PLAYOFFS 2023 - EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS GAME #4 - POST GAME MIAMI HEAT - AWAY

Celtics Wrap: Boston Explodes In Second Half To Keep Season Alive
Boston turned it over twice in the second half


NESN by Keagan Stiefel

The Boston Celtics kept their season on life support Tuesday night, earning a 116-99 victory over the Miami Heat at Kaseya Center.

The C’s victory cut the Heat’s lead in the Eastern Conference finals to 3-1.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
The Celtics were awoken from their week-long slumber at approximately 9:43 p.m. ET on Tuesday night.

The first 24 minutes of Game 4 followed a similar script to that of the first 144 of the series. Boston didn’t make open shots, failed to successfully penetrate zone defense and did everything but keep Miami shooters out of rhythm. Then, right after halftime, the Celtics seemed to flip the script.

The C’s held onto the ball for the majority of the final two quarters, moved the ball with effectiveness and got the Heat out of their defensive rotations, forced turnovers and — in the most important development of the game — made shots. Though things were slowed considerably by a quick whistle for both sides, the Celtics surprisingly didn’t allow their momentum to be halted. Boston survived its non-Jayson Tatum minutes to start the final stanza and finally pulled away when the All-NBA star came back in to finish things off.

Boston outscored Miami by 23 points in the second half, only turning the ball over two times across the final two stanzas.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Tatum’s second half emergence was exactly what Boston needed to keep its season alive. The four-time All-Star finished with 34 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, two blocks and one steal.

— Grant Williams, for all of the flak he received following Game 2, was Boston’s best role player in Game 4. He finished with 14 points on 4-for-6 shooting from three-point range, six rebounds, one block and one steal.

— Derrick White finally bounced back from his playoff-long slump, finishing with 16 points, two rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals.

WAGER WATCH
There was an opportunity to make some quick money in this one, as Al Horford opened up the scoring with a three ball. The 36-year-old was given +1800 odds to score the first field goal at BetMGM, netting $100 bettors a quick and easy $1,900 payout.

UP NEXT
The Celtics and Heat will return to Boston for Game 5 on Thursday. Tipoff from TD Garden is set for 8:30 p.m. ET.

112288

Wouldn’t at all be surprised to see Kevin Millar courtside Thursday night. Make it happen Wyc!!!

Phew!!!  Two really good things happened.

1)  The Celtics finally played as if they almost knew what they were doing.  Where were the advantages.  What do they need to look for.

2)  Jaylen Brown decided to lay off a little at the offensive end and contribute in other ways.  And that he did.

I have two fervent wishes for the next game.  That JB continues to play at an even keel.  That Brogdon finds a way to get going.

Can the Celts play the right way and let their talent superiority win out?  Will need a lot of balance and focus.  They can't start feeling relieved.

"The report of my death was an exaggeration."
- Mark Twain AND THE BOSTON CELTICS

Do you still keep hearing that small still voice crying out in the wilderness?  I'm not going away.  Ktron's the only one that gets a pass so far as he at least acknowledged back a ways my crazy rants about this and what would be coming!  Worcester, prakash you're on the right path.  I'll be back Thursday night around 11:30pm for more screaming.  The voice won't be as small or still.  There's still time to become a believer in what finally is going to happen ala @UVA#1SeedLosingTo#16Seed.  

That 3-legged stool for MIA looked EXACTLY how I said it would when the pendulum would finally swing back and that MIA is really who they were and are the whole season...really only two legged with the third leg completely unattached.  Very, very unstable now that it's almost down to two legs.  Kicking that leg out will be finished Thursday night when it is officially completely kicked out.  Try having a seat on that, Eric!

The great news is, as many of us have pointed out, we are still EXACTLY as we have looked all season.  Our stripes have not changed.  To that I say GREAT!!!!  MIA is the one team left playing with different stripes.  Again, they are an 8th seed (at best) team for a reason.  And unfortunately for them and their douche nozzle of a coach, they could have had things unravel for them in the Finals had they won last night.  DOH!!  They will not be showing up there now.      

Oh, and BTW, who didn't call a timeout last night in the 3rd until it was too late after a 16-0 run against?  Yeah,  it was our not fit for primetime, probably going to be and should be fired 1st year coach whipping boy Joe Mazulla!!!!...oh wait, I'm sorry.  It was that overly cocky, completely full of himself, HIGHLY OVERRATED dipshit jackass of a coach that the world (including many here) have been fawning over as the better coach in this series by far.  Shame on you!!  He is about to have the most humbling tag you can every have placed upon you here in the NBA.  He will be the first and more than likely only coach to have blown a 3-0 series lead.  It will not happen to a more deserving smug pompous ass.  Throw Pat Riley in there as well.  That will be for those two series in the 80's we should have won.  I hope you can tell I'm not much of a Heat fan.  And yes, fatass Lowry did wind up and should have been ejected.  But guess what?  He can't shoot.  He's pathetic.  

Anybody with me yet?  Of course not.  I know.  He's going off again.  Let him run around.  He'll wear himself out.  He's crazy.  It's only one game.  Let's get back to bashing our soon to be fired head coach and get ready to bust up this team and take Brad with him threads.  We're never going to win this series...or will we?  

Anyone see Butler's eyes in his postgame?  Please read those Joe Navarro books.  Oh yeah, he's in trouble.  He knew they had only one chance to put us away last night or there would be Hell to pay.  And he's most if not all of that 3rd leg.  He doesn't believe what is about to happen to him and the Heat.  But he knows it's coming and there is nothing he can do about it.  He saw the future flash in front of his crazy Playoff Jimmy face.  And their coach was at a complete loss of words.  He knew it too.  Watching that idiot come apart at the seams might be the best show ever.  Get your popcorn and grab a front row seat.  He is finally going to make a complete ass of himself for all the world to see.        

Someone please start the hashtag @embracethedramagoceltics or something similar.  I don't know even know what that means or what that entails!  But it will go viral and you can take all the credit.

That's all I'm sayin' for now.

db

For me the most important factor in winning this game was the defensive intensity with which we played, something I haven't seen since this series started. We also hit our shots, but many of them were a result of our defensive play and rebounding. Nobody has won 4 in a row after being down 0-3 in the playoffs, but if we keep this up?

Oh, and db, can you be a bit more explicit about your feelings toward the Heat?

Berlin-T

Bravo, db. Bravo.

Berlin-T, you ain't seen nothin' yet!!

db

Jimmy was tired by the time Grant stuffed him his legs were not entirely gone but not strong enough to get Grant to bite on the fake or to elevate on his shot. A tired fourth quarter Jimmy is a very good sign for the Celts going forward. The Celtics played a lot more fast break basketball than I’ve seen in a long while and it definitely took the starch out of the Heat.

BingBang!,

Good point.  It's hard to set up in their zone (that one last piece that seems to baffle us) when we're running the ball down their throat and forcing TO's the whole time.  That's what exasperates them.   

db

P.S.  Shannon Sharpe with Skip Bayless made a passing comment.  All this analysis and no one has said anything about Joe Mazulla!!!  Then their was a Red Auerbach reference.  Let that sink in for a moment. Hadn't thought about that. Wish I had.    

P.S.S. Ktron, what's your read on Shannon Sharpe as an analyst?  My first impression hearing him speak for the show overall was REALLY good, but I will take what you say as the gospel truth.

P.S.S.S. More weird stuff coming out of the Ja Morant camp. Anyone see the cryptic quotes that were pulled? I know everyone deservedly shot through my path comparisons with Len Bias, but the possible tragic finality just took another huge step forward and there is no more argument there. Someone not named Ja Morant and not in his posse needs to intervene, get him out of sight and healed in a hurry.

Hi,
If the Celtics played the previous 3 games like they did last night the score would 3-1 in our favor.
Our defense was still not 100% but it was miles ahead of what we saw in games 1-3.
The zone defense is still a problem but they started to find holes and explore them. I wonder if Brad contributed some knowledge or Joe had epiphany or used Google.
Well, at least one more game to fight...

AK

The defensive intensity was the key last night and will continue to be the key. If we can play with that intensity for 48 minutes in game 5, let the chips fall where they may.

Brogdon has been non existent the last two games. He's just too good a player to let this happen again. We need him and his usual consistent production.

Gotta take one game at a time. Focus on this next one, you can't win three games in one night.

First of all let me congratulate DBrown for inventing a new form of energy.  Now all we need is to figure out how to harness and apply the power of the venting of his dislike of the Miami Heat and Let The Celtic Green Revolution Begin!

This wasn't a brutal "fist fight in a phone booth" ("what are those?!" say the Millenials), this was a solid blow out.  There's advantages to both.  Winning a one or two possession game is character building and it shows that we don't always implode in the 4th.  The advantage of blow outs, aside from being easier on my psyche and liver, is that it demonstrates dominance.  We're the #1 seed left in the playoffs,not Miami; we had the #1 MoV during the season, not Miami, and this blow out reminds them that we earned those positions over a long season.  Miami had a 9 point lead with 9:37 left in the 3rd.  From that point on we went on a 64-38 run over the remaining 21:23.





The only blemish on Tatum's game was his 5 turnovers.  He had 3 of them in the 1st quarter, added another in the 2nd for 4 of his 5 in the first half.  Once he stopped, or almost stopped by having only 1 turnover in the entire 2nd half, he started to look more like himself.  33/11/7 and 2 blocks.  4-9 from 3 and that's what we need.  We need him hitting his 3s but taking < 50% of his shots from there.  14-22, 4-9 from 3 means 10-13 from 2.  Gimme that all day because when you are unstoppable when doing something it forces the opposing coach and players to change for you and not the other way around.  An example of this is DeMar DeRozan.  We all know he's perhaps the deadliest mid-range shooter in a league that is 3-happy, but when he's on he will absolutely croak you with his efficiency, making up for whatever points he doesn't get because they're 2s.  That was Jayson Tatum last night, and we need more.

This was Tatum's 6th playoff 30 point double-double.  That ties him with Larry Legend, who did it twice in 1984 and 1987.




Much was made about Jaylen Brown's loss of confidence on the Game On! thread last night.  Some of that was that he was only 3-6, 7 points, at halftime.  True, but he also had 4 assists and zero turnovers at the half.  He adapted.  For whatever reason he wasn't getting the shots he wanted so he helped the team in other ways and that's what stars do.  In the end he had 17 on 7-16, 17 points, so a 4-10 2nd half but a couple of real Miami momentum-breaking steals for points.  At 5:10 left and we're up 14 Jaylen steals the ball off a Butler pass and makes a hockey assist pass to Smart who then dropped it off for a Time Lord dunk.  That's how it's done.  Team ball.  Someone makes a good defensive play, and everybody else runs.


Say one thing for the Miami Heat, their transition defense is quite good and disciplined.  When they get some penetration on offense and the shot goes up they get ready to fall back on defense.  It was rare to see only one Heat player back on defense, usually there was at least two.  We still managed to out fast break them, 18-10, but some of those were off of steals.  I've been on the Celtics all series because we've been sloppy with the ball and Miami has been aggressive.  Last night we had 8 steals vs 5 for them.  Steals like the one I mentioned above with Jaylen are great examples of the goodness that come from steals.  They are live balls and, because the defense usually has one eye on the ball, when the ball exchanges hands they know it before the offense does.  We need more of that too.

Jimmy Butler made 6-14 shots in the 2nd half, 42.9%, for 20 points.  The rest of the Heat team was 8-26, 30.8%, for 23 points.  That's a combined 14-40, 35%, shooting by the Heat in the 2nd half.  They were 3-16 from 3 in the 2nd half too.

10 turnovers for us vs 16 for them.  They gave up 27 points off of their turnovers while we only gave up 18 on ours.  I wish they provided how many points were given up for steals, but they only track turnovers, but my eye test almost guarantees the % of steals that convert into points is higher than turnovers and that's why they are so important.  

8 blocks to 2.  Tatum 2, Horford 1, White with 2, Grant with 1 and RWill with 2.  Both of Derrick's blocks came in the 2nd half.  In the 3rd 6'4" Derrick White blocked 6'8" Kevin Love and in the 4th he blocked 6'7" Duncan Robinson's 3pt shot.  Pick on people your own size, you bully!  Bam with 0.

Derrick with a solid 16 points and defense, something we haven't seen this series until now.

At :07 you see Derrick posting up Max Strus.  At :28 Derrick crashes and gets the +1 on an O-board.  At 2:30 he blocks Duncan Robinson's wide-open 3 from behind.




I don't think anybody has been tougher on Joe than me (or maybe I'm just more vocal about it) but he coached well last night.  I think he's learning.  The question is has he learned enough and do we still have a chance to take advantage of that flattened out learning curve.  The answer to the first part is "we have to wait until game 5 to see if it was a fluke".  The answer to the second part is "Hell Freaking YES!".  Just as we needed to win 4 last year in the Championship round vs GSW so too does Miami have to win 4 to get past us and they ain't there yet (if ever).  As Yogi Berra said "it ain't over 'til it's over".  Well, if it was over there wouldn't be another game scheduled for Thursday, would there?

More on Joe, because I really am trying to be fair to him.  We all know one of his weaknesses is timeouts, he has admitted he needs to be better at those himself.  Last night, in the 38-23 3rd quarter, Joe called time out at 8:27 and the score 61-58 Miami.  We went down from 6 at the half to 9, and that would have been a good time to call one, but he waited to see if we went further into the hole (NOT a safe or cautious approach) but he held off to see if we went on a run of our own and we did.  When we got it from 9 down to 3 he took a timeout so he could run an ATO and that's what he should have done at that point.  So, kudos to Joe.  After the timeout Derrick hit a 27 foot 3, but hit-or-miss Joe did his job and set the players up for a good shot.  Also, let's remember, the Official Scorer will call a time out and charge it to the home team if neither team calls a timeout with 6:59 left.  By calling this timeout when we were on a run forced Spo to make the tough decision because the Official Scorer was now officially off the hook.  Spo called his first timeout at 6:50 and the Heat was down 68-61 at that point because Smart hit a 3.  That's a 10-0 run after Joe's timeout.  Learn from that, Joe, learn from your success.  That was Joe's only timeout in the 3rd, but we scored 38 points and played energetic defense.  In the 4th Joe called a timeout with 9:41 left and the score 88-81.  We started the 4th with a 9 point lead, it was down to half of that, Joe called a timeout.  Once again, kudos to Joe for a timely timeout.  After the timeout we went on a 4-0 mini-run and Spo called his timeout at 9:04, just :40 later, because his deficit ballooned back up to 9.  Another Celtic 5-0 mini-run and Spo had to use a 2nd timeout at 7:52 and our lead up to 14.  My takeaway from this is that Joe did a good job of calling strategic timeouts.  One of Joe's timeouts came when Jaylen was trapped with the ball along the opposite sideline and was in trouble, so Joe called a timeout from the bench and got to hit the reset button with an inbounds.  Quick thinking, Joe, that's playoff coaching.  EVERY possession matters.


Bobby Manning @RealBobManning
yesterday
Brown called it a "good decision" for Mazzulla to call timeout when he got trapped in the corner. Said it got the #Celtics composed.


In this highlight film you see, at the 1:05 point, where Joe called a timeout because Jaylen was in trouble.  This was Celtic basketball like it is supposed to be played.  You also get to see Jaylen's b2b steals at the 1:35 - 1:58 marks.




40% from 3 vs 26% doesn't hurt either.

Some quick whistles on Al hurt him, he picked up 2 in the 1st.  When he was on the floor in the rest of the game he played Bam about as well as you can.  Bam with 10 points on 4-7, zero blocks and 4 turnovers without any assists.  Al had 12 points on 4-7, 3-6 from 3, 4 assists and zero turnovers and more rebounds than Bam in 10 fewer minutes.

Once again, an example of Joe's willingness and ability to learn from mistakes, is his playing Grant for 29 minutes, reversing his decision to bench him and Grant repaid Joe with a solid performance on both ends.  14 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and zero turnovers.  2 of his rebounds were my beloved offensive boards.  If you like 1980s smash-mouth basketball (I'm talking to you, Cowens) then Grant's power offensive rebound while surrounded by 3 Heat players has to make your heart glow.




Souichi Terada @SouichiTerada
yesterday
Jaylen Brown said locker rooms can fracture down 3-0: "We wanted to make sure that we stayed together. We wanted to make sure we looked each other in the eye and came in today and put our best foot forward."


Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Jaylen Brown: "We want to come back to Miami. If that happens, I feel like we’ll feel good about ourselves. The next one should be fun."


Souichi Terada @SouichiTerada
yesterday
Jayson Tatum: "We just had to regroup. That's what we did. We could've went either way - we could've separated or brought us together."


Souichi Terada @SouichiTerada
yesterday
Jayson Tatum: "The start of the 3rd quarter could've went the other way ... But we just had to settle down a little bit. We saw a couple go in and we started to play free."


Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
8 hours ago
The Celtics now being 6-1 in their last 7 games facing elimination is impressive enough, they've won four straight elimination games on the road over the last 12 months. They won three (3-11) total in the previous 39 years.


Once again, we need Da Gahden to be rockin' on Thursday.  Being down 3-2 starts to put the pressure back on Miami because they've already lost at home and they damn well better win in Game 6 because they do not want to play Game 7 in Boston.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401547674



.

I'll continue to not over-analyze... yet.

One game at a time.

Kudo's to BobH for including Christopher Walken's Lion Speech from Poolhall Junkies in his post above, however.

Be the lion. Always the right philosophy IMHO.

(That and most anything with Christopher Walken is worth a watch.)

The Celtics earned a stay of execution and in the process, regained some measure of self-respect.

I still found this game to be frustrating to watch. How about just rolling out the red carpet for Jimma to get to the rim?

Can one of the Celtics coaches tell his players to just stop jumping in the air when said Jimma rolls his eyes , lol.

The Celtics are still struggling against the zones especially the 3-2 zone that Miami employed. I saw one perfect execution on offense when Tatum came back in the game and immediately went to the middle of the paint for a pass and easy midrange jumper.

The Heat were damn near playing that 3-2 zone out to half court and the middle was opened as wide as the Grand Canyon.

Game 5 is elevated to a level not seen for 4 decades for the Celtics. If the Celtics can actually win a game at home, they will be back in this series.

dboss,

I understand the hard to watch part. It's not passing the sniff, smell or eye test. Everything is backwards.
That is brought about by both Boston and MIA. MIA is a a pesky, severely undermanned, overperforming team (which you heard the announcers last night freak out when Vincent? sprained his ankle which you would have thought the world came to an end. Hence my ongoing very wobbly 3-legged chair analogy.)

We are a team that comes in and out of itself. We are far superior. We should be playing better consistently, but we don't. And for us, again, we should have swept this team already if we had the mental toughness. On paper, this is a no contest.

Yeah, G5 is a big one. Biggest one I can remember.

db

DBrown,

FYI, the current line for the Celtics winning this series is now +208. Bet $100 and get $208 if they win.


Bob


.

Cool.  Too rich for my blood!!  Yeah, Vegas trying to cover itself.  Clearly, they think we're the team that's going to do it. That's quite a drop for one game from +750 to +208 one game later.  

db

Post Game Prosperity:




Who were those guys wearing green and white last night?

Last night, with escalating confidence, the Celtics played like we expect them..to. Strike that.
We really don’t know what to expect but I’ll take this version.
I’ve seen this movie before, not nearly enough but last night was well worth the time. I’ll take it.

Bosstown 116 Yo-Ami 99!!!

-The yo-ami Heat finally came down to earth.
In the 2nd half the undrafted within “Heat culture” played like they were undrafted.

-Jimmy Butler played like he was 33 and still put up a quiet 29.
I hope like hell that this is the Jimmy Butler we’ll see from now on-
Pooped and worn out.

-Yesterday? Winning game 4? Pfft.
I thought we had a better chance of getting struck by lightning twice, in the same place.

However, late yesterday evening my internal optimism slowly began to kick back in.

Our beloveds turned up the D in the second half and took the Heat apart.

-Did Joe out coach Spo? Don’t know but I’m gonna say so (rap lyrics)

Yes he did even if he really didn’t.

Joe deserves to catch a break here. So imma gonna say yeah!
He did that s**t!!

Way to go Joe and kudos for paroling Grant from your Punitive Play Penitentiary where you had him hooked, hogtied and collared for dayyys.

Admit it Joe, You put him on punishment and now he’s punishing the Heat.
It worked! Own it!

-How bout that Grant block on Jimmy’s baseline attempt? Blocked, brief stare, but this time? Grant said nothing. There ya go.  

-Back to Joe. The suddenly humble 34 yr old coach used his time outs wisely and made a number of quick in-game adjustments.
Hey Joe, WTH got into you?

Okay thats enough with the accolades. Win game 5 Joseph and they’ll be more coming your way.

Box Score Bigs:

Jacking Jason Tatum- 33pts- 11 boards 14/22 4/9 from 3

Grant Williams- He continues to show and prove 4/7 + 4-6 from 3. 14 pts

Boxer Shorts:

Jaylen Brown still struggling- 37 min / 17 pts.

Malcolm Brogdan & Duncan Robinson- 2 a piece both 1-5




J, Malcolm, Duncan






Quotable/ Notable:

Scal: “They gotta win game 5” How? I don know but they gotta win game 5.”
(No sh** Shakespeare)

Kevin Millar cleverly disguised as Marcus Smart - “Don’t let us get one”

Jimmy Butler appearing unconcerned approached the podium singing Alicia Keys’ (No One) “Alright, everything’s gone be alright”.  He later said

“We gonna go listen to some music, drink a beer, some wine”…

Beer and wine? He;s gonna mix the grape with the grain? Good! Drink as much as you want so you can be good and sick come Thursday evening.






Post Game Pettiness:

-Only down side to this win is that we have to watch Kyle Lowry play another game.


-The league fined Jimmy Butler, $25K for failing to participate in required media availability after game 3.

Last night on his way out he asked the writers to start a petition for him so that the NBA rescinds the fine.

You can’t be serious…

-I have been watching and listening to 2 different sides of Kendrick Perkins.
There’s The ESPN Perk who tries to create a buzz with outrageous comments that even he doesn’t believe. Clownish. A Sideshow.

Then there’s The NBC Boston Perk who is more objective. Funny but not outrageous. Tempered and honest. Legitimate analyst.

Cliche’ of the day: “Backs against the wall”

-“We’re best with our backs against the wall”-Malcolm Brogdan

-“When your backs against the wall you have to rely on each other”-Al Horford

-“you see teams with their back against the wall and you see they just collapse.”
-Jaylen Brown

-“We gotta play like our backs are against the wall” - Jimmy Butler


WIN GAME 5 AND STAY ALIVE!!!

It really is interesting listening to all the TV talk today. All are very willing to believe MIA could have won 3 games in a row. But it is impossible for the Celtic to win 4 in a row. They are willing to believe a team playing completely out of their brains vs. their whole season would win 3 games, but can't seem wrap their heads around our team, with superior talent, us winning the next 4 games that all season has been inconsistent. How inconsistent is losing 3 games and then winning 4 games? For this team, that's not a stretch at all. Matter of fact we should be expecting that. It is highly consistently inconsistent. Just like we have been barking here all year long about this team.

I know they are banking on history. And that's a safe bet. 0-150 is hard to argue with. But some team will finally break that and this team is the best one to come along and do it.

db

dbrown4 wrote:BingBang!,

Good point.  It's hard to set up in their zone (that one last piece that seems to baffle us) when we're running the ball down their throat and forcing TO's the whole time.  That's what exasperates them.   

db

P.S.  Shannon Sharpe with Skip Bayless made a passing comment.  All this analysis and no one has said anything about Joe Mazulla!!!  Then their was a Red Auerbach reference.  Let that sink in for a moment.  Hadn't thought about that.  Wish I had.     

P.S.S. Ktron, what's your read on Shannon Sharpe as an analyst?  My first impression hearing him speak for the show overall was REALLY good, but I will take what you say as the gospel truth.

P.S.S.S.  More weird stuff coming out of the Ja Morant camp.  Anyone see the cryptic quotes that were pulled?  I know everyone deservedly shot through my path comparisons with Len Bias, but the possible tragic finality just took another huge step forward and there is no more argument there.  Someone not named Ja Morant and not in his posse needs to intervene, get him out of sight and healed in a hurry.    

Db, I love your hate for the Heat. I feel the same about the Lakers and don’t much care those Heat fkers either.
I’ve always hated fake mob boss Riley and will someone tell me what Alonzo Mourning does for the Heat besides sit beside Riley with a perpetual game face attached to his melon. And what does Bob Mc a Do?. He sits behind Riley when allowed but whats his deal?
Spolastra doesn't bother me that much but that smug look on his face that you keep referring to annoys the hell out of me too.
Finally, They made such a big deal out of Haslem being a member of the Heat for 20 years. FOH. When’s the last time he played any significant minutes?
He may have been employed but he retired as a player a decade ago. He too sits there with a Perpetual puss on his.
Ain’t no one scared of you!
Okay thats enough.

Shannon Sharp is a smart guy but ESPN and that ridiculous fake debate set up really doesn't do him any favors.
Skip runs that s**t and whenever he wants to shut Shannon down he can and does at times.
I don’t know if you’re familiar with Bomani Jones. Bomani is brilliant and knows how to use all levels of media platforms.
Bomani is wicked smart. Skip had him on one morning and Bomani tore Skips ass up. Made him look very stupid and fake.
Bomani says now that he’s never been invited back on the show and he knows why.

Shannon is being payed and played like most of the athletes that work over there at the Mothership.
I really don’t care for those fake debate shows so i rarely if ever watch.
Ive watch Shannon’s podcast which aint bad. He’s OK but I am not really a fan.
His brush up in Memphis with the Grizzlies indicates to me that he doesn't have much class.
It was unprofessional. Why is he arguing with a player on another pro sports team and almost coming to blows?
Because someone said something about his buddy LeBron? That whole scene turned me off.

Which player among all those participating in all 2023 NBA playoff games (20 3 pt attempts minimum) has the highest made 3 point %?

Grant Williams at 53%.
Who has the highest made 2 point%? Probably Rob Williams at .789%.  Play them both. Give them minutes.

I love ya, Ktron! You have no idea of my hate for the Heat. I was holding back and going easy above. The fact that there is the connector Reilly back to the Fakers makes me actually hate the Heat more than the Fakers. At least I respect the Lakers. They've earned that. But what the Celtics can do and have before them that they can put on the Heat will give me the chance to cross off something on my bucket list.

Boston needs to do this. This is the best chance I've seen in my lifetime for the team down 0-3 to pull this off. And it fits our personality this season. It is as plain as day. Our stripes ain't going anyway. Someone try @embracethestripes

Thank you for the SS assessment. You know I've been SAS or bust, much to your chagrin. It was nice to see someone else present and argue good material. With your help, I am expanding my horizons. Just continue to give me time! Bomani Jones is from Raleigh, NC I believe or lives here or something. I've seen him a couple of times on Dan's show with his dad Highly Questionable. Those were funny with his dad. Is he still alive? Yeah, Skip is a bit fake in the melodramatic arena.

I think the media is playing it safe with the Celtics right now, just playing the easy odds. Even at 3-1, media is still lumping them in with all the 150 other teams that have gone before them. Move along. Nothing to see here. And even when we win tonight, they will still be guarded and reserved since there would then be one more game in MIA where they think all this unnecessary hype will end.

More on Ja. Looks like they had authorities come out to his place and check him out. Similar to the last times, everything appears ok, swept it under the rug, etc. Everyone seems concerned but no one is doing anything about it. My predicted train wreck has taken a huge step forward. Again, I seriously hope I am wrong, but I don't think so anymore. All we can do is sit and wait for what I'm going to call the inevitable now...unfortunately. Someone has to step up and save this child.

db

ktron,


Post Game Pettiness:

-Only down side to this win is that we have to watch Kyle Lowry play another game.

Amen, brother, amen.  I cannot stand him.


-The league fined Jimmy Butler, $25K for failing to participate in required media availability after game 3.

This is the same guy who's supposedly so relaxed he's singing Alicia Keys and saying he's going to have a few cold ones.  Yeah, sure Jimmy, whatever you say.


Bob


.

Great game from GWill and DWhite, whenever White and Grant play like that, we seem to be in really good shape to win. Such a big game from Grant, not to give myself kudos, but I had said a week or so earlier where is Grant?; that we need him to keep Al fresh and he can go off anytime for 4 3’s. Well thank God or Brad or the players, I’m sure someone told stubborn Joe yeah he’s got a big mouth, but we need him and his block on Butlers turnaround was icing on the cake. Welcome to the party Grant, boy did we need your 2 way game.

Was it me or did anyone notice RWill, Smart and Grant telling Jaylen something intense, like what he should do schematically possibly at key points in the game? Could they have been saying wtf dude, come on man? Jaylen was very shaky passing up shots, some bad stupid fouls on defense, seemed afraid to drive. Reggie Miller and our own Steve think his hand is still bothering/effecting him. His hand was bleeding intensely during the game a few games ago. So maybe he was hesitant and eventually his talent still came out and led to some key steals and finally some fast speedy finishes that we expect and needed from our all NBA wing. Now if only his jumper would comeback.

Tatum also started shaky, but eventually found his groove and his game and was a thing of beauty. Imagine if we had some of that last year during last 3 games of Finals? This team is so Jekyl and Hyde, because our leader is a soft spoken guy who is still learning to lead and when his cape is on; we can so ride him, when our 2 super guys are on, we are the best in this league. Now add the rest of the cast RWill both ends, Brogdon who is battling an injury, Smart with his defense, heady steady Al, if only these guys and the coach can play like this version of ourselves and we didn’t even get the best in this game from Jaylen, Brogdon or RWill? We can be really scary good, hopefully it’s coming and all still ahead of us. Get Jaylens cape on Joe, we need a 35 point effort from him next game. Come on Joe, you can do it!!!!