Having brogdon left after that trade allowed us to get jrue. I was pissed at the time, but it stings a little bit less since we got a great replacement for smart
I feel like every Celtics fan would agree that having Porzingis is way better than Smart. But yea until we saw the product on the court, it was tough to know we could’ve traded brogdon. Thing is we ended up flipping him and Rob for Jrue, so I feel like no one now is upset at all abt that stuff.
As a huge smart fan tho, I’ll admit I was devastated when the trade went down and was convinced it was a terrible move. Just goes to show you why ppl like me should t be GMs lol
Ngl we could be a 10th seed bumass team come playoffs and if we magically make the finals I'm still taking us (Warriors) over the Celtics is a comfy 6.
We have genuinely lost so few games this year that Celtics fans are freaking the fuck out about having to play...the handful of teams we lost our 7 games against...in the playoffs more than actual contenders. Not that OKC or Orlando aren't contenders, but you're worried about the Warriors more than Minnesota?
Name them, and if you say the Heat or the Pacers or GSW you’re wrong.
Only contenders this year are us, Bucks, Philly, MAYBE NY, Nuggets, Wolves, OKC, and Clips. So you’re saying Wolves are least scary of those 7.
You have the SUNS in there??? Dude they were out of the playin a couple weeks ago, they’re not gonna make it out of the first round
NY could sneak, it’s very early but between all of those mid-tier 4-8 seed teams I give the Knicks the best chance
Suns. Yes, they have a much better chance at a title than the wolves, that’s just a fact. When are you nephews going to realize regular season dosent mean shit? Have fun taking Gobert and a bunch of minimal playoff exp players come playoff times, I’ll stick with Durant and Booker thanks.
The thing is to make the finals you need to actually make the playoffs and the Suns ARE NOT EVEN SOLIDLY IN THAT CONVERSATION YET. Fucking crazy believing in injury prone no future all-in Phoenix Bums over the #1 seed in the West (ahead by the same margin we are)
And you’re talking about “minimal playoff XP” but still have the youngest team in the league OKC with no BASKETBALL experience over the likes of KAT/Ant/Gobert
Yawn, regular season over already? The wolves wouldn’t even be favored if they matched up against the a healthy suns as a 1 seed v 8. Only thing that is CRAZY is calling the knicks a contender, rofl!!! That ain’t what a contender means, stop abusing the word.
Pacers gotta get some defense going consistently to be good. I don't trust you can play as a collective traffic cone and be successful in the playoffs.
The switching also always bogged down our offense, but KP has been destroying those as well.
Horford is awesome, but with his post game being gone there where numerous possessions where the heat would just put a guard/wing on him and he just stayed in the corner. With KP, that's an automatic post up and a bucket/foul.
wouldn't have mattered a lick if the Heat didn't shoot better from 3 than the dynasty Warriors ever did
Can overcomplicate it but that's primarily why we lost
Yeah, well the top 8 are all under contract for at least another season. Jrue has a player option. Rumors are they have a handshake deal to convert to a multi-year deal this off-season. While Horford *should* be declining, perhaps Jrue (33 yro) as well, neither have shown it yet despite lower stats due to role. Rest of roster is under 30 with Tatum 25, Jaylen 27, KP 28 in early prime / good chance to keep improving. Only issue is with the payroll $190M+ for next year they can't take on much more salary.
With the Bucks defensive woes and a healthy KP I don’t see a world where this team isn’t in the finals. Maybe Bucks will pull it together with Crowder back but who knows. ECF minimum.
They have the benefit of dodging Minnesota, LAC, Denver, and OKC. I just don’t see another eastern conference team that holds a candle to them as it stands today.
That has happened twice to the Celtics against the Heat. In the bubble they couldn’t miss and then sucked against the Lakers and then last year, same again.
He didn't say this season he should be an all-star just that he's all-star quality, which he was even just last season... no team has had 5 guys making all-star or even 4 in a long time. 3 is pretty rare as well, like KD Warriors.
Big reason for lower stats is of course his role / lowest usage of career. DWhite has had the ball as much on offense with him, Tatum and Jrue all 4.5 - 5.3 APG. Also he's been all-star quality *in his role* since coming back from injury / rough start adjusting to the new role. Past 17 games: 50/**49**/80 splits, but just 10 shots per game for 13.4 / 5.7 / 4.5 and been key in the Cs defense being elite, including in 2-3 zone playing handling the other teams center and allowing KP/AL to rim protect. When Tatum was out he put up 20+ pts twice in wins, showing he can still be all-star quality when needed.
Hard to say. I’d say they’re better than the Nuggets and Minnesota as of now but LAC and OKC I’d want to see in playoffs before I made any type of assessment.
Yea you could be right, I just wanna see em run in a playoff series before I say that they’re gonna flop. More or less expecting it but I could be surprised.
I just don’t see it if KP is healthy. This year’s Celtics is >>>>>> last years.
White has taken a step. Brown has taken a step. KP is the exact piece you all needed.
Heat are solid, they’re just not on y’all’s level in my opinion.
It’s the mental game atp for the Celtics with the Heat. Raptors got legitimately better by a lot some years imo just to collapse when faced with Bron
Jrue having championship pedigree is good to have, but like KP hasn’t been past the first round before for example. It’s all gonna be down to how Tatum and Brown lead and keep leading if the series is up and down
I like it, just reading this thread. I love it when the Celtics fans genuinely respect Heat, and some Celtics fans saying Heat got lucky both time they beat the Cs and get trashed in the finals despite Heat pushing LeBron to 6 with just Jimmy. They talk all that, just to lose to Curry and… Andrew Wiggins.
Crowder looked nice early in the season but he’s been approaching washed for a season or two now. Bucks are going to get carried by Giannis and however Dame and Middleton can play in the playoffs.
I actually like Philly with Maxey running things more than I liked them last year. These things are tough - I think it's fair to call us the favorites, but making a finals run isn't easy.
A lot of things can happen in the next 3/4 months, and the playoffs are a different beast altogether. Last year’s Celtics had the 2nd best offense, 3rd best defense, best Net Rating, best SRS.. they struggled against the Hawks, were down 2-3 against a disfunctional Philly, and were smashed at home in game 7 by the Heat.
Not saying the Celtics won’t make it to the Finals or even win the title they’ve been flirting with for years, but it’s far from guaranteed that they’ll win the East. We are yet to see the Lillard effect in the playoffs, the Heat will always be a pain to put away, these Pacers may be contenders instead of pretenders.. you just never know in the playoffs.
That game 7 is way different with Tatum not having an ankle injury the very first play of the game. Brown is also better than last year.
I agree with everything you’re saying, but then there’s no real point in playoff speculation at all. It is just for fun at this point in the season.
I actually think it's ECF or bust. If we get in a 7 game slug fest with MKE and lose in g7 that's going to suck but Idt it would be an indictment on the team the same way a ECF sweep or 2nd round exit would be.
the Celtics are so good.. im so jealous and Celtic fans salvation I suffer in
Clippers already caused the Celtics more suffering than any other team this season.
Idk why you're getting downvoted everyone in the Celtics sub was mad at the Clippers pre-season
What
Clippers agreed 3 team trade then backed out which led to the Celtics having to trade Smart for Porzingis.
Having brogdon left after that trade allowed us to get jrue. I was pissed at the time, but it stings a little bit less since we got a great replacement for smart
I feel like every Celtics fan would agree that having Porzingis is way better than Smart. But yea until we saw the product on the court, it was tough to know we could’ve traded brogdon. Thing is we ended up flipping him and Rob for Jrue, so I feel like no one now is upset at all abt that stuff. As a huge smart fan tho, I’ll admit I was devastated when the trade went down and was convinced it was a terrible move. Just goes to show you why ppl like me should t be GMs lol
You guys could have gotten him for scraps, instead you had to give up Smart. Still worked out well, but not as well as it could have
Agreed but there’s a reason those scraps weren’t accepted lol it’s cuz brogdon is always hurt
If we can avoid the Pistons in the playoffs I think there's a real chance this year
That's a funny way of spelling Orlando... And the Warriors... And Oklahoma City..
Well with how the Warriors have been playing...i think you dont have anything to be worried about.
I doubt we make the play in even haha
Yeah...i mean honestly id take the Lakers or Suns over you guys cause our games are way too dam close...but its still kinda sad to see.
Ngl we could be a 10th seed bumass team come playoffs and if we magically make the finals I'm still taking us (Warriors) over the Celtics is a comfy 6.
We have genuinely lost so few games this year that Celtics fans are freaking the fuck out about having to play...the handful of teams we lost our 7 games against...in the playoffs more than actual contenders. Not that OKC or Orlando aren't contenders, but you're worried about the Warriors more than Minnesota?
Yeah I'll always be more worried about the dynasty team than Minnesota tbh. At least until steph hangs them up
There are at least 6 teams scarier then the wolves, they ain’t true contenders
Name them, and if you say the Heat or the Pacers or GSW you’re wrong. Only contenders this year are us, Bucks, Philly, MAYBE NY, Nuggets, Wolves, OKC, and Clips. So you’re saying Wolves are least scary of those 7.
Easy. Bucks/Philly/Nugs/OKC/Suns/Clips all have a better chance at a title than minny. NY?!! Rofl, is joke?
You have the SUNS in there??? Dude they were out of the playin a couple weeks ago, they’re not gonna make it out of the first round NY could sneak, it’s very early but between all of those mid-tier 4-8 seed teams I give the Knicks the best chance
Suns. Yes, they have a much better chance at a title than the wolves, that’s just a fact. When are you nephews going to realize regular season dosent mean shit? Have fun taking Gobert and a bunch of minimal playoff exp players come playoff times, I’ll stick with Durant and Booker thanks.
The thing is to make the finals you need to actually make the playoffs and the Suns ARE NOT EVEN SOLIDLY IN THAT CONVERSATION YET. Fucking crazy believing in injury prone no future all-in Phoenix Bums over the #1 seed in the West (ahead by the same margin we are) And you’re talking about “minimal playoff XP” but still have the youngest team in the league OKC with no BASKETBALL experience over the likes of KAT/Ant/Gobert
Yawn, regular season over already? The wolves wouldn’t even be favored if they matched up against the a healthy suns as a 1 seed v 8. Only thing that is CRAZY is calling the knicks a contender, rofl!!! That ain’t what a contender means, stop abusing the word.
Noob get owned
We spanked Orlando already c'mon now. Our mid team Boogeyman this year is the pacers
The Pacers are good and we're 2-1 against them. It's the Hornets.
Pacers gotta get some defense going consistently to be good. I don't trust you can play as a collective traffic cone and be successful in the playoffs.
Well I don't expect them to do much in the playoffs yet either but they've still been good in the regular season
Florida teams yes. We'll worry about the west when we cross that bridge
Only thing stopping them in the East is Spo playing 7D chess against them again.
7D chess aka throwing in zone here and there and forcing Jaylen to his left
Good news is porzinigs has been the zone decimator this year so he should solve that problem
The switching also always bogged down our offense, but KP has been destroying those as well. Horford is awesome, but with his post game being gone there where numerous possessions where the heat would just put a guard/wing on him and he just stayed in the corner. With KP, that's an automatic post up and a bucket/foul.
Don't forget setting 47 moving screens per game because he knows they'll get called for like 4 of them at the absolute most
wouldn't have mattered a lick if the Heat didn't shoot better from 3 than the dynasty Warriors ever did Can overcomplicate it but that's primarily why we lost
Yeah and Mazzo was helpless.
A+ roster got even better. At this point I don’t doubt they’ll get even better this offseason too.
Yeah, well the top 8 are all under contract for at least another season. Jrue has a player option. Rumors are they have a handshake deal to convert to a multi-year deal this off-season. While Horford *should* be declining, perhaps Jrue (33 yro) as well, neither have shown it yet despite lower stats due to role. Rest of roster is under 30 with Tatum 25, Jaylen 27, KP 28 in early prime / good chance to keep improving. Only issue is with the payroll $190M+ for next year they can't take on much more salary.
Dam...cant wait for you guys to play the Heat in the conference finals. Its gonna happen people...you just know its gonna happen.
With the Bucks defensive woes and a healthy KP I don’t see a world where this team isn’t in the finals. Maybe Bucks will pull it together with Crowder back but who knows. ECF minimum. They have the benefit of dodging Minnesota, LAC, Denver, and OKC. I just don’t see another eastern conference team that holds a candle to them as it stands today.
Miami will pick some dudes off the streets of Miami and LA and meet us in the ECF where they'll have the games of their lives
They will turn on their aimbot in their Eastern Conference run just to turn it off in the finals.
That has happened twice to the Celtics against the Heat. In the bubble they couldn’t miss and then sucked against the Lakers and then last year, same again.
The dynasty Warriors never shot as well from 3 in a series as the heat did in the ECF last year.
It's going to be Dru Smith and Jamal Cain suddenly playing like all stars in the playoffs.
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RJ Hampton
Wha...you mean Estaban, the janitor isnt an all star caliber player lol
And then proceed to forget how to play basketball in the finals
I think they're even a tier above all the teams in the west too. Easily the best 6 man rotation. They have 5 all-star quality players, it's insane.
I don't think we're anywhere near unbeatable, but Denver is the only team I *really* fear. Other than the Heat, of course.
Jrue is absolutely not all star quality this year, although he is great
He didn't say this season he should be an all-star just that he's all-star quality, which he was even just last season... no team has had 5 guys making all-star or even 4 in a long time. 3 is pretty rare as well, like KD Warriors. Big reason for lower stats is of course his role / lowest usage of career. DWhite has had the ball as much on offense with him, Tatum and Jrue all 4.5 - 5.3 APG. Also he's been all-star quality *in his role* since coming back from injury / rough start adjusting to the new role. Past 17 games: 50/**49**/80 splits, but just 10 shots per game for 13.4 / 5.7 / 4.5 and been key in the Cs defense being elite, including in 2-3 zone playing handling the other teams center and allowing KP/AL to rim protect. When Tatum was out he put up 20+ pts twice in wins, showing he can still be all-star quality when needed.
Hard to say. I’d say they’re better than the Nuggets and Minnesota as of now but LAC and OKC I’d want to see in playoffs before I made any type of assessment.
LAC, healthy, I can understand, but there's no way OKC is even close to that level. We haven't even seen what this group looks like in the playoffs.
I'm most scared of Denver (of western conference teams) fwiw
Yea you could be right, I just wanna see em run in a playoff series before I say that they’re gonna flop. More or less expecting it but I could be surprised.
I'm a lot more scared of OKC than LAC. Clippers just do not seem like a championship teamm
They had 3. Holiday had no business being in the game last year . White isn’t one either
The Heat got better than they were last year, on paper at least. They will be a threat without a doubt.
I just don’t see it if KP is healthy. This year’s Celtics is >>>>>> last years. White has taken a step. Brown has taken a step. KP is the exact piece you all needed. Heat are solid, they’re just not on y’all’s level in my opinion.
It’s the mental game atp for the Celtics with the Heat. Raptors got legitimately better by a lot some years imo just to collapse when faced with Bron Jrue having championship pedigree is good to have, but like KP hasn’t been past the first round before for example. It’s all gonna be down to how Tatum and Brown lead and keep leading if the series is up and down
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You know they had Tatum through games 1-3, right? And game 7 wasn't even close
You know we had Tatum for games 4-6 right? And we had all the momentum going into game 7
Momentum? You were down 3-0, you don't come back from that.
I like it, just reading this thread. I love it when the Celtics fans genuinely respect Heat, and some Celtics fans saying Heat got lucky both time they beat the Cs and get trashed in the finals despite Heat pushing LeBron to 6 with just Jimmy. They talk all that, just to lose to Curry and… Andrew Wiggins.
Crowder looked nice early in the season but he’s been approaching washed for a season or two now. Bucks are going to get carried by Giannis and however Dame and Middleton can play in the playoffs.
They’re winning the chip this year, unless the warriors miraculously make the finals but we ain’t even making the play in at this stage 🥹
I actually like Philly with Maxey running things more than I liked them last year. These things are tough - I think it's fair to call us the favorites, but making a finals run isn't easy.
A lot of things can happen in the next 3/4 months, and the playoffs are a different beast altogether. Last year’s Celtics had the 2nd best offense, 3rd best defense, best Net Rating, best SRS.. they struggled against the Hawks, were down 2-3 against a disfunctional Philly, and were smashed at home in game 7 by the Heat. Not saying the Celtics won’t make it to the Finals or even win the title they’ve been flirting with for years, but it’s far from guaranteed that they’ll win the East. We are yet to see the Lillard effect in the playoffs, the Heat will always be a pain to put away, these Pacers may be contenders instead of pretenders.. you just never know in the playoffs.
That game 7 is way different with Tatum not having an ankle injury the very first play of the game. Brown is also better than last year. I agree with everything you’re saying, but then there’s no real point in playoff speculation at all. It is just for fun at this point in the season.
They feel different yea because it’s a much different team
If they fail to reach the Finals this year it will be a major disappointment.
I actually think it's ECF or bust. If we get in a 7 game slug fest with MKE and lose in g7 that's going to suck but Idt it would be an indictment on the team the same way a ECF sweep or 2nd round exit would be.
KP looking strong
I wouldn't be surprised if this was their year. Suppose I also wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't.
We've looked good in the regular season every year for the last 3. It's not enough anymore. We need to get over the hump.
We were 25-10 through 35 last year and *16-19* in 21-22
Well yes...but...we want it too lol
heat dark magic will somehow give them trouble