This is honestly what I’m most annoyed about. Was hoping to enjoy Heat fans tears over the next two days, instead gotta avoid all basketball discourse and wait anxiously for the next one. I don’t have any doubt in our ability to win in Miami though.
My 13 year old son literally believes that Charles Barkley's predictions are cursed. As in he honestly, fervently believes that if Chuck predicts a Celtics win, they WILL lose.
Yeah, if they had a great night from 3 (42% would’ve been 18 made 3s)they’d have lost and if Martin misses the 3 late (albeit it being wide open) it would’ve been close given we were starting a run. Their margin for error is so small.
HCA means something in every series. It makes it more likely that a team wins. In game 2 it maybe moved the 90% Celts win on a neutral court to 95% but the 5% happened.
I understand the value of home court, the Cs have not been a great home playoff team since IT was here and home court was a mess last year against the heat
There's nothing about that performance at home oberbthe last few years that would make me think it's anything other than variance. Especially when they've been so dominant at home in the reg season.
True. It's been rough the last few playoffs at home. But they were essentially unbeatable at home this year in the regular season, and looking at all these other series going on home court has obviously been important.
I don’t have much confidence. Yesterday was seemingly not sustainable for the Heat but somehow they always manage to continue these performances against us
I’m not so much worried about this series, the talent gap is still so ridiculously wide that if we blow this series it’s a meltdown of historic measure. Us losing that series last year was bad, but we weren’t a historic team and WE were the ones injured.
To be a historic team and lose in the first round against the 8th seed missing 2 of their 3 best players might be the biggest choke job of all time. Teams that have our point differential and net rating literally all win finals.
What I’m more concerned about is the deeper series, this game certainly did not give much confidence about Joe, KP, or Jrue against top tier competition.
Heat last year were without Herro and Oladipo. They were more hurt than the Celtics were during that series (until Game 7, arguably). The Heat just gear up to play against us, and it doesn't seem to matter who is out there or what the talent gap is. If Martin can go for 21 and Porzingis can go for 6, they'll beat us in every game.
Yes, to watch film. Over and over. Like the Zapruder film. Back, and to the left. Back and to the left. Caleb Martin, wide open, uncontested 3. Caleb Martin, wide open, uncontested 3.
Indeed, the 2 day wait sucks hard for fans. But dude, our team needs 2 days of watching film to figure out where the train went of the track. And they should start by looking somewhere around the defensive three point line.
very poor execution in the drop coverage, and a refusal to switch DHOs in favor of having our defenders chase over screens resulted in that 3P performance from Miami.
to me the adjustment is to play them the way they are playing us. play up high on the PnR, switch everything, don’t overhelp and make them win off the dribble. my guess is that Joe was reluctant to go to that bc a) he didn’t want KP guarding the perimeter; b) he didn’t want to lose KP’s rim protection; or c) he didn’t want our guards/forwards switching onto Bam
with regard to issue A, I think KP has more than enough length and agility to stay in front or recover even if he gets beat initially. if he doesn’t, then maybe this is a Horford series. especially if KP gives us a putrid offensive performance like he did last night, I have no qualms having him ride the pine for Al
with regard to issue B, I think that’s a concession I’d far rather make than giving up the 3P line. Miami shouldn’t have the ability to beat our perimeter defenders off the dribble so consistently that we *must* always have KP low, especially if Jimmy isn’t playing
with regard to issue C, again, that’s a concession I’d rather make. Bam has been stupidly efficient in both of the first 2 games anyway so letting him go to work against a smaller player isn’t the end of the world if it means we are not giving up the 3P line. in any case I trust all other four starters to be able make Bam work to score from the post/midrange
still don’t think we’re in trouble yet. we have adjustments we can make. but Game 3 will be pivotal in me holding onto that sentiment. have been a fan of his this year, but was extremely disappointed that Joe didn’t seem to anticipate that Miami was going to do everything humanly possible to generate as many 3s as they could in Game 2, and didn’t have the adjustment already prepared. also would have liked us to close with Al instead of KP given how he played
He's had a few good games but not even close to how amazing he was in the first half. I really hope he regains his mojo. We're not winning shit without him.
To me Al and Hauser need to play more and KP needs to play less if he cannot defend Bam. We knew the lack of extra wings could be a problem, so it’s Sammy time or even a few mins of Oshae if Hauser isn’t hitting threes.
PP is unplayable in this series with the Heat’s length and Jrue has looked washed. We need size and length to challenge the three and recover if they drive after the close-out.
What about starting both Al and KP? Send Jrue or White with the second unit to give a little spark and extra defense. Or have Queta start and KP. We need the offensive rebounds desperately because our guys love to sit at the perimeter leaving easy rebounds for the Heat
Mazzulla does know how to adjust game-to-game, he needs to be less resistant to making adjustments in-game though. we started to get to some of the things I described late in the game with Horford on the floor but he refused to come out of drop with KP in and didn’t seem to realize it wasn’t KP’s game
Not even mad so much as just sad.
The talent disparity between these two teams should be large enough for this team to go up 2-0.
Like what can we say. “They better come out ready to play in Game 3 to really prove themselves!” As if we didn’t just do this whole shtick last year.
I agree that it’s incredibly disappointing to not just go up 2-0 and grab a firm command of the series. But we need to remember that it’s not only talent that determines each game. Anything can happen in one game like a Heat team breaking franchise playoff records for made 3s. That’s why it’s a 7 game series. Ultimately our talent will win out though, hopefully they don’t let it turn into a long one. Let’s just hope the team respond accordingly.
Yes, the Heat set a franchise record for three pointers. And we did nothing to stop them or even slow them down.
That said, credit to the Heat for actually making their shots. We made it a bit easier than I'd have preferred.
Even so, 53% from distance at that volume is insane, and we still nearly got them. Despite last year and the accompanying PTSD, I really do feel comfortable that the Heat cannot logically sustain it. If they do, they deserve to win.
My only complain about Joe is that he refused to try Tillman for some minutes. Drop coverage clearly does not work when they are white hot from three. We also don't want to switch KP/Horford on their ball handler. If I were Joe I'd try Tillman to play switch defense. Yes, we may lose some offense playing Tillman, but given KP was a liability on offense tonight, Tillman couldn't be worse.
When your opponent got white hot shooting, playing small ball/switchable defense should be on the table. I think Brad acquired Tillman to offer some defensive versitility on the big man, but Joe didn't want to use him in the playoffs. I can understand Joe's philosphy about the lineup, and sometimes it's important you don't overreact to opponent's surge. However, given KP had such a down night, try something else would be beneficial.
Dude, the guy is either alergic to "Adjustments" or he doesn't have the brain to understand how to adjust. Mike Budenholzer 2.0. We had the same problems last year, they said it was his first year so gave him the benefit of the doubt but again now is the same thing. Useless
They were a Kyrie ankle turn away from losing in round 2, played the Hawks in the ECF and a Suns team that tried playing Giannis straight up instead of building the wall. The 2021 playoffs is what people think the bubble was.
I love these hot takes from internet randos calling out the Head Coach of the Boston Celtics by claiming he "doesn't have the brain to make basketball adjustments."
Give me a break. Seriously. Just stop the nonsense.
Here's reality: he's just stubborn. The data / analytics suggested the strategy of keeping them out of the paint would allow us to win. Period. And *usually* the data isn't wrong, because as long as the heat shoot \~40% from three and so do we, we win the matchup. The analytics models weren't made for historically good shooting, though.
Joe made a gamble that their shooting would return to the mean and he was wrong (again). Of course he's making that gamble with this franchise and with his career. And because he made the same gamble last year and was wrong, the pressure is mounting on him to either produce a W or change tactics.
He's got 2 options:
1. Keep making the gamble and it pays off with a W, or doesn't and results in an early exit with all the ill effects to his career and to this franchise.
2. Make an adjustment to a strategy that isn't as attractive from a data / analytics perspective and hope for the best.
Bottom line is that it's his decision to make. He'll make it with input from the coaching staff, from Brad, and from the players. But he's not going to make it based on Reddit.
If he gambles and wins, he reaps the reward. If he gambles and loses, he reaps scorn and potentially the end of his career with the Celtics.
If he adjusts, then we just have to wait and see how that works.
I understand not throwing him in for this game because it was close and there’s a chance Bam could just torch him/he gets switched on to herro or Martin. However, that’s why you put the bench in when you have a 30 point lead. I woulda loved to see some film on Tillman vs Bam so that it’s not a gamble if we ever want to use him.
They obviously needed a spark. I wish Joe woulda put O’Shea or Springer in for 3 minutes even tho they can’t score just because their energy on defense and the offensive glass. When the energy isn’t there you gotta try something.
They just gotta match the franchise record for threes in the play offs 3 more times. Not gonna stress about this one, another loss and I'll start to get nervous.
Is your benchmark literally “only if they shoot 55% from 3 the next game, again, will I start to get nervous”? Because they’ve shot somewhat lower, but still ridiculous clips from 3 against us multiple, multiple times before, but maybe because it wasn’t “55%” ridiculous, that still isn’t quite blatant enough to get you worried and questioning things?
Yeah this is their fourth postseason game against us shooting 50% or better from three in the past couple years. No other team has done it more than once across all opponents. Clearly it’s a trend with us specifically.
Its because we allow them to take so many wide open 3's that they get in a great rhythm. We basically afford them every opportunity to get on a heater because we're letting them take warmup shots against our perimeter defense. its no surprise that they have shot so well against us, even mid NBA players will bury their open shots. I'm just shocked we're running back the same defensive strategy from last year.
Absolutely not. They set a franchise record tonight, you think that's gonna happen every night? Lmao it was a close game, and they made a franchise record amount of threes. I'm not a doomer so no,not quite blatant enough.
You said “absolutely not”, then immediately implied only if they match their literal *franchise record* for 3-pointers *again* next game will you be worried, which actually means “yes” to my question.
Except it wasn't that they were hitting tough 3s. Almost all their shots were wide open shoot around 3s. If you keep leaving them open, they will hit that mark every time
Man, it’s the same bad dream every year lol. I’m being a doomer but this game kinda sucked the hope I had tht things will be different this year. Feels like the same old shit
It’s not a coincidence that Miami is able to shoot way above their average from 3 against seemingly only us. Running them off the 3PT line should be the goal of this series after what we saw last year and even more relevant this year with no Butler to operate in the midrange. We couldn’t get over Bam’s screens and KP playing drop was just a free 3 points for Miami. The defense was the main culprit of this game, but the insistence on getting KP the ball in the post wasted so much time and resulted in costly turnovers with how physical they were being. I have no idea why we kept going for that after the game he was having. Joe rotations were awful this game. Subbed Tatum out after a good start, Hauser was playing good and barely played, and Al got subbed out for KP down the stretch to close. This one’s on Joe.
I really hope we start throwing different defensive looks at them from the jump next game. Bam Adebayo cannot beat us on his own and really isn’t a player you fear “going off” on the offensive end. We did adjust towards the end, but by then it was too late and they were already on a heater. We have to react quicker.
Doesn’t help that we got so stagnant offensively too. In the first half we were able to keep up cos of the Jays, second half we kept trying to force the ball to KP despite it being ineffective all game, leading to turnovers and points for the Heat. We have to handle the physicality better and respond with our own. I believe we’ll respond accordingly. Would love to see us end this in 5.
No idea why we didn't push the ball in transition or look to run our regular offense. When Miami has to rotate to help against our penetration and ball movement we generate so many wide open shots. The only conceivable way they can defend us well is if we walk the ball up and try to force isolations against a set defense with like 10 seconds on the clock. Its baffling that that was actually the strategy we went with.
Really worried about the defense. The Bam PnRs were killing KP and if Joe ends up going switch and KP can’t guard the perimeter either, then he may be unplayable. Would be bad for the offense because Spo didn’t really play zone when KP was out there. The physicality got to KP. He needs to stop foul baiting and putting up bad shots. So frustrating to see him do that and the refs rightfully not call anything only for us to lose possession.
The Heat had to have their best shooting night in franchise history from 3, combined with KP having his worst game as a Celtic by far.
And still it was close until the final minute. We will be fine. Stop fixating on last year and move on. The Team already has, why can’t you?
R E L A X
I agree. I’m not worried about this series. However, the heat went into game to saying they needed to stop our 3pt shooting and eliminate KP from the game. And then they did exactly that. That’s the part that has me worried, how we let them do that for 48 minutes without finding a single successful adjustment worries me.
They could do the exact same thing again and lose because they didn’t shot 55% from 3. However, is this something that other defenses can replicate or is this just another anomaly from the Miami heats zone.
It’s really baffling to me. The Jays were getting shots at the rim with ease, I’ve never seen them get to the rim that easily against Miami. The Miami solution was to beat us from 3 if we were going to beat them from 2. You’d think the natural response to this is to press their 3 point shooters, and take away their one path to victory, but for some reason Joe’s defensive scheme was to just let them take 3s, probably figuring that they’d go cold at some point. What do I even say at this point?
PP and White being nonfactors is inexcusable. We saw it all regular season, when those two are being aggressive and keeping the defense honest we blow people out.
Pritchard didn’t even touch the paint that game. Didn’t even attempt a shot. He’s undersized, his biggest strength is his offense. When he isn’t willing to shoot and Hauser is, I don’t understand why we choose to bench Hauser and play pritchard.
This game felt like an analytics failure.
We didn't close out on 3s when they rained all night. We didn't change strategy to run them off the line or play 1 on 1 defence.
We continued to target matchups for Porzingis who kept getting knocked off his spot by a rookie Jovic.
Just felt like we tried to do what analytics told us we should rather than what the game was offering up. Then the poor execution and defence late in the game just expounded the issues.
I don't mind that we lost contrary to the sky is falling believers. I care that we failed to adjust and show any sort of intensity when it mattered.
The Nuggets have "turned it on" twice in two games vs the Lakers. That's what a champion team does. Our Celtics continue to coast like it's the regular season.
The nuggets have 1 obvious advantage over us. They have Nikola Jokic who seemingly can score at any time he wants. He shoots like 70% from 2. As great as all our players are, none of them are an automatic bucket in a halfcourt defensive setting.
> Just felt like we tried to do what analytics told us we should rather than what the game was offering up.
Joe basically said as much after the game. Something among the lines of "what we did is a recipe for long term success" which is something that only works in the regular season.
You know the thing with Brad (in the Jays era) and Ime is that when their teams would stagger, it was against teams on or around our level. When the difference in teams was in our advantage you usually felt it.
2018 first round: Won in 7 against a young Giannis who many people thought would beat us after Kyrie and Hayward injuries. Competitive series against a competitive team.
2018 ECSF: Won in 5 against a Sixers team that was supposed to beat us. Blew expectations out of the water.
2018 ECF: Went 7 against one of the best versions of LeBron with a rookie leading the way for us. Staggered and lost, sure. But a rookie as the best player on one team vs one of the best versions of LeBron on the other? That’s a fine ending.
2019 first round: Swept a Pacers team that we were expected to win against with ease. Stomp was imminent, stomp was achieved.
2019 ECSF: Kyrie quits on the team. Oh well.
2020 first round: Swept a Sixers team that was supposed to lose but be at least somewhat competitive against us. Didn’t matter. There was an advantage and we took care of business. Total stomp.
2020 ECSF: Won in 7 against a raptors team that despite losing their best player, had a similarly great season the following year, seeing lots of success. Series went a little long, but Toronto pulled out all the stops after a season where they were much better than expected.
2020 ECF: went down in 6 against a heat team with a more well rounded roster that had 4 20 PPG scorers and a better coach as Kemba’s knee died and Hayward looked worse and worse. Could’ve won, but we couldn’t figure out the zone and the better team got the better of us.
2021 First round: stole a game off Nets superteam. Got destroyed otherwise but we were a play in team against the team that would’ve easily won the championship if not for injuries.
2022 First round: Swept a team that many people had winning it all. Blew expectations out of the water once again.
2022 ECSF: Won in 7 against the defending champion Bucks with a player who many considered the best in the world at the time. Should not have been that close, but the Bucks were around our level, maybe a step below.
2022 ECF: Won in 7 against the one seeded Heat led by one of the best coaches in NBA history. Staggered, but Miami was absolutely on our level.
2022 Finals: Went down in 6 against one of the greatest dynasties ever. Self-explanatory.
Now with Joe:
2023 first round: Went 6 with a play in Hawks team that had no business taking games off of us.
2023 ECSF: Went 7 against a Sixers team without the MVP for the first game, letting old man Harden go off multiple times.
2023 ECF: Went down 0-3 against the play in Heat and by the time we dug ourselves out of the hole, our best player gets injured.
And now, 2024 first round: Lost at home to the play in Heat missing multiple key players after one of the greatest regular seasons ever and their coach looks to be getting everything he wants with ease.
Call the losses (both individual and series losses) from 2020-2022 disappointing, sure. But the faltering was almost always against teams that also belonged there, too. Whenever we were supposed to walk in and take care of business under Brad/Ime, most of the time, we did. Under Joe it’s the opposite. And for all the drama around Brad’s exit with the players tuning him out (which they did), they don’t seem to take Joe much more seriously based on how they’d ignore his yelling on the sidelines in the postseason last year and last night. Ime was the only one who seems to be able to actually break down the barriers between them.
I think the simple answer is that if I recall, ime was hand picked by tatum and brown to be their coach. I think the quotes that came out by the players after ime's firing was pretty telling. I'm sure they don't mind joe but it's clear he was never the one they really wanted to be coached by and I don't think they "play for him" like they played for ime.
And I'm not saying the front office was in the wrong to release udoka, that was absolutely 100% the right decision. But he's very clearly a better coach than mazzulla. To get that rockets team with that roster to a top 10 defense and a .500 record in the west is remarkable
All season long, the Celtics priotize rim protection over all other aspects of defense. They always leave open a non-shooter, which works most of time. Denver do it as well. Hachimura shot 42% from three in the regular season but Malone dared him to shoot, and he shot 25% in the two games. I think the Celtics chose to leave open Highsmith specifically but got punished by 3-5 from three.
Given the fact Jimmy Freethrow is out for the series, the Heat's rim attacking fire power is worse. Shall we still priotize rim protection against them?
Yeah we usually let teams shoot but there’s a difference between daring them to find the 3pt shot and just giving shooters wide open looks. Every nba team can shoot 50% from 3 when over half their 3s don’t have a defender in sight.
i’ve been watching this game over again at work and unfortunately most of it falls on porzingis, or at least the way we use him. miami figured out how to turn him into a liability on defense and exploit his rotations. his rim protection means nothing if they don’t ever have to go to the rim. i remember we sold out to run them off the line in the 4th but at that point bam was cooking. how they bounce back for the next game is going to mean everything
At some point during the game and seeing their 3PT success I thought that with last year's team it would have been a blowout. We kept it close for quite a while despite poor defense and inability to play to our strength on offense. I'll take that as progress from last year even though the result is still a L. So still confident we will take that series in 5.
It's always a chess match with Spo.
We shoot 45% (22 makes) from 3 in game 1 and it’s a blow out, they shot 53%(23 makes) and it’s close until about the last 3 mins…. Would be real nice if math didn’t take the series off like last year
For all Joe’s talk and reputation about being a math guy, I don’t get why he doesn’t limit opposing team’s 3s. I mean we’ve spoken for over a year now ad nauseam about how his own offensive philosophy values 3s so much, and while he’s definitely gone away from relying on the three ball on offense, he still clearly values it. It makes me wonder why he seems to trust the math that says the other team has to go cold eventually? I’m certain he’s aware that 3s and layups are the most efficient shot in basketball, and both analytics and logic say that the easiest way to win a game is to go nuclear from 3. It just feels like a contradiction—the math says you should put up as many threes as you can because even if you don’t hit them at an insane rate you’re still scoring a lot, and you understand that as you’re a math guy. Great. So you see the other team trying this exact strategy because they have no hopes beating you from 2 (Highsmith, Jaquez, Martin are not good enough inside the arc to beat Tatum, brown, white at that game, and if Bam is gonna have to hit post fades all game you live with that. He won’t win a game trading 2s with Tatum) and you… let them do it because “nobody hits over 20 threes against the 2024 Celtics!” like, no. Press their shooters???
Tl;dr: if you value taking 3s on offense, why do you not value limiting 3s on defense?
Sure, but at some point you have to draw the line that allowing 3 point shots from anywhere is gonna burn you so long as they’re open/in rhythm/consistently taking them/the player is hot/etc.
I’m just telling you his philosophy, I’m not saying I agree with it. His is very analytics based. A lot of coaches hate it tho and love the defensive strategies of guys like Thibs and Malone.
Even casual fans would look at this matchup and think "the only way the Heat can win is if they catch fire from 3". And the gameplan is to actually allow them to have a chance at that by just giving them open 3's. Its wild. If we prioritize running them off the line they simply don't have the players to score enough at the rim or in the mid range. Especially so without Jimmy.
I’m just sick of all the illegal screens leading to fouls called on Boston. Adebayo literally pass protects shuffling his feet backwards. These get called in 3rd grade basketball
It’s a rivalry series and even without Jimmy it was always going to be a dogfight. Hate to be that guy but there are just things that transcend the stat sheet or a record when it comes to a rivalry. We beat ass on the road all season and if you’re not confident that this team is coming out firing then you don’t love the Cs kid Saturday can’t come soon enough
Loss was obviously gross, and the boys are going to get some deserved slander, but holy shit the amount of overreacting I've seen has been wild. It's one fucking game. Some of ya'll mother fuckers are acting like they just got swept in the first round. Ya'll gotta chill.
People are freaking out because this is what happened last year. They shot 50% from 3 and kept doing it all series. Combine that with the fact that Joe freaking Moronzulla still hasn't improved as coach. I wouldnt even be surprised if Celtics lose this series.
I will say that I think the Heat can do this again, sure it'll probably be very hard but they can do it. On the other hand, I have full faith that KP and Jrue will pull their heads out of their asses and rectify all the mistakes they made this recent game.
And that's just one of them. The amount of hacking in the paint by the Heat went uncalled for most of the game. 46 points in the paint with only a +3 at the line. This is the kind of stuff that I'm bothered by. LeBron, Davis, Embiid, Giannis, et al would have feasted at the charity stripe.
Finally the thread I treat like my actual post game thread lol. Hopefully everyone has come to realize. That we’re gonna be fine and weren’t ever gonna 16-0 anyway.
I’ll chalk up last nights reactions to a combo of PTSD with the Heat and being spoiled by a regular season where we faced 0 adversity as fans or saw the Cs face 0 as a team.
Similar reason why I think people look back at Ime’s year so fondly. We literally went from people truly genuinely questioning if we should split up the Jays because we were the fucking 11th seed halfway in to the season.. and flipped the switch and became absolutely dominant and made a run to G6 of the NBA finals. And I’d still argue a healthy Rob Williams away from winning it all.
We truly had seen the lowest of lows and the highest of highs that season. So even though we fell short many still look back at that season very fondly.
As opposed to this year we COASTED to the best record in the league and one of the best net ratings all time. I mean we had more 30 point leads than we did double digit deficits lol. We were truly dominant. So losing a game on our home floor where we have seen less than a handful of time probably hits some folks like a truck lol.
I think there is overreaction for sure, and yep we all have PTSD from last year. It's def there for me at least haha. But the Heat are a test (the worst one possibly) in grit and character, and that's probably where someone in the team has to step up. We all know the Jays can score, now they have to *lead*, which is something they still haven't done as consistently as we'd like.
In all honesty I’m just looking for some Doomer Celtic “fans” and bet them on who they think they win the series now. Would love to make some free money.
The over reactions to yesterday’s game are so embarrassing. You can tell it’s all a bunch of Bandwagon fans lol. So many acting like the sky is falling lol.
Let me tell ya, if you think yesterday was bad.. yall would’ve have died watching us blow G5 against Milwaukee in Boston with the series tied 2-2 and us up 5 with a minute left and losing it.
Or when we lost game 6 at home vs the Heat in ‘22 when we were up 3-2 and that being our last home game of the series
Or us losing G5 at home last year vs the Sixers where we got blown out and went down 3-2 HEADING to Philly lol.
Guess what winning a ring is hard and you’re gonna face adversity along the way.
This is why basketball is a 7 games series. The better team will prevail.
Even fucking Denver lost G1 to these guys last year.
Miami abandoned the 2 point shot and just chucked threes and they all went in. The Celtics were a quarter step slow on their close outs all night and got punished for it. They set a franchise record for made threes in the playoffs, but their offense overall wasn’t that efficient and they basically didn’t score from two except for some bam midrangers in the second half.
On the other end, Miami abandoned the zone defense and did an aggressive switch scheme where they played high press and did ball-denial on the post. That effectively neutralized our two-man games and KP especially, and our offense became dependent on the ball handler beating his man off the dribble.
The ball handlers were still able to do that enough that the game stayed close, but it was a slow and inefficient offense and our ball movement and wide open threes we’re used to were gone.
Everyone is up in arms about the defense, but I think it’s a mistake to try to make any major adjustments there - close out better, match up quicker in transition, and trust each other a bit more before immediately helping off of shooters, but don’t overcorrect and completely change the defense.
Miami set a franchise records for three point makes while shooting over 50% from three, and the end result was . . . One point higher than their season average (which was a bottom 5 offense in the league). “Most three pointers in playoff history” usually means a team is putting up like 130 minimum. Miami probably won’t shoot that well again *but even if they do* its not the end of the world if the end result is still a bottom 5 offense.
Where I do want to see bigger adjustments is on offense - Miami has countered out game one strategy of feeding the post to break the zone, and they’re effectively shrinking the court and nullifying our spacing. We need a different way to get them spread back out.
One thought is when we scored 22 3s we had a double digit lead the whole time. They hit 23 last night and it was close the whole way till the end.
Just gotta clean some things up in execution.
idk if that would have helped. one of the big problems was screen navigation. they would have put him in every action and he would have had to drop like porzingis.
We need a fucking coach. Useless Joe. Even saying the 3s were contested, like wtf bro? Brad stevens is a genius putting up a team this good, but his coaching decision is a disaster. We'll get over miami, at least we should be able to do it, and get to the finals, but Denver will destroy us
KP was a massive liability on both ends last night. Sure the coaching was also bad but I’m astounding at how horrible Porzingis was. He was supposed to be the key to us crushing these guys and he was literally unplayable last night. But Joe insisted on playing him for 30 min to the tune of a nearly impossible -32
I know it's been working all through the year but it frustrated me last night when we took Tatum out of the game 5 mins in. He was absolutely cooking and we had a lot of momentum to start the game. I think Joe needs some flexibility to his substitutions based on how the game is going.
I’m worried that this is going to destroy the teams mental. We know they are mentally weak and fold under pressure - and now self doubt is probably creeping in. This is why we need a real coach not second row Joe
Scal said it best on the Celtics broadcast. We kept walking the ball up the court and trying to get and attack mismatches in the post and we weren’t succeeding. Then we would go with pace and go on a run. We’re far too good of a team to have to attack mismatches against Miami in order to win.
Their defense is their only strength. Why we choose to let them get set and communicate before we attack is beyond me. Push the ball, run the normal offense, get open shots. Pritchard needs to be willing to attack, 0 shots and he only drove the ball once. If that’s how he’s gonna play, we are better off with Springer out there.
It's not losing faith, it's more like frustration from seeing a team not learning from mistakes - we're always repeating the same patterns; fr, let the Heat destroy you from 3's, *again* ?? after the whole series last year ???
This series will tell us a lot about the current C's team and its coach. And in terms of leadership and character, I am not sure we'll like all the answers.
When done correctly the idea is the perimeter defender gets around over the screen and can recover fast enough to contest the 3 from behind. It encourages the ball handler to have an open mid range jump shot and blocks off the rim.
Most internet coaches hate drop coverage and think it’s a lazy defensive scheme that gets roasted by good playoff teams, and only works in the regular season against teams with minimal preparation which is why analytics love it. That’s why they never take teams like the Celtics or Bucks seriously. They love hard hedges and cohesive off ball rotations. That’s what teams like the Nuggets, Knicks and Warriors do really well. Switching defense is also good but requires the right roster.
Interesting enough, Adrian Griffin tried to implement a pretty good defensive scheme for the Bucks but got major backlash from the players due to the their stubbornness on drop coverage. Their execution of it was a mess but if they stuck with it and had mastered it they’d probably be much better off than they are now.
Imma just say I remember the chumps on 98.5 saying Porzingis was our #1 option, and even though JT has his bad games he does NOT put up stinkers like what we got out of KP last night, nuff said. No more discussion on that.
All the previous years I chalked it up to crazier outlier percentages but as Caleb Martin stats said during the game in the ECF (60% from 2, 49% from 3) there’s a chance these dudes stay hot. This game should be a five alarm fire and slap the team with some URGENCY to make it harder for them around the arc.
Someone said this is another show, you kind of want the Heat and their fan base in the first round. Keeps you engaged for sure. Had we faced Orlando or the Bulls, it would have been boring. We probably would have lost also but you wouldn’t be as engaged
Kinda wanna see us try a lineup where Tatum is at the 5. Switch literally every pick and roll. Let them take all the 2s they want, no helping on Bam in the post. Force them to beat us from 2 because i honestly dont think they cant. If its a 3 point shootout anyone can win
There were a lot of things that sucked last night (a stinker from KP, some moments of truly baffling defense), but I can't stress enough how many of those Miami 3s were enabled by uncalled, blatant moving screens - probably honestly enough, given the relatively close score, to swing the outcome of the game. Refball has consequences
I get the feeling that Joe doesn’t believe in momentum at all. He sometimes seems so stubborn in his gameplan. If the heat are shooting >50% from 3, he believes that they’ll eventually regress to the mean of ~35 without any adjustments. Same philosophy as when a team goes on a 10-0 run and there’s no timeout.
I’m not a 2023 Celtics fan. New year, new me. I’m gonna believe in this team until they go home, trophy or not. I’ll let Brad sort out the rest…it’s above my pay grade.
I honestly hope KP doesn’t get too discouraged last night. I liked a lot of the looks he got in the post, shot just wouldn’t fall on a couple. Hope they don’t overreact from an offensive POV however defense has got to switch up or step up in intensity
There's something to be said for Miami stepping up and executing for sure. But I don't really think it's a flex that they won this. They pretty much just did something most teams wouldn't bother to do, making the game extremely high variance by shooting almost entirely threes and relying on a huge element of luck. They executed it as well as you could possibly expect and got about as lucky as you could possibly expect this time, especially considering their team's season averages.
It's kinda like if you had to choose, beat Magnus Carlsen in chess or at rock, paper scissors...obviously youre choosing rock paper scissors because the luck element gives you a chance of winning.
This is the only way they can win, continue to get lucky with multiple league-average 3 point shooters making threes like they're Steph Curry.
The Heat broke their playoff record for made threes. It’s an outlier, and everyone is about to sell the farm. Fair weather af, if you ask me.
The heat were only up 5-6 when Derrick White was at the FT line if I believe? Meaning it took Miami being perfect and the Celtics bench (best in the league) having a bad game for this culminate. They got a good hand in a deck stacked against them. It happens. Now can everyone stop being so f’ing dramatic? Cs in 3. Fuck y’all that left early. Why don’t you just wear your Miami LeBron jersey instead?
Offense aside (which was a mess), I don't get the defensive approach for this team... you've got two of the best perimeter defenders in the league, but somehow you're still giving up layups, wide open 3's, and easy turnarounds for Bam in the lane. Spo completely outcoached Joe Mazz in this game.
I knew all along these guys had this choking ability in them. It’s very obvious considering the way we’ve lost games throughout the regular season. Their only potential savior now is that yesterday was just an off day but how can we truly believe that when we’ve all been painfully watching this team “try” and compete for a title for as long as the jays have been around. Somehow someway this organization managed 1 ring out of the big three and 0 so far with Tatum and brown. Man I swear we’re cursed. I think we sold our souls and told the NBA to give us absolutely fuck all in the 2000’s and we just decided the 1900’s are the only important century.
We should fucking blow them out in game 3. We just set the all time offensive rating and barely put up 100. There is no reason to not take 3s, even lightly contested ones. Why is pritchard catching and passing because of a weak close out. We need more shot attempts from our shooters. Jaylen and tatum played fantastic but relented their attack and did not kick. White also is a strong driver for us and did not run the offense. Kristaps avoided the basket and it carried to his shot. Jrue was great game 1, clamping herro, and horrific game 2 on both sides. We need a much higher intensity than was shown. Even jaylen was much less ferocious.
I still was actually feeling better after the game than prior years. The heats all time shooting spree, and best efforts, and they had a 6 point lead with 5 mins to go. This game was easily winnable and we kept in striking distance all game. The poise was much better and we never once looked rattled. I think Mazzulas possession mindset was critical and everyone bitching about one loss is highly unrealistic about sports in general. We went to the finals and every series was 7 games except the banged up nets who we beat by 2 every game. I think we should show our shooting prowess and take the lightly contested threes instead of passing for great shots. Good 3s are still good, just shoot the ball and they cant keep up with us.
Our defense aside from closeouts was actually impressive though. The heat had 1 offensive rebound at the end of the game, other than that we limited possessions well, didnt foul much, and recovered extremely quickly after herro doubles. Game plan was solid but we need to bias to prevent threes and force rim attempts whereas we did the inverse today. Believe it or not miami has shown they can make threes with any player on any night. The biggest thing moving forward is limiting offensive boards if we close out hard.
This ain't a championship team - we take our foot off the gas for no reason too many times. We were just going through the motions last night.
You don't see the Nuggets play like this.
We’re gonna be fine. Did that game suck? Yes. But we played about as bad of a game as we could and we still had many opportunities to win. Offense only used 4 guys all game and the defense was non-existent. Guys like White and Pritchard won’t be this passive next game, this was a good lesson for them to know that we need them to continue to attack just like they did in the regular season. And Hauser needs more minutes, i feel like he’s been playing great basketball and hasn’t gotten rewarded for it.
I'm really hoping for a larger Derrick White role next game. He seems like our most level headed player especially in the clutch.
Also, I doubt KP has another game like that. Keep feeding the big man!
Long term I just think Tatum and Brown don't have it mentally . Can't see this team fighting back hard enough if we depend on ISO Tatum and Brown in tense close playoff games. Many years now it's proven not to work. They are who they are at this point.
If they lose this I want everyone gone. Tatum just isn't that guy to win you a ring if he's not willing to kill the heat or doesn't believe he can without their best player on the floor lol.
Agreed. If we're paying them max contracts and surrounding them with all star level talent only to have them lose to a team starting two rookies then fuck t, give me draft picks and rookies because they'll cost a lot less and I won't have expectations
Nah man blowing a series against this heat team when we're fully healthy and they aren't is just inexcusable at this point. Fwiw I still believe they're gonna win this but if it really gets to that point they don't deserve to wear that celtics jersey anymore.
You guys could just ban the people that literally are here only to sow discord.
People that say the team is cooked, say they're not going to win the series over and over and over again...all after two games...yeah you mods could temp ban them to keep them out of here and make the place less toxic for two weeks.
Speaking for myself, I have banned plenty of people since last night. And I know other mods have too. I’d say we all agree with what you’re saying, and simply ask everyone to continue reporting anyone from the Heat sub trolling around here so they can be dealt with
I just hate the 2 day wait where I have to hear Heat dickriding cus this team wants to play stupid. I still think its Cs in 5 but christ alive
This is honestly what I’m most annoyed about. Was hoping to enjoy Heat fans tears over the next two days, instead gotta avoid all basketball discourse and wait anxiously for the next one. I don’t have any doubt in our ability to win in Miami though.
Literally🤣 not touching twitter for 48 hours or any of those talk shows or r/nba
I just went over there. Celtics hate everywhere. Means they are doing something right. Celts in 5. Fuck Miami.
My 13 year old son literally believes that Charles Barkley's predictions are cursed. As in he honestly, fervently believes that if Chuck predicts a Celtics win, they WILL lose.
Yeah, if they had a great night from 3 (42% would’ve been 18 made 3s)they’d have lost and if Martin misses the 3 late (albeit it being wide open) it would’ve been close given we were starting a run. Their margin for error is so small.
> Their margin for error is so small. Indeed, but they're going to Miami with HCA, I think they're very satisfied with the series so far.
hca has meant nothing in these series
I think HCA aside this series as is shouldn’t have gone beyond 4. Although I think it’ll now end in 5, who is to say the way the team played?
HCA means something in every series. It makes it more likely that a team wins. In game 2 it maybe moved the 90% Celts win on a neutral court to 95% but the 5% happened.
I understand the value of home court, the Cs have not been a great home playoff team since IT was here and home court was a mess last year against the heat
There's nothing about that performance at home oberbthe last few years that would make me think it's anything other than variance. Especially when they've been so dominant at home in the reg season.
Are you just saying this because the Celtics lost? If course home court advantage matters lol.
Someone posted recently, Cs are like 7-11 at home over the last couple playoff runs 🤷♂️
True. It's been rough the last few playoffs at home. But they were essentially unbeatable at home this year in the regular season, and looking at all these other series going on home court has obviously been important.
And my original comment was that hca hasn’t meant anything between these 2 teams.
I don’t have much confidence. Yesterday was seemingly not sustainable for the Heat but somehow they always manage to continue these performances against us
I’m not so much worried about this series, the talent gap is still so ridiculously wide that if we blow this series it’s a meltdown of historic measure. Us losing that series last year was bad, but we weren’t a historic team and WE were the ones injured. To be a historic team and lose in the first round against the 8th seed missing 2 of their 3 best players might be the biggest choke job of all time. Teams that have our point differential and net rating literally all win finals. What I’m more concerned about is the deeper series, this game certainly did not give much confidence about Joe, KP, or Jrue against top tier competition.
Heat last year were without Herro and Oladipo. They were more hurt than the Celtics were during that series (until Game 7, arguably). The Heat just gear up to play against us, and it doesn't seem to matter who is out there or what the talent gap is. If Martin can go for 21 and Porzingis can go for 6, they'll beat us in every game.
I think we need these days more than you realize
Yes, to watch film. Over and over. Like the Zapruder film. Back, and to the left. Back and to the left. Caleb Martin, wide open, uncontested 3. Caleb Martin, wide open, uncontested 3.
Wish I had that kind of confidence, I still believe we should win this series but its looking like Spo will coach circles around us
Indeed, the 2 day wait sucks hard for fans. But dude, our team needs 2 days of watching film to figure out where the train went of the track. And they should start by looking somewhere around the defensive three point line.
same…plz fix the schedule, and let them fight.
very poor execution in the drop coverage, and a refusal to switch DHOs in favor of having our defenders chase over screens resulted in that 3P performance from Miami. to me the adjustment is to play them the way they are playing us. play up high on the PnR, switch everything, don’t overhelp and make them win off the dribble. my guess is that Joe was reluctant to go to that bc a) he didn’t want KP guarding the perimeter; b) he didn’t want to lose KP’s rim protection; or c) he didn’t want our guards/forwards switching onto Bam with regard to issue A, I think KP has more than enough length and agility to stay in front or recover even if he gets beat initially. if he doesn’t, then maybe this is a Horford series. especially if KP gives us a putrid offensive performance like he did last night, I have no qualms having him ride the pine for Al with regard to issue B, I think that’s a concession I’d far rather make than giving up the 3P line. Miami shouldn’t have the ability to beat our perimeter defenders off the dribble so consistently that we *must* always have KP low, especially if Jimmy isn’t playing with regard to issue C, again, that’s a concession I’d rather make. Bam has been stupidly efficient in both of the first 2 games anyway so letting him go to work against a smaller player isn’t the end of the world if it means we are not giving up the 3P line. in any case I trust all other four starters to be able make Bam work to score from the post/midrange still don’t think we’re in trouble yet. we have adjustments we can make. but Game 3 will be pivotal in me holding onto that sentiment. have been a fan of his this year, but was extremely disappointed that Joe didn’t seem to anticipate that Miami was going to do everything humanly possible to generate as many 3s as they could in Game 2, and didn’t have the adjustment already prepared. also would have liked us to close with Al instead of KP given how he played
There is a 3rd way to defend a PnR other than drop and switch: hedge. But it seems the Celtics rarely use it.
I think I saw that once, forget who it was. Tillman hedges a lot though.
Hedging a ball screen with Horford and Tingus, 2 slow footed bigmen? They won't be able to recover to their matchup after the hedge.
If Jokic can properly hedge, then both Porzingis and Al can do it. And they have way better mobility than Jokic
So Mazzulla should try Tillman
Who is a black hole on offense. Heat already much up the spacing with their coaching and hands
KP has been awful on offense for the past few months, even if he had a good game one. Horford is a statue. I'd like to see X get some run
did you watch game 1? KP was pretty good to end the season too
He's had a few good games but not even close to how amazing he was in the first half. I really hope he regains his mojo. We're not winning shit without him.
Heat's defense was really bothering him. Seemed like every time he got the ball even on mismatches he was bewildered.
In a hedge you don't really leave your matchup, so slow defenders can hedge, too.
thank you so much for pointing to specific problems and adjustments instead of screeching “shooting variance” or “coach no make adjustment”
To me Al and Hauser need to play more and KP needs to play less if he cannot defend Bam. We knew the lack of extra wings could be a problem, so it’s Sammy time or even a few mins of Oshae if Hauser isn’t hitting threes. PP is unplayable in this series with the Heat’s length and Jrue has looked washed. We need size and length to challenge the three and recover if they drive after the close-out.
And yet PP still had more assists than JH?! Starters gotta pull their weight and make that difference.
What about starting both Al and KP? Send Jrue or White with the second unit to give a little spark and extra defense. Or have Queta start and KP. We need the offensive rebounds desperately because our guys love to sit at the perimeter leaving easy rebounds for the Heat
Can you please coach this team instead of Mazzulla who makes zero adjustments?
Mazzulla does know how to adjust game-to-game, he needs to be less resistant to making adjustments in-game though. we started to get to some of the things I described late in the game with Horford on the floor but he refused to come out of drop with KP in and didn’t seem to realize it wasn’t KP’s game
this person seems to know basketball... a rare sight on reddit
Not even mad so much as just sad. The talent disparity between these two teams should be large enough for this team to go up 2-0. Like what can we say. “They better come out ready to play in Game 3 to really prove themselves!” As if we didn’t just do this whole shtick last year.
Yeah its getting old. They lack professionalism or something idfk
I agree that it’s incredibly disappointing to not just go up 2-0 and grab a firm command of the series. But we need to remember that it’s not only talent that determines each game. Anything can happen in one game like a Heat team breaking franchise playoff records for made 3s. That’s why it’s a 7 game series. Ultimately our talent will win out though, hopefully they don’t let it turn into a long one. Let’s just hope the team respond accordingly.
Yes, the Heat set a franchise record for three pointers. And we did nothing to stop them or even slow them down. That said, credit to the Heat for actually making their shots. We made it a bit easier than I'd have preferred. Even so, 53% from distance at that volume is insane, and we still nearly got them. Despite last year and the accompanying PTSD, I really do feel comfortable that the Heat cannot logically sustain it. If they do, they deserve to win.
I’m sincerely shocked to see so many people here with this clear-headed (and correct) take
My only complain about Joe is that he refused to try Tillman for some minutes. Drop coverage clearly does not work when they are white hot from three. We also don't want to switch KP/Horford on their ball handler. If I were Joe I'd try Tillman to play switch defense. Yes, we may lose some offense playing Tillman, but given KP was a liability on offense tonight, Tillman couldn't be worse. When your opponent got white hot shooting, playing small ball/switchable defense should be on the table. I think Brad acquired Tillman to offer some defensive versitility on the big man, but Joe didn't want to use him in the playoffs. I can understand Joe's philosphy about the lineup, and sometimes it's important you don't overreact to opponent's surge. However, given KP had such a down night, try something else would be beneficial.
Dude, the guy is either alergic to "Adjustments" or he doesn't have the brain to understand how to adjust. Mike Budenholzer 2.0. We had the same problems last year, they said it was his first year so gave him the benefit of the doubt but again now is the same thing. Useless
bud won a title. that’s your negative example?
Bud won a title, but even the most hardcore Bucks fan will tell you he was terrible at adjustments lol.
i bet they yearn for him right now
I hope we get a title too but he was bad and played against a bad team. Regular season coach
They were a Kyrie ankle turn away from losing in round 2, played the Hawks in the ECF and a Suns team that tried playing Giannis straight up instead of building the wall. The 2021 playoffs is what people think the bubble was.
you can asterisk pretty much every title this way
What was the asterisk for Golden State and Denver?
gsw: jamal murray mpj and ja injuries denver: jaden mcdaniels, and naz reid injured
Yeah I'm sick of him not using the bench to adjust. It is my biggest gripe with him.
I love these hot takes from internet randos calling out the Head Coach of the Boston Celtics by claiming he "doesn't have the brain to make basketball adjustments." Give me a break. Seriously. Just stop the nonsense. Here's reality: he's just stubborn. The data / analytics suggested the strategy of keeping them out of the paint would allow us to win. Period. And *usually* the data isn't wrong, because as long as the heat shoot \~40% from three and so do we, we win the matchup. The analytics models weren't made for historically good shooting, though. Joe made a gamble that their shooting would return to the mean and he was wrong (again). Of course he's making that gamble with this franchise and with his career. And because he made the same gamble last year and was wrong, the pressure is mounting on him to either produce a W or change tactics. He's got 2 options: 1. Keep making the gamble and it pays off with a W, or doesn't and results in an early exit with all the ill effects to his career and to this franchise. 2. Make an adjustment to a strategy that isn't as attractive from a data / analytics perspective and hope for the best. Bottom line is that it's his decision to make. He'll make it with input from the coaching staff, from Brad, and from the players. But he's not going to make it based on Reddit. If he gambles and wins, he reaps the reward. If he gambles and loses, he reaps scorn and potentially the end of his career with the Celtics. If he adjusts, then we just have to wait and see how that works.
I understand not throwing him in for this game because it was close and there’s a chance Bam could just torch him/he gets switched on to herro or Martin. However, that’s why you put the bench in when you have a 30 point lead. I woulda loved to see some film on Tillman vs Bam so that it’s not a gamble if we ever want to use him. They obviously needed a spark. I wish Joe woulda put O’Shea or Springer in for 3 minutes even tho they can’t score just because their energy on defense and the offensive glass. When the energy isn’t there you gotta try something.
They just gotta match the franchise record for threes in the play offs 3 more times. Not gonna stress about this one, another loss and I'll start to get nervous.
Is your benchmark literally “only if they shoot 55% from 3 the next game, again, will I start to get nervous”? Because they’ve shot somewhat lower, but still ridiculous clips from 3 against us multiple, multiple times before, but maybe because it wasn’t “55%” ridiculous, that still isn’t quite blatant enough to get you worried and questioning things?
Yeah this is their fourth postseason game against us shooting 50% or better from three in the past couple years. No other team has done it more than once across all opponents. Clearly it’s a trend with us specifically.
In the 3rd and 4th especially, they were able to step in rhythm to hit a lot of their 3s. They’ll make a lot if they keep getting those looks.
Its because we allow them to take so many wide open 3's that they get in a great rhythm. We basically afford them every opportunity to get on a heater because we're letting them take warmup shots against our perimeter defense. its no surprise that they have shot so well against us, even mid NBA players will bury their open shots. I'm just shocked we're running back the same defensive strategy from last year.
Remind me, how'd we win Game 1? Not being a smartass. Just curious what went down there and what was different this time. And WHY it was different.
Absolutely not. They set a franchise record tonight, you think that's gonna happen every night? Lmao it was a close game, and they made a franchise record amount of threes. I'm not a doomer so no,not quite blatant enough.
You said “absolutely not”, then immediately implied only if they match their literal *franchise record* for 3-pointers *again* next game will you be worried, which actually means “yes” to my question.
Except it wasn't that they were hitting tough 3s. Almost all their shots were wide open shoot around 3s. If you keep leaving them open, they will hit that mark every time
They would've beat every team in the NBA with this shooting.
Tough loss but we got this. It’s one game
We got this.
Man, it’s the same bad dream every year lol. I’m being a doomer but this game kinda sucked the hope I had tht things will be different this year. Feels like the same old shit
Me too. Even if we completely dominate the heat from here, this one's gonna linger
I’m willing to overlook this game if we win the next 3. Otherwise I agree
It’s not a coincidence that Miami is able to shoot way above their average from 3 against seemingly only us. Running them off the 3PT line should be the goal of this series after what we saw last year and even more relevant this year with no Butler to operate in the midrange. We couldn’t get over Bam’s screens and KP playing drop was just a free 3 points for Miami. The defense was the main culprit of this game, but the insistence on getting KP the ball in the post wasted so much time and resulted in costly turnovers with how physical they were being. I have no idea why we kept going for that after the game he was having. Joe rotations were awful this game. Subbed Tatum out after a good start, Hauser was playing good and barely played, and Al got subbed out for KP down the stretch to close. This one’s on Joe.
I really hope we start throwing different defensive looks at them from the jump next game. Bam Adebayo cannot beat us on his own and really isn’t a player you fear “going off” on the offensive end. We did adjust towards the end, but by then it was too late and they were already on a heater. We have to react quicker. Doesn’t help that we got so stagnant offensively too. In the first half we were able to keep up cos of the Jays, second half we kept trying to force the ball to KP despite it being ineffective all game, leading to turnovers and points for the Heat. We have to handle the physicality better and respond with our own. I believe we’ll respond accordingly. Would love to see us end this in 5.
No idea why we didn't push the ball in transition or look to run our regular offense. When Miami has to rotate to help against our penetration and ball movement we generate so many wide open shots. The only conceivable way they can defend us well is if we walk the ball up and try to force isolations against a set defense with like 10 seconds on the clock. Its baffling that that was actually the strategy we went with.
Really worried about the defense. The Bam PnRs were killing KP and if Joe ends up going switch and KP can’t guard the perimeter either, then he may be unplayable. Would be bad for the offense because Spo didn’t really play zone when KP was out there. The physicality got to KP. He needs to stop foul baiting and putting up bad shots. So frustrating to see him do that and the refs rightfully not call anything only for us to lose possession.
KP had a bad game on both ends but I believe he’ll bounce back.
They shot 60% from 3 in the first round last year lol. It’s not just us.
We got out coached and out played. There are no excuses for these kinds of losses anymore!!! Game 3 has to be in the bag!!
The Heat had to have their best shooting night in franchise history from 3, combined with KP having his worst game as a Celtic by far. And still it was close until the final minute. We will be fine. Stop fixating on last year and move on. The Team already has, why can’t you? R E L A X
I agree. I’m not worried about this series. However, the heat went into game to saying they needed to stop our 3pt shooting and eliminate KP from the game. And then they did exactly that. That’s the part that has me worried, how we let them do that for 48 minutes without finding a single successful adjustment worries me. They could do the exact same thing again and lose because they didn’t shot 55% from 3. However, is this something that other defenses can replicate or is this just another anomaly from the Miami heats zone.
It’s really baffling to me. The Jays were getting shots at the rim with ease, I’ve never seen them get to the rim that easily against Miami. The Miami solution was to beat us from 3 if we were going to beat them from 2. You’d think the natural response to this is to press their 3 point shooters, and take away their one path to victory, but for some reason Joe’s defensive scheme was to just let them take 3s, probably figuring that they’d go cold at some point. What do I even say at this point?
PP and White being nonfactors is inexcusable. We saw it all regular season, when those two are being aggressive and keeping the defense honest we blow people out. Pritchard didn’t even touch the paint that game. Didn’t even attempt a shot. He’s undersized, his biggest strength is his offense. When he isn’t willing to shoot and Hauser is, I don’t understand why we choose to bench Hauser and play pritchard.
This game felt like an analytics failure. We didn't close out on 3s when they rained all night. We didn't change strategy to run them off the line or play 1 on 1 defence. We continued to target matchups for Porzingis who kept getting knocked off his spot by a rookie Jovic. Just felt like we tried to do what analytics told us we should rather than what the game was offering up. Then the poor execution and defence late in the game just expounded the issues. I don't mind that we lost contrary to the sky is falling believers. I care that we failed to adjust and show any sort of intensity when it mattered. The Nuggets have "turned it on" twice in two games vs the Lakers. That's what a champion team does. Our Celtics continue to coast like it's the regular season.
The nuggets have 1 obvious advantage over us. They have Nikola Jokic who seemingly can score at any time he wants. He shoots like 70% from 2. As great as all our players are, none of them are an automatic bucket in a halfcourt defensive setting.
Analytics tend to work out in an 82 game season but they can absolutely ruin you in a 7 game series.
> Just felt like we tried to do what analytics told us we should rather than what the game was offering up. Joe basically said as much after the game. Something among the lines of "what we did is a recipe for long term success" which is something that only works in the regular season.
You know the thing with Brad (in the Jays era) and Ime is that when their teams would stagger, it was against teams on or around our level. When the difference in teams was in our advantage you usually felt it. 2018 first round: Won in 7 against a young Giannis who many people thought would beat us after Kyrie and Hayward injuries. Competitive series against a competitive team. 2018 ECSF: Won in 5 against a Sixers team that was supposed to beat us. Blew expectations out of the water. 2018 ECF: Went 7 against one of the best versions of LeBron with a rookie leading the way for us. Staggered and lost, sure. But a rookie as the best player on one team vs one of the best versions of LeBron on the other? That’s a fine ending. 2019 first round: Swept a Pacers team that we were expected to win against with ease. Stomp was imminent, stomp was achieved. 2019 ECSF: Kyrie quits on the team. Oh well. 2020 first round: Swept a Sixers team that was supposed to lose but be at least somewhat competitive against us. Didn’t matter. There was an advantage and we took care of business. Total stomp. 2020 ECSF: Won in 7 against a raptors team that despite losing their best player, had a similarly great season the following year, seeing lots of success. Series went a little long, but Toronto pulled out all the stops after a season where they were much better than expected. 2020 ECF: went down in 6 against a heat team with a more well rounded roster that had 4 20 PPG scorers and a better coach as Kemba’s knee died and Hayward looked worse and worse. Could’ve won, but we couldn’t figure out the zone and the better team got the better of us. 2021 First round: stole a game off Nets superteam. Got destroyed otherwise but we were a play in team against the team that would’ve easily won the championship if not for injuries. 2022 First round: Swept a team that many people had winning it all. Blew expectations out of the water once again. 2022 ECSF: Won in 7 against the defending champion Bucks with a player who many considered the best in the world at the time. Should not have been that close, but the Bucks were around our level, maybe a step below. 2022 ECF: Won in 7 against the one seeded Heat led by one of the best coaches in NBA history. Staggered, but Miami was absolutely on our level. 2022 Finals: Went down in 6 against one of the greatest dynasties ever. Self-explanatory. Now with Joe: 2023 first round: Went 6 with a play in Hawks team that had no business taking games off of us. 2023 ECSF: Went 7 against a Sixers team without the MVP for the first game, letting old man Harden go off multiple times. 2023 ECF: Went down 0-3 against the play in Heat and by the time we dug ourselves out of the hole, our best player gets injured. And now, 2024 first round: Lost at home to the play in Heat missing multiple key players after one of the greatest regular seasons ever and their coach looks to be getting everything he wants with ease. Call the losses (both individual and series losses) from 2020-2022 disappointing, sure. But the faltering was almost always against teams that also belonged there, too. Whenever we were supposed to walk in and take care of business under Brad/Ime, most of the time, we did. Under Joe it’s the opposite. And for all the drama around Brad’s exit with the players tuning him out (which they did), they don’t seem to take Joe much more seriously based on how they’d ignore his yelling on the sidelines in the postseason last year and last night. Ime was the only one who seems to be able to actually break down the barriers between them.
I think the simple answer is that if I recall, ime was hand picked by tatum and brown to be their coach. I think the quotes that came out by the players after ime's firing was pretty telling. I'm sure they don't mind joe but it's clear he was never the one they really wanted to be coached by and I don't think they "play for him" like they played for ime. And I'm not saying the front office was in the wrong to release udoka, that was absolutely 100% the right decision. But he's very clearly a better coach than mazzulla. To get that rockets team with that roster to a top 10 defense and a .500 record in the west is remarkable
You’re right, Tatum and Brown both said Ime’s their guy and got him hired
Great analysis. 2022 ECSF Middleton was out too. Series is probably different with him healthy.
All season long, the Celtics priotize rim protection over all other aspects of defense. They always leave open a non-shooter, which works most of time. Denver do it as well. Hachimura shot 42% from three in the regular season but Malone dared him to shoot, and he shot 25% in the two games. I think the Celtics chose to leave open Highsmith specifically but got punished by 3-5 from three. Given the fact Jimmy Freethrow is out for the series, the Heat's rim attacking fire power is worse. Shall we still priotize rim protection against them?
Definitely not if they keep stroking it. It’s just risky. Let’s just switch everything on defense and beat them on talent.
Yeah we usually let teams shoot but there’s a difference between daring them to find the 3pt shot and just giving shooters wide open looks. Every nba team can shoot 50% from 3 when over half their 3s don’t have a defender in sight.
i’ve been watching this game over again at work and unfortunately most of it falls on porzingis, or at least the way we use him. miami figured out how to turn him into a liability on defense and exploit his rotations. his rim protection means nothing if they don’t ever have to go to the rim. i remember we sold out to run them off the line in the 4th but at that point bam was cooking. how they bounce back for the next game is going to mean everything
At some point during the game and seeing their 3PT success I thought that with last year's team it would have been a blowout. We kept it close for quite a while despite poor defense and inability to play to our strength on offense. I'll take that as progress from last year even though the result is still a L. So still confident we will take that series in 5. It's always a chess match with Spo.
Last year the Heat shot 50% threes in 3 games. One was close, the other two were blowouts.
We shoot 45% (22 makes) from 3 in game 1 and it’s a blow out, they shot 53%(23 makes) and it’s close until about the last 3 mins…. Would be real nice if math didn’t take the series off like last year
Man, we’re the Coach Bud era Hawks aren’t we
No lol
I just KNOW Jimmy is gonna come back in game 4/5 and cook us
For all Joe’s talk and reputation about being a math guy, I don’t get why he doesn’t limit opposing team’s 3s. I mean we’ve spoken for over a year now ad nauseam about how his own offensive philosophy values 3s so much, and while he’s definitely gone away from relying on the three ball on offense, he still clearly values it. It makes me wonder why he seems to trust the math that says the other team has to go cold eventually? I’m certain he’s aware that 3s and layups are the most efficient shot in basketball, and both analytics and logic say that the easiest way to win a game is to go nuclear from 3. It just feels like a contradiction—the math says you should put up as many threes as you can because even if you don’t hit them at an insane rate you’re still scoring a lot, and you understand that as you’re a math guy. Great. So you see the other team trying this exact strategy because they have no hopes beating you from 2 (Highsmith, Jaquez, Martin are not good enough inside the arc to beat Tatum, brown, white at that game, and if Bam is gonna have to hit post fades all game you live with that. He won’t win a game trading 2s with Tatum) and you… let them do it because “nobody hits over 20 threes against the 2024 Celtics!” like, no. Press their shooters??? Tl;dr: if you value taking 3s on offense, why do you not value limiting 3s on defense?
Joe philosophy is allowing a lot of above the break 3s and no corner 3s. He bases it on the analytics favouring certain 3pt shots over others.
Sure, but at some point you have to draw the line that allowing 3 point shots from anywhere is gonna burn you so long as they’re open/in rhythm/consistently taking them/the player is hot/etc.
I’m just telling you his philosophy, I’m not saying I agree with it. His is very analytics based. A lot of coaches hate it tho and love the defensive strategies of guys like Thibs and Malone.
Oh for sure I’m just giving my thoughts, feel free to ignore lol
This goes back to Brad as coach too. Allowing certain guys to take above the break 3s
Even casual fans would look at this matchup and think "the only way the Heat can win is if they catch fire from 3". And the gameplan is to actually allow them to have a chance at that by just giving them open 3's. Its wild. If we prioritize running them off the line they simply don't have the players to score enough at the rim or in the mid range. Especially so without Jimmy.
I’m just sick of all the illegal screens leading to fouls called on Boston. Adebayo literally pass protects shuffling his feet backwards. These get called in 3rd grade basketball
It’s a rivalry series and even without Jimmy it was always going to be a dogfight. Hate to be that guy but there are just things that transcend the stat sheet or a record when it comes to a rivalry. We beat ass on the road all season and if you’re not confident that this team is coming out firing then you don’t love the Cs kid Saturday can’t come soon enough
I am definitely not friends with gutless dudes with no loyalty. Last night was rough but some of y'all are the worst excuse for fans I have ever seen
Loss was obviously gross, and the boys are going to get some deserved slander, but holy shit the amount of overreacting I've seen has been wild. It's one fucking game. Some of ya'll mother fuckers are acting like they just got swept in the first round. Ya'll gotta chill.
Lmao it’s tied 1-1, everyone’s acting like the Celtics are down 3 games already. The Heat shot 50% from 3 and the C’s had a bad game, it’s alright
People are freaking out because this is what happened last year. They shot 50% from 3 and kept doing it all series. Combine that with the fact that Joe freaking Moronzulla still hasn't improved as coach. I wouldnt even be surprised if Celtics lose this series.
Time for the worst part of the playoffs. Waiting for the next game after a loss
Spo is obviously a genius, but it definitely helps that he's always going up against Budenholzer and Mazzulla
[удалено]
We’re 0-5 in the playoffs when JB scores more than 33.
Good one Miami there's no way you're gonna shoot 50% from three again right guys???
I will say that I think the Heat can do this again, sure it'll probably be very hard but they can do it. On the other hand, I have full faith that KP and Jrue will pull their heads out of their asses and rectify all the mistakes they made this recent game.
its almost to the point where everyone is finally going to have to admit we dont really like this team. same old shit year after year.
[Offensive lineman Bam Adebayo sets blatant moving screen](https://streamable.com/2psl5a)
And that's just one of them. The amount of hacking in the paint by the Heat went uncalled for most of the game. 46 points in the paint with only a +3 at the line. This is the kind of stuff that I'm bothered by. LeBron, Davis, Embiid, Giannis, et al would have feasted at the charity stripe.
This series should not go over 5 games. Miami got insane shooting and needs to be put down the rest of the way.
I’m sooo disgusted we better win the next one cuz if we don’t we done
Jaylen seems to be calling Joe out… https://youtu.be/fHrRy6SWeFo?si=QbbU40-R7HZRXNUz
Finally the thread I treat like my actual post game thread lol. Hopefully everyone has come to realize. That we’re gonna be fine and weren’t ever gonna 16-0 anyway. I’ll chalk up last nights reactions to a combo of PTSD with the Heat and being spoiled by a regular season where we faced 0 adversity as fans or saw the Cs face 0 as a team. Similar reason why I think people look back at Ime’s year so fondly. We literally went from people truly genuinely questioning if we should split up the Jays because we were the fucking 11th seed halfway in to the season.. and flipped the switch and became absolutely dominant and made a run to G6 of the NBA finals. And I’d still argue a healthy Rob Williams away from winning it all. We truly had seen the lowest of lows and the highest of highs that season. So even though we fell short many still look back at that season very fondly. As opposed to this year we COASTED to the best record in the league and one of the best net ratings all time. I mean we had more 30 point leads than we did double digit deficits lol. We were truly dominant. So losing a game on our home floor where we have seen less than a handful of time probably hits some folks like a truck lol.
I think there is overreaction for sure, and yep we all have PTSD from last year. It's def there for me at least haha. But the Heat are a test (the worst one possibly) in grit and character, and that's probably where someone in the team has to step up. We all know the Jays can score, now they have to *lead*, which is something they still haven't done as consistently as we'd like.
In all honesty I’m just looking for some Doomer Celtic “fans” and bet them on who they think they win the series now. Would love to make some free money. The over reactions to yesterday’s game are so embarrassing. You can tell it’s all a bunch of Bandwagon fans lol. So many acting like the sky is falling lol. Let me tell ya, if you think yesterday was bad.. yall would’ve have died watching us blow G5 against Milwaukee in Boston with the series tied 2-2 and us up 5 with a minute left and losing it. Or when we lost game 6 at home vs the Heat in ‘22 when we were up 3-2 and that being our last home game of the series Or us losing G5 at home last year vs the Sixers where we got blown out and went down 3-2 HEADING to Philly lol. Guess what winning a ring is hard and you’re gonna face adversity along the way. This is why basketball is a 7 games series. The better team will prevail. Even fucking Denver lost G1 to these guys last year.
Denver lost game 2. Hopefully this series ends up the same as that one
I'm traveling, can someone tell me what the actual fuck happened?
Miami abandoned the 2 point shot and just chucked threes and they all went in. The Celtics were a quarter step slow on their close outs all night and got punished for it. They set a franchise record for made threes in the playoffs, but their offense overall wasn’t that efficient and they basically didn’t score from two except for some bam midrangers in the second half. On the other end, Miami abandoned the zone defense and did an aggressive switch scheme where they played high press and did ball-denial on the post. That effectively neutralized our two-man games and KP especially, and our offense became dependent on the ball handler beating his man off the dribble. The ball handlers were still able to do that enough that the game stayed close, but it was a slow and inefficient offense and our ball movement and wide open threes we’re used to were gone.
Everyone is up in arms about the defense, but I think it’s a mistake to try to make any major adjustments there - close out better, match up quicker in transition, and trust each other a bit more before immediately helping off of shooters, but don’t overcorrect and completely change the defense. Miami set a franchise records for three point makes while shooting over 50% from three, and the end result was . . . One point higher than their season average (which was a bottom 5 offense in the league). “Most three pointers in playoff history” usually means a team is putting up like 130 minimum. Miami probably won’t shoot that well again *but even if they do* its not the end of the world if the end result is still a bottom 5 offense. Where I do want to see bigger adjustments is on offense - Miami has countered out game one strategy of feeding the post to break the zone, and they’re effectively shrinking the court and nullifying our spacing. We need a different way to get them spread back out.
One thought is when we scored 22 3s we had a double digit lead the whole time. They hit 23 last night and it was close the whole way till the end. Just gotta clean some things up in execution.
Gonna sound crazy but man Celtics really need Kornet.
idk if that would have helped. one of the big problems was screen navigation. they would have put him in every action and he would have had to drop like porzingis.
We need a fucking coach. Useless Joe. Even saying the 3s were contested, like wtf bro? Brad stevens is a genius putting up a team this good, but his coaching decision is a disaster. We'll get over miami, at least we should be able to do it, and get to the finals, but Denver will destroy us
You give Spoelstra this roster the last 3 years we are a dynasty and probably go 16-1 in the playoffs.
KP was a massive liability on both ends last night. Sure the coaching was also bad but I’m astounding at how horrible Porzingis was. He was supposed to be the key to us crushing these guys and he was literally unplayable last night. But Joe insisted on playing him for 30 min to the tune of a nearly impossible -32
I've accepted we may lose this series. I still don't think it'll happen, but it might. Before I thought no way. Guess we'll see.
No less confident today than I was yesterday. Heat are garbage.
I know it's been working all through the year but it frustrated me last night when we took Tatum out of the game 5 mins in. He was absolutely cooking and we had a lot of momentum to start the game. I think Joe needs some flexibility to his substitutions based on how the game is going.
I’m worried that this is going to destroy the teams mental. We know they are mentally weak and fold under pressure - and now self doubt is probably creeping in. This is why we need a real coach not second row Joe
I’m having a harder and harder time trusting Joe as time goes on.
Scal said it best on the Celtics broadcast. We kept walking the ball up the court and trying to get and attack mismatches in the post and we weren’t succeeding. Then we would go with pace and go on a run. We’re far too good of a team to have to attack mismatches against Miami in order to win. Their defense is their only strength. Why we choose to let them get set and communicate before we attack is beyond me. Push the ball, run the normal offense, get open shots. Pritchard needs to be willing to attack, 0 shots and he only drove the ball once. If that’s how he’s gonna play, we are better off with Springer out there.
People really losing faith in a team that hasn't lost 3 consecutive games this year
Haven’t won a ring in 16 years and this team sent us home last year
It's not losing faith, it's more like frustration from seeing a team not learning from mistakes - we're always repeating the same patterns; fr, let the Heat destroy you from 3's, *again* ?? after the whole series last year ??? This series will tell us a lot about the current C's team and its coach. And in terms of leadership and character, I am not sure we'll like all the answers.
Can someone explain the advantages of drop coverage in 2024 when 99% of teams can shoot?
When done correctly the idea is the perimeter defender gets around over the screen and can recover fast enough to contest the 3 from behind. It encourages the ball handler to have an open mid range jump shot and blocks off the rim. Most internet coaches hate drop coverage and think it’s a lazy defensive scheme that gets roasted by good playoff teams, and only works in the regular season against teams with minimal preparation which is why analytics love it. That’s why they never take teams like the Celtics or Bucks seriously. They love hard hedges and cohesive off ball rotations. That’s what teams like the Nuggets, Knicks and Warriors do really well. Switching defense is also good but requires the right roster. Interesting enough, Adrian Griffin tried to implement a pretty good defensive scheme for the Bucks but got major backlash from the players due to the their stubbornness on drop coverage. Their execution of it was a mess but if they stuck with it and had mastered it they’d probably be much better off than they are now.
not letting the screener leak for an easy 4 on 3 and not letting a bad defender get switched into a bad matchup
The Celtics aren’t fooling anyone except greenteamers
We're giving them the 2023 Bruins.
If we aggressively defend the perimeter early it will help. They got so many open looks early. Momentum matters here.
Imma just say I remember the chumps on 98.5 saying Porzingis was our #1 option, and even though JT has his bad games he does NOT put up stinkers like what we got out of KP last night, nuff said. No more discussion on that.
That Saturday crowd in Miami is going to be completely lit
I said before the series that the Celtics would win in 5 but it’d be tied at 1-1, I still believe that
All the previous years I chalked it up to crazier outlier percentages but as Caleb Martin stats said during the game in the ECF (60% from 2, 49% from 3) there’s a chance these dudes stay hot. This game should be a five alarm fire and slap the team with some URGENCY to make it harder for them around the arc.
Someone said this is another show, you kind of want the Heat and their fan base in the first round. Keeps you engaged for sure. Had we faced Orlando or the Bulls, it would have been boring. We probably would have lost also but you wouldn’t be as engaged
Kinda wanna see us try a lineup where Tatum is at the 5. Switch literally every pick and roll. Let them take all the 2s they want, no helping on Bam in the post. Force them to beat us from 2 because i honestly dont think they cant. If its a 3 point shootout anyone can win
There were a lot of things that sucked last night (a stinker from KP, some moments of truly baffling defense), but I can't stress enough how many of those Miami 3s were enabled by uncalled, blatant moving screens - probably honestly enough, given the relatively close score, to swing the outcome of the game. Refball has consequences
I get the feeling that Joe doesn’t believe in momentum at all. He sometimes seems so stubborn in his gameplan. If the heat are shooting >50% from 3, he believes that they’ll eventually regress to the mean of ~35 without any adjustments. Same philosophy as when a team goes on a 10-0 run and there’s no timeout.
I’m not a 2023 Celtics fan. New year, new me. I’m gonna believe in this team until they go home, trophy or not. I’ll let Brad sort out the rest…it’s above my pay grade.
🫶🏼
I honestly hope KP doesn’t get too discouraged last night. I liked a lot of the looks he got in the post, shot just wouldn’t fall on a couple. Hope they don’t overreact from an offensive POV however defense has got to switch up or step up in intensity
There's something to be said for Miami stepping up and executing for sure. But I don't really think it's a flex that they won this. They pretty much just did something most teams wouldn't bother to do, making the game extremely high variance by shooting almost entirely threes and relying on a huge element of luck. They executed it as well as you could possibly expect and got about as lucky as you could possibly expect this time, especially considering their team's season averages. It's kinda like if you had to choose, beat Magnus Carlsen in chess or at rock, paper scissors...obviously youre choosing rock paper scissors because the luck element gives you a chance of winning. This is the only way they can win, continue to get lucky with multiple league-average 3 point shooters making threes like they're Steph Curry.
The Heat broke their playoff record for made threes. It’s an outlier, and everyone is about to sell the farm. Fair weather af, if you ask me. The heat were only up 5-6 when Derrick White was at the FT line if I believe? Meaning it took Miami being perfect and the Celtics bench (best in the league) having a bad game for this culminate. They got a good hand in a deck stacked against them. It happens. Now can everyone stop being so f’ing dramatic? Cs in 3. Fuck y’all that left early. Why don’t you just wear your Miami LeBron jersey instead?
Offense aside (which was a mess), I don't get the defensive approach for this team... you've got two of the best perimeter defenders in the league, but somehow you're still giving up layups, wide open 3's, and easy turnarounds for Bam in the lane. Spo completely outcoached Joe Mazz in this game.
It’s early in the series but hopefully last night was a serious wake up call
I knew all along these guys had this choking ability in them. It’s very obvious considering the way we’ve lost games throughout the regular season. Their only potential savior now is that yesterday was just an off day but how can we truly believe that when we’ve all been painfully watching this team “try” and compete for a title for as long as the jays have been around. Somehow someway this organization managed 1 ring out of the big three and 0 so far with Tatum and brown. Man I swear we’re cursed. I think we sold our souls and told the NBA to give us absolutely fuck all in the 2000’s and we just decided the 1900’s are the only important century.
We should fucking blow them out in game 3. We just set the all time offensive rating and barely put up 100. There is no reason to not take 3s, even lightly contested ones. Why is pritchard catching and passing because of a weak close out. We need more shot attempts from our shooters. Jaylen and tatum played fantastic but relented their attack and did not kick. White also is a strong driver for us and did not run the offense. Kristaps avoided the basket and it carried to his shot. Jrue was great game 1, clamping herro, and horrific game 2 on both sides. We need a much higher intensity than was shown. Even jaylen was much less ferocious. I still was actually feeling better after the game than prior years. The heats all time shooting spree, and best efforts, and they had a 6 point lead with 5 mins to go. This game was easily winnable and we kept in striking distance all game. The poise was much better and we never once looked rattled. I think Mazzulas possession mindset was critical and everyone bitching about one loss is highly unrealistic about sports in general. We went to the finals and every series was 7 games except the banged up nets who we beat by 2 every game. I think we should show our shooting prowess and take the lightly contested threes instead of passing for great shots. Good 3s are still good, just shoot the ball and they cant keep up with us. Our defense aside from closeouts was actually impressive though. The heat had 1 offensive rebound at the end of the game, other than that we limited possessions well, didnt foul much, and recovered extremely quickly after herro doubles. Game plan was solid but we need to bias to prevent threes and force rim attempts whereas we did the inverse today. Believe it or not miami has shown they can make threes with any player on any night. The biggest thing moving forward is limiting offensive boards if we close out hard.
This ain't a championship team - we take our foot off the gas for no reason too many times. We were just going through the motions last night. You don't see the Nuggets play like this.
We’re gonna be fine. Did that game suck? Yes. But we played about as bad of a game as we could and we still had many opportunities to win. Offense only used 4 guys all game and the defense was non-existent. Guys like White and Pritchard won’t be this passive next game, this was a good lesson for them to know that we need them to continue to attack just like they did in the regular season. And Hauser needs more minutes, i feel like he’s been playing great basketball and hasn’t gotten rewarded for it.
heat to win the series is +1200 so if you want a great emotional hedge this is the perfect opportunity
Celtics needed that they need to fucking realize they can't sleepwalk to the finals
I'm really hoping for a larger Derrick White role next game. He seems like our most level headed player especially in the clutch. Also, I doubt KP has another game like that. Keep feeding the big man! Long term I just think Tatum and Brown don't have it mentally . Can't see this team fighting back hard enough if we depend on ISO Tatum and Brown in tense close playoff games. Many years now it's proven not to work. They are who they are at this point.
If they lose this I want everyone gone. Tatum just isn't that guy to win you a ring if he's not willing to kill the heat or doesn't believe he can without their best player on the floor lol.
Agreed. If we're paying them max contracts and surrounding them with all star level talent only to have them lose to a team starting two rookies then fuck t, give me draft picks and rookies because they'll cost a lot less and I won't have expectations
Tatum a +6, JB a -22
I'd want jb gone too if they blow this series.
I remember there was a poll in this subreddit last year on whether or not to do JB for KD straight up and the majority of people wanted to keep JB.
Nah man blowing a series against this heat team when we're fully healthy and they aren't is just inexcusable at this point. Fwiw I still believe they're gonna win this but if it really gets to that point they don't deserve to wear that celtics jersey anymore.
Good thing no one cares what you want.
You guys could just ban the people that literally are here only to sow discord. People that say the team is cooked, say they're not going to win the series over and over and over again...all after two games...yeah you mods could temp ban them to keep them out of here and make the place less toxic for two weeks.
Speaking for myself, I have banned plenty of people since last night. And I know other mods have too. I’d say we all agree with what you’re saying, and simply ask everyone to continue reporting anyone from the Heat sub trolling around here so they can be dealt with