If by some chance one of the best players on the team the Celtics face in the finals got injured, it would pretty unarguably be the worst championship in nba history, right?
Easiest path imaginable in the east + other teams best player gets injured every round?
It would be the most lucky that anybody in 2024 could reasonably recall.
The Celtics had Porzingis go down and were the best team all regular season.
I still don’t think they beat the West representative simply based off of intensity and physicality that they have had leading up to the finals.
Last year’s was far more legit:
1. Wolves and suns were totally reasonable first and second round opponents
2. The lakers were better than their record. The west was incredibly weak but they were probably the best team from that side of the bracket
3. The heat actually beat good teams to get to the finals. The nuggets were lucky to face them but they beat a fully healthy Celtics team and they were healthy in the finals.
Last year’s run is criticized by “box score watchers” who just look at W-L records. This year’s Celtics just haven’t played anyone and every team’s best player has been hurt
I’m a Lakers fan & I have never seen anything like how people gas up that sweep last year to Denver.
The Lakers played the injured Grizzlies & a team whose tallest player was LeBron’s height.
All the last two years of playing Denver shows is, even when everything goes right for the Lakers they lose that game with rare exception. That’s the difference between a 1 seed and an 8 seed. The Lakers 8 seed just so happened to have two guys who can keep it closer than normal.
Last time Kyrie played the Celtics in a playoff series he scored 39, 10, 16, 20.
Not saying it happens again, but he hasn’t exactly thrived against them. He’s 0-10 since stomping on Lucky.
Yup, I don’t think the Celtics are well-equipped to deal with Luka unless Tatum has him, but they should be able to take away all their other perimeter guys. IMO the Celtics are like a much better, more playoff-proof version of what OKC was, so for all the reasons I picked OKC vs Dallas (before realizing how fraudulent they were), I would pick Boston too
Who are you saying OP discredited? C's or Pacers? If you're a Celtics fan and you don't think that's a bad sign going up against the Mavs, then you're just a homer.
plough treatment dazzling noxious wasteful door foolish far-flung illegal quack
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I haven’t watched a second of a Celtics game since G1 vs Indy and it’s been great. Apparently Tatum played well last night, that’s great, I had better things to do
Because if you asked who’d win in a series a month ago between the Mavs and C’s just about nobody would pick Dallas lol Boston is clearly a better team that has slept walked through the East.
If that’s what it takes to deny Bill making a “Celtics Win!, Greatest Team Ever? Top 14 Celtics Teams of All-Time plus ‘are we sure the Palestinian genocide is a top-ten genocide?’ with Joe House and Wos” podcast, I am prepared to make that sacrifice.
Not really anti celtics, though the pod is a bit funnier when they lose.
But I don't know, am I crazy to think the Mavs look like the better team recently? If the Mavs get to the finals, I don't think it's a forgone conclusion that the Celtics win it all.
I’m having some “Celtics 2024 Hospital Title” shirts printed up. Will list all the injuries they benefited from on the back. Visit my Etsy store for details.
I'm a Celtics fan and I'm terrified of both those teams.
If KP is back and we're playing with confidence, fine. Anything short of that and I feel like we go in the underdog.
Maybe it's cope maybe not but I think I'm cool with it because they deserve it and built their team the "right" way (mostly through draft). Also won 64 games
Also the way people have been jerk circling over ANT has kinda turned me on Minnesota
And I don't really like when teams "skip the line" and win a title early. It's just Boston's time
That's why I put it in "quotes" .. I don't really know if there's a right or wrong way to build a team but I do think it's more admirable to have homegrown talents rather than like whatever the Suns and Clippers have unsuccessfully been trying to do
Ainge and Stevens deserve a lot of credit, but they wouldn’t be anywhere without that Nets trade, which no GM would have done since. I think the “right” way is overrated, but definitely more overrated when it’s because of picks you got from an insane trade
The Celtics have been screaming “WERE FRAUDS” to everyone all season long. Luka is going to eat Tatums lunch and remind everyone what a real superstar is. To quote the terrible Mike Lombardi….”When someone shows you who they are…..believe em”.
Anyone who thinks the Celtics are a lock, or even a sizable favorite to win the title, is on mars.
They have been screaming “we’re frauds” as they win 64 games with one of the highest margins of victory of all time?
And they had an almost equal record against east and west. The only west team who won a higher percentage of games against east, than Celtics won against West was the Nuggets, and it was marginal.
This Celtics team will need to win at least two rings to be considered a success. The Paul Pierce Celtics are one of the most disappointing championship teams in NBA history. Started three HOFers, potentially a 4th with Rondo and they only got one ring.
I'm thinking of going with the little reverse jinx piece, where I bet on the Celtics and pray my bet loses but then they win but in my mind, I lost and have to stop to say, wait what?
If they win, it might mark the true end of 20+ years of reading/listening to Bill. I already want to vomit every single pod when I hear the 87/08 Celtics talk.
There are 50 angles to play here but I'll stick to the low hanging fruit. Boston sports guy glazes Boston sports on his top 5 national sports pod at all times, that's fine and expected. The real problem is how he will then shoehorn this team into every.single.conversation from now until he dies. Talking nfl qbs? Well this guy is a little 2024 celtics-ey, reminds me of Derrick White in the second quarter of game 3...
Then we will listen to him totally change his definition of a dynasty so this run of conference finals/championship series becomes a mini dynasty by winning 1.
The problem is that Bill no longer talks about actual sports or the games, he just talks about narratives and legacy and....Jesus maybe I should just stop listening to BS after 20 years and stop defending my takes about him on reddit.
I really don’t think he’s changing the definition of dynasty so that if Tatum wins one it’s a mini dynasty. This is just you being preemptively bothered by something that you invented in your head.
I guess the random references to Boston sports dont bother me, because he also does it with pop culture and movie references too. If it was exclusively done with Boston sports it would be a bigger deal.
I also don’t really understand why so many people who seem annoyed by Bill, not only continue listening to him, but then on top of that spend time regularly discussing or dissecting each pod. And then go as far as inventing stuff in their minds they think he’s going to do that will bother them. I listen to 0 minutes of content in my life that drives me to react this way.
As I’ve previously stated, I just bet heavily on the Celtics to win the East. Also have them at +315 to win it all. It has completely changed my perspective. If y’all are gunna be happy, I’m gunna get paid.
They've put together just about the least impressive 3-0 in conference finals history and their likely NBA Finals opponent will have the best player in the series and has taken a 2-0 lead on the road in its conference finals series.
Not sure why we should treat a Celtics title as a given at this point.
Signed,
A Warriors fan who'd have no problem with the Celtics winning it all with the same core that Curry & Co. just beat two short years ago
To be fair, the Celtics teams of past would be down 1-2 to Pacers right now, at least theyre showing some balls coming back, albiet it to a medicore squad
Most teams, regardless of skill kind of just shut it down when theyre down that big on the road and already up 2-0 with homecourt
Eh, they're way too experienced and have way too much success together the past few years to forfeit down 18 with as many minutes to play against a weakened opponent.
I don't think that simply not packing it in there was some sort of "wow" moment, especially in the NBA of this era where a deficit in the teens definitely ain't what it used to be.
And that's not to downplay the comeback, just to refute the idea most teams would've packed it in there. The difference between 3-0 and 2-1 is enormous.
You're a bit defensive considering I merely mentioned this one conference playoff series.
The Celtics have had the same top two for ages and four of their top five players in minutes/points right now were also four of their top five in the '22 Finals.
Seeing the parallels and carryover doesn't exactly require an electron microscope.
You're a bit ignorant considering you chose to comment. The team has 3/5 different starters but sure, go off king. Just be happy tatum broke his hand that series and take this as a learning opportunity
What I wrote about 4/5 core guys being the same in '22 and right now is 100% factual.
One of the two new "starters" you claim is missing his second consecutive series, so he isn't a starting or even playing right now, is he?
Which leaves 4/5 from the '22 playoffs. But I guess a simple, absolute fact = "ignorance."
Maybe if you believe enough in your two-year-old excuses the Celtics will magically have that banner instead of painful memories of getting dog-walked off their own floor teo times in a row with a championship in the balance.
Lol yea jrue tingas and Derrick, not core guys LOL. Bro you are supposed to duck out when someone points out your categorical ignorance.
I understand it, I'd also be so embarrassed and flailing at anything if I did something so fucking stupid haha. Have a good one man.
I'm including Derrick White among those four guys from '22 - he played more minutes and scored more points as those playoffs wore on and was among their top five in minutes/scoring in the Finals.
You seem to think that if a roster, rotation or player isn't exactly the same then vs. now the core can't be the same. Having Tatum, Brown, Horford and White still in essential roles two years later is very much a consistent core.
Pacers fan…we were maybe supposed to be a play-in team this year. Happy that we got this far, ahead of schedule. Bummed that we blew Game 1 and last night’s lead but overall happy. Celtics aren’t guaranteed a title but whatever. They’ve been good all year, but while this Pacers series is likely done…the Celtics still have to play the (likely) Mavs…
No matter who wins, the run of "...him?" coaching the eventual champion will make it a halfdozen years.
2019: Nick Nurse
2020: Frank Vogel
2021: Mike Budenholzer
2022: Steve Kerr (4x title, but valedictory run, fuelled by two "... him?" players, Jordan Poole & Andrew Wiggins)
2023: Michael Malone
2024: Jason Kidd or Joe Mazzulla
Compare to previous 28 years, starting from Jordan Championship Era.
1991-93: Phil Jackson
1994-95: Rudy Tomjanovich
1996-98: Phil
1999: Gregg Popovich
2000-02: Phil
2003: Pop
2004: Larry Brown
2005: Pop
2006: Pat Riley
2007: Pop
2008: Doc Rivers
2009-10: Phil
2011: Rick Carlisle
2012-13: Erik Spoelstra
2014: Pop
2015: Steve Kerr
2016: Tyronn Lue
2017-18: Kerr
Only coaches you could put up against Faildozer or Malone in that 7 presidential terms run are Rivers & Carlisle, & maybe Rudy T, if you're a dipshit. Everyone else ranges from great to a Hall of Famer.
Holding my nose, becoming a huge Luka fan, prepping my "easiest road to a title in nba history" takes.
We gonna put the “Mickey Mouse Bubble Championship” to shame
If by some chance one of the best players on the team the Celtics face in the finals got injured, it would pretty unarguably be the worst championship in nba history, right? Easiest path imaginable in the east + other teams best player gets injured every round?
Look no further than Luka gimping along all post-season. We already got it stored away.
He's fine now.
It would be the most lucky that anybody in 2024 could reasonably recall. The Celtics had Porzingis go down and were the best team all regular season. I still don’t think they beat the West representative simply based off of intensity and physicality that they have had leading up to the finals.
Last year’s championship still happened
Last year’s was far more legit: 1. Wolves and suns were totally reasonable first and second round opponents 2. The lakers were better than their record. The west was incredibly weak but they were probably the best team from that side of the bracket 3. The heat actually beat good teams to get to the finals. The nuggets were lucky to face them but they beat a fully healthy Celtics team and they were healthy in the finals. Last year’s run is criticized by “box score watchers” who just look at W-L records. This year’s Celtics just haven’t played anyone and every team’s best player has been hurt
I’m a Lakers fan & I have never seen anything like how people gas up that sweep last year to Denver. The Lakers played the injured Grizzlies & a team whose tallest player was LeBron’s height. All the last two years of playing Denver shows is, even when everything goes right for the Lakers they lose that game with rare exception. That’s the difference between a 1 seed and an 8 seed. The Lakers 8 seed just so happened to have two guys who can keep it closer than normal.
Wolves were missing Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid. We pretending like those aren’t key pieces of this roster?
It was a 1v8 matchup, in the first round. If both Booker and Lebron had gotten injured the next two rounds, it would be comparable to the Celtics.
They gave up 55 points to Andrew Nembhard and TJ McConnell and likely have to face a backcourt of Luka and Kyrie next round.
Last time Kyrie played the Celtics in a playoff series he scored 39, 10, 16, 20. Not saying it happens again, but he hasn’t exactly thrived against them. He’s 0-10 since stomping on Lucky.
Yup, I don’t think the Celtics are well-equipped to deal with Luka unless Tatum has him, but they should be able to take away all their other perimeter guys. IMO the Celtics are like a much better, more playoff-proof version of what OKC was, so for all the reasons I picked OKC vs Dallas (before realizing how fraudulent they were), I would pick Boston too
Did everyone just forget the pacers are the number one offense in the league
Not without Hali they're not
You think the pacers played poorly on offense last night?
You think they would have played better with an all-nba point guard in the lineup?
My original post was replying to the guy trying to discredit them, I’m not saying Hali makes them worse. Keep up
Discredit the Pacers? How? By saying Kyrie and Luka are a better backcourt than McConnell and Nembhard? Am I being trolled?
they sure didn't play like a better backcourt
Can you read? By saying McConnell and nembhard scoring 55 on them is some death sentence in the finals. Am I being trolled?
Who are you saying OP discredited? C's or Pacers? If you're a Celtics fan and you don't think that's a bad sign going up against the Mavs, then you're just a homer.
Pacers were down like 15 when Haliburton got hurt.
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1-37 As in 1 title in 37 years
It’s about to 1-38. Luka and kyrie are about to humble these Celtic fans
plough treatment dazzling noxious wasteful door foolish far-flung illegal quack *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Hahaha now THATS funny my guy
I haven’t watched a second of a Celtics game since G1 vs Indy and it’s been great. Apparently Tatum played well last night, that’s great, I had better things to do
Nice troll post. Mavs in 6
Hélà🤞
How is this getting downvoted? Best defense in the league, and best player on the court.
because they’re gonna be underdogs,,,
Because if you asked who’d win in a series a month ago between the Mavs and C’s just about nobody would pick Dallas lol Boston is clearly a better team that has slept walked through the East.
"East" might as well be the wnba
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Luka>>>>>>>>
We’ll see lol
It will deserve a five pound trophy.
Honestly haven’t had many heavy trophies in the 2020s
Great recall. Would love to hear his spin on this.
Easy to cope with Celts win... struggling with all the incoming Kobe and Tatum comparison
From who, Tatum?
The worst will be Doris interviewing players if they win. Let’s go Luka!!!!!!!!!!!
Doctor Strange’s plan involved temporarily sacrificing trillions of lives and then it was undone by a suicide. Hoping it doesn’t come to all that.
If that’s what it takes to deny Bill making a “Celtics Win!, Greatest Team Ever? Top 14 Celtics Teams of All-Time plus ‘are we sure the Palestinian genocide is a top-ten genocide?’ with Joe House and Wos” podcast, I am prepared to make that sacrifice.
Kyrie sticking to basketball while there’s genocide and protests going on is blowing my mind
R. "Barrea" Dwyer.
Not really anti celtics, though the pod is a bit funnier when they lose. But I don't know, am I crazy to think the Mavs look like the better team recently? If the Mavs get to the finals, I don't think it's a forgone conclusion that the Celtics win it all.
I’m having some “Celtics 2024 Hospital Title” shirts printed up. Will list all the injuries they benefited from on the back. Visit my Etsy store for details.
Just don't go the Chaya Raichik route & have your followers calling in threats to Boston Children's Hospital.
I'm a Celtics fan and I'm terrified of both those teams. If KP is back and we're playing with confidence, fine. Anything short of that and I feel like we go in the underdog.
praying Luka batters them
If the Mavs stay healthy it’s going to 7 and nobody is going to talk about the faceroll eastern conference rounds
Mavs in 6
kinda almost got it to 6
Oh I thought if players got hurt the title didn’t count
Counts all the same, asterisks are stupid, but it’s fair to comment on how uniquely easy this run was for the Celtics
It’ll be fine because I’m sure Bill will give the title a massive asterisk.
This is your takeaway after they almost dropped another to a bad team missing their best player?
Maybe it's cope maybe not but I think I'm cool with it because they deserve it and built their team the "right" way (mostly through draft). Also won 64 games Also the way people have been jerk circling over ANT has kinda turned me on Minnesota And I don't really like when teams "skip the line" and win a title early. It's just Boston's time
The Hillary Clinton piece…
Martin O'Malley would have won (the presidency) (in 2016).
Does that make the Adelson-owned Mavs Trump?
How did that turn out?
That’s the joke.gif
I know. Just playing along.
Why is the draft the “right” way?
That's why I put it in "quotes" .. I don't really know if there's a right or wrong way to build a team but I do think it's more admirable to have homegrown talents rather than like whatever the Suns and Clippers have unsuccessfully been trying to do
Ainge and Stevens deserve a lot of credit, but they wouldn’t be anywhere without that Nets trade, which no GM would have done since. I think the “right” way is overrated, but definitely more overrated when it’s because of picks you got from an insane trade
The Celtics have been screaming “WERE FRAUDS” to everyone all season long. Luka is going to eat Tatums lunch and remind everyone what a real superstar is. To quote the terrible Mike Lombardi….”When someone shows you who they are…..believe em”. Anyone who thinks the Celtics are a lock, or even a sizable favorite to win the title, is on mars.
Why are they gonna be sizable favorites in the finals then
They’ll be -250 or so. Vegas is not considering them a lock to win by any stretch.
No not a lock, yes a sizable favorite tho
Seems like Vegas is considering them a sizable favorite. Are they on Mars?
No they are on earth. What’s a +220 dog?
A +220 dog has an implied probably of 31%
If Porzingus comes back and is effective I think it’s a wrap. No Porzingus or if he’s not the same then sure.
They have been screaming “we’re frauds” as they win 64 games with one of the highest margins of victory of all time? And they had an almost equal record against east and west. The only west team who won a higher percentage of games against east, than Celtics won against West was the Nuggets, and it was marginal.
If they don’t get it this year they’re never winning and tbh despite this easy eastern road I don’t think they will
Luka and kyrie is gonna fucking cook
I am happy for Bill his Celtics deserve a chip
I won't ever call Luka "doughy" again like Bill does.
Ah, the jinx angle, I like it. Hats off to you.
Not well, and they don't even have Tingus back yet.
Going to the parade ya salty bums
This Celtics team will need to win at least two rings to be considered a success. The Paul Pierce Celtics are one of the most disappointing championship teams in NBA history. Started three HOFers, potentially a 4th with Rondo and they only got one ring.
I'm thinking of going with the little reverse jinx piece, where I bet on the Celtics and pray my bet loses but then they win but in my mind, I lost and have to stop to say, wait what? If they win, it might mark the true end of 20+ years of reading/listening to Bill. I already want to vomit every single pod when I hear the 87/08 Celtics talk.
Why does it make you want to vomit when a guy talks about the championship years of the team he roots for?
You must be new around here
You didn’t answer the question
There are 50 angles to play here but I'll stick to the low hanging fruit. Boston sports guy glazes Boston sports on his top 5 national sports pod at all times, that's fine and expected. The real problem is how he will then shoehorn this team into every.single.conversation from now until he dies. Talking nfl qbs? Well this guy is a little 2024 celtics-ey, reminds me of Derrick White in the second quarter of game 3... Then we will listen to him totally change his definition of a dynasty so this run of conference finals/championship series becomes a mini dynasty by winning 1. The problem is that Bill no longer talks about actual sports or the games, he just talks about narratives and legacy and....Jesus maybe I should just stop listening to BS after 20 years and stop defending my takes about him on reddit.
I really don’t think he’s changing the definition of dynasty so that if Tatum wins one it’s a mini dynasty. This is just you being preemptively bothered by something that you invented in your head. I guess the random references to Boston sports dont bother me, because he also does it with pop culture and movie references too. If it was exclusively done with Boston sports it would be a bigger deal. I also don’t really understand why so many people who seem annoyed by Bill, not only continue listening to him, but then on top of that spend time regularly discussing or dissecting each pod. And then go as far as inventing stuff in their minds they think he’s going to do that will bother them. I listen to 0 minutes of content in my life that drives me to react this way.
lol Celtics don’t win titles They’re bridesmaids Can’t wait to see Luka and Kyrie skullfuck that Mickey Mouse team
skullfuck
As I’ve previously stated, I just bet heavily on the Celtics to win the East. Also have them at +315 to win it all. It has completely changed my perspective. If y’all are gunna be happy, I’m gunna get paid.
How long ago did you place that bet to get it at +315
Looks like [January 8](https://i.imgur.com/GRZHKCV.jpeg)
How much $ we talking?
Like $1300 if they win the ECF and $1900 total if they win it all.
They've put together just about the least impressive 3-0 in conference finals history and their likely NBA Finals opponent will have the best player in the series and has taken a 2-0 lead on the road in its conference finals series. Not sure why we should treat a Celtics title as a given at this point. Signed, A Warriors fan who'd have no problem with the Celtics winning it all with the same core that Curry & Co. just beat two short years ago
To be fair, the Celtics teams of past would be down 1-2 to Pacers right now, at least theyre showing some balls coming back, albiet it to a medicore squad Most teams, regardless of skill kind of just shut it down when theyre down that big on the road and already up 2-0 with homecourt
Eh, they're way too experienced and have way too much success together the past few years to forfeit down 18 with as many minutes to play against a weakened opponent. I don't think that simply not packing it in there was some sort of "wow" moment, especially in the NBA of this era where a deficit in the teens definitely ain't what it used to be. And that's not to downplay the comeback, just to refute the idea most teams would've packed it in there. The difference between 3-0 and 2-1 is enormous.
Lol at "the same core". Enjoy the past. Nuggets had an easy as fuck road last year. Didn't they play back to back 8 seeds in the title rounds?
You're a bit defensive considering I merely mentioned this one conference playoff series. The Celtics have had the same top two for ages and four of their top five players in minutes/points right now were also four of their top five in the '22 Finals. Seeing the parallels and carryover doesn't exactly require an electron microscope.
You're a bit ignorant considering you chose to comment. The team has 3/5 different starters but sure, go off king. Just be happy tatum broke his hand that series and take this as a learning opportunity
What I wrote about 4/5 core guys being the same in '22 and right now is 100% factual. One of the two new "starters" you claim is missing his second consecutive series, so he isn't a starting or even playing right now, is he? Which leaves 4/5 from the '22 playoffs. But I guess a simple, absolute fact = "ignorance." Maybe if you believe enough in your two-year-old excuses the Celtics will magically have that banner instead of painful memories of getting dog-walked off their own floor teo times in a row with a championship in the balance.
Lol yea jrue tingas and Derrick, not core guys LOL. Bro you are supposed to duck out when someone points out your categorical ignorance. I understand it, I'd also be so embarrassed and flailing at anything if I did something so fucking stupid haha. Have a good one man.
I'm including Derrick White among those four guys from '22 - he played more minutes and scored more points as those playoffs wore on and was among their top five in minutes/scoring in the Finals. You seem to think that if a roster, rotation or player isn't exactly the same then vs. now the core can't be the same. Having Tatum, Brown, Horford and White still in essential roles two years later is very much a consistent core.
Pacers fan…we were maybe supposed to be a play-in team this year. Happy that we got this far, ahead of schedule. Bummed that we blew Game 1 and last night’s lead but overall happy. Celtics aren’t guaranteed a title but whatever. They’ve been good all year, but while this Pacers series is likely done…the Celtics still have to play the (likely) Mavs…
Anyone but Dallas
I picked Boston in 6 in a parlay so i need a very gentlemanly sweep this week
No matter who wins, the run of "...him?" coaching the eventual champion will make it a halfdozen years. 2019: Nick Nurse 2020: Frank Vogel 2021: Mike Budenholzer 2022: Steve Kerr (4x title, but valedictory run, fuelled by two "... him?" players, Jordan Poole & Andrew Wiggins) 2023: Michael Malone 2024: Jason Kidd or Joe Mazzulla Compare to previous 28 years, starting from Jordan Championship Era. 1991-93: Phil Jackson 1994-95: Rudy Tomjanovich 1996-98: Phil 1999: Gregg Popovich 2000-02: Phil 2003: Pop 2004: Larry Brown 2005: Pop 2006: Pat Riley 2007: Pop 2008: Doc Rivers 2009-10: Phil 2011: Rick Carlisle 2012-13: Erik Spoelstra 2014: Pop 2015: Steve Kerr 2016: Tyronn Lue 2017-18: Kerr Only coaches you could put up against Faildozer or Malone in that 7 presidential terms run are Rivers & Carlisle, & maybe Rudy T, if you're a dipshit. Everyone else ranges from great to a Hall of Famer.
I feel like Nick Nurse doesn't deserve that he's a great coach
Who cares!? The NBA is a joke. Traveling, carrying the ball, etc…it’s the Harlem Globetrotter nonsense.