2017 Conference Finals: 1 Boston vs. 2 Cleveland

[Sauru]

i love this series so far. i have been telling everyone who will listen that i dont like isiah thomas and i want to trade him as he cannot carry a team and he is doing his best to prove me right. the celtics being the 1 seed is only because the cavs didnt care. they could have been the 8th seed and would have swept the east. home court only matters if close match ups. they could have played every single eastern conference playoff game on the road and still swept everyone.


also i dont know if anyone was trying to claim IT was the second best player in the east? please point them out to me so i will know who i can stop debating basketball with as they are fucking clueless


the real question is how will people view lebron after these playoffs? will people try to use it to claim he is the best player ever since jordan never won like this or will people say that jordan had to actually play teams in the playoffs before reaching the finals. my stance is the east is so weak that it has to hurt lebron however if he wins the championship this season that will be a major feather in his cap that will be very hard to argue against

[air gordon]

What an embarrassing loss for the league. Does the outcome of this loss/ series affect how good of a coach stevens is?

Bradley has been their unsung hero this far but this time around he isn't able to guard the opponent's best scorer.

The celts are very rocket -ish when they can't make 3pters

Kevin love is having a great series. Sign of the Apocalypse

[Sauru]

What an embarrassing loss for the league. Does the outcome of this loss/ series affect how good of a coach stevens is?

i would argue that the celtics way over achieved this season and that should be what is considered when talking about brad stevens. everyone who has every watched the game of basketball knew the cavs were going to destroy the east but no one put the celtics doing this good. we can get crushed 4 straight and i still chalk this season up as a W especially since we are also walking away with the number 1 draft pick and plenty of cap space.

[PeacemanNOT]

It's the 2015 Atlanta Hawks all over again people. Over achieved in the regular season and don't match up well against LeBron and the Cavs.

[air gordon]

i don't think anyone predicted the cavs would crush the celts like this at their home court twice in a row. even an inferior team like the blazers gave the warriors a better series last year. they competed. i don't know what kind of effort you call this from the celts. this is like the bulls in game 6 vs celts. they got their asses handed to them with no resistance.

while you are on the anti- IT camp, you should add Horford to it.

its been a good season for boston and the future looks good. i just didn'tt expect them to lie down like this after the lottery balls bounced their way

[NovU]

27 year old Isaiah is a great player. Yet people don't appreciate this man enough even after all these years of under-appreciating. How does anyone think the Celtics did recover so fast since Rondo left?

[air gordon]

27 year old Isaiah is a great player. Yet people don't appreciate this man enough even after all these years of under-appreciating. How does anyone think the Celtics did recover so fast since Rondo left?

Cuz Ainge did a great job butt raping teams and acquiring excellent value contracts? IT is awesome. Not sure if its ainge's fault for not giving the team another playmaker/scorer or IT is just not an elite player. Either way they need more

[NovU]

Now that Isaiah Thomas is out for good, both conference finals turn out to be cakewalk for heavily favored goliath.

At least both the Finalists-to-be seem to be fully healthy. Let's just hope they will stay that way throughout the Finals.

[Andrew]

Ah, the NBA Playoffs. Where the elite teams clash, epic games are played, and lasting memories are created. Once upon a time, at any rate.

the real question is how will people view lebron after these playoffs? will people try to use it to claim he is the best player ever since jordan never won like this or will people say that jordan had to actually play teams in the playoffs before reaching the finals. my stance is the east is so weak that it has to hurt lebron however if he wins the championship this season that will be a major feather in his cap that will be very hard to argue against

Seems quite a few analysts (not surprisingly, BSPN talking heads and other loudmouths) are already declaring LeBron as the undisputed GOAT. The funny thing is, for years they've been saying how weak the East is and demanding a change to the Playoff format, but it seems they've suddenly realised how that kind of diminishes some of LeBron's accomplishments (like the string of Finals appearances), and so they're furiously backpedalling and calling the 80s and 90s "weak" instead. Yes, seriously.

As far as the MJ vs LeBron debate is concerned, you can probably guess which side I'm on, but the case has been pretty well laid out by someone who's taken the time to dig through all the numbers.

[Sauru]

while you are on the anti- IT camp, you should add Horford to it.

the one big take away for me these playoffs is how soft both Horford and Aldridge are. seriously both have been exposed. the big difference is i dont have to express anything towards horford as everyone sees it but thomas had an amazing year so now everyone talking about him like he is the future of the celtics. he is not. i am not saying he is bad i am saying he will not sustain this level of play for very long at all so i rather trade him while we can get something for him. in the event we dont trade him then i want to see the celtics let him walk instead of giving him the max contract he is going to ask for

[Dee4Three]

Ah, the NBA Playoffs. Where the elite teams clash, epic games are played, and lasting memories are created. Once upon a time, at any rate.

the real question is how will people view lebron after these playoffs? will people try to use it to claim he is the best player ever since jordan never won like this or will people say that jordan had to actually play teams in the playoffs before reaching the finals. my stance is the east is so weak that it has to hurt lebron however if he wins the championship this season that will be a major feather in his cap that will be very hard to argue against

Seems quite a few analysts (not surprisingly, BSPN talking heads and other loudmouths) are already declaring LeBron as the undisputed GOAT. The funny thing is, for years they've been saying how weak the East is and demanding a change to the Playoff format, but it seems they've suddenly realised how that kind of diminishes some of LeBron's accomplishments (like the string of Finals appearances), and so they're furiously backpedalling and calling the 80s and 90s "weak" instead. Yes, seriously.

As far as the MJ vs LeBron debate is concerned, you can probably guess which side I'm on, but the case has been pretty well laid out by someone who's taken the time to dig through all the numbers.

Wow, what a breakdown.

It's not even a debate in my opinion, he's not even in my top 10 all time.

[Sauru]

it never was a debate in my opinion. its nice to see such a deep breakdown though

[Andrew]

Some excellent research on that site, across all the articles.

[Sauru]

well that settles it. thomas is trash. trade the bum

[Andrew]

Let's see Cowherd and Haberstroh spin that LeBron performance into a tale of greatness.

[Dee4Three]

Yesssssssss.

[Andrew]

Pressure's on the Spurs to steal one from the Warriors now.

[zzcoolj21]

[Dee4Three]

Kevin Love is a way bigger flopper than I rememebered... he also jumps into his defender after pump fakes and gets calls ALL THE TIME. Must be taking lessons from Lebum.

I'm so glad we won this game.

[bowdown]

Come on Cleveland. They allowed a blemish on their perfect postseason record.

[Sauru]

Come on Cleveland. They allowed a blemish on their perfect postseason record.

honestly this is on lebron, not the cavs

[Murat]

LeBron loses out one game to make the playoffs a bit more exciting

[Sauru]

man /r/nba is a mess right now. half the people cant get off lebrons nuts while the other half is trying to make them see reason

[air gordon]

Kevin Love is a way bigger flopper than I rememebered... he also jumps into his defender after pump fakes and gets calls ALL THE TIME. Must be taking lessons from Lebum.

I'm so glad we won this game.

jerebko calling him a flopper after love drew the charge was hilarious

stevens flexing his coaching chops. and kudos to Smart. doesn't need to be an agitator when his shots are going in

amir johnson's +/- are atrocious. just start jerebko already

[Andrew]

man /r/nba is a mess right now. half the people cant get off lebrons nuts while the other half is trying to make them see reason

They're also making comments about James Jordan's murder. Classy.