How far would we have gotten with a healthy Tatum?

[Roy H.]

Do you think Tatum going down actually made the difference in this series? Or, do you think that down 3-1, the series was effectively over?

It's a little frustrating to look at how all of the other playoff series have gone so far, and realize that we should have had a fairly easy trip to the Finals.  With Cleveland bounced and OKC facing a Game 7, I'll always look back at this season as a wasted opportunity.

[Banner18now!]

They were pretty much on their way to losing to the Knicks with Tatum. Could they have come back from 1-3 with Tatum? Sure the odds were certainly better but that game 1 and 2 was with Tatum and that?s where the series was lost.
Now if they had a healthy Tatum and Porzingis then this team at minimum loses in the finals.
Celts really needed Porzingis this playoff run I believe most said they wouldn?t be able to beat the Cavs without Porzingis.

This will go down as another what if, in Celtics history.

[Phantom255x]

Lost the Knicks series anyways.

The problem wasn't just JT, but Porzingis being a pumpkin. Put a ton of reliance on 38 year Horford + Kornet. I actually think we would have had a chance to come back even without JT IF Porzingis was healthy and that typical 20/10 kind of big he is who could hit 3s. He was far from it though, not even close. More like a 9th/10th man.

[SCeltic34]

Lost against the Knicks.  This year's team didn't have it.  Couldn't adjust to their opponent and underperformed both individually and as a result of poor coaching.

[jpotter33]

50/50 whether we would?ve got out of the Knicks series, though I do think we beat the Pacers.

But I?m highly doubtful we would beat OKC with as banged up and injured as we were, even Denver could?ve been hard.

[CelticSooner]

I think they would have lost to the Pacers pretty easily. Just not enough offense and rim protection without KP. Throw in a hampered Brown and it wasn?t happening.

[droopdog7]

We went 1-3 with a healthy tatum and 1-1 without him.  It would be COMPLETELT disingenuous to state that we would have beaten the knicks.

[tenn_smoothie]

Do you think Tatum going down actually made the difference in this series? Or, do you think that down 3-1, the series was effectively over?

It's a little frustrating to look at how all of the other playoff series have gone so far, and realize that we should have had a fairly easy trip to the Finals.  With Cleveland bounced and OKC facing a Game 7, I'll always look back at this season as a wasted opportunity.

I am looking at every season with Joe Mazzulla as wasted opportunity.
I won't quite go so far as to claim that Mazzulla's coaching directly caused Tatum's injury, but I will suggest that it was a factor. He played the guy into the ground needlessly and he was injured, ironically, on a play by Brown that should have been coached out of him a long time ago (that is incessantly dribbling into defensive traffic).
Fortunately, we won last season, but that was in spite of his incompetence and because of our overwhelming talent and a relatively easy path to the title.
This season, he went so far over the top with his offensive approach to the point of being ridiculous. The game 1 vs Knicks missed 45 3-pointers summed up the entire mess. Add Mazzulla's in-game incompetence along with an immature stubbornness and you have wasted opportunities in '23 and '25 and beyond.
My larger concern is, Does Brad Stevens even recognize that Mazzulla's coaching is a significant problem and impediment to any future title hopes ?

[Banner18now!]

Do you think Tatum going down actually made the difference in this series? Or, do you think that down 3-1, the series was effectively over?

It's a little frustrating to look at how all of the other playoff series have gone so far, and realize that we should have had a fairly easy trip to the Finals.  With Cleveland bounced and OKC facing a Game 7, I'll always look back at this season as a wasted opportunity.

I am looking at every season with Joe Mazzulla as wasted opportunity.
I won't quite go so far as to claim that Mazzulla's coaching directly caused Tatum's injury, but I will suggest that it was a factor. He played the guy into the ground needlessly and he was injured, ironically, on a play by Brown that should have been coached out of him a long time ago (that is incessantly dribbling into defensive traffic).
Fortunately, we won last season, but that was in spite of his incompetence and because of our overwhelming talent and a relatively easy path to the title.
This season, he went so far over the top with his offensive approach to the point of being ridiculous. The game 1 vs Knicks missed 45 3-pointers summed up the entire mess. Add Mazzulla's in-game incompetence along with an immature stubbornness and you have wasted opportunities in '23 and '25 and beyond.
My larger concern is, Does Brad Stevens even recognize that Mazzulla's coaching is a significant problem and impediment to any future title hopes ?

I agree that Mazzula isn?t a good coach and they wasted time with him however Brad is pretty [dang] smart and sees him on a regular basis. I have given up with the fire Joe chant because if that?s who Brad thinks is the best coach then he should know more than you or I. I believe Joe only has one year left on his contract so if they don?t add some years this summer than that will tell us a lot. Letting him go into the the final year on his deal with his best player being out won?t end well for Joe.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Do you think Tatum going down actually made the difference in this series? Or, do you think that down 3-1, the series was effectively over?

It's a little frustrating to look at how all of the other playoff series have gone so far, and realize that we should have had a fairly easy trip to the Finals.  With Cleveland bounced and OKC facing a Game 7, I'll always look back at this season as a wasted opportunity.

I am looking at every season with Joe Mazzulla as wasted opportunity.
I won't quite go so far as to claim that Mazzulla's coaching directly caused Tatum's injury, but I will suggest that it was a factor. He played the guy into the ground needlessly and he was injured, ironically, on a play by Brown that should have been coached out of him a long time ago (that is incessantly dribbling into defensive traffic).
Fortunately, we won last season, but that was in spite of his incompetence and because of our overwhelming talent and a relatively easy path to the title.
This season, he went so far over the top with his offensive approach to the point of being ridiculous. The game 1 vs Knicks missed 45 3-pointers summed up the entire mess. Add Mazzulla's in-game incompetence along with an immature stubbornness and you have wasted opportunities in '23 and '25 and beyond.
My larger concern is, Does Brad Stevens even recognize that Mazzulla's coaching is a significant problem and impediment to any future title hopes ?

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

we shoulda been in finals 4 straight years.  22, 23, 24, and 25.

had we not blown 3 games we beat the knicks relatively easy. so assuming we did not blow those games.....

with a healthy JT the series with indy goes 7 games either way. my opinion though is we win in 7 in a hard fought grueling series.  no telling what happened in the finals.

without JT we lose easily in 5 games against Indy had we gotten past NY without him .

[wdleehi]

Win the finals.   


I think he could have made a huge difference in game 6. 

[celticinorlando]

Game 7 vs the Knicks. From there no idea. I do think they would have played better early in the series vs the Pacers

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

yeah all this speculation with or without JT means nothing if we did not stop playing dumb. we played dumb and blew 3 games. the knicks series shoulda been over in 5.

now coulda JT led us back down 3-1? maybe. 3-2? he has brought us back before from 3-2 deficits. see bucks 2022 and philly 2023.

I think it all hinges on if we played smart. we played very dumb in those 3 losses with JT!

play smart beat knicks in 5, pacers in 7. finals? who knows what happens there but i feel we make it.

[No Nickname]

Lost the Knicks series anyways.

The problem wasn't just JT, but Porzingis being a pumpkin. Put a ton of reliance on 38 year Horford + Kornet. I actually think we would have had a chance to come back even without JT IF Porzingis was healthy and that typical 20/10 kind of big he is who could hit 3s. He was far from it though, not even close. More like a 9th/10th man.

I wonder if we had drafted Post instead of Scheirman whether we would have used him for some depth in these playoffs.