Poll

Can the Celtics still win this series?

Yes, I have faith in them.
27 (79.4%)
No, I have hit the panic button!
5 (14.7%)
Where's my inhaler?  Why am I on this ledge?  Should I jump?
2 (5.9%)

Total Members Voted: 33

Voting closed: May 23, 2018, 01:31:48 AM

Author Topic: I'm not going to panic: Post-game 3 loss to Cavs  (Read 3327 times)

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Re: I'm not going to panic: Post-game 3 loss to Cavs
« Reply #30 on: May 20, 2018, 03:29:10 PM »

Offline colincb

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these Cavs are good. 

No, they aren't.  They're a poorly coached team with very few plus defenders.  They have LeBron and they have Kevin Love.  Apart from that, mostly trash.

However, the Celts are a young, inexperienced team with inconsistent shooters that tend to perform poorly on the road.  Even at home, the Celts aren't a great offensive team by any means.  So that spells a seven game series where the Celts defend home court and it comes down to whether LeBron can dominate enough in a do-or-die game on the road.

Was the team that swept the Raptors not good or is Toronto just a bad team (that won 59 games with a +7.8 Diff)?  Just bad timing?  Bad match ups?  Raptors choked?  Cavs defend fine enough when they want to as they showed last night and in the Toronto series.

TOR has a history of choking in the playoffs. In the last 5 seasons, they've always been a top 4 seed:

- Lost twice in the 1st round (Nets and Wizards), twice in the 2nd round, and once in the ECF.
- Swept 3 times including once in the 1st round. Have never swept a series or won in 5 games.
- Has lost to 3 lower seeds. Has never beat a higher seed.

Derozen had his worst three plus/minus games of the season in the last 3 games in the 2018 playoffs against CLE: -22, -23, and -29. Lowry on average has played well below his season's performances in TOR's playoffs over the years.
« Last Edit: May 20, 2018, 03:46:27 PM by colincb »

Re: I'm not going to panic: Post-game 3 loss to Cavs
« Reply #31 on: May 21, 2018, 09:57:34 AM »

Offline Vermont Green

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Was the team that swept the Raptors not good or is Toronto just a bad team (that won 59 games with a +7.8 Diff)?  Just bad timing?  Bad match ups?  Raptors choked?  Cavs defend fine enough when they want to as they showed last night and in the Toronto series.

Toronto is a great regular season team, a mediocre playoff team, and utter trash when they go against LeBron (i.e. they fall apart mentally).

I think it is a gross oversimplification to rationalize CLE sweeping TOR by saying that TOR just fell apart and not acknowledge that CLE can be a very good team when they want to be.

I don't know which CLE team is going to show up on any given night or for any given series but when they do show up, they are a formidable team relative to the current Celtics.