At the end of a seven game series it usually feels like all seven games are really needed to get a just resolution -- that's why you play seven.
This series was like the poster child for making a series only five games.
5/29--Game 7, Celts at Heat
- Thread starter Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat
- Start date
This series was like the poster child for making a series only five games.
If Grant just goes up strong rather than dribbling, the game is over right there.
Listen, it may be wrong since Smarts shots were wide open but if the Celtics lost, Smart would have 100% been the talking point the next day. He would be getting absolutely throttled from most corners
He would have earned some of that criticism. Hard to place a ton of blame on a guy who’s clearly playing injured but you have to knock down one of those shots. Smart ended up shooting 13-42 in his final 3 games. Let’s hope his ankle shows some improvement with this rest.
A reminder that while going down the "what-if" rabbit-hole may be fun for some, in this timeline, the Celtics won this game. They were not perfect or even pretty for a lot of the series but they won.
Now get back to imagining Butler's three going down or any number of other ways that might have resulted in the Celtics losing. I am dreaming of how the Celtics are going to beat the Warriors this next round.
Now get back to imagining Butler's three going down or any number of other ways that might have resulted in the Celtics losing. I am dreaming of how the Celtics are going to beat the Warriors this next round.
I think all of us are doing that. I don't see a problem with feeling relief and joy at the same time.
If I had been watching that game as a neutral, I probably would have called someone in the room and said, "watch this, this could be one of the greatest late game big game comebacks in NBA history." With four days off it feels only natural to kind of want to dissect a moment that big. It's going to be a distant discussion once they tip game 1.
Fair enough.
I just like stating that Boston won this game and series. It will never, ever get old.
I just like stating that Boston won this game and series. It will never, ever get old.
This season will never get old, no matter what happens. It all feels so improbable.
DDB Jr. and I went to one game this year -- it's a long trip for us. We had an evening flight. I remember being in the airport waiting to get on the plane and we were watching them play the Clippers on his phone. I think they went 4/42 on threes. I remember thinking "do we even want to get on the plane." Turns out they kicked the shit out of the Suns at the game that we ended up going to. But in that moment in the airport it was hard to imagine they could possibly be in position to take anyone to a game 7 in any series, let alone the Western Conference Finals after sweeping the Nets and taking out the Bucks.
It's crazy. It's hard to have perspective and to not want the next thing but holy shit has this been nuts.
I predict the Celtics will never play in the Western Conference Finals.
Here’s something that Smart did that was, well, smart that Mark Jones, Simmons and Rusillo all missed. With about 3:20 left, Miami scored and went back on D. Smart let the soft inbound pass from Grant roll for about 10 seconds before picking it up.
That melted about 5% of the remaining clock, didn’t cost the Celtics a second of the shot clock and allowed a 30+ second possession. It was a savvy play and somehow guys that have watched basketball for a living don’t realize it and thought the game clock stayed frozen while Smart waited to pick it up.
Wow, I remember thinking it was a bit weird when I watched it live, but I just re-watched it on DVR and you're 100% right... the clock keeps running after the made basket, and Smart allows about 10 seconds to run off before starting the shot clock.
I guess the only thing they could have done better is having Grant wait to inbound it right before the 5-second violation, and then just in-bounding it a foot or two under their own basket and letting Marcus just hang out there until the Heat realized what was going on.
Is the game clock supposed to stop after a made basket, until it is touched on the inbound pass? edit: a quick google search shows that it only stops in the last 2 minutes of the game, and overtime.
Really interesting suggestion. We've all seen teams "walk the dog" in late game situations but I don't think I've ever seen a team just have the ball sit in the backcourt. Would be a super interesting strategy especially since MIA wanted to set its defense and probably didn't want to send a guy down the court to force BOS to pick up the ball.
I think they'd still need to get the ball over half court within eight seconds. There's nothing in the rule that says the eight seconds doesn't start until a player touches the ball, it just says "once inbounded...".
I don't think it's inbounded until someone touches it. However, if one wanted to be hyper-technical, I think it could be called a five-second violation, though I don't that's ever been called.
Tgis Reddit thread - https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/nttgil/highlight_trae_young_walking_the_dog/ - has a video of Trae Young taking 15 seconds off the clock.
I’m pretty sure 5 seconds is to release the pass from out of bounds.
Wow! Almost an identical story here. My son and I went to that Phoenix game. We watch religiously, and were despondent about the early season play. We made the pilgrimage because it’s a yearly event for us (courtesy of his grandmother), and came away from that thrashing of the Suns wondering if it was a sign of things to come. But we never imagined THIS.