Back To The Eastern Conference Finals We Go

When the final buzzer sounded last night and the Celtics officially punched their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second consecutive year, something they had not done in 30ish years, I got a little emotional. After everything this team has been through, the lows of the injuries, the highs of a ridiculous 16 game winning streak, and now two playoff series that few people thought they would win, it’s fair to say that the 2017-18 season has been one hell of a roller coaster. When everyone from Chuck to Vegas doubted this team, we knew. We knew what they were capable of, and it never made sense as to why the general public couldn’t figure it out. Was it because they didn’t want to realize this team was better than their favorite team even without its two best players? Was it jealousy? Take this most recent series for example. You know the one the Celtics just won in a quick 5 games while barely breaking a sweat. I’m not sure ESPN and the like are over the fact that they’ve spent the last few weeks blowing the wrong team. The Celtics won this series while being dogs in every single game. All that happened next was the league needed to send in its fixers just so that Sixers fans could taste the joy of victory. Very sad!

But again, we knew. I never cared that all during the year nobody was really talking about Jayson Tatum in the ROY race. Let me ask you now, which rookie has played the best this postseason? Some might say Donovan Mitchell, and you’d have a strong case, but when you combine the points with the efficiency, Tatum’s been hard to match. This team has spent the entire year winning games they shouldn’t, and that’s why this isn’t all that much of a surprise. Nobody is going to give them a chance against CLE, and I couldn’t love that position more.

Now before we get too ahead of ourselves, we first need to talk about last night. So if I were you, I’d go hang out in the bathroom stall, or close your office door, or book yourself a meeting room, do whatever you have to do to get some privacy because things are about to get pretty damn sexual.

The Good

– To kick us off, let’s play a game. Who am I?

It’s Jayson Tatum bitch!!

Imagine going the whole year as a Sixer fan puffing your chest out about how awesome Ben Simmons is, and how he’s the best rookie and the next Lebron and blah blah blah only to get matched up in a playoff series against a real rookie and have him take you behind the woodshed and repeatedly give you the business night in and night out? How demoralizing. Tatum finished Game 5 with a beautiful 25/3/4 on 8-15 shooting, and he didn’t even attempt a three! He finished this series averaging nearly 24 a night on 52.6% shooting on 15.6 FGA a night, at age 20. He’s not had at least 20 points in 7 straight games, tying Donovan Mitchell’s record. Right from the start of this series we could easily see that PHI had nobody on their roster that had any chance of staying in front of Tatum, not even All NBA Defense Robert Covington. And guess what, that’s not changing anytime soon for PHI.

It was impossible to not love everything about Tatum’s night in Game 5. Offensively he picked his spots, working to not only get to the rim, but capitalize on his silky smooth midrange game. The furthest FGA that Tatum took was when he shook the shit out of Covington on the baseline, everything else was in his money area. That’s what impressed me most, especially after the brutal shot selection from everyone in Game 4. I just don’t know how you stop this kid when he gets you one on one. He has the handle and driving ability to get past you, or he can reach into his bag of tricks and pull off some crazy Dirk fadeaway or Pierce stepback. Again, he’s 20.

– Something I anticipate I’ll be doing for the next 10 years, is following up Jayson Tatum with the play of our other young monster, Jaylen Brown. Did you know Brown is younger than both Simmons and Embiid? Just thought I’d throw that out there since we love talking about how good the young core of PHI is. All Jaylen did in this game was drop 24 points on 10-13 shooting, I suppose that’s pretty decent

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If I could be honest for a second, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jaylen so locked in offensively like he was last night. His hamstring clearly wasn’t an issue, and I’d say what stood out most from this performance was the aggressive nature in which Brown played with. It’s almost as if guys haven’t figured out that Jaylen can really shoot. Watch those clips and look and how compact and confident his form is. His release is a million times better than it was last year, and it’s turned Jaylen into a legit offensive weapon. For some reason I kept hearing that Ben Simmons was this elite defender, and yet I watched Jaylen go 4-4 against him in Game 5. In fact, I watched the Celtics go 8-10 against Simmons but that’s another story.

The name of the game in today’s NBA is having versatile wings, and with these two we may be seeing the best pairing in the league for years to come. Fuckin Ainge!

– This has been a brutal playoffs for the Al Horford haters, and things did not get better for them last night. When the game was in balance and the Celtics needed someone to step up and win them the game, guess who was there. Max Player Al Horford

He didn’t have the monster box score numbers like he did earlier in the series, but I suppose 15/8/3/5 will have to do. The Celtics did a great job of not forgetting Al is on their team, as he led everyone with 16 FGA. See what a difference it makes when they actually use him? He also led all starters with a +8, but I really want to focus on his fourth quarter. The haters loved to rub their nipples and talk about how Al disappears in the big moments. Well in last night’s fourth querter not only did he throw up 6/3/2 and have 2 gigantic steals, but he also shot 3-5 from the field while playing ALL 12 minutes.

And that’s just on the offensive end. Defensively, just as he’s done this entire series, whenever he was matched up with Embiid he completely dominated him. Last night he held the talented center to just 1-5 shooting, and as a whole the Sixers went just 8-19 against him. Horford was everywhere on the defensive end in this game, leading the team in deflections (7), shots contested (13) and box outs (12). The Celtics needed to close this game out at home, and Horford while earning every goddamn penny of his contract made sure it happened.

– I think I am not alone in saying there will never be a day that I give a shit whether or not Marcus Smart ever learns to shoot. I could not give to shits about it. When he does stuff like this

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he gets a pass. Shoot all the terrible threes you want, go nuts. I can’t imagine there is a Celtics fan out there that is questioning Smart’s value to his team, and how instrumental he is to their success and last was a perfect example. You bet your ass he shot poorly, going 3-8 from the field, and yet when the dust settled there was his 14/6/6/3 and team high +10. Marcus Smart winning plays coming out of his asshole down the stretch, even when he missed a FT late he made up for it.

My favorite part about his night was how Brad used him and something I expect to see in the next series. Whether it’s Hill, or JR, or whoever, put Marcus on the goddamn block and let him go to work. No guard can contain him, hell Lebron probably can’t even contain him in the post. Brad talks all the time about when Smart plays, you can feel his presence on the court, and that could not have been more true in this win.

– Aron Baynes, you are the center that this team has been missing ever since Perk left. You are perfect.

– If you remember, the Celtics were pretty much crushed in every major category in Game 4. Well I am happy to report that the Celts played with much more energy in Game 5, winning the second chance points battle 15-7, the fast break battle 15-12, and they did a much better job staying close in terms of points in the paint. All the areas the Sixers thrived in during the previous game suddenly went the Celts way.

– It wasn’t an efficient night for Terry, but I’ll be damned if the kid doesn’t rise up in the big moments

I thought he was in store for a huge night, but I’ll settle for his 17/5/6 and just 2 TOs in a team high 40 minutes. Good luck to George Hill or whoever is planning on trying to stay in front of Terry next round.

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– A young team like the Celts should not be this good in high pressure clutch moments, but here we are. 

This was the biggest surprise to me in this series, because it’s fair to say we have not seen the Celtics always be at their best in clutch situations throughout the year. But now, even without Kyrie, this team was absolute nails this series in the biggest moments. Anyone can look good when you’re blowing a Heat team out by 30, but how do you look when the pressure is high and you have to have flawless late game execution? That’s the difference between the pretenders and the contenders.

– I love Brad Stevens. That is all.

– Before we move on to the other sections, I just want to say it feels great to have this “rivalry” back with PHI. I mean the Celtics won 7 of the 9 times they played this season so I’m not sure how much of a “rivalry” it is, but the NBA is definitely better when both these teams are good. It’s just sad that Sixers fans have to understand their Process isn’t all that impressive. That’s a tough pill for them to swallow so give them some time to recover. They were put in their place by younger players, and reserves. Now they are at the point where they are hoping for Lebron to come and save them, it’s honestly sad to see.

The Bad

– Not the best defense we’ve ever seen this team play. The Celts had all sorts of problems trying to contain Saric/Embiid as both were fairly dominant from a box score perspective. I thought they lost Redick a few too many times, and the Sixers did finish with 112 points on 48.8% shooting. They had 60 points in the second half, and I can say with certainty that if the Celtics defend like this against CLE, they’ll be in for quite a rude awakening.

This goes for limiting OREB as well. PHI had 12 last night, and maybe you’ve heard but Tristan Thompson is sort of a beast on the offensive glass. This is an area of concern for me moving forward for sure.

– It’s never going to be easy with this Celtics team, and the sooner you accept that the better. Only a fool would have thought they were going to keep their double digit lead, as the third quarter where they had the same amount of TOs as FGM was about as predictable as it comes. This is how this team plays, and you don’t have to like it, but don’t try and fight it. It’s almost summer so really we should be thanking the Celtics for helping us lose weight due to no appetite and nervous shaking. Who knew that they would win playoff series AND come up with a hot new summer diet.

But seriously stop fucking around.

– How many more end of game three pointers do you think the Celtics will allow before they realize that maybe they should do something about it? Does Lebron have to hit a half court shot or something? Every goddamn series this keeps happening and it scares me in places I don’t like to talk about. That Redick three? Jesus christ.

– Soft as shit for Embiid to walk off the court immediately and not shake hands. I’m all for hating your opponent, but when you talk like he does, you have to face the music. Simmons did it, and yet Embiid booked it for the locker room. This is where his youth shows and that’s fine, but it doesn’t make it any less soft.

The Ugly

– I will forgive everything Marcus Morris did in this series if he plays well against CLE, but yikes his 1-10 performance was certainly tough to watch.

– If the Celtics had lost this game because they could not hit a fourth quarter FT I would have lost my goddamn shit. I’m not saying they need to be perfect, but you need to be better than 31-41. You can’t be missing late fourth quarter free throws to keep hope alive.

Isn’t it weird that in a game in which both teams combined to shoot 72 FTA that the Celts had 4 fewer fouls than in Game 4? That made me chuckle a little bit.

So we now turn our attention to the big bad wolf. Our own personal Boogie Man is standing in the way of thie Celtics team once again making an NBA Finals. We now have PHI fans who are so embarrassed with their basketball team that they are now Cavs fans talking about how Lebron is going to dominate. Guess what, who cares. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t. The fact that the Celtics are even in this position is more than good enough for me. I am entering this ECF with nothing but positivity, even if they get beat by 50 again. But you know what, 2010 was a thing that happened, who’s to say it can’t happen again in 2018. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY is giving the Celtics a chance in this series, and all I have to say about that is….

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How has that worked out so far? Exactly.

8 down 8 to go. Let’s shock the world one more time.