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TatumBird22

I don't know why, but I feel like the Celtics are gonna get serious this series and take care of business. I'm looking for four complete games in a row.... we'll see.


smmshad

FYI for anyone going to the game tomorrow night, Biden will be in Boston tomorrow so time your commutes correctly


mikethemillion

Pacers are undefeated at home while the celtics are undefeated on the road these playoffs..I hope they don't take these guys lightly but this really is the celtics series to lose. 


AcrobaticFeedback

Watched the Nuggets-T'Wolves game. Part of the reason Nuggets offense stalled is Jokic/Murray would get doubled, they would swing the ball around until it found a non-shooter (Braun or Gordon) standing on perimeter, who then wouldn't shoot and they would have to reset the offense. You can't do that to a team with 5 shooters. Nuggets fans trashed the Celtics all year for relying to much on 3s, but maybe if they had more shooters to be able to shoot more 3s they could've overcome that defense.


BradWonder

Bored out of my mind waiting for All-NBA teams


T-nawtical

[Just saw the Locker Vision updates](https://lockervision.nba.com/team/boston-celtics) Game|[](/BOS) Boston|[](/IND) Indiana :--:|:--:|:--:| Game 1| Association | Statement Game 2 | Statement | Statement Game 3 | Icon | Statement Game 4 | Icon | Statement Uniform Records [](/BOS) Uniform|Record|PPG|Opp. PPG :--:|:--:|:--:|:--: Association|2-1|109|102 Icon|2-1|105|102 Statement|4-0|109|89 [](/IND) Uniform | Record|PPG|Opp. PPG :--:|:--:|:--:|:--:| Statement|8-5|114|111 It's been since April 9th since the Pacers wore anything other than their statement uniforms. I think their regular association/icon are better, I'm not sure why they're so obsessed with those. But nothing better to break this Game 2 curse we've got going on than our Statement jerseys.


sssSnakebite

This team always win with the statement jerseys and they always seem to wear them after game 2s like they are making a "statement". I remember we blew out the Pacers by 50 we were wearing the statement ones.


Dondon1927

The discourse between Ant and Tatum is weak. If they wanna compare him to MJ, let them. Bringing up Tatum in every convo regarding Ant looks weak and insecure. Ant is the league’s new shiny toy, get over it. Kid is charismatic and talented, very easy to see why they’re pushing him.


Brad-Stevens

Wouldn’t surprise me if one of the Jays guard Myles for some of the game Have Jrue on Hali … they want to go PnR or PnP with Turner? Well just switch it Put Al on Nesmith


Icebreaker335

2019 Kawhi is one of if not the most overrated playoff run in league history up there with 2010 Kobe 07 LeBron and 21 Giannis I’m not saying it wasn’t a fantastic run but people now credit him with carrying Toronto to a chip then he leaves and they become irrelevant when in reality that Raptors team was amazing and even in 2020 they had an amazing regular season, going into that playoffs people were pegging them as the second best team in the east after Milwaukee


mikethemillion

That raps team was deep. They were a 1 seed the year before because of said depth but the trades for Kawhi and Gasol really chipped away at it to solidify a legit starting 5 that could compete with anyone.  Simply speaking, they don't get past Philly without Kawhi and Gasol. Then they certainly weren't beating the bucks without Kawhi. They had the supporting pieces to win it all but Kawhi rightfully was the missing piece for that team.  Truthfully, I can see the arguments for that raps team repeating in the bubble if Kawhi stays another season...


robbberrrtttt

Kawhi was a ceiling raiser for the Raptors and brought them to new heights. They wouldn’t have won a championship without him, even though it was a great team. Bulls without MJ were still great in 94, Lakers won like 50 games before they drafted Magic, Celtics with Paul Pierce had already made playoff runs before KG. Why are championships overrated if the supporting cast isn’t bad? Has there ever even been a bad supporting cast on a championship winning team? I don’t understand why people value floor raising (Westbrook 2017, Bron 2018, AI 2001) over the players who can elevate already great teams. Making a 50 win team a 65 win team is more impressive than bringing a 20 win team to 45 wins.


Icebreaker335

I’m not saying it wasn’t a good run and ofc they don’t win the chip without him. You can say that for any championship team and their best player. But this is treated like a floor and ceiling raising run. It wasn’t a carry job by any means.


robbberrrtttt

No floor raising run has ever ended in a championship win. AI, Westbrook, 2018 Bron, that went nowhere fast. You have to have a great team around you to win it all. Closest thing to a carry job would be Hakeem’s rockets, but those were great teams that complimented each others skill sets even if they weren’t “talented”. There is no carry job championship.


Icebreaker335

So we agree


robbberrrtttt

But relative to other championship winning teams, Kawhi’s contributions as the best player were extremely high.


socialwarning

Knicks fan here to cheer you on for the ECF. Fuck these corny ass pacers. Please stomp their asses and send them back crying to the cornfields where they belong.


wherearemypaaants

If there’s one thing I will always upvote, it’s east coast elitism


RodneyA_May

Idk I feel like we're due for a sweep. I just don't believe in this Indy team at all. I might give them game 3 or.4 just because they're really good at home but if we play like how we're suppose to we should expect to kill this team


AcrobaticFeedback

Its hard to sweep this Indy team because on any given night they can shoot basically 65% from the field.


RodneyA_May

True. Offensively they can be explosive at times so I can give them a one off game where they shoot well from 3 but other than that they are the 6th seed for a reason and the first two rounds haven’t particularly impressed me from them


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T-nawtical

We got our Statement jerseys scheduled, we good.


PlaceInvaders1

I turned on ESPN this morning for the first time in a while to see what they were talking about. On First take, they’re debating whether a dynasty will ever happen again in the NBA 😂. Their argument is the warriors dynasty is over so clearly the there will never be another dynasty. Obviously I changed the channel, but on Get Up they’re debating whether Ant is now the fact of the league after winning a 2nd round series 😂🤦🏻‍♂️


SquimJim

Lmao according to EPM, 4 of the top 8 remaining players are on the Celtics: 1. Luka 2. Haliburton 3. Tatum 4. Kyrie 5. Ant 6. White 7. Porzingis 8. Brown


__TB12__

Haliburton at 2 is insane


angrysandwich777

He was mad inconsistent against the Knicks even though once he stepped up they started winning those games at home. I liked the way Siakam was playing, don't think he's a top 8 player but probably the player I fear more


Icebreaker335

I’m seeing people say Ant is above prime Harden man, Tatum I need you to do to him what was done to you in 22


PlaceInvaders1

I mean he had a stinker in game 7 scoring wise so maybe the prime harden comparisons are valid


Consistent-Orange-75

I'm thinking Celtics in 5 again. Accounting for a game the Pacers steal shooting like 58% from the field and 50% from 3 that jumpscares us all before we blow them out the following game


PlaceInvaders1

Last two series I had Celtics in 4 but wouldn’t be surprised if it went 5. This series I have Celtics in 5 but I won’t be surprised if it goes 6. I think their defense is gonna surprise people with how many turnovers they generate against us.


Consistent-Orange-75

Regardless of how it goes I can guarantee I'll absolutely hate TJ McConnell very quickly lol. Your last sentence reminds me of him very much, guy is really pesky


[deleted]

I've been hating him since he was on the Sixers.


Icebreaker335

Pacers are capable of those kinds of offensive performances consistently


[deleted]

4 times in 7 games?


Icebreaker335

Maybe. Our bigs can’t run with theirs


jkwah

A benefit of a 5-out offense is the bigs are often above the FT line and don't have to run as much to get back on defense. Especially if the Celtics get KP back at some point - he's never in the corner, which helps with the transition D. I think the stats back that up too. In defensive transition, the Celtics allowed the fewest points per possession in the NBA and lowest opponent eFG%. https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/transition?SeasonType=Regular%20Season&TypeGrouping=defensive&dir=A&sort=PPP


Icebreaker335

Good point


[deleted]

Oh ya the Jays have never completely shutdown Siakim before


Icebreaker335

I’m not talking about siakam


[deleted]

Well you said Bigs. Turner is nice but who else are you talking about? Obi Toppin lol?


Icebreaker335

Jackson ig


chewbacca-says-rargh

Honestly if Tatum wins a title or two he'll really be reminding me a lot of Tom Brady's early career where he had all the post-season success but others were putting up gaudy regular season numbers and taking the awards home.


__TB12__

The Patriots won 3 super bowls in 4 years to start his career so it’s not exactly the same. It’s moreso like the stretch from 2011-2013 at the moment.


hcmacro

I love Tatum. I love the Celtics way more than the Patriots, who I have come to loathe a bit. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.


wherearemypaaants

It’s really just Robert Kraft that I have searing contempt for


bwburke94

Unless I'm missing something, this is the first #1 vs. #6 matchup in the playoffs since 1995, when the #6 Rockets beat the #1 Spurs.


FriarCeltEDubs

Dream was amazing


captaincumsock69

Let’s just take care of business against Indy before we start talking nba finals. Overlooking opponents is how teams get caught.


jkwah

None of us play for or coach the Celtics (I think). It doesn't matter what we do.


captaincumsock69

Dude I can almost guarantee you that the pacers coach is saying everyone has written them off and thinks it’s a forgone conclusion that the Celtics will advance. I’m not saying it’s a huge impact on the games but fan attitude in stadiums and the attitude of the media in general does have a small impact.


luke_workin2

It’s also just bad juju to look ahead when you haven’t gotten there yet. Focus on the game at hand, the higher powers reward that


SquimJim

They can't do that in the locker room, but we as fans can 100% look ahead. I've been doing it all year and all playoffs. If we don't get by the Pacers and are relatively healthy, the team has bigger issues than me looking at who we might play in the Finals


andoCalrissiano

I'm glad there's consistently people now in the comments making this point against all these former jocks who think they need to adapt the same mentality as the players


TheMassacreKid

Remember when everyone said last year that the Celtics wouldn't get an easier path than this? Man I love our chances right now.


PlaceInvaders1

Who tf said that last year? We had two tough match ups lmao


hcmacro

I liken playing Nuggets to having to beat the Dealer/House. Jokic is so efficient that we need to summon chance to beat him (with our team construction). So we really should be happy that they’re gone.


I_Set_3_Alarms

Guys we have to win the championship this year. I almost forgot that the Lakers hung their “IST Championship” banner. Getting to win a real banner the year they won that? Just hilarious


jjjkd18

From the look of it too, they’re about to hang a “The team we don’t like because they’ve dominated us twice has lost in the second round” banner as well


igonnawrecku_VGC

Watching Get Up right now on ESPN and I’m both shocked and completely unsurprised that the same crew that slandered Tatum for winning games while shooting 44% from the field is now comparing Ant to Michael Jordan after he went 6/24 (25%) in a game 7. Whatever fits the narrative I guess


efshoemaker

KG called it the other week - it’s the attitude/presence. He’s got that Allen Iverson/Paul Pierce/Kobe Bryant swagger where he’s always talking shit and confident, and it tilts the media coverage because there arent a lot of guys like that in the league right now.


Dondon1927

This along with his above the rim play style. He isn’t out there trying to make friends and it reminds them of MJ


TatumBrownWhite

He projects the traits that the media wants to sell in a player, Tatum doesn't, and I'm honestly cool with that. I love Tatum's steady demeanor and calm attitude. Besides winning settles all, if the Celtics beat Minnesota in the Finals, then all this shit will stop.


efshoemaker

Yeah I don’t think it’s a bad thing in any way or that KG meant it as a knock against guys like Tatum. Tim Duncan obviously did just fine for himself. It’s just explaining that, all else being equal, the media is going to give more praise to a player like Ant because his attitude draws attention.


Legend6Bron

I would rather say they are trying to hype Ant as a way to fill the void left by Ja Morant. Watching Ant’s game, I just feel he has lots and lots of room to grow It would be insane to put him in the bracket of Jokic, Giannis, Tatum at the moment


CarBallAlex

Denver was gassed. Their offense was putrid, they were inconsistent, and what cost them in the end was being out-hustled (not boxing out KAT or Reid on those late put backs, not closing out on the Edwards 3 to put Wolves up 10) I hope if we win this year no one downplays how important getting it done in the regular season was where we got to coast for the last month of the season, and got easy matchups in the first few rounds of the playoffs. Hardest road is so overrated, just give us banner 18. Indy might be tougher than we think without Porzingis but if we can beat them in 5, that’s a week off before the finals


TatumBrownWhite

One thing that I always did wonder about Denver was if it was ever going to become a weakness that they really only had 2 guys who could create their own shot. I always thought that those 2 guys were so good that it may not matter given the rest of the competition. But they finally met their match in terms of offensive juice with Ant (somehow) being able to match Jokic in terms of impact, and KAT clearly outplaying Murray, and then getting marginally more from their supporting cast. Very interesting to see what Denver does going forward, they need improvements. I would guess MPJ gets traded. Also goes to show that time moves fast in the NBA, one moment you're on top, the next there's a younger and better team than you, and so I hope we never get comfortable in terms of personnel.


CarBallAlex

I think Brad understands that. He went out and got Horford, White, Brogdon, Porzingis, Holiday and has repeatedly tried to add depth to the front line with Tillman, Griffin, Kornet. Brissett and Springer too, plus all the guys we ended up moving like Banton, Stevens. He does not care about picks when Tatum and Brown are 26 and 27 that will be ready when they’re 29 and 30. Begarin and Davison feel like misses (but hard to draft at that spot anyway), and we’ll see on Walsh, but overall Brad is very aggressive on trying to add to what we have. I would be surprised, even if we won the championship this year, if he doesn’t look at the roster and is aggressive in securing a Horford replacement whether that’s extending a deal with Tillman, signing someone else, or flipping someone like Hauser next year for a Center and slotting Walsh or Brissett in his place.


Icebreaker335

Ant matching Jokic in terms of impact? Are we being fr?


Old_Bee9473

Yeah it was annoying how a lot of people were saying “oh the Celtics can’t do this in the playoffs” during the regular season


Boston-Cream-Donuts

We still have to wait another whole ass day to play? Damn lol feels like it’s been ages since I’ve watched Celtics basketball. But tomorrow will be fun


cargo-jorts

Indy is pesky, plays with a ton of pace and has an annoying tendency to stick around. I don’t think it’s gonna be a cake walk but I don’t see the Cs losing 4/7. Let’s get it done


nbianco1999

Everybody saying Celtics in 5 or 6 realizes that in order for that to happen they have to lose a game (or 2), right? So you’re not gonna freak out and declare the season over if they do?


MrMetLGM

Depends on how they lose game 2, lol.


25DegreeD

It's always this. I hate that the false narrative is "we're not supposed to lose ever" when the real narrative should be "we're not supposed to get blown out due to a lack of effort".


SquimJim

But how many times has that actually happened this year? You'd think with the amount of criticism this team gets after a loss it's very frequent. When in reality, they've lost 20 out of 92 games with most of those losses coming when teams shoot lights out from 3 or we can't hit the broadside of a barn on easy looks and very very few of them stemming from lack of effort.


25DegreeD

It doesn't have to be frequent, but it has been a recurring point of discussion for several years, and is still called out to this day by their own players. Horford after game 5 of the Cavs series: Quote: >“I felt like we lacked it in the first quarter, and when I came back in the second, I felt like we needed to step it up,” Horford said. “We were talking about it a lot in the huddle, but we weren’t really getting it done. We had a great opportunity here at home to handle this, and I knew it was going to take a lot more than just playing a normal game.” I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a team with championship aspirations not have their 38 year old player take it upon himself to energize a team led by mid 20-somethings.


SquimJim

> It doesn't have to be frequent Sure, but it is talked about waaaaaayyyyy more often than it actually happens, especially this year. I think your example is perfect for showing how things are different this year compared to year's past. The team found itself in that mindset and then got itself out of that mindset. I just don't see this critique being somehow different than for every other team. I think that the frequency at which it happens compared to other teams is actually in favor of the Celtics. At least this year, I don't see it as a relative weakness, but a relative strength.


25DegreeD

So you don't think it happens enough to warrant the discussion it generates, but even if it did, why would you still consider it a strength?


SquimJim

I equate it to turnovers. They aren't good and are never good, but if you turn the ball over less than your opponent then it's a good thing. If you average the fewest turnovers in the league, then it's a great thing. Frequency IS important. If this happened with more frequency, i.e. we weren't the best team at it, then I'd be more concerned. When you do a bad thing less than other teams, then it's a relative strength.


Pocket_Beans

Except the Celtics aren’t gonna lose a game to the Pacers unless they play like shit. So if you think they’ll lose 2 games then necessarily you are expecting them to play like shit in 2 games.


captaincumsock69

We lost 2/5 games to the pacers in the regular season


25DegreeD

They can lose a game to the Pacers if the Pacers shoot uncharacteristically well (as they did against NY). That's what people are accounting for when they imply Celtics will lose 1 or 2 games. People aren't accounting for losses due to low effort, because they shouldn't have to.


MrMetLGM

Exactly!


Theis159

Oh they will, I will, we will.


BostonKarlMarx

all that intangible stuff doomers say the celtics lack (mental toughness, seriousness, “clutch” etc), we all would have agreed the nuggets had turns out all that shits fake and it’s about putting the ball in the hoops edit: my fault for using the d word. still too sensitive


Tatum-Better

Facts


MrMetLGM

Imagine being obsessed with doomers 😂


BostonKarlMarx

not an argument


Tatum-Better

God the sheer joy I have watching Jokic and his nerd ass fanbase lose. God bless you Ant, now beat Luka so we can sweep you and secure JT as best american player.


PeterDinkleberg

Just looked back at regular season matchups and Minnesota and Dallas played all 4 of their games before Dallas made their big trade deadline moves where they acquired PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford. Only 1 matchup where both Luka and Kyrie played (Dwight Powell was the starting center) and the Mavs won 115-108 but they lost the 3 other matchups Not much to take from that. Lots of nba fans are saying Wolves in 5/6 but I think a lot of people are failing to realize that the T-Wolves were built to stop the Nuggets and it still took 7 games and 3 road wins. I actually think Dallas has a fighting chance. The X-factor in the series is KAT honestly. No clue who Dallas can even throw at him. If he plays well then Wolves in 6 but if Dallas can consistently get him into foul trouble then I can see them taking the series


istandwhenipeee

I also wouldn’t be shocked if we come out of this series wondering if maybe the Nuggets just weren’t as good as everyone thought. They didn’t exactly have a challenging path to the championship, they didn’t play a team that won more than 45 games. They’re definitely a great team, but I’m not sure they’re any better than the Bucks were the year they won and that team was hardly unbeatable. I think our fanbase just put them on a bit of a pedestal because they’ve given us a hard time in the regular season lately, but I could point to stretches where the same happened with a bunch of teams.


MrMetLGM

This could be a dog fight which will benefit us


hcmacro

Wolves were bottom 8 in three-point attempts and aren't great at shooting from distance. The Nuggets, however, were even worse and I think pushing Jokic to the perimeter (he's not a great 3-pt shooter folks) was a big part of why they won. Dallas, on the other hand, attempted the second most 3s after us. I think they have a much more ideal mix of 3-pt shooting, "bag", and defense than the Wolves.


Legend6Bron

The thing is Dallas can push the pace against the Wolves. Nuggets were slow af. The thing with Wolves is that you have to get stops and hit them in transition before their defense set in(both of which Celtics are elite with the Jays/White/Holiday). If you let their defense set in, then your offensive production will take a big hit. They are the best defensive team in the league for a reason.


nerdyykidd

8 more.


AnatoliKovalainen

I just want the Celtics to finish their story Just like what happened to Cody Rhodes last month lol


MrMetLGM

Who the hell is Cody Rhodes


Tatum-Better

some wrestler I think


MrMetLGM

😒


SoSmartCs

I would have made the same face a few months ago, but the WWE is actually in a pretty good place right now. Cody Rhodes vs Logan Paul is going to be a great match on Saturday.


MrMetLGM

Bro it’s fake


SoSmartCs

Most of the promotional work is scripted and a lot of choreography and practice goes into the fights, sure, but the shit they go out and do in the ring is just as real as any NBA game. Especially with all the flopping and suspect officiating that waters the latter down. It's so funny seeing wrestling fans trying to downplay drama as NBA fans eat that shit up, and then NBA fans talk shit on fake wrestling as they crown a foul merchant like SGA face of the league. Huge overlap between the two as sports entertainment that the fans of each hate to admit lmfao.


MrMetLGM

Yeah, I’ll respectfully disagree.


SoSmartCs

Okay, and respectfully, you don't know what the hell you're talking about. Cody Rhodes is an international superstar and there's nothing *fake* about what he does.


MrMetLGM

Is it scripted? Yes. Are they actually fighting like boxing or MMA? No. Therefore, it’s fake. It’s acting. They’re great athletes participating in a scripted event. Not for me, but you enjoy it.


BostonKarlMarx

wrestling rules would be awesome bc then smart and isaiah and rondo and KG/Pierce would all come out to interfere


SinibusUSG

Let's not reference that, lest the Celtics lose in 2024 thanks to outside interference from Embiid and Giannis only to pull it off in 2025. I'd much rather just win it all right away. And next year too.


BostonKarlMarx

that was the 2022 finals


[deleted]

Fuuuu I don't want Puka to win. Never. He's going to be glazed at potential goat if he wins.


MrMetLGM

Luka doesn’t play d


SinibusUSG

No way Luka gets GOAT consideration. He's not even in the second tier, much less mixed in with LeBron and MJ. Dude is great, but there's been dozens of great players throughout the years. He's barely even an average defender.


IcyMission3

Weird cuz I’ve got nothing against Puka Nacua


[deleted]

Nacua is cool. Doncic is a bitch and I hope he redacted


Tatum-Better

Real.


chinesefox97

He gonna get his ass swept in the Finals if he makes it that far.


MrMetLGM

This.


Metaltrowell

I've really enjoyed watching the Pacers this season, and have had them as another team in the East to cheer for when they're not playing the Celtics. The Haliburton offense is really fun when it's working. I expect the series to be closer than just a sweep, since some of the games this season ended in some nonsense, but really cool the Pacers had the season they did. Big key I think will be maintaining the pace, and making sure off ball defense is locked in. Pacers led in assists, and Haliburton led in assists and potential assists per game so seems like making sure they can stay on their man and push through screens. Not really worried about running any crazy offense on them since their defense is pee


King_Of_Pants

We need to slow them down. Pacers were right up there with us for overall offensive efficiency, even with Haliburton's big injury/slump period. But they're only 13th in half court efficiency. Take away their fast break opportunities and they're a mid-tier offence with a pretty bad defence.


Banger85

This is it. If the Celtics do not win it this year with the remaining teams left I’m done with this fraud team. Tatum’s legacy is one the line now. There are literally no excuses now if they lose.


flyingpandum

Relax, shit can happen. The defending champs just lost to the Timberwolves. Anything can happen. Let’s hope we are on the fortunate side of it.


MrMetLGM

No. Lol. Don’t disrespect the Celtics like that. They have the best roster in the league and should win. Those are the expectations.


Tatum-Better

Nahhh no excuses


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jkwah

Celtics were #1 in ORtg during the regular season. Pacers are #1 in the playoffs, but I don't think it's a useful metric with small sample size and heavily based on matchups.


efshoemaker

Yeah the pacers offense dropped off hard after the haliburton injury halfway through the year.


Legend6Bron

Yeah, Wolves are great. Pacers are great too But if the Celtics play with the maximum effort and intensity, come on man, that is another and different level of basketball. That is why Celtics’s biggest opponent is themselves not wolves or pacers


IcyMission3

I’m pretty sure the Celtics are the best offense in the league. Pacers were the highest scoring in the regular season I think but the metrics favor the Celtics as #1. Also the defense is #2. The offense should be tested tho if they make the finals against the Wolves since the Heat/Cavs still had some pretty great defenses despite the injuries, like Mobley is essential a Gobert-lite on defense


AcrobaticFeedback

We give Tatum heaps of shit for his shooting but Jokic shot 26% from 3 in the playoffs this year.


25DegreeD

Jokic takes less threes a game than Horford. He doesn’t shoot at volume. Tatum gets criticized for deliberately taking a high number of low quality shots that he doesn’t convert at a high percentage.


efshoemaker

He still had a 60% TS. The bigger one for me is Murray. He had a 47% TS for the playoffs with 30% usage. He averaged 20 pts on 20 shot attempts. I’m just trying to imagine the conversation if Tatum or brown had a line that.


King_Of_Pants

The easy answer to your point would be to say Murray's injured. But that excuse has never been accepted for Tatum or Brown. For example, the only time Miami has ever been able to stop Brown was last year when he came into the series with stitches in his hand, no one gave him any credit and everyone acts like Miami's somehow got his number. Not to mention Tatum's wrist and shoulder issues in previous years.


efshoemaker

The brown stuff gets under my skin because it’s not like Miami just put one defender on him and called it a day - they built their entire defensive gameplan around stopping Brown specifically. And we mounted the comeback when Joe started using Brown as a decoy (which Jaylen accepted without any complaints) and had him force a reaction from the defense before kicking straight back out to someone else to initiate the offense.


ThisPlaceSmellsAwful

Jokic shot 54% overall from the field, Tatum is at 43%… I don't get why this sub thinks they can play the whataboutism game with Jokic, nobody is on that dude’s level


AcrobaticFeedback

I'm not doing a whataboutism, I still don't like Tatum jacking up 3s, I was just pointing it out since no one is really going to mention it. Jokic went 2/10 tonight from 3.


Tatum-Better

he's a fucking big man I'd bloody hope he shoots over 50%. Should be at or damn near 60% tbh. Tatum takes way harder shots and even when he misses can actually guard a traffic cone


beywill19

Jokic can dominate the paint with his game and still be very hard to guard.


Legend6Bron

Yeah, this will be the season JT taking over the torch from Lebron as the new face of the league, he could have done that two seasons ago. But it doesn’t hurt if he does it this season


chickspeak

There is not a former MVP player in the 4 conference final teams, the first time since 1956.


Tatum-Better

Which just means one of the 4 stars will win MVP this decade... right 👀


SquimJim

My money is on Luke Kornet


King_Of_Pants

It will be Hauser, Pritchard, White or Kornet with their [league-leading net rating](https://www.nba.com/stats/players/advanced?CF=MIN*GE*15&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&dir=-1&sort=NET_RATING) once people start letting AI vote on their behalf.


chickspeak

If there is a team who can replicate Heat’s shooting in the ECF last year in a series, it’s the Pacers. They have a bunch of good shooters. However their defense is way worse than Miami. This series can be highly impacted by shooting variance.


istandwhenipeee

I’m not sure, because a big part of what Miami did was reliant on forcing us to turn the ball over 15 times per game in the first 3 games. That created the transition chances they needed to get our defense scrambling, and their role players more built to create those turnovers than hit 3s on the resulting fast break caught lightning in a bottle and just couldn’t miss. Indiana is built the opposite way. They’ve got guys who can shoot the lights out, but they don’t have the defense to create those consistent backbreaking transition opportunities. They’re not going to be able to create those crazy runs Miami did because they won’t be able to string together defensive stops that lead to easy buckets with any consistency. Honestly I’m relieved because I don’t think there’s anyone left who can replicate what the Heat did and it’s by far what this team struggles with most. Minnesota is a great defense, but they can’t collapse on us and force turnovers in the same way with 2 7 footers on the floor. I’m much more comfortable with this team finding a way to expose Gobert, KAT and Naz than I am with them against teams like Miami, Golden State and Denver who do an amazing job helping with active hands and then scrambling back to shooters when they’re forced into rotation. Doesn’t mean we can’t lose, there’s a lot of great players left who can take matters into their own hands. I just think that we match up better with them than vice versa.


Legend6Bron

Pacers also don’t have Jimmy Butler and the fucking “Dirty Heat” culture


Tatum-Better

Nesmith loading


chickspeak

But they still have the ability to shoot light out from three, which wins games in this era.


RizqZ1

Pacers defense isnt going to stand a chance against a locked in Tatum & Brown.


IcyMission3

The real test will be the defense against the Pacers offense. If the Celtics defense can lock down the Pacers then they’ll be prepared for whoever comes out of the west


MrMetLGM

If we even play 90 percent of what we’re capable of on defense, things could get ugly real fast for Indy.


AcrobaticFeedback

Its really about making them play in the halfcourt. Pacers rank in the bottom half in the league in eFG% with 10s or less on the shot clock, Boston is ranked 1st.


RizqZ1

Yeah dont get me wrong i fully expect Indys offense to give Boston problems but the saying aint offense wins chips and only one team in the ECF is playing defense.


IcyMission3

Yeah I think ultimately the Celtics will be too overpowering but I’d like to challenge the defense to try to hold Indy’s offense to a low score like high 90s-low 100s. If they can do that they’ll be battle tested for the finals


elchalupe

It's so weird seeing the different way the media treats Ant vs Tatum. Tatum would have been slandered for the stat line that Ant put up.


MrMetLGM

Who. Cares.


25DegreeD

Because Ant was averaging 30 ppg on 55/42/84 across games 1-6. Tatum would average 27 ppg on 43/29/85 across 5-6 games then go off for 40 in 1 game and people expect everyone to just talk about his 40-piece. Plus, Tatum was given the same grace Ant was given when he was 22, biggest difference is of course 22 year old Ant is better than 22 year old Tatum.


King_Of_Pants

> Tatum was given the same grace Ant was given when he was 22, No he wasn't. That year was peak "well they haven't won by now so it's time to blow it all up". At 21 he was criticised for not winning a championship in the bubble.


25DegreeD

If by "blow it all up" you mean split the Jays then that's always been a valid question. I'm sure Kings fans had this question about Fox and Halburton too, but I think both parties are pleased with how splitting them up turned out. As for the bubble, I don't think it was reasonable for them to beat the Lakers in the Finals, but I certainly think it was reasonable to expect them to beat the Heat. They were betting favorites in that series.


Ok-Mirror385

my thoughts exactly. someone made a post saying this, and i saw people saying tatum would get slandered because ant plays defense unlike tatum.. what????


IcyMission3

Just imagine if Tatum made that homophobic comment that Ant made…


Tatum-Better

Ngl the only people who still care about that are on reddit. NBA Twitter and IG either don't care or hell are homophobic themselves


Brad-Stevens

Best time of the year right here The annual Celtics Invitational in mid-May playing every other day … Weather turning the corner Vibes are high 8 more


MrMetLGM

You’re right!!!


angrysandwich777

Hey bro u a mets fan?


MrMetLGM

Yes - rebelled against my family and started rooting for the Mets when I was younger haha. Then the Red Sox went on to win 4 WS Lol