Board 8 > NBA Playoffs discussion topic

(+) Yeah! (+)

steve nash was my favorite player back in the day but he should not be the head coach of this team

so good

SeabassDebeste posted...

what do you mean by overrated? i think the celtics have generally performed like a high-tier franchise even since the pierce-garnett trade

Yeah, seriously. They've only missed the finals 3 times in the last 20 years and have made 6 conference finals, two of which they won and one of course earned a championship. Only ten NBA teams have won the championships in that time span. That has to put them over a large majority of the league. Maybe they aren't the top team every year like they once were, but they are perennial contenders. Just because they had a hard time in the 90's doesn't mean that they're not the all-time #2 most dominant team in the league and still a force to be reckoned with.

https://twitter.com/sreekyshooter/status/1518048211990163458?s=21&t=Z8Xsy4wzZ64A6tHrUBaczQ

dead

ChichiriMuyo posted...

still a force to be reckoned with.

yeah this is where they get overrated

like yeah they've made playoff runs in the East over the last 15 years so it's not like they're outright terrible but the East has been bad for most of that time and they haven't been as good as people think they are or projected them to be most seasons since their last Finals appearance

when you have to resort to "#2 all-time franchise" instead of their actual recent history you're also kind of proving my point

Tbf the the best franchise of the last 20 years is 'lebron' so lol

DoomTheGyarados posted...

Tbf the the best franchise of the last 20 years is 'lebron' so lol

that would be the Spurs even counting their last few years of not being any good (since Lebron's teams haven't been very good the last few years either aside from the weird bubble year)

LeonhartFour posted...

that would be the Spurs even counting their last few years of not being any good (since Lebron's teams haven't been very good the last few years either aside from the weird bubble year)

No one is taking 4 chips and one other final appearance over 4 chips and six other final appearances. Sorry lol

The only team in the discussion for best NBA franchise of the past 20 years aside from the Spurs is the Heat who with three very different sets of players won three finals and played in three more.

lol calling LeBron a franchise

It's also easier for Lebron to consistently be on a great team than for a franchise to remain at that level. Lebron can strip a team of all their immediate and future assets to contend now before peacing out to the next team without having to deal with the consequences. It's very hard for a franchise to just do a full reset once shit hits the fan and immediately contend again.

LeonhartFour posted...

yeah this is where they get overrated

like yeah they've made playoff runs in the East over the last 15 years so it's not like they're outright terrible but the East has been bad for most of that time and they haven't been as good as people think they are or projected them to be most seasons since their last Finals appearance

when you have to resort to "#2 all-time franchise" instead of their actual recent history you're also kind of proving my point

I'm confused if you're saying they are overrated in terms of prestige or that their recent squads have been overrated. Because aside from this year I feel like the last time non-Celtics fans took them seriously as contenders was like 2010

Edit: Other than about 5 minutes in 2017 before Hayward got hurt. But we'll never know if they were overrated or not!

2008: overachieved, won title
2009: underachieved, dominant regular season but kg got hurt and the team lost in round 2
2010: overachieved, made finals
2011: met expectations, lost to lebron and wade
2012: overachieved, won two playoff rounds and took lebron and wade 7, with a lead in game 7
2013: met expectations, lost in round 1 with really old players +ray allen desertion + rondo tearing his ACL
2014: met expectations in a tanking season
2015: exceeded expectations, made surprising run to make ir to the playoffs after reading for IT and crowder midseason
2016: met expectations, made playoffs and lost in round 1
2017: exceeded expectations, got the #1 seed and made it to the ECF before getting smashed by the best cavs team of all time
2018: exceeded expectations, survived hayward and irving injuried to win the #2 seed and get 7 games into the ECF
2019: drastic underachievement, only 48 wins with the same core as 2018 plus kyrie and hayward - losing to giannis that year was nothing to be ashamed of, but obviously round 2 and the manner of loss was embarrassing
2020: exceeded expectations, survived kyrie and horford leaving and hayward getting injured again (lol) to win two playoff rounds in the bubble before flaming out vs miami (not a great kid admittedly, but definitely still an overachieving season)
2021: underachieved, weak 7 seed in an injury-plagued season with an injured brown in round 1. that said, we were the only team to face KD, harden, and irving at full strength - this healthy core should 100% have won a title

so i don't think we've really underachieved as an aggregate in that time

to the surprise of no one, simmons ruled out for game 4

I'm sure Ben Simmons will be available the game after the Nets are eliminated

It would be funny if the Celtics/Nets series ends first when they started last

Also they are more relevant this century than the Cowboys!

Living in NY as someone who doesn't care about basketball, I found the Nets totally unlikeable last year and wanted them to lose. I might actually find them even more unlikeable now.

if Ben Simmons actually wanted to play, he'd have been playing since long before the playoffs started. I think the Nets really screwed up in thinking he was going to play for them this season.

Waste of a roster spot and a waste of time the media here is constantly in a frenzy over.

I don't really buy that his back issue is manufactured, I think he really is ailing. He got what he wanted, out of philly, he has no reason not to play if he's healthy. Dunking on him is fun but I don't think he's gone full on "con a team for the guaranteed money and pretend I'm hurt for a living"

But I also think the nets didn't think he was this bad off and thought he would be playing by now.

Well yeah, the Nets almost certainly don't trade for him if they don't believe he'd be healthy enough to play at some point this season. That wasn't a "long play" trade.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/9/9/AAN-f8AADKwj.jpg

Suns are duns

saveus.booker

https://twitter.com/TheNBACentral/status/1518587887461314560

hmmmm

I don't really worry about the Celtics on the national level, but as a fan, I wouldn't trade their 2000s for any other team aside from SA/LA/Miami/GS. Dallas is the only team that comes close... and Milwaukee is probably going to pass them soon. It's been good to be a Celtics fan!

Smart is the most important piece of the Celtics defense, don't really think it's a debate. He's also a great defender in his own right. If there's a more deserving DPOY that's fine but Smart is so important to the Celtics.

I feel like giving Most Improved Player to Morant isn't really in the spirit of the award

should've been my boy Murray

Morant winning the award feels like a joke to me. He was essentially an undisputed RotY (the 1 guy who didn't vote him should have his vote stripped for voting for a dude who only played 24 games).

There's basically an unwritten rule about 2nd year players being ineligible for MIP. When you win RotY in such a dominant fashion, you should also be ineligible unless there's a huge drop off in year 2.

NBA is in a weird spot where they really need to reevaluate almost all of their awards but will never actually do it due to precedent and history.

lmfao nets

Ben Simmons ready to go for game 5

Too bad they couldnt finish in Boston but glad not to have to hear about whatever BS drama Kyrie would come up with

That makes me laugh because the Nets were so overhyped coming in.

It's big hater energy but Nets getting swept in round 1 brings me great pleasure because of the super team nonsense

it gives me great pleasure because of kyrie and also because the team folded under pressure to allow him to play road games when they started sucking.

Emeraldegg posted...

it gives me great pleasure because of kyrie and also because the team folded under pressure to allow him to play road games when they started sucking.

Kyrie Irving has been a name I don't want to hear anymore for a long time now.

Also if Boston lost this one it would have been like a dozen fuck Scott Foster posts. Shit is so obvious. Fuck Scott Foster!

Crescent-Moon posted...

Kyrie Irving has been a name I don't want to hear anymore for a long time now.

Hes not even the one player on the Nets I am tired about hearing

Man fuck Scott Foster

fantastic game to attend in person. actually thankful for foster giving us the chance to close out with some excitement!

LiquidOshawott posted...

Hes not even the one player on the Nets I am tired about hearing

Ben Simmons won't be "ready to play" opening day next year either. Don't worry.

Mavs super dunking on jazz

The only thing lacking on the Doc Rivers playoff resume is blowing a 3-0 series lead, and he's halfway toward making it happen.

ya go my raps

https://twitter.com/woodwardsports/status/1518790631598039040

Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder, Cam Payne, and Landry Shamet are a combined 5-48 (10.4%) from 3 so far this series

So far from 3pt range this series:

Cam Payne 0-12
Jae Crowder 1-17
Mikal Bridges 2-9
Landry Shamet 2-10

gross

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/3/5/AANhZ-AADK9n.jpg

The longer you look at it, the better it gets.

Wow what a game by the NBA's Most Improved Player tonight

also Trae Young finished the series with more turnovers than field goals, a prime candidate to win Most Improved Player next season

LeonhartFour posted...

a prime candidate to win Most Improved Player next season

westbrook got that on lock

As if Westbrook is going to be something better than what he was this season lawl

i just assumed there wasn't anywhere to go but up

Nah its gonna be Anthony Edwards or LaMelo

remember its basically the third year breakout award

I'm gonna delude myself into it being Fultz like I do every year. His per 36 during his end of season minutes restriction comeback were 20/10/5. His potential assists per 36 (19.5) would have been 2nd in the league behind only CP3.

He was also playing with the second unit during his comeback which was essentially G-leaguers as the Magic were trying to lose.

(I 100% will be wrong)