OT: 2021/22 NBA Season started

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by Waldo62

The Celtics came into the finals having played 18 playoff games and the Warriors played 17 -- not a significant difference. The finals had three-day breaks when the series changed sites -- should be ample recovery time (check you Whoop ;-)). If 20-something year old players can't recover and play their best against a team led by a bunch of guys in their mid-30s, I'd say the Celtics were in worse physical shape and they were worn down by the old guys. The Celts' very short and inferior bench (5 points in Game 6 FFS) forced the starters to play more minutes, which clearly contributed to the starters' fatigue. The Ws wore down the Celts rather than the teams the Cs played in the first three rounds. They lost three straight to finish the series, two of those at the Garden.

Tatum played 200 more minutes in the NBA playoffs this year than the highest volume Warrior, and about 220 more than Steph Curry. Celtics played two more games, but they were routinely running Tatum out for 40+ minutes a night, and Celtics were in the top 3 spots for minutes played in this playoffs.

Tatum also played 60 more minutes this year and Khris Middleton did in last year's playoffs, when he was the minutes leader.

It was not a deep Celtics team, and Tatum clearly wore down those last few games.

And this was after a full regular season in which he was Top 5 in minutes played. And he played on the Olympic team last offseason.

For a guy who'd never been that deep in the playoffs, pretty clear after Game 1 his legs were completely gone.

[joosttx]

Originally Posted by Waldo62

The Celtics came into the finals having played 18 playoff games and the Warriors played 17 -- not a significant difference. The finals had three-day breaks when the series changed sites -- should be ample recovery time (check you Whoop ;-)). If 20-something year old players can't recover and play their best against a team led by a bunch of guys in their mid-30s, I'd say the Celtics were in worse physical shape and they were worn down by the old guys. The Celts' very short and inferior bench (5 points in Game 6 FFS) forced the starters to play more minutes, which clearly contributed to the starters' fatigue. The Ws wore down the Celts rather than the teams the Cs played in the first three rounds. They lost three straight to finish the series, two of those at the Garden.

Check Tatum’s and Brown’s minutes vs any GWS in the playoffs. Warriors were a much deeper team. I would argue as well that Celtics had a much more physical road and mentally taxing road to the finals. These factors led to fatigue even though both teams played a similar number of games.

[jlwdm]

Wow. A lot of excuses her for the Celtics and their 24 and 25 year old stars. I watched the Miami series and was not impressed by Miami.

How can you take a 12 point lead in the opening minutes, score the last 6 points of the first half and out score GS 16-4 to end the 3rd quarter and be down 10 after the 3rd quarter? You let GS run off 21 straight on your home court in a must win game. Plus your first team all NBA player scores 2 points in the 2nd half.

No excuses.

Jeff

[Waldo62]

Originally Posted by joosttx

Check Tatum’s and Brown’s minutes vs any GWS in the playoffs. Warriors were a much deeper team. I would argue as well that Celtics had a much more physical road and mentally taxing road to the finals. These factors led to fatigue even though both teams played a similar number of games.

I agree with some, but not all of that. Yes, the Warriors are much deeper, which is the point I made in my comment. The Celtics starters may have played more minutes coming in (I haven't looked at the precise numbers and doubt anyone else here has ) because Udoka doesn't trust the bench. That's on Ainge and Stevens. As for the Celtics' path to the finals, the Nets series was a sweep that may have been full of the Nets drama, but was not taxing for Boston. The Celts beat up Durant, and Kyrie was largely invisible. The Bucks were without Middleton and they are not a very physical team. Jrue and Giannis stole a game for the Bucks, otherwise, the Celtics would have won in relatively comfortable six. (Hell, the Warriors shouldn't have lost Game 1 of the finals...). The Heat were without Herro for much of the series, otherwise, they would have been in the finals. Most of the games in the Eastern Conference finals were blowouts, which tend to be neither physical nor stressful......

[username]

Originally Posted by Waldo62

the Nets series was a sweep that...was not taxing for Boston.

I'm not looking for a silly fight on the internet, but I saw it very differently. The first three games, particularly game one, were very tight and took a lot out of both teams.

Originally Posted by Waldo62

The Bucks were without Middleton and they are not a very physical team.

Again, we're seeing things very, very differently. I'm not sure there are more physical players in the league at their respective positions than Giannis and Holiday, both of whom played out of their minds all series. If Middleton had played as well, I expect the Bucks would have won. In my view, there was almost nothing about this series that was comfortable for the Celtics.

Originally Posted by Waldo62

Most of the games in the Eastern Conference finals were blowouts, which tend to be neither physical nor stressful......

Half of this statement is totally true. The other half seems to ignore what actually happened in the games this year. Miami was shorthanded and had a talent deficit. Spo is one of the two or three best coaches in the league and decided that his team's best chance to win was to play as physically as I've seen in the NBA in decades (and the Celtics weren't far behind). It was an unbelievably grueling series that left both teams flat-out exhausted.



None of which is to say that the Dubs weren't the better team. I tend to think (and there's absolutely nothing original here) that the team with the best player usually wins in the playoffs. Steph was the best player in the Finals by so much that it was almost absurd. I have no idea whether that's because Tatum was gassed, dinged up, not ready for that kind of pressure, or some combination of all of the above. But what I saw happen in the series was that the Dubs figured out the Celtics defense. The Celtics effort never flagged. They just couldn't handle what the Dubs threw at them, probably in some significant part because Wiggins was the best version of himself.



In the end, it doesn't matter. The deserving team won, and now we'll see if Stevens can come up with something interesting over the summer.

[Louis]

Well, well, the Nets circus continues...

"Kevin Durant Asks to Be Traded From the Nets"

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/30/s...smid=url-share

[pdmtong]

Tae says Durant is going to the raiders.