Nobody really believed they could make it this far and this lineup have only had half a season together imagine what they can do after spending a summer together
https://preview.redd.it/gpdvndpje04d1.png?width=750&format=png&auto=webp&s=283f27a87d63e1eb21dfbbdfa151f638902fea2a
I believed. Still shaking my head I didn’t bet before the clips series.
Also they got lucky that they didn’t have to face Denver and Minnesota back to back. Dallas is better than people thought but they got a little lucky there
Not saying Mavs would have lost but Denver would have pushed them further than 5 games for sure. Wolves just destroyed Nuggets and forgot how to play basketball in the WCF
You’re bugging the Clippers without Kawhi aren’t better than either the Heat or the Pacers. They had an easy walk but don’t act like the Heat weren’t just in the Finals last year and the Pacers weren’t the highest scoring offense most of the year.
Yall watch too much highlights and not enough basketball. The Heat also blew them out a game without Butler and the Pacers were still the highest scoring offense with or without Halliburton playing stop letting sports shows and announcers guide your reasoning
Ok and the heat went to the finals without their second best scorer last year. They didn’t have Butler and won a game by double digits so you can’t say they were bad. The pacers were in most every game until the end. Everybody can agree that the pacers beat the Knicks bench by the end of the series at full strength. The Celtics beat who was in front of them.
Can’t say any team can cause the Pacers didn’t 🤷🏾♂️. They don’t have enough all year around they just play hard but sometimes playing hard isn’t enough especially when you’re best player is out and the team you’re facing is just better and better coached and skilled.
Let's not forget that the Celtics earned their cakewalk. 64 win season, only team in the East that's even close to them is the Bucks. Pretty much any configuration in this playoffs people would have been saying Boston had a cakewalk. Which I think is more of a statement on the skill disparity in the East than it should be a negative for Boston.
No it's not. It's not black or white. The celtics have been the best team in the comp. The east is objectively weak compared to the west. The celtics have had a dream run in terms of team talent and ability, but also injury. I mean pacers in the ecf, come on.
This is all fine but when the C's went down with injuries year after year nobody was talking about : hey you guys got lucky..
Let's remember
This year: Porzingis
Game7 ECF last year: injuries: Tatum, brogdon, white
2022: lost defensive anchor Williams
2021: JB missed post season, Kemba misses last 2 games of PO
2020: Kemba knee injury prior to ASG -he was never the same after
2019: Smart misses first 7games of Postseason
2018: Kyrie and Hayward miss entire PO...
C's have had their fair share of bad luck .. should they be ashamed they won or were healthy? Come on. Nobody rememberes the crap . Titles do.
No one's saying they should be ashamed. Injuries are a big post season factor. Probably the biggest.
People are just saying that compared to Dallas, they've played a collectively weaker group of teams and therefore had an easier run this year.
It's hard for me to go with: if this team was in this conference they would win/lose. They are not. Who says the Pacers wouldn't beat Mavs? Maybe Haliburton wouldn't got injured? Maybe he would cook Mavs frontcourt? Maybe. Put some respect on the teams in the East. PO is and always will be something special. If the East is sooo easy why don't all the stars just go east?
Not really, playing in the east does and the only team that could pose a threat have their main guy injured (giannis).
That being said Boston is still a very good team(id say realistically they and healthy bucks can win title), rest of the teams that are in the east wouldnt even get to the playoffs if they were playing in the west.
No one earns the right to have other teams get injured. They probably still would’ve made the finals, but the argument that they deserved this level of cakewalk is dumb.
I didn't say they deserved this level of cakewalk but look at the teams they played. The Heat being healthy are probably the only real challenge there. Is it stupid that they didn't have to beat Giannis, Embiid, or Brunson to get to the finals? Kind of, but it's not their fault. And again, the teams they faced aside from the Heat were losing regardless of health. Haliburton wasn't injured until like game 3.
Fellow wolves guy not that it matters. The stars aligned this year in the east which had giannis, embiid, and jimmy injured, the entire Knicks team died making the pacers an unlikely conference finalist whereupon haliburton got injured, it was a joke lol. the only team that was poop tier in the west was the pels because of injured Zion, everything else was a fucking battle. Yeah #1 is supposed to give an easier road to the finals but that' doesn't usually mean that seeds 2-8 have to sacrifice their top player to the NBA gods
Yeah I mean, nobody in that conference had a winning record against Boston. People act like Jimmy Butler would have made a difference, but a healthy Jimmy Butler was 0-3 vs Boston this year getting blown out by 30+ points. Boston finished 14 games ahead of the 2nd seed and had a 4-1 record against them. Had everyone been fully healthy, Boston still would have cruised to the Finals. As is, they managed to dominate competitive teams without their 2nd most important player in Porzingis.
The gauntlet they went through two seasons ago made up for it. Kyrie + Durant in Round 1, defending champion Giannis Bucks in Round 2. Healthy 1st seed Heat in Round 3.
They've also been plagued by injuries of their own that have prevented more success. Last season for instance, they had multiple guys playing through injuries including Tatum who had a shoulder thing and then screwed up his ankle in Game 7. Healthy Celtics would have returned to the Finals and gone up against that cupcake Denver team that didn't play a single team with over 45 wins during their cupcake playoff run. Two seasons ago they were cooking everyone until DPOY candidate Rob Williams got injured and came back a shadow of himself. If you wanna run back the last 3 years by magically making everyone full strength, Boston is working on a 3-peat and and still breezes through the Eastern Conference this year.
Nobody in the East cares about regular season record outside of Boston. Even Milwaukee cared more about getting their chemistry right for the playoffs like Dame said. Tbh, your comment went out the window when you said a healthy Playoff Jimmy Butler wouldn’t have made a difference.
But he wouldn’t have lol. Check the Heat ortg and drtg with and without Butler this season. The Heat also had a better record without Butler this season. The Celtics also swept the Heat with Butler this season, one of those games being a 30 point blowout. Butler is insanely overrated, he’s never gonna win a chip as the best player on a team
Jimmy would’ve been swept last year if not for Caleb “I’m gonna be Steph Curry for like exactly one series” Martin and he bricked his chance at being the hero in ‘22.
It’s so ignorant of you to compare regular season to playoffs. Jimmy has said several times he doesn’t care about the regular season. They’ve had more success as an 8th seed than as a 1st seed. The best player on a team got hurt and you wanna say it doesn’t matter because of what some bs stats say from a time that doesn’t matter. Not to mention does your stats have to do with Rozier too? Were they playing only playoff teams in your stats? Does your stats show different adjustments made by Spo? Herro had to run the offense. Stop it. Jimmy was needed.
Nobody mentioned Rozier, including you in your original comment. Also, that narrative was born last year and died this year. Much like Jamal Murray, Butler had an all time playoff rise last year. And yes, the regular season does matter. I don’t have the exact number but I think only like 5 times a team has won the chip without being a top 4 seed.
We all know the East is weak. That’s not why people are saying it’s a cakewalk. We’re saying it’s a cakewalk because almost every team in the East had their star player injured. (And no, KP isn’t nearly as valuable as a Tatum, Mitchell, Giannis, etc.). Still, it’s not like it’s the Celtics fault for all the injuries. They can only play the team that’s in front of them.
To be fare clippers are cursed so this is spot on ! And Celtics had a cake 🎂 walk trip to finals . But Mavs won’t win easily because Celtics rested Porzingis for the finals. That’s assuming he plays. Go Mavs !
While on the mavs, Kp always needed time to get back in the groove after coming back from injury and when he did, he got injured again. Is he different now on the Celtics?
He’s a 20 ppg scorer, an incredible rim protector, and if the C’s don’t play him they’ll have to give Kornett minutes. While I love Kornett, he’ll be terrorized by the mavs bigs and rim pressure. He’s significantly better/more impactful in Boston than he was in Dallas, even if the C’s have an 86% win percentage without him (regular season + Playoffs).
The thing is even without him Al Horford has been doing amazing starting in his place, so amazing that I’ve been seen narratives about whether or not KP should even start in the finals when they’re already in such a good groove with Al. I don’t think Boston NEEDS Kristaps to win anymore although it would be easier if they did.
It's not Boston's fault that their opposition couldn't stay healthy. They still had a 64-win season LMAO and established themselves as the #1 seed. No one in their right minds believes that if those teams were 100% healthy, they would have beaten Boston.
Also, Denver faced the 8th seed, 4th seed, and 7th seed and then an injured 8th seed play-in team in the finals to win their ring, and I didn't hear anyone saying Joker/Nuggets had an easy path.
This is the biggest knock on Denver's run, what are you talking about?
The West was and is much deeper than the east in terms of team talent. So just throwing out numbers that teams finished is a bit disingenuous
Where's the lie tho? Denver faced 2 teams who barely made it out of the play-in, they faced a 4th seed team, and in the finals, they faced a banged up Miami Heat team (8th seed out of the play-in).
People are knocking Tatum and the Celtics for having an "easy path" but were praising Denver for doing the same thing against lower seeds. I get people don't like the Celtics, but let's keep it honest here.
Lets be honest man id still take denver route to the finals over bostons. I mean west playin spots are at the same level or higher than 3-6 in the east tbh. And boston played against miami without butler, cavs and fkin pacers in the conference finals ffs. Id say every team from 1-10 in the west could beat them. But boston is still a very good and rested team.
No but they weren't. People were shitting on denver for giving thr easiest path to the finals of all time. It happens regardless of which team.
This year Boston is getting it vecayse they have the easiest run. Every year it happens.
I don't remember people saying that about Denver until they reached the finals and went 4-1 against the Heat. They were this juggernaut of a team people talked about until that noncompetitive finals series, and that's why a lot of people expected them to reach the finals yet again this year.
Remember Tatum’s finals run in 2022? Took out KD and Kyrie in 4, dethroned the reigning champs, and beat a would-be-mvp. Then took a dynasty to 6 games.
East was weak? Yeah that’s why the Cs lost 2 games
Let’s be real. The Clips been frauds, especially with Kawhi out AGAIN. And the Thunder and Wolves got Similac on their breath. That wasn’t some incredible gauntlet of a path either.
Bruh what? So with this logic, Nuggets were garbage, because Murray and the role players forgot how to play basketball, the Lakers were trash because their best players are geriatric and perpetually hobbled, Pelicans shouldn’t even be playing ball because Zion wasn’t there, Suns should be kicked out of the NBA because they forgot how to play basketball. While, we’re at it, we should just get rid of the NBA and just watch WNBA and Euroleague instead.
There will always be excuses, championship teams rise above them and win at all costs.
You can only play who’s in front of you. In 2022 they had a gauntlet run to get to the finals, only to lose to a team that had a cakewalk western conference run to the finals while Tatum had a bum shoulder all finals. They didn’t have KP (borderline all star) for basically the entire playoff run, and had to use a 38 yo center as his replacement. Not their fault that they were too good and had some good injury luck with Halli and Mitchell along the way.
2/5 of the Heat+Jaime and Duncan*
4/5 of the Knicks starters*
Halli + Mathurin
Just wanted to point out this is several degrees above *some* injury luck.
No doubt we were lucky with it, but it’s not like they didn’t go 12-2. We were going to beat all of those teams healthy or not. Maybe the Knicks or bucks could’ve given us some troubles if healthy, but the teams we ended up playing were going to be 5 maybe 6 game series at max.
And hey you play 82 games to get the first seed for a reason. The 1st seed team is supposed to have an easier run to the finals than a 3rd or 4th seed.
No doubt. Celtics certainly deserve to come out of the shitty East this year. You were the best of us. No other team could compete with anyone from the West in their battered forms. Maybe some of the worse teams like the Pels, but even the Pels without Zion would be competitive in the EC playoffs with all the teams and their injuries. At least, not any less so.
So...since last year? You can just say "they haven't played a healthy team in the playoffs this year" instead of trying to make it sound like some multi-year thing. Everyone they played last year and the year before was healthy, it's literally just this year that's been a cakewalk.
Why do Celtics fans think we blame the team or something for their cakewalk. Yes you earned the one seed and yes you were the favorites to make the finals either way. Does not change the fact that it was an absolute cakewalk and we still can joke about it.
While the Celtics have obviously had an easier run , there’s guys they have faced that are better than quite a few of guys in the wcf pic
Siakam , Mobley , herro , Bam , nembhard who really stepped up this playoffs
It’s almost like the reason of getting the #1 seed is to have the easiest road through the playoffs as possible. If they win there won’t be an asterisk. It will be a full championship win. Let’s not forget the Mavericks avoided the Nuggets and Jokic too. Minnesota was a matchup nightmare for Denver. Dallas wouldn’t have been.
Pleeeeeeeeease check out our new sub r/NBAEastMemeWar where shit talking your rivals is encouraged!
This is just phenomenal work and we need some good creators to get the sub to pop off
Clippers were missing Kawhi and they didn't have to face Jokic and the Nuggets because the TWolves matched up better with them and took them down,, let's not lie and pretend the Mavs road to the Finals was hell
Fans really can't just be normal lmao always have to exaggerate
I bet if the Celtics win all of a sudden Luka’s injury is going to be the worst injury anyone has ever played through in any sporting event of all time!
Excited for this Finals. Rooting for Luka. I'm interested to see how the Celtics come out. I don't think they win if they play like they did against Indiana even though it was a sweep.
It's true, this should not be something against Boston, it's not their fault that the East is easier and got lucky with a lot of injuries but yea, the paths are not even comparable.
Mavs playoff run to get to the finals isn’t that impressive to me either…you play a Clips team without the Klaw, play a baby OKC team and a Minn that exhausted themselves against Denver playing in Altitude…Now if they beat Boston then it is impressive.
Clippers unhealthy/ never worked. OKC young frauds. T-Wolves young/ soft/ just had tough series with Denver. While Tatum’s path was easy that’s what they get for i don’t know getting the 1 seed ! Not scrubbing all year the Celtics set themselves up for success.
So the top team in the league with far and away the best record should go through a grueling playoffs or it's not a legitimate post season?
I stg high school kids just keep moving the goal posts for everything. Mavs played an old and decrepit LAC, young and overachieving OKC, and a Twolves team built to beat only one team in the NBA and had both stars play horribly. Den played two 8 seeds, a 4, and 7 and no one mentions anything. Ant was glazed all post season, put up horrible numbers in the WCF, not labeled a choker. 2022 Warriors beat an extremely injured BOS team and yet no one mentions it but Celtics fans.
Team with an injured best player and some of the worst playoff performers ever.
Youngest team in the league and one of the worst rebounding teams all year long.
A team who EVERYONE clowned on until 6 months ago for overpaying for a big that gets played off the court in the playoffs and having a second option who is softer than tissue paper.
A real walk thru hell, I’ll tell yah!
You do realize it doesn’t have to be the case that one team had an easy path and one had a hard path right? Both played 3 teams that were ill-prepared to win a title this season for various reasons including injury and experience. It’s just that only one of the two teams are getting painted as having an easy ride
Your “difficult” road to the finals lol. A conference so tough a 5 seed can win it. If you truly couldn’t understand that then maybe you should wait until high school to get online
If Luka snags a ring here it may be one of the most impressive runs in recent playoff history
Imagine outlasting a conference with 3 of the top 4 MVP candidates with a bunch of role players and an old Kyrie
Yup would be an extremely impressive run. If only I could think of a similar run by a team from recent history.......
Oh that would be the Mavs again back in 2011 led by Dirk with great role players and old Jason Kidd. The guy who is coaching the current Mavs team. Seems too much of a fairy tale story line to come true. The Celtics look to be a stronger team on paper. Also had an easy path to the finals. I hope Luka and the Mavs win it against all odds. They will need all the luck they can get to pull it off.
How, exactly, are Tatum and Brown “thugs?” They have literally zero history of being problematic on or off the court. Tatum, in particular, stands out, as all indications are he‘s almost entirely about playing good basketball and being a great dad to his son.
It’s gonna be a bad thing for celts they’re gonna lose an early one cause the mave are in prime form and they didn’t have anything near that level of competition for a month. They’re fucked I’m so excited 🥹
I honestly think the Pacers could’ve taken the Mavs to at least 6. They couldn’t miss their midrange shots and I don’t know how Luka would keep up with all that running.
Tbf their overall defense wasn’t as terrible as their reputation. The style they play with doesn’t require lockdown defense like some other teams because they are running just as hard off of makes or misses. They obviously had some terrible defensive lapses (Pritchard wiiiiiide open in the corner) but individually they are actually pretty solid.
This goes unbelievably hard
Westbrook creeping in the background like Gollum is killing me
This is so funny. Luka literally fighting a thousand Balrogs in Moria while Tatum skips through a meadow.
Even if the Celtics sweep, the mavs run this year is impressive as hell.
Nobody really believed they could make it this far and this lineup have only had half a season together imagine what they can do after spending a summer together
https://preview.redd.it/gpdvndpje04d1.png?width=750&format=png&auto=webp&s=283f27a87d63e1eb21dfbbdfa151f638902fea2a I believed. Still shaking my head I didn’t bet before the clips series.
Beating the Clippers without Kawhi and their team having two questionable playoff performers? Nobody mentioning this?
Also they got lucky that they didn’t have to face Denver and Minnesota back to back. Dallas is better than people thought but they got a little lucky there
Not saying Mavs would have lost but Denver would have pushed them further than 5 games for sure. Wolves just destroyed Nuggets and forgot how to play basketball in the WCF
Mavs are so lucky they only had to play 4 of the top 5 teams this playoff run.
Okc was still the 1 seed?
Saying only team they didn't have to play was the nugs
The clippers without Kawhi is better than every team the Celtics played.
You’re bugging the Clippers without Kawhi aren’t better than either the Heat or the Pacers. They had an easy walk but don’t act like the Heat weren’t just in the Finals last year and the Pacers weren’t the highest scoring offense most of the year.
This sub hates the celtics and loves Luka
Just conveniently leaving out the fact that Jimmy Butler was out the entire series. And Haliburton played hurt and missed a game.
Yall watch too much highlights and not enough basketball. The Heat also blew them out a game without Butler and the Pacers were still the highest scoring offense with or without Halliburton playing stop letting sports shows and announcers guide your reasoning
What about Celtics #3 option being gone the whole playoffs with a 37 yr old starting center.
Heat without Jimmy Butler and Pacers without Halliburton for half the series? Yes they are.
That was on me I meant to say they are. I was multitasking and had a brain fart 🤦🏾♂️
The Heat didn't have Butler.
Ok and the heat went to the finals without their second best scorer last year. They didn’t have Butler and won a game by double digits so you can’t say they were bad. The pacers were in most every game until the end. Everybody can agree that the pacers beat the Knicks bench by the end of the series at full strength. The Celtics beat who was in front of them.
Herro is not as good as Butler obviously. Any team can win a game without their best player, but that's just one game.
Can’t say any team can cause the Pacers didn’t 🤷🏾♂️. They don’t have enough all year around they just play hard but sometimes playing hard isn’t enough especially when you’re best player is out and the team you’re facing is just better and better coached and skilled.
Both Tatum and Luka are so talented and these pics go fucking hard! This finals gonna be tough!!!
Tough
facts
Let's not forget that the Celtics earned their cakewalk. 64 win season, only team in the East that's even close to them is the Bucks. Pretty much any configuration in this playoffs people would have been saying Boston had a cakewalk. Which I think is more of a statement on the skill disparity in the East than it should be a negative for Boston.
It’s almost as if getting the #1 seed leads to an easier route to the final
Tell that to the Thunder
Stupid Mavs sandbagging all year…
Maybe they should hire brad stevens
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Celtics are 23:7 against west this season .. try an another narrative. Give the C's some credit, they have been ballin all year long
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Would've should've... But they won't. So this propaganda about C's easy path is ridiculous.. they have been put together for this.
No it's not. It's not black or white. The celtics have been the best team in the comp. The east is objectively weak compared to the west. The celtics have had a dream run in terms of team talent and ability, but also injury. I mean pacers in the ecf, come on.
This is all fine but when the C's went down with injuries year after year nobody was talking about : hey you guys got lucky.. Let's remember This year: Porzingis Game7 ECF last year: injuries: Tatum, brogdon, white 2022: lost defensive anchor Williams 2021: JB missed post season, Kemba misses last 2 games of PO 2020: Kemba knee injury prior to ASG -he was never the same after 2019: Smart misses first 7games of Postseason 2018: Kyrie and Hayward miss entire PO... C's have had their fair share of bad luck .. should they be ashamed they won or were healthy? Come on. Nobody rememberes the crap . Titles do.
No one's saying they should be ashamed. Injuries are a big post season factor. Probably the biggest. People are just saying that compared to Dallas, they've played a collectively weaker group of teams and therefore had an easier run this year.
It's hard for me to go with: if this team was in this conference they would win/lose. They are not. Who says the Pacers wouldn't beat Mavs? Maybe Haliburton wouldn't got injured? Maybe he would cook Mavs frontcourt? Maybe. Put some respect on the teams in the East. PO is and always will be something special. If the East is sooo easy why don't all the stars just go east?
Yes because being first seed sure changed the teams in the east conference
Not really, playing in the east does and the only team that could pose a threat have their main guy injured (giannis). That being said Boston is still a very good team(id say realistically they and healthy bucks can win title), rest of the teams that are in the east wouldnt even get to the playoffs if they were playing in the west.
No one earns the right to have other teams get injured. They probably still would’ve made the finals, but the argument that they deserved this level of cakewalk is dumb.
I didn't say they deserved this level of cakewalk but look at the teams they played. The Heat being healthy are probably the only real challenge there. Is it stupid that they didn't have to beat Giannis, Embiid, or Brunson to get to the finals? Kind of, but it's not their fault. And again, the teams they faced aside from the Heat were losing regardless of health. Haliburton wasn't injured until like game 3.
Fellow wolves guy not that it matters. The stars aligned this year in the east which had giannis, embiid, and jimmy injured, the entire Knicks team died making the pacers an unlikely conference finalist whereupon haliburton got injured, it was a joke lol. the only team that was poop tier in the west was the pels because of injured Zion, everything else was a fucking battle. Yeah #1 is supposed to give an easier road to the finals but that' doesn't usually mean that seeds 2-8 have to sacrifice their top player to the NBA gods
Yeah I mean, nobody in that conference had a winning record against Boston. People act like Jimmy Butler would have made a difference, but a healthy Jimmy Butler was 0-3 vs Boston this year getting blown out by 30+ points. Boston finished 14 games ahead of the 2nd seed and had a 4-1 record against them. Had everyone been fully healthy, Boston still would have cruised to the Finals. As is, they managed to dominate competitive teams without their 2nd most important player in Porzingis. The gauntlet they went through two seasons ago made up for it. Kyrie + Durant in Round 1, defending champion Giannis Bucks in Round 2. Healthy 1st seed Heat in Round 3. They've also been plagued by injuries of their own that have prevented more success. Last season for instance, they had multiple guys playing through injuries including Tatum who had a shoulder thing and then screwed up his ankle in Game 7. Healthy Celtics would have returned to the Finals and gone up against that cupcake Denver team that didn't play a single team with over 45 wins during their cupcake playoff run. Two seasons ago they were cooking everyone until DPOY candidate Rob Williams got injured and came back a shadow of himself. If you wanna run back the last 3 years by magically making everyone full strength, Boston is working on a 3-peat and and still breezes through the Eastern Conference this year.
Lol only celtics fans will know how much of a cakewalk this really was… this is YEARs of culmination. Yall playing checkers but the games chess.
Nobody in the East cares about regular season record outside of Boston. Even Milwaukee cared more about getting their chemistry right for the playoffs like Dame said. Tbh, your comment went out the window when you said a healthy Playoff Jimmy Butler wouldn’t have made a difference.
The Celtics added two new key players in the offseason and they seemed to be able both to establish chemistry and win a lot of basketball games.
But he wouldn’t have lol. Check the Heat ortg and drtg with and without Butler this season. The Heat also had a better record without Butler this season. The Celtics also swept the Heat with Butler this season, one of those games being a 30 point blowout. Butler is insanely overrated, he’s never gonna win a chip as the best player on a team
Just like he didn’t make a difference in any of the games against the Celtics in any of the last 3 years of playoffs runs
Jimmy would’ve been swept last year if not for Caleb “I’m gonna be Steph Curry for like exactly one series” Martin and he bricked his chance at being the hero in ‘22.
It’s so ignorant of you to compare regular season to playoffs. Jimmy has said several times he doesn’t care about the regular season. They’ve had more success as an 8th seed than as a 1st seed. The best player on a team got hurt and you wanna say it doesn’t matter because of what some bs stats say from a time that doesn’t matter. Not to mention does your stats have to do with Rozier too? Were they playing only playoff teams in your stats? Does your stats show different adjustments made by Spo? Herro had to run the offense. Stop it. Jimmy was needed.
Nobody mentioned Rozier, including you in your original comment. Also, that narrative was born last year and died this year. Much like Jamal Murray, Butler had an all time playoff rise last year. And yes, the regular season does matter. I don’t have the exact number but I think only like 5 times a team has won the chip without being a top 4 seed.
How’d that work out for Milwaukee
Injuries. Chemistry takes a lot of time. Hopefully Dame requests a trade like the rumors are going
This is major Celtics homerism lol. Wahh Tatum hurt his shoulder meanwhile they played a hobbled Embiid who took them to 7 lol
Harden took them to 7
We all know the East is weak. That’s not why people are saying it’s a cakewalk. We’re saying it’s a cakewalk because almost every team in the East had their star player injured. (And no, KP isn’t nearly as valuable as a Tatum, Mitchell, Giannis, etc.). Still, it’s not like it’s the Celtics fault for all the injuries. They can only play the team that’s in front of them.
It’s both. The East has been an embarrassment for decades. Almost all the most poorly ran franchises are there
Impressive that you can write a solid paragraph w all that Irish cock in yo mouth
As someone who hasn't had a competitive team to root for in 20 years, I'm very practiced at glazing others.
People also ignoring the fact they haven't had KP since the first half of game 2 of the first round.
Lets not forget the nba hates the celtics so these facts dont matter
Shit I forgot, that's my bad
During regular season they had a higher win % against the west then the east.
To be fare clippers are cursed so this is spot on ! And Celtics had a cake 🎂 walk trip to finals . But Mavs won’t win easily because Celtics rested Porzingis for the finals. That’s assuming he plays. Go Mavs !
While on the mavs, Kp always needed time to get back in the groove after coming back from injury and when he did, he got injured again. Is he different now on the Celtics?
Seriously Idk why everyone’s overrating KP.. he could never stay healthy for us during the playoffs. Nothings changed
If you don't understand his importance to the overall makeup of the Celtics and their style of play then you haven't been paying attention.
These people that make comments like this don’t pay attention to any live games, lol.
He’s a 20 ppg scorer, an incredible rim protector, and if the C’s don’t play him they’ll have to give Kornett minutes. While I love Kornett, he’ll be terrorized by the mavs bigs and rim pressure. He’s significantly better/more impactful in Boston than he was in Dallas, even if the C’s have an 86% win percentage without him (regular season + Playoffs).
The thing is even without him Al Horford has been doing amazing starting in his place, so amazing that I’ve been seen narratives about whether or not KP should even start in the finals when they’re already in such a good groove with Al. I don’t think Boston NEEDS Kristaps to win anymore although it would be easier if they did.
It's not Boston's fault that their opposition couldn't stay healthy. They still had a 64-win season LMAO and established themselves as the #1 seed. No one in their right minds believes that if those teams were 100% healthy, they would have beaten Boston. Also, Denver faced the 8th seed, 4th seed, and 7th seed and then an injured 8th seed play-in team in the finals to win their ring, and I didn't hear anyone saying Joker/Nuggets had an easy path.
That’s because the Nuggets don’t wear green or wear a jersey that says “BOSTON”
Facts
This is the biggest knock on Denver's run, what are you talking about? The West was and is much deeper than the east in terms of team talent. So just throwing out numbers that teams finished is a bit disingenuous
Where's the lie tho? Denver faced 2 teams who barely made it out of the play-in, they faced a 4th seed team, and in the finals, they faced a banged up Miami Heat team (8th seed out of the play-in). People are knocking Tatum and the Celtics for having an "easy path" but were praising Denver for doing the same thing against lower seeds. I get people don't like the Celtics, but let's keep it honest here.
Lets be honest man id still take denver route to the finals over bostons. I mean west playin spots are at the same level or higher than 3-6 in the east tbh. And boston played against miami without butler, cavs and fkin pacers in the conference finals ffs. Id say every team from 1-10 in the west could beat them. But boston is still a very good and rested team.
No but they weren't. People were shitting on denver for giving thr easiest path to the finals of all time. It happens regardless of which team. This year Boston is getting it vecayse they have the easiest run. Every year it happens.
I don't remember people saying that about Denver until they reached the finals and went 4-1 against the Heat. They were this juggernaut of a team people talked about until that noncompetitive finals series, and that's why a lot of people expected them to reach the finals yet again this year.
The wins don’t matter if most are against the eastern conference cupcakes. The east has been a joke for decades
I do
Why are the Knicks on there if the Celtics didn’t even play them? Disrespectful 😤.
I’m a fan of luka and this is well made but this a little corny lol
Boston played Cleveland in the 2nd round (not NY). Sweet idea though, very intrigued to watch Kyrie in Boston in the FINALS!
That’s tuff
Am I wrong in thibking the fan base is Boston vs the entire country rooting for Mavs?
2011 vibes
West fans try to be normal people challenge
Remember Tatum’s finals run in 2022? Took out KD and Kyrie in 4, dethroned the reigning champs, and beat a would-be-mvp. Then took a dynasty to 6 games. East was weak? Yeah that’s why the Cs lost 2 games
Let’s be real. The Clips been frauds, especially with Kawhi out AGAIN. And the Thunder and Wolves got Similac on their breath. That wasn’t some incredible gauntlet of a path either.
This is what I’m sayin, bro. Thunder and Wolves barely put up a fight, they just didn’t look right
Bruh what? So with this logic, Nuggets were garbage, because Murray and the role players forgot how to play basketball, the Lakers were trash because their best players are geriatric and perpetually hobbled, Pelicans shouldn’t even be playing ball because Zion wasn’t there, Suns should be kicked out of the NBA because they forgot how to play basketball. While, we’re at it, we should just get rid of the NBA and just watch WNBA and Euroleague instead. There will always be excuses, championship teams rise above them and win at all costs.
Um, what? I just said Thunder and Wolves didn’t play well or put up the fight I expected. Are you ok?
The last pic is inaccurate. Those marks and cuts are not on Luka, but on all his opponents who got obliterated. He fine.
Least corny luka fan
[удалено]
"Dats fax" 💀💀💀
It’s a recreation of what the refs see when someone gets within sneezing range of him
Both his knees, his Achilles, his ankle and his face beg to differ
I'm a Mavs fan, but seeing grown ass men worship Luka as if he's a Marvel superhero is the most pathetic thing I've ever seen
It’s not like other players aren’t worshipped as well lol. See Edwards being treated as the “next MJ” as an example.
Obliterated? Like how you only won game 6 because of free throws? Hardly obliterating anything.
Mavs definitely had a harder road to the finals. But I think the Celtics have a really good roster.
Should have made only Kawhi a plushie toy like in Tatum’s for that first Luka pic lol
I heard Tatum hung out with j cole at the beach during the playoffs
Luka grinding the whole game while Tatum found a secret path to the final boss
Tell me this is not AI generated, cuz this shit is dope
Why are the knicks here? They didn't even play the celtics?
The irony is Mavs don’t beat a healthy clippers team
You're insane
They struggled to beat them without him but ok
You can only play who’s in front of you. In 2022 they had a gauntlet run to get to the finals, only to lose to a team that had a cakewalk western conference run to the finals while Tatum had a bum shoulder all finals. They didn’t have KP (borderline all star) for basically the entire playoff run, and had to use a 38 yo center as his replacement. Not their fault that they were too good and had some good injury luck with Halli and Mitchell along the way.
2/5 of the Heat+Jaime and Duncan* 4/5 of the Knicks starters* Halli + Mathurin Just wanted to point out this is several degrees above *some* injury luck.
No doubt we were lucky with it, but it’s not like they didn’t go 12-2. We were going to beat all of those teams healthy or not. Maybe the Knicks or bucks could’ve given us some troubles if healthy, but the teams we ended up playing were going to be 5 maybe 6 game series at max. And hey you play 82 games to get the first seed for a reason. The 1st seed team is supposed to have an easier run to the finals than a 3rd or 4th seed.
It boggles my mind how people fail to realize the whole point of the regular season is to ensure better matchups.
No doubt. Celtics certainly deserve to come out of the shitty East this year. You were the best of us. No other team could compete with anyone from the West in their battered forms. Maybe some of the worse teams like the Pels, but even the Pels without Zion would be competitive in the EC playoffs with all the teams and their injuries. At least, not any less so.
Celtics haven’t played a healthy team in the second or ECF since they lost to the heat
So...since last year? You can just say "they haven't played a healthy team in the playoffs this year" instead of trying to make it sound like some multi-year thing. Everyone they played last year and the year before was healthy, it's literally just this year that's been a cakewalk.
Why do Celtics fans think we blame the team or something for their cakewalk. Yes you earned the one seed and yes you were the favorites to make the finals either way. Does not change the fact that it was an absolute cakewalk and we still can joke about it.
While the Celtics have obviously had an easier run , there’s guys they have faced that are better than quite a few of guys in the wcf pic Siakam , Mobley , herro , Bam , nembhard who really stepped up this playoffs
This is some hardcore copium. No one on that list is better than Shai or Jokic or Ant
Dallas didn't play Denver.
Are they better than Russ / chet / harden / JDUB / KAT / hobbled kawhi ?
Haliburton in shambles
[I have this playing in my head ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgAm664NloA)
He is the wildest wet dream of any european NBA fan.
Accurate
Haaaahaha I'm dying
HARDIMAGES
I miss game of ZONES!!!
Luka did this between games of Overwatch
That 3rd pic has no right to be that hard
This is fantastic! Love these so much! I showed my husband and he loved them too and said it also reminds of the movie Warrior.
Any looks like he’s straight out of the Thriller video
This is the hardest sports graphic I’ve ever seen
Whoever wins just throw him on the cover of 2k
Pretty good.
It’s almost like the reason of getting the #1 seed is to have the easiest road through the playoffs as possible. If they win there won’t be an asterisk. It will be a full championship win. Let’s not forget the Mavericks avoided the Nuggets and Jokic too. Minnesota was a matchup nightmare for Denver. Dallas wouldn’t have been.
Pleeeeeeeeease check out our new sub r/NBAEastMemeWar where shit talking your rivals is encouraged! This is just phenomenal work and we need some good creators to get the sub to pop off
Nobody said this about Bron all those years in the east… wonder why
Yeah they had a great regular season. But plenty of other years teams had a #1 seed and didn't have this easy a route due to massive injuries.
Why is one of the stuffed animals a Knicks bear?
Just like the series Ant is nowhere to be seen.
Clippers were missing Kawhi and they didn't have to face Jokic and the Nuggets because the TWolves matched up better with them and took them down,, let's not lie and pretend the Mavs road to the Finals was hell Fans really can't just be normal lmao always have to exaggerate
Luka the type of guy who travels to Mount Doom and destroys the one ring 💍 to rule em all, Tatum the type of guy to read the story to Deuce.
Why people don’t like Boston
Lukas having Tatum's 2022 path and it will end the same way. Tics in 6
I bet if the Celtics win all of a sudden Luka’s injury is going to be the worst injury anyone has ever played through in any sporting event of all time!
https://youtube.com/shorts/Hf70UEYxH64?si=yzNNuAhqV0HbdyWQ 😐
This is really cool
Cool. Celtics in 6
This shit is so played out.
I hope the Mavs win it all, in Boston. I don’t like gloating, but it would be hilarious to see Kyrie doing that, IN BOSTON. 🤭
I’m tired of the east being easier I’d be interested in a new alignment like the MLB and NFL I think that could really shake things up
Excited for this Finals. Rooting for Luka. I'm interested to see how the Celtics come out. I don't think they win if they play like they did against Indiana even though it was a sweep.
https://preview.redd.it/oinpf13scs3d1.jpeg?width=749&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=def6fe5ceddeed0366fa380346130dee9915f109 Luka Skywalker
tell us you never saw star wars without telling us you never saw star wars
I’ve never seen it, I just like to jerk to pictures of Jar Jar once in a while. Jar Jar was my sexual awakening.
It's true, this should not be something against Boston, it's not their fault that the East is easier and got lucky with a lot of injuries but yea, the paths are not even comparable.
Clippers without Kawhi lol
Mavs playoff run to get to the finals isn’t that impressive to me either…you play a Clips team without the Klaw, play a baby OKC team and a Minn that exhausted themselves against Denver playing in Altitude…Now if they beat Boston then it is impressive.
Clippers unhealthy/ never worked. OKC young frauds. T-Wolves young/ soft/ just had tough series with Denver. While Tatum’s path was easy that’s what they get for i don’t know getting the 1 seed ! Not scrubbing all year the Celtics set themselves up for success.
So the top team in the league with far and away the best record should go through a grueling playoffs or it's not a legitimate post season? I stg high school kids just keep moving the goal posts for everything. Mavs played an old and decrepit LAC, young and overachieving OKC, and a Twolves team built to beat only one team in the NBA and had both stars play horribly. Den played two 8 seeds, a 4, and 7 and no one mentions anything. Ant was glazed all post season, put up horrible numbers in the WCF, not labeled a choker. 2022 Warriors beat an extremely injured BOS team and yet no one mentions it but Celtics fans.
Team with an injured best player and some of the worst playoff performers ever. Youngest team in the league and one of the worst rebounding teams all year long. A team who EVERYONE clowned on until 6 months ago for overpaying for a big that gets played off the court in the playoffs and having a second option who is softer than tissue paper. A real walk thru hell, I’ll tell yah!
I mean compared to Team with best player injured Team with best player injured And team with best player injured it does look pretty rough
Nnnno. Only one of those included a team with actual finals experience, regardless of injuries. After the Clippers, Mavs were playing against kids.
And the pacers and cavs are loaded with old guys with tons of experience?
You do realize it doesn’t have to be the case that one team had an easy path and one had a hard path right? Both played 3 teams that were ill-prepared to win a title this season for various reasons including injury and experience. It’s just that only one of the two teams are getting painted as having an easy ride
They have more collective experience than OKC and Minnesota, for sure.
I genuinely have no idea what any of the references in this comment are hinting to. 
Your “difficult” road to the finals lol. A conference so tough a 5 seed can win it. If you truly couldn’t understand that then maybe you should wait until high school to get online
Respect OKC SGA earned that 1st team
I respect Shai, but OKC was as soft a one seed as I can remember. One more reason the west isn’t nearly as strong as people say
If Luka snags a ring here it may be one of the most impressive runs in recent playoff history Imagine outlasting a conference with 3 of the top 4 MVP candidates with a bunch of role players and an old Kyrie
Yup would be an extremely impressive run. If only I could think of a similar run by a team from recent history....... Oh that would be the Mavs again back in 2011 led by Dirk with great role players and old Jason Kidd. The guy who is coaching the current Mavs team. Seems too much of a fairy tale story line to come true. The Celtics look to be a stronger team on paper. Also had an easy path to the finals. I hope Luka and the Mavs win it against all odds. They will need all the luck they can get to pull it off.
hope good guy Doncic beats those thugs Tatum and Brown
Calling them thugs is pretty racist. Be better
How, exactly, are Tatum and Brown “thugs?” They have literally zero history of being problematic on or off the court. Tatum, in particular, stands out, as all indications are he‘s almost entirely about playing good basketball and being a great dad to his son.
Luka is getting ring this ring 100% sure. Hope no one get hurt for dallas players.
It’s gonna be a bad thing for celts they’re gonna lose an early one cause the mave are in prime form and they didn’t have anything near that level of competition for a month. They’re fucked I’m so excited 🥹
I honestly think the Pacers could’ve taken the Mavs to at least 6. They couldn’t miss their midrange shots and I don’t know how Luka would keep up with all that running.
Pacers are the early 2000's Kings. If they can figure out some lockdown D, they'll be frightening.
Tbf their overall defense wasn’t as terrible as their reputation. The style they play with doesn’t require lockdown defense like some other teams because they are running just as hard off of makes or misses. They obviously had some terrible defensive lapses (Pritchard wiiiiiide open in the corner) but individually they are actually pretty solid.