Boston 8-2 Milwaukee 5-4

Not a bad win by MIL.  I was expecting the Clips to rise to the challenge but I've heard (and now seen with my own eyes) that the 4th quarter just ain't their bag.  Clearly showed through last night.  Had MIL sans Giannis (and Clips sans Westbrook) and still couldn't pull it out.  B2B or not.  We do great on B2B's.  Please no excuses.  Clippers are a funny bunch.  Liking them more and more in a Finals match up with each passing day.  And the Playoff Houdini (and by Houdini I mean GREAT disappearing act) Harden hasn't even checked in yet.  Those first 4 games could be over by halftime if we're so lucky.    

We have two games left vs. MIL.  One in this 10-game head-to-head run.  That one's at home.  

db

P.S.  I'll update the Title after each win/loss to keep this all under one thread.

I watched the game last night. The Clips were up and then they could not execute basic plays They were horrid. Things started to fall apart midway through the 3rd QTR. They couldn't even make free throws with the game on the line (16-15 /64%)

Even without Giannis, they could not beat the Bucks.

The idle Celtics remain 5 games up in the loss column over both the bucks and Cavs.

The Bucks will not close the gap that much. They still have the 3rd most difficult schedule remaining (.548)

dboss wrote:I watched the game last night.  The Clips were up and then they could not execute basic plays   They were horrid.  Things started to fall apart midway through the 3rd QTR.  They couldn't even make free throws with the game on the line (16-15 /64%)

Even without Giannis, they could not beat the Bucks.  

The idle Celtics remain 5 games up in the loss column over both the bucks and Cavs.

The Bucks will not close the gap that much.  They still have the 3rd most difficult schedule remaining (.548)

Dboss,

Milwaukee and Cleveland are nine games back in the loss column, not 5. That's why the Magic Number to lock up 1st place in the East with 22 games left is 13.


Bob


.

Yeah, dboss, I like bobh's games behind number better!!

db

Well, not off to the start I would have liked! I believe this is the first game we've lost "blowing" a lead in the strictest sense of the word. Usually we bound right back after any team makes a run. This time we didn't.

Oh well. No sense crying over spilt milk. DEN awaits. bigger fish to fry. Next.

db

OMG!  My perfect morning just before Get Up and First Take come on.  Anyone want to bet against me this morning where we will hear crickets about the Bucks season/chance for a championship is over after we lost to the 2nd best team in the East vs. the Bucks losing to the 9th seed GSW by 500 last night?!!  

Ain't as easy as you're  making it all look, is it Dame, Giannis and Doc?!!  Where was that newly vamped #1 in the last 5 minutes "defense" we've" all heard about?!  Great winning going streak against all weak or beat-up +.500 teams then WHAMMM!  How's the media going to tap dance around this one?!  We just burned the house down with all the women and children inside a few nights ago against the same team you just lost to by 35!!  Get out of my face!  All we're going to hear today is the Bucks were tired or they weren't used to playing in California or Chris Middleton is still out or something stupid like that.  

OK.  I'm back.  Oh yeah, the Lakers were steamrolled by the YO-YO Kings last night after LOL had a 21 point lead.

That's enough excitement for one morning!  
 
db

Defer to my post in the DEN post-game thread...

db

While we sit idle and lick our wounds tonight just like all the other top teams have at some point this season when things look a bit odd, I hate to ever have to pull for the Lakers, but tonight would be a good game to look into with MIL @ LOL.  

MIN @ CLE
ORL @ NYK
MIA @ OKC
NOP @ PHI

All these games have some side interest to us.  It's not too much of a stretch to ask MIN and LOL to topple their respective opponents, CLE and MIL, tonight.  Lakers really can't afford another loss as they would be 2 games behind GSW and pretty much locking them into the 10th seed, meaning they would have to go into GS for a one game and done.  MIN needs to win although we're going to see the immediate effects of no CAT.  They should be able to Buster Douglas themselves tonight with a win before all Hell breaks loose for MIN.  They won't finish up any lower than 4th out West.  OKC has been given a winning lottery ticket to take over 1st with DEN breathing down their necks and MIN eventually making a whistling sound on the way down passed them.  But they are playing the mysterious Heat, a team we know all to well.  Another loss by MIA and they are back in the play-in/tied up with PHI.  All that would temporarily deflect the media's sky is falling/Fire Brad Stevens/Blow up the team deluge/Divest the Celtics Franchise claptrap off of us until we right our proverbial ship.  All these favorable outcomes would allow us to tread water for the week so far in the standings before going into PHX on Saturday for what now looks like a must win.    

Never hurts to call on some help from others around us.  They all have been very helpful so far this year when we've needed it!

My advice?  Same advice I'm following for the 2024 general elections this year.  Temporary sports news/news ban!!  Let the bloviators talk to an uninterested, non-listening blank screen audience regarding the Celtics.  They HATE that!!  

db

While I was hoping for a sweep last night with our night off and perch from the fabled catbird's seat, I'll take the mixed bag!

Yes, I had to pull for the Lakers and Sam would void our memberships if he knew this, but they barely edged out the Bucks in a game I woke up in the middle of the night to see the ending.  Bucks should be humiliated, shamed and scorned for losing to a team sans LeBron and an "injured" AD late. What's that you hear?!! Crickets? That's what I thought.

I'll have to give the play-in idea gurus their due, but the whole play-in frantic dash for the finish line hype at least keeps me looking at the standings in both conferences several times a day and watching/recording like a madman.  Hats off, Commish.  You got me.  

As long at either the Heat or PHI are on opposite sides or both on the playoff side of the 6th place Mendoza Line, we should avoid any "MIL"-type 1st Round series and cruise to the 2nd round.  If both fall to the play-in, our first round series could be very dicey.  Would like to avoid that at all costs knowing Embiid will probably be conveniently back just in time for the playoffs and they will be at full strength.  Both MIA and PHI lost their respective games so they still straddle the line at the present.

For the mixed bag, CLE beat MIN, who is almost immediately seeing the effects of not having CAT for a good stretch.  Buster Douglas has left the building.  Just like us, they can't beat a team missing Strus and DM.  

Good night all around.  We're up.  See you tonight.

db

If the Bucks had lost to the George- and Leonard-less Clippers, Doc would/should have been fired. And they almost did! Don't know what the Clippers thinking was letting them both sit, but they're not getting out of the 1st round much less the 2nd round with idiot moves like that. Maybe they are prioritizing games and don't care about cross-conference games. But since you're playing MIL, you might want to put at least one of those two in since you're in a dog fight and at least try to improve your position, especially if PHX can move up to 5th.

db

The Bucks are 9 games behind in the loss column. They will not close that gap much. They have the 4th hardest remaining schedule including 2 games against the Celtics (@ Boston and at home)

I want to see the Celtics secure home court throughout the playoffs. I do not see either OKC or Denver closing a 5-6 game deficit. T'Wolves are back 7 thanks to our LAL friend (lol)

The Celtics can earn the top spot by going 15-4 the reminder of the way. That assumes that the teams out West maintain their current winning percentage.

After tonight's games, we will be half way through this 10-game run. After Thursday, our schedule finally lightens up at least for a couple of games.

As for us, I don't know how (or who) CJ is going to play it. Can't afford to give one up either as we march to the regular season finish line.

Some peripheral sideshow games of interest (in order)

PHI @ NY
IND @ OKC
MIN @ LAC

Bucks are @ SAC. SAC should win this game at home, despite Vegas' MIL(-1.5). It may be worth staying up an extra hour passed our game and watching the end of this one. Don't think it's going to be a runaway either way. SAC is in a dog fight with PHX and DAL (on the edges with NOP and LAL) and cannot afford to give any one game away, much less this one. MIL, on the other hand, is either going to finish in 2nd or 3rd.
They won't need home court to be CLE. Just enough to motivate SAC and slightly demotivate MIL. We'll see.

db

Well, it took us 5 games to get up on the Bucks, but even if for 48 hours and at the halfway point of this 10-game stretch, we're up a game and our lead in the East is widening. Almost by 10 games. Think Basketball Dory.

db

Is that crickets I hear on ESPN?!! Nothing, and I mean zilch on ESPN regarding the Bucks meltdown in SAC last night. If Boston had lost to the Jazz last night even without KP, JB and AH, The Celtics would have been on a 24-hour sports news cycle of absolute berating, busting up the two J's, firing Mazulla and Brad and closing down the franchise (finally, what the press REALLY wants) Nothing on First Take, ZERO!! You really have to be kidding me here. That is an absolute disgrace. We're steamrolling everyone to the championship. If we went 16-0 for the championship, what would they say?!! Yet we lose just one game and its like a buzzard on a gut wagon celebration. I give up.

db

"... like a buzzard on a gut wagon." What a marvelous turn of phrase, dbrown.

That reminds me of a quote by A. Phillip Randolph who was asked why he insisted on having Bayard Rustin (one of my own favorite Americans) organize the 1963 March on Washington instead of his dearly beloved friend, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, (another one of my favorite Americans) whom Randolph considered a brilliant, inspiring leader who lacked organizational skills: "Martin couldn't organize a dinner party for vampires at a blood bath."

Bayard Rustin was one of the greatest unsung heroes of American history: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/rustin-bayard

Thanks,Worcester

Alright.  Back to the grind.  Both Boston and MIL on the courts tonight.  MIL(-8.5) at home vs. PHI.  Should be a victory but you can't ever tell about who's showing up for the Bucks or what drivel Doc has filled their heads with.  What's Doc's record again so far?  It has to be right at .500 without looking.  Ours vs. PHX is a little tighter , BOS(-5.5) all as of this morning.  KP out.  JB and Jordan Walsh are Day-To-Day with return dates today per ESPN.  

Yeah, I'm going to stick with my gut and say we come up short here for the jet lag/just happy to be back home if even for a day/3-2 Road Trip Blues Hangover reasons I've stated before.  It sounds pathetic and the lazy man's way out, but as always, I'll happily admit when I'm wrong on these bets against.  PHX has to win.  Booker is back.  To lose would start the avalanche in PHX.  I see a desperate team trying to get out of the play-in so they can play the sinking Timberwolves instead of DEN or OKC.  Yep.  Sorry, folks.  Book it, Danno.  

It will be interesting to see how CJ comes to the table tonight.  

Only one other game of minor interest.  DAL @ OKC.  That West Play-In Tournament will be well worth watching.

db

You know I love being WRONG!!  Clearly didn't see this coming.  Please forgive Doubting "db" Thomas.  Excellent game by the Celtics all around.  See Post-Game Thread for comments.

One way to become a GAZILLIONAIRE?  Bet the opposite of what I say!!  My record is rather spectacular! 

db

P.S. After last night's PHI 2nd half meltdown, Doc is 11-10 to date. Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't Adrian doing MUCH better than this before getting the ax?!! Just curious.

MIL somehow beat PHX today.  Didn't watch it.  Will have to watch the replay.  Well, going to make my first West prediction.  This one's easy.  PHX and LAC gone by the first round.  This will include possible play-in exit for PHX.  

That's one helluva play-in out there currently.  PHX, DAL, GSW & LAL.  And BTW, one of those is one and done.  And barring a collapse of either PHX or DAL, it's either GSW or LAL.  And from last night's game, it looks like it's going to be LAL.  Couldn't happen to a more deserving franchise.  I might have been off by a year and they could have saved themselves from what was to come this year, but that would have to do it for Rob Kerplunka.  There simply is no redeeming value in keeping him.  Darvin might get caught up in all that as well.

Oh well.  Life in the NBA.    

db

Well, at this point with one game left for us and two for MIL in this 10-game head-to-head microcosm Win/Loss comparison, we've wrapped this one up. MIL can't catch us over this 10-game stretch! 4-4 so far describes their wishy-washy, aw shucks coach. MIL plays BKN @ home tonight. That SHOULD be a win. But I won't shed a tear for Doc and the Bucks if they come up short. More like LMAO! Then OKC comes to town Sunday. That will be a sphincter-tightening game. Bucks could finish up 6-4 for these 10 games. I'll go with 5-5. Would love to see 4-6, though.

db

OK. We win this little 10-game set head-to-head with MIL. I won't count tonight's game for us in this tally but will count @MIL game tomorrow vs the hot OKC!! We'll give MIL a break and predict 6-4.

db