I don't think I'm jinxing anything by starting this thread 1 win early for each team.
Here we go.....ya feel me?
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Mirotic was great tonight and Snell played a minute without limping.
Giannis foul trouble is the biggest wild card.
But the bench showed out even though Giannis was out with foul trouble. That’s the answer to the question- can they get enough without Giannis providing it?
Answer? Yes...
But this is worth saying- teams hammer GIannis.. every game... yet he gets this bullshit ticky tack crap. You call them the way you call Giannis he shoots 25 FTs and your whole team is in foul trouble. Call that shit both ways...
Music City posted:But the bench showed out even though Giannis was out with foul trouble. That’s the answer to the question- can they get enough without Giannis providing it?
Answer? Yes...
But this is worth saying- teams hammer GIannis.. every game... yet he gets this bullshit ticky tack crap. You call them the way you call Giannis he shoots 25 FTs and your whole team is in foul trouble. Call that shit both ways...
I agree. The hacking is getting ridiculous.
The foul calls tonight were poorly officiated on both sides. A couple of Drummond's were phantoms. Giannis' first foul was on a ball batted out of bounds with relatively little contact. Just call the ball out of bounds on Giannis and give Detroit the ball. That's what good officials do.
At least we didn't have Scott Foster.
BledSHOW vs. Kyrie = must see TV
Will Brogdon return?
Gordon Hayward has been hot. Will it continue?
Horford is always steady.
Marcus Morris is a wildcard
Any players I'm missing? 😉
Boston didn't face any adversity in round 1. Neither did the Bucks. 1 team will face adversity in this series. Perhaps both. Which team handles it better & over comes to win 4 games?
.....
Attachments
Tatum and Brown are their two key guys IMO. When they play well it seems like they win most of their games.
The challenge for Boston is Hayward is good but he’s a defensive liability and if Brad Stevens wants to feature Ojeleye to defend Giannis that takes minutes away from either Marcus Morris or Jason Tatum.
You have to believe the Celtics will dirty up the game and slow the pace down as I don’t think they want to run and gun with the Bucks. Their best strategy is to get physical and try to get Giannis into foul trouble. One problem is their best enforcer/instigator (Marcus Smart) is unlikely to play in the series. That’s an enormous loss for the Celtics because he can defend multiple guys.
If Mirotic and Ersan and PC and Hill can continue to play well I don’t see how Boston will beat this team in a 7 game series. The Bucks bench is just better than Boston. We also need to remember the Bucks have Lopez which they didn’t have last year in the playoffs. Horford will need to step out to defend him. If they pack the paint the Bucks can hurt them from deep.
I like the Bucks in 6 games. If the refs favor the Celtics it could make it to 7 games.
If the Bucks get up on them 2-0 after the first two games in Milwaukee, the inner drama of that team could come out quickly. Kyrie is Harden-Esque in terms of his ability to score against anyone, but he's quick to deflect blame if things get tough.
If the Bucks split in Milwaukee to open the series, then the Celtics will be riding high going back to Boston.
MichiganPacker2 posted:If the Bucks get up on them 2-0 after the first two games in Milwaukee, the inner drama of that team could come out quickly. Kyrie is Harden-Esque in terms of his ability to score against anyone, but he's quick to deflect blame if things get tough.
If the Bucks split in Milwaukee to open the series, then the Celtics will be riding high going back to Boston.
Absolutely. Win the first 2 at home and I don't see Boston beating the Bucks 4 of the next 5.
I also agree that Lopez will be huge - they can't pack the paint against him or anyone on this team, which should open things up better.
Tschmack posted:We also need to remember the Bucks have Lopez which they didn’t have last year in the playoffs.
Good take Tschmack.
I'm going to go out on a limb here. We didn't have Mike Budenholzer either. Brad Stevens is an excellent coach. Some how I think Budenholzer will do a better job than what the Joe Prunty matchup provided last year. 
BTW, Mirotic is warming up.
I'm picking the round earthers over the flat earthers in 6.
Round 2. Sunday. Noon. #FearTheDeer
Here's the full schedule.
Packdog posted:Tschmack posted:We also need to remember the Bucks have Lopez which they didn’t have last year in the playoffs.
Good take Tschmack.
I'm going to go out on a limb here. We didn't have Mike Budenholzer either. Brad Stevens is an excellent coach. Some how I think Budenholzer will do a better job than what the Joe Prunty matchup provided last year.
BTW, Mirotic is warming up.
These 10 guys all averaged over 13 minutes a game in the Boston series last year.
Giannis, JOHN HENSON, Middleton, Bledsoe, Brogdon, JABARI PARKER, THON MAKER, Tony Snell, JASON TERRY (only 3 games but Big minutes in Game 7), MATTHEW DELLAVADOVA
We replace Henson's 37 minutes a game with Lopez, Switch out Parker for Mirotic, Maker for Ilyasova, and Dellavadova for George Hill/Sterling Brown. Those are all massive upgrades on both ends of the court.
Not to mention junking the Jason Kidd/Prunty schemes and decisions.
The Bucks are vastly better. Giannis, Middleton, and Bledsoe are all better players than last year.
Kyrie Irving is the wild card. I don't really fear anyone else on the Celtics roster.
If I was looking at this subjectively, if the Celtics weren't in a major media market I'd pick the Bucks in 5.
The problem I have is that I still expect the old Bucks to show themselves. That's what close to 30 years of mediocrity and futility will do to a fan.
Boston is their toughest competition in the East. Kyrie is a sketchy guy but in the playoffs he’s shown top 5 ability and performance so that should concern the Bucks.
Plus, they are the one team I think that can D up and frustrate Milwaukee. In their head to head matchups this year the Cs played them very well.
Still, I see Bucks winning in 6 or 7. If Brogdon were healthy and playing like he did earlier this year maybe Boston wins a game but that’s it.
Last year's Celtics were without Kyrie Irving and Hayword. This year they may be without Smart.
They seem to be peaking now.
I think the Bucks ought to win, but it seems pretty close to me.
Hayward playing takes minutes away from Jason Tatum or Semi Ojeleye. Tatum is decent two way player and Ojeleye is a good defensive player they will employ on Giannis.
Irving is very good offensively but not so much defensively and without their best defender (Marcus Smart) I cant see how Hayward plays a lot of minutes.
Put it another way - the Celtics best chance to win is to slow the game down and defend. Hayward isn’t that type of player. If they try to outscore Milwaukee that may backfire on them.
Tschmack posted:Put it another way - the Celtics best chance to win is to slow the game down and defend. Hayward isn’t that type of player.
Yup
Tschmack posted:If they try to outscore Milwaukee that may backfire on them.
I pray to god they try to outscore Milwaukee. Milwaukee is the #1 defense in the Association. They will lose the series & lose real bad if they try to outscore the Bucks. Brad Stevens ain't stupid
So is it just me or are the Bucks one of the most disrespected teams in a long time? they have the best record in the NBA and the media acts like they are a long shot 5th or 6th seed.
Sports radio on the west coast seems to think it's a foregone conclusion the Celtics are winning this series & fairly easily.
Anyone else share that opinion?
The only way to stand up & get noticed is outperform your opponent & advance. I promise they will notice you once you've started winning regularly.
Beating Detroit (or ANY team for that matter) 8-0 in the season (4 regular & 4 playoff wins) is actually pretty impressive - I don't GAF if Griffin was dinged up.
The Pistons won 41 games this year - It wasn't like they were playing the Cavs or Knicks. The Bucks beat Boston 2 out of 3. Let's see what happens - I think it's going to be an epic series!
Bucks game starts at 10 AM on Sunday on the west coast.
Rockets v. Warriors to follow.
The last time the Bucks won a playoff series, Giannis was 6 years old.
Time to gore the Celtics. #FearTheDeer
There’s a lot of folks bailing on the Bucks. They see the Celtics talent and what they were supposed to be and think the Indiana series was the arrival.
Zach Lowe with a solid breakdown here, and he says Bucks in 7: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/...bucks-playoff-series
We have been watching this Bucks team all season. We know that so many have come, and so many have failed. Attack Lopez- Bucks won by 15. Build a wall on Giannis, physically punish him, Bucks win by 30. I don’t think that changes here. They’re clicking now more than at any point all season. They just annihilated the Pistons- because they’re that good. They’re no paper champion, and they are as good as they have played.
Bucks in SIX! 
Both teams seem to be at their peak, or peaking, should be a good series.
phaedrus posted:Last year's Celtics were without Kyrie Irving and Hayword. This year they may be without Smart.
The Bucks were without Mirotic, Lopez & most importantly Coach Bud last year.
The Bucks ain't ****in around this year. How much were Brad Stevens & the Celtics PRAYING the Pistons could win 1 game?!? They were ALL OUT to sweep the Pacers because they know what's coming. Their only chance was to sweep the Pacers & get rest before the inevitable collision with the Bucks.
Unless the Bucks are careless with the basketball & quit playing defense like the Warriors when they're up 31 - the Celtics aren't winning 4 games in this series.
The Celtics have 1 shot to win this series - injuries to the Bucks. That's it, that's the list.
Bucks are still asleep Like me I think.
Irving off to a hot start hitting some circus shots. Defensively, a lot of moving screens and if the refs don’t call it the Bucks will need to adjust.
Perhaps Sterling Brown to D up on Kyrie
Man, I was afraid of this.
At home, huge game, and so far they are getting killed.
Boston is shooting 55%. Easily their best game so far in the playoffs
All right....you have some momentum now. Keep playing defense especially with the MVP on the bench.
Nice little 5 point run. Fine shot by Middleton.
Nobody even touched baynes. Refs completely bailed out his missed dunk.
So glad the Buck's caught up.
But, Giannis needs to step up his game.
Nice effort to open the 3rd Q Bucks....Christ Almighty.
I don't think I've seen Giannis look this bad all season long. Some of it is Boston's D but he's simply missing easy shots in the paint.
If the Bucks can pull out game 1 with Giannis playing like this, Boston is done for.
These refs bailing out Celtics too. Horford hooks Middleton but the foul is on Khris.
Horford the real difference maker tonight. Without Horford Bucks are probably leading.
If this is what we can expect from the refs in this aeries I don’t think the Bucks will win
Just pathetic. Like watching the mid 90s Knicks hacking and grabbing
Have the Bucks played this bad all season?? If they have I don't remember it.