Celtics were a couple of missed 3s away from being down 1-2 to the no Joell 76ers lol. They probably still best in east but not by as much as people claim

Kinda true. And they would be if they didn’t have Tatum return

? The Celtics are a couple missed 3s last night from being down 2-1. They aren’t playing like a juggernaut 1 seed.

Yeah, is anyone really surprised by the way the series have gone? Cavs and Knicks both feel like a 3 or 4 seed but everyone in the east can conceivably beat anyone in the east

based on how they played the last two games I’d include the celtics in that lol

Yeah, we were one game out of the 5 seed with debatably our most important player missing 50 games.

Cavs aren’t a particularly strong 4 seed.

Last years pacers were a 4 seed iirc

Agreed, the whole “East is wide open” narrative was somewhat true, but not because it is “weak” like media was trying to portray.

I hate it too, but it is what it is. Plus Pacers should be back next year.

They matchup well with the Pistons, they can rebound and keep up athletically in the frontcourt with them

Nothing to do about seeding, Pistons just got unlucky that the Magic fell down to 8th.

this Orlando team has more playoff experience than the Pistons, they’re also very good in close games.

Both are true

Duren’s just getting bullied by WCJ, it’s crazy to see. Duren’s the one who does the bullying 😂 that’s the biggest swing to me, everyone else is more or less playing how they usually play

It’s both

Can it not be both?

I’m a Magic fan, but I’m generally fairly realistic with my expectations for the team; I thought they had a legitimate chance at the top seed in the East this season. I still think if they’d had better luck with health they’d have finished in the top half of the conference.

Honestly as a Magic fan that watches every game, the first three games of this series the Magic haven’t played close to their peak, they have won 11 of 12 quarters against the Pistons by playing mediocre Magic Ball. I don’t know how above or below average the Pistons have been to this point, but the Magic have another gear or two to unleash.

Same, the games were physical and grinding

I’m praying if we meet you guys in the ECF, you play your starters. Don’t give us the claws 🦞

0.5 for harris? Boy that is generous. You must be rounding up to the nearest half.

And LeBron to the Cavs will make the east way more interesting next year

Actually makes a ton of sense

The trade for Huerter was less about getting him and more so just getting rid of Ivey

who did you expect to get for ivey at the deadline?

When evaluating contenders, I wish more focus was on: shooting + experience + half court offense + # of shot creators.

Would help sort out teams who often are good hustle, defense teams but horrible HC offense and shooting

They’re a classic JB Bickerstaff team. Overperform regular season, underperform playoffs.

I think it’s also Cade’s inefficiency. 

In the regular season you can be inefficient and get by having so many more possessions thru effort. But in the playoffs, you’re just not gonna out-possession the other team as many times in a game by effort.

The reverse wolves we call it here in mn

This is how the rockets won 50 games and were the 2 seed last year. We played with way more effort than other teams even though our offense was trash, which led to our early postseason exit

Yeah exactly. It’s one of the reasons why I haven’t been as worried about the Spurs underperforming as some people have siting here youth

They’re definitely a team that very clearly had certain matchups where you could tell they put in a lot more effort and energy than they normally Wood and went to a completely different level.

Yeah the “every night is a playoff game” mentality doesn’t stand out nearly as much when every night is actually a playoff game lol. I don’t think this series is over but not at all surprised it’s been so competitive.

Tale as old as time.

Everyone did call this team as pretenders tbh. Not a shocker they’re struggling. This isn’t Denver’s offense being horrible for 2 games

2023 Grizzlies

You guys also lost by 30 to a depleted raptors squad in there as well. So I kinda get it, but yeah the team is obviously way better when healthy.

We beat you quite easily in the playins, what do you mean fake loss?

Paolo was just in his 82-episode power up pose arc

How was the loss to the Celtics bench “fake ass”?

His efficiency numbers are pretty bad for a #1. Some of it is lack of help but let’s not try and pretend he is on that Luka/Shai level

He’s going to have games where he misses 15 shots and/or has 10 turnovers. He’s basically playoff Harden but even less proven.

Just off the top of my head, guys I would trust more as a first option are:

• Jokic
• SGA
• LeBron
• Giannis
• Kawhi
• ANT
• Luka
• Tatum
• DMitchell
• Harden
• Wemby

And there’s probably some other guys I’m missing.

Edit; as pointed out below, I missed Steph, Haliburton, and KD. I might also take Maxey and would definitely take a healthy Embiid

He shot 43% in last year’s playoffs and missed 15 shots to go along with 9 turnovers today.

He’s basically Harden-lite. He has great games, but he also puts up some really ugly stat-lines. If he’s doing that in the regular season, he’s of course going to do it against tougher defenses in the playoffs

Correct! I actually had them a top 4 team in the East before the season. So when someone mentioned this matchup feels like a 4 vs 5 seed it makes sense. The this matchup feels more like 90s basketball.

Yup, and they have a history of playing ELITE defense before this season, and are suddenly (excepting the 3rd quarter of game 2) playing ELITE defense again.

Bro what, we are so ass

Lamelo is the perfect guy to drop 40 on you while his team loses by 15

This was our evaluation year. Harris and Duncan are not our core pieces going forward. Our GM was very clear that this was not the expectation going into the year and that he was going to use this year to evaluate what more needs to be done to make this team true contenders. In the eyes of the front office, we are a year ahead of schedule this year and we were also ahead of schedule last year.

Also don’t get why people are saying magic arent an 8 seed when they spent the entire season floating between 6 and 10. They have the potential to be a top 4 team with the right coaching and culture changes but theure absolutely a fringe playoff team in their current state. Pistons would be up 3-0 if Jalen Duren wasnt throwing games

If you said during the preseason that the Pistons and Magic would be locked in a tough round one series, no one would’ve been surprised. They just would’ve assumed it was 4 vs. 5 or 6 vs. 3.

Exactly how I’ve been looking at it. The preseason consensus around here had Orlando as the 3rd or 4th best team in the East, while Detroit was 5th or 6th. And this series is playing just like you’d expect from a ³⁄₆ or ⁴⁄₅ matchup.

defo cause of injuries in the east cause of how tight it was, franz missing 50 games when we were 1 game back of the 5th seed