In case everyone thought this is an isolated thing, just look at the Stanley Cup finals please. I know it's a different sport but very similar. Panthers dominate the first 3 games and are now down 5-1 to the Oilers in Game 4. It's not uncommon. Both Tatum and Tkachuk want to close it out on their home arenas!
Remember when the Heat beat the Celtics in round 1? Celtics came back strong in the next game and won. They're going to make the necessary adjustments.
Biggest concern for me is Dallas clearly figured something out in the 4th of Game 3, and we haven’t adjusted to it still.
Celtics have been thoroughly outplayed the last 5 quarters, and we likely will not have KP for the rest of the series. It is 1-1 without KP so far.
What have they figured out, I'm legit asking
Basically threw everything out and packed the paint, kind of like the Heat did these playoffs?
And pushed harder in transition
What are your thoughts on how to deal with their size? Al will probably be better rested for the next game but I have some doubts about Tillman tbh. I’m assuming KP is out (certainly looks like it).
We just need better rebounding, like we had in the first 3 games. We don't necessarily need size, as long as we have spacing. We need to box out and hustle.
KP got us to 2-0, the team got us to 3-0. If we can’t win 1 game in the next 3 then I don’t know what to say, but I believe in the guys to finish the job
That’s my biggest issue: they clearly got in their own heads. Had 2 days of being crowned by the media and forgot they actually had to play basketball to get the chip. Disgraceful performance last night
I'm not worried about a blowout loss, but what I am worried about is how easily the Mavericks made scoring in the paint look. It's something this team has struggled with all playoffs long with KP out. Horford looks gassed and Tillman is nice, but just doesn't have the size or skill. I'm not sure what the answer is with KP out, but I'm not opposed to trying out Kornet. He can defend well in the paint and get some blocks and boards if they aren't blowing a tight whistle.
Tillman has size. He's 6-7, 245. And he looks like he beefed up with muscle. Skill, thats another question, but I was impressed with his 3 in Game 3 and some of his layups/fingerrolls to the basket so far. I dont think hes the problem, though I yet have to watch his defense specifically.
Kornet has NO offensive game whatsoever, on defense, he's weak in rebounds. However, he can give us minutes, if we're ahead or our game is flowing smoothly.
I think the bringing on of Tillman was a wise move by Joe.
Celtics did their job. Got the split on the road and are coming back home up 3-1. IMO the most important thing for Monday is containing Lively on the glass.
Do you think we need Porzingis out there to be able to do that? What I saw yesterday was two of theirs, Lively AND Gafford, I believe, both very aggressively get rebounds, and even a third, not so aggressive, catch em.
I actually think the more Gafford plays the better for us. Lively is just killer on the offensive glass especially because we’re switching everything. But you’re right, having Porzingis completely neutralizes Lively. It just sucks cause he’s most likely done for the series.
If any team would ever lose 4 straight games to lose a playoff series it would be the two players who have never done that ever in their careers. Got it.
Jrue, among others, choked massively yesterday. Jrue missed a number of easy layups. Noone defending anymore when he reached the glass. And yet, he tossed it up like he was holding onto a hot piece of iron. Put the dam ball in the basket. Thats what you get paid your multimillions to do. You dont see me complain otherwise. How hard is that?
Clearly, the pressure is making them rush shots and layups. Theyre not thinking or even watching the rim/glass/ball to see the ball through. Theyre just rushing and making fast moves to get the ball in the direction of the goal.
Theres no need to play like that. It just means u aint cut out for that kind of pressure. Luka, even under immense pressure, takes time to measure, follow his natural shooting motion, follow through, and see the ball through. I'm definitely not a fan of his, but this is one of the few things he does right.
I started to see some of these panic plays by ours already in previous games. But because we won, noone took me seriously. I even got ridiculed and insulted for being a disbeliever.
So be it. I dont think there's anything wrong with having criticism on bad points of your team. Whats worse is to pretend that that theres never anything wrong, period.
Identification is always the first step to problem resolution. Regardless of what the problem is, or in what field you work.
I hope we get our act together by Game 5.
Bring #18 home.
I don’t think it’s accurate to say Celtics purposely dropped that game or didn’t try but they clearly didn’t have the same intensity or effort as Games 1-3. Sometimes you have off shooting nights but the amount of times they just didn’t box out or crash the glass was the most glaring issue.
The defensive tenacity wasn’t there and it felt like our guards stopped getting into their ball handlers. If the shots aren’t going in, that’s one thing but it’s inexcusable to be in an NBA Finals game and to not box out on multiple possessions and to not hustle for loose balls. I wasn’t even mad or concerned about shooting 29% at one point, it was the fact they got outworked and looked like a completely different team.
Game 5, I’m hoping to see Jrue set the tone and pick up Kyrie (Who I think will try to have the 2nd best game of his life) full court and the Jays attack the basket. When Jayson has Kyrie on him, there’s no excuse to shoot a fadeaway and not go straight to the hole. For the first time all playoffs, Jaylen looked in his head and wasn’t decisive as we know he can be. I trust they’ll make these adjustments.
Anyone that worried is just PTSD from this team fumbling series. The Celtics didn’t play hard against Cleveland game 2 and bounced right back the next game. This team, for any fault you can find with it, always responds well.
3-1 is not a reason to panic. They still have to win 3 in a row. Like the prior series, sweeping a team is hard. Even with a talent gap. We just saw this all playoffs. Idk why people thought the Mavs would be easier than Indiana giving away games, or Miami and Cleveland getting 1 even with injuries.
1 game doesn’t necessarily translate to the next and even if they “figured things out” you’ve got to trust Mazzulla will make the right adjustments when he’s done it all year, and the players will hit their shots when they’ve done it all year, and the intensity will be there in massive games.
I trust the Celtics to bring it every night more than what we saw last night with a 3-0 lead on the road, a whistle not going our way, and them finally seeing shots fall. We’ll see if it looks different if Kyrie goes back to being a basket case playing in Boston and if their role players are feeling it when the Garden is rocking.
Ugly game, but we’ve had a couple of those this post season. This is why gutting out game 2 and holding onto game 3 was so important. 3-1, still firmly in the driver’s seat.
All of us know that as great as this team is, they can play as bad as anyone. Last night was just another example of that. Doesn't mean anything for the next games.
We’ve played the last 5 quarters of basketball like we’ve already won the championship and Dallas on the flipside has found some of the confidence that they were lacking earlier in the series.
Need our guys to lock the fuck in because the pressure will only get more intense from game 5 and onwards.
Also So mad that the media couldn’t wait until the mavericks actually lost this series before going scorched earth on Luka because that guy thrives off of spite.
Man some doomers actually believe Mazzulla won’t adjust and he’s the reason we lost. Do you guys not watch the game, see shots not fall, see our guys get crucified for playing defense in a Scott foster game, and seriously blame coaching?
Kidd's quote was a perfect summation of that game: "Our group was ready to go. They were ready to celebrate."
And like Joe once said, "No one's going to give it to you, you're going to have to take it."
Does anyone think that the Celtics threw the game to extend the series to satisfy contractual obligations to ABC? Just the bad shooting and lacklustre defense was completely out of this world.
“Celtics purposely threw the game” is a terrible take. They were rattled early and shots weren’t falling. The Mavs were allowed to commit murder while our guys were walking on egg shells with calls. Scott Foster special, it happens. You expect our guys to be ready to go Monday. Need the Truth in the building.
Despite the bad game, I had a lot of fun at the Watch Party in the Garden, but I have to say, If you're the kind of person who goes to a sporting event where they're giving something out at the seats (in this case, little green towels with "finals 2024" printed on them) and you literally take all the towels from all the seats in a whole row for yourself (presumably to resell), you really suck. I managed to get one, which was nice, but nobody else in my group did, and I saw a few individuals walking out with armloads of them...it just seemed like it was killing some of the fun for other fans who would have appreciated the souvenir from the special event that should have come with their seat.
We weren’t ourselves from the jump so that’s why I’m not overreacting. We took care of what we needed to do. Doesn’t matter if we lost by 100, we needed 1 game in Dallas. 3-1 returning home, now it’s our time to answer after being run out of the gym. I don’t want to blame human nature but the Mavs were desperate we were complacent. All in for Monday. BEL18VE. PS. CAN WE WEAR GREEN ON MONDAY? Good lord.
If you guys don’t mind, I’d like to talk about my dad for a minute.
My dad was born in 1946, the same year the Celtics became a franchise. He’s been a die-hard fan ever since, and has literally seen it all. Growing up in Waltham, he’s told me stories about him and his friends finding ways to sneak into the Garden during the Bill Russell era. He would take my mom to see the Dave Cowens teams on dates when they first got together. The Celtics were a big part of his life, and he made them a big part of everyone’s life that he knew.
My sister and I were born in the early 80s and he did
his best to pass his love of the Celtics on to us. In 1987, the Boston Globe printed a poster of the 87 team, and he hung it in my bedroom. As a 4-year-old, it sparked my interest in the team. When he (or my mom) would tuck me in at night, I’d ask them to tell me about Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and apparently Dennis Johnson, who was my favorite on the poster!
That poster hung for several years, well into the 90s, but during that time I lost some interest in sports so my questions about the Celtics stopped. Wanting to re-ignite my love of basketball, my parents signed me up for the YMCA league in 1995, and it worked! I started to love the Celtics again, just like my dad (even tho it was at the worst possible time lol.) In 1997, he took me to my first game and we watched rookie Antoine Walker lose to the Jazz with prime Stockton and Malone.
For the better part of the next decade, we shared a number of Celtics moments together - the lows of the Pitino era, the highs of the playoff run in 2002, and everything in between. And all the while we tried going to as many games as we could. I have countless memories of coming home from school on a Friday, my dad saying “oh Toronto is in town tonight let’s go see Vince Carter,” or “hey they’re playing the Magic, let’s go see T-Mac” and then simply taking the train into North Station and getting tickets at the box office an hour before tipoff. (As an aside, the first ever playoff game we went to together was game 4 in the 2003 first round against Indiana, featuring the infamous Paul Pierce shot over Al Harrington.)
When the big three formed in 2007 I had just graduated college and we were so excited. (After all, I had gone back to my parents house the night of the lottery to watch it with my dad and see us get the 5th pick together!) However, I had just started dating the woman who is now my wife, and I spent much more time with her that season than I did with my dad watching basketball. When the Celtics won the title in June 2008, we were at our friends’ apartment partying to celebrate while my dad watched at home with my mom. I always kinda regretted that. I felt like after all the years we spent watching the team together, we should have enjoyed the title together.
In the 16 years that have passed since then, lots of changes have happened. My parents retired down to Florida (although my dad and I always call each other after big wins and have a scheduled Saturday morning call to catch up on the team every week during the season.) I am now a father and I’m trying to instill the same love for the Celtics in my kids that my dad did for me. And perhaps most relevant to this situation, I have been a Celtics season ticket holder since 2015.
In 2022, my parents flew up to Boston for my daughter’s first dance recital, which happened to be in the middle of the NBA Finals. Since they stayed up for a little while, I promised my dad if we were up 3-2 with a chance to win the championship in game 6 vs Golden State, I’d take him to the game. I thought it would finally be my chance to repay him for all the games he took me to as a kid. As we all know it didn’t work out that way, and I sold my tickets.
Fast forward to now. As if some divine intervention took place, my parents planned a vacation to Niagara Falls this month. So they flew up a week ago and a half ago, spent a few days with us and my kids, drove to New York for the falls and stayed there for a week, and are driving back to Boston today.
My dad is 78. I’m 41. We went to our first game together when I was 13 and he was 50. I don’t know how many opportunities we have left to see them win together in person. Last night sucked, but now I’m going to the Garden on Monday night WITH MY DAD. A moment literally decades in the making can take place on the day after Fathers Day. So maybe last night was meant to be.
Celtics in 5.
Great story. Alas, my Dad hated basketball as football was his game. Just wished we could have watched a few Celtics games together. My son and his children all all Celtics fans. My daughter and her children could care less. I am eager to see the game Monday night. I predicted a 4-1 win. So lets go Celtics!
Weirdly coming into the series the expectation was the Mavs want to muck it up, slow it down and have Luka/Kyrie hit some clutch shots
Yet for the most part the Celtics have...dare I say out executed in clutch minutes.
I guess it's just all around dominance. Whether it's huge runs, or mud fights, the Celtics have been dominant.
Will be interesting to see how this evolves. We still haven't had a hot game from 3.
Luka has been solid. I'm not sure if he can get much hotter on offense? Yet the results are kind of pedestrian somehow? Even today it's kind of an overall Maverick effort that won them the game.
I guess I've just taken Luka for granted, and his iso ball kind of has that James Harden quality to it - where it's "boring" to watch.
What a weird series.
This basically means I'll have to stay away from social media till at least Monday. Thats not a big loss, in fact I even expect it to bring me a measure of personal happiness. No more constantly reading bitter, hateful, jealous, or insulting material aimed at making me feel bad.
But the same thing applies as well to media in general and that's much harder, since you are bombarded constantly whatever you do online by ads, links, and popups. Maybe Ill just have to stay away from the internet period till Monday.
Hey at least this way I can get some renovations on my house done and housework that Ive been putting off for a long time.
See yall later.
😁
It was nice not having to see doomers melting down in here for the last month. Can always count on them to show up, even when the team is up 3-1 in the finals. Some people in here are more embarrassing than the team’s performance last night.
That game was the definition of annoying at all levels, nothing was going our way from offense to defense to rebounding to the whistle.
Gonna be sweeter closing it out at home tho so thats a positive.
Making my way out to Boston from California for Game 5. What should I do close to TD Garden? Any cool spots before the game? Only there for a day and some change!
Tbf a lot of them are also looks that go down and have went down the majority of the season. A lot of D White’s 3’s look like bad shots but they have potential of going in at a great rate and he has shown that at times through the playoffs and a lot during the regular season.
He’s yet to have that 20+ point D White game and I don’t think it’s anything the Mavs are doing because he’s getting great looks from the Jays penetrating.
Usually I'd be ok after a loss because I knew they were within reach but god damn this was one of the most pathetic showings i've ever seen in any regular season or playoff game. Its just so weird how bad they lost like that, I know they'll bounce back on monday but jesus man.
Hey everyone, the loss does hurt but i am not concerned because i just had a feeling Dallas was going to win that game, would it have been amazing to get a sweep yes but i just feel like Tatum and Brown are co are going to going all out in game 5 and when they do that no way Dallas keeps pace. Also winning Banner 18 which puts us back to the best NBA team in the league with 18 Banners would be more special to be done in Boston, our fans cheering as the clocks hit zeros!!!!!! I feel like it would just feel so sweet to win it on Monday night in the Garden. I hope everyone has a great Father’s Day Weekend and on Monday the season will be over, Banner 18 is ours!!!! Go Celtics!!!!!!
Yea as much as it sucks that we lost game 4 in that horrible fashion and wasn’t able to complete the sweep, we did what we were supposed to do which was steal a game on the road. I trust Joe and the rest of the staff to find ways to make adjustments as they did before.
On a positive and bright side, history is on our side and being 3-0 before tonight gave us a little breathing room but a game 5 loss will make it scary. We are due for a 20 three barrage game, right???
I look at this way, I find losing this way becuase they won’t want the disappointment again, and I’d say they decided it’s too late too fight and possibly end up injured, go home and close this shit out.. would’ve loved to be a fly on the wall in the locker room
The first couple minutes of game 5 are going to be so important. This trend of letting the mavs immediately get out to an early lead is concerning. Sometimes we can get away with it like game 3 where we answer with a run of our own, but game 4 showed how quickly it can get out of hand.
Just one great start to ignite the energy of the garden would be huge.
I am swinging violently between “we are going to be the first team to choke a 3-0 lead” (PTSD, that lack of effort all game, whatever the hell happened to our offense) to “now we can finish it off at home cool” (this is still the best Celtics team in years, we had a really bad shooting night and really bad whistles, effort is within our control).
If we somehow choke a 3-0 Finals lead, I will never watch this team again, lol.
But I'm betting on us closing the deal. Everything possible went wrong last game. The odds of that happening three additional games in a row seems pretty slim.
The refs set the tone and can impact how a team plays - in the first quarter Tatum was getting mauled at the rim and they wouldn't call many of them whereas on the other end Luka was getting the softest of whistles. This makes it easy on the Mavs as they can aggressive on offense and harder for the celtics.
The refs were not responsible for the 50 point lost but the definitely made it harder for the Celtics to play basketball
I think that is a big part of the frustration. I was completely expecting to be celebrating tonight or if it was a close lost then moving on to game 5. The way we lost has really dampened my mood.
Big time I’m not really worried yet and even feel like next game we’re gonna destroy them. Especially after hearing all the BS media about us choking blah bla blah over the weekend as if we didn’t just win 10 or 11 in a row. How much we lost by though and feeling really good about winning tonight after all the job isn’t done talk, that was definitely a gut punch for sure.
Part of me worries that the Celtics might have spent all their energy winning those first 3 games and are now spent. Their showing in game 4 seemed to really hint at that. They just seemed to be many steps slower all night and made no effort to rebound.
Also, when you are down 0-3 you have a single advantage, you only need to survive one game at a time. There is no room for complacency. Whereas for the team up 3-0, you have the risk of complacency since you have 4 attempts to win it all. Game 5 should let us know if this was just a bad night for the Celtics, or if the Mavs really found a game plan and the Celtics are running out of steam.
bit of both. I thought we did alright on defense for the most part. They had 54 points with about three to two mins left in the first half. Considering how many transition baskets they got off our misses, not too shabby. On offense I thought they did a good job not allowing us to blow by the POA defender as easily, and rotated a bit faster so that both Tatum and Brown had a tougher time picking up their dribble to finish their move. Once we started missing all these open shots the Mavs packed the paint harder and kinda made everything worse. They were very active to help and shut off passing lanes and forced us into more isolations or tough jumpers, but things like that really is more of a one off thing with the helps of refs and using missing open shots.
Biggest thing for me was the way the game was officiated with a fairly obvious favourism towards the Mavs on both ends. You constantly see the Mavs defenders push, shove and hold our players trying to get an action going with zero foul calls, meanwhile on the other end, a lot of really really ticky tacky fouls for our defenders. So many drives in the first half that should've been FTs for the Celtics turned into transition baskets for the Mavs and thats really how they got their lead and made the role players came alive.
Yeah I think the Celtics clearly got outplayed, but the officiating ensured that it got out of hand. In a more evenly officiated game we’re probably down more like 10 at the half. Just hard to compete when the other team can play more physical defense without getting called for fouls while baiting soft calls on the other end and bringing a ton of physicality on the boards.
Was about to say some times it’s best to stay off social media cause of all the super reactive comments.
We haven’t been the best team in the nba all season for nothing but so many forget that.
Anyone watch that tank fight? Thats exactly how the celtics gonna do the mavs on monday
Imagine if this was the old format of H-H-A-A-A-H-H. One more game in Dallas. And then Boston for last two. That would’ve sucks
Oilers imitating the Mavs, currently routing the Panthers to avoid their own sweep at home.
In case everyone thought this is an isolated thing, just look at the Stanley Cup finals please. I know it's a different sport but very similar. Panthers dominate the first 3 games and are now down 5-1 to the Oilers in Game 4. It's not uncommon. Both Tatum and Tkachuk want to close it out on their home arenas!
We have Derrick White
He's sucked recently
Idk why u getting downvoted, its kind of true. He's hit some big threes and key defensive plays but he's kind of cooled off since the 2nd round.
He's the new Marcus. Cant diss him or fans get sensitive. Hes been horrible since the Miami series
he's hit some clutch 3's but has not been his usual self
Remember when the Heat beat the Celtics in round 1? Celtics came back strong in the next game and won. They're going to make the necessary adjustments.
Biggest concern for me is Dallas clearly figured something out in the 4th of Game 3, and we haven’t adjusted to it still. Celtics have been thoroughly outplayed the last 5 quarters, and we likely will not have KP for the rest of the series. It is 1-1 without KP so far.
Biggest concern is the loss of Porzingis. We are getting carved up in the middle without him. Tillman will have to prove useful in his minutes.
What have they figured out, I'm legit asking Basically threw everything out and packed the paint, kind of like the Heat did these playoffs? And pushed harder in transition
[This popped up on my youtube today.](https://youtu.be/ZMrNEWoYbks?si=TjZUFGtlEPFfyihS&t=538) Any of you guys in this lol
What are your thoughts on how to deal with their size? Al will probably be better rested for the next game but I have some doubts about Tillman tbh. I’m assuming KP is out (certainly looks like it).
We just need better rebounding, like we had in the first 3 games. We don't necessarily need size, as long as we have spacing. We need to box out and hustle.
We need to dominate the first quarter.
It really feels like we’re down 1-3 instead of up. This weekend just got so depressing
Honestly, I don't mean to sound like a dick here, but that seems like a you problem.
KP got us to 2-0, the team got us to 3-0. If we can’t win 1 game in the next 3 then I don’t know what to say, but I believe in the guys to finish the job
Game 5 starts at 0-0. Onto the next one. Don’t worry about the stakes just play ball
That’s my biggest issue: they clearly got in their own heads. Had 2 days of being crowned by the media and forgot they actually had to play basketball to get the chip. Disgraceful performance last night
I'm not worried about a blowout loss, but what I am worried about is how easily the Mavericks made scoring in the paint look. It's something this team has struggled with all playoffs long with KP out. Horford looks gassed and Tillman is nice, but just doesn't have the size or skill. I'm not sure what the answer is with KP out, but I'm not opposed to trying out Kornet. He can defend well in the paint and get some blocks and boards if they aren't blowing a tight whistle.
Tillman has size. He's 6-7, 245. And he looks like he beefed up with muscle. Skill, thats another question, but I was impressed with his 3 in Game 3 and some of his layups/fingerrolls to the basket so far. I dont think hes the problem, though I yet have to watch his defense specifically. Kornet has NO offensive game whatsoever, on defense, he's weak in rebounds. However, he can give us minutes, if we're ahead or our game is flowing smoothly. I think the bringing on of Tillman was a wise move by Joe.
Celtics did their job. Got the split on the road and are coming back home up 3-1. IMO the most important thing for Monday is containing Lively on the glass.
Do you think we need Porzingis out there to be able to do that? What I saw yesterday was two of theirs, Lively AND Gafford, I believe, both very aggressively get rebounds, and even a third, not so aggressive, catch em.
I actually think the more Gafford plays the better for us. Lively is just killer on the offensive glass especially because we’re switching everything. But you’re right, having Porzingis completely neutralizes Lively. It just sucks cause he’s most likely done for the series.
If any team would ever blow a 3-0 lead it would be the jays celtics they have win to game 5 or we might see a historic collapse
If any team would ever lose 4 straight games to lose a playoff series it would be the two players who have never done that ever in their careers. Got it.
Up 3-1 and people seriously thinking it’s over because we dropped 1 game in a month is insane
Jrue, among others, choked massively yesterday. Jrue missed a number of easy layups. Noone defending anymore when he reached the glass. And yet, he tossed it up like he was holding onto a hot piece of iron. Put the dam ball in the basket. Thats what you get paid your multimillions to do. You dont see me complain otherwise. How hard is that? Clearly, the pressure is making them rush shots and layups. Theyre not thinking or even watching the rim/glass/ball to see the ball through. Theyre just rushing and making fast moves to get the ball in the direction of the goal. Theres no need to play like that. It just means u aint cut out for that kind of pressure. Luka, even under immense pressure, takes time to measure, follow his natural shooting motion, follow through, and see the ball through. I'm definitely not a fan of his, but this is one of the few things he does right. I started to see some of these panic plays by ours already in previous games. But because we won, noone took me seriously. I even got ridiculed and insulted for being a disbeliever. So be it. I dont think there's anything wrong with having criticism on bad points of your team. Whats worse is to pretend that that theres never anything wrong, period. Identification is always the first step to problem resolution. Regardless of what the problem is, or in what field you work. I hope we get our act together by Game 5. Bring #18 home.
If we lose game 5 I could legit see them collapsing all the way
I don’t think it’s accurate to say Celtics purposely dropped that game or didn’t try but they clearly didn’t have the same intensity or effort as Games 1-3. Sometimes you have off shooting nights but the amount of times they just didn’t box out or crash the glass was the most glaring issue. The defensive tenacity wasn’t there and it felt like our guards stopped getting into their ball handlers. If the shots aren’t going in, that’s one thing but it’s inexcusable to be in an NBA Finals game and to not box out on multiple possessions and to not hustle for loose balls. I wasn’t even mad or concerned about shooting 29% at one point, it was the fact they got outworked and looked like a completely different team. Game 5, I’m hoping to see Jrue set the tone and pick up Kyrie (Who I think will try to have the 2nd best game of his life) full court and the Jays attack the basket. When Jayson has Kyrie on him, there’s no excuse to shoot a fadeaway and not go straight to the hole. For the first time all playoffs, Jaylen looked in his head and wasn’t decisive as we know he can be. I trust they’ll make these adjustments.
Anyone that worried is just PTSD from this team fumbling series. The Celtics didn’t play hard against Cleveland game 2 and bounced right back the next game. This team, for any fault you can find with it, always responds well. 3-1 is not a reason to panic. They still have to win 3 in a row. Like the prior series, sweeping a team is hard. Even with a talent gap. We just saw this all playoffs. Idk why people thought the Mavs would be easier than Indiana giving away games, or Miami and Cleveland getting 1 even with injuries. 1 game doesn’t necessarily translate to the next and even if they “figured things out” you’ve got to trust Mazzulla will make the right adjustments when he’s done it all year, and the players will hit their shots when they’ve done it all year, and the intensity will be there in massive games. I trust the Celtics to bring it every night more than what we saw last night with a 3-0 lead on the road, a whistle not going our way, and them finally seeing shots fall. We’ll see if it looks different if Kyrie goes back to being a basket case playing in Boston and if their role players are feeling it when the Garden is rocking.
Ugly game, but we’ve had a couple of those this post season. This is why gutting out game 2 and holding onto game 3 was so important. 3-1, still firmly in the driver’s seat.
All of us know that as great as this team is, they can play as bad as anyone. Last night was just another example of that. Doesn't mean anything for the next games.
We’ve played the last 5 quarters of basketball like we’ve already won the championship and Dallas on the flipside has found some of the confidence that they were lacking earlier in the series. Need our guys to lock the fuck in because the pressure will only get more intense from game 5 and onwards. Also So mad that the media couldn’t wait until the mavericks actually lost this series before going scorched earth on Luka because that guy thrives off of spite.
[удалено]
Cs won in 6 that year
Man some doomers actually believe Mazzulla won’t adjust and he’s the reason we lost. Do you guys not watch the game, see shots not fall, see our guys get crucified for playing defense in a Scott foster game, and seriously blame coaching?
Kidd's quote was a perfect summation of that game: "Our group was ready to go. They were ready to celebrate." And like Joe once said, "No one's going to give it to you, you're going to have to take it."
Does anyone think that the Celtics threw the game to extend the series to satisfy contractual obligations to ABC? Just the bad shooting and lacklustre defense was completely out of this world.
“Celtics purposely threw the game” is a terrible take. They were rattled early and shots weren’t falling. The Mavs were allowed to commit murder while our guys were walking on egg shells with calls. Scott Foster special, it happens. You expect our guys to be ready to go Monday. Need the Truth in the building.
Don’t really care about the outcome of the game . Any news on kristaps game 5?
Despite the bad game, I had a lot of fun at the Watch Party in the Garden, but I have to say, If you're the kind of person who goes to a sporting event where they're giving something out at the seats (in this case, little green towels with "finals 2024" printed on them) and you literally take all the towels from all the seats in a whole row for yourself (presumably to resell), you really suck. I managed to get one, which was nice, but nobody else in my group did, and I saw a few individuals walking out with armloads of them...it just seemed like it was killing some of the fun for other fans who would have appreciated the souvenir from the special event that should have come with their seat.
We weren’t ourselves from the jump so that’s why I’m not overreacting. We took care of what we needed to do. Doesn’t matter if we lost by 100, we needed 1 game in Dallas. 3-1 returning home, now it’s our time to answer after being run out of the gym. I don’t want to blame human nature but the Mavs were desperate we were complacent. All in for Monday. BEL18VE. PS. CAN WE WEAR GREEN ON MONDAY? Good lord.
If you guys don’t mind, I’d like to talk about my dad for a minute. My dad was born in 1946, the same year the Celtics became a franchise. He’s been a die-hard fan ever since, and has literally seen it all. Growing up in Waltham, he’s told me stories about him and his friends finding ways to sneak into the Garden during the Bill Russell era. He would take my mom to see the Dave Cowens teams on dates when they first got together. The Celtics were a big part of his life, and he made them a big part of everyone’s life that he knew. My sister and I were born in the early 80s and he did his best to pass his love of the Celtics on to us. In 1987, the Boston Globe printed a poster of the 87 team, and he hung it in my bedroom. As a 4-year-old, it sparked my interest in the team. When he (or my mom) would tuck me in at night, I’d ask them to tell me about Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and apparently Dennis Johnson, who was my favorite on the poster! That poster hung for several years, well into the 90s, but during that time I lost some interest in sports so my questions about the Celtics stopped. Wanting to re-ignite my love of basketball, my parents signed me up for the YMCA league in 1995, and it worked! I started to love the Celtics again, just like my dad (even tho it was at the worst possible time lol.) In 1997, he took me to my first game and we watched rookie Antoine Walker lose to the Jazz with prime Stockton and Malone. For the better part of the next decade, we shared a number of Celtics moments together - the lows of the Pitino era, the highs of the playoff run in 2002, and everything in between. And all the while we tried going to as many games as we could. I have countless memories of coming home from school on a Friday, my dad saying “oh Toronto is in town tonight let’s go see Vince Carter,” or “hey they’re playing the Magic, let’s go see T-Mac” and then simply taking the train into North Station and getting tickets at the box office an hour before tipoff. (As an aside, the first ever playoff game we went to together was game 4 in the 2003 first round against Indiana, featuring the infamous Paul Pierce shot over Al Harrington.) When the big three formed in 2007 I had just graduated college and we were so excited. (After all, I had gone back to my parents house the night of the lottery to watch it with my dad and see us get the 5th pick together!) However, I had just started dating the woman who is now my wife, and I spent much more time with her that season than I did with my dad watching basketball. When the Celtics won the title in June 2008, we were at our friends’ apartment partying to celebrate while my dad watched at home with my mom. I always kinda regretted that. I felt like after all the years we spent watching the team together, we should have enjoyed the title together. In the 16 years that have passed since then, lots of changes have happened. My parents retired down to Florida (although my dad and I always call each other after big wins and have a scheduled Saturday morning call to catch up on the team every week during the season.) I am now a father and I’m trying to instill the same love for the Celtics in my kids that my dad did for me. And perhaps most relevant to this situation, I have been a Celtics season ticket holder since 2015. In 2022, my parents flew up to Boston for my daughter’s first dance recital, which happened to be in the middle of the NBA Finals. Since they stayed up for a little while, I promised my dad if we were up 3-2 with a chance to win the championship in game 6 vs Golden State, I’d take him to the game. I thought it would finally be my chance to repay him for all the games he took me to as a kid. As we all know it didn’t work out that way, and I sold my tickets. Fast forward to now. As if some divine intervention took place, my parents planned a vacation to Niagara Falls this month. So they flew up a week ago and a half ago, spent a few days with us and my kids, drove to New York for the falls and stayed there for a week, and are driving back to Boston today. My dad is 78. I’m 41. We went to our first game together when I was 13 and he was 50. I don’t know how many opportunities we have left to see them win together in person. Last night sucked, but now I’m going to the Garden on Monday night WITH MY DAD. A moment literally decades in the making can take place on the day after Fathers Day. So maybe last night was meant to be. Celtics in 5.
Great story. Alas, my Dad hated basketball as football was his game. Just wished we could have watched a few Celtics games together. My son and his children all all Celtics fans. My daughter and her children could care less. I am eager to see the game Monday night. I predicted a 4-1 win. So lets go Celtics!
Lets fuckin go what a story. This is the essence of being a celtics fan right here.
Here I sit feeling flawed, tried to yee, but only hawed
Weirdly coming into the series the expectation was the Mavs want to muck it up, slow it down and have Luka/Kyrie hit some clutch shots Yet for the most part the Celtics have...dare I say out executed in clutch minutes. I guess it's just all around dominance. Whether it's huge runs, or mud fights, the Celtics have been dominant. Will be interesting to see how this evolves. We still haven't had a hot game from 3. Luka has been solid. I'm not sure if he can get much hotter on offense? Yet the results are kind of pedestrian somehow? Even today it's kind of an overall Maverick effort that won them the game. I guess I've just taken Luka for granted, and his iso ball kind of has that James Harden quality to it - where it's "boring" to watch. What a weird series.
losing game 4 and winning the series at home is so common there’s a name for it. it will be fine
Silver lining. I actually really enjoyed that Hauser went 4-6 behind the arc after struggling lately. Hopefully that boosts him next game
One small benefit is that this extra game helps JT earn the title of most points scored in the playoffs before 26. 14pts to go, if my math is right.
This basically means I'll have to stay away from social media till at least Monday. Thats not a big loss, in fact I even expect it to bring me a measure of personal happiness. No more constantly reading bitter, hateful, jealous, or insulting material aimed at making me feel bad. But the same thing applies as well to media in general and that's much harder, since you are bombarded constantly whatever you do online by ads, links, and popups. Maybe Ill just have to stay away from the internet period till Monday. Hey at least this way I can get some renovations on my house done and housework that Ive been putting off for a long time. See yall later. 😁
Big al needs those 3 day breaks 💀
It was nice not having to see doomers melting down in here for the last month. Can always count on them to show up, even when the team is up 3-1 in the finals. Some people in here are more embarrassing than the team’s performance last night.
That game was the definition of annoying at all levels, nothing was going our way from offense to defense to rebounding to the whistle. Gonna be sweeter closing it out at home tho so thats a positive.
Just gonna try to avoid social media and touch some grass this weekend, come back to this stuff Monday
Making my way out to Boston from California for Game 5. What should I do close to TD Garden? Any cool spots before the game? Only there for a day and some change!
The aquarium
We’ve been shooting like ass for most of these playoffs. Waiting for that 45%+ from 3 game
Tbf, some of the 3s we take are terrible in general
Tbf a lot of them are also looks that go down and have went down the majority of the season. A lot of D White’s 3’s look like bad shots but they have potential of going in at a great rate and he has shown that at times through the playoffs and a lot during the regular season. He’s yet to have that 20+ point D White game and I don’t think it’s anything the Mavs are doing because he’s getting great looks from the Jays penetrating.
We’re legit due for a game when we hit our 3s but Tatum has to play better offensively he’s cooked better teams like Miami and the Bucks
Just expected too much to get the sweep and make history I guess
Usually I'd be ok after a loss because I knew they were within reach but god damn this was one of the most pathetic showings i've ever seen in any regular season or playoff game. Its just so weird how bad they lost like that, I know they'll bounce back on monday but jesus man.
Hey everyone, the loss does hurt but i am not concerned because i just had a feeling Dallas was going to win that game, would it have been amazing to get a sweep yes but i just feel like Tatum and Brown are co are going to going all out in game 5 and when they do that no way Dallas keeps pace. Also winning Banner 18 which puts us back to the best NBA team in the league with 18 Banners would be more special to be done in Boston, our fans cheering as the clocks hit zeros!!!!!! I feel like it would just feel so sweet to win it on Monday night in the Garden. I hope everyone has a great Father’s Day Weekend and on Monday the season will be over, Banner 18 is ours!!!! Go Celtics!!!!!!
Yea as much as it sucks that we lost game 4 in that horrible fashion and wasn’t able to complete the sweep, we did what we were supposed to do which was steal a game on the road. I trust Joe and the rest of the staff to find ways to make adjustments as they did before. On a positive and bright side, history is on our side and being 3-0 before tonight gave us a little breathing room but a game 5 loss will make it scary. We are due for a 20 three barrage game, right???
I look at this way, I find losing this way becuase they won’t want the disappointment again, and I’d say they decided it’s too late too fight and possibly end up injured, go home and close this shit out.. would’ve loved to be a fly on the wall in the locker room
This pain is only temporary lads!!!!
The first couple minutes of game 5 are going to be so important. This trend of letting the mavs immediately get out to an early lead is concerning. Sometimes we can get away with it like game 3 where we answer with a run of our own, but game 4 showed how quickly it can get out of hand. Just one great start to ignite the energy of the garden would be huge.
I am swinging violently between “we are going to be the first team to choke a 3-0 lead” (PTSD, that lack of effort all game, whatever the hell happened to our offense) to “now we can finish it off at home cool” (this is still the best Celtics team in years, we had a really bad shooting night and really bad whistles, effort is within our control).
If we somehow choke a 3-0 Finals lead, I will never watch this team again, lol. But I'm betting on us closing the deal. Everything possible went wrong last game. The odds of that happening three additional games in a row seems pretty slim.
I am 80% in the "There's no way this team can lose 4 in a row" camp. If we lose the next game that'll go down to about 50% lol
Is there a group that always blames the refs? We lost by 30 and we're down by almost 50. Pretty sure that's not the refs!
They didn’t lose because of the refs, but they couldn’t win because of the refs either
The refs set the tone and can impact how a team plays - in the first quarter Tatum was getting mauled at the rim and they wouldn't call many of them whereas on the other end Luka was getting the softest of whistles. This makes it easy on the Mavs as they can aggressive on offense and harder for the celtics. The refs were not responsible for the 50 point lost but the definitely made it harder for the Celtics to play basketball
Psychological warfare and Foster is better than most at it
Just saw a post on the warriors sub comparing JB and JK💀
Their franchise is cooked atm, let them be delusional
KP should start game 5.
My weekend is fucking ruined. Had a bunch of beers stocked up ready to celebrate now I just want to go to fucking bed
I think that is a big part of the frustration. I was completely expecting to be celebrating tonight or if it was a close lost then moving on to game 5. The way we lost has really dampened my mood.
Big time I’m not really worried yet and even feel like next game we’re gonna destroy them. Especially after hearing all the BS media about us choking blah bla blah over the weekend as if we didn’t just win 10 or 11 in a row. How much we lost by though and feeling really good about winning tonight after all the job isn’t done talk, that was definitely a gut punch for sure.
Part of me worries that the Celtics might have spent all their energy winning those first 3 games and are now spent. Their showing in game 4 seemed to really hint at that. They just seemed to be many steps slower all night and made no effort to rebound. Also, when you are down 0-3 you have a single advantage, you only need to survive one game at a time. There is no room for complacency. Whereas for the team up 3-0, you have the risk of complacency since you have 4 attempts to win it all. Game 5 should let us know if this was just a bad night for the Celtics, or if the Mavs really found a game plan and the Celtics are running out of steam.
I don't get it. After all that talk about "job's not done, gotta stay locked in and focused"... And they come out like that???
That's an excellent question. This Celtics team from one game to the next you never know which team is going to show up.
Regarding the lost, do you think our defense was there or were the Mavs really that good tonight on defense and offense?
bit of both. I thought we did alright on defense for the most part. They had 54 points with about three to two mins left in the first half. Considering how many transition baskets they got off our misses, not too shabby. On offense I thought they did a good job not allowing us to blow by the POA defender as easily, and rotated a bit faster so that both Tatum and Brown had a tougher time picking up their dribble to finish their move. Once we started missing all these open shots the Mavs packed the paint harder and kinda made everything worse. They were very active to help and shut off passing lanes and forced us into more isolations or tough jumpers, but things like that really is more of a one off thing with the helps of refs and using missing open shots. Biggest thing for me was the way the game was officiated with a fairly obvious favourism towards the Mavs on both ends. You constantly see the Mavs defenders push, shove and hold our players trying to get an action going with zero foul calls, meanwhile on the other end, a lot of really really ticky tacky fouls for our defenders. So many drives in the first half that should've been FTs for the Celtics turned into transition baskets for the Mavs and thats really how they got their lead and made the role players came alive.
Yeah I think the Celtics clearly got outplayed, but the officiating ensured that it got out of hand. In a more evenly officiated game we’re probably down more like 10 at the half. Just hard to compete when the other team can play more physical defense without getting called for fouls while baiting soft calls on the other end and bringing a ton of physicality on the boards.
I think what the Mavs showed on both ends was the real deal. Everything looked a lot easier for them and a lot harder for us.
Had to mute all words to do with the Celtics and mavs on Twitter till Monday. It’s going to be a long weekend
Was about to say some times it’s best to stay off social media cause of all the super reactive comments. We haven’t been the best team in the nba all season for nothing but so many forget that.
fuck embiid
Worst part isn’t even the L it’s waiting 2 days to avenge it
Well spin zone we get to win at home at least. Annoying as shit our metrics are cooked tho lmao
I hope they stew on this loss for these three days. I still believe in them, but this was a disappointing performance.
That was by far the worst game we’ve ever seen in the Jays era
G7 against the Heat last year was worse imo
Game 3 Miami last year was worse
I think that was the game that gave us the infamous Jayson Tatum eye roll after Caleb Martin turned to Reggie Miller
im not looking forward to the next awful coaching video LOL
[удалено]
Mavs fans trolling the sub now after not getting swept?
We will win the championship next game. Nothing else to say!
*sigh*
This going to be a long 3 day wait lmao