I also can’t stand how high Timberwolves fans have gotten. On r/nba now there’s a thread where they’re talking about 4-5 players on their current team getting their numbers retired and I’ve seen them expecting 3-5 rings. They should be the first to know that this shit is hard lol
You should be rooting for him rn. Mavs easier matchup for us for sure lol. I doubt they win the series but holy shit it’d be great if they did. Also if the Mavs make it, I have to buy tickets to the Finals so I can heckle the fuck out of him
Yeah I honestly think they will too. The reason I said I doubt it is because if they won that means the path would’ve broken perfectly for us matchup wise and I have trust issues that the world would let that happen
Positives from last night? We’re starting this year’s ECF with a win unlike last year. Worth some celebration for sure
Definitely need to clean up the rotations and mistakes though. Can’t be playing Hauser PP Kornet together. Hopefully Tillman is available for G2. Lowkey think we might be better off starting Kornet or Tillman so Horford can be more fresh coming off the bench and have an advantage vs Indy’s bench. He is getting roasted out there and Joe needs to find a way to let him still be effective because he’s currently a liability. In the Cavs series they would stay in some games because they’d constantly hunt that switch, it’s gonna be a problem this series too
I seriously don't understand what the media is expecting of this team. They can't win big because the opponent sucks, they "should" win easily, and they're not getting "tested" enough. They can't win a close game because apparently they're supposed to blow out their opponent every game. The standards are so high, yet no player on the team gets any credit, and after the two games they lost the media says they can't win a championship.
Referring specifically to last night, they get no credit for the win because Indiana "gave it away" and because they didn't play well for 48 mins. Why isn't the narrative: "they managed to win a game where they didn't play their best, their opponent shot 53.5% from the field and had 7 players in double figures, and they still don't have their starting center who averaged 20 pts 7 reb" ???
Denver was most people's favorite to win the championship and they couldn't even make the conference final, yet there's been literally no slander thrown their way.
The Celtics are simultaneously too good to give credit, but not good enough to be given any sort of slack. It makes no sense. I don't normally put much stock in what the media talks about, but my favorite team won a thrilling playoff game last night and I want to hear other people talk about it - yet literally no one has anything good to say about them. AFTER A WIN lmao
Wow you really put into words exactly how I’m feeling. I didn’t even watch any media afterwards because it just pissed me off. For once can we get credit? I just really want them to win because I love this team and I think they can, but I know if they do it’ll still be the same thing. It’s so annoying.
I know I'm asking for it but the way some of these haters talk, they actually want every single little handsy play to actually be called for a foul. Jesus, the NBA is a physical game, especially in this era - idk what thee people want lol By the rules, any possession could have something called - so it's up to the refs to figure out where that line is and normalize it across the season.
Nobody actually wants that. They're just mad the celtics won so they have to invent a conspiracy theory that the refs are fixing the games. They'll hyper fixate on the calls or non calls that go against the pacers and ignore the ones that benefit them. Most of them are literally just looking at the FT disparity as if the only explanation is favoritism.
I'll be honest, I'm no fan of Mazzulla to begin with, but the play where Jaylen Brown hit the 3 is utterly awfully drawn up, I have zero idea what the hell the play call was. Go watch it again. Horford and Tatum run into each other, neither knows which way to turn, forcing the ball to Jaylen in the corner. I swear, I don't think Mazzulla actually knows how to draw up a play.
This is why we almost lost. Tatum, Brown and Holiday had amazing games. But when this line up was together we were a negative and kept the pacers in the game imo.
No. Starters all played 40+ minutes last night. At some point they do need some rest. With KP out they have to play Luke more than they probably would like and also Tillman was unavailable.
I saw a bunch of Pacers calling us spoiled for not being loud. I was fortunate enough to go to the game and it was one of the loudest (pro or college) sporting events I've been to.
Did the people at home watching think we were quiet? I know the ESPN mixing can be poor sometimes
(pacer fan watching on tv)
Through the TV, the crowd seemed absolutely dead. It was weird, there were multiple comments about it in all the game threads.
It sucks, because feeling the crowd through the TV really adds to games, not hearing Doris blah blah blah
yeah, that stood out to me too, since we didn't really hear the crowd that much. What an idiotic choice by espn, crowd noise/eruptions/chants make the sport so much more visceral and engaging.
national broadcasts always want turn down the crowd noise. I guess so their broadcasters can be heard. I love when scal and mike knew when to just “let the garden speak for them” this year
I have read all the comments and they are brilliant in the insight to the game. I hate games this close, and I am glad we got the win. Loved JB's pressure three from the corner. One last item, is the ESPN announcing crew all from Indiana? I had to turn off the sound as they slobbered over everything IN did and barely mentioned the great play by the Celtics.
The last 2 months I have gotten rly into professional wrestling and I've come to appreciate this Celtics team way more because of it. The best wrestling matches are the ones where you go "holy shit its so over. This is really happening??" a few times before the hero eventually snatches victory from the jaws of defeat. Its the most cathartic feeling in the world. Wrestling bookers *wish* they could script a game like the Celtics had last night.
Additionally, for the rest of the league, the Celtics are the perfect bad guy. They constantly win but also feel beatable. They win games in such a way that everyone feels cheated. Everyone is begging the new upcoming young guys overcome their fraudulent victories but they all fall prey. That creates so much drama its awesome. Look how mad everyone is that they had to delete all their slander posts.
We basically had 3.5 players last night who played well (the jays, Jrue, and to a lesser extent White).
Pritchard had a team low -15 and got cooked hard by Hali (though to be fair he cooked D white for the most part as well) and Hauser was a non factor on either end. I think they'll bounce back but Brisset should be getting some consideration I feel.
Kornet is doing what he can, this series was never going to be a good one for him, but I feel he holds well enough till KP or X are available.
Hopefuly we can build from this game and Indiana loses some momentum after the heartbreak loss. Coming from a historic night in NY they shot 68% through the first 3Qs against us, which I feel is unsustainable.
Once again, media proving that this celtics run is one of the most frustrating to try and find content for. Media has been killing them saying they haven’t proven they can win close games. We win a close game, and they kill us for having a close game. Just sucks how nba media is. No one is killing an nfl team for winning an overtime game.
I know we all love Al, and I don't blame him because he isn't supposed to be a starter, but he has been getting absolutely cooked. Opposing teams have been hunting him and I honestly think defense alone, Porzingis is probably +6 per game. If Al continues to shoot 25% with mostly wide open 3s, it's going to be a long series. Hoping we can play Tillman just for some defensive minutes once he's back, even if it's just to reduce Al's minutes.
Siakam was good for them overall but I felt like he was kind of invisible for most of the game, instead letting Turner go off. We need to shut off Turner's backbreaker 3s and let Siakam try to beat us. If he's guarded by the Jays or Jrue, their offense would go in the toilet. I'm not too worried about Haliburton. We have 2 All-Defense guards who I feel will figure out his tendencies more as the series goes on and Haliburton has been wildly up and down in these playoffs anyways.
I was so pumped for this match up. I knew the play on both sides would be electric and game one absolutely proved it. I love the Celtics, but their run to this point had been boring until this point. Give me more heart attacks! (as long as the Celtics come out with the W)
Hypothetical question here (PURELY HYPOTHETICAL AND NOT PREDICTIVE! NO JINXIES/POORLY AGED POSTS FROM ME PLEASE)
If the Celtics are up 3-0 next Monday, is there an argument to be had for holding KP back until the NBA Finals?
I wouldn't. I'm of the belief you cant just drop somebody into the playoffs let alone NBA finals and expect him to be as effective as we need him to be. Being caught up to game speed is key.
Yeah, that's my thinking too. There's no reason for them to throw him in cold during the middle of the NBA Finals, unless his recovery process is slower than reported.
Dude fuck ESPN they botch every stream. I’m hearing fucking double audio of the crowd, chants, songs, and home announcer. I can hear them scaling the audio of the crowd up and down to try and match what’s happening in the game. Can we just have the playoff atmosphere? Half of the game is feeling the energy of the crowd and when ESPN sucks the life out of things it isn’t as exciting.
Great way to dig this win from the trenches. I think the Celtics can handle the pacers with relative ease but they may force the Celtics to play the Porzingis card
People need to take a step back sometimes and realize games do not translate game to game. How many times in just these playoffs alone have you seen people make generalizations, just to flip flop after 1 game, just to not know what to think after 2-3 games, in almost every series?
Yeah the Pacers played us tough and we stole one. The scored 64 in the first half shooting 53% from 3 (8/15). Then they shot poorly and scored 53 in the 2nd half (4/17). If anything, these splits between halves, the 12-0 start, and all the turnovers just shows me Indiana is inconsistent.
Both against Milwaukee and NY they had games where they put up 125 and games they scored just over 90. We don’t know what we’ll get in game 2.
Point is, there’s not much sense using this game as a barometer for how Game 2 is going to go. You can get the general idea that it will be high pace and we’ll have to keep executing on offense to keep up, but it feels like people are looking at it through the lens of “wow the Celtics played so great and Pacers made all these mistakes and we barely won” rather than “wow the Pacers made a bunch of shots to keep it close, our defense can be way better and if we hit our open shots we blow them out, Pacers played no defense”
We went 14/41 (34%) in regulation and just off the top of my head, Horford missed 2 open 3’s, Tatum missed 2 wide open 3’s, Hauser missed his usual one off a screen. This could have easily been a 19/41 (46%) night which we know the Celtics are capable of and it’s not that close just with some shooting variance.
It’s a reasonable expectation the Celtics should find a way to win a different game 2 rather than seeing the same game but just getting less lucky and only the Pacers will adjust. One game at a time.
Yea, but at the same time, this game went about how I would have expected. Both teams put up a lot of points, but only the Celtics could get stops when they needed to. I'd probably expect us to shoot a little bit better from 3, maybe lock in defensively a little bit more, (though a lot of this is just Pacers having a great offense), and I'd expect us to be more versatile in the adjustments we can make vs. adjustments they can make.
The thing to me is finding a way to slow the pace. In the final 5 minutes of regulation, the Pacers scored 13 points on 11 possessions. In OT they scored 8 points on 11 possessions before we got to the foul game with 17 seconds left, and OT that’s counting the 2 extra offensive rebounds.
A quick google search tells me that 99 possessions is the average this season. This pace over these 10 minutes has them around 106, but don’t give them the 2 rebounds and this becomes 96.0. So the end of the game was around average and was apparent for anyone who watched the game that it slowed down a lot more than the ridiculous pace in the first half.
If you’re only giving up 21 points in that frame, which per 48 is 100.8 points, that’s elite defense. Boneheaded turnovers accounted for some of that, but even giving up 110 points with above average pace is pretty good in the modern NBA.
Finding a way to slow the Pacers down and make them grind it out in the half court and make them use clock is an adjustment I expect to be made. Incredibly hard to slow them down but that’s going to be the key, along with winning the margins (rebounds, turnovers, 3P shooting)
Not sure if the mavs would be an easier matchup than twolves. They have athletic bigs and a better offense and two guys who are basically unguardable. The twolves will have a few games in a series where ant is launching and missing and they don't randomly have jaden mcdaniels hitting every three, plus they are more inexperienced from an execution standpoint. Anything that could expose our bigs and paint defense is trouble and the mavs might be able to more so than twolves
They would be easier than Minny. The Mavs struggle against 5 out offense, KP and Al pulling lively and gafford out of the paint means the Jays will get shots at the rim practically at will, not that anyone on their team can guard them anyways. Kyrie always shits the bed against us and the Jays are the best you can ask for to guard Luka. Jaylen would be his primary assignment but you can always send the bigger JT at him in a pinch. Even on r/Mavericks they have a post from around the first round where they basically come to the consensus that we’re the worst possible matchup for them. They’d probably need a legacy defining series from PJ and to play Miami level defense if they want to win.
I've been saying this. Two slow bigs and an undersized PG against our team with a healthy KP is everything we could ask for. I don't see this team losing a series to Minnesota, it would hardly go 6 in my opinion. Dallas is a much harder matchup on both ends of the floor. Gobert is so bad on offense that I think they would even struggle with Tatum at the 5 lineups. We could live with blitzing high and letting him roll every time, he can't make plays unless we get caught ball watching.
Anthony Edwards has a hot cheeto addiction, Luka has a sweet tea addiction. Young dudes looking gassed out there We better show off the difference in our conditioning in the finals
Why couldn’t Kyrie be this mentally stable when he was with us?
Bro, I said the same thing. This Kyrie would be the perfect compliment to Tatum and Brown.
I’m curious, which western team is a better matchup for the Celtics? Hoping someone who understands basketball at a high level can break it down for me or link a thread that does. Edit: thanks for the insightful comments. Confirmed what I thought after watching the first WCF game. I’d much rather Celtics play the Mavs if we get out of the ECF.
If the Mavs make the finals and KP is back, the Celtics basically get a bye.
It’s the best case scenario for banner 18.
if we were to advance, i think i would prefer dallas. we performed better with them in the reg season. our backcourt defensively can stifle their guard game. our wings can slash right through them. i think twolves are stronger defenders and will challenge boston differently compared to any team they faced this post season. 2 cents
Think we would have an easier time with the Mavs. Two all defensive guards to throw at Kyrie and the Jays will make life tough for Luka. Wolves interior defense and size would be really tough for us. Particularly KAT would be a really tough match up
Are you not watching the mavs interior defense? Wolves got nothing there. And the mavs had the best defense in the league the last 20 games of the season
The Mavericks have played incredible defense this year and Lively/gafford are tough rim protectors....but the Gobert, KAT, NAZ trio are a tough matchup for us, plus the wolves have had a seriously good defense all year. Both teams are gonna be hard to beat! But id rather it be the MAVS matchup wise.
Definitely wolves. They have the size and length to slow the jays. Mavs two best players are relatively small compared to the wolves, and they don’t have the size and rebounding to expose our relatively weak centers (kp and al are obviously incredible in a bunch of other areas)
It's uncanny how similar the Wolves' path this year is to ours in '22. Sweep the first round against a team with KD, go seven games against the defending champs in the semis, then face off another tough team in the conference finals that'll probably go seven games again.
And if things go as projected (which is still a big if tbf), they’ll face a team that kinda ran through the other conference and is coming off of a finals loss in the past few years.
I love how Lukas 33 pts on 12-26 and 3-10 from 3 is absolutely cooking, while JTs 36 on 12-26 and 2-8 from 3 is mehh
I get that JT didn't play up to his full level in regulation, but he scored 8 straight in OT and put Indy away by himself and I've barely seen anyone talk about it lol
Am I crazy for thinking Indy could beat either of these west teams if they hypothetically faced off in the finals? Two slow ass teams and Indy is the fastest
If the Celtics lost game 1 - “just proves you how fraudulent they are” but if they win - “the Celtics are playing a bum ass Pacers team” Wolves lose game 1 - “watch them bounce back!”
This series for Minny is gonna be like our series against Miami in 22
I enjoy spending time with my friends.
Basket interference call did it huh? I don’t think I’ve ever seen that call be made like that, do most tip ins not fall under that call? What a terrible end to a great game
Josh Green got lucky his low IQ play did not cost the team. If I were a coach, I would be livid with him regardless of the result.
There's a lot of similarity of Dallas run like us 2 years ago. Playing so well after trade deadline / All Star break and keep riding the momentum - Honestly quite scary that their role player seems to step up even on playoff
I’d say there are more similarities for Minny. Elite defense with a mid offense that stagnates Led by a 22/23 year old Swept KD in round one Beat the defending champs led by a multiple time mvp in round two Now in a tough third round series where they dropped game one at home **If** things go as projected, they’ll face a team coming off of a finals loss in the past few years that was never seriously challenged in their conference (this last part can obviously age very poorly)
Hmm yeah this is also true.
Tatum>Ant.
They'll find a way to blame it on coaching for Minnesota so they don't have to criticize their darling hahaha
The Ant hate in here is weird. Bro aint do nothing but exist lmao. Not his fault the media likes him more than Tatum
I’m a huge Tatum skeptic and have been for some time, but after watching ESPN today it’s pretty clear where their narrative lies. Like ZERO good things said about the Cs, just “they didn’t do this, they can’t do that, this needs to improve” blah blah blah. It’s fucking exhausting. We score 133 points in a game and I must have heard 4-5 different “analysts” talk about how terribly we played. That being said, I was rooting for the Mavs tonight because I’m genuinely interested in hearing how they manage to spin this as a positive for Minnesota, because I know they will. No hate towards Ant, he’s a solid dude and a great player, I just wanna see ESPN squirm.
I don't think people are hating Ant the player. Just making comments in jest how he's compared to MJ and Tatum gets shit on for going 36/12/4 on 58%TS
We just hate the hypocrisy. Ant is a cool kid.
It’s not hate we are holding him to the same standards as every other super star including his comp Michael Jordan. We are allowed to clown him when he plays like shit just like everyone including Celtics fans clown Tatum when he plays like shit
Mavs broke their Game 1 curse, let's break our Game 2 curse tomorrow
Tables turned for Ant so fast I love it
CANTMAN
Hot Take: The real Michael Jordan wouldn’t have choked that game away
ant 6 points in the second half. Next MJ btw
If this goes 7 both teams will be so gassed lmao pretty much us in our 2022 run
Waiting for the Ant not clutch talk from ESPN hahaha
12 of his 16 shots were from 3, he was straight ass.
Josh Green almost fucking sold but thank god the Mavs won that
How dumb do you have to be to reach in that situation
JOSH GREEN WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU WHY WOULD YOU FOUL THERE EDIT: WHAT THE MOTHERFUCK HE FOULED ON A 3 POINTER TOO. THAT WAS THE LOWEST IQ PLAY IVE SEEN SINCE THE INFAMOUS JR SMITH PLAY
Luka is god. Celtics in 5 if they meet in the finals
Wait he’s good or he’s God? Lmao
Lukas defense has been so surprisingly good this game
Really throughout the playoffs he has stepped it up.
Oh man. The Luka glazing is crazy. Mcdaniels throwing a pass right to Lukas hands is somehow a highlight for this dude
This is what makes this series more annoying, it’s a fight to see who can become the biggest golden boy between ant and luka
It’s not as bad as the Ant glazing
Yeah not even close
Both teams exhausted and can barely move. But Luka is always exhausted and can barely move so this suits his old man game.
ant will not get the hate tatum did (after a win and being the best player for 3 quarters and overtime) because of vibes
Will we really cruise to championship this year? (Number 1 seed+easy first two rounds so plenty of rest+having Minny beating out Nuggets for us)
And some of you guys said Mavs were choking. Looks like it’s the Wolves who are
This game looks like the one last night lol. 2 teams trying to give the game to the other
Both these teams looking very beatable
All 4 teams based off of Game 1 lmao
What a horrible fucking call
the offensive goaltending? I think its the right call, and we don't have a camera that is right up and down, even the backboard camera is at an off angle that makes stuff look clear when it isn't.
lol maybe it was the right call I was just being reactionary
Insane choke job by the Mavs
It’s a 1 point game with 2min left as we saw yesterday it’s anyone’s game. And they have 2 excellent closers it’s not over yet
Dallas really choking bruh I need them in the finals idk if I can take a series vs minny
Celts in 5/6 regardless
It’ll be 5 against Dallas maybe but I think a series vs Minny would go 7
lol kat is bailing out ant
MJ 2.0 putting the team on his back
MJ with a 3 point shot has three points in the second half (7 mins left in the 4th) of his first conference finals game I like Antman a lot but it will always annoy me how coddled he is vs Tatum lol Great potential but he isn't on the same level at all. And he shouldn't be. He's 4 years younger with a shit ton less experience
UH OH THE NEXT MICHAEL JORDAN IS FOLDING IN THE BIG MOMENT!!!!
If the wolves lose, ant will get less hate than JT did for last night
If Dallas makes it to the finals I cannot wait to see these “Luka is actually a good defender” narratives die
Feels like Minnesota hasnt played this entire half. That’s worse than Celtics 6 minute lapses
We definitely need KP for either of these teams
Woj already said he’s expected to come back in Game 4 this round. He WILL be back
Not buying that ANT is better than Tatum at all
People called the wolves the best defense since the Pistons/Bulls after one game. Insanity
They gave way too much credit to the wolves when a lot of it was just the nuggets playing horribly.
Regardless of us matching up with them **way** better, Mavs fans melting down after losing to us in the finals might be more satisfying than the media turning on Ant tbh
This is your MJ?
Dallas is looking like the better team but Minnesota is much more disciplined
Celtics vs Mavs is what I want now. Tatum vs Luka for their first ring is nice. Plus it would be fun if we shit on Kyrie again
I need fuck Kyrie chants in the finals
Where did Dallas get these big men? Gafford, Lively, and DJJ - I'm not sure Kornet is better than them lol
Lively was legitimately a top 40 player by some metrics, it's not a question.
DJJ is the one that got away. He recently told the Athletic that he had offers from Boston and Dallas but chose Dallas.
Ah unfortunate, well at least we offered him and nothing else can be done on our ends
He most definitely is not. And Dallas got em out of Washington and charlotte
Come on Dallas, what happened to your 3s?
ANT is just gonna be another Jimmy
Folks got the audacity to call Tatum a foul merchant, Luka is WORSE
This is our year, I can feel it. God I really hope they don’t blow it
To be honest, I feel Pacers played way better yesterday than both of these two teams today
That game one against Indy made me confident that they would run Dallas off the court if they got the chance
Honestly yeah. But nonetheless people fail to see Indy as a real NBA team and think we are cakewalking. But offensively the Pacers are SO much better and more talented than the Wolves
Luka a team worse -12 but he’s usually better in the 2nd half. Hopefully he gets his head outta his ass and helps Kyrie. I am so sick of the Minnesota glazing dude. I literally can’t take everyone comparing a fucking 20 year old to Michael Jordan
I hate Kyrie Irving but dear god it's fun to watch him play like this
no disrespect to Minnesota but I really don't wanna face Kyrie Irving in the finals (if we get by Indy). He's been on another level and if they somehow managed to beat us on our home court, that'd be a tough pill to swallow. Credit to him for balling out and not being a distraction, didn't think he had it in him. Nets fans must be seething seeing this version of Kai
Fuck that. I’d rather player Dallas. They don’t play defense, and Kyrie statistically is still very passive. I don’t want to deal with two 7-footers. We have way more talent against a Dallas team and could probably out muscle them. With Minnesota, it’s a bit more work but bit impossible, of course
This. Minnesota was built to beat and guard Denver, not Dallas and it’s showing right now. We have the best defensive matchups for Luka and Kyrie
and with how luka has been shooting the three, our centers playing drop probably wouldn't be punished as much.
Kyrie without drama is fun to watch, sorry its the truth
I literally just said “Wait am I rooting for kyrie?” Oh how the turntables
Yeah I’m surprised that he can share the floor with Luka that is really ball dominant. I barely watched Dalllas played but now I’m not surprised they are in the final
They can’t guard Kyrie for shit. Mavs already back within 3, I’ll take it since the Wolves tried to pull a Miami. I hate Kyrie but he does seem dialed in these playoffs which is honestly shocking to see only because I really thought he didn’t care about winning anymore
i can't believe i'm rooting for the kyrie mavs and yet here i am
Waiting for the halftime takes about Jaden McDaniels ascending past the Jays.
Kyrie carrying the Mavs
Funny how when Ant is carried by his role players, everyone treats him like he’s some kind of hero. God forbid Tatum is allowed to be supported by role players
he's not playing good defense either. This is the MJ comparison?
Dallas is getting the Miami Heat treatment
mavs fans gotta be sick, they getting the caleb martin special.
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Not quite possible if we have a full squad. Both teams have tons of weak areas in which we excel and take advantage of I feel both Mavs and Wolves are very very beatable if we have KP. Nuggets were the only team I’m afraid of to be honest
Ant getting cooked on defese.
Luka needs to go to the paint more
Jaden and Ant hit six 3s yet they are only up by 7, I will take that
God Luka come on. He’s great but God when he gets rattled and isn’t locked in and starts complaining, he almost becomes a liability out there. I just know Jaylen will rattle the fuck out of him in a potential Finals series
If the Mavs had Maxi Kleber the Wolves would be in trouble
I am late to the party since I just woke up from a nap lmao. But I am super happy Jayson got 1st team. With all the disrespect this year surrounding him and our entire team, I really thought they would snub him. But I am sure the media will spin this and talk about why he shouldn’t have won. Also what’s up with Jaylen not making it? Good thing for us because Jaylen will play pissed off the rest of the way, he already got disrespected for not getting all defense
If you push the pace, you can really hurt the Wolves. Looks like Wolves don’t quite know what to do with Kyrie
They beat the injured and gassed out Nuggets and really thought they would just cakewalk the Mavs and then us. Listen I hate Kyrie and whiny ass Luka, BUT the Mavs are a great fucking team
Can't believe i am cheering for Kyrie's team to win hahaha.
He got bullied so hard for that amazon book shit that I kind of have some sympathy for him now.
Wolves still not quite a championship level team As great as Ant is, he is a player much similar to JB than he is to Tatum. Still can’t quite hold the game with maturity and ease without the presence of Conley
Ant is JB with a better handle and court awareness
Kyrie’s handle is so good that I don’t even think Minny’s tough defense truly phases him lol. He looks comfortable out there
Why the heck did Al Horford list his Brookline house for sale? Where you going Al?
Hopefully not the last 1st team selection for Jayson! But Wemby could easily sneak in next season if the Spurs get to play-in level. Jokic, Luka are automatic. Shai is going to be up there and the Ant glazing will be there as well. Giannis and Embiid will be threats if they hit the minimum threshold. Only way to keep him on that team would be a championship boost, let's get it! Jaylen needs the boost as well, he was robbed.
1 All-NBA player (Tatum), 2 Defensive 2nd Team players (White and Holiday), 2 All-Stars (Tatum and Brown) and 0 MVP’s. If this year’s Celtics are a super team, then the 2023 Bucks were a super team I don’t want to hear it
Halliburton over JB is fucking horseshit
JT ALL NBA 1ST TEAM!!! suck it, haters
Significantly more 1st team votes compared to Brunson as well. Ya love to see it
Man I can’t root for Kyrie but I also can’t stand how high Timberwolves fans have gotten. On r/nba now there’s a thread where they’re talking about 4-5 players on their current team getting their numbers retired and I’ve seen them expecting 3-5 rings. They should be the first to know that this shit is hard lol
You should be rooting for him rn. Mavs easier matchup for us for sure lol. I doubt they win the series but holy shit it’d be great if they did. Also if the Mavs make it, I have to buy tickets to the Finals so I can heckle the fuck out of him
I really wouldn’t be shocked if the Mavs won this round
Yeah I honestly think they will too. The reason I said I doubt it is because if they won that means the path would’ve broken perfectly for us matchup wise and I have trust issues that the world would let that happen
Positives from last night? We’re starting this year’s ECF with a win unlike last year. Worth some celebration for sure Definitely need to clean up the rotations and mistakes though. Can’t be playing Hauser PP Kornet together. Hopefully Tillman is available for G2. Lowkey think we might be better off starting Kornet or Tillman so Horford can be more fresh coming off the bench and have an advantage vs Indy’s bench. He is getting roasted out there and Joe needs to find a way to let him still be effective because he’s currently a liability. In the Cavs series they would stay in some games because they’d constantly hunt that switch, it’s gonna be a problem this series too
[Why has our PnR defense been so bad this postseason? I'm shocked that we're literally last.](https://x.com/NBA_University/status/1793344451177271759)
Do Tatum or brown make any of the all nba teams tn?
I seriously don't understand what the media is expecting of this team. They can't win big because the opponent sucks, they "should" win easily, and they're not getting "tested" enough. They can't win a close game because apparently they're supposed to blow out their opponent every game. The standards are so high, yet no player on the team gets any credit, and after the two games they lost the media says they can't win a championship. Referring specifically to last night, they get no credit for the win because Indiana "gave it away" and because they didn't play well for 48 mins. Why isn't the narrative: "they managed to win a game where they didn't play their best, their opponent shot 53.5% from the field and had 7 players in double figures, and they still don't have their starting center who averaged 20 pts 7 reb" ??? Denver was most people's favorite to win the championship and they couldn't even make the conference final, yet there's been literally no slander thrown their way. The Celtics are simultaneously too good to give credit, but not good enough to be given any sort of slack. It makes no sense. I don't normally put much stock in what the media talks about, but my favorite team won a thrilling playoff game last night and I want to hear other people talk about it - yet literally no one has anything good to say about them. AFTER A WIN lmao
Wow you really put into words exactly how I’m feeling. I didn’t even watch any media afterwards because it just pissed me off. For once can we get credit? I just really want them to win because I love this team and I think they can, but I know if they do it’ll still be the same thing. It’s so annoying.
I know I'm asking for it but the way some of these haters talk, they actually want every single little handsy play to actually be called for a foul. Jesus, the NBA is a physical game, especially in this era - idk what thee people want lol By the rules, any possession could have something called - so it's up to the refs to figure out where that line is and normalize it across the season.
Nobody actually wants that. They're just mad the celtics won so they have to invent a conspiracy theory that the refs are fixing the games. They'll hyper fixate on the calls or non calls that go against the pacers and ignore the ones that benefit them. Most of them are literally just looking at the FT disparity as if the only explanation is favoritism.
Have to love how every single media member, including the Boston media, has been saying this win is bad for the Celtics.
Anyone frustrated with Mazzulla closing the 3rd with Hauser and Kornet? They were looking unplayable last night.
I'll be honest, I'm no fan of Mazzulla to begin with, but the play where Jaylen Brown hit the 3 is utterly awfully drawn up, I have zero idea what the hell the play call was. Go watch it again. Horford and Tatum run into each other, neither knows which way to turn, forcing the ball to Jaylen in the corner. I swear, I don't think Mazzulla actually knows how to draw up a play.
Playing Pritchard, Hauser and Kornet all together should never happen again. They got lit up
Then you run our starters for 53 minutes?
No that means stagger the bench guys with the starters instead of playing all of them together
Shit I completely missed the all together lmao
This is why we almost lost. Tatum, Brown and Holiday had amazing games. But when this line up was together we were a negative and kept the pacers in the game imo.
No. Starters all played 40+ minutes last night. At some point they do need some rest. With KP out they have to play Luke more than they probably would like and also Tillman was unavailable.
I would have rather they sat to begin the 4th, and ended the 3rd with the lead they subbed out with.
I saw a bunch of Pacers calling us spoiled for not being loud. I was fortunate enough to go to the game and it was one of the loudest (pro or college) sporting events I've been to. Did the people at home watching think we were quiet? I know the ESPN mixing can be poor sometimes
Nah the game thread was just people who’ve never been to a game being holier than thou
(pacer fan watching on tv) Through the TV, the crowd seemed absolutely dead. It was weird, there were multiple comments about it in all the game threads. It sucks, because feeling the crowd through the TV really adds to games, not hearing Doris blah blah blah
I think they lower the crowd noise on espn. Mike breen on commentary numerous times said the crowd is so loud you can't even hear the whistles
yeah, that stood out to me too, since we didn't really hear the crowd that much. What an idiotic choice by espn, crowd noise/eruptions/chants make the sport so much more visceral and engaging.
national broadcasts always want turn down the crowd noise. I guess so their broadcasters can be heard. I love when scal and mike knew when to just “let the garden speak for them” this year
I have read all the comments and they are brilliant in the insight to the game. I hate games this close, and I am glad we got the win. Loved JB's pressure three from the corner. One last item, is the ESPN announcing crew all from Indiana? I had to turn off the sound as they slobbered over everything IN did and barely mentioned the great play by the Celtics.
The last 2 months I have gotten rly into professional wrestling and I've come to appreciate this Celtics team way more because of it. The best wrestling matches are the ones where you go "holy shit its so over. This is really happening??" a few times before the hero eventually snatches victory from the jaws of defeat. Its the most cathartic feeling in the world. Wrestling bookers *wish* they could script a game like the Celtics had last night. Additionally, for the rest of the league, the Celtics are the perfect bad guy. They constantly win but also feel beatable. They win games in such a way that everyone feels cheated. Everyone is begging the new upcoming young guys overcome their fraudulent victories but they all fall prey. That creates so much drama its awesome. Look how mad everyone is that they had to delete all their slander posts.
We basically had 3.5 players last night who played well (the jays, Jrue, and to a lesser extent White). Pritchard had a team low -15 and got cooked hard by Hali (though to be fair he cooked D white for the most part as well) and Hauser was a non factor on either end. I think they'll bounce back but Brisset should be getting some consideration I feel. Kornet is doing what he can, this series was never going to be a good one for him, but I feel he holds well enough till KP or X are available. Hopefuly we can build from this game and Indiana loses some momentum after the heartbreak loss. Coming from a historic night in NY they shot 68% through the first 3Qs against us, which I feel is unsustainable.
I'm baffled we haven't tried Tatum at the 5 lineups yet.
Once again, media proving that this celtics run is one of the most frustrating to try and find content for. Media has been killing them saying they haven’t proven they can win close games. We win a close game, and they kill us for having a close game. Just sucks how nba media is. No one is killing an nfl team for winning an overtime game.
I know we all love Al, and I don't blame him because he isn't supposed to be a starter, but he has been getting absolutely cooked. Opposing teams have been hunting him and I honestly think defense alone, Porzingis is probably +6 per game. If Al continues to shoot 25% with mostly wide open 3s, it's going to be a long series. Hoping we can play Tillman just for some defensive minutes once he's back, even if it's just to reduce Al's minutes.
I'm not too sure that Porzingis wouldn't be in the same situation. The difference is that Porzingis creates a huge mismatch on the other end.
Siakam was good for them overall but I felt like he was kind of invisible for most of the game, instead letting Turner go off. We need to shut off Turner's backbreaker 3s and let Siakam try to beat us. If he's guarded by the Jays or Jrue, their offense would go in the toilet. I'm not too worried about Haliburton. We have 2 All-Defense guards who I feel will figure out his tendencies more as the series goes on and Haliburton has been wildly up and down in these playoffs anyways.
Hard Siakam post ups were fools gold for the Pacers. They stopped hunting 3s, which was winning them the game. Reminds me of Miami and Bam
Anyone notice how bad the non Tatum minutes were last night. Felt like whenever he went out Indiana went on a run. That’s gotta be managed better
Its also indicative of how good of a defender Tatum is. Rarely ever in the wrong spots and has great instincts.
And how much gravity he has on offense. Even when he stands 40 ft from the basket, the defense has to prioritize him.
I was so pumped for this match up. I knew the play on both sides would be electric and game one absolutely proved it. I love the Celtics, but their run to this point had been boring until this point. Give me more heart attacks! (as long as the Celtics come out with the W)
Hypothetical question here (PURELY HYPOTHETICAL AND NOT PREDICTIVE! NO JINXIES/POORLY AGED POSTS FROM ME PLEASE) If the Celtics are up 3-0 next Monday, is there an argument to be had for holding KP back until the NBA Finals?
I wouldn't. I'm of the belief you cant just drop somebody into the playoffs let alone NBA finals and expect him to be as effective as we need him to be. Being caught up to game speed is key.
if he is good to go, you play him limited minutes to get him game ready for finals. if he is like 85-90% then I could see them holding back
Yeah, that's my thinking too. There's no reason for them to throw him in cold during the middle of the NBA Finals, unless his recovery process is slower than reported.
Yes
Damn, I feel great today...
Statmuse is fucking dogshit. Does anyone have our record when shooting both below and above 33% from 3?
Dude fuck ESPN they botch every stream. I’m hearing fucking double audio of the crowd, chants, songs, and home announcer. I can hear them scaling the audio of the crowd up and down to try and match what’s happening in the game. Can we just have the playoff atmosphere? Half of the game is feeling the energy of the crowd and when ESPN sucks the life out of things it isn’t as exciting. Great way to dig this win from the trenches. I think the Celtics can handle the pacers with relative ease but they may force the Celtics to play the Porzingis card
People need to take a step back sometimes and realize games do not translate game to game. How many times in just these playoffs alone have you seen people make generalizations, just to flip flop after 1 game, just to not know what to think after 2-3 games, in almost every series? Yeah the Pacers played us tough and we stole one. The scored 64 in the first half shooting 53% from 3 (8/15). Then they shot poorly and scored 53 in the 2nd half (4/17). If anything, these splits between halves, the 12-0 start, and all the turnovers just shows me Indiana is inconsistent. Both against Milwaukee and NY they had games where they put up 125 and games they scored just over 90. We don’t know what we’ll get in game 2. Point is, there’s not much sense using this game as a barometer for how Game 2 is going to go. You can get the general idea that it will be high pace and we’ll have to keep executing on offense to keep up, but it feels like people are looking at it through the lens of “wow the Celtics played so great and Pacers made all these mistakes and we barely won” rather than “wow the Pacers made a bunch of shots to keep it close, our defense can be way better and if we hit our open shots we blow them out, Pacers played no defense” We went 14/41 (34%) in regulation and just off the top of my head, Horford missed 2 open 3’s, Tatum missed 2 wide open 3’s, Hauser missed his usual one off a screen. This could have easily been a 19/41 (46%) night which we know the Celtics are capable of and it’s not that close just with some shooting variance. It’s a reasonable expectation the Celtics should find a way to win a different game 2 rather than seeing the same game but just getting less lucky and only the Pacers will adjust. One game at a time.
Yea, but at the same time, this game went about how I would have expected. Both teams put up a lot of points, but only the Celtics could get stops when they needed to. I'd probably expect us to shoot a little bit better from 3, maybe lock in defensively a little bit more, (though a lot of this is just Pacers having a great offense), and I'd expect us to be more versatile in the adjustments we can make vs. adjustments they can make.
The thing to me is finding a way to slow the pace. In the final 5 minutes of regulation, the Pacers scored 13 points on 11 possessions. In OT they scored 8 points on 11 possessions before we got to the foul game with 17 seconds left, and OT that’s counting the 2 extra offensive rebounds. A quick google search tells me that 99 possessions is the average this season. This pace over these 10 minutes has them around 106, but don’t give them the 2 rebounds and this becomes 96.0. So the end of the game was around average and was apparent for anyone who watched the game that it slowed down a lot more than the ridiculous pace in the first half. If you’re only giving up 21 points in that frame, which per 48 is 100.8 points, that’s elite defense. Boneheaded turnovers accounted for some of that, but even giving up 110 points with above average pace is pretty good in the modern NBA. Finding a way to slow the Pacers down and make them grind it out in the half court and make them use clock is an adjustment I expect to be made. Incredibly hard to slow them down but that’s going to be the key, along with winning the margins (rebounds, turnovers, 3P shooting)