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NBA 2017 Playoffs |OT| WE DID IT

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Chase17

Member
Maybe Horford shouldn't lead the fast break haha

IT has been fantastic (even with some iffy jump passes, although they've been getting through)
 
Their offense is too dependent on a single player, as noted by the Inside the NBA guys repeatedly. That same player is also the biggest liability on defense out of all the players in the playoffs. They are 25th in rebounding in a league of 30 teams. They are a middle of the road three point shooting team when all the best teams these days are in the top 5. Their vaunted defense is actually pretty average if you look at defensive efficiency rankings and opponent floor percentage. They can defend the three but are totally average in the paint.

They are beyond just flawed, they are glaringly flawed and their position as the 1 seed is a direct consequence of their conference being up for grabs between a bunch of crappy teams. You re-run the season and they could easily end up as a 4 or 5 seed.

They had a better defense than Washington in the regular season by quite a bit and their offense was not far behind. They were 4th in the league in assists per game while also being in the bottom 10 for turnovers (third in league in AST/TO), so they're not too dependent on a single player and the offense flows very naturally, they keep the ball moving looking for a better shot which is why the had the second AST% in the league, behind only the Warriors. They had a top 10 OFFRTG and a top 10-ish DEFRTG, which is you know a great sign.

So yeah, flawed. But not weak. They're a good team, an inconsistent one but a good team. Pretty much like the other 3 standing teams in the East.
 
These are the signs of life in the offense that were missing for almost the entire Bulls series.
How long can they keep this up though?

From down 16-0 in the first
To up 13 in the 3rd

Playoff Celtics showed up late, but they brought the firepower.
 

spyder_ur

Member
Time for the Wizards to adjust. I'm not sure what they're able to do against the IT-Bradley-Smart-Jae-Horford lineup. They can't keep up defensively (it's just a matter of whether the Celtics can hit shots), and they're having a ton of trouble scoring against that unit.

Hell of a third quarter. This is now the 3rd playoff game that totally swung on the Celts locking down on the backs of Bradley, Smart, and Horford.
 

spyder_ur

Member
I was expecting Jaylen to get some minutes in this series given the matchup and just for additional bodies and length against the Wiz perimeter. Didn't expect it in the last 6 minutes though.

Good minutes, just needs to slow down. He was doing that earlier in the season when he was getting consistent minutes.

I thought everyone here told me that Horford sucks in the playoffs? He's been a monster the last few games and again today.
 

Cooter

Lacks the power of instantaneous movement
Wasn't able to watch. What happened in a nutshell? Did the Cs just rain down threes?
 

Tom Penny

Member
Wasn't able to watch. What happened in a nutshell? Did the Cs just rain down threes?
Yeah Wizards shot really well too. Small lineup of Smart Crowder and Bradley to guard perimeter worked pretty good. Wall did get to many laps on simple picks though.
 
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