Silver should investigate Kyries tanking against the Bucks

[RJ87]

It's clear he was gone win or lose. So what's more likely: the Bucks' defensive strategy working or a player purposely throwing games?

Why couldn’t it be both?

I think Milwaukee clamped down on him and instead of trying to get others involved more or play off the ball, he went through the motions and kept missing bad shots. Was he intentionally missing his shots? Probably not. Was he making the right play or giving max effort? Absolutely not.

Because this is not what the OP is suggesting. He's saying Kyrie purposely threw the games ala Sonny Liston. Making the right play and giving max effort is subjective so you'd have to prove 1.) he intentionally did not make the right play and he intentionally did not give max effort. 2.) he played that was because he was being malicious.

You can't make a case of the above to the league. The likeliest scenario is that the Bucks designed their defense for Kyrie by throwing multiple bodies at him and forcing him to trust his teammates. They wagered he wouldn't trust his teammates to show up and he'd try to take over. They were right.

[fairweatherfan]

That's not what tanking is. You're implying he was throwing games, which could easily be a felony.

Yeah it's not happening.

[playdream]

Let it go lol

[ozgod]

Let's move on from Kyrie, he's a Net now and good luck to them because they will need it. The more we keep talking about a player who's no longer on our team the more it makes us look like a jealous, vindictive ex-boyfriend. The guy was ****, we're better off without him. I understand that anger is part of the healing process but let's get over him, we have our rebound in Kemba already 

[Muzzy66]

Let it go.

I don't think Kyrie threw in the towel until toward the end of series. Frankly the entire team looked resigned the last game.

They were over-matched and lost, fair and square.  Did they lose motivation at the end?  Perhaps and that includes Kyrie.  However, this is not illegal so nothing to investigate.

I agree.

I don't think Kyrie INTENTIONALLY went out with the will to lose.  What would he gain by doing so?

Lets say Kyrie put up a great fight, carried Boston past Milwaukee, and led Boston to game 7 before eventually getting knocked off by the Raptors.  Kyrie would still be in Brooklyn right now with KD.  The only difference is that his reputation around the league would be that of an elite star who "almost" carried a young Boston team to the finals.   

Instead the way things turned out, Kyrie is now viewed as a tantrum chucking locker room cancer who thinks he is Batman (to borrow another poster's analogy from above) despite having proven he lacks the maturity or leadership to be anything more than Robin.

The entire scenario has gained nothing for him other then a bad reputation.  I find it hard to believe he'd want to bring that on intentionally.

THAT SAID if you were to argue that he played a large part in them losing because he simply never put his heart in to it from the get go - that would be a fair argument that I'd have no trouble buying in to.  But that's also not really breaking any rules.

[gouki88]

I think internally giving up is what he did. Along with many others (pretty much everyone besides Mook and JB).

That isn't throwing games

[Muzzy66]

It's clear he was gone win or lose. So what's more likely: the Bucks' defensive strategy working or a player purposely throwing games?

Why couldn’t it be both?

I think Milwaukee clamped down on him and instead of trying to get others involved more or play off the ball, he went through the motions and kept missing bad shots. Was he intentionally missing his shots? Probably not. Was he making the right play or giving max effort? Absolutely not.

That is not throwing games, that is just being a poor leader and making bad decisions.  I don't think anybody would argue that Kyrie is free from those two faults - however neither are a LOT of great NBA stars.  There are times you could probably accuse Kobe of the same flaws - but nobody in their right mind would EVER accuse Kobe of intentionally throwing a game. Those are two VERY different things.

 

[SparzWizard]

The Celtics handily blew out the Bucks in Milwaukee in Game 1.

And then suddenly they wanna throw in the towel? Don't think so. Bucks adjusted. Celtics had second-half meltdowns as their entire season has indicated/biggest struggle. Couldn't defend home-court, twice. Budenholzer outcoached Stevens.

Bucks played like a #1 seed. Celtics played like a #4 or #5 seed. Talented on paper but couldn't mesh with their chemistry on court all year long.

[Muzzy66]

The Celtics handily blew out the Bucks in Milwaukee in Game 1.

And then suddenly they wanna throw in the towel? Don't think so. Bucks adjusted. Celtics had second-half meltdowns as their entire season has indicated/biggest struggle. Couldn't defend home-court, twice. Budenholzer outcoached Stevens.

Bucks played like a #1 seed. Celtics played like a #4 or #5 seed. Talented on paper but couldn't mesh with their chemistry on court all year long.

I put a huge amount of that blame on Stevens too. 

In Game 1 the Celtics built a wall around the paint, forced Giannis to see 2 or 3 guys every time he tried to get to the basket.  This was effective for two reasons.  First it made it harder for Giannis to get where he wanted to go, and that made him visibly frustrated which impacted his game.  Secondly it put increased pressure on the rest of their role players to make perimeter shots.

In Game 2 from memory they did this again for the a brief portion of the first quarter, which was again fairly effective.  But then Middleton got on fire and had a freakishly good shooting night (which you know he is going to have at some point) and then Steven's overreacted to that and completely abandoned the strategy for the entire remainder of the series - over which Boston got their butts totally slapped.

After two or three straight games of getting their butts kicked, I expected that Stevens would eventually go back to the strategy that served them so well in Game 1 - but he never did. 

Now you can't put EVERYTHING on Stevens, because at the end of the day Celtics players did get some good looks throughout those games that they just didn't hit.  But at the same time it's the coach's job to develop a strategy that puts the team in the best possible position to excel.  And it's up to the players on the team to execute it. 

- I don't feel Brad's strategy put the Celtics in the best position to win
- I also don't feel the other guys on the team executed well, as they made too many costly turnovers and missed countless open shots
- Then Kyrie showed his lack of leadership by losing faith in his teammates and going Rambo-style, trying to will the team to a win with forced ISO play

These three things combined to bring us the dramatic downfall of the 18-19 Boston Celtics.

[cltc5]

Glad he’s  gone to be honest

[Ogaju]

The Celtics handily blew out the Bucks in Milwaukee in Game 1.

And then suddenly they wanna throw in the towel? Don't think so. Bucks adjusted. Celtics had second-half meltdowns as their entire season has indicated/biggest struggle. Couldn't defend home-court, twice. Budenholzer outcoached Stevens.

Bucks played like a #1 seed. Celtics played like a #4 or #5 seed. Talented on paper but couldn't mesh with their chemistry on court all year long.

I put a huge amount of that blame on Stevens too. 

In Game 1 the Celtics built a wall around the paint, forced Giannis to see 2 or 3 guys every time he tried to get to the basket.  This was effective for two reasons.  First it made it harder for Giannis to get where he wanted to go, and that made him visibly frustrated which impacted his game.  Secondly it put increased pressure on the rest of their role players to make perimeter shots.

In Game 2 from memory they did this again for the a brief portion of the first quarter, which was again fairly effective.  But then Middleton got on fire and had a freakishly good shooting night (which you know he is going to have at some point) and then Steven's overreacted to that and completely abandoned the strategy for the entire remainder of the series - over which Boston got their butts totally slapped.

After two or three straight games of getting their butts kicked, I expected that Stevens would eventually go back to the strategy that served them so well in Game 1 - but he never did. 

Now you can't put EVERYTHING on Stevens, because at the end of the day Celtics players did get some good looks throughout those games that they just didn't hit.  But at the same time it's the coach's job to develop a strategy that puts the team in the best possible position to excel.  And it's up to the players on the team to execute it. 

- I don't feel Brad's strategy put the Celtics in the best position to win
- I also don't feel the other guys on the team executed well, as they made too many costly turnovers and missed countless open shots
- Then Kyrie showed his lack of leadership by losing faith in his teammates and going Rambo-style, trying to will the team to a win with forced ISO play

These three things combined to bring us the dramatic downfall of the 18-19 Boston Celtics.

You forgot #4................NBA ref!!

[RockinRyA]

Up 1-0 Kyrie pulled a Sunny Liston for four games.Winning may have upset his timetable
He bailed and it should be looked into along with his duplicity and plans on leaving.

Double facepalm is not enough. He didn't throw. He got frustrated by the bucks (and the refs and teammates as well) and because of that couldnt find his rhythm and started to really force it. He also stopped truating his teammates. But he certainly did not intentionally lose games.

[Moranis]

Kyrie scored his 26 game 1 points on 21 shots.  In game 3 he scored 29 points on 22 shots.  In game 4 he scored 23 points on 22 shots but also had 10 assists.  This notion that he was both awesome in game 1 and terrible in the other 4 games isn't borne out of reality.  And I think you could make a reasonable argument he was actually better against Milwaukee then he was against Indiana.  People seem to forget how bleh he was in the 1st round series as well.  Then you have all of the other terrible playoff games he has had in his career, many times back to back. 

Kyrie is quite simply just not a super duper top end player.  He never has been and never will be.  He is a very streaky shooter that goes through long draughts all of the time.  He always has.  And because he is a terrible defender, below average passer (for the position), and doesn't get inside for free throw generation or rebounding, he just quite simply doesn't do enough to make up for the days when his shot isn't falling. 

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Up 1-0 Kyrie pulled a Sunny Liston for four games.Winning may have upset his timetable
He bailed and it should be looked into along with his duplicity and plans on leaving.

TINFOIL HAT TIME BOYS! SMH

[Ogaju]

CARSEN EDWARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!