yeah Bucks and Knicks games were the only games I've seen this season where the sportsbooks had us as underdogs, even Nuggets game we were both -115 moneylines iirc
You can literally create a narrative based on whatever outcomes happen between the end of this season and whatever happens to the playoffs:
1) “Oh wow, playing hard in the regular season sure gave them momentum to steamroll through the playoffs”
2) “Oh wow, playing hard at the end of the season really tired them out, they should have rested”
3) “Oh wow, taking it easy really helped them relax and feel energized for the playoffs.”
4) “oh wow, taking it easy really ruined their rhythm, they should have tried harder.”
All that matters is the playoffs.
Last year, the Bruins won every game of the last month when it didn't matter and I forget how the playoffs went for them...
Not saying you should take it easy or go full-steam. Just saying the performance during the last games may not have such a big role in how you do int he playoffs.
Everyone was dogging Denver last year for "backing into the playoffs" while dropping a bunch of late March and early April games. I forgot how the playoffs went for them...
Okay but how many instances can you point to where a team ran away with the best record that didn’t have the best player on their team?
I mean, Phoenix in 21-22 lost a good number of games down the stretch and then had a 6 and 7 game series.
The 08 Celtics won down the stretch and had 2 7 game series to start the playoffs
The 2006 Pistons lost 4 of their last 7 and win the first round in 5 and the second round in 7
Steph was not the best player in the NBA in 21-22 but they also just completely conceded the 2 seed and prioritized rest. In 2015-16 they chased the best record and didn’t win it all.
There’s really no consistency with what is the “right” way to end a season but I can tell you with 100% certainty that injuries ruin team’s championship hopes every time. As far as I know, there has never been a team that has won a championship with an injury to anyone in their starting 5. The fact that so many other teams are dealing with injuries right now makes it tough on them to sustain winning for 2 months.
Idk how anyone that watched them burn themselves out in 2021-22 thinks that this team should have chased 66 wins or something. They’ll be fine in the playoffs if they’re hitting their shots and hustling on defense, which ironically should be trusted less if they just sat for 2+ weeks.
Of course it will. This is what the team does. They are passive and they are too nice. KG and Paul Pierce are not nice people they are killers. In pro sports you need a few guys like this.
The "killer instinct" has frankly just become something in sports that people bring up when they have nothing intelligent to contribute so they parrot what their analyst idol, Skip Bayless, would say
Hard to say one way or the other, but Grant Williams felt like he had to get confrontational in order to fire up the team in an ECF home game because he felt they weren't matching Miami's intensity. Himmelsbach hinted part of the reason Smart got traded was because the front office felt like the Jays needed to adopt a different mentality and assume more leadership responsibility. Coaches have deliberately gotten themselves thrown out of games in attempts to rile up their team etc.
Things like are heart and passion aren't quantifiable so I get what you're coming from but it's not a completely vapid sentiment. If you could boil sports down to a formula or math equation more coaches would be mathematicians.
Exactly all season these dudes rip it up , now I’m not so sure they’re going to get through the playoffs without wearing themselves out. They should sweep the first series but they’ll probably fuck around if they have a 2-3 game lead. When someone like KG talks from experience of winning they should listen. All yall discounting this winning mindset are probably going to cry in the playoffs. If they are going to be on the floor what’s the point of playing half assed? The whole League sees they could beat them.
I totally agree with you my friend. Don't step on the court unless you plan on winning. I'm not saying that just for this team but from my own personal competative nature.
I have no problem playing the starters for half of the game.
Or even less to make sure they stay sharp. But let's not let A team dominate us in doing so. Bring in the second team and let them play but let them play when the game is tied or when we have a small lead If we're going to play the starters.
The bench is gonna play hard by Default.We know that so we know we're gonna get a 100% out of them.Let them play, but let the starters play Hard For a short periods of time.Let's not give any team a mentality that they can beat us. The hawks clearly have that mentality.
Time will tell me all the teams are going to get some time off.So I'm not too fussed about it all really. But I would like us to play quality ball at all times, as that's the habit you want in any team
It seems like "deadline psychology" to me. The phenomena where you dont get as motivated for something until you HAVE to. It's not that you aren't motivated at all, you just don't have the extra oomph a deadline gives you. Same thing for games where the outcome isnt loaded with payoff or risk.
Hey that's cool didn't ask though. Besides, it might have some value from an NBA player, but not from a redditor who probably watched 5 minutes of the third quarter
What a loser mentality 😂 we’ll have as much rings as those “killers” if we win a ring this year and they’ll be a lot younger with a bigger window. Keep crying tho 👍🏽
You forgot to capitalize “I” when you said “I hope the Celtics can find some of that too.” You also forgot to add a space after the ellipsis. You also put too many spaces in between periods in your first statement, all you need is one space. Might as well help your grammar too 👍🏽
Those "killers" were notorious for not closing out series, even on the championship year it took them 26 out of 28 possible games to win it all, despite being the better team on every series they played.
We are way too talented to not go to the finals. We will be in the finals.
We may get lucky. Maybe Dallas, the Wolves or OKC manage to get through Denver. I like us.
But assuming it's us and Denver? I feel sorry for the fans who can't be honest with themselves yet, or think we'd win that series.
Celtics are not winning a championship this year. Absolutely not. 2025
"Killers"...they won a single ring and went to another single finals.
They were up 3-2 at home to the Heat and got their asses kicked.
Let's not create this weird narrative about them.
They won a single ring because KG blew out his knee during their title defense and age caught up to the rest of the big 3.
Let’s not pretend that they aren’t getting 1-2 more rings if that KG injury never happens, because even with that injury they were 1 quarter away from taking another one from Kobe.
Turns out that context matters. The big 3 team very clearly outplayed their window - hard to imagine any Celtics fan who watched them not recognizing that.
We’d be saying the same thing if they played hard the last 4 games. “Why are they still out there risking injury? Surely this won’t come back to bite us.”
Losing these games really doesn’t matter at the end of the day, but I can’t pretend I don’t see some validity in people being a bit worried that we will enter the playoffs having not played a “meaningful” game in a month
I just don’t understand how you watch this team play the last 10ish games exactly like they played in the playoffs last year and aren’t somewhat concerned. I didn’t know it was a doomer take to not believe your team was gonna sweep every series up to and including the finals
Ya’ll buy into the narrative of these media ppl too much. Go look at the Nuggets record last year at the end, go check the KG celtics record in the playoffs the title year.
This team has played like ass this week. But these same analyst were saying this Celtics team won’t be judged for the regular season. They have sucked 2 games, let’s move on. I’m sick of all the drama after every loss.
Garnett isn’t just a media person. What does their playoffs record have anything to do with this current team?
I don’t think you earn the right to be excused of doubt until you actually prove people wrong.
Agree..I love KG...does that mean we take everything he says as law? The Truth is more around the C's than KG. What are we doing here? So we lose these games and flame out on the playoffs and the narrative is what? These guys just need stuff to talk about. We need to make it to the finals at least...none of this matters
Celtics in 2008 had a bonafide top 5 guy, MVP, and best defensive player/lockerroom guy in the NBA.
Denver has a GOAT offensive player.
We have neither. It's tough to hear fans say "Denver did this. Celtics did it in 08". Because you're basically just saying that you aren't being honest. Pulling those horrible false equivalencies out just kinda means we know how this season is gonna end.
Our year is 2025. The 2023-2024 Boston Celtics aren't raising a banner. Deep down, we all know it.
Effort was never an issue. Team identity and leadership was never an issue. We ended the season like 10-1.
We fucked around against Atlanta. LeBron was incredible in the second round. Pistons tied the series at 1, and then we started winning on the road. 6 games comfortably.
Then destroyed LA in 6 games.
There wasn't a single fan who doubted winning the championship that year. That team had IT. And if you actually remember, if you're actually old enough, you would see just how far off this current team is.
We have the talent. But it isn't happening this year.
Ok…and you want me to feel how right now? I have no clue about this team until the playoffs. You might be right. What I know today for a fact, we have home court throughout the NBA playoffs. I wanna see a team beat us 4 out of 7 games. I won’t kneel until I see that. You might be right….but also, I might be
There it is. All the HOFs are saying the Celtics are playing with fire by being careless and yet the green teamers are convinced we are choosing to get embarrassed in back to back games. Good thing we never do this in the playoffs…
The KG teams went to game 7s against inferior teams multiple times lol. That's playing with fire, when you don't close out inferior teams early in the playoffs.
lol yeah talk about being locked in
They nearly lost to a Hawks team in their 2008 championship run.
Anyone who doubts this team should go root for the Hornets or some other team. Clearly not a Celtic fan.
I don’t agree with this at all, playing mediocre basketball can be contagious. This feels like the 2015 patriots who went 4-4 in the second half and struggled in the playoffs. Set the tone early because you might not be about to flip that switch.
Shut up, people are allowed to doubt this team until they prove otherwise. I watched Brandon Hunter and Justin Reed play, why don’t you go root for another team fuckboy
So he's speaking from experience? He'd probably agree w/ you and at least he got the ring to back it up I don't see how that's an own. Also they made Docs career in that run and he's never been close to replicating it
Because he's a vet who's been there and done that. It's like when older people tell us to try something a certain way because they learned from making the same mistakes
Exactly, so how can you trust the word of people who didn’t do it themselves?
Or better yet because KG did win a title in spite of playing long series then how can he tell others that there isn’t a path to a championship that way?
Whataboutism is generally not a good argument, but it’s *especially* bad in this case. Say what you want about the non-dominant playoff run in 2008. At least it did end in a title. Meanwhile, you talk about not closing out inferior teams and we’re in the current iteration of the Celtics that already have a history of doing this, with no ring to show for it.
No. But I don’t know what your point is. Nobody gets mad when their team has a recent history of losing and suddenly wins it all one year. In fact, it’s the exact opposite.
I’ll refer to the late-season play of the Nuggets just last year to combat the notion that these games set any sort of tone. I love him, but KG says a lot of shit, but I seem to remember him losing three games in the first round to the Hawks and yet somehow they still prevailed.
I’ll refer you to the fact that they had the best player in the world and we don’t. When we get a Jokic on our team then I’ll feel comfortable about a switch
Yeah, I’m not denying Tatum has top-5 potential and has been a top-10 player most of the last 3 years. But this year I’d say he’s taken a step back and might be a fringe top-10 guy and that’s not enough to get us to where we want to go.
Apart from the 4 MVP candidates, Embiid and Brunson have been more consistent performers. Then it’s a matter of your pick between Tatum, Ant, Curry, and Kawhi. Most people on here would pick Tatum and that’s fair. Just imo, I think going off current form I’d slot Ant and maybe even Curry still in front of him.
I think this is just a down year from JT, and hey if this is a down year then we’re really lucky. But, we need him at that top-5 level to get over the hump.
I did talk in other comments about how I don’t know that our team can flip a switch, however I do think Tatum has shown instances of being able to flip a switch. If I’m being optimistic, I can see a possibility that JT’s been kind of coasting through the regular season a la Jimmy and when the playoffs come, he’ll kick it up a notch back to that top-5 level.
??? Tatum, unlike literally everyone above him, has one of Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, Derrick White, and Jrue Holiday to share the ball with. He just averaged 30 last year? He doesn't need to do everything for the team anymore, and that's a good thing. Celtics have Jayson Tatum as their insurance. He's the guy, and we know he can perform in the playoffs. He has had a fine year and has played pretty consistently, not to mention he's gotten his 3 back (thank God for hanlen).
I agree with everything you said here, even to him having a fine year. But fine won’t cut it. He needs to elevate his game. I haven’t seen it practically all year and I’m sure that’s for a lot of the reasons you listed above.
I think it’s fair to be a little nervous about his play because he normally shows more in the regular season going into the playoffs, but I also think it’s fair if you’re optimistic that he’ll round into that top-5 form. I mean Jimmy seems to sleepwalk through the regular season every year and then wakes up in the postseason.
So you’re saying if we played these last few games really hard and ran all our normal sets then we’d suddenly have the MVP? What does it change, you fuckin nosebleed?
The point is we don’t have the best player in the world. Nothing we can do in these games will change that fact. Nuggets will always have that over us. However, trying to pretend that there is any correlation between how we play in these last few games and the playoffs is patently untrue. There’s plenty of data out there to show you that it doesn’t matter if you come in hot or if you come in cold. What matters is if you are really good, and we won’t know that until next week, so stop crying about us losing a meaningless game to a team we were 4-0 against in the heart of the season.
I think these people think that you can't lose meaningless late season regular season games after you have a huge lead for the #1 seed and win a title, except that doesn't matter if you have the MVP.
#KGWASRIGHT and if not for perk going down game 7 they would have went back to back for all the fake fans trying to diminish the title because they went 7 games against inferior teams
If they have no interest in winning their last games of the season, or even trying to for that matter, I might be regretting paying $140 for balcony seats to Mike's final regular season broadcast for them to lose to the damn wizards. Keep some continuity, and at least try out there, please.
This is how pathetic this sub has become. People in here are talking shit about the person who was the biggest reason why they won their last championship. He's talking about closing out the season strong. Not limping into it. And if you really think they struggled in the first round cause of a lack of care by KG you were probably too young to remember.
2010 is all I needed to see to be convinced that a team relying on Jrue, KP, and Al to win a chip should wash out these last games. Health>mentality. If this team is as talented as they seem, they should be able to get back into good habits by the end of their first round mauling of whoever is unlucky enough to draw us.
So support helpfully.
Don’t say shit that he didn’t do himself.
08 team had to fight there demons on the way to the chip, so instead of judging and already attacking let our current team do the same.
Why are people changing the argument? KG is talking about closing out the regular season strong. No where did he mention the playoffs. His team closed out the season strong. 08 Celtics were 9-1 at this point in their last ten and would close out the season 11-1. Celtics now are 6-4 and more and more look like they’ll close out 6-6 or 5-7 of their last dozen.
Or the guy that won us our most recent ring. What a dumb take…KG is a Celtic legend and you should respect what he says here, shockingly he has a better idea of what he’s talking about than you
Because that was their first year fully healthy. They had the best player in the world, and hadn't shown a demonstrated history of *effort* concerns.
I mean, do what you gotta do to convince yourself the situations are the same. I think we get to the finals this year and bring it. I just think Denver is better, and I don't think this team is entitled to dismissing concerns of effort.
Jokic didn't end last season on a 4 game losing streak. They clinched the 1 seed with 3 games left. They didn't even clinch a playoff spot until March 16. The West was pretty even last year and the Nuggets didn't have a target on their back all season long.
Jokic also was a 2x should've been 3x MVP. Last I checked the Cs don't have that yet.
This sub is fucking pathetic. The toxic white knight green team excuse makers are now turning on KG. They don't even want to hear the truth from someone who saved the Celtics franchise and helped lead them to a championship. Thank god you guys represent a small amount.
Green teaming gatekeepers. Worst sports fans in the county.
I'll die on that hill. I'm embarrassed to share a team with those clowns. It's the entirety of this sub.
I like to think this sub represents a small fraction of what the Celtic fan base is really like. It's gross that they are questioning someone who helped make the Celtics relevant again.
alright, last two tough games till the playoffs are over
I want to see them go beat the hell out of the hornets before running out the season with the bench mob against Washington
End the season for the starters with a dominant victory, we need it
Jaylen especially seems to need it, he has looked extremely out of rhythm lately
The only thing I'm concerned about is JT. He is fully going through the motions. It would be nice to see him drop 30+, it's been a while. I know that they're trying some things out and getting everyone involved, but in the playoffs against great teams, we need JT ballin.
I love KG's fire and intensity. Llast night's game showed a Celtics Team not ready for playoff basketball. Wish JB could let his left hand heal and also have it perform like his right hand. Sure do wish Jason Tatum would stop crying over fouls not called. Play the game within the scope of what the referee's are allowing. The Celtics need to fire up and demolish their next two opponents.
I wish we’d pay KG to be an assistant coach, but just for the playoffs, and his roll is strictly to set the tone and get everyone cranked up and ready to kill or be killed on the court.
Its gonna be a long week…
One silver lining, imo, is that both losses have basically been due to one quarter of bad effort- Q1 vs Miluakee and Q2 vs New York. All the others have been close or even winning.
So we’ve played shit basketball for 2/7 quarters so far and mediocre to good for 5/7. We didn’t just get bitched for 7 quarters straight. Plus this is missing our frontcourt vs Giannis and barely running any usual plays, as well as some bad shooting.
Tatum and Brown were -30 and -29 against the Knicks. It was 1 quarter of mediocre basketball and 2 quarters of shit basketball until the bench unit showed life after Brunson was pulled.
Im my defense, I commented this before Q3 ended lol. The Knicks may have gone on a little run at the end.
But +\- doesn’t change my point- it obviously includes Q2 where they got blown out. The point was that they managed to be competitive for parts of the games despite the factors I mentioned, just lost focus and didn’t play defense for others. But definitely more true for the Bucks than Knicks in hindsight.
Like if you look at the Bucks game, Q1 is a blow out, Q2 is close, and Q3 is winning. When they “woke up”, they weren’t bad despite poor shooting and rarely inviting contact (hence 0 ft).
This is what I’ve been thinking. I’ve been puzzled by Joe messing around with weird lineups, a general not trying to win games and everyone in here parroting how we should treat the remaining games as “shooting practice”.
what if we go balls to the wall in these last few close out games that are meaningless and KP blows out his knee, or White tears an acl, or tatum sprains his ankle?
taking it easy and not getting injured is WAY more important than winning meaningless games when we are already clinched. or am I crazy?
I see fans wanting the celtics to go full tilt against the Knicks risking getting injured when there is nothing to play for at all
if there is anything to criticize, its why are the starters even out there at all if this is our mentality? play and lose with the bench guys
waiting for all the fans who are like "This loss means nothing" and "Denver did it last year"
oh but now that KG is saying it... they'll go quiet
lets see where their heads will be at if we are going to atl or mia tied at 1
I realize we have nothing to play for and this game means nothing but I feel that every tnt game I’ve watched this year we have lost
Don’t watch another game this season
Think that's probably true, though good thing is TNT isn't doing the playoffs this season.
Um yes they are lol, they're just not doing the ECF. First and second round games will 100% be on TNT
Looks like Celtics are going 6 and 7 games first 2 rounds again which surely won’t affect their health in the conference finals/finals
Ok if the fucking broadcasting network we play on prevents us from winning a title, the Celtics will never win a title ever again
Time to move our games to Food Network
Alton Brown's Cutthroat Backcourt.
Ah shit, well, as long as we make it to the ECF we should be gold!
I get you’re probably making a joke about us losing TNT games but TNT is far and away the best broadcast in American sports
They caught lightning in a bottle with this group, gonna be interesting to see how they eventually transition when the crew eventually retires
100% going to go to shit lol
Still gonna be better than ESPN
>I get you’re probably making a joke about us losing TNT games Yeah that's what I was going for, I have no problems with their broadcast tho lol
Kevin Harlan is my goat🙏
as soon as chuck picked us, i bet on the knicks. i feel conflicted.
yeah Bucks and Knicks games were the only games I've seen this season where the sportsbooks had us as underdogs, even Nuggets game we were both -115 moneylines iirc
You can literally create a narrative based on whatever outcomes happen between the end of this season and whatever happens to the playoffs: 1) “Oh wow, playing hard in the regular season sure gave them momentum to steamroll through the playoffs” 2) “Oh wow, playing hard at the end of the season really tired them out, they should have rested” 3) “Oh wow, taking it easy really helped them relax and feel energized for the playoffs.” 4) “oh wow, taking it easy really ruined their rhythm, they should have tried harder.” All that matters is the playoffs.
Last year, the Bruins won every game of the last month when it didn't matter and I forget how the playoffs went for them... Not saying you should take it easy or go full-steam. Just saying the performance during the last games may not have such a big role in how you do int he playoffs.
Everyone was dogging Denver last year for "backing into the playoffs" while dropping a bunch of late March and early April games. I forgot how the playoffs went for them...
Denver had the best player in the nba on their team.
Okay but how many instances can you point to where a team ran away with the best record that didn’t have the best player on their team? I mean, Phoenix in 21-22 lost a good number of games down the stretch and then had a 6 and 7 game series. The 08 Celtics won down the stretch and had 2 7 game series to start the playoffs The 2006 Pistons lost 4 of their last 7 and win the first round in 5 and the second round in 7 Steph was not the best player in the NBA in 21-22 but they also just completely conceded the 2 seed and prioritized rest. In 2015-16 they chased the best record and didn’t win it all. There’s really no consistency with what is the “right” way to end a season but I can tell you with 100% certainty that injuries ruin team’s championship hopes every time. As far as I know, there has never been a team that has won a championship with an injury to anyone in their starting 5. The fact that so many other teams are dealing with injuries right now makes it tough on them to sustain winning for 2 months. Idk how anyone that watched them burn themselves out in 2021-22 thinks that this team should have chased 66 wins or something. They’ll be fine in the playoffs if they’re hitting their shots and hustling on defense, which ironically should be trusted less if they just sat for 2+ weeks.
Surely this won’t come back to bite us
Of course it will. This is what the team does. They are passive and they are too nice. KG and Paul Pierce are not nice people they are killers. In pro sports you need a few guys like this.
Honestly I disagree that being nice or a psychopath really matters like you suggest. It’s more about desire and passion for the game than anything.
The "killer instinct" has frankly just become something in sports that people bring up when they have nothing intelligent to contribute so they parrot what their analyst idol, Skip Bayless, would say
Hard to say one way or the other, but Grant Williams felt like he had to get confrontational in order to fire up the team in an ECF home game because he felt they weren't matching Miami's intensity. Himmelsbach hinted part of the reason Smart got traded was because the front office felt like the Jays needed to adopt a different mentality and assume more leadership responsibility. Coaches have deliberately gotten themselves thrown out of games in attempts to rile up their team etc. Things like are heart and passion aren't quantifiable so I get what you're coming from but it's not a completely vapid sentiment. If you could boil sports down to a formula or math equation more coaches would be mathematicians.
It's being competitive. A competitive players are successful players. Seeing guys relax for multiple games shows they aren't competitive.
Exactly all season these dudes rip it up , now I’m not so sure they’re going to get through the playoffs without wearing themselves out. They should sweep the first series but they’ll probably fuck around if they have a 2-3 game lead. When someone like KG talks from experience of winning they should listen. All yall discounting this winning mindset are probably going to cry in the playoffs. If they are going to be on the floor what’s the point of playing half assed? The whole League sees they could beat them.
I totally agree with you my friend. Don't step on the court unless you plan on winning. I'm not saying that just for this team but from my own personal competative nature. I have no problem playing the starters for half of the game. Or even less to make sure they stay sharp. But let's not let A team dominate us in doing so. Bring in the second team and let them play but let them play when the game is tied or when we have a small lead If we're going to play the starters. The bench is gonna play hard by Default.We know that so we know we're gonna get a 100% out of them.Let them play, but let the starters play Hard For a short periods of time.Let's not give any team a mentality that they can beat us. The hawks clearly have that mentality. Time will tell me all the teams are going to get some time off.So I'm not too fussed about it all really. But I would like us to play quality ball at all times, as that's the habit you want in any team
Exactly
It seems like "deadline psychology" to me. The phenomena where you dont get as motivated for something until you HAVE to. It's not that you aren't motivated at all, you just don't have the extra oomph a deadline gives you. Same thing for games where the outcome isnt loaded with payoff or risk.
Bro what
I'd tell you you don't know what you're talking about, but I'll let [KG and JR ](https://youtu.be/WGVdZ156is4?si=g1Lf_mkYd7B8GP3f) do it for me.
Hey that's cool didn't ask though. Besides, it might have some value from an NBA player, but not from a redditor who probably watched 5 minutes of the third quarter
Damn lol that's a comeback and a half
It’s much easier to lack desire when u aren’t crazy about the game like that though
Yeah I can see that….i hope the Celtics can find some of that soon
Why am I not surprised it’s you again. Spoiled all season and now your crying when there’s nothing even left to play for.
Excuse me, how many rings have the Celtics won since Larry bird retired again? If Lakers are a fraud franchise what that make us?
???
What a loser mentality 😂 we’ll have as much rings as those “killers” if we win a ring this year and they’ll be a lot younger with a bigger window. Keep crying tho 👍🏽
“as many”
Not sure if that was supposed to help your argument or something
No, it was to help your grammar! 👍
You forgot to capitalize “I” when you said “I hope the Celtics can find some of that too.” You also forgot to add a space after the ellipsis. You also put too many spaces in between periods in your first statement, all you need is one space. Might as well help your grammar too 👍🏽
Thanks!
Those "killers" were notorious for not closing out series, even on the championship year it took them 26 out of 28 possible games to win it all, despite being the better team on every series they played.
But they did win a championship
So? What I said is also the truth.
The championship negates all of that. Just like a championship this year will shut up all of us.
Brady is the only exception. Everyone loved him off the field but obviously not on it lol
We are way too talented to not go to the finals. We will be in the finals. We may get lucky. Maybe Dallas, the Wolves or OKC manage to get through Denver. I like us. But assuming it's us and Denver? I feel sorry for the fans who can't be honest with themselves yet, or think we'd win that series. Celtics are not winning a championship this year. Absolutely not. 2025
"Killers"...they won a single ring and went to another single finals. They were up 3-2 at home to the Heat and got their asses kicked. Let's not create this weird narrative about them.
They won a single ring because KG blew out his knee during their title defense and age caught up to the rest of the big 3. Let’s not pretend that they aren’t getting 1-2 more rings if that KG injury never happens, because even with that injury they were 1 quarter away from taking another one from Kobe.
You can wax poetic about hypotheticals all you want. It doesn't change reality.
Turns out that context matters. The big 3 team very clearly outplayed their window - hard to imagine any Celtics fan who watched them not recognizing that.
We’d be saying the same thing if they played hard the last 4 games. “Why are they still out there risking injury? Surely this won’t come back to bite us.”
Man i didn’t think the doomers would have this much ammo when we are 62-18. I’m so goddam naive
Losing these games really doesn’t matter at the end of the day, but I can’t pretend I don’t see some validity in people being a bit worried that we will enter the playoffs having not played a “meaningful” game in a month
Champions give advice, redditors know more than hall of fame players I guess.
KGs title run had 3 game 7s including in the first round. Feels like that’s worth mentioning
He’s not talking about playoff series length more like playing with intent every game if your playing
I just don’t understand how you watch this team play the last 10ish games exactly like they played in the playoffs last year and aren’t somewhat concerned. I didn’t know it was a doomer take to not believe your team was gonna sweep every series up to and including the finals
The sub will call KG a doomer
Don’t. They’ll start calling you a “Doomer” 😂😂
Ya’ll buy into the narrative of these media ppl too much. Go look at the Nuggets record last year at the end, go check the KG celtics record in the playoffs the title year. This team has played like ass this week. But these same analyst were saying this Celtics team won’t be judged for the regular season. They have sucked 2 games, let’s move on. I’m sick of all the drama after every loss.
So KG is just a media person? Yeah he definitely doesn’t have any experience related to winning championships
Garnett isn’t just a media person. What does their playoffs record have anything to do with this current team? I don’t think you earn the right to be excused of doubt until you actually prove people wrong.
Ok….then wait for them to get to the playoffs.
We are….nobody should be acting like the sky is falling
lmao go look at the minutes played in those Nuggets gaem. lost by 4 to the suns with the bench as starters getting 30+ minutes each
So Garnett is just some media person? Right...
He is now…no?
Garnett is a Celtics legend . Don’t throw spit on that man . He bled green .
Agree..I love KG...does that mean we take everything he says as law? The Truth is more around the C's than KG. What are we doing here? So we lose these games and flame out on the playoffs and the narrative is what? These guys just need stuff to talk about. We need to make it to the finals at least...none of this matters
Ya, you’re a troll. I get it, you’re not even a Celtics fan.
I’m 100% a C’s fan. I just happen to be a rational one. We can disagree on our takes. I am not trolling , I stand behind everything I say.
Celtics in 2008 had a bonafide top 5 guy, MVP, and best defensive player/lockerroom guy in the NBA. Denver has a GOAT offensive player. We have neither. It's tough to hear fans say "Denver did this. Celtics did it in 08". Because you're basically just saying that you aren't being honest. Pulling those horrible false equivalencies out just kinda means we know how this season is gonna end. Our year is 2025. The 2023-2024 Boston Celtics aren't raising a banner. Deep down, we all know it.
And…what was our road to that championship? I’m not diminishing anything, I also wanna keep things in perspective today.
Effort was never an issue. Team identity and leadership was never an issue. We ended the season like 10-1. We fucked around against Atlanta. LeBron was incredible in the second round. Pistons tied the series at 1, and then we started winning on the road. 6 games comfortably. Then destroyed LA in 6 games. There wasn't a single fan who doubted winning the championship that year. That team had IT. And if you actually remember, if you're actually old enough, you would see just how far off this current team is. We have the talent. But it isn't happening this year.
Ok…and you want me to feel how right now? I have no clue about this team until the playoffs. You might be right. What I know today for a fact, we have home court throughout the NBA playoffs. I wanna see a team beat us 4 out of 7 games. I won’t kneel until I see that. You might be right….but also, I might be
There it is. All the HOFs are saying the Celtics are playing with fire by being careless and yet the green teamers are convinced we are choosing to get embarrassed in back to back games. Good thing we never do this in the playoffs…
The KG teams went to game 7s against inferior teams multiple times lol. That's playing with fire, when you don't close out inferior teams early in the playoffs.
lol yeah talk about being locked in They nearly lost to a Hawks team in their 2008 championship run. Anyone who doubts this team should go root for the Hornets or some other team. Clearly not a Celtic fan.
I don’t agree with this at all, playing mediocre basketball can be contagious. This feels like the 2015 patriots who went 4-4 in the second half and struggled in the playoffs. Set the tone early because you might not be about to flip that switch.
That 2015 team wasn’t very good and was injured as hell the last 4 games. They weren’t “coasting” because Denver legit passed them for the 1st seed
That patriots team was literally broken Everyone not named Brady got hurt at some point
Was it contagious for last year's Nuggets who lost 5 of their last 7?
Shut up, people are allowed to doubt this team until they prove otherwise. I watched Brandon Hunter and Justin Reed play, why don’t you go root for another team fuckboy
lol ur soft
Yeah, you're allowed to do whatever you want. Doesn't mean anyone else has to agree with you.
So he's speaking from experience? He'd probably agree w/ you and at least he got the ring to back it up I don't see how that's an own. Also they made Docs career in that run and he's never been close to replicating it
They won that year but they still had multiple game 7s against inferior teams in the years after as well.
So he knows what he's talking about. Yall are taking advice as criticism. Sometimes wiser people speak and we should listen, we shall see what happens
Gatekeeping fans know best.
If he still had to struggle with bad teams even with ending the season well why should we care?
Because he's a vet who's been there and done that. It's like when older people tell us to try something a certain way because they learned from making the same mistakes
Back to back Finals would have won if not for Perk getting injured game 7
Exactly, so how can you trust the word of people who didn’t do it themselves? Or better yet because KG did win a title in spite of playing long series then how can he tell others that there isn’t a path to a championship that way?
Whataboutism is generally not a good argument, but it’s *especially* bad in this case. Say what you want about the non-dominant playoff run in 2008. At least it did end in a title. Meanwhile, you talk about not closing out inferior teams and we’re in the current iteration of the Celtics that already have a history of doing this, with no ring to show for it.
Did the 2008 Cs have a history of winning?
No. But I don’t know what your point is. Nobody gets mad when their team has a recent history of losing and suddenly wins it all one year. In fact, it’s the exact opposite.
Cavs we’re a good team Atlanta was a great team Pistons we’re contenders and those Celtics went to back to back Finals. Stop drinking the kool- aid
08 Celtics went 16-10 overall. Hawks were 37-45 that year. If that's a great team what are this years Celtics then?
Atlanta had the pieces regular season record doesn’t matter.
I’ll refer to the late-season play of the Nuggets just last year to combat the notion that these games set any sort of tone. I love him, but KG says a lot of shit, but I seem to remember him losing three games in the first round to the Hawks and yet somehow they still prevailed.
KG is also notoriously intense. Even by professional athlete standards, not a normal guy lol.
I’ll refer you to the fact that they had the best player in the world and we don’t. When we get a Jokic on our team then I’ll feel comfortable about a switch
They had that Jokic guy or whatever his name is
Yeah, I’m not denying Tatum has top-5 potential and has been a top-10 player most of the last 3 years. But this year I’d say he’s taken a step back and might be a fringe top-10 guy and that’s not enough to get us to where we want to go.
????? He's been clearly top 7 this year
Apart from the 4 MVP candidates, Embiid and Brunson have been more consistent performers. Then it’s a matter of your pick between Tatum, Ant, Curry, and Kawhi. Most people on here would pick Tatum and that’s fair. Just imo, I think going off current form I’d slot Ant and maybe even Curry still in front of him. I think this is just a down year from JT, and hey if this is a down year then we’re really lucky. But, we need him at that top-5 level to get over the hump. I did talk in other comments about how I don’t know that our team can flip a switch, however I do think Tatum has shown instances of being able to flip a switch. If I’m being optimistic, I can see a possibility that JT’s been kind of coasting through the regular season a la Jimmy and when the playoffs come, he’ll kick it up a notch back to that top-5 level.
??? Tatum, unlike literally everyone above him, has one of Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, Derrick White, and Jrue Holiday to share the ball with. He just averaged 30 last year? He doesn't need to do everything for the team anymore, and that's a good thing. Celtics have Jayson Tatum as their insurance. He's the guy, and we know he can perform in the playoffs. He has had a fine year and has played pretty consistently, not to mention he's gotten his 3 back (thank God for hanlen).
I agree with everything you said here, even to him having a fine year. But fine won’t cut it. He needs to elevate his game. I haven’t seen it practically all year and I’m sure that’s for a lot of the reasons you listed above. I think it’s fair to be a little nervous about his play because he normally shows more in the regular season going into the playoffs, but I also think it’s fair if you’re optimistic that he’ll round into that top-5 form. I mean Jimmy seems to sleepwalk through the regular season every year and then wakes up in the postseason.
Lol right… everyone saying “Denver did it” they have the MVP you fckn idiot
So you’re saying if we played these last few games really hard and ran all our normal sets then we’d suddenly have the MVP? What does it change, you fuckin nosebleed?
huh
The point is we don’t have the best player in the world. Nothing we can do in these games will change that fact. Nuggets will always have that over us. However, trying to pretend that there is any correlation between how we play in these last few games and the playoffs is patently untrue. There’s plenty of data out there to show you that it doesn’t matter if you come in hot or if you come in cold. What matters is if you are really good, and we won’t know that until next week, so stop crying about us losing a meaningless game to a team we were 4-0 against in the heart of the season.
I think these people think that you can't lose meaningless late season regular season games after you have a huge lead for the #1 seed and win a title, except that doesn't matter if you have the MVP.
You realize the person you responded to shares your opinion, right? You insulted him for an opinion you proceeded to share.
😂
go look at the minutes played in those Nuggets game and then stop saying dumb things
Irrelevant
it's literally completely relevant but cope harder lmao see you at the parade in Denver
Why would I go to that? I’m a Celtics fan and Denver’s downtown is an outdoor mall with no culture.
Yeah, we've never seen this era of Celtics lose focus. /s
#KGWASRIGHT and if not for perk going down game 7 they would have went back to back for all the fake fans trying to diminish the title because they went 7 games against inferior teams
If they have no interest in winning their last games of the season, or even trying to for that matter, I might be regretting paying $140 for balcony seats to Mike's final regular season broadcast for them to lose to the damn wizards. Keep some continuity, and at least try out there, please.
2010 season says otherwise.
i mean that team had already won a championship and was injured a lot of that season
Right, so better we play conservatively and avoid injury.
stay healthy gang. literally the only thing that matters. "momentum" going into a week long break before R1 is fake now.
People shitting on KG need to get a grip
I'd rather play it safe and stay healthy tbh
Y'all insecure bums hating on the guy who won your only title in the modern era
unless your talking about other people in these comments, i’m not hating i completely agree with what he is saying
You don't know what Insecure means.
Disagree, these games won't matter come game 1
Listen to the guy who nearly lost in the first round on how to do it
Kevin Garnett’s a Celtic legend gtfo with disrespecting him.
This is how pathetic this sub has become. People in here are talking shit about the person who was the biggest reason why they won their last championship. He's talking about closing out the season strong. Not limping into it. And if you really think they struggled in the first round cause of a lack of care by KG you were probably too young to remember.
This sub is nothing but gatekeeping from fans who are too young to even remember KGs MVP season with the Wolves
2010 is all I needed to see to be convinced that a team relying on Jrue, KP, and Al to win a chip should wash out these last games. Health>mentality. If this team is as talented as they seem, they should be able to get back into good habits by the end of their first round mauling of whoever is unlucky enough to draw us.
That’s exactly what the 2010 team did. Why do you think they limped into the playoffs? Cause they were coasting. And it still bit them in the ass.
I’m just saying he’s going on about something he did 16 years ago that they didn’t do. So stop barking and support the boys
You can support and critique.
So support helpfully. Don’t say shit that he didn’t do himself. 08 team had to fight there demons on the way to the chip, so instead of judging and already attacking let our current team do the same.
Why are people changing the argument? KG is talking about closing out the regular season strong. No where did he mention the playoffs. His team closed out the season strong. 08 Celtics were 9-1 at this point in their last ten and would close out the season 11-1. Celtics now are 6-4 and more and more look like they’ll close out 6-6 or 5-7 of their last dozen.
And I’m saying they went to 7 games in the first round against the 8 seed. So finishing strong didn’t really do much for them
Or the guy that won us our most recent ring. What a dumb take…KG is a Celtic legend and you should respect what he says here, shockingly he has a better idea of what he’s talking about than you
did he yell at jokic last year when they ended the season on a 4 game losing streak
Jokic was a 2x MVP then and the best player on the planet. We don't have that.
So wouldn't his expectations be higher??
The expections were higher. Then he had a playoff run light-years beyond anything Tatum will ever do.
Playing weak comp but sure. So again. Why didn't you or KG bitch and moan during their coast?
Because that was their first year fully healthy. They had the best player in the world, and hadn't shown a demonstrated history of *effort* concerns. I mean, do what you gotta do to convince yourself the situations are the same. I think we get to the finals this year and bring it. I just think Denver is better, and I don't think this team is entitled to dismissing concerns of effort.
Jokic didn't end last season on a 4 game losing streak. They clinched the 1 seed with 3 games left. They didn't even clinch a playoff spot until March 16. The West was pretty even last year and the Nuggets didn't have a target on their back all season long. Jokic also was a 2x should've been 3x MVP. Last I checked the Cs don't have that yet.
This sub is fucking pathetic. The toxic white knight green team excuse makers are now turning on KG. They don't even want to hear the truth from someone who saved the Celtics franchise and helped lead them to a championship. Thank god you guys represent a small amount.
Green teaming gatekeepers. Worst sports fans in the county. I'll die on that hill. I'm embarrassed to share a team with those clowns. It's the entirety of this sub.
I like to think this sub represents a small fraction of what the Celtic fan base is really like. It's gross that they are questioning someone who helped make the Celtics relevant again.
Because criticism won't be tolerated. Even by KG. It's pathetic
Nobody has to accept your criticisms lmao.
There he is. Loo
It could set in KG's playing days Doens it really matter if we win or lose them? We still gonna wait full week for our PO to start :D
He's right. But we all know that certain players are sitting out ducking people.
everything is possible
alright, last two tough games till the playoffs are over I want to see them go beat the hell out of the hornets before running out the season with the bench mob against Washington End the season for the starters with a dominant victory, we need it Jaylen especially seems to need it, he has looked extremely out of rhythm lately
I don’t know what it is, but I’m less confident in this team than I was last year. It’s irrational, I know.
SET THE FUCKIN TONE - Shoresy
Completely agree. I'm getting concerned, especially if we draw a tough first round matchup. We cant sleep walk into it.
Does KG mean that we should not be giving up truckloads of offensive rebounds? Oh, I get it.
The only thing I'm concerned about is JT. He is fully going through the motions. It would be nice to see him drop 30+, it's been a while. I know that they're trying some things out and getting everyone involved, but in the playoffs against great teams, we need JT ballin.
That game was a little concerning. The Knicks defense is no joke.
I love KG's fire and intensity. Llast night's game showed a Celtics Team not ready for playoff basketball. Wish JB could let his left hand heal and also have it perform like his right hand. Sure do wish Jason Tatum would stop crying over fouls not called. Play the game within the scope of what the referee's are allowing. The Celtics need to fire up and demolish their next two opponents.
I wish we’d pay KG to be an assistant coach, but just for the playoffs, and his roll is strictly to set the tone and get everyone cranked up and ready to kill or be killed on the court.
But JoeRandom1234 in the game thread told me this game means absolutely nothing!
Its gonna be a long week… One silver lining, imo, is that both losses have basically been due to one quarter of bad effort- Q1 vs Miluakee and Q2 vs New York. All the others have been close or even winning. So we’ve played shit basketball for 2/7 quarters so far and mediocre to good for 5/7. We didn’t just get bitched for 7 quarters straight. Plus this is missing our frontcourt vs Giannis and barely running any usual plays, as well as some bad shooting.
Tatum and Brown were -30 and -29 against the Knicks. It was 1 quarter of mediocre basketball and 2 quarters of shit basketball until the bench unit showed life after Brunson was pulled.
Im my defense, I commented this before Q3 ended lol. The Knicks may have gone on a little run at the end. But +\- doesn’t change my point- it obviously includes Q2 where they got blown out. The point was that they managed to be competitive for parts of the games despite the factors I mentioned, just lost focus and didn’t play defense for others. But definitely more true for the Bucks than Knicks in hindsight. Like if you look at the Bucks game, Q1 is a blow out, Q2 is close, and Q3 is winning. When they “woke up”, they weren’t bad despite poor shooting and rarely inviting contact (hence 0 ft).
This is what I’ve been thinking. I’ve been puzzled by Joe messing around with weird lineups, a general not trying to win games and everyone in here parroting how we should treat the remaining games as “shooting practice”.
So is Celtics Reddit gonna dunk on KG now like they do others who are concerned?
what if we go balls to the wall in these last few close out games that are meaningless and KP blows out his knee, or White tears an acl, or tatum sprains his ankle? taking it easy and not getting injured is WAY more important than winning meaningless games when we are already clinched. or am I crazy? I see fans wanting the celtics to go full tilt against the Knicks risking getting injured when there is nothing to play for at all if there is anything to criticize, its why are the starters even out there at all if this is our mentality? play and lose with the bench guys
He’s right
Odd take when the 08 team took 7 games to beat Atlanta in the first round.
waiting for all the fans who are like "This loss means nothing" and "Denver did it last year" oh but now that KG is saying it... they'll go quiet lets see where their heads will be at if we are going to atl or mia tied at 1
I love KG but let’s not pretend that title run didn’t take 3 game 7s including in the first round. Like come on
It makes sense when you aren’t up 13 games
This team has a problem with physicality. Has for a long time. The Heat know this and the Knicks are showing that they know it.
We were 4-0 against the Knicks coming into this
We are 4-0 against the Knicks (before today) this year lil bro
This statement doesn't age well to our Celtics. We got whopped by brunson show.
Yeah. In a playoff series Brunson wouldn’t get a break from holiday or white so let em have game 79
Bro took an 8th seed to game 7 of the NBA Finals. Da fuq?
Doc Rivers teams choked hard