Will We Win the Series?

[BringToughnessBack]

I believe we will win game 6 and surprise everyone again. I love the hot takes though on fire the coach to we need to trade Brown or Tatum once again. We are facing the champions from last year with one of the best coaches and players around and we are holding our own. Every game has been a fight and each one, we could have won as easy as lost. Yes, the Bucks are missing one of their players but so are we the past 2 games as well.

I feel like I am hung over without drinking and yes, I am in a bit of a haze after the loss yesterday but I still have faith in this very young team and this is all part of the learning process on what it takes to win it all. Many superstars dont get their first title until their prime, we are in a very unique situation.

so, yes, we will win game 6 and I believe we can win this series in a game 7. One game at a time, first we need Friday and then we can worry about an epic game 7.

Go Celtics!

[Goldstar88]

Tatum has been 5/27 shooting 3s in games 3-5. If he goes 10/27 we would have closed out this series already.

Time to heat up!!!

Or if he trades 6-7 of those attempts for assists, we win.

Or if he trades 6-7 of those 3pt attempts for high percentage 2pt attempts. Unfortunately it seems that the team strategy most games is to live and die by the 3…

[Goldstar88]

No. Last night was their chance to get a stranglehold on the series. If they couldn't win last night at home they're not winning game 6 in Milwaukee. Milwaukee learned how to win these close games that's one reason they're the champs. Until the Celtics stop reverting back to the team that lost 3 ECFs under Stevens they won't get a ring.

At this point, I think fans would be ecstatic with an ECF loss, as that means we would have won this series. We keep hyping up this team and coach, but they are about to go out in the 2nd round. That’s not to say that we don’t have a bright future, but insulting Stevens’ ability to ONLY get to the ECF 3 times, with seemingly less talent, isn’t the way to do it.

Think I have a solution…We need Brad on the bench for the playoffs as a “consultant”.  He can help Ime strategize and make in game adjustments. So you have the players coach/ defensive specialist in Ime and the X’s and O’s guy with Brad. It just might work…Larry O’Brian trophy, here we come!

[slamtheking]

heart says yes, head says no basically because Tatum has not played at the same level he was at when the C's went on their second half run.   If that version of Tatum showed up, C's would already be going on to the next round

[tarheelsxxiii]

I hope so, but it's up to Tatum.

He doesn't need to be the best player in this series, but he needs to be able to get us buckets down the stretch.  And he has to want it.

Beyond this series, he'll have to be the best player for us to win a championship.  And he looked fully capable down the stretch.

[jambr380]

You know the theme. "Oh we'll just run it back next year. We'll be contenders"...think we heard that since 2017 lol. We look like the Hawks of the 2007-2016. Playoffs every year, and an early playoff exit or multiple ECF appearances only to get bounced.

Context matters.

This time last year, we watched our team get mulched by the Nets in the first round.  We were .500 in the regular season, we limped into the playoffs severely outgunned, and Fournier's audition went so poorly that we let him walk instead of signing him in the offseason.  The only entertaining part of the entire year was watching Tatum drop a few big scoring nights down the stretch.  We looked very much like a team whose shot at contention had passed it by, doomed either to tread water in mediocrity for several years or to simply blow it up and try again from the top. 

This season, we had a hell of a second-half run in which we looked like one of the best teams in basketball.  We crushed the team that crushed us last year.  We're no longer staring a rebuild in the face.  We're no longer desperately bouncing unrealistic trades off of each other, looking for a shred of hope somewhere... or most of us aren't, at least.  We're talking about realistic improvements from our players, or realistic tweaks to give our roster that last push it needs.  We're talking about bad moments of basketball instead of bad months.  We've gotten ourselves in a mess against the defending champs, but regardless of how this series turns out, we've gotten our future back.

That's a huge difference.

I don't know - this seems a little revisionist. We were coming off an ECF appearance where we would have been favored to win w/o the Hayward injury. My memory of last year was that we were burned out and there was too much inconsistency with Kemba in and out of the line-up. And I don't think Fournier's audition went that poorly - I fully believe he was our primary option to re-sign, but then he got a mega contract from NYK and we pivoted to JRich instead.

I admit that the first couple of months this season were concerning because it was a continuation of the same bad habits from last season, but then we broke out of that and did our thing. Kind-of like how the last Kyrie season totally sucked and then we had an incredibly strong 19-20. I've never thought that a team of Tatum, Brown, and Smart needs a full rebuild, but that doesn't mean there aren't ways to improve the team.

[Phantom255x]

This team's resilient. Problem is, this isn't a dysfunctional/flawed Nets team. The Bucks are proven champions who play championship basketball. If the C's are able to come back and win this series though, then I'd be ecstatic and it'd prove that this team is legit and a real threat to win it all

Might be a bit of a hot take, but I think tomorrow and potentially Game 7 will be the biggest games of Tatum and Brown's careers. I don't really put 2018 Game 7 there because they were still very young and Tatum was just a rookie then. 2020 might get consideration but with the bubble and COVID, hard to say so either (although choking against Miami wasn't fun).

But now, time to step up. I know they weren't the only ones who struggled late in Game 5, but stars need to bounce back and they'll have their chance starting tomorrow night.

Another bold take. Team that wins tomorrow wins the series. If the C's can pull off the miracle tomorrow night on the road, I feel good about them winning in 7. If MIL wins, then obviously MIL advances

[bopna]

I really feel the Timelord injury has derailed us a bit and you can even tell that the games TL played against the Bucks he wasnt as sharp pre injury.

With TL out or not in shape this series has been pretty evenly matched..heck we were suppose to be even better slighyly but because of terrible execution late in the games and one game were Tatum laid an egg we are right now currently in a predicament that no team wants to be.

[bopna]

I hope so, but it's up to Tatum.

He doesn't need to be the best player in this series, but he needs to be able to get us buckets down the stretch.  And he has to want it.

Beyond this series, he'll have to be the best player for us to win a championship.  And he looked fully capable down the stretch.

Tatum has picked an awful time to shoot like crap from three...the whole series has been a bummer for him...if he were just only his norm then we would have won this series 4-1.

[tarheelsxxiii]

I hope so, but it's up to Tatum.

He doesn't need to be the best player in this series, but he needs to be able to get us buckets down the stretch.  And he has to want it.

Beyond this series, he'll have to be the best player for us to win a championship.  And he looked fully capable down the stretch.

Tatum has picked an awful time to shoot like crap from three...the whole series has been a bummer for him...if he were just only his norm then we would have won this series 4-1.

Sure has.  If we are to advance, he needs to demand the ball in the clutch, too.  I agree about Timelord - Giannis is eating us alive in the paint.

[Surferdad]

...
What do you think?

To be as objective as possible, I would say Bucks take the series tonight.  Just like the C's after Game 4, Bucks have all the momentum and are going home. (Of course that didn't pan out for the C's.)

C's will play hard I'm sure, and I'll be proud of their season, but they are still missing a few pieces to be champions.

[Rikibellevie]

...
What do you think?

To be as objective as possible, I would say Bucks take the series tonight.  Just like the C's after Game 4, Bucks have all the momentum and are going home. (Of course that didn't pan out for the C's.)

C's will play hard I'm sure, and I'll be proud of their season, but they are still missing a few pieces to be champions.

I agree with you that we may loose the série but this seie also has a smell of a 7 matches rallye. Both team fight hard home court doesn't look to be the big factor. We have the better team, we can put more intense défense and level of compétition. They have the better player, favorised by refs and maybe the smarter guy in Holliday. We put the highest intensity they are more confident, clutch and lucky, as a champion.
Even if we loose this season and PO's have been the begening of something New.
We were sometime not far from a 20 points lead if Tatum have been more confident. All our season was about overcoming difficulties, coming back and learning from our mistakes. I think he can put it toogerher tonight. I think the sunday afternoon match will be our nemesis : if so we would loose the serie with 3 home defeat and 3 afternoon ones. Something to progress next year.

[Rikibellevie]

...
What do you think?

To be as objective as possible, I would say Bucks take the series tonight.  Just like the C's after Game 4, Bucks have all the momentum and are going home. (Of course that didn't pan out for the C's.)

C's will play hard I'm sure, and I'll be proud of their season, but they are still missing a few pieces to be champions.

I agree with you that we may loose the serie but this serie also has a smell of a 7 matches rallye. Both team fight hard home court doesn't look to be the big factor. We have the better team, we can put more intense défense and level of compétition. They have the better player, favorised by refs and maybe the smarter guy in Holliday. We put the highest intensity they are more confident, clutch and lucky, as a champion.
Even if we loose this season and PO's have been the begening of something New.
We were sometime not far from a 20 points lead if Tatum have been more confident. All our season was about overcoming difficulties, coming back and learning from our mistakes. I think he can put it toogerher tonight. I think the sunday afternoon match will be our nemesis : if so we would loose the serie with 3 home defeat and 3 afternoon ones. Something to progress next year.

[SparzWizard]

There hasn't been enough blowout games in this series. It's been close the last few games.

I feel like a team is going to get blown out tonight. I don't know who.

[Redz]

I'm out.  Horrible loss.  See you in the fall, as we don't even have a 1st due to an over pay for White.

L8r.....

So, if they win the last two games you will take zero joy in it and definitely will not jump back on board?

That's just dumb