fishmike wrote:we outplayed and outcoached them on both ends of the floor.

Thibs pushed all the right buttons. Bickerstaff didnt change anything but move Levert/Okoro around. They were getting murdered on the boards EVERY game. We never saw Lopez once in the series. Not once. How do you not send him out there and just say "smash some bodies for 5 minutes"

I think our players have chemistry and a will to win, and that seemed missing with the Cavs. Mitchell is the better NBA talent, but he was invisible. He never even threatened to take over a game like a Kobe or MJ.

franco12 wrote:

fishmike wrote:we outplayed and outcoached them on both ends of the floor.

Thibs pushed all the right buttons. Bickerstaff didnt change anything but move Levert/Okoro around. They were getting murdered on the boards EVERY game. We never saw Lopez once in the series. Not once. How do you not send him out there and just say "smash some bodies for 5 minutes"

I think our players have chemistry and a will to win, and that seemed missing with the Cavs. Mitchell is the better NBA talent, but he was invisible. He never even threatened to take over a game like a Kobe or MJ.

In a way, Ainge was vindicated. Brunson outplayed Mitchell in the playoffs, when they were in the West. It might have played a role in Ainge wanting to move DM, given his stats and age.

Now Brunson outplayed Mitchell in the East. NBA fans were wondering why DM wasnt in Ainge's rebuilding plans. The playoffs might be the answer.

GustavBahler wrote:

franco12 wrote:

fishmike wrote:we outplayed and outcoached them on both ends of the floor.

Thibs pushed all the right buttons. Bickerstaff didnt change anything but move Levert/Okoro around. They were getting murdered on the boards EVERY game. We never saw Lopez once in the series. Not once. How do you not send him out there and just say "smash some bodies for 5 minutes"

I think our players have chemistry and a will to win, and that seemed missing with the Cavs. Mitchell is the better NBA talent, but he was invisible. He never even threatened to take over a game like a Kobe or MJ.

In a way, Ainge was vindicated. Brunson outplayed Mitchell in the playoffs, when they were in the West. It might have played a role in Ainge wanting to move DM, given his stats and age.

Now Brunson outplayed Mitchell in the East. NBA fans were wondering why DM wasnt in Ainge's rebuilding plans. The playoffs might be the answer.

I can get behind this thinking

nycdan wrote:Somehow every game felt stressful. 12 point leads with 2 minutes left just wasn't relaxing. Honestly, if our shooters could hit shots in the first half, most of the games would not have been close. Having said that, the moment is clearly not too big for the team or Thibs.

I kind of felt a certain way about those situations. I thought the Cavs gave up to early in games like those. I expected sphincter tightening free throw contests. I got each team running out the shot clock with anything over 48 seconds left.

Bucks were a better team than Miami but similarly they got beaten via matchup. At the end of the day call it what you want. The better teams wins but what made them better matters.

Records dictate we are the better team vs. Miami. We have depth too! Its not that talent that always makes the difference, its the match up. Miami might beat us badly. Not what I’d expect.

The Computers and predictions don’t always tell the story. Its why they play the games.

technomaster wrote:

Nalod wrote:Match ups matter. We were a tough one for them. They won 51 games and was a better team by record.
They could not counter what we gave them and what we had enabled to expose their weaknesses.

Bucks were a better team than Miami but similarly they got beaten via matchup. At the end of the day call it what you want. The better teams wins but what made them better matters.

Records dictate we are the better team vs. Miami. We have depth too! Its not that talent that always makes the difference, its the match up. Miami might beat us badly. Not what I’d expect.

The Computers and predictions don’t always tell the story. Its why they play the games.

Injuries are part of the game, but if Giannis didn't take his hard fall in game 1, I think the Bucks would have pulled it off. Losing Giannis for 2.5 games was rough for their chemistry and a big drain on their team talent-wise. Kudos to the Heat for capitalizing on his absence and taking advantage of him at less than 100% when he returned.

I don't expect the Heat to beat us up. I think we're in about as good a place as can be given our injuries to Randle/Grimes. It's been a team effort up and down the lineup for us, so that makes us a very tough opponent. They certainly can gear up on stopping Brunson, but that will leave others with a little more breathing room to do damage.

How do you figure? We haven't seen Ju play yet. Are you forgetting he was completely out of the flow for the first 4 games of the last series following his prior injury? Personally, I'd be more confident if Randle was at full strength.