Non-Celtics Playoffs 2024

Tonight will be about separation.  Boston separating themselves from IND and the competition.  

Early word on Get Up is Mavs "steal" one.  Celtics "survived/out-lasted/close call".  I'm about to the point we as Celtics fans need to bite back on the press and outsiders much like the Augusta Country Club as it pertains to the Masters.  Remember when the networks challenged them a few years ago?  The top guy,(was it Hootie), said, you know what?  We don't need you (network and your sorry ass broadcast).  We'll put it on ourselves.  They did and it was just as good if not better.

I have no idea how we'd pull that off, but that's where we need to go. We're that good.  

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Dallas looked very good last night. They will need to win twice on the road or at least be prepared to win at least twice on the road to take this series. One is in the books.

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That was a big game 1 win for the Mavs.  They have flipped home court.

Both teams have won on the road.  However the T'Wolves cannot afford to go down 0-2.   

I think the Mavs 2 best players are better than those on the T'Wolves

The Mavs?

What do you think about playing them

Luka is scaty good.

We match up really well vs Mavs and beat them twice this year. Luka can be exposed defensively by the J’s as well as Kyrie.

cowens/oldschool wrote:We match up really well vs Mavs and beat them twice this year. Luka can be exposed defensively by the J’s as well as well as Kyrie.

Was that before they added PJ and Gafford?

I see what you mean.  One win with Grant playing and one with PJ and. GAFFORD.

If Tatum or Hauser can get their 3 point shot going again, that would really help. Even without them and Tatum’s outside game looks broken, we may have enough from 3 with Jaylen, Jrue, DWhite and Pritch. Make no mistake J’s will be hunting for Luka on offense. I think we know who’s going to be pining for Luka defensively?

Jaylen is giing to be on the "They Left Me Off the All NBA Teams Revenge Tour" right through these playoffs. No way did Booler or Hali deserve a spot over him.

All we are going to hear tonight if haliburton is out (which I supremely doubt) is that they were without their 'STAR" player. No one has bothered to mention KP what a different team we are without him sure, we have four or even five stars, but how long has it been said, we will win nothing without him. So, no pity here if he is out. As far as the press is concerned, this is a powerful league now, lots of great players, they act like the Celtics should be undefeated, give me a break this is why I shut them off

RosalieTCeltics wrote:All we are going to hear tonight if haliburton is out  (which I supremely doubt) is that they were without their 'STAR" player. No one has bothered to mention KP  what a different team we are  without him  sure, we have four or even five stars,  but how long has it been said, we will win nothing without him.  So, no pity here if he is out. As far as the press is concerned, this is a powerful league now, lots of great players, they act like the Celtics should be undefeated, give me a break  this is why I shut them off                

We should keep track of this on the Game On thread. Every time they mention each one (Hali or Zinger), we should post the name (or initial).

Hi,
I happened to watch a better part of the last night game. Got a distinct impression that Mavs got much more love from the refs than 'Wolves.
Also, both teams' defense was so-so.
Speaking about defense. I don't understand who and how voted Gober to DPOY. For instance, it was embarrassing to watch how Kyrie and Luka abused him. Perhaps it was just one game "oops" or the voters counted just the number of rebounds and blocks.
As for the who we'd rather play in the finals - it doesn't matter. I think both DAL and MIN are inferior to BOS.

AK

Not afraid of them if we and they make it. All our players defend at a high level and have been here before. DAL is pseudo, manufactured defense. Not buying it. Their 5 have to beat our 5. Luka and Kryire can't/won't beat us. I like our 5+ a whole lot better. You have a rookie starting there in the WCF? Yeah, good luck with that on the Finals stage. He ain't Magic. Plus he's another Dookie. JT will take care of that. I promise.

db

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
I happened to watch a better part of the last night game. Got a distinct impression that Mavs got much more love from the refs than 'Wolves.
Also, both teams' defense was so-so.
Speaking about defense. I don't understand who and how voted Gober to DPOY. For instance, it was embarrassing to watch how Kyrie and Luka abused him. Perhaps it was just one game "oops" or the voters counted just the number of rebounds and blocks.
As for the who we'd rather play in the finals - it doesn't matter. I think both DAL and MIN are inferior to BOS.

AK

Sinus,

32 ftas for the Wolves, 22 for the Mavs. 19 personal fouls called on the Wolves, 17 on the Mavs.


Bob


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dbrown4 wrote:Not afraid of them if we and they make it.  All our players defend at a high level and have been here before.  DAL is pseudo, manufactured defense.  Not buying it.  Their 5 have to beat our 5.  Luka and Kryire can't/won't beat us.  I like our 5+ a whole lot better.  You have a rookie starting there in the WCF?  Yeah, good luck with that on the Finals stage.  He ain't Magic.  Plus he's another Dookie.  JT will take care of that.  I promise.

db

Who’s their rookie that starts?

Lively. I think.  Actually, I should have verified.  He may not start but he was in there at crunch time.  

db

P. S. 6th man. My bad.

Can everyone see why I wanted Gafford? He is blocking shots and slamming lobs just like RWill tonight. On another note what a putrid offense by Wolves at crunch time, so ugly and stupid.

cowens/oldschool wrote:Can everyone see why I wanted Gafford? He is blocking shots and slamming lobs just like RWill tonight. On another note what a putrid offense by Wolves at crunch time, so ugly and stupid.

I remember that 2019 draft and being royally ticked off. We needed bigs (don't we always?) and I thought Gafford would be a perfect fit. We took Langford, Thybulle (trade to 76ers) and Grant Williams that night. Swapped out Ty Jerome and traded for Carson Edwards. Except for a season or two of some production from Williams, what a waste.

Gafford has been a nice addition for the Mavs.

And we still need bigs.

Minny shot 50%, took 85 fgas and only had 10 turnovers.  That is, often, enough to win.

But Dallas shot 56% (against the best defense in the NBA!), 50% from 3 (vs 30% for Minny), took 31 ftas (10 for Luka, 8 for Kyrie) vs 17 for Minny.  What is truly amazing is that Dallas only took 68 fgas.  That is beyond anemic and yet they won by 9.

This is a new NBA.  You MUST shoot well from 3.  If you don't the best defense in the world (literally #1!) won't save you.

I can't say I completely enjoy it, I love DEFENSE!! but it is what it is and for us to win #18 and beyond we must adapt to the reality of the times we play in.

With Dallas now up 3-0 with one more in Texas I think we need to finish up tonight so all our players can rest, not just Al and Porzingis.


Bob


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The Celtics and the Mavs are on a collision course.

The job is not done yet. Closing a team out is not easy.

Quite frankly, I am floored by how poorly the Timbercubs have played. The Twin Tower configuration is simply not working against the Mavs. Rudy, Tudy Fresh and Fruity should come off the pine. At this point their coach needs to try something different. The Mavs are primed to close them out in game 4.

Yeah the ax may swing for the coach in MIN if they don't win this next game. He's a bit predictable.

db

The Mavs are favored by only -1.5 tonight. Lively will be out and Luka is nursing both a sore knee and ankle.

I do not see a sweep for the Mavs tonight.

The Celtics will have 9 days off before playing again and that break should be enough to get in some hard practices with KP. He needs to be ready for the finals .

ABC wants it to be a Celtics/Mavs final. Star power really matters to the ratings.

I am working on a write up in anticipation of the mavs winning this series but i am very uncertain that it will be a sweep. If the Timberwolves pull off a win tonight i think we may be looking at a 6 game series win for the Mavs. I think that it is too late for the Wolves to reinvent themselves.

Did you know that AH, JB and JT have more combined payoff experience than the top 8 players for the Mavericks?

AH 181, JB 119 and JT 108 (408 combined games) Mavs top 8 comes in at 284. Kyrie is their most experience playoff performer with 89 total games played. That's right, the Jays each have played in more playoff games than Kyrie!

The Celtics top 8 have a combined number of playoff game experience of 668. That number includes KP who is the least experienced player on the team. KP has only played in 14 playoff games.

The experience factor overwhelmingly favors the Celtics.

The Wolves scratched out a win to avoid elimination.

They remain under the watchful eye of the guillotine operator.

A drag out series in the WCF is great for the Celtics. Let those teams knock the crap out of each other and we will take on the remnants.

Same here dboss on the impending pre-Finals write up. We may be waiting through the weekend. I don't see DAL winning G5 in MIN after they let this one slip through, especially after Ant-Man told the Dallas Cowboy he's bringing him a new pair of his shoes back to for G6. Now that's funny. Same thing he said to the DEN custodial staff.

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