Re: Jimmy Butler vs. Jayson Tatum for ECF MVP

by **dboss** Tue May 31, 2022 11:45 am

cowens/oldschool wrote:
dboss wrote:
cowens/oldschool wrote:
dboss wrote:The ankle injury, not withstanding, we need the more efficient Marcus Smart.

In the past 2 games Marcus launched 19 (3) point shots while connecting on 4. That is 21% he played in 5 games vs the Heat and shot 34.8% from the field and 28.2% from deep.

We came razor close to losing game 7 because Marcus could not make a shot but he just keep on shooting them. He put up 22 FGA in the game which was more than anyone else.

Steph Curry he is not.

That late game execution was mind boggling and almost cost us a trip to the Finals. J’s should have took more control and demanded the ball and Ime should have called a TO to settle the team down, can’t believe how close we came to giving another game away, and in a game 7. Hope these late game situations/things are being worked on right now at practice….we can’t give any games away.

Cowens

Coach Udoka has a deep deep book of plays to choose from. I do not know why he did not call a timeout sooner. Even after the timeout there was little evidence of a quality run play

We were up 98-87 with 2:50 remaining. Marcus took 3 three point shots and a 12 foot pull up, all misses before Ime called a time out with 52.4 seconds remaining.

Coming out of the timeout Jaylen gets called for a very questionable offensive foul and max drains a 3 cutting the lead to only 2 points. Marcus then attempts an out of control no chance layup that misses badly.

Marcus went 0-5 in a span of 2 and 1/2 minutes.

I sure hope a lesson has been learned after squeaking by a determined Heat team.

That sequence was a travesty, thank god the basketball gods were on our side when Butler missed that 3….INEXCUSABLE IMHO

Cowens

This is the reason why I think we are a team of destiny!

That does not mean it will be a cakewalk. However, everything has ended up in our favor. The Celtics chased them down during the regular season. My first thread goes all the way back to Feb 26th 2022. I had a gut feeling that this team was special.

The competition was formidable. We survived injuries to key players. We won 4 closeout games (Game 4 vs Nets ) , (Games 6 and 7 vs Bucks) and (closeout Game 7 after losing closeout Game 6 to the Heat) We never dropped two game in a row and we won 7 games on the road including 3 out of 4 in Miami. We defied the odds.

The imperfect Celtics came away with the perfect outcome, making it to the NBA Finals.

by **cowens/oldschool** Thu Jun 02, 2022 2:32 am

A majority of us all thought this was a bridge year, never in my wildest imagination did I think we were going to the Finals this year. Who knew Al had so much left? Who knew flawed tweener defensive stalwart Marcus Smart could lead this team at point? He still has bad stretches, but enough good overall to give this team its defensive identity, kind of exactly like the J’s. Who knew J’s despite their still learning phase could be so impactful and consistently carry us? We could actually be a nightmare match up for them and win a championship this year. For some reason this fact hasn’t hit me yet, hasn’t set in, we are really in the Finals I guess, who woulda thought? This I do know, we have 4 very capable defenders to go right at Curry and never seen 2 wings on the same team that could also shut down elite points like the J’s. The last time we played Dubs, before he got hurt Curry had more turnovers than points and the game was not as close as the score and believe we won by 20.

by **dbrown4** Thu Jun 02, 2022 6:06 am

I believe Curry is going to be scratching his head after this round. For one, he's going to have to "give back" the Finals MVP trophy he's "already" won in which the media has christened him. That will be the most fun to watch.

Let's say he has the best Finals of his life. I hope he does. Then give him the Jerry West award. That will be even better. You know Jerry West HATES that trophy more than the Celtics. As a matter of fact, Curry is setting up going forward as the modern day Jerry West, although Curry has too many titles already. But going forward, Boston is taking all the titles going forward anyway, so GS can show up in the Finals all they want.

Welcome to the Beginning of the Beginning. It starts today even with a loss. Hop on Kingda Ka and hang on! 4th verse same as the 1st. It's time for Defense and Finding A Way To WIN!!!!

db

by **Ktron** Thu Jun 02, 2022 9:27 am

I believe that Al Horford was the real MVP.
Btw, not that it’s a big deal and I don’t know if anyone else noticed but Mark Jackson had a problem saying “Horford”. If you’re able to fight your way through it, Check it out during the series.