For the most part, every aspect of my life is on cloud 9 right now.
This is the emotional rollercoaster of a playoff run as a title contender.
There’s truly nothing like it and frankly, I wouldn’t want it any other way.
This is what we live for.
No playoff run is without challenges, so do not take this feeling for granted.
One game at a time.
One win at a time.
That has to be the mentality.
Time will tell if they can keep this up, but so far?
The good news is gone are the 4,000 day breaks in between games.
The ones that don’t?
Well, just hit play on that video.
This is the challenge the Cavs face in this series.
Once you get to the playoffs, everything is about matchups.
In 34 possessions guarding Jaylen Brown, Jaylen finished with 11 points on 4-5 shooting with just 1 TO.
Honestly, it didn’t really matter who the Cavs threw at Jaylen.
Think of it as controlled chaos.
Play with force, but don’t be stupid.
When looking at Jaylen’s offensive approach, it was the perfect balance of what you want to see.
Then, once he starts feeling good, we all know what happens next.
That’s his lowest turnover percentage since 2019-20, and the highest usage of his career.
This is a man who is locked in and focused
He’s right.
The Celts don’t have to do anything other than what we’ve seen from them all year.
They don’t need to overachieve to advance, they just need to play Celtics basketball.
- Logic will tell you that at some point, Derrick White will cool off.
Here’s the thing though.
What if he never cools down?
What if this is simply who Bald Derrick is now?
It’s crazy what confidence can do for a player.
Not just because he’s bald now either, but how he plays.
- Defense, defense, defense.
The backbone of every single NBA title run.
They earned the 1 seed, they earned the easier path, so take advantage of it.
Sometimes basketball isn’t complicated.
We all know what that looks like when they do, and it almost ALWAYS gets them into trouble.
Is Luke Kornet the best center currently playing in the East playoffs?
I’ll answer for you.
- The discourse around Jayson Tatum is starting to get really fucking stupid.
But this is why I exist.
If I have to be the one to tell the truth then so be it.
That needs to improve.
Jokic, Embiid, Tatum.
His struggles have been shooting, that’s it.
Scratch that, it’s a GREAT thing.
THAT is what matters.
Not Tatum scoring 40, not him taking every shot, winning.
The thing that has made the Celtics so dominant all year is they win AS A TEAM.
The best player understanding that and not forcing things just because he’s the best player is GOOD.
Truth #5:There are other ways to impact winning other than scoring the basketball.
There’s rebounding, defense, playmaking, etc.
He’s finding ways to make a winning impact all while his jumper is broken as shit.
Last time I checked, that was a GOOD thing.
That’s just NBA history talking.
As always, the truth is somewhere in the middle.
So far, Tatum has been fine.
That’s what Tatum has done, and the results speak for themselves.
When he finally did, boy was it fun
Payton Pritchard’s role in this series is pretty simple.
He needs to match the Caris LeVert scoring output at a minimum.
I’m officially worried about the Jrue Holiday Playoff Offense Experience.
I can handle missing 3s and shit like that.
Nowhere near good enough.
It’s also not going to be sustainable once they start playing better teams.
There’s simply no need to settle like that, especially against someone like Max Strus.
At a minimum, I expect Tatum to win that matchup.
Would it kill him to remember he’s capable of using a step-through move in those moments?
I found that to be very frustrating.
There is ONE GUY you oughta worry about, and that is Donovan Mitchell.
In no world should he ever be allowed to operate without resistance in transition.
That’s a communication and effort issue, and it needs to be much better in Game 2.
The Ugly
- I don’t know how you slow down Mitchell.
I simply expect him to make every shot he takes.
He quickly took Tatum out, but this shit needs to stop.
The reserves are good enough to hold 25 point leads.
This is the playoffs where one rolled ankle can kill you.
Look, this was Game 1.
We’ve seen the Celts look dominant in Game 1 and then immediately turn around and drop Game 2.
Here is their opportunity to show us they learned from that disaster and are ready to respond appropriately.
Go up 2-0 and you put yourself in a great position to wrap this series up quickly as well.
Fuck around, and you might find out you don’t like the result.
