I have no idea how this series is going to play out. It depends on what Celtics team shows up mainly. Most people aren't locking them for the win because of how sometimes it just looks like they are lost on offense. I'll go Celtics in 6. They are so talented they can sweep and make it look easy. The are also so consistently inconsistent they could get dominated 4 games in a row.
The issue with Celtics is they rely too much on 3 pointers. They shoot 40 plus 3 pointers a game, when they are hot they look great when they are cold they can’t change the offense to become a high FG% relying on 2 point baskets. That’s why the Mavericks are going to sweep them, the Mavericks rely on a consistent high FG% from 2 point baskets and getting to the foul line. The mavericks were incredibly consistent on offense, the Celtics made Pacers and Cavaliers looked like they belong in playoffs. Tatum throwing his hands in the air after every missed basket instead of getting back and playing defense, will have Mavericks making easy baskets on the other end.
Doncic is the biggest complainer in the NBA, so the last paragraph sounds kind of haterish. But I agree about their reliance on the 3.
I have been a Celtics fan all my life. I saw when Larry came into the league and couple years later was leading them to a championship against Lakers. Im not a hater but I have never shied away from criticizing my favorite team or players on my favorite teams for behavior detrimental to team.
That's fair, but we can also agree that the Celtics would benefit from the same easy buckets as the Mavs have the biggest complainers in the game. I'm more concerned about their offense effecting their defense, and their coaching overall.
Honestly I have watched a lot of this years western conference playoffs because the teams that were in played a lot of the old school basketball game that I enjoyed so much, inside game and mid range shooting. I want the Celtics to win the Championship but the way the Mavericks handled their opponents in the playoffs this year has been outstanding. I thought the Mavericks were going to wilt at some point and come down to earth a bit but they have stayed the course. The mavericks don’t give up leads, if they put Celtics down by 20, the Celtics are not going to come back from that against Mavs. Did you get a chance to watch western conference playoffs this year?
It doesn’t make any sense that the Celtics don’t play that sort of game either. Tatum & Brown can both score at will if they get the ball at the foul line and score from there yet they settle for so many 3’s.
A good chunk of it. The wolves were not the same team starting at like game 5 of the nuggets series defensively. OKC had the youngest team in the league. Their run to the finals was tougher no doubt, but I've seen tougher.
It's a combination of coaching philosophy and lack of actual coaching. The Celtics have 6 starters, 4 that are basically all stars and Jrue who is a great player. There's no reason to have the amount of doubt everyone has for that team other than how they play the game.
Because 3 points are more than 2 points. That’s why the Celtics play that way “Three and D” is the modern game, love it or hate it.
Is "three and D" how recent seasons have had scoring similar to All Star games of previous years? I don't see any D there and it's really not reasonable to expect the fans to stay engaged for the long term. Just not sustainable.
the NBA is thriving actually. What is not sustainable is college basketball where everyone is a free agent every year and there are no rules but yeah of course in the regular season defense is not played to the level it will be played tonight by the Celtics
Not really true at all. It’s been declining quite a bit. We’ll see where it ends up over the next 4-5 years especially as LeBron retires and there’s no heir apparent or bridge from Jordan ala Kobe. 1 year old so doesn’t have this years data: https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/20...p-past-30-years-analysis-where-league-stands/ Viewership is down 13% year over year from last year in the playoffs: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradad...ewing-is-down-from-last-year/?sh=3226e7f4323d I wonder how much hockey going to main stream networks has impacted this as well. I know I find it a lot more compelling than these 20+ point blowouts. The Knicks run was fun.
Living by the three tonight. But I'll say one more time I don't understand why everyone is deep throating the Mavs. They play a similar offense to the Celtics. Two players dominate the ball and everyone is in the perimeter, except they can't put their center out there which hurts spacing.
Ugh hockey bores the shit outta me at times I think viewership data is down for everything everywhere cause of streaming on this or that device it’s hard to keep up. the NBA just signed a ridiculous deal with ESPN/NBC, it’s thriving
