Not good enough? Not ready? Not deep enough?

All of the above!!!!.

An amazing Celtics story ended last night as our Celtics lost to the better team.

Plain and simple. No whining.

I doubt that anyone who watched this team from the beginning of the season ever would have though that the 2021-2022 Boston Celtics would
have ever even been in the playoffs never mind going 6 games in the finals.

I saw such dramatic turn around that the season has to be considered a GIANT success. Now, on to a better season next year from the last guy on
the bench to the GM.

Go Celtics!

Excellent post.

I'm on a personal campaign against whining. Too much of it from us Celtic fans IMO.

Constructive, real, rational and grateful; You said it all and said it well.

I agree, excellent post.

All throughout the playoffs, I kept reading the narrative that "we were the better team", but I could not understand that statement at all. I thought that was the reason we played each series, to see which team was better.

Clearly the Dubs were the better team this at this moment in time. The fact that our much younger team put up such resistance to a much more experienced and seasoned squad gives me so much excitement for next season.

Go Celtics!!!

I totally agree, just not ready to win. Just not ready to hold a lead all game long, just not ready to put their foot on the gas and not take it off. So many issues that were disguised by the run they made from mid January on. So, fans that understand this will move on, wait to see what moves they make in the offseason and look forward to training camp.

Tatum needs a break, there is no doubt in my mind of that. Ever since USA basketball he has been playing. 125 plus games. He may be young, but everyone gets tired at some point. No excuses, just a fact.

I don't know what I will do with my evenings until the next seasson starts. I do know, they gave me alot to be happy about at times this season. Go Celtics. Onward to next season

I

Well, agree and disagree.

Not ready: yes. We did not understand the focus and intensity demanded by some moments.

Not deep enough: OK. But I also lay some blame on Ime. Just look at where all Steve Kerr went searching for the formula. Ancient Aguadala and Bejilaca. Ime was just too fixed. In this situation where marginal would have helped, we got burned out. Yes, if TimeLord was fully healthy, we would have been deep enough. Oh well!

Not good enough: No. We were good enough. Got out-willed by a more versatile roster. Kerr started Otto Porter for 3 games. We got burned out the last two games just over working a few horses.

All that is in the rear view mirror. On to the next season. A lot to be learnt looking back. There are avenues to improve the team. I will focus on that.

prakash wrote:Well, agree and disagree.

Not ready: yes.  We did not understand the focus and intensity demanded by some moments.

Not deep enough: OK.  But I also lay some blame on Ime.  Just look at where all Steve Kerr went searching for the formula.  Ancient Aguadala and Bejilaca.  Ime was just too fixed.  In this situation where marginal would have helped, we got burned out.  Yes, if TimeLord was fully healthy, we would have been deep enough.  Oh well!

Not good enough:  No.  We were good enough.  Got out-willed by a more versatile roster.  Kerr started Otto Porter for 3 games.  We got burned out the last two games just over working a few horses.

All that is in the rear view mirror.  On to the next season.  A lot to be learnt looking back.  There are avenues to improve the team.  I will focus on that.

Not fair. Kerr’s resources were far superior to what Ime had to pull from.
GS bottom feeders - Anderson, Moody, Damian Lee, Kuminga, Bjelica

Boston Bottom feeders- Fitts, Sam Hauser, Kornet, Matt Ryan, Broderick Thomas, Stauskas, Nesmith

And how are we supposed to know if one of those guys, just one, maybe, could have helped if given the opportunity.

Ktron wrote:
Not fair. Kerr’s resources were far superior to what Ime had to pull from.
GS bottom feeders - Anderson, Moody, Damian Lee, Kuminga, Bjelica

Boston Bottom feeders- Fitts, Sam Hauser, Kornet, Matt Ryan, Broderick Thomas, Stauskas, Nesmith

Ktron,

You forgot Theis.

Here is how the series unfolded:

1)  Celts decided to play drop coverage in Curry.  Let him get his but save the bigs and not burn them out chasing the Warriors around.  Also, rebounding would be shored up.  Served us well for 4 games.  We lost game 4, darn!  What a time to lose your shooting touch.
2)  Game 4, Kerr started Porter and switched the lineups.  Smaller but capable of playing 4 out.  We stayed big.  We had to scramble more but we were in the game in game 4. Also, that game the Warriors decided to drop back and take away the drives, challenging the Celts to make outside shots.
3)  Game 5, we switched coverage playing up on Curry.  We contained him but others stepped up.  Always knew that it could happen.  The problem was, the shooting slump continued.  Ime totally tightened the rotation.  The Celts burned out.
4)  Game 6, we were scrambling.  They played with belief.  Keep everything aside, Draymond was the difference maker.  He hit 2 3s, pushed the ball and helped run the Celts into ground.

I don't know if things would have worked but could Ime have started GWill when Porter started?

When PP was being useless, could Nesmith have been given a few minutes?  I mean, Kerr switched Draymond out as needed to win Game 4.

Any way, water under the bridge and coach knows the best.  The Celts were not ready for the moment and I appreciate Ime for taking them where they went.  Healing today and will start thinking about how they can get better from tomorrow.  2022-23 is the next year.

Two guys that were out of the rotation were Nesmith and Theis.

Nesmith could not make a shot but he may have helped on defense when one of theJays went to the bench.

Theis was not playable in the GS series because he could not defend out to the perimeter and he got pushed around under the basket.

The roster fillers never had time to learn the defense.  I doubt any of them could make a difference.

As long as Rob was playing DT was not  going to get much unless he was given Grant's minutes.  

IME had a toolbox filled with useless tools.

prakash wrote:

Ktron wrote:
Not fair. Kerr’s resources were far superior to what Ime had to pull from.
GS bottom feeders - Anderson, Moody, Damian Lee, Kuminga, Bjelica

Boston Bottom feeders- Fitts, Sam Hauser, Kornet, Matt Ryan, Broderick Thomas, Stauskas, Nesmith

Ktron,

You forgot Theis.

Here is how the series unfolded:

1)  Celts decided to play drop coverage in Curry.  Let him get his but save the bigs and not burn them out chasing the Warriors around.  Also, rebounding would be shored up.  Served us well for 4 games.  We lost game 4, darn!  What a time to lose your shooting touch.
2)  Game 4, Kerr started Porter and switched the lineups.  Smaller but capable of playing 4 out.  We stayed big.  We had to scramble more but we were in the game in game 4.  Also, that game the Warriors decided to drop back and take away the drives, challenging the Celts to make outside shots.
3)  Game 5, we switched coverage playing up on Curry.  We contained him but others stepped up.  Always knew that it could happen.  The problem was, the shooting slump continued.  Ime totally tightened the rotation.  The Celts burned out.
4)  Game 6, we were scrambling.  They played with belief.  Keep everything aside, Draymond was the difference maker.  He hit 2 3s, pushed the ball and helped run the Celts into ground.

I don't know if things would have worked but could Ime have started GWill when Porter started?

When PP was being useless, could Nesmith have been given a few minutes?  I mean, Kerr switched Draymond out as needed to win Game 4.

Any way, water under the bridge and coach knows the best.  The Celts were not ready for the moment and I appreciate Ime for taking them where they went.  Healing today and will start thinking about how they can get better from tomorrow.  2022-23 is the next year.

Didn’t forget Theis. Those are the bottom feeders in which each coach had to choose from. (He wasn’t going to play Theis for good reason) Kerr had people that he played during the regular season on that list that he didn’t use at all in our series. Their bench was definitely deeper and better than ours.
Nesmith was way too much of a gamble. He probably could guard well for 20 secs and then foul at :23. We needed points. Shots to go in. Our D kept held them pretty well throughout the series. Our offense sputtered. ( I thought about IT but I won’t start lol) It would’ve been worse. He wasn’t good enough to play in any of the series prior why would we turn to him in a finals close out.
I do see some of your points. Our well just wasn’t deep enough.

We don’t. Seen them play though and in my opinion they’re better players. What we had at our disposal wasn’t going to help us.

I agree GS has a much better bench than us and the stats and results prove it. Theis was huge when RWill wasn’t ready for the start of the playoffs, I like Theis and thought he could have helped in his role if given a shot. He couldn’t have been worse than GWill. Nesmith also could have helped us as we didn’t have a legit wing since the White trade, while White helped sometimes in the backcourt; J’s had to play more and more minutes until they burned out, especially Tatum more than Brown. Even with Nesmith not being able to hit a shot, he still could defend and hustle. Giving him a couple 4-5 minute stretches could have made J’s fresher, as Brown was terrible in game 5 and Tatum useless in game 6.

It was a thrilling series for us, until last 5 minutes of game 4 about to go up 3-1. If only we could have pulled that off, but wasn’t meant to be as nothing is given to you in this sport, you have to earn it, take it. Losing game 4 led to 3 straight losses, where they got stronger and we got weaker, faded and couldn’t come up with an effective strategy. Game 5 and 6 got really ugly as we kept turning it over and over. They made adjustments, we couldn’t respond for many reasons.