I'm feeling ballsy today, so I'm calling Celtics in Six games. Prior to the series starting it was Celtics in seven.
As long as Rozier, Tatum and Horford continue to combine for 80+ points per night, the team continues to shoot nearly 50% from three, and Philly continues to shoot 10% from three, I like Boston's chances of keeping this series competitive.
Don’t worry. Your team will start to play better.
more than likely, Philly will still cook us. Talent is talent. Let's not forget that LeBron lost game 1 at home vs the Pacers by 18 and still won the series and is up 1-0 in Round 2. Hard to keep guys that talented down. Rozier, Tatum and Horford combined for more points in Game 1 than KG, Pierce and Ray ever did. That's pretty remarkable, but more than likely not sustainable.
LarBrd33 having a really bad comeback. Poor guy, clearly things are going like he thought they would. Came here to gloat, but looking like a goat.
If Boston improbably wins this series, it'll have been worth it. Philly still has 4 more games to prove the experts right and win in 6.
Personally, I'm thrilled Boston won the home games. It would have sucked to just get swept. Making this series interesting will go a long way towards jumpstarting this rivalry for real.
No matter what happens (and ignoring the flukey year they won 35 games and upset a Rose-less Bulls team in Round 1), this is by default Philly's best season since 2000-01. Way ahead of schedule. It's already been proven a wild success.
Here's hoping Boston can keep defying the odds and winning.
You were citing Vegas odds before, when Philly was favored. Celtics now favored in this series. Why no more citing of Vegas odds?
I haven’t looked since before the series started. Is Boston now favored? That’s amazing. Hopefully we don’t cave under the pressure of heightened expectations and choke.
We still haven’t won a road game in these playoffs. I’ll be nervous if Philly gets these next two.
I expect Philly to win the next 2. They are a dominant homecourt team. But then the Celtics should take game 5, as it’s unlikely they lose at home for the 3rd game in a row.
Philly +105
Boston -125
Philly is still overrated with Boston paying out a whopping 80 cents on the dollar up 2-0 with home court.
I actually don't think Philly as a team is overrated. The talent is there. The story is more that this Boston squad sans Hayward and Kyrie is underrated. I was predicting Rozier's break-out season well before it became trendy, but even the most optimistic of Rozier fans couldn't have possibly expected the guy to average 19 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 1.2 steals with 44%/44%/82% shooting in the playoffs. That's unreal.
Boston also won the regular season match-up with Philly. Went 3-1. But the three wins came with a healthy Kyrie Irving and it was before things started clicking for Philly.
That's still a supremely talented squad. Boston's defense has gotten to them in a big way. Simmons hasn't been good at all. Their team seems to be caving under the pressure and look a little shook.
But the story here isn't Philly sucking - it's that Boston is playing like a contender in spite of the injuries.
Horford has been amazing. 18.4 points, 9 rebounds, 3.6 assists, with 61%/43%/80% shooting. Tatum has 4-straight 20+ games. And then Rozier - my god... if this kid is really this good, it's going to make for a fascinating offseason.
Years ago I compared Rozier to Devin Booker (taken a few picks earlier) questioning what might have happened if roles were reversed. Booker probably would have been buried behind multiple guards on our team. Rozier probably would have had an opportunity to play through mistakes on the Suns:
On a lesser team with less depth they might have seen minutes sooner. There was a thread here recently about Devin Booker. Booker was taken just a few picks ahead of Rozier. The 19 year old averaged 20 points after the all-star break. It's possible he would have worked his way up the depth chart on Boston, but it's also possible he would have spent most of his time in D-League and never got a real opportunity. Booker played on a bottom 4 team and spent the first half of the season playing in 48 games and averaging 23 minutes. Rozier, on the other hand, appeared in only 18 games over the first half of the season and averaged less than 6 minutes per game during that time. Not really enough time to show anything. Would Rozier have found a statistical groove with bulk minutes on the Suns? Would we be seeing our first signs of Booker's talent in the playoffs had he ended up on Boston? There's maybe a little of that.
All we can really do is compare their summer league stats (since Booker never played in D-League this year)
Rozier - 12.2 points, 3 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.25 steals with 35%/40%/83%
Booker - 15.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.7 steals, 40%/40%/88%
Sure, Booker was probably a little better - hence why he was taken 3 spots higher - but who knows what kind of production they'd have if roles were reversed.
These playoffs have been really interesting. Clearly Booker is still the better prospect of the two, but we're starting to see what kind of stuff Rozier can do with the minutes, opportunity, and the building confidence. If this level of play is legit - wow...
Topic: Re-ignition of the Celtics 76ers Rivalry (Read 14214 times)