358 Comments
Jun 7, 2022Liked by Daniel Hardee

I'm really enjoying this series. Celtics are a damn good team, as are the Dubs. The constant strategy changes and subsequent counters by the opponents makes the series interesting - it's a classical chess game. While the Celtics might have the athletic superiority, I think the Dubs (both players and coaching staff) are the better chess players and that should be enough for the Dubs to prevail in the end. It also doesn't hurt to be able to turn GP2 loose to guard 1-5 effectively - we really could have used him in Game 1.

Dubs in 6.

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Just rewatched the third quarter for fun.

I'm not sure there has ever been a player who will blow your s*** up quite as cheerfully as Steph Curry.

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Every time I read something about Draymond pushing the physical and sportsmanship limits, I’m thinking to myself, have any of you guys watched the Last Dance?? This is exact what MJ, Pippen & Rodman used to do to get themselves fired up to win. Hell, MJ created beefs with other players just so he could hate on them and perform better!

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My pre-series prediction was based on the health of Iggy, Payton and Porter. If we had all three healthy for the series, I said GSW in 5. If we only had 2, it’d be in 6 and if none of them were available it would take 7.

Looks like it’s going to be 2 of the 3, so Dubs in 6 still fills right.

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*”feels” right, too!

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I'm not sure the lack of availability of 38 y.o. Andre isn't a mild positive, given Kerr's (understandable) attachment to him and inclination to lean on him in key minutes.

If GP2 had been healthy enough to take Andre's minutes, I think we might have taken Game 1.

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I’m a bit worried about Belly’s knee, too.

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Hey buddies. I need someone who possibly was at Chase yesterday evening, whether its true or not, that Poole Party dropped the 35 footer and the 48 footer, in sequence, to impress the pretty blonde that was in the first row? Please tell me it’s true :D did we find JP’s fuse?

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It's a meme from twitter. Besides, the blonde was checking out Kerr not GPII. There's video on r/warriors.

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...ummm...its feaking Jordan Poole. I doubt he has to work that hard to find girls into him, especially in the bay area. Kind of a ridiculous take.

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Kick rocks Zendaya!

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Come on. I like a pretty lady as much as the next guy, but winning a championship and starring when the lights are brightest (and a contract worth tens of millions hangs in the balance) is somehow not motivation enough?

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I didn’t mean to criticize his motivation. In facts, I was the only one that defended him after game 1

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Great win to head into Boston

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Jun 6, 2022Liked by punk basketball

Celtics have 14 shots ATTEMPTS at the rim through 2 games.

Who's the soft jump shooting team again?

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I don't disagree that they haven't gotten to the rim enough, but I would take any shot distance numbers from Chase with a very large degree of salt. The people tracking it are notoriously terrible at gauging where shot attempts were from (they designate a lot of layups and dunks as being from floater range).

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Jun 6, 2022Liked by punk basketball

Listening to Nate Duncan/Danny Leroux, the great vaunted switching D of Celtics have a Steph Curry problem 🤣. They should have listened to Ty Lue and Doc Rivers (insert 'Ha Ha' Nelson gif). "Old man" Steph is shooting 46% on 3s.

At the start of series, everybody said Tatum was best player in the series. Steph has had something to about say about that.

PS: ND and DL also predicted Mavs in 6. So there is that.

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I mean, there was no point for the Celtics to make any big changes in Game 2 with the road split accomplished, if they switch the Curry coverage it will be for a game that counts

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This game counted as much as any of the others.

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It did, but then again it didn't.

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Jun 6, 2022·edited Jun 6, 2022

Link?

If the Dubs work this series, are we going to get some more revisionist history about got the Celtics were a fundamentally flawed team that weren’t really that good?!?!

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Of course we are. Haters gonna hate, and homers gonna... home? Anyway yeah, in typical fashion every hot take is going to retroactively reframe the setup to suit the argument.

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Jun 6, 2022Liked by punk basketball

Great bounce back game for the fans as well as the team. Good to see GP2 out there. His presence is always felt and makes our D that much tighter. Destiny may have its way in Boston. Momentum is now with us. As a team, we are a force psychologically, as well as physically. Draymond is hopping mad and woe to anyone who is being guarded by him. Nice to see Moody getting some garbage minutes. Kerr is pretty strict with his playoff rotations so I don't think we should expect to see much of the rookies in meaningful minutes. I'm sure hoping Wiseman is going to be ready to rumble next season. Hopefully, he'll have a ring to impress the girls during this summer. Never hurts to be a winner.

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Can we just use our 3rd Quarters from Game 6 & 7 somewhere in Games 3&4?

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On the Bill Simmons pod, there was a discussion about closing lineups for each team in crunch time.

For Boston (and I agree), the closing five should be: Tatum, Brown, Smart, White, Horford

For the Dubs, it was Steph, Draymond, Wiggins, plus two of Klay/GP2/Looney/Porter/Poole.

Who would you have in those last two slots? Poole is a no for me. If Klay is cooking I guess I leave him out there, but on a cold night he could be the worst player on this list. I actually think GP2/Looney or GP2/Porter give us the strongest five if we need to close two or three late possessions.

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Klay always.

This series it's going to be GP2, or Porter in the other spot most of the time, and I think if GP2 can handle the minutes it's mainly going to be him.

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Dude, what? That’s basically our whole rotation… “the Dubs should close with 5 players on the floor” there, now give me my millions for this journalistic insight.

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Don't expect any real analysis from Bill Simmons. He's an entertainer.

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They were debating who would be in the last two slots in the closing lineup. They felt GP2 was in for sure, so that leaves one more slot.

It was an interesting question, and speaks to both the value and challenge of a team with so much depth.

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Steph, GP2, Wigs, Dray, OPJ.

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Interestingly, IIRC, Simmons gad GP2 as on of the GS givens (Steph, Dray, Green, GP2). I can't say I disagree, with my one mild concern being the FT shooting.

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It's a shame we can't simply combine GP2, Poole, and Looney into one player and send 'em out there in crunch time :)

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That's basically Giannis, LOL.

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Giannis with Poole's quickness and shooting is....terrifying.

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Also imagine Giannis slipping and falling on the ground every other possession like Poole. Would scare the living bejeezus out of all the other players around him (from both teams).

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Always said since before the season started that:

Curry-Klay-Wiggins-OPJ-Draymond was going to be the Warriors most versatile smallball/closing lineup, and probably the best matchup to Celtics smallball.

Bad Klay looks like the weak link, but otherwise it has 4-out shooting and tons of length.

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It also depends on how Poole and Klay fared during the game. Klay may be more streakier than Poole, but Poole when hot, can put up very quick numbers and also playmake. Klay bigger body for D. Tough choice. GP2, definitely. He can also shoot the 3.

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Jun 6, 2022Liked by punk basketball

Curry.

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I saw ❄️ Blue and Gold in his eyes yesterday

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I like that guy

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Jun 6, 2022·edited Jun 6, 2022Liked by punk basketball

Couldn't agree more.

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Jun 6, 2022·edited Jun 6, 2022Liked by punk basketball

Listening to Jaylen Brown complaining about physicality and “gimmicks and tricks”, and getting bumped and grabbed, lol… if the refs want to call that stuff, Steph can live at the line all game.

EDIT: man… this narrative about how the Warriors weren’t going to be ready for this physical Boston team really getting flipped on its head and now Dray is just too physical or something. Really going to enjoy beating them if it happens.

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They're either winning or things have gone too far, it's just too physical, and the refs need to step in and put Draymond down. The agenda is very clear, and very funny.

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Slightly less exaggerated and transparent as Curious Jenkins.

I think the funniest physicality complaint was when Tatum was jogging back in transition next to Steph, wasn't expecting Steph's push off, lost his balance and turned to the ref to complain as Steph splashed a now wide open 3. Bro, you aren't ready for that?

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Celtics have no chance with GP2 back in my opinion, they rely on too many tough shots, first quarter they were dropping but we stayed with them, first quarter was huge even though I was worries

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Eh, Celtics have plenty of chance. They are a very good basketball team and their offense can generate good looks when the drive-and-kick stuff is clicking. I also predict that they will take their defense up yet another notch as the series goes on.

But I agree that having GP2 available for 25+ minutes per game is a big, big deal.

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Curry has been cooking the Celtics, you figure they gotta start blitzing Curry hard soon.

Hopefully just in time for Good Klay to show up....

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Warriors in 5

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Are we keeping receipts?

Not that I'd be unhappy if you're right.

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Nah no receipts with dubs predictions, that's just weird. I called for 5 as well but I'm happy with 7 if that's what it takes

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