Will Indy Beat us in First Round?

[celticsclay]

On the heels of losing to Atlanta Philly is getting stomped by Orlando. Are they having an implosion since they beat us? It feels like a lot of teams have lost interest in the regular season at this stage

[SCeltic34]

I'm not aboard the "fire Brad Stevens" train, but if we lose to Indiana in the 1st round a firing would be warranted.  There is absolutely no reason why we should lose to them.

Without Oladipo, the Pacers are missing the most important component of a contending playoff team - star power.  Looking up and down their roster, they do not create any significant matchup problems for us at any position.  They also do not have a go to scorer that can carry them when the game slows down.  Some have expressed concerns about their bigs.  Horford is better and more versatile than all of them, and if healthy our backups are more than enough to do the job.  Meanwhile, we create matchup problems for them.  We should be able to exploit Bogdonovich's poor/mediocre defense.  Kyrie is likely to step his game up and cannot be guarded individually by any of their players. 

Could we lose?  Of course, especially given our chemistry issues.  But it would be downright embarrassing - and inexcusable - if we did. 

Celtics win in no more than 6 games.

[blink]

On the heels of losing to Atlanta Philly is getting stomped by Orlando. Are they having an implosion since they beat us? It feels like a lot of teams have lost interest in the regular season at this stage

It sure seems like we have lost interest in the RS right now.  So hard to know which Celtic team is going to show up in the playoffs.  Probably a little bit of good celtics, and a little bit of bad celtics.  Really hard to figure out if we can win a series vs Indy right now.  Our talent is better, but they play together and for each other.

[SparzWizard]

I'm not aboard the "fire Brad Stevens" train, but if we lose to Indiana in the 1st round a firing would be warranted.  There is absolutely no reason why we should lose to them.

Without Oladipo, the Pacers are missing the most important component of a contending playoff team - star power.  Looking up and down their roster, they do not create any significant matchup problems for us at any position.  They also do not have a go to scorer that can carry them when the game slows down.  Some have expressed concerns about their bigs.  Horford is better and more versatile than all of them, and if healthy our backups are more than enough to do the job.  Meanwhile, we create matchup problems for them.  We should be able to exploit Bogdonovich's poor/mediocre defense.  Kyrie is likely to step his game up and cannot be guarded individually by any of their players. 

Could we lose?  Of course, especially given our chemistry issues.  But it would be downright embarrassing - and inexcusable - if we did. 

Celtics win in no more than 6 games.

It should be a sweep with the talent the Celtics have plus the lack of Oladipo for the Pacers.

But if it has to go 6-7 games against them, then this Celtics team is in big trouble down the road.

[gpap]

Two things will need to happen for Boston to have any success in the playoffs:

Kyrie goes HAM

"Playoff Horford" makes an appearance

Hopefully, because Horford's been nowhere to be found lately.

[Big333223]

I'm not aboard the "fire Brad Stevens" train, but if we lose to Indiana in the 1st round a firing would be warranted. There is absolutely no reason why we should lose to them.

Without Oladipo, the Pacers are missing the most important component of a contending playoff team - star power.  Looking up and down their roster, they do not create any significant matchup problems for us at any position.  They also do not have a go to scorer that can carry them when the game slows down.  Some have expressed concerns about their bigs.  Horford is better and more versatile than all of them, and if healthy our backups are more than enough to do the job.  Meanwhile, we create matchup problems for them.  We should be able to exploit Bogdonovich's poor/mediocre defense.  Kyrie is likely to step his game up and cannot be guarded individually by any of their players. 

Could we lose?  Of course, especially given our chemistry issues.  But it would be downright embarrassing - and inexcusable - if we did. 

Celtics win in no more than 6 games.

Given the last five seasons Brad has had, I think he's earned another season, even if the C's get bounced in the first round.

[ozgod]

I'm not aboard the "fire Brad Stevens" train, but if we lose to Indiana in the 1st round a firing would be warranted. There is absolutely no reason why we should lose to them.

Without Oladipo, the Pacers are missing the most important component of a contending playoff team - star power.  Looking up and down their roster, they do not create any significant matchup problems for us at any position.  They also do not have a go to scorer that can carry them when the game slows down.  Some have expressed concerns about their bigs.  Horford is better and more versatile than all of them, and if healthy our backups are more than enough to do the job.  Meanwhile, we create matchup problems for them.  We should be able to exploit Bogdonovich's poor/mediocre defense.  Kyrie is likely to step his game up and cannot be guarded individually by any of their players. 

Could we lose?  Of course, especially given our chemistry issues.  But it would be downright embarrassing - and inexcusable - if we did. 

Celtics win in no more than 6 games.

Given the last five seasons Brad has had, I think he's earned another season, even if the C's get bounced in the first round.

It's through failure that we learn and get better. I think he's earned the right to learn from this season.

[slamtheking]

I'm not aboard the "fire Brad Stevens" train, but if we lose to Indiana in the 1st round a firing would be warranted. There is absolutely no reason why we should lose to them.

Without Oladipo, the Pacers are missing the most important component of a contending playoff team - star power.  Looking up and down their roster, they do not create any significant matchup problems for us at any position.  They also do not have a go to scorer that can carry them when the game slows down.  Some have expressed concerns about their bigs.  Horford is better and more versatile than all of them, and if healthy our backups are more than enough to do the job.  Meanwhile, we create matchup problems for them.  We should be able to exploit Bogdonovich's poor/mediocre defense.  Kyrie is likely to step his game up and cannot be guarded individually by any of their players. 

Could we lose?  Of course, especially given our chemistry issues.  But it would be downright embarrassing - and inexcusable - if we did. 

Celtics win in no more than 6 games.

Given the last five seasons Brad has had, I think he's earned another season, even if the C's get bounced in the first round.

It's through failure that we learn and get better. I think he's earned the right to learn from this season.

Brad's not going anywhere regardless of the outcome of the playoffs this year.

Brad would have to have a season (or likely a few seasons) where the team was pretty much healthy, stocked with talent and underperformed both in the regular and post season before Danny thinks of sending him packing. 

[Big333223]

I'm not aboard the "fire Brad Stevens" train, but if we lose to Indiana in the 1st round a firing would be warranted. There is absolutely no reason why we should lose to them.

Without Oladipo, the Pacers are missing the most important component of a contending playoff team - star power.  Looking up and down their roster, they do not create any significant matchup problems for us at any position.  They also do not have a go to scorer that can carry them when the game slows down.  Some have expressed concerns about their bigs.  Horford is better and more versatile than all of them, and if healthy our backups are more than enough to do the job.  Meanwhile, we create matchup problems for them.  We should be able to exploit Bogdonovich's poor/mediocre defense.  Kyrie is likely to step his game up and cannot be guarded individually by any of their players. 

Could we lose?  Of course, especially given our chemistry issues.  But it would be downright embarrassing - and inexcusable - if we did. 

Celtics win in no more than 6 games.

Given the last five seasons Brad has had, I think he's earned another season, even if the C's get bounced in the first round.

It's through failure that we learn and get better. I think he's earned the right to learn from this season.

Brad's not going anywhere regardless of the outcome of the playoffs this year.

Brad would have to have a season (or likely a few seasons) where the team was pretty much healthy, stocked with talent and underperformed both in the regular and post season before Danny thinks of sending him packing.

I agree that he's definitely safe no matter what this summer. But if the C's lost in the first round and then grossly underachieve again next season, it wouldn't surprise me if that was the end of his tenure.

Of course, who knows what next year's team is going to look like. Or the playoffs, for that matter.

[Erik]

I wonder if the Sixers have a thread "Will Detroit beat us in the First Round?"

[footey]

I wonder if the Sixers have a thread "Will Detroit beat us in the First Round?"

Sixers are in 3rd place, not needing to fight for home court,  recently beat us and are not enduring 4 game losing streak.

[celticsclay]

I wonder if the Sixers have a thread "Will Detroit beat us in the First Round?"

Sixers are in 3rd place, not needing to fight for home court,  recently beat us and are not enduring 4 game losing streak.

They just got blown out by 25 by the magic on the heels of losing to the hawks (and they are panicking on their board a bit too). Pacers have a worse record than is this month. The Celtics are definitely playing terribly but it isn’t all that shocking and it is a weird time in the season.

[PhoSita]

I wonder if the Sixers have a thread "Will Detroit beat us in the First Round?"

Sixers are in 3rd place, not needing to fight for home court,  recently beat us and are not enduring 4 game losing streak.

They just got blown out by 25 by the magic on the heels of losing to the hawks (and they are panicking on their board a bit too). Pacers have a worse record than is this month. The Celtics are definitely playing terribly but it isn’t all that shocking and it is a weird time in the season.

If the Celtics were only just now slumping, I wouldn't be doubting them so hard.


The thing is that the Celts started the season well (5-2 in October), then were just 16-13 in Nov and Dec, played really well in January (11-4), and since the start of February have been under .500. (11-12).

[footey]

I wonder if the Sixers have a thread "Will Detroit beat us in the First Round?"

Sixers are in 3rd place, not needing to fight for home court,  recently beat us and are not enduring 4 game losing streak.

They just got blown out by 25 by the magic on the heels of losing to the hawks (and they are panicking on their board a bit too). Pacers have a worse record than is this month. The Celtics are definitely playing terribly but it isn’t all that shocking and it is a weird time in the season.

If the Celtics were only just now slumping, I wouldn't be doubting them so hard.


The thing is that the Celts started the season well (5-2 in October), then were just 16-13 in Nov and Dec, played really well in January (11-4), and since the start of February have been under .500. (11-12).

Agreed. It's our post all star break performance that is so alarming, especially since right before, we seemed so confident that we were turning the corner. That's a large enough sample size for me to panic, LOL.

[liam]

I'm liking all the rest our players are getting Health is the most important thing in the playoffs.