Celtics (2-3) at Heat (3-2) ECF Game #6 9/27/20

[ManUp]

Good season just a little adversity for our young stars to grow through I expect the Jays will be back and better than ever. Kemba now knows what defenses will look like deep in the play-offs, I hope he's more prepared next season. Gordon needs to find a way to stay healthy, he might be the untold story of why we didn't advance to the finals. Theis has been a solid stand in all season, but it's clear we need a better answer at the 5.

Considering how we came into the season and all the question marks I'm happy with the outcome. I hope Danny can make some moves to help get us over the hump next season. The Nets are coming and it's going to be an even tougher fight next season.

[GreenEnvy]

I know it’s easy to jump on them, but the fought the entire way. They fought against Embiid who was their matchup nightmare. They fought against the defending champs, who despite no Kawhi, they never stopped coming. And they fought against a hungrier team.

Should they have won this series? Absolutely. They held leads in every 4th. But they are young, and their vets are inexperienced in situations like this.

I know people are going to overreact, but Tatum will be better next season. Brown will be better next season. Smart will be better next season. They still haven’t reached their primes. Kemba will be more comfortable. Hayward (assuming he opts in) will be more consistent if he can stay healthy.

I want the same core together next season. I want Brad coaching. I trust Ainge to defer/combine the picks. Terrible loss, but this team is set up moving forward. This is the second time in three seasons I truly believe we should have been in the Finals. But I think we have only seen a preview of things to come with this team. While everyone freaks out, I’ll proudly wear my green glasses throughout this offseason.

[Ogaju]

Nice guy, but nice guys don't win in the NBA. Too soft for this league and doesn't hold his guys accountable.

Spoeltra's a nice guy. Vogel is too.

I have some gripes with Brad, but this idea that he needs to be a raging lunatic at all times isn't one of them.

I don't know about Vogel, but Spo's been a championship-proven coach. Knows how to control his team. Deflects the spotlight. Knows how to utilize his TO's.

The critique was that Brad was "too nice". I'm just saying, I don't know if that's legit. Spo is championship proven, but I can't recall ever seeing him lose it on a sideline.

BRAD is soft, his players are soft. Spoelstra was mentored by Pat Riley that is as tough as it gets. They kept Udonis Haslem on the bench. He was riding the players in game 5. Yeah Spoel has no problem riding his players.

[KrazyLegs]

Spo is your daddy, Brad.

He MF'ing owns you.

[GreenCoffeeBean]

Doesn't MIA have a max slot available, too?

Yeah there's a reason you've seen "Giannis to Miami" rumors over the past month and during their MIA-MIL series. Even through trade they can acquire one

Now that’s what you call good drafting. Danny gets way too much credit because he hits on lottery picks, meanwhile Riley found contributors all over the place.

[radiohead]

Yeah this can be viewed as me just coping. But I'll admit, now that the season's over I'm at a bit of peace. NFL is back and Cam Newton + the Pats actually look pretty good. And I guess now I can just continue focusing on classes more.

Once we went down 3-1 it already felt over anyways. Plus the NBA wants the Lakers to win and it's obvious

Yeah, I'll take a shot later tonight (Philippine time) to send off the Celtics season, but I'm also relieved that it's kind of over.

Focus on the NFL (Niners) and soccer (Arsenal) now for me, sports wise.

Will do the same. Meanwhile, Goodluck to Spo! Odds are surely stacked against him but anything can happen. I hope,Danny seriously retools our line up for next year. Next up for us is the Nov 18 draft!

[tarheelsxxiii]

Well, that was a heartbreaking 4th quarter.  Wish I had continued my boycott of this season.

I'm done till next year.  LAL will win their scheduled championship in 4-5 games, and nonetheless, LeBron will never be Jordan.

[SparzWizard]

Nice guy, but nice guys don't win in the NBA. Too soft for this league and doesn't hold his guys accountable.

Spoeltra's a nice guy. Vogel is too.

I have some gripes with Brad, but this idea that he needs to be a raging lunatic at all times isn't one of them.

I don't know about Vogel, but Spo's been a championship-proven coach. Knows how to control his team. Deflects the spotlight. Knows how to utilize his TO's.

The critique was that Brad was "too nice". I'm just saying, I don't know if that's legit. Spo is championship proven, but I can't recall ever seeing him lose it on a sideline.

BRAD is soft, his players are soft. Spoelstra was mentored by Pat Riley that is as tough as it gets. They kept Udonis Haslem on the bench. He was riding the players in game 5. Yeah Spoel has not problem riding his players.

Yeah, I have a lot of respect for Coach Spo. Easily the best coach in the East in these playoffs. Hated going up against him during the Heat Big 3, but he's been pretty solid with or without LeBron. Started off as a computer video guy, then became a head coach. Impressive background.

[liam]

I'll just say, I was very annoyed with Theis this series, but the dude gave his all this season. Might as well not focus on the bad. Tore his ACL later in his career, lots of questions about the center position this year, is undersized for a center, and the guy held down the fort more than admirably for most of the season.

I don't blame Theis at all, I blame Brad for putting him back in for the forth quarter.

[kraidstar]

Hate to say it but right now the celtics remind me a lot of the Durant-era OKC team.

 Awesome talent but it hasn't quite come together yet, and the ball movement seems to fail us at the worst times.

 We need a fearless point guard who is going to keep the offense rolling in crunch time.  Not sure what happened to Kamba in the series but he looked very tentative. Maybe it was just an injury. But as the primary ball handler he needs to be better and more composed.

[jambr380]

I'll just say, I was very annoyed with Theis this series, but the dude gave his all this season. Might as well not focus on the bad. Tore his ACL later in his career, lots of questions about the center position this year, is undersized for a center, and the guy held down the fort more than admirably for most of the season.

Great back-up, does a lot of the little things and [almost] always gives energy and effort. He completely crapped the bed tonight - have no idea what happened, but looked like he had food poisoning or something.

[jpotter33]

Nice guy, but nice guys don't win in the NBA. Too soft for this league and doesn't hold his guys accountable.

Spoeltra's a nice guy. Vogel is too.

I have some gripes with Brad, but this idea that he needs to be a raging lunatic at all times isn't one of them.

I don't know about Vogel, but Spo's been a championship-proven coach. Knows how to control his team. Deflects the spotlight. Knows how to utilize his TO's.

The critique was that Brad was "too nice". I'm just saying, I don't know if that's legit. Spo is championship proven, but I can't recall ever seeing him lose it on a sideline.

Then you haven't watched enough of him. He regularly does this. He's no Pop or Mike Malone with his intensity, but he's certainly more forceful with both his guys and the refs than Boy Scout Brad.

[liam]

On to the draft.

[RJ87]

Nice guy, but nice guys don't win in the NBA. Too soft for this league and doesn't hold his guys accountable.

Spoeltra's a nice guy. Vogel is too.

I have some gripes with Brad, but this idea that he needs to be a raging lunatic at all times isn't one of them.

Sure, both of them are nice enough guys, but they also advocate for their players, demand respect from their guys, and hold them accountable, too. Both of them also work the refs when need be and chew their guys when they're not doing what they're supposed to.

Brad doesn't do those things. He doesn't hold any of his guys accountable, which is why they end up with these bad habits, and he simply doesn't work the refs - which is absolutely an effective and needed strategy of NBA coaches.

Smart is a perfect example. In 6+ years, Smart has essentially walked all over Brad - even chewing out his own coach on the bench on multiple occasions - and Brad has done nothing to address this or address his consistent poor shot selection at times. That's because Brad is just a soft coach and we all know that Smart is an alpha.

Beyond his obvious weaknesses in in-game management, his soft demeanor and character is absolutely another weak area of his that really limits his ability as coach.

Here's the hard truth: even if you swap out Brad for a "better" coach, I'm not sure this team's makeup leads to different results. Again, we're paying max salaries to guys that aren't max caliber (I like Kemba, but for much less money. Hayward has been a disappointment since he got here - I know, "injuries" but a spade is a spade). Our bench is comically thin. We're basically depending on a 22 and 23 year old to play well beyond their experience.

Brad, imo, can improve. But I don't see another coach that can mask the deficiencies of this team well enough to get us a championship.

[jpotter33]

https://twitter.com/ByJayKing/status/1310402463619518464

Brad Stevens said Adebayo deciding he was going to drive the ball put the Celtics in a bind with all the shooters around him. Said the Heat’s physicality hasn’t been discussed enough.

Oh really, Brad? It's almost like you needed a 6'8" 240 lb brick craphouse defender in there to stop those drives and make it difficult for him.