They are losing to a team that is playing a gray haired Kevin Love. This is on the players. They actually have to execute and win the game. They may need a new coach, but maybe they need to trade the antisemite for someone who can score consistently in the playoffs.
And Zeller, who is an absolute stiff. Letting Caleb Martin cook them should embarrass the fuck out of them.
Game 1, pretty profusely. If that's why he played poorly today it's a major major problem for the rest of the series.
I don’t think this core is ever going to win. It’s always something with them.
The coach did not think Grant was good enough to be in the rotation for much of these payoffs including Miami game 1. Then in game 2 he decides to go a long stretch of the 4th with Grant as Butler’s primary defender. He’s grasping at straws and hoping something works. And whatever he does, Spo figures it out and counters it after a few minutes.
Tatum was tired and nobody else could guard him so they put Grant and Smart on him and tried to make him take tough shots because when they doubled guys got and made wide open 3s
Miami's roster is better built for playoff basketball. Proof has been there in front of us all playoffs.
Does he? Spo didn't counter anything in the 3rd when we went on a huge run on both sides of his timeout (he did bench Love I guess, but it didn't matter) most of our problem as always was execution and key guys getting tired of playing in the system, the number of Smart and Jaylen bad offensive possessions after the Tatum PnR was humming was awful.
Doubt they have the assets to get those kind of players. This really is the roster we have for the long term.
So.. it makes sense if you're CJM to not do anything different game after game? Why not try anything different or make some subs? I know it's sort of crazy to sit Brown or Tatum, but desperate times at this point.. everyone has said for weeks/months that White should be playing a lot more already.
Boston’s halfcourt offense is lousy. Their transition offense is great. If their D can get stops and they can run, they are going to do well. Most of the time, their D can’t get stops against this Miami team and their halfcourt offense can’t trade basket for basket.
The Celtics have two All-NBA players, 6th man of the year, a former DPOY and multiple All-Defense guys and they are losing to a team putting undrafted dudes, the Weekend at Bernies version of Kevin Love, and Cody Zeller on the floor. This is on the players. And I think Brogdon isn't the player I thought he was. Maybe all of the dipshits who thought Brad is a better GM than Danny were wrong, lol.
Stevens will be under pressure from Wyc to make a major move if this series continues to go pear shaped, as the roster is simply not built for playoff basketball.
Consolidate Brogdon and Timelord into one good player and find an athletic big.
The bolded is going to be a huge problem for them given that they have almost zero assets to net such a player. That Brogdon trade is looking pretty bad right now.
I agree with you 100%. I can totally see this team just winning 4 in a row against all odds here.
I've been negative in this thread, but I agree. The Celtics are ludicrously more talented. If they play to their potential, they can still win this series.
I wonder if he makes the same face when his scratched copy of The Town freezes up in the same spot every time.
yeah given the lack of roster spaces like next year they essentially moved down 4-7 picks (they have HOU 2nd). Starting draft night they have no encumbered 1sts (well 2028 kind of).
I admire the optimism but I think at this point it’s clear there is something rotten here and they’re just never going to play to their true potential. They’re done.
I also agree with this and I've been clear from the beginning here that I think the Heat are terrifying and they should be underrated by no one! The Celtics are clearly a fucked up team who should lose this series but right now they're +290 to make the finals and the Heat are +450. Tatum is still 2nd for Finals MVP at +360.
I don't understand victory laps like this, there's no glory in being a doomer and then celebrating that you were right. When you're right, you gloat, when you're wrong, you're happy that your team did well/won. So, great, you were right?
Small correction. Heat are -180 to make the finals. Celtics are +150.
If there's one thing SOSHers love to do (not necessarily CL) it's predict that things are over as early as possible.. every game thread for every team has posters posting 'game over' as early as possible.
This. They’re a better team than Miami and frankly I don’t think it’s particularly close. The difference is Miami executes at a high level for 48 minutes. Boston does not. I don’t know why, but it is what it is. If Boston played as fundamentally sound as Miami they’d win in 4 or 5. But they don’t. They shit all over themselves when things get tight. Something’s rotten.
Love Jaylen in general but it’s fucking tough to have such a high usage player be a wing who can’t dribble pass or defend off the ball. I don’t buy the “JT/JB can’t play together” stuff but I think the teams chances would clearly be better with a guy who could defend with like 60% of Jaylen’s offense and minus the boneheadedness.
Well I mean…. Are they a better TEAM than Miami? For Miami the while seems to be much greater than the sum of their parts while it seems the opposite for Boston. And the whole is really all that matters when talking about a team. Miami sure seems to actually be better at this point.
No shit. #29 picks lost can be recovered rather easily. And I haven't seen any posts implying the Celts would be better off with Nesmith out there instead of Malcolm.
So Spo has a plan to slow Tatum in crunch time, but Mazzulla’s plan is to play Butler the way Miami wants him played, by an overmatched defender switched up on him so he can get to his spots for a baseline jumper or a shot at the rim?
Well that’s the thing. They’re clearly a more talented team than Miami, especially with Miami’s injuries. Talent usually wins out in the NBA. In this case it isn’t. Something is obviously rotten and maybe we find out after the season what it is.
And some of us expected them to stop fucking around in the ECF. For that, sure, I'll put on my clown mask. It's not over, but they dug themselves a massive hole yet again.
The problem is they keep letting him get to his spots. He shoots from like 3 spots over and over and over again. Feels like that is an adjustment that has to be made, shepherd him out of those spots and make him more uncomfortable. The other issue is (and I haven't watched the game again yet and really don't want to) it seemed our pace slowed a bit and that always seems to bite us in the ass.
Yeah, getting him off his spots would be great... tough to do though as many teams have discovered, there's a reason he's on the All-NBA shortlist every year.
Butler scored 27 points on 25 shots. As in Game 1, doubling him is a problem and playing him straight up works if we stay disciplined and don’t foul. He will score and make shots. We need to stay disciplined and not alter our game plan as a result. We also need to do a better job of fighting through screens. We are conceding the switches Butler is hunting. That’s not the end of the world because those are guys like Grant and Brogdon who actually are doing a decent job, but Butler isn’t someone we should need to concede switches against because he’s not a threat to pull up from three if we go under. We need guys like Smart and Tatum to do the work on the defensive end to stick with Butler, particularly late in games, so Miami isn’t dictating the offense they want.
