The C's need to win one game

[Avocado33]

Not to beat a dead horse, but said it before the series started when I said to take the Heat on price alone

Celtics at like -600 was egregious, and the game lines were off

Should have been Celtics -4.5 in Boston and Heat -1.5 in Miami or something along those lines

Celtics never penalized for getting away with playing like shit as much as they have the last 2 playoff runs

 

[PatsFan1283]

I think a good portion of the board thought the Heat were toast going into the game because of how they lost Game 6, going on road in Game 7, blowing 3-0 lead, thought it might get ugly early

I just think that was naive and I thought that Heat were going to show up effort wise even if they didn't shoot well/execute as well offensively. It was hard to see a scenario where Miami gets blown out that game.

It was just very clear early that Boston was about to have one of those ugly half-court games. Been saying it since the playoffs started, they're just a very inconsistent team with a high ceiling. Even if Tatum played well, very unlikely he was going to overcome that.

That’s an expectations thing though. The Celts underachieved and the heat overachieved so when the Celts best player gets inj it’s easy to say fuck em, they blew it, had chances etc

if butler died and the heat lost by 20 and someone said “oh it didn’t matter at all”, we would all say huh

but it isn’t like the heat dominated the series, it was tied 3-3. If he plays, who knows. Doesn’t take anything away from heat to me. Sports is just like that sometimes

 

[PatsFan1283]

Did I quote u or anyone? That was my take from game 6. I wasn't saying anyone else said anything with that particular rant of mine.

Well you said “many saying oooo Tatum” when I’m the one talking about it, like it’s an excuse or something when I’m just talking the series. Atleast that’s what I thought you meant

but I said obviously you go 6-7 in all these series and you’re playing with fire, very little margin for error for an injury, bad shooting game etc. bottom can fall out

 

[Michelangelo]

Kinda silly to say that game would have unfolded the way it did if Tatum hadn't injured his ankle on the very first play of the game. He couldn't push off to drive to the basket and he couldn't get max leap for rebounding. I'm sure he couldn't run around and play defense the way he had all series either.

Could the Cs have lost had he been 100%? Sure. But losing him really hurt them.

You did notice that Jaylen Brown tried to fill Tatum's shoes, How did that work out? 8 turnovers and a lot of missed ill advised shots. That's how.

The Celtics can have stretches of playing lost when the team is at full strength. Losing their leader and best player (considered top 5 leaguewise) sure got them to play lost for the full game.

Tatum healthy that most certainly COULD HAVE BEEN a completely different game with a completely different outcome.

But injuries are a part of the game. Our bench was already weak when our very important sixth man, Brogdan couldn't go. We needed a healthy Tatum.

Congrats to the Heat. That team keeps coming. Jimmy Butler is the consummate pro. He plays all aspects of the game and has a high NBA IQ. That IQ is something that seems to elude this Celtics team all too often.

I say, can the coach and get someone who will demand that these guys understand the game and play it right. They really forget how to do that all too often.

 

[crudebar]

You lose to a Miami Heat team that has in its play off rotation---Kevin Love(until last night) and Duncan Robinson including being lit up by the likes of Caleb Martin and Gabe Vincent, there are no excuses!

Once Denver beats them in 4 or 5 that should be pretty clear to the Bostons and Milwaukees of the world.

 

[PatsFan1283]

You lose to a Miami Heat team that has in its play off rotation---Kevin Love(until last night) and Duncan Robinson including being lit up by the likes of Caleb Martin and Gabe Vincent, there are no excuses!

Once Denver beats them in 4 or 5 that should be pretty clear to the Bostons and Milwaukees of the world.

No one disagees with that though, it’s an entirely separate point

You play 20 playoff games in like 44 days w/ this guy going 40+ mins most nights, ya he might die. Sure.

I said in one of the threads when Boston was down early in the series I wanted to bet Denver vs them (since obv way better price than this series)

 

[crudebar]

My point is simply losing Tatum probably didn't matter with winning or losing because Cs lost by 20. Tatum not getting hurt maybe they lose by 8.

The game simply wasn't close. I believe that was the point AV was trying to make...

 

[Avocado33]

My point is simply losing Tatum probably didn't matter with winning or losing because Cs lost by 20. Tatum not getting hurt maybe they lose by 8.

The game simply wasn't close. I believe that was the point AV was trying to make...

Yep . Entertaining the idea of Boston winning this game is just disingenuous

 

[crudebar]

No one disagees with that though, it’s an entirely separate point

You play 20 playoff games in like 44 days w/ this guy going 40+ mins most nights, ya he might die. Sure.

I said in one of the threads when Boston was down early in the series I wanted to bet Denver vs them (since obv way better price than this series)

Bet Denver anyways...

They have a super star that is pretty much bullet proof. A clear #2 and role players that understand their roles along with a very solid HC.

Miami is also coming in with a big disadvantage after this series. Outside of a Jokic series ending injury early this won't be close.

On a side note I upped my wager on them to 12.5k. Could be way off but this looks like free cash to my eye.

 

[Serbone]

Tatum hobbled badly: game over. Celts would have have won with him healthy.

Finals: Nuggets in 6 games, maybe 5.

 

[Avocado33]

Kinda silly to say that game would have unfolded the way it did if Tatum hadn't injured his ankle on the very first play of the game. He couldn't push off to drive to the basket and he couldn't get max leap for rebounding. I'm sure he couldn't run around and play defense the way he had all series either.

Could the Cs have lost had he been 100%? Sure. But losing him really hurt them.

You did notice that Jaylen Brown tried to fill Tatum's shoes, How did that work out? 8 turnovers and a lot of missed ill advised shots. That's how.

The Celtics can have stretches of playing lost when the team is at full strength. Losing their leader and best player (considered top 5 leaguewise) sure got them to play lost for the full game.

More silly to suggest something along the lines of "The Celtics probably win this game if Tatum plays healthy". Not everyone was saying that, but some were certainly flirting with that idea.

There's a very real chance Heat win this game by 20+ if Tatum is 100% healthy. That's just how bad the Celtics were last night. Tatum has had big games, but he has also had some absolute stinkers.

Brown tries to be the alpha dog a lot more often than people realize. Him taking the most shots isn't shocking. That might have happened if Tatum was 100% healthy as well

Miami's defense had flustered Tatum as much as anyone in the series.

Tatum didn't score a 4th quarter basket until Game 4 of this series. He can disappear/go passive sometimes. Go look at the NBA Finals last year for example, when Brown outplayed Tatum.

 

[crudebar]

Tatum hobbled badly: game over. Celts would have have won with him healthy.

Finals: Nuggets in 6 games, maybe 5.

Why is it game over? You lose your star in a home game 7 with an inferior opponent and its game over?

But in the same vein if you add one star player you can't lose?

Makes no logical sense to me.

 

[PatsFan1283]

If butler got hurt a minute in and was limping around like 4th quarter of game 1 vs knicks in total decoy mode and Celts went on to win by 20, trust me no one would be like “ahh well they were gonna roll either way” if someone said they wished butler was healthy

actually on this site, someone probably would but still, you lose your best player and that can manifest itself in all sorts of ways.

For all the deficiencies Celts have, they won the last 3 games.

Who knows what would’ve happened, maybe all those guys choke anyway. Celts do have a good track record at home game 7 w this group though. That’s all.

 

[crudebar]

If butler got hurt a minute in and was limping around like 4th quarter of game 1 and Celts went on to win by 20, trust me no one would be like “ahh well they were gonna roll either way” if someone said they wished butler was healthy

actually on this site, someone probably would but still, you lose your best player and that can manifest itself in all sorts of ways.

For all the deficiencies Celts have, they won the last 3 games.

Who knows what would’ve happened, maybe all those guys choke anyway. Celts do have a good track record at home game 7 w this group though. That’s all.

Because Miami's roster sucks.

If you can't beat this Miami team even missing ur best guy you don't deserve to win Jack shit this season.

 

[Avocado33]

If butler got hurt a minute in and was limping around like 4th quarter of game 1 and Celts went on to win by 20, trust me no one would be like “ahh well they were gonna roll either way” if someone said they wished butler was healthy

actually on this site, someone probably would but still, you lose your best player and that can manifest itself in all sorts of ways.

For all the deficiencies Celts have, they won the last 3 games.

Who knows what would’ve happened, maybe all those guys choke anyway. Celts do have a good track record at home game 7 w this group though. That’s all.

If Butler got hurt instead of Tatum, it's probably still a competitive ball game tbh.

I know it's a stupid game of meaningless hypotheticals, but we saw Heat win a game after Butler left the game last season in Boston

 

[Avocado33]

Props to Tatum for staying in there though

If that happened to Kawhi Leonard, he would've left the game on a wheel chair and announced that he's missing the entire 2023-24 season

 

[crudebar]

It's a best of 7. They lost 3 times with Tatum and easily could have been 4 times.

This isn't a best of 1. Then I could go along with this argument at least or if Tatum got hurt game 1 and hobbled around all series.

They just lost to very much an 8 seed and Boston was probably as healthy as any team could be in late May and lost to fucking Caleb Martin.(until Tatum rolled ankle)

 

[Avocado33]

It's a best of 7. They lost 3 times with Tatum and easily could have been 4 times.

This isn't a best of 1. Then I could go along with this argument at least or if Tatum got hurt game 1 and hobbled around all series.

They just lost to very much an 8 seed and were probably as healthy as anyone team could he in late May and lost to fucking Caleb Martin.

They were verrrrry fortunate to win Game 6 as well

Could argue Game 2 could have flipped, but they were like -9 or -10 and Heat had already stolen home court so pretty bad to lose that game. Historically that's a blow out situation

 

[crudebar]

I don't see Denver overlooking them at this point.

That was also a Miami advantage. Neither Milwaukee nor Boston thought it was even possible to lose 4 games to these guys.

 

[PatsFan1283]

If Butler got hurt instead of Tatum, it's probably still a competitive ball game tbh.

I know it's a stupid game of meaningless hypotheticals, but we saw Heat win a game after Butler left the game last season in Boston

fair enough, Celts have also blown them out 5 of their 7 wins in the last 2 years in playoffs.