Obviously a lot of people missed on this one, sports talks shows, bettors, general fans, you name it. How did it happen?
I think Milwaukee is better than people think (better than I realized, that is for sure). We beat them but did not get much credit for it, it was just Milwaukee.
Boston proved to be much better than Philly but somehow that went under the radar. It was more about how Philly lost than how Boston won. Or to put it another way, the thinking was Philly wasn't as good as everyone thought instead of Boston is better than people thought.
The Cavs swept the Raptors. Swept what was perceived as a very good team. CLE appeared to be hitting on all cylinders. They were hot.
Add this up and of course most people thought CLE would roll over the Celtics. I am actually more surprised by how bad the Cavs have been more than how good the Celtics have been,but I am surprised by both. How could that team have swept Toronto? I still don't get it.
In terms of the Celtics, I am the most surprised and impressed by Jaylen Brown. To be this young and to play this well in the playoffs is remarkable. More impressive than Tatum and plenty has been said about Tatum. Rozier has also had his moments but he has not been as consistently good as Brown or even Tatum. Horford, Smart, Morris have all been good also but I kind of expect it from them. I am not surprised by their play but certainly happy to see them play well.