This is going 7…

[Goldstar88]

…no shot Cs win on the road in G6

How do you figure that. C’s already won a game on the road this series.

[RJ87]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team that gets by almost completely on talent than anything else. They have no killer instinct. Maybe one day, I’ll guess we keep hoping.

I feel like this is the case with most teams in the league these days. It wasn't like this in the past.

Are there teams in today's league that you are impressed by in terms of killer instinct / mentality / consistency? Who are they?

The Warriors. The Heat are pretty tough mentally too. My biggest worry is by the time they figure it out they’ll be on different teams.

The Heat lost to the Hawks in a play-in game they were widely considered favorites in (also, they've been pretty mediocre all season).

And the Warrrors? You mean the 73 win team that lost in the Finals?

Again... there is no such thing as a perfect team. Adversity is going to hit, its about how you bounce back.

[scaryjerry]

Said this in the game thread, going to repost it here:

Nah. This is over next game. Atlanta played desperate tonight and Trae had himself a great offensive game. Tip your cap and move onto the next one.

Posters love to talk about this team's mentality, but the its the fans.

Hate to break it to you but Atlanta is going to play desperate in game 6 as well and it’s very likely Trae has another great game? Atlanta crowd will also be the loudest they’ve been all year if the hawks get off to a good start.

Lol, the Atlanta crowd doesn't scare me at all.

Anytime this team hits any adversity, posters around here break down like folding chairs.

There's no such thing as the perfect team. Our last championship team got pushed to 7 games in the 1st round. The 2010 team that went to the finals looked like garbage for a big chunk of the year and was booed off the court multiple times that season. Last year, people were ready to blow it up and we went on a finals run.

If these teams were as "soft" as so many posters here have claimed ad nauseam and gave up as quickly, we'd be a perpetual lottery team.

Yeah our last championship team got pushed to 7 in the first round, partly because of a completely raucous Atlanta crowd lol…but seriously I don’t disagree with you but I also don’t know what’s worse, making excuses for this putrid borderline unacceptable loss or the fans you describe

[CelticSooner]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team that gets by almost completely on talent than anything else. They have no killer instinct. Maybe one day, I’ll guess we keep hoping.

I feel like this is the case with most teams in the league these days. It wasn't like this in the past.

Are there teams in today's league that you are impressed by in terms of killer instinct / mentality / consistency? Who are they?

The Warriors. The Heat are pretty tough mentally too. My biggest worry is by the time they figure it out they’ll be on different teams.

The Heat lost to the Hawks in a play-in game they were widely considered favorites in (also, they've been pretty mediocre all season).

And the Warrrors? You mean the 73 win team that lost in the Finals?

Again... there is no such thing as a perfect. Adversity is going to hit, its about how you bounce back.

This isn’t adversity, this is arrogance. They will play defense in Game 6 and probably win by 20.

[Who]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team that gets by almost completely on talent than anything else. They have no killer instinct. Maybe one day, I’ll guess we keep hoping.

I feel like this is the case with most teams in the league these days. It wasn't like this in the past.

Are there teams in today's league that you are impressed by in terms of killer instinct / mentality / consistency? Who are they?

The Warriors. The Heat are pretty tough mentally too. My biggest worry is by the time they figure it out they’ll be on different teams.

The Heat lost to the Hawks in a play-in game they were widely considered favorites in (also, they've been pretty mediocre all season).

And the Warrrors? You mean the 73 win team that lost in the Finals?

Again... there is no such thing as a perfect. Adversity is going to hit, its about how you bounce back.

Golden State won 44 games this season. They were coasting through large chunks of the season. Lacking in intensity & urgency. I wonder if we'd be saying the same things about them if we had of watched 60-80 GSW games this year like we did with BOS.

I do like MIA. They have some tough minded players in Lowry & Jimmy Butler. Not so much Bam. Or Herro. Or D Robinson. Or K Love. But Jimmy and Lowry do set a nice tone for that team. That team seems to be more about a lack of talent rather than a lack of professionalism / seriousness.

Draymond is the only guy who has toughness in GSW. And G Payton II. The rest are charmin-soft.

[celticinorlando]

This will go 7 as will the bucks series

Atlanta will play their best game in game 6 and will win comfortably. This team is too inconsistent.

[SparzWizard]

This will go 7 as will the bucks series

Atlanta will play their best game in game 6 and will win comfortably. This team is too inconsistent.

Smart money goes to Atlanta for Game 6. Just take the points lol

[ozgod]

Said this in the game thread, going to repost it here:

Nah. This is over next game. Atlanta played desperate tonight and Trae had himself a great offensive game. Tip your cap and move onto the next one.

Posters love to talk about this team's mentality, but the its the fans.

Hate to break it to you but Atlanta is going to play desperate in game 6 as well and it’s very likely Trae has another great game? Atlanta crowd will also be the loudest they’ve been all year if the hawks get off to a good start.

Really comes down to - will the Hawks shoot 46% from 3 again (they average 35%) and will we shoot 30% again (we average 38%). It was a 2 point game despite those metrics. Certainly not beyond the realms of possibility that those numbers repeat themselves.

It's a tough loss to be sure, but we were controlling the game till the last 6 minutes but then they started to try and play the "let's run the clock down" game instead of continuing to do what had been successful for them through the game which was playing fast and attacking the basket. Then it got close and Trae hit some logo shots. I think they should be able to clean up those mistakes next game. We won most of the key metrics - outrebounded them, won the transition points, turnovers were about the same 9 to 8, got off enough shots...unfortunately we only played 42 minutes instead of 48 and a lot of our turnovers were in that 6 minute period. That gives me some confidence that we only need to tweak a few things.

Of course, who knows with this Cs team - Atlanta will certainly have some confidence, and some desperation, it's still an elimination game for them and they will be pumped. I think the first quarter will be crucial in seeing what our team's mindset is and if they are really up for a scrap.

[SparzWizard]

Said this in the game thread, going to repost it here:

Nah. This is over next game. Atlanta played desperate tonight and Trae had himself a great offensive game. Tip your cap and move onto the next one.

Posters love to talk about this team's mentality, but the its the fans.

Hate to break it to you but Atlanta is going to play desperate in game 6 as well and it’s very likely Trae has another great game? Atlanta crowd will also be the loudest they’ve been all year if the hawks get off to a good start.

Really comes down to - will the Hawks shoot 46% from 3 again (they average 35%) and will we shoot 30% again (we average 38%). It was a 2 point game despite those metrics. Certainly not beyond the realms of possibility that those numbers repeat themselves.

It's a tough loss to be sure, but we were controlling the game till the last 6 minutes but then they started to try and play the "let's run the clock down" game instead of continuing to do what had been successful for them through the game which was playing fast and attacking the basket. Then it got close and Trae hit some logo shots. I think they should be able to clean up those mistakes next game. We won most of the key metrics - outrebounded them, won the transition points, turnovers were about the same 9 to 8, got off enough shots...unfortunately we only played 42 minutes instead of 48 and a lot of our turnovers were in that 6 minute period. That gives me some confidence that we only need to tweak a few things.

Of course, who knows with this Cs team - Atlanta will certainly have some confidence, and some desperation, it's still an elimination game for them and they will be pumped. I think the first quarter will be crucial in seeing what our team's mindset is and if they are really up for a scrap.

Ah ha ha ha ha ha. I've heard that before and believe me I haven't seen them clean up their mistakes ever. At least not this era of the Celtics team.

[ozgod]

Said this in the game thread, going to repost it here:

Nah. This is over next game. Atlanta played desperate tonight and Trae had himself a great offensive game. Tip your cap and move onto the next one.

Posters love to talk about this team's mentality, but the its the fans.

Hate to break it to you but Atlanta is going to play desperate in game 6 as well and it’s very likely Trae has another great game? Atlanta crowd will also be the loudest they’ve been all year if the hawks get off to a good start.

Really comes down to - will the Hawks shoot 46% from 3 again (they average 35%) and will we shoot 30% again (we average 38%). It was a 2 point game despite those metrics. Certainly not beyond the realms of possibility that those numbers repeat themselves.

It's a tough loss to be sure, but we were controlling the game till the last 6 minutes but then they started to try and play the "let's run the clock down" game instead of continuing to do what had been successful for them through the game which was playing fast and attacking the basket. Then it got close and Trae hit some logo shots. I think they should be able to clean up those mistakes next game. We won most of the key metrics - outrebounded them, won the transition points, turnovers were about the same 9 to 8, got off enough shots...unfortunately we only played 42 minutes instead of 48 and a lot of our turnovers were in that 6 minute period. That gives me some confidence that we only need to tweak a few things.

Of course, who knows with this Cs team - Atlanta will certainly have some confidence, and some desperation, it's still an elimination game for them and they will be pumped. I think the first quarter will be crucial in seeing what our team's mindset is and if they are really up for a scrap.

Ah ha ha ha ha ha. I've heard that before and believe me I haven't seen them clean up their mistakes ever. At least not this era of the Celtics team.

Well last game they cleaned up their mistakes from the previous game, which was rebounding. The issue they have is that when they clean things up it only stays cleaned up for a little while, then they revert to old habits. Habits are hard to break, but to be the best versions of themselves they need to. Like Smartacus seems to have broken his habit of chucking more threes than the rest of the team. His next habit to break is the preponderance of high risk plays that he tries to do - Harlem Globetrotter passes, trying to go for crazy steals, etc. I think that's going to be harder to break because they work 20% of the time and turn games, which encourages him. As for JT he needs to stop being lazy and settling when he's not playing well. Try to impact the game in other ways. He's made headway this season and last, but he fell back on his bad habits today when we needed him not to.

[angryguy77]

Said this in the game thread, going to repost it here:

Nah. This is over next game. Atlanta played desperate tonight and Trae had himself a great offensive game. Tip your cap and move onto the next one.

Posters love to talk about this team's mentality, but the its the fans.

Hate to break it to you but Atlanta is going to play desperate in game 6 as well and it’s very likely Trae has another great game? Atlanta crowd will also be the loudest they’ve been all year if the hawks get off to a good start.

Really comes down to - will the Hawks shoot 46% from 3 again (they average 35%) and will we shoot 30% again (we average 38%). It was a 2 point game despite those metrics. Certainly not beyond the realms of possibility that those numbers repeat themselves.

It's a tough loss to be sure, but we were controlling the game till the last 6 minutes but then they started to try and play the "let's run the clock down" game instead of continuing to do what had been successful for them through the game which was playing fast and attacking the basket. Then it got close and Trae hit some logo shots. I think they should be able to clean up those mistakes next game. We won most of the key metrics - outrebounded them, won the transition points, turnovers were about the same 9 to 8, got off enough shots...unfortunately we only played 42 minutes instead of 48 and a lot of our turnovers were in that 6 minute period. That gives me some confidence that we only need to tweak a few things.

Of course, who knows with this Cs team - Atlanta will certainly have some confidence, and some desperation, it's still an elimination game for them and they will be pumped. I think the first quarter will be crucial in seeing what our team's mindset is and if they are really up for a scrap.

Bucks fans are saying the same thing...


When you give up open 3's, they're going to make.moat.of them on avg. So yes, it's very possible they shoot lights out again because I've no belief Joe will adjust. He'll just stand there saying f "ShOoT mOrE 3's"

[GreenEnvy]

Easy to overreact right now. I get it.

But we outplayed them for about 44 minutes and just let this one get away. Between the two terrible passes that were easily picked off, to the Tatum technical, to Smart’s foul, so many things went wrong at the end.

I rather they not lose games like this. But if they are going to, I want it to be in the first round when up 3-1. Last season was a learning experience. Tonight was a refresher. When their opposition plays with desperation, we have to match their intensity.

[ozgod]

Said this in the game thread, going to repost it here:

Nah. This is over next game. Atlanta played desperate tonight and Trae had himself a great offensive game. Tip your cap and move onto the next one.

Posters love to talk about this team's mentality, but the its the fans.

Hate to break it to you but Atlanta is going to play desperate in game 6 as well and it’s very likely Trae has another great game? Atlanta crowd will also be the loudest they’ve been all year if the hawks get off to a good start.

Really comes down to - will the Hawks shoot 46% from 3 again (they average 35%) and will we shoot 30% again (we average 38%). It was a 2 point game despite those metrics. Certainly not beyond the realms of possibility that those numbers repeat themselves.

It's a tough loss to be sure, but we were controlling the game till the last 6 minutes but then they started to try and play the "let's run the clock down" game instead of continuing to do what had been successful for them through the game which was playing fast and attacking the basket. Then it got close and Trae hit some logo shots. I think they should be able to clean up those mistakes next game. We won most of the key metrics - outrebounded them, won the transition points, turnovers were about the same 9 to 8, got off enough shots...unfortunately we only played 42 minutes instead of 48 and a lot of our turnovers were in that 6 minute period. That gives me some confidence that we only need to tweak a few things.

Of course, who knows with this Cs team - Atlanta will certainly have some confidence, and some desperation, it's still an elimination game for them and they will be pumped. I think the first quarter will be crucial in seeing what our team's mindset is and if they are really up for a scrap.

Bucks fans are saying the same thing...


When you give up open 3's, they're going to make.moat.of them on avg. So yes, it's very possible they shoot lights out again because I've no belief Joe will adjust. He'll just stand there saying f "ShOoT mOrE 3's"

They don't seem to have confidence in Timelord's ability to defend Trae on the perimeter. Every time Atlanta ran a high pick and roll to switch Timelord on to Trae they sent a help defender over to trap him.  Just to compare the season 3FG% of the players they left open vs their % tonight:

Collins - 29% 1-3.4 3FGA (4-9 44% tonight)
Hunter - 35% 1.5-4.3 3FGA (3-5 60% tonight)
Bey - 40% 2-5 3FGA (2-3 66% tonight)
Bogdan - 40$ 2.7-6.7 3FGA (3-6 60% tonight)

Bey and Bogdan are good perimeter shooters but Collins and Hunter made us pay for leaving them open to trap Trae tonight. If the Cs think they will do it again they will have to make an adjustment to how they guard Trae, maybe they try not to switch those screens. They had Timelord in drop coverage to protect the drive but Trae just scored with his floater. They have to figure out how to guard him better.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that if we look at the game on balance, we controlled it for the majority of the game and gave it away at the end. It's not like we were outplayed and without a hope for the whole game. No doubt the loss sucks, especially given it was self inflicted when we were cruising at the end. Just like Milwaukee was when they gave up a lead to lose to Buckets. Like Miami Atlanta needed some crazy shots from Trae to fall to win, and like Milwaukee we made some mental mistakes (turnovers, fouls, techs) at the worst possible time. That's what I'm hoping they should be able to clean up. I would still rather be in our shoes than Atlanta's. But I'm sure there will be plenty more heart attack moments and frustration on the way, that's just how this team rolls 

There's definitely some flaws with the big guns on this team though. With JB it's more technical with his decisionmaking at times, with JT it's more a mindset of how to impact the game when he's not shooting well. When he's not shooting well he tends to drift in and out of the game and settle for stepback 3s to try and get himself out of his funk. With Smart it's his judgment, he's always going for home run plays. It remains to be seen whether these flaws get in the way of a championship.

[angryguy77]

Easy to overreact right now. I get it.

But we outplayed them for about 44 minutes and just let this one get away. Between the two terrible passes that were easily picked off, to the Tatum technical, to Smart’s foul, so many things went wrong at the end.

I rather they not lose games like this. But if they are going to, I want it to be in the first round when up 3-1. Last season was a learning experience. Tonight was a refresher. When their opposition plays with desperation, we have to match their intensity.

If last year was a learning experience, what were the previous 4 years?

These guys are never going to change unless.brad gets a true alpha on this team..Neither J has it in them to lead.

[scaryjerry]

Easy to overreact right now. I get it.

But we outplayed them for about 44 minutes and just let this one get away. Between the two terrible passes that were easily picked off, to the Tatum technical, to Smart’s foul, so many things went wrong at the end.

I rather they not lose games like this. But if they are going to, I want it to be in the first round when up 3-1. Last season was a learning experience. Tonight was a refresher. When their opposition plays with desperation, we have to match their intensity.

I do love the optimism and you’re most likely right but making excuses for them literally gagging a game a way and looking at the bright side of things when they lose to a bad team in the playoffs when they have a double digit lead halfway through the 4th quarter is a rare trait. Bravo