Celtics (48-12) at Cavaliers (39-21) Game #61 3/5/24

[CelticSooner]

13th loss of the season, the sun will come up tomorrow. On to Denver folks. Should be another good one.

It's not the loss, it's the how they lost

No it’s the loss. There is nothing more to prove in the regular season. If this team stays healthy they will be in the Finals at worst.

WRONG, it is how they lost aka PERFORMANCE

Guess they NBA should be put on notice that Dean Wade has arrived.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Here comes the losing streak and where the bucks take over the Celtics for the top seed

Bro, even for you this is ridiculous and non-sensical. We are literally 8 losses up on the Bucks after this loss. It would take an absolute meltdown plus a record-setting pace for Milwaukee to catch us.

master of panic?

Can’t wait to hear the excuses Thursday. It’s not because they lost. It’s how.

Most of their loses this season follow this pattern. Good lead blown to a bad team.

Blowing a 22 point lead vs a depleted cavs team in the 4th quarter is embarrassing. Championship teams do not do this

Cleveland is 3rd in the conference with a 66% win percentage. They're not a bad team. Painting them as such is just your bias or lack of knowledge.

Good teams have bad losses sometimes. That's the nature of the modern game with the 3pt shooting being so influential. Some older posters will be better off if they just accepted that. Teams can come back quickly or go down just as quickly when certain shots fall.

A single loss shouldn't drive you to write off our entire season, but I look forward to you being here and celebrating like you've always been a believer when we win.

Cleveland without Mitchell and struss aren’t that good…but whatever helps you sleep tonight

lol

[RMO]

This will henceforth be known as the Dean Wade game.

Truthfully I didn't think we played well all night.  Offense couldn't get much going unless Tatum or Brown or KP hit something difficult.  We built a lead out anyway because Cleveland had no firepower without Mitchell, but a random explosion by a random roleplayer bit us.  It is what it is. 

If you take fan allegiance out of the equation, this is one of the upsides of modern basketball.  A large lead is never safe because some nobody can hit six threes and flip the game on its head.  That unpredictability is exciting.  Sucked that it happened to us tonight but we move on.

The only thing I am ticked about is our refusal to call a timeout with 15 seconds left.   The poor execution to not get a shot up on the rim with a few seconds to give us a chance to rebound. 

But with the bolded, if we are happy about us going nuts on GS, we have to expect someone will do it to us too.

Really?  You weren't bothered by Joe not calling a timeout during the Cavs run?

We were up by 22 with nine minutes left.  Joe finally called a timeout at the 4:18 mark, after the Cavs had shaved off 19 points.

I don't know how a championship caliber team gets outscored by 19 points in four minutes 42 seconds, but Joe just sat there and watched it happen.

This.  I wouldn't care if he called a timeout and didn't say a word.  Just use it to interrupt the other team's momentum.

I get annoyed when playing teams like the heat and warriors.  Celtics score four or six unanswered and they call a timeout immediately. 

[celticinorlando]

On to Denver!

Dreading that debacle already

[RJ87]

Here comes the losing streak and where the bucks take over the Celtics for the top seed

Bro, even for you this is ridiculous and non-sensical. We are literally 8 losses up on the Bucks after this loss. It would take an absolute meltdown plus a record-setting pace for Milwaukee to catch us.

master of panic?

Can’t wait to hear the excuses Thursday. It’s not because they lost. It’s how.

Most of their loses this season follow this pattern. Good lead blown to a bad team.

Blowing a 22 point lead vs a depleted cavs team in the 4th quarter is embarrassing. Championship teams do not do this

Cleveland is 3rd in the conference with a 66% win percentage. They're not a bad team. Painting them as such is just your bias or lack of knowledge.

Good teams have bad losses sometimes. That's the nature of the modern game with the 3pt shooting being so influential. Some older posters will be better off if they just accepted that. Teams can come back quickly or go down just as quickly when certain shots fall.

A single loss shouldn't drive you to write off our entire season, but I look forward to you being here and celebrating like you've always been a believer when we win.

Cleveland without Mitchell and struss aren’t that good…but whatever helps you sleep tonight

I'm going to sleep just fine because this is a basketball game. There are far more consequential things happening in my life like a parent dealing with cancer. It's okay to go out and touch grass sometimes.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

On to Denver!

Dreading that debacle already

see what happens.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

can joe outcoach anyone when we need him help the players get across the finish line?

[tenn_smoothie]

Remarkable ending.  Too bad. But - this loss is irrelevant in the grand scheme. The Cavs got scalding hot and the Cs cold for 5 minutes and that was that.  Cs needed a wake up loss - they can’t lapse like that and expect to win.

After 7 years of this they should already know how to handle games like this. Nope.

Thank You for telling the truth.

[SparzWizard]

Just like last year in Cleveland. Gave the game away at the end.

Tonight fuels the narrative that this team just doesn’t have what it takes mentality to win it all.

They remind you of the 49ers. Does exceptionally well in the season. Always get far in the playoffs and lose.

[jpotter33]

Beyond the obvious coaching blunders and the lack of end-game execution, it should also not be ignored that we lost the game on an offensive rebound putback.

We've been awful at securing the defensive boards recently and giving up a ton of second chance points off offensive rebounds. May really harm us in the playoffs against certain matchups (like Cleveland, NYK, Milwaukee, etc.).

[celticinorlando]

can joe outcoach anyone when we need him help the players get across the finish line?

No. He’s the Celtics biggest weakness. As soon as the lead got under 20 should have called timeout.

[CelticSooner]

If you want something to complain about, the Tatum ISO at the end of games doesn’t work. Tatum is awesome but he just ain’t that guy. Even if he finally hits one it won’t change the fact it’s not reliable. Half the time he doesn’t even get space to get it off well. Can you try something else for once?

[scaryjerry]

Here comes the losing streak and where the bucks take over the Celtics for the top seed

Bro, even for you this is ridiculous and non-sensical. We are literally 8 losses up on the Bucks after this loss. It would take an absolute meltdown plus a record-setting pace for Milwaukee to catch us.

master of panic?

Can’t wait to hear the excuses Thursday. It’s not because they lost. It’s how.

Most of their loses this season follow this pattern. Good lead blown to a bad team.

Blowing a 22 point lead vs a depleted cavs team in the 4th quarter is embarrassing. Championship teams do not do this

Cleveland is 3rd in the conference with a 66% win percentage. They're not a bad team. Painting them as such is just your bias or lack of knowledge.

Good teams have bad losses sometimes. That's the nature of the modern game with the 3pt shooting being so influential. Some older posters will be better off if they just accepted that. Teams can come back quickly or go down just as quickly when certain shots fall.

A single loss shouldn't drive you to write off our entire season, but I look forward to you being here and celebrating like you've always been a believer when we win.

Cleveland without Mitchell and struss aren’t that good…but whatever helps you sleep tonight

I'm going to sleep just fine because this is a basketball game. There are far more consequential things happening in my life like a parent dealing with cancer. It's okay to go out and touch grass sometimes.

Oh totally understand as someone that’s been going through the same, absolute best wishes to you and yours and you’re right this game means nothing in the grand scheme of things but the cavs aren’t good without their mvp, is what it is.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

can joe outcoach anyone when we need him help the players get across the finish line?

No. He’s the Celtics biggest weakness. As soon as the lead got under 20 should have called timeout.

i agree.

[celticinorlando]

If you want something to complain about, the Tatum ISO at the end of games doesn’t work. Tatum is awesome but he just ain’t that guy. Even if he finally hits one it won’t change the fact it’s not reliable. Half the time he doesn’t even get space to get it off well. Can you try something else for once?

Yep. Every end of quarter every end of game when it’s close

Just once let white attack the rim in that situation