Although I cannot stand him. I thought it was pretty classy of Kyrie when he went to congratulate the Celtics players and coaches on the bench area, think he pointed to the crowd as well
congrats to all Celtics fans. really wish Eric had been here to experience that run. but I'm sure he's looking down, smiling.
Boston was clearly the class of NBA this season, but let's be honest, that was one of the easiest roads to a chip a team will ever have. prior to the season if someone had told you that they wouldn't play teams like Milwaukee, Philly or Denver in the playoffs, you would've have believed it. instead, it was Miami without its best player, Cleveland, Indiana, and Dallas. only one of those teams won 50 games on the season, and that was the Mavs right on the number.
@galaxy27 said:
instead, it was Miami without its best player, Cleveland, Indiana, and Dallas. only one of those teams won 50 games on the season, and that was the Mavs right on the number.
If we're playing that game then might as well discount the Nuggets & Bucks championship from recent years too.
(2023-24) Boston beat...
a 46 win Miami team
a 48 win Cleveland team
a 47 win Indiana team
a 50 win Dallas team
(2022-23) Denver beat...
a 42 win Minnesota team
a 45 win Phoenix team
a 43 win LAL team
a 44 win Miami team
(2020-21) Milwaukee beat...
a 40 win Miami team
a 48 win Brooklyn team
a 41 win Atlanta team
a 51 win Phoenix team
Even in 2021-22, GS beat...
a 48 win Nuggets with no Jamal Murray or Michael Porter Jr.
a 56 win Grizz with no Steven Adams
a 52 win Mavs with no Tim Hardawar Jr
a 51 win Celtics team
You can only beat the team in front of you regardless of who, they or you, have on the court. Thankfully, there are no asterisks on the Larry O' Brien trophy. 😎👍
not knocking their accomplishment. there shouldn't be an asterisk. they were the best team in the NBA and would have beaten anyone. but no one could have predicted that it would be such an absurdly easy task, as none of the 4 teams they played ever stood a chance
i was hard on Brown in last year's playoffs, but he has elevated his play considerably since then. Holiday was a genius addition. and i'm glad Tatum had a huge game to close it out.......i like him.
not knocking their accomplishment. there shouldn't be an asterisk. they were the best team in the NBA and would have beaten anyone. but no one could have predicted that it would be such an absurdly easy task, as none of the 4 teams they played ever stood a chance
i was hard on Brown in last year's playoffs, but he has elevated his play considerably since then. Holiday was a genius addition. and i'm glad Tatum had a huge game to close it out.......i like him.
Be careful now, someone sounds like they're about to get a shamrock tattoo and complete the conversion to the Celtics Cult. 😉 its all good brother!
Brown has definitely earned every penny of that 300M contract, Jrue has been everything that this fanbase has hoped for and even Tatum crushed it in the Finals even though everyone has poo-poo'd his Scoring/FG% output. He was just the 6th player in NBA history to lead his team in total Points,Rebounds & Assists in the Finals. (don't ask me who the other 5 players were, I just remember that Jimmy Butler was one of the 5 but he lost his Finals.)
The best part about this championship was seeing Jaylen Brown finally having his own Neo He's the One moment on his way to ECFMVP/FMVP's and that achievement is still waiting in Jayson Tatum's future. Until then, I'm very much looking forward to all of the Jayson Tatum has never won a Finals MVP remarks from his critics in the near future like we all heard with Steph Curry prior to the 21/22 Finals. They're definitely coming. 😎
Grats to the Celtics in winning Chip # 18. I missed watching Game 5 last night, but assume that the game was lacking in drama (as was the entire series, since Boston was clearly much better than Dallas).
So next up is:
the NBA draft (next week);
NBA summer League (early July);
Olympics (late July/August);
Preseason training camp for the 2024-2025 season (late September, with preseason games starting around 9-30-2024);
2024-2025 Regular Season starts in the second half of October).
Who thinks, today, that the Celtics will repeat in one year? Who thinks a repeat is unlikely?
it came across as if i was saying they would have potentially lost had they played other teams, but that's not what i was getting at. no one was going to beat Boston. with Brown a different player, and fortifying the roster with the Holiday and Porzingis adds, and Pritchard hitting 50-ft shots with regularity 😅, that was a much different squad this season.
but my mind works in mysterious, degenerate ways, and i can't help but wonder what the preseason odds would have been of them not crossing paths with any of the following players on the way to a chip:
Embiid, Giannis, Butler, Curry, SGA, Ant Man, KD, Joker, Leonard, PG, Harden, or LeBron
that's just insane
but the thing i loved most about Boston -- and you know this if you paid attention to me kvetching during the season -- is that they had the ability to lock down. the lack of defense in the NBA was driving me to drink, and when the playoffs hit the Celtics held their opponent to under 100 in 12 out of 19 games. watching them swarm like flies was a breath of fresh air.
So.....the "NBA CHAMPS" got blasted by 45 points just a couple nights ago. Ok, then. Thank the league for what turned out to be a rather timid Finals, after 3 rounds of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots in high top sneakers.
@galaxy27 said:
it came across as if i was saying they would have potentially lost had they played other teams, but that's not what i was getting at. no one was going to beat Boston. with Brown a different player, and fortifying the roster with the Holiday and Porzingis adds, and Pritchard hitting 50-ft shots with regularity 😅, that was a much different squad this season.
but my mind works in mysterious, degenerate ways, and i can't help but wonder what the preseason odds would have been of them not crossing paths with any of the following players on the way to a chip:
Embiid, Giannis, Butler, Curry, SGA, Ant Man, KD, Joker, Leonard, PG, Harden, or LeBron
that's just insane
How come no ever mentions that Boston didn't have Kristaps Porzingis for 12 of their 19 playoff games? That is the equivalent to two playoff series and when he was on the court for the C's this season they were historic from both an offensive & defensive efficiency standpoint, when he wasn't their points in the paint numbers go up on one end and down on the other.
I think too many people get caught up in the They Were Never Tested hot takes when those are really just crappy hot takes when its all said and done. Did they get lucky with certain opposing players getting hurt? Absolutely, but that doesn't mean this team was never tested.
Tatum & Brown were behind Malone & Stockton for the second most playoff games together without winning a Ring. Al Horford played the most playoff games in history before winning a ring. Tatum,Brown,Horford,White, Pritchard & Hauser have all played in at least three different conference finals together while the first three from that group have twice that number.
The only other core group in history that I can think of that may have been more tested than this current C's team before winning were those early Wilt teams that kept on losing to Boston in the Finals.
@SanctionII said:
Grats to the Celtics in winning Chip # 18. I missed watching Game 5 last night, but assume that the game was lacking in drama (as was the entire series, since Boston was clearly much better than Dallas).
So next up is:
the NBA draft (next week);
NBA summer League (early July);
Olympics (late July/August);
Preseason training camp for the 2024-2025 season (late September, with preseason games starting around 9-30-2024);
2024-2025 Regular Season starts in the second half of October).
Who thinks, today, that the Celtics will repeat in one year? Who thinks a repeat is unlikely?
I think that real question should be, after the Raptors, Lakers, Bucks, Warriors & Nuggets all won the Finals over the past 5 years, they couldn't get past the second round the following year. Boston is unlikely to repeat but can they prevent that previous trend of losing in R2 from happening? 🤷♂️but I look forward to seeing what happens next.
As for the rest of the league, I think that this summer is going to be pretty boring. This draft class looks like a dud for now and the free agency class isn't really much better. Paul George, Tyrese Maxey, Pascal Siakam, Lebron & DeMar DeRozan are the top 5 best FAs available this summer and there's a real possibility that not one of them leaves his current team.
There should be some big names that might become available on the trade market like Trae Young, KAT, Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Dejounte Murray or maybe even jimmy Butler but I doubt that any of those trades would really make a huge impact for some team.
J.J. Redick is now Lebron's new head coach after signing a 4yr deal. He's never coached before but I think he's going to be a really good coach over time. Lebron & JJ have a podcast called Mind The Game and its it very good from a technical standpoint. We'll see if can add anything to the LA/Boston rivalry. 😎
OKC is taking a page out of the Celtics playbook by trading josh Giddey for Alex Caruso. Now the Thunder have two elite defenders in their backcourt on the level of a Jrue Holiday & Derrick White. Great addition, now go get a legit rebounder that can shoot.
Comments
Awesome job Celtics!!!!
This one is for Little Toe! They did it brother.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
Looks like that Leprechaun made an appearance seconds before halftime while wearing a Payton Pritchard jersey. 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP2p3m-7PWw
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
Although I cannot stand him. I thought it was pretty classy of Kyrie when he went to congratulate the Celtics players and coaches on the bench area, think he pointed to the crowd as well
Kind of changed my opinion of him a little
congrats to all Celtics fans. really wish Eric had been here to experience that run. but I'm sure he's looking down, smiling.
Boston was clearly the class of NBA this season, but let's be honest, that was one of the easiest roads to a chip a team will ever have. prior to the season if someone had told you that they wouldn't play teams like Milwaukee, Philly or Denver in the playoffs, you would've have believed it. instead, it was Miami without its best player, Cleveland, Indiana, and Dallas. only one of those teams won 50 games on the season, and that was the Mavs right on the number.
their biggest obstacle was sheer boredom
one final prediction before we tie a bow on this bad boy: within a handful of years the Spurs will once again be the top dog in the West
If we're playing that game then might as well discount the Nuggets & Bucks championship from recent years too.
(2023-24) Boston beat...
a 46 win Miami team
a 48 win Cleveland team
a 47 win Indiana team
a 50 win Dallas team
(2022-23) Denver beat...
a 42 win Minnesota team
a 45 win Phoenix team
a 43 win LAL team
a 44 win Miami team
(2020-21) Milwaukee beat...
a 40 win Miami team
a 48 win Brooklyn team
a 41 win Atlanta team
a 51 win Phoenix team
Even in 2021-22, GS beat...
a 48 win Nuggets with no Jamal Murray or Michael Porter Jr.
a 56 win Grizz with no Steven Adams
a 52 win Mavs with no Tim Hardawar Jr
a 51 win Celtics team
You can only beat the team in front of you regardless of who, they or you, have on the court. Thankfully, there are no asterisks on the Larry O' Brien trophy. 😎👍
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
@erikthredd
not knocking their accomplishment. there shouldn't be an asterisk. they were the best team in the NBA and would have beaten anyone. but no one could have predicted that it would be such an absurdly easy task, as none of the 4 teams they played ever stood a chance
i was hard on Brown in last year's playoffs, but he has elevated his play considerably since then. Holiday was a genius addition. and i'm glad Tatum had a huge game to close it out.......i like him.
Be careful now, someone sounds like they're about to get a shamrock tattoo and complete the conversion to the Celtics Cult. 😉 its all good brother!
Brown has definitely earned every penny of that 300M contract, Jrue has been everything that this fanbase has hoped for and even Tatum crushed it in the Finals even though everyone has poo-poo'd his Scoring/FG% output. He was just the 6th player in NBA history to lead his team in total Points,Rebounds & Assists in the Finals. (don't ask me who the other 5 players were, I just remember that Jimmy Butler was one of the 5 but he lost his Finals.)
The best part about this championship was seeing Jaylen Brown finally having his own Neo He's the One moment on his way to ECFMVP/FMVP's and that achievement is still waiting in Jayson Tatum's future. Until then, I'm very much looking forward to all of the Jayson Tatum has never won a Finals MVP remarks from his critics in the near future like we all heard with Steph Curry prior to the 21/22 Finals. They're definitely coming. 😎
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
Grats to the Celtics in winning Chip # 18. I missed watching Game 5 last night, but assume that the game was lacking in drama (as was the entire series, since Boston was clearly much better than Dallas).
So next up is:
the NBA draft (next week);
NBA summer League (early July);
Olympics (late July/August);
Preseason training camp for the 2024-2025 season (late September, with preseason games starting around 9-30-2024);
2024-2025 Regular Season starts in the second half of October).
Who thinks, today, that the Celtics will repeat in one year? Who thinks a repeat is unlikely?
it came across as if i was saying they would have potentially lost had they played other teams, but that's not what i was getting at. no one was going to beat Boston. with Brown a different player, and fortifying the roster with the Holiday and Porzingis adds, and Pritchard hitting 50-ft shots with regularity 😅, that was a much different squad this season.
but my mind works in mysterious, degenerate ways, and i can't help but wonder what the preseason odds would have been of them not crossing paths with any of the following players on the way to a chip:
Embiid, Giannis, Butler, Curry, SGA, Ant Man, KD, Joker, Leonard, PG, Harden, or LeBron
that's just insane
but the thing i loved most about Boston -- and you know this if you paid attention to me kvetching during the season -- is that they had the ability to lock down. the lack of defense in the NBA was driving me to drink, and when the playoffs hit the Celtics held their opponent to under 100 in 12 out of 19 games. watching them swarm like flies was a breath of fresh air.
So.....the "NBA CHAMPS" got blasted by 45 points just a couple nights ago. Ok, then. Thank the league for what turned out to be a rather timid Finals, after 3 rounds of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots in high top sneakers.
Come on people now. Smile on your brothers.
How come no ever mentions that Boston didn't have Kristaps Porzingis for 12 of their 19 playoff games? That is the equivalent to two playoff series and when he was on the court for the C's this season they were historic from both an offensive & defensive efficiency standpoint, when he wasn't their points in the paint numbers go up on one end and down on the other.
I think too many people get caught up in the They Were Never Tested hot takes when those are really just crappy hot takes when its all said and done. Did they get lucky with certain opposing players getting hurt? Absolutely, but that doesn't mean this team was never tested.
Tatum & Brown were behind Malone & Stockton for the second most playoff games together without winning a Ring. Al Horford played the most playoff games in history before winning a ring. Tatum,Brown,Horford,White, Pritchard & Hauser have all played in at least three different conference finals together while the first three from that group have twice that number.
The only other core group in history that I can think of that may have been more tested than this current C's team before winning were those early Wilt teams that kept on losing to Boston in the Finals.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
I think that real question should be, after the Raptors, Lakers, Bucks, Warriors & Nuggets all won the Finals over the past 5 years, they couldn't get past the second round the following year. Boston is unlikely to repeat but can they prevent that previous trend of losing in R2 from happening? 🤷♂️but I look forward to seeing what happens next.
As for the rest of the league, I think that this summer is going to be pretty boring. This draft class looks like a dud for now and the free agency class isn't really much better. Paul George, Tyrese Maxey, Pascal Siakam, Lebron & DeMar DeRozan are the top 5 best FAs available this summer and there's a real possibility that not one of them leaves his current team.
There should be some big names that might become available on the trade market like Trae Young, KAT, Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Dejounte Murray or maybe even jimmy Butler but I doubt that any of those trades would really make a huge impact for some team.
The men's US team will likely be the only real basketball entertainment this summer and with this roster it should be fun to watch. https://www.usab.com/teams/5x5-mens-olympics/roster
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
Bucks need to figure it out next year. They’re wasting Giannis.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/40385485/sources-pistons-fire-coach-monty-williams-one-season
The smarter decision might be to get rid of whoever it was that decided to give Monty a record setting contract then fire him after one season. He's still owed 65M. 🤣
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
J.J. Redick is now Lebron's new head coach after signing a 4yr deal. He's never coached before but I think he's going to be a really good coach over time. Lebron & JJ have a podcast called Mind The Game and its it very good from a technical standpoint. We'll see if can add anything to the LA/Boston rivalry. 😎
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
OKC is taking a page out of the Celtics playbook by trading josh Giddey for Alex Caruso. Now the Thunder have two elite defenders in their backcourt on the level of a Jrue Holiday & Derrick White. Great addition, now go get a legit rebounder that can shoot.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
I’ve been watching Al & Luke for years and didn’t know this.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486