Devastating Loss?

[celticinorlando]

Not one bit devastated. Glad it is over to be honest. Been waiting for the other shoe to drop since game 3 where the Celtics quit.

As for game 7 I knew they were done after the first quarter. 0-10 from 3, no ball movement, turnovers and Brown playing hero ball. 15 total points. From that point on acceptance was easy.

I am disappointed because the Celtics had an easy path to the title laid in front of them but these playoffs proved this team is very flawed still.

It was devastating but I agree with most of your other points.

Game was clearly over after the first quarter, I fully accepted the loss from there and had already assumed a series loss after game 3.
But to come all the way back and win game 6 the way they did does make this a devastating loss.

I guess for me it was how can you do all that to get a game 7 back at home and play with that effort? It was just so on brand for this team that I wasn't the least bit surprised the way it went.

I felt it was going to be a blow out one way or the other. Losing 3 of 4 games at home to a painfully average Heat team was embarrassing.

[Redz]

Truthfully, I would have felt better about it if White didnt get the tip-in and Boston lost in game 6.

At least when we would have had two strong wings and one very respectable, hard fought loss. 

Instead they pushed it to 7 games where they lost in the most embarrassing fashion at home wihtout putting up any semblance of a fight...which is just downright embarassing.

I think was more a case of them choking under the pressure of a cold start than a lack of effort.  They were ok with it being a hot mess of a game for both teams, but as soon as the Heat started hitting 3’s and they still weren’t, they started feeling the pressure and didn’t respond well at all.  Mix that pressure with Tatum being hobbled and the Heat emboldened and you have a game 7 spanking on your home court.

They tried hard.  They just choked.

[scaryjerry]

Not one bit devastated. Glad it is over to be honest. Been waiting for the other shoe to drop since game 3 where the Celtics quit.

As for game 7 I knew they were done after the first quarter. 0-10 from 3, no ball movement, turnovers and Brown playing hero ball. 15 total points. From that point on acceptance was easy.

I am disappointed because the Celtics had an easy path to the title laid in front of them but these playoffs proved this team is very flawed still.

It was devastating but I agree with most of your other points.

Game was clearly over after the first quarter, I fully accepted the loss from there and had already assumed a series loss after game 3.
But to come all the way back and win game 6 the way they did does make this a devastating loss.

I guess for me it was how can you do all that to get a game 7 back at home and play with that effort? It was just so on brand for this team that I wasn't the least bit surprised the way it went.

I felt it was going to be a blow out one way or the other. Losing 3 of 4 games at home to a painfully average Heat team was embarrassing.

Agreed my friend. Absolutely embarrassing but so on brand for this team. I started feeling bad when they were really celebrating and feeling themselves after game 6 and all the pundits and most fans and media members thought it was a foregone conclusion that we would win. That always means we are going to lose.
Frankly they started choking in game 6 and Derrick white saved them but the choking carried right into game 7 and it was over almost immediately.

[boscel33]

I'm not that devastated, I guess because after we went 0-3 down I accepted that the next loss was going to cause us to be out. My fear was always that once they started missing their 3s their defense would drop off and it happened again tonight and they deserved to lose. I posted these stats after our Game 5 blowout, updated it for Game 6 and now Game 7:

Code: [Select]

[code]
R FG% 3FG% STL BLK TO oFG% o3FG% oSTL oBLK oTO
G1 L .519 .345 6 3 15 .541 .516 12 3 12
G2 L .468 .286 2 9 15 .457 .346 9 5 10
G3 L .398 .262 3 3 15 .568 .543 7 4 9
G4 W .512 .400 8 8 10 .436 .250 5 2 15
G5 W .506 .410 13 4 9 .513 .391 6 2 16
G6 W .436 .200 4 8 12 .355 .457 5 4 5
G7 L .390 .214 6 4 15 .488 .500 7 2 12
Every time in this series we've shot below .400 from 3 we've lost except for Game 6 and we needed a literal last second tip in from DWhite to win. Anytime you shoot bad you're putting yourself in a hole to begin with, especially a team as reliant on the 3 for offense as we are, but it makes it doubly important to get back defensively when those 3s miss because it's just reality that it's easier to defend in the half court after made shots than after misses, especially missed 3s. We weren't able to hit the side of a barn door again tonight but we compounded it by letting Miami shoot 50% from 3, many of which were open. If they're going to be a 3 point shooting team Joe or whoever is in charge next season needs to devise coverages that don't leave us exposed after misses, because those are why we have such big deviations in results - either we blow teams away or we suffer disappointing losses.

So I'm disappointed but not devastated. I posted on another thread that I think maybe we all might have overrated them on the basis of their ceiling, and tried to ignore the fact that their floor was pretty bad, and that there was a big delta between the two. Until they bring up that floor and close that delta they will keep tantalizing us with their best and disappointing us with their worst.

If I am convinced of ANYTHING after this playoff run it is that we need to completely revamp our offense.  The all 3's all the time approach isn't going to win us a title.  That needs to be let go of as an approach.  Unfortunately, our current rookie coach doesn't seem like he is willing to make any adjustments or changes, so, lets see if he survives for a 2nd season.  I prefer to cut the cord on the joe experiment.

Unfortunately, the three all the time is thanks to some guy on a computer saying it's better to shoot 30% from three than it is 40% from two and based on 100 shots, they're not wrong, it's just destroyed the game.

I've often pointed to the game suck that missing a three on a break can do to a team.  Thank you to Steph for this type of game.  Everyone thinks they're a three point shooter now, no, you're not.

This season and this team may be the trigger that causes me to lose complete interest in basketball all together.  I absolutely hate the direction the game has taken.

Interesting off season coming up for sure!

Oh, and by the way, no 1st round pick again this year.  Just a reminder, here's our last four drafts (firsts only):

2019:  Romeo (14), Matisse (20) traded to PHL, Grant (22)
2020:  Aaron ((14), PP (26, Bane (30) traded to Memphis
2021:  None (OKC)
2022:  None (Spurs)
2023:  None (Indy)

The only rebuild this team has is by trading out of it's core!

[GreenBoomer]

The devastating part is they've gotten away from what made them a championship team in the first place. Defense and team play.  Of all teams, the Boston Celtics should know better.

[celticinorlando]

One thing is certain with this team: they cannot handle any prosperity. Game to game, quarter to quarter, possession to possession. They do not know how to use good things that happen to them.

Everyone was worried about how would Miami recover. Well it was Boston who never recovered from game 6. Never took advantage of having home court in the playoffs. Never figured out how to channel positive momentum. Really sad because this team has so much talent and cannot get out of their own way.

Miami didn't even play all that well last night. An average performance from Boston probably wins that game.

[scaryjerry]

The devastating part is they've gotten away from what made them a championship team in the first place. Defense and team play.  Of all teams, the Boston Celtics should know better.

But they played defensive/team basketball to win 3 games in a row in this series. More about consistency.

We were 5 wins away from a title this year and 2 wins away last year.

[angryguy77]

I knew were toast by the middle of the second quarter, the desperation to win was not present.

When I saw a few instances of guys not closing out or fighting screens to contest 3's, I had a bad feeling. This was the one game I thought we would see max effort and attention to detail. Instead this looked like a reg season level effort. Yet again turn overs killed us.

The team needs an overhaul. It will not win a title constructed as is.

[Roy H.]

I'm not devastated, but I would have preferred the sweep.  By extending the series to seven games, Wyc made a bunch of revenue.  That alone will probably be enough to bring Joe back.

Last night's game reminded me of our Game 7 in 2005 against the Pacers.  It was basically no chance from the start.  Just a total let down.

[Surferdad]

I'm not devastated, but I would have preferred the sweep.  By extending the series to seven games, Wyc made a bunch of revenue.  That alone will probably be enough to bring Joe back.

Last night's game reminded me of our Game 7 in 2005 against the Pacers.  It was basically no chance from the start.  Just a total let down.

I no longer have faith in Wyc "fireworks" Grousbeck and the ownership group. They have improved the value of the team many-fold since the last championship and have kept their payroll down by kicking Stevens upstairs, letting TPE's expire and signing cheap players like Kornet, Hauser. In the JT/JB era, I have never gotten the sense they were going "all-in" except perhaps for the Brogdon deal.

[celticinorlando]

I'm not devastated, but I would have preferred the sweep.  By extending the series to seven games, Wyc made a bunch of revenue.  That alone will probably be enough to bring Joe back.

Last night's game reminded me of our Game 7 in 2005 against the Pacers.  It was basically no chance from the start.  Just a total let down.

I no longer have faith in Wyc "fireworks" Grousbeck and the ownership group. They have improved the value of the team many-fold since the last championship and have kept their payroll down by kicking Stevens upstairs, letting TPE's expire and signing cheap players like Kornet, Hauser. In the JT/JB era, I have never gotten the sense they were going "all-in" except perhaps for the Brogdon deal.

Wyc is all talk no walk. That we are all in BS was just talking points. The way he handled the Ime thing still makes zero sense and I am not sure the players even got a straight explanation.

[BringToughnessBack]

Getting to the peak and falling one step before reaching it is devastating.

We were in a prime position to win a title this year with this talent on the team. When Tatum rolled his ankle on first play, I knew we were in trouble though. Nobody on our team was able to step up and fill that void in the most critical game of our season. A few articles out there dont even mention the Tatum ankle injury- kind of funny, they say Butler twisted his ankle too. Tatum could barely move without grimacing for the rest of the game. he couldn't plant solidly and make any form of turns.

We were doomed early on and getting this to game 7 and most players choking under the spotlight is devastating.

That first time out was also a big red flag for me. We are up by 5, heat are completely out of sync, and we call a timeout. The Heat come back and never looked back after that first time out too. We let them reset and that Heat coach surely reset them.

Devastating is having all this talent and not getting back to the finals.

Devastating is losing 3 home games in the conference finals and being out coached and out played by lesser individual players(but yes, they are better team players on that Heat squad and that all trickles down from the coach and philosophy he has instilled in them).

Devastating is having a bad feeling our coach and Brown are both coming back and nothing changing into next year. Without Brown deferring to Tatum in fourth quarters of playoff games, this team might have trouble winning a title as is.

Devastating is having no true PG to make sure the ball gets to those who need it most in big moments. One who can keep maximum flow and get everyone involved when things get tight.


In the end, the Better Team beat the Better players...that is devastating to me as it means we dont have either the right coach or the right players to maximize our superstar.

[kraidstar]

There is no doubt now that these players are chokers. We know it. The Heat know it. The Celtics know it. The league knows it.

Every team we play will be emboldened. We are the San Diego Celtics and will win nothing unless major changes are made. This organization is infected by fear. It's time to amputate the rotten bits. Need new leadership on every level of the organization.

We need men, as Eric Spoelstra would say. I hate Pat Riley, but he is old-school and sets the tine for Miami. All we have right now are spoiled rich kids, geeks, and cowards.

[moiso]

Would've been better to be swept than lose Game 7 at home after winning its last 3.

That would've triggered execs to clean the house more efficiently.

Exactly this.

[kraidstar]

What really bothered me was Al and Smart both talking after the game about how proud they are of the team.