Heat (3-3) at Celtics (3-3) ECF Game 7 5/29/23

[Phantom255x]

When Miami was bricking shots early but we could only go up 9-4 that’s when I had a bad feeling. And then suddenly Miami went up 17 by the 2nd quarter.

Caleb Martin killed us but we also left him open far too often. Just dumb. Butler woke up too but our own star players were awful too and Tatum unfortunately got hurt

[hodgy03038]

Don't waste any time Fire Mazulla.

[jambr380]

At least we'll always have an excuse in Tatum's ankle.

[Phantom255x]

Feel dumb for being anxious all day about tonight and then the C’s themselves came out awful and unserious. Like why bother

[angryguy77]

We will be back next year, and will be better. This team is still young. They have to go through some major battles and tough losses to get there. We forget because they've done so much in the playoffs since entering the league, but most stars don't get their first ring until they reach 27-29 years old. Tatum is 25, Brown 26. These are the experiences that will get them there.

enough of those excuses

those two have been together for years now   how many ECFs? 4? 5?

There's something to be said about maturity.

Can you point to any? From.what I see they're the same immature group as they were 6 years ago. Sans.last year, it's just Chuck 3's and front run.with the occasional grind out big win.

They need a kg.type personality. Love.tatum but he's too timid to.lead. brown needs to be gone and I'm regretting thinking it would've been a bad trade.for durant.
Brown will always be the to machine..he will not.get.smarter.

Smart needs a chamge.of scenery.  Done watching him waste possessions after we get a little momentum. You can predict when a dumb pass is coming.

Al is washed. Enough said.

The experiment failed..we have a very good piece to build around with Tatum. Tredding water isn't going to do it.

[kraidstar]

Can someone give me a summary? I missed the 2nd half because of work but it seems like that’s when we really lost the game. Did the team quit? Was it dumb offense? How was Tatum, JB, Smart? TPs for replies

Tatum could barely move. Miami was targeting him on defense by the end of the game.

JB was a turnover machine with bad decision making on top of it.

I don't remember anything from Marcus, honestly.

Tatum goes from being the best defender to our worst huh? That’s a tough break. I can’t imagine a world where he’s the one being hunted. Heat caught a break… somewhat…

That will be a convenient excuse. But the team did not show up at all. 84 points... 84

[Billz401]

This was a game where JB couldve proved that this truly was a 1a and 1b duo and really stepped up especially after JT's injury. But instead he turtled up and put up a complete stinker. And not only a stinker but he did it making terrible decisions and shot attempts as well as just sloppy turnovers. Its one thing if you're missing shots but the effort is there but tonight was just putrid.

Im sure he will say all the right things in the post game presser but he's all bark and no bite and proved that JT is numero uno and JB plays second fiddle

[hodgy03038]

Duncan Robinson taunting the crowd. What a punk.

[scaryjerry]

Lost a series  to a team down 2 key.players.

An 8th seed.

Bucks fired their coach who won a title despite having his best player hurt.

Yet.our moronic ownership will keep this idiot around. I bet.they don't make any sizeable changes to the roster either.

Brad will just say his 2 guys.were hurt and his child Joe deserves another shot.

There was a thread on RealGM forums early in this series asking if "if Boston loses to Miami, is that a bigger choke job than Milwaukee losing to Miami?"

I liked the answer "yes because Giannis was hurt and played only 2 and a half games" so BOS losing to MIA would be a much worse result than MIL losing to MIA.

Still feel that way.

Milwaukee won a game when Giannis was out and when he came back he was fine and Miami dominated them.

Is our loss worse? Probably. But the Giannis being injured aspect of that series is overrated.

Tatum being useless after his ankle sprain in this game 7 was equal to the Giannis injury.

[radiohead]

Can someone give me a summary? I missed the 2nd half because of work but it seems like that’s when we really lost the game. Did the team quit? Was it dumb offense? How was Tatum, JB, Smart? TPs for replies

Tatum could barely move. Miami was targeting him on defense by the end of the game.

JB was a turnover machine with bad decision making on top of it.

I don't remember anything from Marcus, honestly.

Tatum goes from being the best defender to our worst huh? That’s a tough break. I can’t imagine a world where he’s the one being hunted. Heat caught a break… somewhat…

He rolled his ankle pretty bad early in the first quarter. He played hobbled after that.

[libermaniac]

I’m proud of this team. They battled. Injury to star isn’t a recipe to win game 7. Can’t control injury luck. They have warts and coaching needs to improve but I’m still proud of them and remain confident for the future. If anything this game showed just how good and important to this team Tatum is. Brown is a second fiddle. Nobody should question that anymore.

I do hope we become less reliant on the three going forward but that’s for another day.

[Mahk E Mahk]

We will be back next year, and will be better. This team is still young. They have to go through some major battles and tough losses to get there. We forget because they've done so much in the playoffs since entering the league, but most stars don't get their first ring until they reach 27-29 years old. Tatum is 25, Brown 26. These are the experiences that will get them there.

what makes you think they’ll be better next season? they were materially worse this season with better personnel.

the C’s are a talented team that consistently struggled due to lack of effort and low BBIQ. the weaknesses of the past continue to be the current weaknesses, which means they aren’t improving.

as currently constructed, they’ve peaked and won’t win a title. either brad makes major changes this offseason or C’s fans are going to be disappointed. time to rebuild around tatum with players that compliment his game. other than JT, everyone is expendable.

[RJ87]

Can someone give me a summary? I missed the 2nd half because of work but it seems like that’s when we really lost the game. Did the team quit? Was it dumb offense? How was Tatum, JB, Smart? TPs for replies

Tatum could barely move. Miami was targeting him on defense by the end of the game.

JB was a turnover machine with bad decision making on top of it.

I don't remember anything from Marcus, honestly.

Tatum goes from being the best defender to our worst huh? That’s a tough break. I can’t imagine a world where he’s the one being hunted. Heat caught a break… somewhat…

It's bummer because he sprained his ankle going to the rim, so I think he had an aggressive mindset.

Then Joe benched him for a weirdly long time in the 1st so the ankle probably stiffened up.

[jpotter33]

It was a good season. With Tatum and Brown, our team remains a serious contender year after year. Unfortunately, injuries proved to be our greatest hurdle. Our MLE doing down before the season, our  6th man of the year becoming unable to play due to injury in this series, and our superstar enduring a severe ankle injury right at the beginning of game 7.

Personally, I couldn't be prouder of our team. Let's make the wise decision to re-sign Brown and give it another shot next season.

Yeah, going to have to disagree with you there. THis was the most unenjoyable season since the Kyrie season. It's time for changes, and it starts with hiring a competent coach who isn't just the selection due to a scandal. It also requires upgrading from one of JB or Smart.

The Celtics are unlikely to dismiss Joe Mazzulla because they want to avoid incurring unnecessary financial losses. Moreover, considering that Mazzulla is a first-year head coach, it would be fair to give him some time to improve. Instead, what we should focus on is hiring a highly capable bench coach to support him.

Ultimately, Tatum and Brown consistently give us a chance to compete for the NBA title each year. That's all one can hope for from an NBA standpoint. Neither player is in their prime yet.

There's nothing fair about it. He just stole a year of this team's title contention years when he was clearly not ready. Shame on Brad and Wyc for offering it to him in the first place, but also shame on Joe for stealing this money when he was clearly not ready for this opportunity.

It's not fair to this team to put a clearly unqualified coach in there to lead them to victory.

[celticinorlando]

Team needs toughness desperately