Celtics 2024 Playoff Run Thread

[Roy H.]

With the news that Butler has injured his knee, that is a lot of top players in the east that are out or vulnerable/limited:

Embiid
Giannis
Butler
Randle
Levine
Mitchell (some injury management)

The only healthy teams seem to be BOS, ORL, and IND (although Mathurin is out, not a "top" player, but a factor).  It is almost a little scary how well things are lining up for the Celtics.  Like, too good to be true or something.

I don't think it is a given that CHI beats MIA.  MIA is actually still favored (-2.5).  It is one game and it is in MIA.  Coby White won't get 40+ points vs. MIA.

Yeah.  If we are as good as a 64 win regular season says we are, we should be able to reach the ECF going 8-3 at worst.  I don't want to see the team playing in extended series early on.

[Phantom255x]

When you see the path to Finals could be Bulls or Heat (w/o Butler), Cavs/Magic, then Knicks/Pacers:

[footey]

With the news that Butler has injured his knee, that is a lot of top players in the east that are out or vulnerable/limited:

Embiid
Giannis
Butler
Randle
Levine
Mitchell (some injury management)

The only healthy teams seem to be BOS, ORL, and IND (although Mathurin is out, not a "top" player, but a factor).  It is almost a little scary how well things are lining up for the Celtics.  Like, too good to be true or something.

I don't think it is a given that CHI beats MIA.  MIA is actually still favored (-2.5).  It is one game and it is in MIA.  Coby White won't get 40+ points vs. MIA.

Yeah.  If we are as good as a 64 win regular season says we are, we should be able to reach the ECF going 8-3 at worst.  I don't want to see the team playing in extended series early on.

2008 team went 7/7/6 before getting to the finals. I'm just happy if we win it all, and will not worry about how many games it took to get there. (well, I will of course worry, but I'm trying to lower my expectations here, as anything can happen on any given game).

[footey]

The top 8 are going to play the vast majority of the minutes. Pritchard and Hauser will need to continue to play well. I think they will but you can’t know.

I can’t see the rest getting anything more than cameos.

Not even Luke?

[G-Bones]

The more games you play, the more likely it is for someone to get hurt.  We need to take care of business in every series. 

[Roy H.]

The more games you play, the more likely it is for someone to get hurt.  We need to take care of business in every series.

Exactly.

[Vermont Green]

The top 8 are going to play the vast majority of the minutes. Pritchard and Hauser will need to continue to play well. I think they will but you can’t know.

I can’t see the rest getting anything more than cameos.

Not even Luke?

I think it was the last OKC game where they only played the core 8 guys until the last 3-4 minutes of garbage time.  I took that as a harbinger of how they intend to play in the playoffs.

I don't know of course, but I see the core 8 playing most of the minutes, the meaningful minutes anyway.  All the others getting at best spot minutes.  Kornet only played in 8 of 20 games last playoffs, averaging 4.0 min/gm, after playing in 69 games in the regular season and averaging nearly 12 min/gm.

I had hopes that Tillman could provide real playoff minutes but he wasn't so great in the regular season.  Teams just sagged off him and it disrupted our offensive flow a lot.  He had played 30+ min/gm in the playoffs for MEM last season.  Seemed like based on that he would be up for at least some regular bench minutes.  We'll see.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

The more games you play, the more likely it is for someone to get hurt.  We need to take care of business in every series.

Exactly.

Yup. Don't let things drag out to 6 or 7 games, as they've often done.

[Celtics2021]

The more games you play, the more likely it is for someone to get hurt.  We need to take care of business in every series.

Exactly.

Yup. Don't let things drag out to 6 or 7 games, as they've often done.

That is not a typical problem in first round series.  The Celtics have a 16-3 record in their last four first round series as the higher seed.  Subsequent rounds have been tougher, but with the exception of Miami last year, those have always been against teams with similar seeding and regular season record.

[keevsnick]

One thing I find interesting about the way the East Bracket broke: The Celtics were the #1 offense in the East this year. The numbers 2-6 offenses are all either on the other side of the bracket or eliminated (Atlanta was #5).

Basically the Celtics will avoid any competent offenses until the ECF. The best offense left on their side of the bracket is Cleveland who was 16th in the league.

[SCeltic34]

One thing I find interesting about the way the East Bracket broke: The Celtics were the #1 offense in the East this year. The numbers 2-6 offenses are all either on the other side of the bracket or eliminated (Atlanta was #5).

Basically the Celtics will avoid any competent offenses until the ECF. The best offense left on their side of the bracket is Cleveland who was 16th in the league.

Is that for the entire season?  I think it's a deceiving stat.  I haven't kept close track, but from what I can recall Cleveland has missed key players at pretty much every point in the season.  Both Garland and Mitchell, their two best players, missed a lot of games.

Cleveland is a formidable opponent when healthy.  I hope Orlando can pull an upset, though I doubt they will.

[Big333223]

The top 6 get a full 10 day vacation before the playoffs. They better come out sharp.

[Phantom255x]

Knock on wood for our own health, but the path to the Finals really can't be this easier. Miami without Jimmy Butler or Chicago first round. Then Cleveland or Orlando, great teams but not *that* elite yet. Then probably NY/IND/MIL/PHI although two of those teams are also dealing with key injuries including Giannis and a hobbled Embiid.

It'd be a colossal failure if they don't make the Finals. The only possible excuse I could give is, if god forbid like two of Jaylen/Porzingis/Tatum go down to very serious injury but outside of that, come on now. It's right there for them. Most of the East is on crutches.

[SparzWizard]

Knock on wood for our own health, but the path to the Finals really can't be this easier. Miami without Jimmy Butler or Chicago first round. Then Cleveland or Orlando, great teams but not *that* elite yet. Then probably NY/IND/MIL/PHI although two of those teams are also dealing with key injuries including Giannis and a hobbled Embiid.

It'd be a colossal failure if they don't make the Finals. The only possible excuse I could give is, if god forbid like two of Jaylen/Porzingis/Tatum go down to very serious injury but outside of that, come on now. It's right there for them. Most of the East is on crutches.

You know who's getting fired immediately if they don't make the Finals.

[ozgod]

The top 6 get a full 10 day vacation before the playoffs. They better come out sharp.

Unfortunately there's always the risk of rustiness and lack of rhythm after a long layoff...let's hope they blow the cobwebs off quickly