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Off-Topic Miami Heat ‘23 Playoffs

It takes a lot of out of a team to come back down 3-0 in a series. All of those teams have lost in Game 7 by double digits (at least in the modern era).

It doesn't help that Boston's head coach just simply got outclassed by Spo. Last night's performance by the Heat was nothing special...but Spo got their minds right and simply didn't allow Boston to get any real momentum and the Heat played pretty conservatively with a "if we just don't **** this up, we'll win easily" mindset and they did. Miami didn't fall in love with the 3 and chased daggers...when Boston had that 8-0 run when they were down 16 and started to gain momentum...some simple mid-range, inefficient two point shots that were wide open stopped the run by Boston and any momentum. Little things like that kept the game out of reach for Boston.

For Boston...they got to get rid of the guy they have at HC. Just not the guy for this level of basketball, and it seems they have to invest an insane amount of money for Jaylen Brown to run it back or to reconfigure around Jayson Tatum. Not a good finish for the Celtics who might be on the downswing of a run.
 
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Gsugradcanefan said:
I'm glad Miami won but it should've NEVER went 7 games. When you have a chance to close it out that's what you do.
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Dude... they won the series. At the end of the day, would it have been better to win earlier and have less games on their legs? Sure. But they won 4 of 7. Enjoy that.

Spo has now won the conference in 40% of his seasons as a head coach. Insane.
 
Anyone have any idea how effective Tyler Herro will be coming off hand surgery? I know rehab has made huge strides, but this seems a little much.
 
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BoxingRobes said:
It takes a lot of out of a team to come back down 3-0 in a series. All of those teams have lost in Game 7 by double digits (at least in the modern era).

It doesn't help that Boston's head coach just simply got outclassed by Spo. Last night's performance by the Heat was nothing special...but Spo got their minds right and simply didn't allow Boston to get any real momentum and the Heat played pretty conservatively with a "if we just don't **** this up, we'll win easily" mindset and they did. Miami didn't fall in love with the 3 and chased daggers...when Boston had that 8-0 run when they were down 16 and started to gain momentum...some simple mid-range, inefficient two point shots that were wide open stopped the run by Boston and any momentum. Little things like that kept the game out of reach for Boston.

For Boston...they got to get rid of the guy they have at HC. Just not the guy for this level of basketball, and it seems they have to invest an insane amount of money for Jaylen Brown to run it back or to reconfigure around Jayson Tatum. Not a good finish for the Celtics who might be on the downswing of a run.
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Will be interesting to see what happens in Boston now. Firing Mazzulla probably the first move - it's just the easiest way for them to make a change (or make it look like they are making a change). He got put into a tough situation where he was following a much loved coach that had full buy in from the players and where the org either didn't try or wasn't able to replace him with a similar figure from outside before the season got going. They thought all they needed was someone to manage the ship while they cruised to another finals but it was very clear throughout the playoffs that the players never truly bought in and gave up in key stretches. Not to mention his inexperience and the fact that he was going against the guy who is the best coach in the NBA right now (and I don't think it's particularly close).

Brown sounded like he had one foot out the door in every press conference, but the Celtics have the advantage of being able to offer him the most money. But to me, solving the Brown problem is kind of like fixing the sink while the house burns down. Keeping Brown is about keeping this core together, and based on how they looked throughout the playoffs, I'm not even sure why they would want to. The bottom line is this Celtics team is soft as baby sh*t. They put up a nice fight this series when they could have given up down 3-0 but that 4-3 masks what was very easy to see on a game by game basis. And that is that for them to fire on all cylinders and really look like the scary Celtics team of the regular season, every little thing has to be going just right for them. If they get hit in the mouth, especially early, they get frustrated to the point where they eventually give up. Tatum is the worst in this regard and given that he's supposed to be the center of the team, it's no surprise that the other guys take their cues from him. He was nearly a non-factor in this series; he sulked every time he was in a shooting rut and never really even tried to find another way to contribute when his shooting was cold. Marcus Smart had so many key mental lapses in some games I half wondered if he was purposely trying to play his way off the team. Jalen Brown seemed like he was off in his own galaxy. Just a really bad vibes and bad attitude team all around. It was less apparent when they played similar bad vibes teams like the 76ers and the Hawks, but up against this Heat team the juxtaposition couldn't be more stark. They're not just walking away from this series as a basketball team with basic tune-up problems like keeping this or that player; if they ever want to win a championship with this group, they need to answer questions about their very identity as an organization.

We didn't just beat this Celtics team, we crushed their spirit. It was an absolute pleasure to watch.
 
Gsugradcanefan said:
I'm glad Miami won but it should've NEVER went 7 games. When you have a chance to close it out that's what you do.
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Thanks for that coach. What do you think they were doing, not trying to close it out? Give the Celtics some credit for making a series out of it, but it’s sports, and if you’ve ever played or just follow, you should know that **** happens.

In the end, an 8 seed took the series from the favorite.
 
OriginalCanesCanesCanes said:
Thanks for that coach. What do you think they were doing, not trying to close it out? Give the Celtics some credit for making a series out of it, but it’s sports, and if you’ve ever played or just follow, you should know that **** happens.

In the end, an 8 seed took the series from the favorite.
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Absolutely true, but I get what he's saying.
 
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The Russian is cut! (I know he’s Serbian and hit us up for 41, but work with me dammit!)
 
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People will see Jokic’s 41 and think Bam got cooked, but he was amazing on defense all night.

13 down, 3 to go.
 
I'll take it, even though I had basically thrown in the towel after 3.
 
Helluva win. Jokin is livid. Probably blames the refs.
 
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