NBC Sports – For the first time in his young career, Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum has been named to the All-NBA First Team. Tatum was voted to the exclusive club alongside Milwaukee Bucks center Giannis Antetokounmpo, Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker, Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Dončić, and Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić. He received 49 first-team votes, 47 second-team votes, and three third-team votes for a total of 390 points.
The 24-year-old is the first Celtics player to be selected to the All-NBA First Team since Kevin Garnett in 2008.
I have been calling this since 2017, just *weeks* into his rookie season, but Jayson Tatum can now officially call himself an All-NBA First Team player. Superstar. Is an MVP trophy next? He’ll be going head to head with Luka Doncic for that trophy over the next decade, but I’d be shocked if he doesn’t put at least one up on his mantle if not more. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves since we’re just a few days removed from Tatum having more turnovers than baskets like he did in Game 3. Granted he followed that up with 3`1/8/5 and is averaging 27.2 points per game in the playoffs thus far.
If the Celtics don’t take care of business though and get bounced in the Eastern Conference Finals by the Heat for the second time in three years then this all becomes kind of hollow. So hopefully this motivates Tatum to show out and ride his greatest personal accolade ever into his greatest team accomplishment ever; a trip to the NBA Finals.
Now, let’s check some receipts!
Jayson Tatum is going to be All-NBA one day. #Celtics
New York Times – After the 2002-03 season, Carter, then 27, was planning to exercise a $4.1 million player option to remain in Miami. Picking up the option was a no-brainer. Carter was coming off a disappointing season in which he averaged 4.1 points on .356 shooting in 49 games. For a player with that stat line, $4.1 million was a fortune.
Except Carter’s agent, Bill Duffy, failed to notify the Heat by the June 30 deadline that Carter was coming back. Instead of locking in another season in Miami, Carter accidentally became a free agent.
The mistake cost him at least $3 million. Carter had to settle for a minimum contract with the San Antonio Spurs — roughly $750,000 — the next season, rather than the $4.1 million he would have locked in by exercising his option.
The fact that Bill Duffy is still a licensed NBA agent, let alone Luka Doncic’s agent, after losing Anthony Carter $3 MILLION dollars because he forgot to file some paperwork is legitimately unbelievable.
Not only that, he’s still Anthony Carter’s agent! (Or at least still “looks over” Carter’s contracts) That is a ride or die friend, folks. If Carter gets pinched and needs a fall guy, Duffy better be first in line to take the bid. Carter must have had Duffy on speed dial as his gopher for anything and everything like Sean Boswell in Tokyo Drift.
To be fair he did pay Carter back for the lost wages over the last 17 years, which is not to be minimized because that is some honorable stuff right there. But my god, imagine being the agent and realizing what you’ve done? Must have felt like the mom from Home Alone except instead of committing a light bit of child abuse, you just punted on $3 MILLION dollars.
In an old ESPN article from Marc Stein, Duffy blames an unnamed staffer for a “clerical error,” which is the least believable thing I’ve ever read. You don’t entrust a $4.1 million contract to a paper pushing intern, you make sure that shit gets signed, sealed, and delivered. If that really is the case though and that is a true story, I hope Duffy walked into the guy’s office and fired him Ari Gold style.
If nothing else, I suppose this is a feel good story that should remind us that money isn’t everything. Duffy screwed up, paid Carter back, Carter went on to make $17 million in the NBA during his career and is now an assistant coach for the Miami Heat. Duffy for his part got some goodwill for doing the right thing and landed the next great NBA mega star in Doncic as his top client. See? Everything works out in the end.
A little Friday afternoon #RushHourRap bringing you into the weekend even though most of you are probably only commuting from the desk in your bedroom to the couch in your living room. Doesn’t mean we can’t crack a few crafties on a Friday night with some new tunes though.
Jack Harlow blew onto the scene when he dropped Whats Poppin earlier this year with one of the catchiest beats I’ve heard all year. Well now he’s back with Tyler Herro, named after the rookie Miami Heat sniper who you may remember for the assault he committed against my Boston Celtics. The song itself has some sneaky one liners that are super relevant during these UNPRECEDENTED TIMES.
Can’t touch me, I got instincts Locked in the house, but I’m plottin’ things
I came home nice, but I’m goin’ back mean I’m ’bout to globe-trot when they know a vaccine
Is it a little early in his career for Tyler Herro to have a rapper name a song after him? Maybe, but Herro played at Kentucky, where Harlow is actually from so the connection makes sense. Not to mention, Herro has the best drip here. So now he’s got a song to match.
Hopefully Herro’s career goes better after having a rap song named after him than Johnny Manziel’s did once Drake made him a rap anthem with Draft Day.
In a weird, pandemic interrupted season that stretched 11 months and 27 days the Celtics went from an unmitigated disaster last summer watching two max contract players leave for nothing to landing Kemba Walker and going on a run to the Eastern Conference Finals. Despite all the missed opportunities that arose once the NBA season resumed, the Celtics accomplished what so few teams ever can; rebuilding on the fly. As Kemba said in his post-game press conference last night, “This is our first year together, we are going to have some time to grow.” He’s not wrong.
Now that the back patting is over, lets take a look at the epic choke job the Celtics completed last night. For whatever reason this team struggled mightily when it came to neck stepping time. Whether they’re too young, lack a killer instinct, or just don’t have a defined closer on the team, whatever it was, this team struggled to finish games. We saw it in the Raptors series that they were lucky to escape in 7 and it carried over to the Eastern Conference Finals where the Celtics blew late leads in Games 1 and 2. The latter of which led to an all-time dysfunctional locker room blowout before winning Game 3, dropping Game 4, and winning Game 5 to force a 6th and decisive game. It looked like Boston’s talent was going to do what it had in the previous round, overwhelm their gritty opponent. They even forced the Heat to go away from their vaunted zone defense as the Celtics finally figured out a consistent way to penetrate and disrupt.
However, when it came to crunch time the Celtics once again WITHERED. The Celtics defense imploded as the Heat scored at will.
The Celtics closed out Game 6 with a 159.1 defensive rating over the final nine minutes, allowing the Heat to score on 10(!) consecutive possessions in one stretch. On one last crunch-time collapse: https://t.co/SltOwilYtp
BRobb also tweeted out the Celtics’ clutch stats (idk ask BRobb for the definition of that one) and they’re just as bad as you’d expect.
Celtics final clutch stats against Heat over five games (19 minutes of clutch play) Offensive rating: 85.3 Defensive rating: 150 Net rating -64.7 https://t.co/SltOwilYtp
With 9 minutes to go in the game and Boston up by six, the Heat went on a 26-6 run to officially stomp them out. Even worse was their absolutely moronic, panic stricken shot selection down the stretch.
Jayson Tatum makes a two point shot to make it 102-103 with 5:40 left. Next possessions
Kemba missed three Tatum turnover Kemba missed three Tatum missed three Smart missed three Tatum missed tech FT Jaylen missed three Smart missed layup Kemba turnover
Where the hell is Brad Stevens during all that? The Heat went on something like a 19-6 run before he decided to call a timeout with 4:30 remaining. By that point though it was too late and too big of a hole and then the C’s really were forced to start jacking up 3’s.
One of my biggest complaints, but it’s probably more about the league in general than the Celtics specifically, is there insistence on chucking threes even when they’re clearly not falling. Boston went 15-46 (32.6%) from 3 for the game, 4-22 from 3 in the 2nd half, and an atrocious 2-14 in the 4th. In the 4th the Celtics shot 37% from the field including 14.3% from 3. Meanwhile the Heat shot 66.7% from the field while only taking 3 three pointers in the 4th and nailing them all. For the game the Heat went 13-27 from 3 for a 48.1% clip, nearly 16% better than the C’s.
The Celtics never had an answer for Bam Adebayo all night. Daniel Theis fouled out again while getting worked by the “point center” and rookie Grant Williams probably did the best job covering the big man, but Bam was just on another level dropping 32 and 14.
I also want to point out that while I respect Jimmy Butler’s MJ-esque toxic competitive streak, I also would have been fully on board with Jaylen Brown getting ejected for knocking him out after that dirty play under the hoop.
No foul was called because the NBA officiating is hilariously inconsistent, but don’t let that fool you. This was a dirty, dangerous play and could have seriously injured Brown. Don’t be surprised if these two get into a scuffle down the line because I guarantee Brown will not forget about that play.
So where do the Celtics go from here? This is definitely a team at a crossroads with no clear path to improvement. Bench scoring is obviously a need, they need more defined roles, but more than anything the Celtics need to add some veteran grit and balls. Every great team has veteran players and character guys that can consistently get buckets and/or act as a mentor to younger teammates. Think Eddie House, James Posey, Sam Cassell, and PJ Brown on the ’08 Celtics. They need to add some grit to their bench rather than filling it with all their mediocre draft picks from the last 3 years who can’t create offense. Danny Ainge has created the greatest G League team ever assembled with all those draft picks, but that has not translated to consistent productive NBA players outside of Smart, Tatum, and Brown. Three core players no doubt, but the C’s have failed to develop much in the way of bench talent. That is only made more glaring when the C’s are getting lit up by rookies like Tyler Herro in Miami, who the C’s apparently loved pre-draft.
Grit seems to be the main thing they lacked this postseason as the Celtics routinely blew late leads only to get bailed out by the skin of their teeth on talent alone. Well that string of luck came to a swift end last night as the Heat showed them what a team with a lead is supposed to do. It steps on your neck and closes it out.
So do the Celtics looks to reconfigure their roster or just hope the deep playoff run provides valuable experience? Felger and Mazz producer Jimmy Stewart was floating rumors of a potential Marcus Smart trade last week if the C’s got bounced.
"I get the feeling that Marcus Smart might not be here next year." – @IAmJamesStewart after hearing from his mysterious sources.
Getting a W on Saturday night would help with a lot of this, but it sounds like a #Celtics power struggle is occurring between Smart, Brown, & Tatum. pic.twitter.com/UMpgsxpRFq
I think Tatum is completely untouchable at this point as he should be. He definitely needs some more seasoning to his game (stop routinely settling for fadeaway threes) and generally has some maturing to do, but you don’t trade elite talent for no reason.
Other than that they could move Jaylen Brown but I just cannot get on board with trading him or Smart. That would be a MASSIVE “addition by subtraction” gamble that I would not be willing to take and I dont think Danny Ainge would either.
There was speculation that the team lacked clearly defined roles and too many guys thought it was their team. Theres only one basketball and if everyone wants to play hero ball and take the last shot then you’re going to run into trouble.
It’s not a hot take but I think their best bet is to hope yet another brutal postseason exit helps their young core build the testicular fortitude required to make the jump next year. I keep thinking of that scene from “The Last Dance” documentary where Michael Jordan details how he got his brains beat in by the Celtics and Pistons for years before finally getting over the hump. Even with 6 rings on his fingers, Jordan admitted those early struggles were necessary to give him the experience and the drive to finally break through.
The most unfortunate part though is this was the easiest path to the Finals the Celtics were going to have any time soon with a depleted/dysfunctional Philly team, Giannis getting knocked out early, no Kawhi or LeBron in the East, oh ya and the Nets will be rolling out Kyrie and Kevin Fucking Durant next season. So while I want to preach patience, I can understand if Celtics brass doesn’t feel the same way.
We don’t even know when the next NBA season will begin thanks to the COVID interruption. Training camps for next season would have normally started around now, but Adam Silver has hinted at a Christmas or even January start for the 2020-21 season. Until then we’ll have plenty of missed opportunities to regret as we watch LeBron James inevitably win another title. Hopefully this Celtics team uses that as motivation and comes back ready to take over the East and finally, legitimately threaten for the Larry O’Brien trophy next year.
NBCSports – LeBron James joined Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami promising multiple championships. But the Heat lost in the 2011 NBA Finals then lost three straight to trail the Celtics 3-2 in the 2012 Eastern Conference finals. LeBron was labeled a choker who didn’t deliver in the clutch.
Then, he turned in a performance for the ages – 45 points, 15 rebounds and five assists in a victory in Boston.
How did LeBron summon that level of focus and execution?
LeBron on Instagram Live:
My mentality was, if we lose, Pat Riley may break us all up. And I didn’t want that. It might be the quickest breakup in basketball history.And not only might they break it all up, my legacy is going to take a huge, huge hit if I don’t go out here and perform at an all-time high. Win, lose or draw, I had to be focused. I had to lock in and lead us to victory. Didn’t know if it was going to happen that way, but that was my mindset.
Despite an unprecedented run of dominance in Boston across multiple sports over the past 20 years, it’s the bitter defeats that stick with me most. I vividly remember sitting at my future father-in-law’s house in 2012 watching LeBron James rip my heart out as he went God Mode for 45 and 15 in Game 6. Just an absolutely unbelievable, singlehanded display of dominance. And it knocked out the already exhausted legs of the aging, proud, veteran laden 2012 Celtics. I’ve written about how that Celtics squads was one of my all-time favorite Boston teams many times.
Led by three Hall of Famers in Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen, but all three were well past their primes. This was a full four years after the Celtics won Banner 17. This wasn’t the 2008 Celtics, this was the Grit and Balls Celtics.
KG was 36, Ray was 36, and Pierce was 34-years-old at this point so this was going to be their last run at a chip and everybody knew it. It’s impressive they even got that far after winning just 39 games in the regular season that year.
People forget the C’s actually went down 0-2 in this series before ripping off 3 straight wins and putting LeBron on the ropes, which was oh so sweet at the time. KG and the Celtics broke LeBron two years before and legitimately bullied him so bad he left Cleveland to team up with his super friends. After the most ridiculous display in pro sports history (AKA the pre-season dynasty predicting rock concert)
LeBron and co. proceeded to get worked by Dirk and the Mavs in the 2011 Finals.
0 for 1.
So if the Heat lost yet again in Year 2, with LeBron, D-Wade, and Chris Bosh all on massive contracts, I very easily could have seen Pat Riley saying F this whole operation. Would that have been an overreaction? Yea sure, but this is Pat Riley we’re talking about not Brad Stevens.
To think we were THIS close to imploding that mini-dynasty less than 24 months into its inception like a cheap folding chair. That Game 6 literally gave birth to the LeBron James we know today. It essentially washed away the choker tag as LeBron evolved into the most dominant player in the world that night.
Yes, LeBron swung the sword that decapitated the end of the Celtics’ run and won his first NBA title in the process. But lets not forget the following season, if not for Ray Allen’s dagger 3 in Game 6 of the Finals the Heat lose to the Spurs in 2012.
I remember watching this game at T’s Pub on that crappy projector screen, turning to Big Z and saying “Well Ray just won the Finals for LeBron.” They still had to go to OT just to win Game 6 and then win Game 7 on top of that, but the hardest job was already done by Jesus Shuttlesworth.
The Heat then lost to the Spurs in 2013 too. That would have made the Heat 1/4 in the Finals with the Super Team, which would have made LeBron an ugly 1/5 in his career up to that point. Add that with losing 3 out of 4 to the Warriors in Cleveland and LeBron could easily be 2/9 in the Finals. So a couple of butterfly wing flaps one way or the other and LeBron could have left Miami with just one or even zero championships. Imagine that?
Now I love watching LeBron play, I understand I am witnessing one of the greatest to ever play the game, but goddamn was it fun to root against LeBron with KG and Pierce wanting to bury the guy more than anybody every single night.
LeBron James is the latest superstar athlete to pack up and head for Hollywood to play for the Lakers. After years of hating on LeBron I have to admit, I don’t really blame him for this one. Three out of the last four years the Cavs just did not have enough firepower to beat the all-world Golden State Warriors. Part of that is his own fault for forcing the team to be built in his image, long term planning be damned, but all that aside the writing was on the wall. The Cavs were not getting any better so he could play out his days in Cleveland due to a sense of guilt for how he left his hometown high and dry for Miami all those years ago. Or he could go put a bow on his career and build a media empire while playing for the Showtime Lakers and learn from the Magic 8-ball himself.
After winning a title for those lovable losers in Cleveland, LeBron was playing with house money and he knew it. The fans couldn’t possibly turn on him again, especially after getting the Cavs to the finals the last 4 years in a row. So unless the Cavs somehow landed Kawhi or Paul George, which was never going to happen, LeBron had one foot out the door as soon as that championship parade was over.
Hey, I totally get the desire to just live somewhere that you like. I’m from Boston, born and bred, but I want to blow my brains out from the months of November to March. If it wasn’t for the Patriots, Bruins, and Celtics to get me through the miserable nuclear winters in this city I would have packed my bags and moved years ago.
So for a guy in his 30s with 3 kids who’s already accomplished just about everything in the league, I totally get wanting to go take a new job in a city thats 70 degrees every day of the year. Plus you know LeBron wants to make more movies, whether its the oft rumored Space Jam 2 or if its for more roles like his cameo in Trainwreck where I found myself liking LeBron more than I care to admit.
For LeBron he gets the benefits of both worlds, he’s now able to really start building the media empire he clearly wants to build and he gets to play for the Los Angeles Lakers who *could* be challenging for a championship as early as next year because they fall ass backwards into top free agents all the time. This probably isn’t exactly what Kobe had in mind when he told LeBron to just “figure it out” in order to win titles.
This move doesn’t seem like ring chasing though. The Lakers are fine, but barring some monster moves they aren’t true title contenders. Did the Warriors beat the will to win out of LeBron? Has he come to realize he probably isn’t going to be able to top Michael Jordan’s six rings without a hurricane wiping out the Bay Area? Maybe thats why, as Chris Mannix put it, winning seems to now be taking a back seat.
“Is James, 33, really willing to punt on the upcoming season in the hopes of success in the next one? Seems like it. L.A. is a fantastic business decision and clearly one with which his family was comfortable. But basketball? Finding his way to Houston, a 65-win team that had the Warriors on the ropes last season, would have been a basketball decision. The Sixers, a team with a pair of elite young franchise players already on board, would have been a basketball decision.
Boston, Denver, Golden State … those would have been basketball decisions.
The Lakers are about something else.”
If nothing else though, this team is going to be entertaining as fuck. For his first move as the new GM of the Lakers, LeBron signed Lance Stephenson.
Yup that guy.
For his second move he signed the wildly entertaining Javale McGee.
And then of course to top it all off, don’t forget the first family of LA, the patriarch of which is still very much embedded in this team.
I am legitimately excited for LaVar to complain on an episode of Ball in the Family (which shockingly ain’t half bad) that LeBron isn’t getting his son the ball enough. Skip Bayless literally may croak at his desk.
The only real knock on this whole situation though is where does it ultimately leave LeBron’s legacy? Does he get remembered as the guy who brought a championship to long suffering Cleveland? The guy who smoked his hometown with The Decision and built the NBA’s first real Super Team? Or is he remembered as a nomad just jumping around from team to team picking out the situation that suited him best at the time?
To be honest, I think when we look back in 20 years its probably going to be mostly the last one, but not in a negative way. He’ll be looked at as a guy ahead of his time because sure LeBron was the first one to orchestrate the construction of his own Super Team, but we’ve seen it time and time again in the years since. James Harden and CP3 working their way to the Rockets to play together. Kevin Durant heading for greener pastures to chase rings with the Warriors. LeBron was the first one to do it.
He may ultimately be revered as the guy that taught his peers the players have the power, not the owners. If you’re good enough you can leverage your talent to shape a team the way you see fit. LeBron did this with his 1+1 contracts, basically keeping his team on its toes for years (for better or worse) so they couldn’t just take a year off, not spend enough, or punt on a free agent because LeBron could just threaten to opt out and leave. He brought the power back to the players.
For all his dominance, his “must watchability,” his highs, his lows, LeBron will be an NBA legend when its all said and done, but when he does get that Hall of Fame nod……what jersey will he wear? Will it even matter by then?
A new episode of The 300s Podcast is hot off the presses! This ep is a grab bag of news as we’ve got headlines everywhere from drug rings to a historical run by the Red Sox to PED suspensions and back to NBA free agency. Click here to listen or download on iTunes or Google Play. Subscribe, rate, and review today!
A new episode of #The300sPodcast is hot off the presses and its a grab bag discussing: Hanley Ramirez had a bad weekend, the #RedSox are chasing 100+ wins but I still don’t feel great, Edelman is fighting the #NFL, and a big announcement from The 300s! https://t.co/0oi7aJtKBK
It came out the other day that Hanley Ramirez was allegedly Pablo Escobar andddd now he’s apparently not. Whoops.
The Red Sox are on pace to win 100+ games for the first time since 1946 and I’m still not sold on this team.
Julian Edelman is pulling a Ryan Braun and appealing his 4-game suspension on the way his test was physically handled more so than the actual results.
LeBron “The Decision” James reportedly doesn’t want a recruiting circus this time around in free agency. Is this the height of hypocrisy or has LeBron learned from getting roasted after The Decision?
The 300s has a very exciting announcement to make and that my friends is what they call a big market tease.
ESPN – James has until Friday to pick up his $35.6 million player option with the Cleveland Cavaliers. While James hasn’t decided yet whether to pick up his player option, sources close to the situation tell ESPN that he has no intention of hearing elaborate pitch meetings from teams. James might meet or speak with a club official or owner at some point, but the elaborate presentations that have become common in NBA free agency over the years are unnecessary after 15 seasons in the league.
Should James become a free agent, league sources believe he and his agents Rich Paul and Mark Termini have enough understanding of the stakes and NBA landscape to handle the process without much fanfare. James went through a much more elaborate courtship when he was a free agent in 2010. The Knicks, Heat, Bulls, Nets, Cavs and Clippers flew delegations in to make presentations to him, and he announced he was joining the Heat in a televised special.
Look, I get it. Who would want to make a big circus around THE biggest DECISION of their lives? Like the last thing you would want as a guy trying to decide his future is have THE ultimate and difficult DECISION you make be aired on live TV?
That sounds incredibly stressful, egomaniacal and even disrespectful to your current team. Making THE biggest DECISION in your life is something you should sit down with your family and not someone like Jim Gray to choose where you want to continue your career.
This is a 7 game series and we’ve seen LeBron take one on the chin before coming back to lay waste to his opposition but last night was the absolute best case scenario for the Celtics who blew out the Cavs 108-83. They looked younger, quicker, more athletic, deeper, and overall just more invested in the game than LeBron and his flunkies.
When LeBron says he has “zero concern” over getting curb stomped in Game 1 though I genuinely believe him. He probably does have zero concern. Thats the problem. The C’s got up early and never looked back. This Cavs team is not built to play from behind, especially if LeBron isn’t scoring 40 points a game. He’s *averaging* 32.7 pts per game in the playoffs and the Cavs need him to hit and exceed those averages every single night if they’re going to beat the C’s. Do I think LeBron can do that 4 out of the next 6 games? Sure. Do I think he will? I doubt it. I think the Celtics will tax him mentally as they throw wave after wave of defenders at him and make him work, really work, to get upwards of 30 points a night. Not to mention he now has to play defense.
This quote from Jaylen Brown over the weekend was illuminating in the way they all view LeBron.
“You’ve got to make him work on both sides of the ball. Usually he’s guarding the least-offensive threat on the floor, so if he’s guarding me, I’m going to make him pay.”
Now unless Aaron Baynes is on the floor, take your pick LeBron and good luck. Despite all the injuries to this Celtics team they are so deep in terms of scoring threats. If he wants to D up Jaylen Brown well then he’s going to have to chase a 21-year old dude around all game. Same with a 20 year old Jayson Tatum. Both those guys are young, long, athletic and can shoot. Horford’s another All-Star so thats more work. Marcus Smart is smaller, but he’s a goddamn pain in the ass. There’s no weak link LeBron can just lean on to get some rest while playing D. This isn’t last year’s team that stood around and waited for Isaiah Thomas to score on every possession.
Now with all that being said, you know LeBron is going to come out SWINGING on Tuesday night. He wants to make a statement, which he has done so many times before. That is why when he checks himself out of a blowout with several minutes remaining nobody really bats an eye because he is great at taking the long view in a series. His team did not have it, hell they were 0-12 from 3 point land in the first half and shot 15% from 3 for the game. They only shot 36% overall. Meanwhile the Celtics were on fire shooting 36% from 3 and 51% overall for the game.
Water tends to find its level so the Celtics will shoot worse and the Cavs will shoot better. LeBron looks around and sees that and calls it an early night because he’s 33 and there’s no reason for him to play 48 minutes in a blowout when he can just save his energy to come out strong in Game 2.
But, if the Celtics can withstand that early attack from LeBron, throw Marcus Morris, Jaylen Brown, Semi Ojeleye at him and get him to struggle even a little bit then they are in the money. If LeBron senses he’ll have to win the entire series on his own he may just shut it down. We’ve seen it before.
Guerschon Yabusele even got 4 minutes in this game. The Dancing Bear is basically a human victory cigar for the Celtics as we got Gino Time in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Insane.
With that we did also see some incredible flip flopping from the broadcast, most notably Jeff Van Gundy. After a Cavs loss to the Celtics in the regular season Van Gundy said the Cavs were still by far the better team and that was BEFORE Kyrie got hurt. Now the C’s get a big win in Game 1 and Van Gundy is rewriting his own history. Where is Old Takes Exposed when you need them?
“I just think Boston is better. They have more better players.”
We could potentially see the Celtics, a completely different Celtics roster and coach, chase LeBron James out of Cleveland for the second time in his career. In 2010 the Big Three of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen frustrated LeBron so bad that he split for Miami just to get reinforcements. We could see that again here as LeBron will almost certainly opt out and enter free agency this offseason.
Before yesterday’s game I said my head tells me Cavs in 6, but my heart says Celtics in 7. I think if the Celtics are going to win this series its going to take 7 games, regardless of the results from Game 1. We’ve seen a young, upcoming dynastic team knock off the aging veteran champions before and it hurt like a bitch to watch. It would be poetic to see the same exact story unfold with the roles reversed on LeBron James now.
The 300s 