Celtics 2024 Playoff Run Thread

[Phantom255x]

Well, as expected, the media has now shifted the narrative again about the Celtics.

After claiming that we are not “battle tested” and can’t “execute in the clutch”, when we do both of those things now the Celtics should be worried about their play last night. And then both JB and JT were “horrible” down the stretch.

It’s honestly just ridiculous at this point. It’s completely narrative driven, and the narrative is to step on the C’s every opportunity you can get. It’s just mind-boggling.

Per the Hoop Collective (which I’m increasingly starting to dislike), JT with 36, 12, 4, 3 and a +20 in a 5 point win had a terrible performance. 🫠

stephen A just said he's disgusted with their offense and asked if JT/JB will ever answer the call and take over....

this after both basically won us the game and we put up 133pts

Stephen A. Smith, the proclaimed Knicks fan thought Quentin Grimes was still on the Knicks to this day. I'm good.

[mef730]

I'm tired of hearing about the Celtics "easy path" to the finals.

Ya know why they got an easy path to the finals? Because they ****' deserved it. They are so much better than the rest of the league that they had a chance to rest their players not only at the end of the season but throughout the season. And we still finished in first by what, 10 games? And even with that advantage, Porzingis somehow managed to break through the bubble wrap and get injured.

Easy path? Whatever. How about the "We're so good that we managed to avoid most of the issues that affect teams during the unnecessarily long season" path?

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.

Mike

[Celtics2021]

I'm tired of hearing about the Celtics "easy path" to the finals.

Ya know why they got an easy path to the finals? Because they ****' deserved it. They are so much better than the rest of the league that they had a chance to rest their players not only at the end of the season but throughout the season. And we still finished in first by what, 10 games? And even with that advantage, Porzingis somehow managed to break through the bubble wrap and get injured.

Easy path? Whatever. How about the "We're so good that we managed to avoid most of the issues that affect teams during the unnecessarily long season" path?

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.

Mike

100% agree. Why did we lose in prior playoffs?  Because of health.  Why were we unhealthy?  Because we had to earn our place in the standings for at least 80 games.  This year we rested guys whenever they needed to, but the guys on the floor stepped up to afford us that luxury, and now we’re reaping the benefit.  And if it means we get to keep Porzingis out until the finals because we haven’t needed him, that’s fine too.

[LilRip]

The Celtics hate on the media is out of control. Antman puts up a stinker of a performance in both game 7 and game 1, he’s still the chosen one. Tatum puts up 36-12-5 with 3 steals and he’s a bum.

[ozgod]

The Celtics hate on the media is out of control. Antman puts up a stinker of a performance in both game 7 and game 1, he’s still the chosen one. Tatum puts up 36-12-5 with 3 steals and he’s a bum.

The criticism of Tatum on ESPN now is that his +/- was zero so he's officially in a slump.

[Birdman]

Win the title & it will shut the naysayers up

[Vermont Green]

Tatum has not been his normal self through the playoffs.  That is true, fair.  His "slash" is 25 pts / 10 Reb / 5.6 Asst / +10.5.  Plus he is playing very good defense (mostly) and he is still the guy that the defense of other team is structured to stop.  He is getting 8.2 FTA per game.  That is all good, but the shooting efficiency is not there.  26.6% from 3.  43.6% overall.  That is not "normal" Jayson Tatum.

This last game, I thought his fade away shooting from the lane was better.  It seemed he was getting more square, and the shots just looked better (8-13 on two point shots).  But he was 1-7 (14.3%) from 3 and only 9-20 overall (45%).  We have all watched Tatum for 7 seasons and we know the kind of player he is.  I believe in Tatum and expect the shooting to come around very soon.  In spite of that, with everything else he is doing, I still see him as the Celtics MVP in the playoffs to this point. 

[Silas]

From a reddit post:

“Holiday has 43 points, 18 assists, 10 rebounds, and 3 steals in the first two games of this series. He’s shooting 69.6% from the field and 58.3% from 3-point range. He’s turned it up multiple notches.”   with elite defense.

[keevsnick]

Tatum has not been his normal self through the playoffs.  That is true, fair.  His "slash" is 25 pts / 10 Reb / 5.6 Asst / +10.5.  Plus he is playing very good defense (mostly) and he is still the guy that the defense of other team is structured to stop.  He is getting 8.2 FTA per game.  That is all good, but the shooting efficiency is not there.  26.6% from 3.  43.6% overall.  That is not "normal" Jayson Tatum.

This last game, I thought his fade away shooting from the lane was better.  It seemed he was getting more square, and the shots just looked better (8-13 on two point shots).  But he was 1-7 (14.3%) from 3 and only 9-20 overall (45%).  We have all watched Tatum for 7 seasons and we know the kind of player he is.  I believe in Tatum and expect the shooting to come around very soon.  In spite of that, with everything else he is doing, I still see him as the Celtics MVP in the playoffs to this point.

Am I alone in thinking he's been generally pretty mediocre on defense this playoff run? I wouldn't say "bad," becasue he's not a guy you plan on attacking, but he's been getting blown by quite a bit when he tries to guard on the perimeter. Happened last night, happened against Caris Lavert quite a bit in the Cleveland series as well.

I kind of wonder if he's been affected a bit by the ankle he tweaked when he came down on Adebayo's foot in round 1. Overall I'd say he's still been pretty good. His rebounding has been elite and his play making on point.

[Moranis]

Yeah Tatum is not shooting well from 3.  His 2 point percentage is only slightly lower and he has improved his FT% so far.  Rebounding up some. He is taking less shots in the playoffs and his 3% is killing his ppg, but he has mostly played well (not great).

I think he has really improved his defense this playoff run. More a focus on it, which may be why the long shots aren't falling as well (i.e. he is more tired).  He has really picked up his on/off differential from a -1.2 per 100 in the regular season to a +9.1 in the playoffs.  I think the greater defensive effort is really factoring into that.  The extra minutes helps there some as well.

[mobilija]

Tatum defense last night was really bad. His whole effort was way below his standard, walking up the court behind the play.  If he didn’t have those handful of free throw line jumpers that he hit, his counting numbers would have looked a lot worse and been more in line with the eye test.

Jaylen looked like the star #1 player, carried the team statistically and emotionally.

[keevsnick]

Yeah Tatum is not shooting well from 3.  His 2 point percentage is only slightly lower and he has improved his FT% so far.  Rebounding up some. He is taking less shots in the playoffs and his 3% is killing his ppg, but he has mostly played well (not great).

I think he has really improved his defense this playoff run. More a focus on it, which may be why the long shots aren't falling as well (i.e. he is more tired).  He has really picked up his on/off differential from a -1.2 per 100 in the regular season to a +9.1 in the playoffs.  I think the greater defensive effort is really factoring into that.  The extra minutes helps there some as well.

Again, I don't think his defense has been good this playoff run. I certainly wouldn't say he's putting so much more effort into it that he's drained. He's been clearly worse individually on the perimeter and slightly less impactful as a nail defender which is where a lot of his value comes from.

Has his defense been bad? I wouldn't say so. He's still a 6'9 dude with good help instincts. But his defense has been worse than in the past.

[Moranis]

Yeah Tatum is not shooting well from 3.  His 2 point percentage is only slightly lower and he has improved his FT% so far.  Rebounding up some. He is taking less shots in the playoffs and his 3% is killing his ppg, but he has mostly played well (not great).

I think he has really improved his defense this playoff run. More a focus on it, which may be why the long shots aren't falling as well (i.e. he is more tired).  He has really picked up his on/off differential from a -1.2 per 100 in the regular season to a +9.1 in the playoffs.  I think the greater defensive effort is really factoring into that.  The extra minutes helps there some as well.

Again, I don't think his defense has been good this playoff run. I certainly wouldn't say he's putting so much more effort into it that he's drained. He's been clearly worse individually on the perimeter and slightly less impactful as a nail defender which is where a lot of his value comes from.

Has his defense been bad? I wouldn't say so. He's still a 6'9 dude with good help instincts. But his defense has been worse than in the past.

Last night he wasn't very good on either side of the ball, but that seems more like an anomaly than the norm.

[keevsnick]

Yeah Tatum is not shooting well from 3.  His 2 point percentage is only slightly lower and he has improved his FT% so far.  Rebounding up some. He is taking less shots in the playoffs and his 3% is killing his ppg, but he has mostly played well (not great).

I think he has really improved his defense this playoff run. More a focus on it, which may be why the long shots aren't falling as well (i.e. he is more tired).  He has really picked up his on/off differential from a -1.2 per 100 in the regular season to a +9.1 in the playoffs.  I think the greater defensive effort is really factoring into that.  The extra minutes helps there some as well.

Again, I don't think his defense has been good this playoff run. I certainly wouldn't say he's putting so much more effort into it that he's drained. He's been clearly worse individually on the perimeter and slightly less impactful as a nail defender which is where a lot of his value comes from.

Has his defense been bad? I wouldn't say so. He's still a 6'9 dude with good help instincts. But his defense has been worse than in the past.

Last night he wasn't very good on either side of the ball, but that seems more like an anomaly than the norm.

Lats night was for sure his worst night on defense of the playoffs, and even then he was better in the second half. Just wouldn't say he's been great overall on that end during this run.

But its hard to tell because the C's have been able to generally coast a lot, and he plays more minutes than anybody else.

[Vermont Green]

I am not seeing an overall drop off in Tatum's defense.  Some lazy possessions here and there, but nothing overall.  In particular, I think his versatility is extremely valuable to the overall team defense.  He can pretty much switch and defend any position, any player on the floor.  His DRTG value and rank relative to the other regulars is about the same regular season and post season, if not a little better in the post season.