Celts Advance To ECFs, Send Cleves To Cav-cun! Game 5 Victory Cigar vs CLE 5/15 (BOS WINS 4-1)

[shackles10]

Read on Twitter

Celtics can’t close

Joe with a brilliant timeout after two consecutive poopy possessions (both turnovers) with about 5 mins left. Cavs cut the lead down to 9. They were about to **** their pants again. Joe put a stop to it. Cs ended the game with 5 easy buckets, all assisted.

I voted for Al for obvious reasons and coach/team because of this exactly. After the timeout you can see Joe waiving his arms every time to hurry up and go while the team wanted to default back to slow it down. He's not flawless, but definitely showed Joe was not the reason we were milking the clock with way too much time left to do so. Hopefully between this and getting killed by every announcer and the media whenever we do it the message finally sinks in. Cavs, although extremely shorthanded, were getting into their stuff with 20-21 seconds left and we were doing dribbling drills until under 10 almost every time. Credit to both players and coaches for righting that ship after the timeout.

[ThePigeon]

I only wonder why we can't play similar brand of bball for extended time.
We obviously have the talent

Mp more iso ball, not even on one possession. You want to win it all? pass the ball

9 assists on 11 FGs in the 1st. 8 assists on 11 FGs in the 2nd.

I can't believe this team has only won like 80% of it's games all season and in the post season. Pathetic, fire Joe. Blow it up. Eat Brad's brain with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

I didn't say all of the above - just asked to play more like the end of the game

Just to prove my point
42 baskets - 32 of which were assisted
80 total shots - of these about 25 shots were from iso or one on one without movement or a pass

The last 5-6 minutes of the 4th were poetry. Before that we were winning but grinding
Play faster with movement and passing for more than 5 minutes a game please

[FlatearthZorro]

This team peaked at the wrong time of the season (as it sometimes happens). Still, I'm hopeful they'll remember what brought them here. KP should help bring the ball movement back.

I tip my hat to Big Al.

They legit did peak at the wrong time... Mostly the ball movement seemed to be much better.

This on a night where they had 32 assists on 42 made field goals. Do better

Overall, the C's currently do not look as dominant and heavenly as they did 3-4 months ago. Obivously, it could change as they've done it before, they have it in them.

[BK_2020]

They legit did peak at the wrong time... Mostly the ball movement seemed to be much better.

This on a night where they had 32 assists on 42 made field goals. Do better

Overall, the C's currently do not look as dominant and heavenly as they did 3-4 months ago. Obivously, it could change as they've done it before, they have it in them.

Net rating of +12.6 in the playoffs. +11.6 in the regular season. Won 80% of the games in the playoffs, won 80% of the games in the regular season.

[ThePigeon]

This on a night where they had 32 assists on 42 made field goals. Do better

Overall, the C's currently do not look as dominant and heavenly as they did 3-4 months ago. Obivously, it could change as they've done it before, they have it in them.

Net rating of +12.6 in the playoffs. +11.6 in the regular season. Won 80% of the games in the playoffs, won 80% of the games in the regular season.

I am happy with the results but there is still room for improvement. They are not playing for their full potential. Heck, I think they play 60%-70% of their potential.
Lost 2 games at home to depleted teams - shouldn't have happened
At times the offense grinds to a stop leading to all sorts of trouble
At times the team lacks interest/intensity/plays lackluster defense

Just make this lapses shorter and play like we all know they can. Faster, movement, passing, tight D. We can win it all this year

[Bad-Thoma]

9 assists on 11 FGs in the 1st. 8 assists on 11 FGs in the 2nd.

I can't believe this team has only won like 80% of it's games all season and in the post season. Pathetic, fire Joe. Blow it up. Eat Brad's brain with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

I didn't say all of the above - just asked to play more like the end of the game

Just to prove my point
42 baskets - 32 of which were assisted
80 total shots - of these about 25 shots were from iso or one on one without movement or a pass

The last 5-6 minutes of the 4th were poetry. Before that we were winning but grinding
Play faster with movement and passing for more than 5 minutes a game please

I wasn't making fun of you in particular, just our board in general. This place is an clown car filled with emo bozos sometimes, even after a playoff win. Not everyone or even close, just enough to make the place a little cringey. I've been coming here too long to stop though -

[Slax]

What happened in these last two rounds is that the Celtics played teams that lacked the talent and health to put up much of a challenge, and so they sailed through without having to put in the sort of intense effort that often leads to exhaustion and injuries. There were only what, three games in the first two rounds where the Celtics faced a serious challenge? Even against the absolute worst trash teams at the top of the lottery, that would be a decent showing. Against playoff teams, even heavily injured ones, that takes some really good and consistent performances.

Obviously you should also look beyond the tremendous box scores for whether the Celtics have been showing good habits, and consider indicators of what might come in the next two rounds as well - e.g., if you have a problem with things like shot selection, what types of plays they're running, who has the ball in his hands, who's getting minutes and whether they're being over or under played, certain mismatches that gave them trouble and could be exploited in the future, etc. Those are great topics that deserve attention. But faulting them for not putting in enough effort or "not playing that well" while cruising to a bunch of easy victories is facile.

[Celts17Pride]

Read on Twitter

[Fierce1]

Read on Twitter

That was not the shot where JT got the tech.

It was Garland bumping JT after the shot that JT got a tech.

[Captain_Caveman]

I only wonder why we can't play similar brand of bball for extended time.
We obviously have the talent

Mp more iso ball, not even on one possession. You want to win it all? pass the ball

9 assists on 11 FGs in the 1st. 8 assists on 11 FGs in the 2nd.

I can't believe this team has only won like 80% of it's games all season and in the post season. Pathetic, fire Joe. Blow it up. Eat Brad's brain with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

Cs are too talented for half the league. They absolutely mopped up on losing teams this year until that Hawks back-to-back. But the frustrating thing for me, and apparently others, is that they DO know how to play the right way but abandon it for large stretches of time, often in pressure situations and/or against good defenses.

The TNT guys spent the bulk of halftime talking about pretty much exactly that.

[BK_2020]

9 assists on 11 FGs in the 1st. 8 assists on 11 FGs in the 2nd.

I can't believe this team has only won like 80% of it's games all season and in the post season. Pathetic, fire Joe. Blow it up. Eat Brad's brain with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

Cs are too talented for half the league. They absolutely mopped up on losing teams this year until that Hawks back-to-back. But the frustrating thing for me, and apparently others, is that they DO know how to play the right way but abandon it for large stretches of time, often in pressure situations and/or against good defenses.

The TNT guys spent the bulk of halftime talking about pretty much exactly that.

TNT guys don't really know anything. They don't watch any of the games, they just know talking about "moving the ball" or "playing the right way" or "playing with intensity/consistency" gets people to perk up. They are essentially a following a script regardless of what team is actually playing and how that team actually plays.

[Captain_Caveman]

I can't believe this team has only won like 80% of it's games all season and in the post season. Pathetic, fire Joe. Blow it up. Eat Brad's brain with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

Cs are too talented for half the league. They absolutely mopped up on losing teams this year until that Hawks back-to-back. But the frustrating thing for me, and apparently others, is that they DO know how to play the right way but abandon it for large stretches of time, often in pressure situations and/or against good defenses.

The TNT guys spent the bulk of halftime talking about pretty much exactly that.

TNT guys don't really know anything. They don't watch any of the games, they just know talking about "moving the ball" or "playing the right way" or "playing with intensity/consistency" gets people to perk up. They are essentially a following a script regardless of what team is actually playing and how that team actually plays.

They showed multiple clips to support the point. Whatever value one chooses to assign to this team having a tendency to just stop moving completely on offense for significant stretches, the fact that it happens pretty regularly should be plainly obvious to everyone, quite frankly.

More to the point, if we play like we have been in the playoffs so far vs Denver or Minny in the Finals, we are going to get slapped. Maybe against OKC as well.

[BK_2020]

Cs are too talented for half the league. They absolutely mopped up on losing teams this year until that Hawks back-to-back. But the frustrating thing for me, and apparently others, is that they DO know how to play the right way but abandon it for large stretches of time, often in pressure situations and/or against good defenses.

The TNT guys spent the bulk of halftime talking about pretty much exactly that.

TNT guys don't really know anything. They don't watch any of the games, they just know talking about "moving the ball" or "playing the right way" or "playing with intensity/consistency" gets people to perk up. They are essentially a following a script regardless of what team is actually playing and how that team actually plays.

They showed multiple clips to support the point. Whatever value one chooses to assign to this team having a tendency to just stop moving completely on offense for significant stretches, the fact that it happens pretty regularly should be plainly obvious to everyone, quite frankly.

More to the point, if we play like we have been in the playoffs so far vs Denver or Minny in the Finals, we are going to get slapped. Maybe against OKC as well.

Showing a clip is not support. You can find clips of 5 out possessions where everyone stands around for any team, including Denver and Golden State.

[brackdan70]

I can't believe this team has only won like 80% of it's games all season and in the post season. Pathetic, fire Joe. Blow it up. Eat Brad's brain with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

Cs are too talented for half the league. They absolutely mopped up on losing teams this year until that Hawks back-to-back. But the frustrating thing for me, and apparently others, is that they DO know how to play the right way but abandon it for large stretches of time, often in pressure situations and/or against good defenses.

The TNT guys spent the bulk of halftime talking about pretty much exactly that.

TNT guys don't really know anything. They don't watch any of the games, they just know talking about "moving the ball" or "playing the right way" or "playing with intensity/consistency" gets people to perk up. They are essentially a following a script regardless of what team is actually playing and how that team actually plays.

I agree but I was enthralled when Shaq rode the stair lifter.

[Bad-Thoma]

9 assists on 11 FGs in the 1st. 8 assists on 11 FGs in the 2nd.

I can't believe this team has only won like 80% of it's games all season and in the post season. Pathetic, fire Joe. Blow it up. Eat Brad's brain with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

Cs are too talented for half the league. They absolutely mopped up on losing teams this year until that Hawks back-to-back. But the frustrating thing for me, and apparently others, is that they DO know how to play the right way but abandon it for large stretches of time, often in pressure situations and/or against good defenses.

The TNT guys spent the bulk of halftime talking about pretty much exactly that.

I agree but how many teams don't have that problem? "It's a league of runs" is the old clich'e but it's true. The C's were remarkably consistent this year until they reached the stretch of games against bad teams late in the season, had the 1st seed locked up, and started coasting. It reminded me of late season 08 Celtics and then they got taken to 7 games against a young .500 Hawks team.

For what my anecdotal observations are worth - we get stagnant when we stop beating defenders for initial penetration and especially when we start late in the clock. It happens a ton when we have a lead but this season it certainly didn't hurt the W/L as much as it has in past seasons, probably because we have a ridiculous amount of perimeter shooting to bail us out. I'm hoping increased competition will draw out the best in them as the post season goes on, they certainly showed they were capable in the 1st half of the season when they had one of the more difficult strength of schedules in the league. In the meantime I'll settle for beating the teams we are supposed to beat 80% of the time.

[BK_2020]

RIP TNT Inside the NBA

[Bad-Thoma]

RIP TNT Inside the NBA

Ugh, 90% of what they say is nonsense but I enjoy it anyways, it's the only non-local channel sports thing I like.

[itrsteve]

The TNT guys spent the bulk of halftime talking about pretty much exactly that.

There's really nothing to talk about. Unless they want to keep beating to death non-all star players being out.

Next best thing is to talk about a team not winning good enough for their standard.

Not to say Celtics can exist without criticism but outside of the first two series going 1-1, there really hasn't been anything to talk about. No buzzer beaters, no 40 pieces, none of the other sensational stuff to appease casuals. Just a collection of really to very decent dudes playing team ball, snooze.

[RB34]

I would like to smoke all these teams by 25 but that’s just not realistic. Not even the LBJ super teams did that.

Joe took some good timeouts during this game and put the starters back in when he needed to. This game wasn’t close when they were in and they turned it on. I think as the rounds progress the minutes will increase and the rotation will shorten.

Props to old man Al for a great game. Absolutely put the clamps on Garland. Gotta give it to JT for an all round game as well.

[Fierce1]

Not sayimg the Cavs are the Nuggets, but Mobley's 33 points and Morris' 25 points is what we'll be seeing from Joker and Murray almost every game if the Cs and Denver meet in the finals.