NBA Season 2021-22

[Vermont Green]

Milwaukee and Chicago are tougher, but if they win either of the upcoming head-to-heads (unfortunately on back-to-back nights) they would either clinch or likely clinch those tiebreakers as well.

To me, a good outcome could be we beat CHI and then lose to MIL.  Tough to expect to win both of these tough games, especially back to back.  That would favor MIL passing CHI in the standings and setting us up for CHI in the first round.  I know you have to be careful what you wish for but if we can get to 5th and CHI drops to 4th seed, I like that first round match a whole lot better than PHI or MIL.

For what it's worth, I think if we beat CHI on 4/6, we'd wind up at least the 4th seed, maybe hosting CHI, maybe hosting Cleveland.

However, I'm also someone who thinks we match up better against Milwaukee than Chicago.  I think Milwaukee is a great team and are the defending champs for a reason, but I just like that matchup for the Celtics.  We have a variety of players who can help contain Giannis, but on the other hand I think we're very vulnerable to DeRozan's elite mid-range game.

The problem with this line of thinking is that regular season DeRozan is the same player in the playoffs, which has repeatedly been proven to be wrong. There's a reason that he has the nickname "Defrozen".

The problem with that line of thinking is that assumes that DeRozan is the same player this year that he was 5 years ago in Toronto.  His TS% is about 10 percent better the last three seasons than even his career-best years in Toronto.  He hasn’t seen a post-season since his regular-season jump, but he’s hit a different stratosphere and will rightly finish in the top 3-4 of MVP voting barring a March collapse.

It’s not the same thing, but DeRozan is 2nd in the league in clutch points, and of players in the top 15, only he, Chris Paul, and Devin Booker have FG% greater than 50%.  In Toronto, he shot in the 40s and even high 30s in the clutch.  He’s a different player than he was.

I know, careful what you wish for but I would far rather have to deal with DeRozan than deal with Giannis, especially if through the tie breaker, we end up with home court.

And I would rather face Miami over PHI or MIL.  BKN is kind of a wild card.  If Durant is back and healthy, they scare me too.

[RPGenerate]

Milwaukee and Chicago are tougher, but if they win either of the upcoming head-to-heads (unfortunately on back-to-back nights) they would either clinch or likely clinch those tiebreakers as well.

To me, a good outcome could be we beat CHI and then lose to MIL.  Tough to expect to win both of these tough games, especially back to back.  That would favor MIL passing CHI in the standings and setting us up for CHI in the first round.  I know you have to be careful what you wish for but if we can get to 5th and CHI drops to 4th seed, I like that first round match a whole lot better than PHI or MIL.

For what it's worth, I think if we beat CHI on 4/6, we'd wind up at least the 4th seed, maybe hosting CHI, maybe hosting Cleveland.

However, I'm also someone who thinks we match up better against Milwaukee than Chicago.  I think Milwaukee is a great team and are the defending champs for a reason, but I just like that matchup for the Celtics.  We have a variety of players who can help contain Giannis, but on the other hand I think we're very vulnerable to DeRozan's elite mid-range game.

The problem with this line of thinking is that regular season DeRozan is the same player in the playoffs, which has repeatedly been proven to be wrong. There's a reason that he has the nickname "Defrozen".

The problem with that line of thinking is that assumes that DeRozan is the same player this year that he was 5 years ago in Toronto.  His TS% is about 10 percent better the last three seasons than even his career-best years in Toronto.  He hasn’t seen a post-season since his regular-season jump, but he’s hit a different stratosphere and will rightly finish in the top 3-4 of MVP voting barring a March collapse.

It’s not the same thing, but DeRozan is 2nd in the league in clutch points, and of players in the top 15, only he, Chris Paul, and Devin Booker have FG% greater than 50%.  In Toronto, he shot in the 40s and even high 30s in the clutch.  He’s a different player than he was.

So when I say he's been very poor in the playoffs, you respond by saying he's been great in the regular season? I get it, he's been good this year, but he's gonna have to prove to me he can be anything but garbage in the playoffs before I start to be scared of him. And this is in the context of Giannis, who just won a champion and dominated the finals. There's just no way I'm more afraid of the Bulls than the Bucks. Not even close.

[Celtics2021]

Milwaukee and Chicago are tougher, but if they win either of the upcoming head-to-heads (unfortunately on back-to-back nights) they would either clinch or likely clinch those tiebreakers as well.

To me, a good outcome could be we beat CHI and then lose to MIL.  Tough to expect to win both of these tough games, especially back to back.  That would favor MIL passing CHI in the standings and setting us up for CHI in the first round.  I know you have to be careful what you wish for but if we can get to 5th and CHI drops to 4th seed, I like that first round match a whole lot better than PHI or MIL.

For what it's worth, I think if we beat CHI on 4/6, we'd wind up at least the 4th seed, maybe hosting CHI, maybe hosting Cleveland.

However, I'm also someone who thinks we match up better against Milwaukee than Chicago.  I think Milwaukee is a great team and are the defending champs for a reason, but I just like that matchup for the Celtics.  We have a variety of players who can help contain Giannis, but on the other hand I think we're very vulnerable to DeRozan's elite mid-range game.

The problem with this line of thinking is that regular season DeRozan is the same player in the playoffs, which has repeatedly been proven to be wrong. There's a reason that he has the nickname "Defrozen".

The problem with that line of thinking is that assumes that DeRozan is the same player this year that he was 5 years ago in Toronto.  His TS% is about 10 percent better the last three seasons than even his career-best years in Toronto.  He hasn’t seen a post-season since his regular-season jump, but he’s hit a different stratosphere and will rightly finish in the top 3-4 of MVP voting barring a March collapse.

It’s not the same thing, but DeRozan is 2nd in the league in clutch points, and of players in the top 15, only he, Chris Paul, and Devin Booker have FG% greater than 50%.  In Toronto, he shot in the 40s and even high 30s in the clutch.  He’s a different player than he was.

So when I say he's been very poor in the playoffs, you respond by saying he's been great in the regular season? I get it, he's been good this year, but he's gonna have to prove to me he can be anything but garbage in the playoffs before I start to be scared of him. And this is in the context of Giannis, who just won a champion and dominated the finals. There's just no way I'm more afraid of the Bulls than the Bucks. Not even close.

No, I responded by saying his regular seasons have improved greatly since we last saw him have poor playoff series 5 seasons ago, and accordingly, if his regular-season play has improved over that time, his postseason play probably will have also.  Further, in high-leverage regular season situations, which is about as close as you can get to postseason pressure outside the actual postseason, he has a) significantly improved relative to 5-7 years ago, and b) has become one of the premier players in the league in these situations.

[RPGenerate]

Milwaukee and Chicago are tougher, but if they win either of the upcoming head-to-heads (unfortunately on back-to-back nights) they would either clinch or likely clinch those tiebreakers as well.

To me, a good outcome could be we beat CHI and then lose to MIL.  Tough to expect to win both of these tough games, especially back to back.  That would favor MIL passing CHI in the standings and setting us up for CHI in the first round.  I know you have to be careful what you wish for but if we can get to 5th and CHI drops to 4th seed, I like that first round match a whole lot better than PHI or MIL.

For what it's worth, I think if we beat CHI on 4/6, we'd wind up at least the 4th seed, maybe hosting CHI, maybe hosting Cleveland.

However, I'm also someone who thinks we match up better against Milwaukee than Chicago.  I think Milwaukee is a great team and are the defending champs for a reason, but I just like that matchup for the Celtics.  We have a variety of players who can help contain Giannis, but on the other hand I think we're very vulnerable to DeRozan's elite mid-range game.

The problem with this line of thinking is that regular season DeRozan is the same player in the playoffs, which has repeatedly been proven to be wrong. There's a reason that he has the nickname "Defrozen".

The problem with that line of thinking is that assumes that DeRozan is the same player this year that he was 5 years ago in Toronto.  His TS% is about 10 percent better the last three seasons than even his career-best years in Toronto.  He hasn’t seen a post-season since his regular-season jump, but he’s hit a different stratosphere and will rightly finish in the top 3-4 of MVP voting barring a March collapse.

It’s not the same thing, but DeRozan is 2nd in the league in clutch points, and of players in the top 15, only he, Chris Paul, and Devin Booker have FG% greater than 50%.  In Toronto, he shot in the 40s and even high 30s in the clutch.  He’s a different player than he was.

So when I say he's been very poor in the playoffs, you respond by saying he's been great in the regular season? I get it, he's been good this year, but he's gonna have to prove to me he can be anything but garbage in the playoffs before I start to be scared of him. And this is in the context of Giannis, who just won a champion and dominated the finals. There's just no way I'm more afraid of the Bulls than the Bucks. Not even close.

No, I responded by saying his regular seasons have improved greatly since we last saw him have poor playoff series 5 seasons ago, and accordingly, if his regular-season play has improved over that time, his postseason play probably will have also.  Further, in high-leverage regular season situations, which is about as close as you can get to postseason pressure outside the actual postseason, he has a) significantly improved relative to 5-7 years ago, and b) has become one of the premier players in the league in these situations.

Yes, 5 years ago aka the last time he played in the playoffs aka the most important sample size for what we are talking about. You can tell me how much he's improved and how awesome he's gonna be in the playoffs now, but the burden of proof is on him to show it. Will he? I guess we'll see, but I doubt it. Could be wrong though. Not gonna bet on him vs Giannis though.

[Moranis]

I cannot believe anyone honestly believes it is easier to guard Giannis than DeRozan.  That is wholly and completely baffling to me.

[tazzmaniac]

Milwaukee and Chicago are tougher, but if they win either of the upcoming head-to-heads (unfortunately on back-to-back nights) they would either clinch or likely clinch those tiebreakers as well.

To me, a good outcome could be we beat CHI and then lose to MIL.  Tough to expect to win both of these tough games, especially back to back.  That would favor MIL passing CHI in the standings and setting us up for CHI in the first round.  I know you have to be careful what you wish for but if we can get to 5th and CHI drops to 4th seed, I like that first round match a whole lot better than PHI or MIL.

For what it's worth, I think if we beat CHI on 4/6, we'd wind up at least the 4th seed, maybe hosting CHI, maybe hosting Cleveland.

However, I'm also someone who thinks we match up better against Milwaukee than Chicago.  I think Milwaukee is a great team and are the defending champs for a reason, but I just like that matchup for the Celtics.  We have a variety of players who can help contain Giannis, but on the other hand I think we're very vulnerable to DeRozan's elite mid-range game.

The problem with this line of thinking is that regular season DeRozan is the same player in the playoffs, which has repeatedly been proven to be wrong. There's a reason that he has the nickname "Defrozen".

The problem with that line of thinking is that assumes that DeRozan is the same player this year that he was 5 years ago in Toronto.  His TS% is about 10 percent better the last three seasons than even his career-best years in Toronto.  He hasn’t seen a post-season since his regular-season jump, but he’s hit a different stratosphere and will rightly finish in the top 3-4 of MVP voting barring a March collapse.

It’s not the same thing, but DeRozan is 2nd in the league in clutch points, and of players in the top 15, only he, Chris Paul, and Devin Booker have FG% greater than 50%.  In Toronto, he shot in the 40s and even high 30s in the clutch.  He’s a different player than he was.

So when I say he's been very poor in the playoffs, you respond by saying he's been great in the regular season? I get it, he's been good this year, but he's gonna have to prove to me he can be anything but garbage in the playoffs before I start to be scared of him. And this is in the context of Giannis, who just won a champion and dominated the finals. There's just no way I'm more afraid of the Bulls than the Bucks. Not even close.

No, I responded by saying his regular seasons have improved greatly since we last saw him have poor playoff series 5 seasons ago, and accordingly, if his regular-season play has improved over that time, his postseason play probably will have also.  Further, in high-leverage regular season situations, which is about as close as you can get to postseason pressure outside the actual postseason, he has a) significantly improved relative to 5-7 years ago, and b) has become one of the premier players in the league in these situations.

Has his regular season play greatly improved over the last 5 seasons?  Seems fairly similar except he's taking 5 more shots per game this season. 

[Moranis]

Milwaukee and Chicago are tougher, but if they win either of the upcoming head-to-heads (unfortunately on back-to-back nights) they would either clinch or likely clinch those tiebreakers as well.

To me, a good outcome could be we beat CHI and then lose to MIL.  Tough to expect to win both of these tough games, especially back to back.  That would favor MIL passing CHI in the standings and setting us up for CHI in the first round.  I know you have to be careful what you wish for but if we can get to 5th and CHI drops to 4th seed, I like that first round match a whole lot better than PHI or MIL.

For what it's worth, I think if we beat CHI on 4/6, we'd wind up at least the 4th seed, maybe hosting CHI, maybe hosting Cleveland.

However, I'm also someone who thinks we match up better against Milwaukee than Chicago.  I think Milwaukee is a great team and are the defending champs for a reason, but I just like that matchup for the Celtics.  We have a variety of players who can help contain Giannis, but on the other hand I think we're very vulnerable to DeRozan's elite mid-range game.

The problem with this line of thinking is that regular season DeRozan is the same player in the playoffs, which has repeatedly been proven to be wrong. There's a reason that he has the nickname "Defrozen".

The problem with that line of thinking is that assumes that DeRozan is the same player this year that he was 5 years ago in Toronto.  His TS% is about 10 percent better the last three seasons than even his career-best years in Toronto.  He hasn’t seen a post-season since his regular-season jump, but he’s hit a different stratosphere and will rightly finish in the top 3-4 of MVP voting barring a March collapse.

It’s not the same thing, but DeRozan is 2nd in the league in clutch points, and of players in the top 15, only he, Chris Paul, and Devin Booker have FG% greater than 50%.  In Toronto, he shot in the 40s and even high 30s in the clutch.  He’s a different player than he was.

So when I say he's been very poor in the playoffs, you respond by saying he's been great in the regular season? I get it, he's been good this year, but he's gonna have to prove to me he can be anything but garbage in the playoffs before I start to be scared of him. And this is in the context of Giannis, who just won a champion and dominated the finals. There's just no way I'm more afraid of the Bulls than the Bucks. Not even close.

No, I responded by saying his regular seasons have improved greatly since we last saw him have poor playoff series 5 seasons ago, and accordingly, if his regular-season play has improved over that time, his postseason play probably will have also.  Further, in high-leverage regular season situations, which is about as close as you can get to postseason pressure outside the actual postseason, he has a) significantly improved relative to 5-7 years ago, and b) has become one of the premier players in the league in these situations.

Has his regular season play greatly improved over the last 5 seasons?  Seems fairly similar except he's taking 5 more shots per game this season.

He is shooting a fair bit better since he left Toronto.  His last season there his TS% was 55.5.  He has been around 60 the last 3 years (59.9 so far this year).  Rest of his play has been fairly similar.  That said, I still can't believe anyone would rather face Giannis than DeMar.  It is truly astonishing to me.

[Celtics2021]

Milwaukee and Chicago are tougher, but if they win either of the upcoming head-to-heads (unfortunately on back-to-back nights) they would either clinch or likely clinch those tiebreakers as well.

To me, a good outcome could be we beat CHI and then lose to MIL.  Tough to expect to win both of these tough games, especially back to back.  That would favor MIL passing CHI in the standings and setting us up for CHI in the first round.  I know you have to be careful what you wish for but if we can get to 5th and CHI drops to 4th seed, I like that first round match a whole lot better than PHI or MIL.

For what it's worth, I think if we beat CHI on 4/6, we'd wind up at least the 4th seed, maybe hosting CHI, maybe hosting Cleveland.

However, I'm also someone who thinks we match up better against Milwaukee than Chicago.  I think Milwaukee is a great team and are the defending champs for a reason, but I just like that matchup for the Celtics.  We have a variety of players who can help contain Giannis, but on the other hand I think we're very vulnerable to DeRozan's elite mid-range game.

The problem with this line of thinking is that regular season DeRozan is the same player in the playoffs, which has repeatedly been proven to be wrong. There's a reason that he has the nickname "Defrozen".

The problem with that line of thinking is that assumes that DeRozan is the same player this year that he was 5 years ago in Toronto.  His TS% is about 10 percent better the last three seasons than even his career-best years in Toronto.  He hasn’t seen a post-season since his regular-season jump, but he’s hit a different stratosphere and will rightly finish in the top 3-4 of MVP voting barring a March collapse.

It’s not the same thing, but DeRozan is 2nd in the league in clutch points, and of players in the top 15, only he, Chris Paul, and Devin Booker have FG% greater than 50%.  In Toronto, he shot in the 40s and even high 30s in the clutch.  He’s a different player than he was.

So when I say he's been very poor in the playoffs, you respond by saying he's been great in the regular season? I get it, he's been good this year, but he's gonna have to prove to me he can be anything but garbage in the playoffs before I start to be scared of him. And this is in the context of Giannis, who just won a champion and dominated the finals. There's just no way I'm more afraid of the Bulls than the Bucks. Not even close.

No, I responded by saying his regular seasons have improved greatly since we last saw him have poor playoff series 5 seasons ago, and accordingly, if his regular-season play has improved over that time, his postseason play probably will have also.  Further, in high-leverage regular season situations, which is about as close as you can get to postseason pressure outside the actual postseason, he has a) significantly improved relative to 5-7 years ago, and b) has become one of the premier players in the league in these situations.

Has his regular season play greatly improved over the last 5 seasons?  Seems fairly similar except he's taking 5 more shots per game this season.

He is shooting a fair bit better since he left Toronto.  His last season there his TS% was 55.5.  He has been around 60 the last 3 years (59.9 so far this year).  Rest of his play has been fairly similar.  That said, I still can't believe anyone would rather face Giannis than DeMar.  It is truly astonishing to me.

Yeah, I really think DeMar gives this defense fits.  The Celtics are both one of the best teams at preventing at-rim shots (3rd) and in forcing long 2s (1st).  That's a defense that is designed to take away Giannis' strength, but plays right into DeRozan's strength.  Giannis is absolutely, unequivocally the better player.  But DeRozan is a bad matchup for this team.  Maybe Udoka will do a terrific job at scheming for particular opponents over a 7-game series, and it will be fine.  But if he doesn't (and it's not something he has experience with as a head coach), DeRozan scares me more than Giannis for this team.

Prior years of DeRozan wouldn't worry me, but this year's is different.

[celticsclay]

Pistons have quietly been a lot more feisty the last few months. If they hold on to their 17 point lead they will have the third worst record in the league after being far and away the worst team the majority of the season. They could be pretty solid in. A few years with another top 5 pick, Cade, stewart, bay and either cap space or a trade or grant.

[celticsclay]

Milwaukee and Chicago are tougher, but if they win either of the upcoming head-to-heads (unfortunately on back-to-back nights) they would either clinch or likely clinch those tiebreakers as well.

To me, a good outcome could be we beat CHI and then lose to MIL.  Tough to expect to win both of these tough games, especially back to back.  That would favor MIL passing CHI in the standings and setting us up for CHI in the first round.  I know you have to be careful what you wish for but if we can get to 5th and CHI drops to 4th seed, I like that first round match a whole lot better than PHI or MIL.

For what it's worth, I think if we beat CHI on 4/6, we'd wind up at least the 4th seed, maybe hosting CHI, maybe hosting Cleveland.

However, I'm also someone who thinks we match up better against Milwaukee than Chicago.  I think Milwaukee is a great team and are the defending champs for a reason, but I just like that matchup for the Celtics.  We have a variety of players who can help contain Giannis, but on the other hand I think we're very vulnerable to DeRozan's elite mid-range game.

The problem with this line of thinking is that regular season DeRozan is the same player in the playoffs, which has repeatedly been proven to be wrong. There's a reason that he has the nickname "Defrozen".

The problem with that line of thinking is that assumes that DeRozan is the same player this year that he was 5 years ago in Toronto.  His TS% is about 10 percent better the last three seasons than even his career-best years in Toronto.  He hasn’t seen a post-season since his regular-season jump, but he’s hit a different stratosphere and will rightly finish in the top 3-4 of MVP voting barring a March collapse.

It’s not the same thing, but DeRozan is 2nd in the league in clutch points, and of players in the top 15, only he, Chris Paul, and Devin Booker have FG% greater than 50%.  In Toronto, he shot in the 40s and even high 30s in the clutch.  He’s a different player than he was.

So when I say he's been very poor in the playoffs, you respond by saying he's been great in the regular season? I get it, he's been good this year, but he's gonna have to prove to me he can be anything but garbage in the playoffs before I start to be scared of him. And this is in the context of Giannis, who just won a champion and dominated the finals. There's just no way I'm more afraid of the Bulls than the Bucks. Not even close.

No, I responded by saying his regular seasons have improved greatly since we last saw him have poor playoff series 5 seasons ago, and accordingly, if his regular-season play has improved over that time, his postseason play probably will have also.  Further, in high-leverage regular season situations, which is about as close as you can get to postseason pressure outside the actual postseason, he has a) significantly improved relative to 5-7 years ago, and b) has become one of the premier players in the league in these situations.

Has his regular season play greatly improved over the last 5 seasons?  Seems fairly similar except he's taking 5 more shots per game this season.

He is shooting a fair bit better since he left Toronto.  His last season there his TS% was 55.5.  He has been around 60 the last 3 years (59.9 so far this year).  Rest of his play has been fairly similar.  That said, I still can't believe anyone would rather face Giannis than DeMar.  It is truly astonishing to me.

I agree with mo, plus are we pretending there isn’t a mountain of a gap defensively?

[Phantom255x]

Bull lost. Raptors and Nets currently losing

[liam]

The Lakers are always on and they stink!

The 10th placed Hawks are 11 games out of first but the 10th place Lakers are 22.5 games out of first.

 

[slamtheking]

The Lakers are always on and they stink!

which is the only way they're watchable. 

[liam]

The Lakers are always on and they stink!

which is the only way they're watchable. 

TRUE!!!!

 

[celticsclay]

Looking like another long night for the lakers… play in game starting to become in doubt. Believe they play warriors next