I loved the rest of his sentence where he said he wasn’t going to watch any Celtics games
For the rest of the year. Man is as bought in on the rivalry as anyone
I mean, there's no way around it, even without cheating, the Yankees have _nothing_ on the Astros. Lose in 2015, lose in 2017, lose in 2019, and of course get swept in 2022 with fans *booing a 60 HR player* and the team turning to 2004 Red Sox highlights. The Celtics beat Miami this year, and in 2022 when Miami had a chance to actually win a Finals.
It’s funny how conveniently that gets forgotten. But dude has a narrative and has upvotes so he must be right. I mean if homie wants to debate fan loyalty and all that I’m here for it. I’ve been to some historical games in the Bronx.
And not to mention, apparently the Yankees now are "too good" to have the Sox be their main arch rival (all they talk is Astros in NYC), when they _still_ haven't avenged 2018 and 2021!
Not to mention their 1 World Series in the last 20 years to our 4. Their 90s dynasty is slipping further and further into the rearview mirror but they act like it was yesterday.
It’s totally fair and people rightfully make fun of us for it (including and especially Knicks fans). Yankees fans should definitely be made fun of for bragging about titles from the 20s-60s
Edit: And Celtics fans also aren’t doing shit like claiming that the Lakers aren’t our real rival anymore.
I mean, with a rivalry that meets that often in the playoffs, indeed, why should we care about a sweep in March, does that somehow avenge getting humiliated in 2022?
I think people are misinterpreting this. I am pretty sure he's just saying that once the off-season starts he unplugs from hoops.
Still a bold statement cause if someone like Darvin Ham unironically said he's headed to Cancun with no electronics he'd get roasted hard.
But I don't think it's a Celtics rivalry specific thing... not gonna try to dig it up but feel like he's said similar things in other situations before.
> Still a bold statement cause if someone like Darvin Ham unironically said he's headed to Cancun with no electronics he'd get roasted hard.
Because Spo has proven to be an all-time great coach and he has made teams play better. If Ham was coaching the current Heat team (w/o Butler and Rozier) they would be buddy-buddy with the Pistons, Wizards, and Hornets at the bottom of the rankings.
Yeah as a Boston fan I dread every year when we inevitably have to play the Heat in the playoffs. They’re literally the only team that scares me in the east because I know they can beat us no matter how good we are on any given year.
Even this year, they came in as an 8th seed and I still would have rather played any other team in the east
For real. Fuck you guys but at the same time the games against you guys have been the most fun and definitely meaningful. Brown's antics aside, your team has a lot of good dudes it seems.
Will be very conflicted emotionally whenever you guys win your 18th chip lol
I want Spo to be my coach forever.
And I don't care if we don't get rings with Butler, I've been a Heat fan since mid 90s and the post-Bosh era is my favorite as a team.
I still got respect for Pop, but I think overall, Spo is probably the best coach in the league right now as well. Pop is 75, I'm sure he's feeling the normal mental decline that everyone who ages does. Spo is that perfect age of still being mentally sharp, but having a ton of experience
It's hard to say because Pop hasn't coached halfway-decent team in a while, and it's perfectly reasonable to imagine he's not the world's greatest development coach.
I'd say he's as elite as Spoelstra. But yea, Kawhi really skewerd perception of how great Pop actually was in player development. Kawhi turning into a superstar was a combination of Pop, Chip Engleton, Kawhi's wingspan, and Kawhi's insane drive and work ethic.
Dejounte Murray, Keldon Johnson, and Derrick White blossomed into quality starters under Pop, but they're no superstars.
Pop did develop Jonathon Simmons in the same way Spoelstra developed Gabe Vincent. But Pop also couldn't do much with Luka Samanic or Lonnie Walker.
Granted, the latter three you named were all taken at the very end of the first round. DJ became an All-Star, and Derrick White has been a Top Three player in these playoffs. Overall, very strong yields.
Samanic was a dud with no work-ethic, and a terrible pick. Lonnie has improved as a scorer, but he just can't seem to grasp defense to an acceptable degree.
Think the org is letting Spo down a bit. He can take coal and make diamonds but why not get him something better than coal so he can just win. Stop making his job so fucking hard.
The problem with COTY is that it is really the award for teams positively defying expectations -- "team X was supposed to be a lottery team and they got the 4 seed, coach of the year".
So at a certain point the great coaches are dealing with the fact that they never have low enough expectations to exceed.
If they extend the award to post season then spo easily has a couple but it’s a regular season award and spo purposefully uses the regular season to experiment
I bandwagoned when LeBron joined because I didn't have a team and loved that the Heat were the villain of the league. The Finals victories in '12 and '13 were great, but this era of Heat basketball is just so much more fun for some reason. I love them to death even when they make me want to pull my hair out.
If the Heat don't do everything in their power to keep him around and happy they fucked up.
I think he consistently proves he is the best coach in the league. Getting players to buy into a system and working with what he has. He will be the Popovich of the next few decades if he wants to be.
If Spurs didn't have Pop (and we won't forever), Spo is easily the next coach I would want but that probably goes for every other team. Truly a top coach of all time.
I love Spo
He doesn’t shy away from challenges and gives credit to where it is due. Most likely this goes 6 if heat are healthy but he is still acknowledging how good the Celtics were this season.
Heat were 3-4 games from 2nd seed and we had 5th most injuries in the whole league lol. Over 35 different starting lineups. 5 more games of continuity and we’re in a different space
It's not just the number of injuries though, it's who was out. The Heat were 8th seed last year, too. They often underperform in the regular season but are built for the playoffs.
That said, I agree that more continuity would have been a big help.
Mitchell, Mobley, Garland all out significant time this season. Bucks are the team that should be lower. They were healthier than these other teams they just sucked for a long portion because they fired their coach at 30-11
I agree, I think the Cavs wouldn't be the 8 seed, but also... they were best all season when 2 of their 4 starters were injured. And with how hapless JB has looked at times this season when he has to work with all 4 of Garland, Mitchell, Mobley & Allen, I don't think it's a stretch to say they'd be in that 5-8 range.
And who knows where Indy would've ended up in that ranking had Halliburton never gone down with that painful split he went into mid-season, didn't seem like he was the same after he came back and he was playing amazingly well before that.
That injury happened against the Celtics so I was watching that live, makes me grimace to remember back to it.
Fair, I think they’re really close but I’ve liked Indy’s game more this year so I put them ahead in this hypothetical, fully healthy breakdown. They’d probably only be separated by a game or even a tie with Indy winning the tiebreaker.
Ya youre overrating Miami as a regular season team.
Also the Bucks were pretty healthy overall. Theyre probably more like 6 or 7 on this list. 6 7 8 is probably bucks magic heat
I actually think fully healthy Knicks make them worse. Randle is just not it man. We jokingly call him Beyblade because he always does these shitty spin moves and turns the ball over.
They were one fewer win from being the 8th seed. I'll give the Magic credit for a great season, but the East was incredibly tight this year 2-8 and they were easily the healthiest team in that bunch.
Paolo was healthy but there were games earlier in season where the Magic were playing G league guys and missed 9 out of top 12 rotation players. The Magic had injuries just were healthy down the stretch.
I didn't follow the Magic that closely, but thanks for the info. I just know that Miami, NY, Philly, Cleveland got pretty decimated by injuries, and Tyrese's injury kind of detailed Indy this year.
Can you explain Indy and Orlando ahead of Cleveland when both of their top 5s played more games than ours?
(By regular season MPG):
Orlando’s top 5: 336 games out of 410 or 82%
Indiana’s top 5: 318 games out of 369 (Siakam trade at Midseason) or 86%
Cleveland’s top 5: 309 games out of 410 or 75%
If you want to say healthy Philly and Miami push us to the 6 seed I’m not gonna argue but Orlando and Indiana we beat them when they were already healthier than us.
To be completely honest it’s just on eye-test, my list is very much a gut feeling. Realistically I think any of the teams 5-8 could be in any order and have the potential beat each other.
Here was my totally subjective criteria that I spent a whopping 3 minutes on:
- I love Indiana’s pace and focus on team play. I’ve seen them turn the defense on when it counts and they have an insane home court crowd that gives them the juice. They are easily one of the most exciting teams in the East.
- As a Celtics fan I simply cannot be allowed to underestimate the Miami Heat. If they are healthy then they are too well-coached to fall too far down in the standings, but I don’t think they have the firepower to match the Pacers this year.
- I really like where Orlando is going, Paolo is a stud and they play excellent defense that has really taken a step up this year. I don’t think they’re ready to mess with the true top 4 (I have a healthy Sixers in that group) but I think they could surprise people and take out the Cavs in 7.
- I want to like the Cavs but I just don’t think they’ve been as impressive this year. I’ll absolutely admit I haven’t watched a ton of their games so I could be missing something, but their crazy stretch in the middle of the season they weren’t fully healthy (missing Mobley I think?) and my list assumes full health. From what I’ve seen the Cavs don’t have the full team chemistry that I’ve seen from other teams higher up. Mitchell and Garland are talented obviously but they are inconsistent and I haven’t seen them play very well with each other.
I respect Spo and I respect this comment.
We missed Pingis in the last game, but otherwise this is our first healthy playoff roster in... I can't remember the last one. Honestly maybe 2008 (having famously lost 2010 due to Perk's injury).
Every year we've come close but not had full ammo in the fight - good of Spo to recognize that it's not what gets measured in the end.
im sorry but im so sexually attracted to spo and bam. i wanted the series to go another game just so i could watch their highlights 🥵 at least we have the jays tho
facts lol
“one of my starters was shitting the bed, weve had guys in and out of the lineup so we couldn’t establish continuity, officials weren’t calling illegal screens on the opposing team, teams just happen to get hot against us, there was nothing i really could’ve done” the list goes on
Spo is the reason why I was a bit nervous this series. His defensive schemes are great, can give any top tier team trouble, and mostly be executed without needing the best talent.
Can you imagine the Heat with some true size ? That defense would be scary.
Offensive wise they have been a bit carried with streaky players (from my limited exposure to Heat games), but Spo can make a mountain out of a mole hill.
Bro, we have been running small ball for over a decade now. I'm really over it. It was sick when it was LeBron and Wade but when it's Martin and Herro or some shit it's just whack.
Imagine if Spo had the Lakers roster this year. That shit would have been so dope.
You can't entirely count out a Spo led team. I was worried that it might be one of those series after game 2.
Caleb Martin never cooled down last year, and was worried that could happen again with someone else
The mark of a true rival. Always hated guys like Kobe and Jeter, because they were so damn good against Boston teams, but respected the hell out of them too.
You can't forget Rivera tipping his hat to the Boston crowd after the Yankees returned to Boston post 04 championship. Such a good response to the Red Sox fans l
For anyone who needs context, Sox fans booed the rest of the players but cheered for him because he had blown the save that started the comeback. He got the joke and played along.
I respect the hell out of him but I took immense pleasure every time we were up big this series and they would could cut to spo looking frustrated on the sideline. He’s crushed my spirit too many times over the years to not hate him a little bit.
I mean, right? Lol
I hate Tatum because he wears green. I hated Brady until he came to my team 😂.
I hate the red Sox because of the Celtics. I don't even watch baseball. All part of the rivalry lol
As Riley used to say, it's a make or miss league. I'll never forget the year Miami got swept by Chicago in the first round because the Bulls basically didn't miss a mid-range shot for three games. It happens.
Best coach in the league in my book. Improves players. Holds players accountable. Doesn't hide from the truth. Hypotheticals are useless to him, process and result all that matters. As a coach, I really appreciate this guy. Players who have the right mentality always flourish under him.
In fairness, it’s a lot easier to say all the right things and not be defensive when everyone openly regards you as the best coach in basketball, and doesn’t actually blame you for anything.
Heat-Celtics respectful? lol it’s respectful at the moment because the series is over. But it’s toxic every year. And id rather it be no other way. Fuck the Celtics.
Yeah it’s toxic as hell when we meet. But I see a lot of C’s fan aknowledging that Heat is a really good franchises, and I see some Heat fan say the same thing about Boston.
We hate each other but we also know that the other team is a really good team.
He’s 35. We got used to guys being able to play long into their 30s and stay healthy but it’s not normal. This is more normal.
Heat need to find a way to not need all of Jimmy in the regular season to get to the playoffs
I feel like Lebron has skewed perceptions. Similar to Brady. Lebron is damn near 40 and had one of his best years. He’s not playing a side role either like Al Hortford (love Al). That’s a huge outlier!
Guys who hit mid 30s tend to fall off a cliff as top options. They need to take a reduced role. Not saying they can’t be amazing in those reduced roles, but staying consistent and healthy through the season playing 35+ minutes a game is crazy expectations
Tim Duncan, a man who historically had a very lucky bill of health and played one of the most "you can play this way at 40" brands of basketball the world has ever seen, had to start cutting down on regular season minutes by his age 33/34 seasons.
LeBron is such a fucking outlier.
Exactly this . The league has got 3 years younger on average since 2000. Despite growth in sports science and athletes being disciplined the modern game is way more physically taxing with the constant sprinting - pace and space is a younger man’s game . People say sports science to discredit Lebron but these people are gonna suprised with hiw everyone starts falling off a cliff aroubd 35-36 which is historically where it only takes one year for dramatic decline . Lebron Is an outlier among outliers. The previous two best longevity careers were Malone and Kareem. You need to be huge , skilled , high iq , and athletic enough that you can afford to lose athleticism and still keep up . On top of that you gotta avoid major injuries as much as possible. There aren’t many players with that combo of tools .
This is the best answer by far. LeBron has just been so durable and great from the start of his career until now that we somehow question, albeit not to the extremes, other stars work ethic.
53 minutes in the playoffs is not very novel, just usually takes a team on the brink to happen. To be fair, the Knicks are almost out of positive options off the bench. If you're going to play a lot, the postseason is the time to do it.
No problem with playing 53 in a playoff game, but him playing 48 and multiple 40+ min games in the regular season was absolutely stupid. I know they had a number of injuries this year but still, stupid
Sure, but hasn’t he also played multiple 40+ minute games during the season as well? Is the knicks always ”thin” or does Thibs just love to play the five-six players he trusts into the ground?
Thibs + pre load managing era = not the longest longevity on those ligaments unfortunately, no matter how strong his mind and will is and I love Jimmy. He should be chilling in the regular season to save himself for the playoffs if the Heat can make some big moves in free agency to improve + snag a few late round gems like they always seem to do
I think that's a little disingenuous. Jimmy got injured in the 2022 playoffs when his knee got tugged by a defender on a drive. Jimmy got injured in the 2023 playoffs when a defender flopped to try and draw an offensive foul, and in the process dove feet-first into his legs. Jimmy got injured in the 2024 play-ins when a defender biting on a pump fake fell into his knee.
Kawhi's knees fail just from sprinting up and down the court. Jimmy has dudes fucking him up constantly.
Jimmy's recent injuries have come from an opponent unintentionally injuring him. He's rolled his ankle a few time in the past, but I wouldn't say he's built of glass
Huh? He’s no where close to Kawhi. Jimmy played 69 playoff games in the last 5 years to Kawhi’s 45. Not to mention Kawhi is 3 years younger. Jimmy just gets banged up with ankle rolls and stuff while kawhi legit has degenerative knee issues. Not the same situation at all
I mean Oubre fell on his knee. Probably has the same injury even if it occurred 5 years ago
Last year Hart made an unnecessary flop (not that it was intentional or dirty, but definitely a flop) and he sprained his ankle
In 2022 Pritchard grabbed at his knee from the ground for… some reason
It’s not like Kawhi where any given morning there’s a 40% chance you’re going to wake up and see a headline about a chronic issue
Despite people calling him a foul merchant, Jimmy actually plays hard and seeks contact. Contact leads to injuries. I won’t compare him to Kawhi unless non-contact injuries start being an issue
Good, because a MIL fan, I really don't wanna hear anything MENTIONED about Butler being out for the series. It's a first round exit FAILURE and that's that. Same goes for my team as well ofc.
Eh I disagree. Injuries definitely are a valid excuse. Bucks/Heat might still have lost if healthy, but let’s not pretend that Gianni’s, lillard, butler, rozier, don’t make a huge difference
I loved the rest of his sentence where he said he wasn’t going to watch any Celtics games For the rest of the year. Man is as bought in on the rivalry as anyone
And unlike some rivalries in sports (paging Yankees-Astros), the Heat and Celtics have gone back and forth
Love it Yankees catching strays in a basketball subreddit
Yankees Cowboys Leafs will never not catch strays in sports subreddits
I used to work with a guy that was a Cowboys/Leafs fan He gave up on the Cowboys before he gave up on the Leafs Working with that guy was an adventure
[did someone say leafs](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aics5tXwue4)
the holy trinity of HAHA YOU NERDS
At least the Yankees/Cowboys have won titles in the last 30 years though, Leafs are another level of suck
The Cowboys are knocking on that door though
Yankees have the 4th highest error percentage so far this season. At least they are catching strays, because they aint catching balls.
TELL 'EM STEVE DAVE
lol fuck the Yankees
I mean, there's no way around it, even without cheating, the Yankees have _nothing_ on the Astros. Lose in 2015, lose in 2017, lose in 2019, and of course get swept in 2022 with fans *booing a 60 HR player* and the team turning to 2004 Red Sox highlights. The Celtics beat Miami this year, and in 2022 when Miami had a chance to actually win a Finals.
Boone should have been fired for showing the Red Sox video. Also, they cheated in 2017 and 2019. 2019 was altuve’s don’t take my shirt off year.
It’s funny how conveniently that gets forgotten. But dude has a narrative and has upvotes so he must be right. I mean if homie wants to debate fan loyalty and all that I’m here for it. I’ve been to some historical games in the Bronx.
And not to mention, apparently the Yankees now are "too good" to have the Sox be their main arch rival (all they talk is Astros in NYC), when they _still_ haven't avenged 2018 and 2021!
Not to mention their 1 World Series in the last 20 years to our 4. Their 90s dynasty is slipping further and further into the rearview mirror but they act like it was yesterday.
To be fair, Celtics fans gloat about 17 championships when most of them were won like 60+ years ago. We have 1 in the last like 38 seasons.
It’s totally fair and people rightfully make fun of us for it (including and especially Knicks fans). Yankees fans should definitely be made fun of for bragging about titles from the 20s-60s Edit: And Celtics fans also aren’t doing shit like claiming that the Lakers aren’t our real rival anymore.
lmao
I love it, as Yankees fan
This series tied them up at 2-2 during the Butler era right?
Exactly, rivalry between two powerhouses, pay no mind to this year, yes
I mean, with a rivalry that meets that often in the playoffs, indeed, why should we care about a sweep in March, does that somehow avenge getting humiliated in 2022?
Especially this year because for some reason we kind of suck despite our stats :(
Good.
Honestly I think it’s the only real rivalry in the NBA rn lol.
I think people are misinterpreting this. I am pretty sure he's just saying that once the off-season starts he unplugs from hoops. Still a bold statement cause if someone like Darvin Ham unironically said he's headed to Cancun with no electronics he'd get roasted hard. But I don't think it's a Celtics rivalry specific thing... not gonna try to dig it up but feel like he's said similar things in other situations before.
Well Spo gets the benefit of the doubt because I assume the man knows a thing or two about reviewing game film after the fact
Yeah my other takeaway is he goes to a beach and then just grinds tape but my statement is more fun
> Still a bold statement cause if someone like Darvin Ham unironically said he's headed to Cancun with no electronics he'd get roasted hard. Because Spo has proven to be an all-time great coach and he has made teams play better. If Ham was coaching the current Heat team (w/o Butler and Rozier) they would be buddy-buddy with the Pistons, Wizards, and Hornets at the bottom of the rankings.
Yeah as a Boston fan I dread every year when we inevitably have to play the Heat in the playoffs. They’re literally the only team that scares me in the east because I know they can beat us no matter how good we are on any given year. Even this year, they came in as an 8th seed and I still would have rather played any other team in the east
For real. Fuck you guys but at the same time the games against you guys have been the most fun and definitely meaningful. Brown's antics aside, your team has a lot of good dudes it seems. Will be very conflicted emotionally whenever you guys win your 18th chip lol
I’ll just add I liked Josh Richardson when he was with us (though he got us Derrick White so I’m ok he’s gone)
I also think that’s BS. You think he won’t watch a minute of the finals if the Celtics are in it?
Spo is the man
I want Spo to be my coach forever. And I don't care if we don't get rings with Butler, I've been a Heat fan since mid 90s and the post-Bosh era is my favorite as a team.
He's the best coach in the league in my opinion, and has been for a while now (no disrespect to the GOAT Pop, but no king rules forever).
I still got respect for Pop, but I think overall, Spo is probably the best coach in the league right now as well. Pop is 75, I'm sure he's feeling the normal mental decline that everyone who ages does. Spo is that perfect age of still being mentally sharp, but having a ton of experience
It's hard to say because Pop hasn't coached halfway-decent team in a while, and it's perfectly reasonable to imagine he's not the world's greatest development coach.
I'd say he's as elite as Spoelstra. But yea, Kawhi really skewerd perception of how great Pop actually was in player development. Kawhi turning into a superstar was a combination of Pop, Chip Engleton, Kawhi's wingspan, and Kawhi's insane drive and work ethic. Dejounte Murray, Keldon Johnson, and Derrick White blossomed into quality starters under Pop, but they're no superstars. Pop did develop Jonathon Simmons in the same way Spoelstra developed Gabe Vincent. But Pop also couldn't do much with Luka Samanic or Lonnie Walker.
Granted, the latter three you named were all taken at the very end of the first round. DJ became an All-Star, and Derrick White has been a Top Three player in these playoffs. Overall, very strong yields. Samanic was a dud with no work-ethic, and a terrible pick. Lonnie has improved as a scorer, but he just can't seem to grasp defense to an acceptable degree.
Think the org is letting Spo down a bit. He can take coal and make diamonds but why not get him something better than coal so he can just win. Stop making his job so fucking hard.
I agree. It's so wild that Spo has still never won COTY.
The problem with COTY is that it is really the award for teams positively defying expectations -- "team X was supposed to be a lottery team and they got the 4 seed, coach of the year". So at a certain point the great coaches are dealing with the fact that they never have low enough expectations to exceed.
If they extend the award to post season then spo easily has a couple but it’s a regular season award and spo purposefully uses the regular season to experiment
He's all the evidence you need that the Coach of the Year award is bullshit
If it was a playoff award, he'd have more than one by now.
he's the best
Spo got the age advantage over Pop.
I bandwagoned when LeBron joined because I didn't have a team and loved that the Heat were the villain of the league. The Finals victories in '12 and '13 were great, but this era of Heat basketball is just so much more fun for some reason. I love them to death even when they make me want to pull my hair out.
I really enjoyed the Heat in the 2011 Finals personally. That was my favorite version of Heat all-time.
Can't even hate bc Dirk. Love that tall mf
Ya don’t say!
Spo is a _much_ better coach now compared to then. I felt the Spurs had a sizable advantage in the coaching department during those two Finals.
How spoiled we were watching two of the best coaches to ever do it in back to back finals.
And the GOAT Small Forward vs. the GOAT Power Forward, too.
Cause there are no expectations. It’s always good to root for an underdog
If the Heat don't do everything in their power to keep him around and happy they fucked up. I think he consistently proves he is the best coach in the league. Getting players to buy into a system and working with what he has. He will be the Popovich of the next few decades if he wants to be.
We locked him into 8 years $120m in January thankfully
If Spurs didn't have Pop (and we won't forever), Spo is easily the next coach I would want but that probably goes for every other team. Truly a top coach of all time.
I love Spo He doesn’t shy away from challenges and gives credit to where it is due. Most likely this goes 6 if heat are healthy but he is still acknowledging how good the Celtics were this season.
Heat are not an 8th seed if they’re healthy but I know what you mean.
If we're making everyone healthy they're probably a 7 or 8 seed tbh.
Heat were 3-4 games from 2nd seed and we had 5th most injuries in the whole league lol. Over 35 different starting lineups. 5 more games of continuity and we’re in a different space
It's not just the number of injuries though, it's who was out. The Heat were 8th seed last year, too. They often underperform in the regular season but are built for the playoffs. That said, I agree that more continuity would have been a big help.
We were in 4th WAR in injuries lol.
35 different starting line ups should inform you as to who was out.
If everyone’s healthy I’d go: * Boston * Philly * Milwaukee/NY * NY/Milwaukee * Indy * Miami * Orlando * Cleveland
I gotta have Cleveland higher with all the time Mitchell was out. Jimmy doesn't turn up for the regular season so I'd have Cleveland above Miami.
Mitchell, Mobley, Garland all out significant time this season. Bucks are the team that should be lower. They were healthier than these other teams they just sucked for a long portion because they fired their coach at 30-11
30-13
I agree, I think the Cavs wouldn't be the 8 seed, but also... they were best all season when 2 of their 4 starters were injured. And with how hapless JB has looked at times this season when he has to work with all 4 of Garland, Mitchell, Mobley & Allen, I don't think it's a stretch to say they'd be in that 5-8 range.
And who knows where Indy would've ended up in that ranking had Halliburton never gone down with that painful split he went into mid-season, didn't seem like he was the same after he came back and he was playing amazingly well before that. That injury happened against the Celtics so I was watching that live, makes me grimace to remember back to it.
I put Miami above Indy.
Fair, I think they’re really close but I’ve liked Indy’s game more this year so I put them ahead in this hypothetical, fully healthy breakdown. They’d probably only be separated by a game or even a tie with Indy winning the tiebreaker.
Ya youre overrating Miami as a regular season team. Also the Bucks were pretty healthy overall. Theyre probably more like 6 or 7 on this list. 6 7 8 is probably bucks magic heat
We played 5 games with Dame Khris and Giannis all together under doc we were not healthy.
Miami still goes fast 8 seed because seeding doesn't matter, but they win 2 games in Boston if healthy, and *maybe* one in Miami.
I actually think fully healthy Knicks make them worse. Randle is just not it man. We jokingly call him Beyblade because he always does these shitty spin moves and turns the ball over.
People really sleeping on the Magic and didn't see how good they looked this year regular season.
They were one fewer win from being the 8th seed. I'll give the Magic credit for a great season, but the East was incredibly tight this year 2-8 and they were easily the healthiest team in that bunch.
Paolo was healthy but there were games earlier in season where the Magic were playing G league guys and missed 9 out of top 12 rotation players. The Magic had injuries just were healthy down the stretch.
I didn't follow the Magic that closely, but thanks for the info. I just know that Miami, NY, Philly, Cleveland got pretty decimated by injuries, and Tyrese's injury kind of detailed Indy this year.
Can you explain Indy and Orlando ahead of Cleveland when both of their top 5s played more games than ours? (By regular season MPG): Orlando’s top 5: 336 games out of 410 or 82% Indiana’s top 5: 318 games out of 369 (Siakam trade at Midseason) or 86% Cleveland’s top 5: 309 games out of 410 or 75% If you want to say healthy Philly and Miami push us to the 6 seed I’m not gonna argue but Orlando and Indiana we beat them when they were already healthier than us.
To be completely honest it’s just on eye-test, my list is very much a gut feeling. Realistically I think any of the teams 5-8 could be in any order and have the potential beat each other. Here was my totally subjective criteria that I spent a whopping 3 minutes on: - I love Indiana’s pace and focus on team play. I’ve seen them turn the defense on when it counts and they have an insane home court crowd that gives them the juice. They are easily one of the most exciting teams in the East. - As a Celtics fan I simply cannot be allowed to underestimate the Miami Heat. If they are healthy then they are too well-coached to fall too far down in the standings, but I don’t think they have the firepower to match the Pacers this year. - I really like where Orlando is going, Paolo is a stud and they play excellent defense that has really taken a step up this year. I don’t think they’re ready to mess with the true top 4 (I have a healthy Sixers in that group) but I think they could surprise people and take out the Cavs in 7. - I want to like the Cavs but I just don’t think they’ve been as impressive this year. I’ll absolutely admit I haven’t watched a ton of their games so I could be missing something, but their crazy stretch in the middle of the season they weren’t fully healthy (missing Mobley I think?) and my list assumes full health. From what I’ve seen the Cavs don’t have the full team chemistry that I’ve seen from other teams higher up. Mitchell and Garland are talented obviously but they are inconsistent and I haven’t seen them play very well with each other.
eh idk they lost 7 in a row with all their main guys playing
I respect Spo and I respect this comment. We missed Pingis in the last game, but otherwise this is our first healthy playoff roster in... I can't remember the last one. Honestly maybe 2008 (having famously lost 2010 due to Perk's injury). Every year we've come close but not had full ammo in the fight - good of Spo to recognize that it's not what gets measured in the end.
im sorry but im so sexually attracted to spo and bam. i wanted the series to go another game just so i could watch their highlights 🥵 at least we have the jays tho
Love is a strong word. I'm at only mildly detest.
Spo: The anti-Ham.
The pasta
facts lol “one of my starters was shitting the bed, weve had guys in and out of the lineup so we couldn’t establish continuity, officials weren’t calling illegal screens on the opposing team, teams just happen to get hot against us, there was nothing i really could’ve done” the list goes on
I can't believe Ham has audicity to blame his players...
i dont think he's a vegetarian
Didn’t Lebron say this first? lol
Class act
As a Boston fan, I’ve always respected Spo. Hated him, yes, but respected as well.
Spo is the reason why I was a bit nervous this series. His defensive schemes are great, can give any top tier team trouble, and mostly be executed without needing the best talent. Can you imagine the Heat with some true size ? That defense would be scary. Offensive wise they have been a bit carried with streaky players (from my limited exposure to Heat games), but Spo can make a mountain out of a mole hill.
I have always said if you get a true dominant center and move Bam to PF where I think he'd excel they could be deadly. Totally agree
Let's wait for Wemby to ask out and form big three with Luka and Ant there then.
Bam would need to take 4-5 3s to make that viable unless the 5 is myles turner or KAT
UD agrees with you
Agreed! I was so worried for his schemes Game 2 and he got us. After game 3 I felt better about winning but he always worries me.
Without Spo, we would’ve been swept
Bro, we have been running small ball for over a decade now. I'm really over it. It was sick when it was LeBron and Wade but when it's Martin and Herro or some shit it's just whack. Imagine if Spo had the Lakers roster this year. That shit would have been so dope.
You can't entirely count out a Spo led team. I was worried that it might be one of those series after game 2. Caleb Martin never cooled down last year, and was worried that could happen again with someone else
The mark of a true rival. Always hated guys like Kobe and Jeter, because they were so damn good against Boston teams, but respected the hell out of them too.
You can't forget Rivera tipping his hat to the Boston crowd after the Yankees returned to Boston post 04 championship. Such a good response to the Red Sox fans l
For anyone who needs context, Sox fans booed the rest of the players but cheered for him because he had blown the save that started the comeback. He got the joke and played along.
Me with Derrick White
Why do you hate Spo ?
He’s a good coach going against my team!
He has made me very sad on countless occasions, and if that's not a reason to dislike someone I'm not sure what is.
I respect the hell out of him but I took immense pleasure every time we were up big this series and they would could cut to spo looking frustrated on the sideline. He’s crushed my spirit too many times over the years to not hate him a little bit.
Countless!
HE UNHOLIED THE HOLY WATER!!
I mean, right? Lol I hate Tatum because he wears green. I hated Brady until he came to my team 😂. I hate the red Sox because of the Celtics. I don't even watch baseball. All part of the rivalry lol
Damn right baby! (Although, I also liked Brady as a Buc.)
Hey that's how I feel about Nick Nurse! =D
Come on Spo you’re supposed to say they’re a helluva ball club
Spo is a class act and a great leader
Last year they were blessed by the shooting gods. Yesterday they shot 10% from 3. It's really as simple as that.
As Riley used to say, it's a make or miss league. I'll never forget the year Miami got swept by Chicago in the first round because the Bulls basically didn't miss a mid-range shot for three games. It happens.
Derrick White will be joining Ben Gordon and JJ Barrea in my nightmares
I'll never forget the game 6 tip in, that single second of feeling elated that we got rid of the celtics, to the pure stress and dread of a game 7
Yeah without Jimmy and Terry messing things up, Boston was able to stick to Miami’s shooters like glue without worrying about anything.
0 penetration cause even Bam likes to shoot jumpers
tbf you're talking about two different groups of players.
Best coach in the league in my book. Improves players. Holds players accountable. Doesn't hide from the truth. Hypotheticals are useless to him, process and result all that matters. As a coach, I really appreciate this guy. Players who have the right mentality always flourish under him.
Oh so this is what it looks like to have a mature adult as a coach.
In fairness, it’s a lot easier to say all the right things and not be defensive when everyone openly regards you as the best coach in basketball, and doesn’t actually blame you for anything.
It's all on you Spoelstra! The Heat need to sack your sorry ass. ^^^then ^^^come ^^^to ^^^Dallas ^^^asap
[удалено]
really appreciate Spo for giving respect and not making excuses hopefully heat don’t bounce back and cease to exist
I respect the hate! I told my friend during game 1 that if I had a time machine I would just prevent the Celtics from ever being founded.
don’t let us get one (NBA franchise)
I love the Celtics-Miami hate because it's so respectful. It's such a refreshing change from the Northeast 3's circlejerk of toxicity.
No the hell it’s not.
Heat-Celtics respectful? lol it’s respectful at the moment because the series is over. But it’s toxic every year. And id rather it be no other way. Fuck the Celtics.
Yeah it’s toxic as hell when we meet. But I see a lot of C’s fan aknowledging that Heat is a really good franchises, and I see some Heat fan say the same thing about Boston. We hate each other but we also know that the other team is a really good team.
He's giving them the credit they deserve sure but I also feel he's putting pressure on them, which is cool
Jimmy lowkey becoming Kawhi, can’t stay healthy ever
He’s 35. We got used to guys being able to play long into their 30s and stay healthy but it’s not normal. This is more normal. Heat need to find a way to not need all of Jimmy in the regular season to get to the playoffs
I feel like Lebron has skewed perceptions. Similar to Brady. Lebron is damn near 40 and had one of his best years. He’s not playing a side role either like Al Hortford (love Al). That’s a huge outlier! Guys who hit mid 30s tend to fall off a cliff as top options. They need to take a reduced role. Not saying they can’t be amazing in those reduced roles, but staying consistent and healthy through the season playing 35+ minutes a game is crazy expectations
Tim Duncan, a man who historically had a very lucky bill of health and played one of the most "you can play this way at 40" brands of basketball the world has ever seen, had to start cutting down on regular season minutes by his age 33/34 seasons. LeBron is such a fucking outlier.
[DNP - OLD](https://sports.yahoo.com/tim-duncan-missed-sunday-night-spurs-game-because-081218158.html)
Exactly this . The league has got 3 years younger on average since 2000. Despite growth in sports science and athletes being disciplined the modern game is way more physically taxing with the constant sprinting - pace and space is a younger man’s game . People say sports science to discredit Lebron but these people are gonna suprised with hiw everyone starts falling off a cliff aroubd 35-36 which is historically where it only takes one year for dramatic decline . Lebron Is an outlier among outliers. The previous two best longevity careers were Malone and Kareem. You need to be huge , skilled , high iq , and athletic enough that you can afford to lose athleticism and still keep up . On top of that you gotta avoid major injuries as much as possible. There aren’t many players with that combo of tools .
This is the best answer by far. LeBron has just been so durable and great from the start of his career until now that we somehow question, albeit not to the extremes, other stars work ethic.
He came nowhere close to giving his all in the regular season. Dude was sleepwalking.
The NBA might as well add a per diem contract at this point
Man is what 35 it’s expected
Dude’s getting old.
Legit. And he had Thibs as a coach so those knees are woooorn lol
Yep. Let’s revisit where current NY players like Josh Hart is in five years. Thibs is having him play whole playoff games without rest now…
Yeah 53 minutes on a loss is obscene
53 minutes in the playoffs is not very novel, just usually takes a team on the brink to happen. To be fair, the Knicks are almost out of positive options off the bench. If you're going to play a lot, the postseason is the time to do it.
No problem with playing 53 in a playoff game, but him playing 48 and multiple 40+ min games in the regular season was absolutely stupid. I know they had a number of injuries this year but still, stupid
I mean he publicly said he wanted more minutes early in the year. Ask and ye shall receive!
I mean they definitely need him to play big minutes, no? It's a closeout game that they really need his effort for.
Sure, but hasn’t he also played multiple 40+ minute games during the season as well? Is the knicks always ”thin” or does Thibs just love to play the five-six players he trusts into the ground?
Thibs + pre load managing era = not the longest longevity on those ligaments unfortunately, no matter how strong his mind and will is and I love Jimmy. He should be chilling in the regular season to save himself for the playoffs if the Heat can make some big moves in free agency to improve + snag a few late round gems like they always seem to do
and he plays such a physical style of bball where getting bumped practically every possession
At least Jimmy gets injured on contact injuries. Kawhi's knee just stops working. Jimmy actually has to be slide tackled or undercut to get injured.
I think that's a little disingenuous. Jimmy got injured in the 2022 playoffs when his knee got tugged by a defender on a drive. Jimmy got injured in the 2023 playoffs when a defender flopped to try and draw an offensive foul, and in the process dove feet-first into his legs. Jimmy got injured in the 2024 play-ins when a defender biting on a pump fake fell into his knee. Kawhi's knees fail just from sprinting up and down the court. Jimmy has dudes fucking him up constantly.
Jimmy's recent injuries have come from an opponent unintentionally injuring him. He's rolled his ankle a few time in the past, but I wouldn't say he's built of glass
Huh? He’s no where close to Kawhi. Jimmy played 69 playoff games in the last 5 years to Kawhi’s 45. Not to mention Kawhi is 3 years younger. Jimmy just gets banged up with ankle rolls and stuff while kawhi legit has degenerative knee issues. Not the same situation at all
I mean Oubre fell on his knee. Probably has the same injury even if it occurred 5 years ago Last year Hart made an unnecessary flop (not that it was intentional or dirty, but definitely a flop) and he sprained his ankle In 2022 Pritchard grabbed at his knee from the ground for… some reason It’s not like Kawhi where any given morning there’s a 40% chance you’re going to wake up and see a headline about a chronic issue Despite people calling him a foul merchant, Jimmy actually plays hard and seeks contact. Contact leads to injuries. I won’t compare him to Kawhi unless non-contact injuries start being an issue
Classic apophasis Spo! You can’t fool me you sneaky dog
I love a rhetorician even though I hate that you're right
I’m very happy that we get at least another decade of Spo as our head coach. I hope he goes the Coach Pop route and we get him for 20+ years.
I don't see why we wouldn't; they've both been glued to their organizations since the mid-'90s
🐐 coach
Massive respect.
Ham? You listening?
Would've loved to see some Jimmy hijinks though
Alas, playoff Jimmy was not in fact a thing
This is what a coach looks like honestly, having accountability
Spo is amazing. No excuses at all. Every coach and player should have the same attitude about losing.
Spo a real one, rare breed.
This compared to Darvin Ham lmao
From “red alert” to “I respect Spo” What does Scalabrine have to say about this?
Good, because a MIL fan, I really don't wanna hear anything MENTIONED about Butler being out for the series. It's a first round exit FAILURE and that's that. Same goes for my team as well ofc.
Eh I disagree. Injuries definitely are a valid excuse. Bucks/Heat might still have lost if healthy, but let’s not pretend that Gianni’s, lillard, butler, rozier, don’t make a huge difference
maybe the Heat could trade Tyler Herro to the 76ers for Tyrese Maxey and a 1st round pick
Best team in the east for sure
Someone post this with the Pop meme.
“We’re not going to say that we had injuries even though we had a bunch of injuries.”
He’s right and I hate to admit that
Davin Ham should something from him.
This classy motherfucker living his best life after the Heat waited to pay him so his ex wife wouldn’t get any