Celtics (3-3) at Heat (3-3) ECF Game #7 5/29/22

[RockinRyA]

Smart with an idiotic comment, saying fans "didn't believe in them" earlier in the season and then "jumped back on the bandwagon."

And whose fault is that, Marcus? You guys weren't passing the ball, weren't playing defense,  and were losing to teams fielding multiple gleaguers in the starting lineup.

Crummy comment.  In the foxhole, I want to be next to the guy who's a little rough around the edges, though.

Me as well, tarheels.

Marcus needs to remember all the Garden full-capacity sellouts during the 1st half of the season when the team was an embarrassment given the amount of talent on the roster. Inconsistent effort and playing bad basketball. Still, all those "bandwagon" fans kept packing the place to watch the games and support the team. A real asinine comment, Marcus.

It's not really incorrect at all. If you go look at some game threads from December vs March it will be pretty different

Yeah people should stop acting as if they were believers the whole time. Im guessing this struct a nerve because its true.

Speak for yourself.  I've been pumping this team's tires since they nearly shocked the Cavs in 2018. Doesn't mean we should applaud games where they are playing iso ball and dogging it on defense.

Imagine paying $600 for tickets and then watching them stagger around the court like a bunch of zombies.

This team was unwatchable. Thank god Ime finally got through to them.

If you wanted to break the ehole team up that early in the season with all the young guys and a new coach, idgaf if you were cheering from who knows when, you deserve to be called out for that instance as well.

[Phantom255x]

Watching some of the highlights from last night, and that jumper by Tatum to put them up 95-85 was so, so smooth! Just beautiful all-around, the catch off the inbound, the move he makes to create space and then swish. Very Kobe-esque. And all within 3 seconds which is all they had on the shotclock

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-STif22BESQ (2nd part of the clip)

[kraidstar]

Smart with an idiotic comment, saying fans "didn't believe in them" earlier in the season and then "jumped back on the bandwagon."

And whose fault is that, Marcus? You guys weren't passing the ball, weren't playing defense,  and were losing to teams fielding multiple gleaguers in the starting lineup.

Crummy comment.  In the foxhole, I want to be next to the guy who's a little rough around the edges, though.

Me as well, tarheels.

Marcus needs to remember all the Garden full-capacity sellouts during the 1st half of the season when the team was an embarrassment given the amount of talent on the roster. Inconsistent effort and playing bad basketball. Still, all those "bandwagon" fans kept packing the place to watch the games and support the team. A real asinine comment, Marcus.

It's not really incorrect at all. If you go look at some game threads from December vs March it will be pretty different

Yeah people should stop acting as if they were believers the whole time. Im guessing this struct a nerve because its true.

Speak for yourself.  I've been pumping this team's tires since they nearly shocked the Cavs in 2018. Doesn't mean we should applaud games where they are playing iso ball and dogging it on defense.

Imagine paying $600 for tickets and then watching them stagger around the court like a bunch of zombies.

This team was unwatchable. Thank god Ime finally got through to them.

If you wanted to break the ehole team up that early in the season with all the young guys and a new coach, idgaf if you were cheering from who knows when, you deserve to be called out for that instance as well.

Find the post where i said that. It was a vocal minority.  Stop defending nonsense.

[RockinRyA]

Smart with an idiotic comment, saying fans "didn't believe in them" earlier in the season and then "jumped back on the bandwagon."

And whose fault is that, Marcus? You guys weren't passing the ball, weren't playing defense,  and were losing to teams fielding multiple gleaguers in the starting lineup.

Crummy comment.  In the foxhole, I want to be next to the guy who's a little rough around the edges, though.

Me as well, tarheels.

Marcus needs to remember all the Garden full-capacity sellouts during the 1st half of the season when the team was an embarrassment given the amount of talent on the roster. Inconsistent effort and playing bad basketball. Still, all those "bandwagon" fans kept packing the place to watch the games and support the team. A real asinine comment, Marcus.

It's not really incorrect at all. If you go look at some game threads from December vs March it will be pretty different

Yeah people should stop acting as if they were believers the whole time. Im guessing this struct a nerve because its true.

Speak for yourself.  I've been pumping this team's tires since they nearly shocked the Cavs in 2018. Doesn't mean we should applaud games where they are playing iso ball and dogging it on defense.

Imagine paying $600 for tickets and then watching them stagger around the court like a bunch of zombies.

This team was unwatchable. Thank god Ime finally got through to them.

If you wanted to break the ehole team up that early in the season with all the young guys and a new coach, idgaf if you were cheering from who knows when, you deserve to be called out for that instance as well.

Find the post where i said that. It was a vocal minority.  Stop defending nonsense.

Hence the "if". Comprehension?

[SparzWizard]

Lol I can't believe we cut Max Strus for Javonte Green. He would have been great providing depth at the wing for us. But alas, we didn't know how he'd pan out until now 

[tenn_smoothie]

Smart with an idiotic comment, saying fans "didn't believe in them" earlier in the season and then "jumped back on the bandwagon."

And whose fault is that, Marcus? You guys weren't passing the ball, weren't playing defense,  and were losing to teams fielding multiple gleaguers in the starting lineup.

Crummy comment.  In the foxhole, I want to be next to the guy who's a little rough around the edges, though.

Me as well, tarheels.

Marcus needs to remember all the Garden full-capacity sellouts during the 1st half of the season when the team was an embarrassment given the amount of talent on the roster. Inconsistent effort and playing bad basketball. Still, all those "bandwagon" fans kept packing the place to watch the games and support the team. A real asinine comment, Marcus.

It's not really incorrect at all. If you go look at some game threads from December vs March it will be pretty different

Do you follow me around, Gouk, just to be a contrarian to whatever my opinion might be ?

I did not say that us fans were not critical of the team - we were and deservedly so.
What I said was that Celtic fans kept selling out the Garden and trying to support the team, even when they were underperforming.
That does not sound like a bandwagon fan base to me.
Celts' fans are the most rabid in the league, but when the team is playing bad basketball, people say so.

[colincb]

Butler deserves all the praise he received for his play the last two games. He got the Heat closer to beating us than KD or Giannis.

[tenn_smoothie]

Perk! love him! We are young but we have old souls! That is classic!

That was pretty good, yes.

[tenn_smoothie]

Problem wasn't the shots smart took, the problem was they milked the clock too much just like they did in game 5 against the Bucks.

They played the NBA version of prevent defense. Go for the kill and play further win instead of not to lose.

I understand they milked the clock but all of Smarts shots were wide open.  He hit's 1 of them the game is sealed.  A few were in and out.  If you get an open shot it's a good shot.  Especially if you can run the clock down as well. It's the same as Butler.  Open shots need made.  If you hit open shots you will win the game.

It's understandable because everyone watching and commenting was doing so in the heat of the moment, and because Smart missed the shots. If you go back and watch it again with the anxiety gone, it's clear that they were open shots and Smart was 3-7 at that point. He's not the greatest shooter but he had been hitting them and they were loading up on Tatum and Brown. It's just...he missed, and it was a close game with a Miami run ongoing, so he quickly became persona non grata to everyone. Especially since in G6 he made some bad decisions and played some hero ball while not 100%. He had a much better game tonight.

If anything the thing to be critical of was our defense slipped in those last couple minutes. During that 11-0 run the Heat made 3 field goals at the rim (Strus dunk, Dipo and Lowry layups). Strus made a difficult 3 that was well contested but the layups were bad slippage. But for Buckets' 3 they were in much better position to contest a drive at the rim because JB (guarding Dipo) and JT (guarding Strus) were back with Al. Buckets' probably could have drove and tried to get a foul, or maybe JT would have had to leave Strus to help, but he decided to shoot, and his shot was also relatively open. Like Smart, he just missed.

Right on Target.  We did allow them to drive all the way to the rim for layups on those two consecutive possessions. That looked like playing not to lose rather than to win. We barely defended those two drives by Oldiapo and Lowry. Our normal defense is to attack and smother, we were laying back like cornerbacks giving up 10 yard outs in a football game.

[Phantom255x]

TP FLCeltsFan!

Really hope this isn’t the last gamethread of the season. Game 6 sucked but whatever, that’s all behind us now as are the five games before it. Just put together one more great, complete effort and let’s advance to the Finals 

I'm planning on making at least 4 more!!!

WooooooooHHHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

WOO! More GDTs and at least 1.5 more weeks of basketball! 

[angryguy77]

[Phantom255x]

Are the Celtics on the West Coast now?

Not 100% sure but I'm guessing they'll travel there tomorrow?

I heard an anecdotal story that they were traveling from Miami to SF today and was curious if it actually happened.

On Zolak and Bertrand they actually said the C's flew right back to Boston after the game pretty much. Reached Boston around 4-5 AM Monday morning. Didn't do the usual "stay over at the city then fly back next day".

[Roy H.]

It's weird hearing some of the "bandwagon" comments above.

If you're somebody who posts on CelticsStrong fairly regular -- even if it's to be critical -- you're not a bandwagon fan in my eyes.

I will say, I think there are maybe 1% of fans on here who "believed" we'd reach the Finals when we were three games under .500 in January.  The team was playing terribly.  Then, things clicked.  Some were earlier than others to appreciate the Celts championship hopes (hat tip to Celtics2021, Kiorrik and others here), but I don't think it's some sort of dishonor to have been critical of the team for playing .500 ball for 1 1/2 seasons.

[Vermont Green]

It's weird hearing some of the "bandwagon" comments above.

If you're somebody who posts on CelticsStrong fairly regular -- even if it's to be critical -- you're not a bandwagon fan in my eyes.

I will say, I think there are maybe 1% of fans on here who "believed" we'd reach the Finals when we were three games under .500 in January.  The team was playing terribly.  Then, things clicked.  Some were earlier than others to appreciate the Celts championship hopes (hat tip to Celtics2021, Kiorrik and others here), but I don't think it's some sort of dishonor to have been critical of the team for playing .500 ball for 1 1/2 seasons.

This has kind of turned into a did you believe thread.  I will say that I did not start out believing we could make the finals.  My "official" preseason prediction was 50 wins and win one round in the playoffs.  At that point in the season, I was thinking we would end up loosing to BKN or MIL in the playoffs.  But I think that is different than being in the Trade Marcus or otherwise blow it up camp.

I was fine with Marcus Smart as our PG.  I wanted to see the team building around Tatum and Brown.  The only Brown trade that I entertained was one for Towns.

I think that is the difference.  It is one thing to not believe they are going to make the finals or win a title this year.  It is another thing to post that Marcus sucks and we should trade Brown because he has topped out.  Fire the coach, and so on.  But fans are fans, so be it.

[Celtics2021]

It's weird hearing some of the "bandwagon" comments above.

If you're somebody who posts on CelticsStrong fairly regular -- even if it's to be critical -- you're not a bandwagon fan in my eyes.

I will say, I think there are maybe 1% of fans on here who "believed" we'd reach the Finals when we were three games under .500 in January.  The team was playing terribly.  Then, things clicked.  Some were earlier than others to appreciate the Celts championship hopes (hat tip to Celtics2021, Kiorrik and others here), but I don't think it's some sort of dishonor to have been critical of the team for playing .500 ball for 1 1/2 seasons.

Yeah, I was pretty much a true believer.  My faith did waiver for a couple days after the Portland loss, but the following game Smart returned and they blew out the Wizards, who at the time had a better record, and it was quickly restored.

I don't care too much what people say on the internet (I mean, I guess I do because I'm on here way too much responding to threads, but intellectually I'm okay with this being a place of venting), but I didn't like the couple times when I watched games and the Boston crowd booed.  I know everyone is entitled to (with some limitation) react how they like, but two of my favorite Celtics memories were game 6's when the Celtics lost -- in 2002 and 2012.  Both of those proved to be the final home game for the team that year, and even though the losses were pretty much decided midway through the 4th, the fans yelled "Let's Go Celtics!" for the final 6 minutes of game time.  I was at 2002, and again, even though it was a loss, it was an amazing experience to be involved in that kind of appreciation, which is something I've never seen elsewhere.  I had to watch 2012 from TV, but it was just as striking.  The boos that happened earlier in the year, while I understood the emotions behind them, really rubbed me the wrong way, and I think it rubbed the players the wrong way too.