Have the Celtics flipped the switch? (Poll)

[Silky]

I guess people are supposed to overlook the fact that this team can't stop a flea from climbing on a cat.

They can't even stop one player on the Pacers...they just outscore them.

I also guess if a person doesn't post emotional game to game nonsense, then they're a bad poster. This is the same team that lost 6 in a row.

how many points have the pacers scored this series?

they scored 108 ppg in the regular season and in the playoffs they are being held to 87ppg in the playoffs.
Indiana is being held to the lowest scoring totals of all playoff teams by a massive 7 ppg

Yeah, team cannot stop anyone, just somehow manage to have the number 1 defense in the nba playoffs.

[Triplenickle]

I guess people are supposed to overlook the fact that this team can't stop a flea from climbing on a cat.

They can't even stop one player on the Pacers...they just outscore them.

I also guess if a person doesn't post emotional game to game nonsense, then they're a bad poster. This is the same team that lost 6 in a row.

how many points have the pacers scored this series?

they scored 108 ppg in the regular season and in the playoffs they are being held to 87ppg in the playoffs.
Indiana is being held to the lowest scoring totals of all playoff teams by a massive 7 ppg

Yeah, team cannot stop anyone, just somehow manage to have the number 1 defense in the nba playoffs.

Do you really really believe that this team right now is a great defensive team?  Or do you think the Pacers just have the same problem the 2017 Celts had?

Can you point to one defensive strength they have? What aspect of this defense is dominant? Or are you saying this switching defense is brilliant?

And also yall can't wait to get rid of the only guy capable of staying in front of his man...but he doesn't because the overall scheme is convoluted.

Better yet, just tell me when they need to stop the 3.... do they?

When they need to protect the rim....do they?

When they need to stop the fast break...do they?

And hell...when they absolutely need a rebound...do they get it?

This team wins only because they have about 3 more players with talent than other teams, and if you can't see soon that won't matter, I don't know what to tell you.

But i'll tell you this....if Kyrie leads them to the finals...just get there....I will post loud and clear that I don't know what the hell i'm talking about.

[Rondo9]

I guess people are supposed to overlook the fact that this team can't stop a flea from climbing on a cat.

They can't even stop one player on the Pacers...they just outscore them.

Isn’t that the point of the game?

[Triplenickle]

I guess people are supposed to overlook the fact that this team can't stop a flea from climbing on a cat.

They can't even stop one player on the Pacers...they just outscore them.

Isn’t that the point of the game?

Seriously man?  So they should just change the game into Horse, then?

It's like i'm saying...you only want to show what i'm saying is untrue, that you would overlook every piece of evidence of something being true.

At this point, I really don't care if someone likes my posts or not.

I can only be real...that's all I know how to do.

Matter fact, the entire nba does look like they're playing horse, cause they're all just matching crazy 3 point attempts and not stopping anyone while scared of being touched, and scared to touch anyone else watching players euro-step and waltz to the basket.

I have daydreams of running on the court myself and tossing that crap in the 6th row

[nickagneta]

I guess people are supposed to overlook the fact that this team can't stop a flea from climbing on a cat.

They can't even stop one player on the Pacers...they just outscore them.

I also guess if a person doesn't post emotional game to game nonsense, then they're a bad poster. This is the same team that lost 6 in a row.

how many points have the pacers scored this series?

they scored 108 ppg in the regular season and in the playoffs they are being held to 87ppg in the playoffs.
Indiana is being held to the lowest scoring totals of all playoff teams by a massive 7 ppg

Yeah, team cannot stop anyone, just somehow manage to have the number 1 defense in the nba playoffs.

Do you really really believe that this team right now is a great defensive team?  Or do you think the Pacers just have the same problem the 2017 Celts had?

Can you point to one defensive strength they have? What aspect of this defense is dominant? Or are you saying this switching defense is brilliant?

And also yall can't wait to get rid of the only guy capable of staying in front of his man...but he doesn't because the overall scheme is convoluted.

Better yet, just tell me when they need to stop the 3.... do they?

When they need to protect the rim....do they?

When they need to stop the fast break...do they?

And hell...when they absolutely need a rebound...do they get it?

This team wins only because they have about 3 more players with talent than other teams, and if you can't see soon that won't matter, I don't know what to tell you.

But i'll tell you this....if Kyrie leads them to the finals...just get there....I will post loud and clear that I don't know what the hell i'm talking about.

The question to your answers are yes. They can and have done those things in this series time and time and time again.

How can you even ask three of these questions? Here is one play:

Down two. Last minute. Game 2. Absolutely need a stop. Bogdanovic gets the ball at three point line with Horford switched onto him. Bogdanovic backs up hoping to create space.

Must have stop of a three pointer: Horford guards him out to three point line taking away the daggar three attempt. Bogdanovic breaks to hoop.

Must have rim protection: Horford blocks shot at rim.

Must have rebound:Brown gets rebound, fast breaks up court, takes it to hole, kicks out last second to Tatum for go ahead three and Celtics won.

[Phantom255x]

Personally, I don't understand why we're downplaying the Celtics beating the Pacers without Oladipo but showering praise on the Bucks for beating up on a Pistons team that didn't have Griffin the first two games and even with him back, he clearly isn't 100% (or 75% for that matter).

Obviously we've looked shaky at times and are far from perfect, but we're getting the job done, right? So yes, we HAVE flipped the switch. The regular season Celtics are likely down to this Pacers team 2-1 even without Oladipo.

[Triplenickle]

I guess people are supposed to overlook the fact that this team can't stop a flea from climbing on a cat.

They can't even stop one player on the Pacers...they just outscore them.

I also guess if a person doesn't post emotional game to game nonsense, then they're a bad poster. This is the same team that lost 6 in a row.

how many points have the pacers scored this series?

they scored 108 ppg in the regular season and in the playoffs they are being held to 87ppg in the playoffs.
Indiana is being held to the lowest scoring totals of all playoff teams by a massive 7 ppg

Yeah, team cannot stop anyone, just somehow manage to have the number 1 defense in the nba playoffs.

Do you really really believe that this team right now is a great defensive team?  Or do you think the Pacers just have the same problem the 2017 Celts had?

Can you point to one defensive strength they have? What aspect of this defense is dominant? Or are you saying this switching defense is brilliant?

And also yall can't wait to get rid of the only guy capable of staying in front of his man...but he doesn't because the overall scheme is convoluted.

Better yet, just tell me when they need to stop the 3.... do they?

When they need to protect the rim....do they?

When they need to stop the fast break...do they?

And hell...when they absolutely need a rebound...do they get it?

This team wins only because they have about 3 more players with talent than other teams, and if you can't see soon that won't matter, I don't know what to tell you.

But i'll tell you this....if Kyrie leads them to the finals...just get there....I will post loud and clear that I don't know what the hell i'm talking about.

The question to your answers are yes. They can and have done those things in this series time and time and time again.

How can you even ask three of these questions? Here is one play:

Down two. Last minute. Game 2. Absolutely need a stop. Bogdanovic gets the ball at three point line with Horford switched onto him. Bogdanovic backs up hoping to create space.

Must have stop of a three pointer: Horford guards him out to three point line taking away the daggar three attempt. Bogdanovic breaks to hoop.

Must have rim protection: Horford blocks shot at rim.

Must have rebound:Brown gets rebound, fast breaks up court, takes it to hole, kicks out last second to Tatum for go ahead three and Celtics won.

OK, but those things are incidental and you can't depend on that throughout the course of the game, simply because Horford is asked to be in more places than in the paint, and it's also not good idea to have bigs defending the perimeter.

Having said that, it's possible for them to make the finals, but Kyrie, JB, Tatum and Al would have to take it to another level of will and chemistry.

Other than that...don't see it happening.

What I can't forgive these guys for though, is whether it's any one of those 4 players plus Terry and Morris...is their half-assed effort when they're close to a player shooting or laying it in.  It's almost like they're being commanded not to commit fouls.

I hate that more than any other one thing on this team. And I mean close enough where they have a good chance to stop the score.  Absolutely cannot stand that.

And Tatum, who everyone knows I like, drives me nearly insane with his defense.  Like, if someone is in position to back him down, he will always go for the steal while the guy spins and takes it to the rim.  I really believe he does that just so he doesn't have to deal with the physical aspect, and I can't keep supporting him if he's gonna act weak like that all the time.

[ozgod]

Personally, I don't understand why we're downplaying the Celtics beating the Pacers without Oladipo but showering praise on the Bucks for beating up on a Pistons team that didn't have Griffin the first two games and even with him back, he clearly isn't 100% (or 75% for that matter).

Obviously we've looked shaky at times and are far from perfect, but we're getting the job done, right? So yes, we HAVE flipped the switch. The regular season Celtics are likely down to this Pacers team 2-1 even without Oladipo.

It's likely a defense mechanism to avoid disappointment in the event the Bucks end up victorious 

[RPGenerate]

Personally, I don't understand why we're downplaying the Celtics beating the Pacers without Oladipo but showering praise on the Bucks for beating up on a Pistons team that didn't have Griffin the first two games and even with him back, he clearly isn't 100% (or 75% for that matter).

Obviously we've looked shaky at times and are far from perfect, but we're getting the job done, right? So yes, we HAVE flipped the switch. The regular season Celtics are likely down to this Pacers team 2-1 even without Oladipo.

It's because people have this misguided belief that being a pessimist and a contrarian somehow makes them an "enlightened" basketball fan that smarter than us simple peasant fans.

[Moranis]

Personally, I don't understand why we're downplaying the Celtics beating the Pacers without Oladipo but showering praise on the Bucks for beating up on a Pistons team that didn't have Griffin the first two games and even with him back, he clearly isn't 100% (or 75% for that matter).

Obviously we've looked shaky at times and are far from perfect, but we're getting the job done, right? So yes, we HAVE flipped the switch. The regular season Celtics are likely down to this Pacers team 2-1 even without Oladipo.

It much more about how the games have played out.  Milwaukee has blown the doors off Detroit.  Even yesterday when Griffin played they won by 16 (and were up 22 to start the 4th quarter).  How you win matters.  Boston isn't shooting all that well, they are turning the ball over a lot (and more than Indiana), they aren't getting to line much (less foul shots than Indiana), etc.  Boston has done a very good job defensively (though a lot of that is Indiana just isn't a very good offensive team without Oladipo), but has been pretty poor offensively for the vast majority of the series.  That just isn't the case for Milwaukee.  They blew the doors off Detroit from start to finish in games 1 and 2, and even in the Griffin game (game 3) Milwaukee controlled the game from start to finish.  And because Milwaukee has generally blown the doors off of Detroit, none of their starters have had to go crazy in the minutes department and have gotten rest (Giannis has averaged just 27.1 mpg in the series for example). 

[Phantom255x]

Personally, I don't understand why we're downplaying the Celtics beating the Pacers without Oladipo but showering praise on the Bucks for beating up on a Pistons team that didn't have Griffin the first two games and even with him back, he clearly isn't 100% (or 75% for that matter).

Obviously we've looked shaky at times and are far from perfect, but we're getting the job done, right? So yes, we HAVE flipped the switch. The regular season Celtics are likely down to this Pacers team 2-1 even without Oladipo.

It much more about how the games have played out.  Milwaukee has blown the doors off Detroit.  Even yesterday when Griffin played they won by 16 (and were up 22 to start the 4th quarter).  How you win matters.  Boston isn't shooting all that well, they are turning the ball over a lot (and more than Indiana), they aren't getting to line much (less foul shots than Indiana), etc.  Boston has done a very good job defensively (though a lot of that is Indiana just isn't a very good offensive team without Oladipo), but has been pretty poor offensively for the vast majority of the series.  That just isn't the case for Milwaukee.  They blew the doors off Detroit from start to finish in games 1 and 2, and even in the Griffin game (game 3) Milwaukee controlled the game from start to finish.  And because Milwaukee has generally blown the doors off of Detroit, none of their starters have had to go crazy in the minutes department and have gotten rest (Giannis has averaged just 27.1 mpg in the series for example).

That's fair. I'm not saying we're definitely beating the Bucks next round (in fact I have MIL in 6 or 7 against us), but if this Celtics team still hasn't flipped the switch, I highly doubt they're up 3-0 this series. Indiana's defense is actually one of the best in the league and it's showed this series too. Frankly, if you look at Detroit without Griffin, who else do they really have? Drummond? In a way, I think Griffin deserves a TON of credit for carrying that team to the 8 seed with what they had around him.

I'm not really a believer in the logic that "how you win matters". A lot of the NBA is predicated on matchups and schemes. A lot of people think it will be TOR-MIL in the ECF. Toronto has had 1 big win, 1 close loss and 1 close win against Orlando. Are we saying that they have no shot against MIL then? Because frankly I like Toronto in a series against Milwaukee.

Now if you're saying that you expected us to sweep this series with every win being a 20+ point blowout, then yeah I'm not sure how to argue with you there.

I think a lot of people don't realize that DET snuck into the playoffs on the final day while Indiana, even without Oladipo, still held the 4 seed in the East for much of the season even while having an extremely brutal 2nd half schedule. Big difference.

[Rondo9]

Personally, I don't understand why we're downplaying the Celtics beating the Pacers without Oladipo but showering praise on the Bucks for beating up on a Pistons team that didn't have Griffin the first two games and even with him back, he clearly isn't 100% (or 75% for that matter).

Obviously we've looked shaky at times and are far from perfect, but we're getting the job done, right? So yes, we HAVE flipped the switch. The regular season Celtics are likely down to this Pacers team 2-1 even without Oladipo.

It much more about how the games have played out.  Milwaukee has blown the doors off Detroit.  Even yesterday when Griffin played they won by 16 (and were up 22 to start the 4th quarter).  How you win matters.  Boston isn't shooting all that well, they are turning the ball over a lot (and more than Indiana), they aren't getting to line much (less foul shots than Indiana), etc.  Boston has done a very good job defensively (though a lot of that is Indiana just isn't a very good offensive team without Oladipo), but has been pretty poor offensively for the vast majority of the series.  That just isn't the case for Milwaukee.  They blew the doors off Detroit from start to finish in games 1 and 2, and even in the Griffin game (game 3) Milwaukee controlled the game from start to finish.  And because Milwaukee has generally blown the doors off of Detroit, none of their starters have had to go crazy in the minutes department and have gotten rest (Giannis has averaged just 27.1 mpg in the series for example).

Think of the quality of the teams, i find the Pacers tougher than the Pistons who just barely made it in the playoffs.

[Moranis]

Personally, I don't understand why we're downplaying the Celtics beating the Pacers without Oladipo but showering praise on the Bucks for beating up on a Pistons team that didn't have Griffin the first two games and even with him back, he clearly isn't 100% (or 75% for that matter).

Obviously we've looked shaky at times and are far from perfect, but we're getting the job done, right? So yes, we HAVE flipped the switch. The regular season Celtics are likely down to this Pacers team 2-1 even without Oladipo.

It much more about how the games have played out.  Milwaukee has blown the doors off Detroit.  Even yesterday when Griffin played they won by 16 (and were up 22 to start the 4th quarter).  How you win matters.  Boston isn't shooting all that well, they are turning the ball over a lot (and more than Indiana), they aren't getting to line much (less foul shots than Indiana), etc.  Boston has done a very good job defensively (though a lot of that is Indiana just isn't a very good offensive team without Oladipo), but has been pretty poor offensively for the vast majority of the series.  That just isn't the case for Milwaukee.  They blew the doors off Detroit from start to finish in games 1 and 2, and even in the Griffin game (game 3) Milwaukee controlled the game from start to finish.  And because Milwaukee has generally blown the doors off of Detroit, none of their starters have had to go crazy in the minutes department and have gotten rest (Giannis has averaged just 27.1 mpg in the series for example).

Think of the quality of the teams, i find the Pacers tougher than the Pistons who just barely made it in the playoffs.

Indiana without Oladipo is probably as bad as Detroit.  Dipo got hurt in the 1/23 game that Indy won, they were 32-15 after that game.  They finished 16-19, or basically in the same general range as Detroit.

[Moranis]

Personally, I don't understand why we're downplaying the Celtics beating the Pacers without Oladipo but showering praise on the Bucks for beating up on a Pistons team that didn't have Griffin the first two games and even with him back, he clearly isn't 100% (or 75% for that matter).

Obviously we've looked shaky at times and are far from perfect, but we're getting the job done, right? So yes, we HAVE flipped the switch. The regular season Celtics are likely down to this Pacers team 2-1 even without Oladipo.

It much more about how the games have played out.  Milwaukee has blown the doors off Detroit.  Even yesterday when Griffin played they won by 16 (and were up 22 to start the 4th quarter).  How you win matters.  Boston isn't shooting all that well, they are turning the ball over a lot (and more than Indiana), they aren't getting to line much (less foul shots than Indiana), etc.  Boston has done a very good job defensively (though a lot of that is Indiana just isn't a very good offensive team without Oladipo), but has been pretty poor offensively for the vast majority of the series.  That just isn't the case for Milwaukee.  They blew the doors off Detroit from start to finish in games 1 and 2, and even in the Griffin game (game 3) Milwaukee controlled the game from start to finish.  And because Milwaukee has generally blown the doors off of Detroit, none of their starters have had to go crazy in the minutes department and have gotten rest (Giannis has averaged just 27.1 mpg in the series for example).

That's fair. I'm not saying we're definitely beating the Bucks next round (in fact I have MIL in 6 or 7 against us), but if this Celtics team still hasn't flipped the switch, I highly doubt they're up 3-0 this series. Indiana's defense is actually one of the best in the league and it's showed this series too. Frankly, if you look at Detroit without Griffin, who else do they really have? Drummond? In a way, I think Griffin deserves a TON of credit for carrying that team to the 8 seed with what they had around him.

I'm not really a believer in the logic that "how you win matters". A lot of the NBA is predicated on matchups and schemes. A lot of people think it will be TOR-MIL in the ECF. Toronto has had 1 big win, 1 close loss and 1 close win against Orlando. Are we saying that they have no shot against MIL then? Because frankly I like Toronto in a series against Milwaukee.

Now if you're saying that you expected us to sweep this series with every win being a 20+ point blowout, then yeah I'm not sure how to argue with you there.

I think a lot of people don't realize that DET snuck into the playoffs on the final day while Indiana, even without Oladipo, still held the 4 seed in the East for much of the season even while having an extremely brutal 2nd half schedule. Big difference.

Boston beat Indiana twice at the end of the season, and one was a 20 point beat down.  They actually beat Indiana by 27 when they had Oladipo.  I think the fact they've struggled as much as they have in the playoffs, given the regular season results, is what I'm most concerned with.  They just haven't look very good and are definitely lucky to be playing Indiana, as I do believe Indiana is the worse team in the playoffs of all 16 teams (again without Oladipo). 

And I agree to an extent that match-ups matter, but looking at this match-up, Boston should be crushing Indiana and not have 3 close (or relatively close) games. 

[GreenCoffeeBean]

If Dipo doesn’t get hurt we aren’t playing Indiana because they are probably the 1-3 seed. Most likely Toronto would be the 1 seed and Bucks and Pacers would be 2 or 3. Before Dipo went down they beat or lost close games to Toronto or Milwaukee and they had two games against Milwaukee still. Toronto beat them by 15 once though. I feel for Pacer fans.

To be more on topic though: if you’re a good team you should beat bad teams badly. We aren’t exactly doing that but I do like the brand of basketball we’re playing and Indiana isn’t a bad team. They still have Turner, Young, Bojan, Matthews and a decent bench. I like that we are playing defensive, grind it out basketball and you need these blue collar wins in a playoff team.