I'm still proud of our amazing team, coach and GM. Have some empathy PLEASE.

[chambers]

I think too many people are underestimating the emotional despondence this team is going through right now because of what happened with
Isaiah's sister. He is the heart, soul and leader of this team.

This team had a lot of pressure put on them by us and themselves, and unfortunately it looks like Isaiah's sister's passing has made that pressure bubble burst...or at least come very close to bursting.

They lack adrenaline like something we haven't seen since 2014.
They look exhausted and have just had 5 days off.
There's only one reason for that, and it's the Chyna Thomas tragedy. I don't care if they get swept because they have played their hearts out all year and in my opinion it's not fair to judge them with such a distraction hitting so close to home at such a crucial time.

[Tr1boy]

I feel bad for IT4

But personal should be kept separate from business

Practically he shouldnt even be playing right now...

Makes little sense. Be with your family man.

Celtics win or lose, should do it with a clear mind.

[Casperian]

I agree, it's not fair.

Life's not fair though, either, and it's happening anyway, whether you like it or not. As I just said in the game thread, this mental blockade has to go, by any means necessary. I'm not trying to be an Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline., even though I sure sound like one, but you can't beat the Bulls AND the Boogie Monster in your head at the same time. There's no time to process and work through whatever it is that weighs on your mind, the Bulls demand our full attention right now.

[Phantom255x]

I feel bad for IT4

But personal should be kept separate from business

Practically he shouldnt even be playing right now...

Makes little sense. Be with your family man.

Celtics win or lose, should do it with a clear mind.

Yeah I expected IT to take Games 1/2 off, and he didn't (which is great too), but it hasn't mattered. The team hasn't rallied around him. Dude had a fantastic Game 1 and is averaging 26.5 PPG so far this series. His defense isn't great but considering all that's happened, not sure what else people expect him to do. Without him these are 30-40 point losses.

[mahonedog88]

I think too many people are underestimating the emotional despondence this team is going through right now because of what happened with
Isaiah's sister. He is the heart, soul and leader of this team.

This team had a lot of pressure put on them by us and themselves, and unfortunately it looks like Isaiah's sister's passing has made that pressure bubble burst...or at least come very close to bursting.

They lack adrenaline like something we haven't seen since 2014.
They look exhausted and have just had 5 days off.
There's only one reason for that, and it's the Chyna Thomas tragedy. I don't care if they get swept because they have played their hearts out all year and in my opinion it's not fair to judge them with such a distraction hitting so close to home at such a crucial time.

We all feel bad for IT, can't imagine what he's going through...but to just let this team off the hook for being a 1 seed losing to an 8 seed by putting it all on the loss of Chyna Thomas is WAY too much of an out for this team.

Game 1 especially when you look back at it.  The fact that IT can come out 36 hours after his sister died and score 33 points is remarkable.  But what's even more remarkable, and in a sad way, is that not one other player on that roster could elevate their game in game 1.  They just don't have the talent.

[PhoSita]

It's a reasonable excuse for Thomas.

In difficult times, a mentally tough team would rally around their star and raise their games to make up for whatever is going on with him.

Instead, the Celts have collapsed.

There's no good excuse for that. Bradley, Crowder, Horford, Amir don't get an excuse for playing bad basketball because Isaiah is grieving.

[KGBirdBias]

IT has an excuse and isn't using it. He's playing better than anyone.

It's the rest of the team that should be uplifting him and they aren't there.

Why is the question. I think we'll hear after the season that there may be some infighting going on with this team. To many guys either don't accept their role or can't play their role.

[PhoSita]

IT has an excuse and isn't using it. He's playing better than anyone.

It's the rest of the team that should be uplifting him and they aren't there.

Why is the question. I think we'll hear after the season that there may be some infighting going on with this team. To many guys either don't accept their role or can't play their role.

We're learning that there's some deep rot in this team.

The summer will be time to clean it out.

[aefgogreen]

   Obviously, it could affect IT, but as for everyone else, I doubt it has had an impact on their performance.

[tankcity!]

This whole thing is funny to me. What happened to the we're one rim protector away from challenging Cleveland? I don't understand how people can honestly blame Ainge. There are two issues here. One is the death of IT's sister. I have no idea how that impacted the team. Second is that Brad Stevens failed. He has done a horrible job prepping his team. It's pretty clear Bulls are one step ahead of us.

Ainge can flip Crowder and Bradley for a scorer. They are still valuable assets. It's not the end of the world.

[BringToughnessBack]

TP Chambers.

My take on this situation is two fold:

The bottomline in my perspective is that we have no stars who have ever figured out to win in the postseason. Even the Bulls have Wade and Rondo who have been through the wars successfully and can pass down to their younger players what it takes, how to approach the postseason, and how to stay calm when the pressure gets turned up a thousand percent. They also know how to share with them the importance of turning up defensive pressure a hundred times more as well..which they have successfully done on us. Butler has said he is sticking to Wade like glue...learning what it takes to excel when games mean the most. Who on our team has ever won a thing in the postseason?

Now, more importantly than lack of playoff winning experience(Horford not included) coupled above with the fact that our top player had the worst possible type of tragedy strike him and all who are close with IT, are being touched by it is as well. I know if I were in his shoes, I would have tremendous trouble blocking that out during a game and it is hard to believe that his teammates are not also suffering to a degree on this. They are not robots and they do not get paid to play through personal tragedy of this magnitude. I feel for IT and his loss and I am sure AB is also affected by seeing his best friend go through this horrible tragedy. People need to lay off IT right now....I see no reason to complain about anything his is doing, it is beyond what most would have done and I hope he takes time to grieve away from all the poison out there. And for those who say they get paid the big money to play through this, I say BS....a top CEO of a company who loses his sister or brother to a tragic accident does not continue to come to the office and run the company...he takes bereavement time off.

I am not surprised they are down 0-2 and I would not be surprised if they do find a way to win in Chicago or get swept. To me, it matters not as this team is not constructed to win a championship without rebounding and playoff winning experience. I for one, am proud they won as many games as they did with such a glaring rebounding weakness. It reminds of some of the high regular season winning Suns teams that could never win in the playoffs. We are perfect positioned to fix what is broken but not for gutting our assets due to impatience.

Both Brad and Danny know this team couldn't win a championship and for all those calling for Cousins, what seed did the Pelicans get in the playoffs after he joined Davis, another superstar? Did they suddenly start mowing down opponents as they blazed a trail to the promised land. I am not even sure if Cousins would have helped keep us in the one seed despite his obvious physical talent. And, another player who is an unknown in the playoffs with 0 experience. Ibaka did not solve the Raptors issues as well yet. Complaints that Danny passed on Portis are hilarious as well and he should have known the Greek Freak would turn into a superstar.

[mahonedog88]

IT has an excuse and isn't using it. He's playing better than anyone.

It's the rest of the team that should be uplifting him and they aren't there.

Why is the question. I think we'll hear after the season that there may be some infighting going on with this team. To many guys either don't accept their role or can't play their role.

We're learning that there's some deep rot in this team.

The summer will be time to clean it out.

I'm starting to think more and more this may be the case with this team.  Unfortunately, this is the hard part with managing a young team that in their eyes has finally "made it", winning 50+ games and getting a 1 seed.  All season they've thought they've been better than they actually are, and now that they're seeing nothing has changed with this team compared to last season, and they aren't taking it too well. 

We saw little signs of stuff here and there throughout the season...guys not putting in full effort, the constant talk of getting "punked", teammates yelling at each other more than we're used to seeing, subtle jabs from players towards teammates (example being Crowder with a little shot at IT last night saying that they were down 10 and some guys want to try and start throwing up 10pt shots), heck you have Avery Bradley openly admitting last night that he overheard Rondo saying before the game was even over "yeah they gave up"

Just starting to get the sense that these guys are getting a little sick of each other.  When you have a core that is winning, having playoff success, and actually contending, it makes playing with each other so much more worth it and hides any frustrations the players may have.  But when the same core has 3 straight quick first round exits, being topped off by this one with an 8 seed beating a 1 seed, guys are gonna start to reach their limit and start finger pointing.

These guys I think are finally starting to come to terms with the fact that they just simply aren't as good as they think they are, and it's understandably tough for them to swallow that fact.

[fairweatherfan]

I'm not giving up on our team or going out of my way to dump on them, and I'll still have empathy for IT even if we drop the next two by 30, but there's [dang] little to be proud of right now.  You could excuse Game 1 but Game 2 was just an utter embarrassment.

[cltc5]

BullEdited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline..  All year this team has been given excuses for they're play.  They are who they are an overachieving group of role players.  God bless them but nothing has contributed to their lack of talent.  The coach and gm have put them in this position

[adam8]

I agree with you 100%, I was also very proud of our fan base before last nights game as well, not so much anymore. People act like the leader of the team losing a younger sister shouldn't affect our play, this is incredibly shortsighted and unfair.

Before game one everyone said this is just a game, if we lose who cares it's not important, then we lose two games and its trade everyone, fire danny, fire Brad, don't pay IT. This is the #1 seed in the east for a reason that had a massive tragedy shake them right before the playoffs, after which we see a completely different team, I don't think it's a stretch to connect the two. Especially since this is a completely different issue than last year in the playoffs, the guys this year look like they are emotionally raw, that's why you see them snapping at each other and not playing with the correct effort.

I wish we could have seen what this team could do in the playoffs but unfortunately we are watching a completely different team because of circumstances outside our control.