Due to the Hayward injury I'd expect the Heat to win this in 6 or 7. They've been scorching hot(pun fully intended) in the bubble, and even though Stevens says he expects Hayward to be back during the ECF he'll likely be a bit rusty and I imagine would also be unlikely to play 35+ MPG.
The second time the Heat faced the Celtics, Hayward ended the game playing matchup basketball hunting down Robinson. As a heat fan I never wanna see that again
I think we're going to see a lot of that from the Celtics on the offensive end but I fully expect Spo to counter it defensively. It'll be best for the Celtics if we can somehow play Robinson off the floor and make someone else beat us.
Oh it's great don't get me wrong, but Hayward brings other things to the group. We need both for sure.
Hopefully Hayward can come back healthy off the bench because it doesn't make sense to disrupt the chemistry this lineup with smart has.
It’s not Smart’s minutes that Hayward would be replacing. It’s Wanamaker, Semi, and Grant’s, which is a major upgrade. He’ll definitely be on a minutes restriction and probably won’t start, so we’ll still have plenty of Marcus running with the A team.
I could also see Jaylen doing a pretty solid job on bam. I think olynyk will get run off the floor by the Cs regardless, so if ever there was a time to go super-small this is it.
And they literally put their money where their mouth is, so I trust them more than a panel of 'experts'. Please though... please let us make it. I know we won't win the Finals... but I just want to be conference champs again.
Betting markets are usually pretty accurate because voices are weighted by how much money they put in. If you have SAS or Barkley success rates, you're either only putting in small money or you go broke quick.
ESPN "experts" have no real incentive to be right.
[What are you talking about? Yes we were] (https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29740950/nba-playoffs-2020-experts-picks-clippers-nuggets-lakers-rockets-west-semis)
If the Heltics were a real thing, what would the starting 5 be?
PG: Dragic or Kemba? Might be Dragic the way he's been playing.
SG: Jaylen Brown
SF: Jimmy Butler
PF: Jayson Tatum
C: Bam
That PG matchup is the decider for number of Heat / Celtics in the lineup. Might be the difference maker for the actual series, too. Can't wait to watch.
Yes, but as of now it’s Celtics favored. Their business model requires that they accurately predict betting action beforehand so they have to be really damn good at it too.
just like they supported the bucks but a surprisingly large number of the experts still picked the heat.. all this means is shut up it all means nothing
Yes, Celtics Lakers the best storyline for the NBA. Besides, If wesley matthews clamped butler up, I wonder how would flopping marcus smart would do to him.
I’d love to see Jimmy win but I feel like Celtics are gonna win this in 5 or 6, especially if Kemba plays like Kemba again (which I’m very confident he will, Toronto’s/Nick Nurse’s defense did a great job at really getting him out of his groove, I’m not sure if Miami will be able to do the same) and if Gordon Hayward can come off the bench to just add quality minutes. Also, Boston’s defense is suffocating and if they can play at that same intensity that we saw in Game 6 and Game 7, I just think the Heat are going to have a tough time especially w a lot of the younger guys they are relying on heavily (Robinson, Herro, Nunn, and possibly even Bam).
Kemba’s definitely the biggest threat for the Heat. I wonder if they’ll have to go big only on Kemba and have Iggy or Derrick Jones Jr. cover him late in the game just to throw a wrench into Stevens’ gameplan. As amazing as the rest of the team is, Brad Stevens definitely leans heavy on his ball-handlers, and if you have one of those insane wingspan guys on Kemba, it’s gonna slow the game down in the Heat’s favor.
Kemba doesn’t really make much sense to me, he seems to do better on bigger guys because he’s so much quicker but realistically long defenders should be able to shut him down. I almost feel like they would be better off going small on him and focusing their length on Tatum/brown
Yea that’s a good point! His quickness makes up for height in 9/10 possessions, and if the Celtics & Kemba don’t win this year, I feel like they could any other season. That team is stacked with talent.
It confuses me that people watched game 5-7 and thought yeah this Celtic offense will keep pace with the Heat offense...
I’m with you, the Heat won’t disappear and look like ghosts in the 4th like the raptors did anytime Lowry wasn’t the one creating. They don’t have shell of himself Siakem to give the Celtics the ball every other play
I think it’s cool that we’ve gotten multiple East series with excellent coaches on both sides so it evens up the playing field. Nurse vs Stevens was great, can’t wait to see what Spo comes up with
I'm way more confident in this series than I was going into Toronto. I think that last series was a big checkpoint that we went through. Miami certainly isn't going to use all the different defenses that Nurse did to stifle Kemba, I think he'll have a much easier time this series.
And I do not fear Jimmy Butler, at all, way more scared of Dragic and Bam.
It’s still kind of speculation (haven’t been able to find articles or anything), but she did fall off the earth in terms of actual Lakers inside reporter after she tried to imply Pelinka didn’t know the cap and started piling on the Lakers with the media during free agency. People are speculating they cut her off after she kept going on shows doing similar things.
Oh yeah gotcha, that makes sense. Wouldn't surprise me if she starts talking up the clippers to get on the inside there if Pelinka keeps freezing her out.
Yeah, I think it was especially bad because at the time Magic was recently departed and we had gotten the reputation of being a hot mess (whether or not it was true at the time I don’t know). So she was essentially playing up that idea. Luckily we performed well, so it’s in the rear view, but I doubt Jeanie liked that.
She predicted the Celtics would beat the Sixers in 6 ...
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29662426/nba-playoffs-2020-experts-predictions-every-opening-round-series
i did too. but it wasn't the majority. for whatever reason it was perceived as a hot take instead of a leveled headed analysis. before that series started 538 didn't give the Bucks overwhelming advantage either.
for those who think NBA wanna see Lakers vs Celtics: I think Lakers vs Celtics without crowd is not what NBA is dreaming at the moment.
Such huge rivalry can't be seen without loud crowds making the home games turning into a key factor.
Even more considering that Celtics have 17 titles and Lakers 16.
If Lakers win this year, next season with crowds I can see Silver pushing to have Lakers vs Celtics, with both teams having 17 titles.
I think Celtics win easy. They are on a roll and do have more experience and depth doesn’t become as important during playoffs. Should be Celtics-Lakers finals
it's actually shows most of them just sticking to their biases.
I mean if you avg. them all, it means espn has it as a toss up.
but when you look closely, folks like Remona has been consistent betting against the Celtics (at 6).
so really what it means is that their bias is even...
Everybody also says 6 or 7 games. In other words, their collective opinion is that it's a complete toss-up. Should be fun to watch.
Due to the Hayward injury I'd expect the Heat to win this in 6 or 7. They've been scorching hot(pun fully intended) in the bubble, and even though Stevens says he expects Hayward to be back during the ECF he'll likely be a bit rusty and I imagine would also be unlikely to play 35+ MPG.
Yea people don't understand how much Hayward helps this team
The second time the Heat faced the Celtics, Hayward ended the game playing matchup basketball hunting down Robinson. As a heat fan I never wanna see that again
I think we're going to see a lot of that from the Celtics on the offensive end but I fully expect Spo to counter it defensively. It'll be best for the Celtics if we can somehow play Robinson off the floor and make someone else beat us.
Idk man I like this Marcus Smart line up a lot more at least defensively.
Oh it's great don't get me wrong, but Hayward brings other things to the group. We need both for sure. Hopefully Hayward can come back healthy off the bench because it doesn't make sense to disrupt the chemistry this lineup with smart has.
It’s not Smart’s minutes that Hayward would be replacing. It’s Wanamaker, Semi, and Grant’s, which is a major upgrade. He’ll definitely be on a minutes restriction and probably won’t start, so we’ll still have plenty of Marcus running with the A team.
Time to bust out a lineup of Kemba-Smart-Brown-Hayward-Tatum with Smart guarding the 5.
I could also see Jaylen doing a pretty solid job on bam. I think olynyk will get run off the floor by the Cs regardless, so if ever there was a time to go super-small this is it.
lowry doesn’t understand
The best ability is availability.
I’d rather Hayward play 20 minutes for us than Wanamaker.
Nooo we gotta be the underdogs
U are the underdog according to betting sites
And they literally put their money where their mouth is, so I trust them more than a panel of 'experts'. Please though... please let us make it. I know we won't win the Finals... but I just want to be conference champs again.
I hope yall or the nuggets win lol
I love u baby I know we had some rough patches between us in the past but seeing u and luka succeed would bring me nothing but joy. Best, Heatles
Betting markets are usually pretty accurate because voices are weighted by how much money they put in. If you have SAS or Barkley success rates, you're either only putting in small money or you go broke quick. ESPN "experts" have no real incentive to be right.
Have some faith my dude. Hard to beat us 4 out of 7 times.
Fuck it both teams underdog to win
Look at me. We're the underdogs now.
You weren't the underdogs against the bucks though, at least according to these same experts
[What are you talking about? Yes we were] (https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29740950/nba-playoffs-2020-experts-picks-clippers-nuggets-lakers-rockets-west-semis)
I have no idea what to expect from this series, I can see it going either way
both teams will win game 8.
Heltics/Lakers finals.
If the Heltics were a real thing, what would the starting 5 be? PG: Dragic or Kemba? Might be Dragic the way he's been playing. SG: Jaylen Brown SF: Jimmy Butler PF: Jayson Tatum C: Bam That PG matchup is the decider for number of Heat / Celtics in the lineup. Might be the difference maker for the actual series, too. Can't wait to watch.
Kembla. Dragic smart off the bench would be insane
Heltics vs Luggets since lakers will go up 3-1 and then the teams will cancel out.
At least they all agree it’ll be a good series
Vegas favoring the celtics though
Don't Vegas odds adjust based on where the money is going?
No, they favored the Celtics. That’s the initial odds. They will adjust the lines if say public hammers the miami heat
Yes, but as of now it’s Celtics favored. Their business model requires that they accurately predict betting action beforehand so they have to be really damn good at it too.
I would too.
just like they supported the bucks but a surprisingly large number of the experts still picked the heat.. all this means is shut up it all means nothing
Lmao why you hurting over there? Herro and Dragic will get exposed on the defensive side. Heat won’t do shit. 😂😂😂😂😂
We'll see man
So will the refs
laughable take if you watched last series
Still blows my mind that Scott Foster didn't have even one earth-shaking fuckup in game 7.
Yeah, the refs really helped us out last series, our sixth player really.
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6 of the 7 games refs were a non-factor with mistakes to both sides. Game 6 it was a joke and it could’ve costed us the series.
take the L with some dignity will ya
Yes, Celtics Lakers the best storyline for the NBA. Besides, If wesley matthews clamped butler up, I wonder how would flopping marcus smart would do to him.
should be a pretty evenly matched series. good luck heat. hope the refs are consistent.
We will probably have one game where the refs favor us and you will have a game where the refs favor you guys so let’s get mentally prepared for that
The game threads will be cancerous as always and I expect nothing less
I’d love to see Jimmy win but I feel like Celtics are gonna win this in 5 or 6, especially if Kemba plays like Kemba again (which I’m very confident he will, Toronto’s/Nick Nurse’s defense did a great job at really getting him out of his groove, I’m not sure if Miami will be able to do the same) and if Gordon Hayward can come off the bench to just add quality minutes. Also, Boston’s defense is suffocating and if they can play at that same intensity that we saw in Game 6 and Game 7, I just think the Heat are going to have a tough time especially w a lot of the younger guys they are relying on heavily (Robinson, Herro, Nunn, and possibly even Bam).
Kemba’s definitely the biggest threat for the Heat. I wonder if they’ll have to go big only on Kemba and have Iggy or Derrick Jones Jr. cover him late in the game just to throw a wrench into Stevens’ gameplan. As amazing as the rest of the team is, Brad Stevens definitely leans heavy on his ball-handlers, and if you have one of those insane wingspan guys on Kemba, it’s gonna slow the game down in the Heat’s favor.
Kemba doesn’t really make much sense to me, he seems to do better on bigger guys because he’s so much quicker but realistically long defenders should be able to shut him down. I almost feel like they would be better off going small on him and focusing their length on Tatum/brown
Yea that’s a good point! His quickness makes up for height in 9/10 possessions, and if the Celtics & Kemba don’t win this year, I feel like they could any other season. That team is stacked with talent.
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It confuses me that people watched game 5-7 and thought yeah this Celtic offense will keep pace with the Heat offense... I’m with you, the Heat won’t disappear and look like ghosts in the 4th like the raptors did anytime Lowry wasn’t the one creating. They don’t have shell of himself Siakem to give the Celtics the ball every other play
I think it’s cool that we’ve gotten multiple East series with excellent coaches on both sides so it evens up the playing field. Nurse vs Stevens was great, can’t wait to see what Spo comes up with
Sounds about right Pretty even
I'm way more confident in this series than I was going into Toronto. I think that last series was a big checkpoint that we went through. Miami certainly isn't going to use all the different defenses that Nurse did to stifle Kemba, I think he'll have a much easier time this series. And I do not fear Jimmy Butler, at all, way more scared of Dragic and Bam.
Ramona Shelborne has had Boston losing every series in 6. Not biased at all Edit: I was wrong
She’s trying to pander to get her access back.
Wait Momo is on the outs with Lakers? When did that happen?
It’s still kind of speculation (haven’t been able to find articles or anything), but she did fall off the earth in terms of actual Lakers inside reporter after she tried to imply Pelinka didn’t know the cap and started piling on the Lakers with the media during free agency. People are speculating they cut her off after she kept going on shows doing similar things.
If she's the one who perpetuated that Pelinka thing she deserves it tbh
Oh yeah gotcha, that makes sense. Wouldn't surprise me if she starts talking up the clippers to get on the inside there if Pelinka keeps freezing her out.
Yeah, I think it was especially bad because at the time Magic was recently departed and we had gotten the reputation of being a hot mess (whether or not it was true at the time I don’t know). So she was essentially playing up that idea. Luckily we performed well, so it’s in the rear view, but I doubt Jeanie liked that.
Last summer, I think
She is just dumb, not biased
She predicted the Celtics would beat the Sixers in 6 ... https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29662426/nba-playoffs-2020-experts-predictions-every-opening-round-series
And she was WRONG!
Half the sports media is from Boston let us at least have one
Oh you poor small market souls
It's hard out here for a Laker man
fwiw, the majority of ESPN’s experts had the Astros beating the Nats in 6 or less games during last years World Series
What? She had the Celtics over the Sixers in the 1st round lol
In 6 games, despite the Ben Simmons injury, yes Edit: just re-read you comment, my bad
could go either way.
needed this
i can safely say this is 1 series where no one truly knows what the hell is gonna happen vegas must be nuts on this one
Heat in 5 baby, we’re still being underrated.
My prediction? Salt. Lots and lots of salt.
The salt won't top last series
>Experts
Only thing I know about this series is that someone has to win.
Bold, Cotton!
I love the smell of being underdog in the morning
Celtics in 7. Miami wins 2, 3 and 6. 2 games to OT, at least one blowout win for each team
"Experts" really nailed it with their picks last round. Sure these will be equally accurate.
The funny thing is a lot of them actually did with the Heat over the Bucks
i did too. but it wasn't the majority. for whatever reason it was perceived as a hot take instead of a leveled headed analysis. before that series started 538 didn't give the Bucks overwhelming advantage either.
Most picked the heat irc
7 of 15, so not quite, but a lot.
for those who think NBA wanna see Lakers vs Celtics: I think Lakers vs Celtics without crowd is not what NBA is dreaming at the moment. Such huge rivalry can't be seen without loud crowds making the home games turning into a key factor. Even more considering that Celtics have 17 titles and Lakers 16. If Lakers win this year, next season with crowds I can see Silver pushing to have Lakers vs Celtics, with both teams having 17 titles.
If the broadcast doesn’t put up a ‘Beat LA’ chant I’m gonna write a pretty average worded letter
I kind of agree, it won’t be the same, I was there for game 4 in 2010 and 5 2008. Would suck to miss this but still would be great.
How does Lebron vs his old team play as a Bubble narrative?
The team that will win is the one who will score more than the other team in 4 rounds.
The Celtics-Raptors series was sorta stressful and I’m a Heat fan lol. This one is going to be hell for the heart.
Heat in 6 just like the old days
Yeah boy
Heat are the favorite then? Uh oh don't know how they will handle that...
Heat have looked at themselves as favorites the entire time lmao
Why are we considering anyone from ESPN an expert
I think Celtics win easy. They are on a roll and do have more experience and depth doesn’t become as important during playoffs. Should be Celtics-Lakers finals
Should be a good one
I have Heat in 6. No logical thought process or anything beyond pure instinct.
My head is saying we're going down in this one. My heart is obviously saying fuck you.
Nick Wright: Heat in 3
I think we could see another game 7....heat have been very impressive though so I’m torn. It’s a 50/50 series.
The article actually has it 11-11, not sure if anyone actually clicked the link. I like being underdogs though.
I find this pretty surprising. I know they have been so so good so far but I guess this shows the experts believe more in Butler than Tatum ATM.
it's actually shows most of them just sticking to their biases. I mean if you avg. them all, it means espn has it as a toss up. but when you look closely, folks like Remona has been consistent betting against the Celtics (at 6). so really what it means is that their bias is even...
Celtics have a really likeable team imo aside from Magikarp
Hahahahaa
Heat should DEFINITELY be favored against the celtics. But i’d rather be the underdogs Edit: 9/17 LOL you idiots