Tag: NBA Draft Lottery

Celtics Take a Commanding 2-0 Lead Over the Cavs With a Grit and Balls Win

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Grit and Balls baby. That was a vintage Celtics win that would make Kevin Garnett proud. Boston imposed its will on the Cavs and just beat them down for a 107-94 victory despite a monster game from LeBron. Now the series heads back to Cleveland on Saturday night with the Celtics holding a commanding 2-0 lead.

Fun fact: the Celtics are 37-0 when up 2-0 in a best of 7 series.

As back and forth as this game was, there were actually only 2 lead changes in the entire game. That really speaks to the Celtics just holding on for dear life as LeBron put up 42 points including an insane 21 points in the first quarter.

LeBron was using allll of the Infinity Stones in that first quarter as he was just unstoppable.

Despite that absolute show from LeBron, the Celtics were only down 4 after one due in large part to Jaylen Brown dropping 13 points himself in the first quarter.

LeBron did give everyone a scare at the end of the 2nd quarter though after taking a shoulder to the head from Jayson Tatum. He looked a little woozy and shortly afterwards went back to the locker room for a brief moment. He came back just a couple of minutes later and did finish with 40+ points so he seemed to be fine. Was he milking it for the cameras? Ehhhh I think he might have been just a little bit, but its always difficult to tell with potential head injuries.

We do get this qualifier directly from NBA.com of when and why the C’s went on a huge run and won the game so thats fun.

Kind of leaves out the fact that LeBron only scored 4 points in the second quarter and elected to not play defense half the game. Really, it was a HUGE run after half time that was the turning point for the C’s who outscored Cleveland 36-22 in the third quarter and then never really looked back.

The Cavs also had TRIPLE the amount of turnovers as the Celtics with 15 to Boston’s 5. Rebounds were nearly even with Boston edging Cleveland 46-45 so the Tristan Thompson effect wasn’t nearly as prolific as many thought it may have been. Al Horford even finished with another double double (15 pts, 10 rebounds) despite having Thompson’s vaunted defensive attention.

The Cavs also got some bad news before the game when their coveted Brooklyn Nets pick, the crown jewel of the Kyrie Irving trade, turned into the No. 8 pick in this year’s draft. So Danny Ainge hoarded those Nets picks for *years* and then at the last second he jumps off the bandwagon and trades his last Brooklyn pick and it drops all the way to No. 8!

Hello darkness my old friend.

J.R. Smith always has been and always will be a scumbag. Late in the game Horford went up for a layup and Smith pushes him in the back sending Horford crashing to the hardwood behind the hoop. Even the broadcast team called it a disgusting, dirty play and called for a Flagrant 2 (Smith only got a 1).

Do people remember J.R. Smith legitimately hammer fisting an unsuspecting Jae Crowder in the face in the 2014-15 playoffs? That was one of the dirtiest things I’ve ever seen.

Smith was suspended 2 games for that sucker punch. Once a shithead, always a shithead.

Absolutely LOVE Marcus Smart getting right in JR’s grill too and letting him know that shit ain’t gonna fly, resulting in both getting technicals. Its a walking cliche at this point, but Marcus Smart just has that IT factor. Whether you want to call it energy, passion, grit, whatever it is, Smart makes this team remarkably better.

The TD Garden crowd was doing their role too with crystal clear chants of FUCK YOU JR, which was easily heard on the ESPN broadcast.

After that the Cavs checked out and called it a night. Even the national grab ass broadcast team was calling out the Cavaliers’ effort once the Celtics started putting the screws to them. Usually those takes are reserved for Boston talk radio in between Terry Rozier MVP calls.

We talked a lot in the past few days about how much deeper the Celtics are in terms of scoring threats. Just look at the Game 2 box score. LeBron went off for a monster triple double with 42 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. Kevin Love had a great game with 22 and 15. Other than that only one Cavs player even touched double digits and that was Kyle Korver with 11 points and Korver scored all of those in his first 9 minutes on the floor before going scoreless for the final 12 minutes he played. Not exactly the Big 3 LeBron is used to playing with.

The Celtics meanwhile had SIX players in double digits. Jayson Tatum (11 pts), Marcus Morris (12 pts), Al Horford (15 pts), Jaylen Brown (23 pts), Terry Rozier (18 pts), and Marcus Smart (11 pts). That is depth.

Now holding a commanding 2-0 lead the Celtics head to Cleveland on Saturday night to try and put the nails in LeBron’s coffin. However, its a popular saying for a reason: you’re not in trouble in a series until you lose a game at home. While I think the Celtics are in prime position to win this series it is far from a lock because LeBron is legitimately Jason from Friday the 13th. Don’t just assume he’s done, make sure he is dead and buried before turning your attention elsewhere. I do not want to be having this conversation about the series being tied 2-2 this time next week.

Keep the foot on the gas and put LeBron away so he can get out of Cleveland, head west, and cede his rule over the East to this young Celtics squad. Bend the knee, LeBron.

 

Celtics Have a 2 Percent Chance of Getting the Number 2 or 3 Overall Pick at the NBA Draft Lottery Tonight

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Lost in all the excitement of this unexpectedly deep playoff run for the Celtics is the fact that they are still sitting on yet another potential goldmine. The Celtics have an outside shot at having a Top 3 pick fall into their laps this year.

The NBA Draft Lottery is tonight before Game 2 and the C’s will be watching with great interest as they could walk away with Philly’s first round pick (via Los Angeles) tonight. Boston is basically riding a heater after landing the No. 1 overall pick for the first time in franchise history last summer. Tonight will be a heat check from Danny.

To recap last year’s draft day trade that got us here, Danny Ainge traded the No. 1 overall pick to Philadelphia (who drafted Markelle Fultz) in exchange for the No. 3 overall pick (C’s drafted Jayson Tatum) and a future first round pick, which could be Philly’s pick this year that the Sixers had previously acquired from the Lakers. There were some protections on that pick though. The Celtics will get the Sixers/Lakers first round pick this year if it falls at No. 2 or No. 3 overall, which has a 2.87% chance of occuring at the Draft Lottery tonight.

Those aren’t great odds, but imagine the chaos we’d see on NBA Twitter if the Celtics, who are already pushing the Cavs to the limit and are expecting both Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward back next season, get a Top 3 pick? People would be screaming about frozen envelopes and crafting conspiracy theories about Danny Ainge having naked pics of Adam Silver to explain this great run of luck in Boston.

However, the Sixers (via the Lakers) are currently projected to get the No. 10 pick based on the Draft Lottery odds. We’ve seen teams make crazy jumps before (i.e. Cleveland jumping from 8th to 1st in 2011 to draft Kyrie Irving) so this wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility. If the Cavs somehow jump from their current spot at No. 8 to No. 1 with the Brooklyn pick the Celtics sent them in the Kyrie trade I’m gonna snap though. Cleveland has had the No. 1 overall pick 3 times in the last 7 years. So who’s rigging the league for who? It would be hilarious though to watch Trader Danny hoard those Brooklyn picks for YEARS and then jump off the bandwagon at the last second to flip his last Nets pick, only to see it fall all the way to No. 8. Seriously though, Danny should be a stock broker.

If the Philly/Lakers pick ends up being anything other than No. 2 or No. 3 then the Celtics’ return for the Fultz/Tatum trade gets kicked to next summer when the C’s will receive a first rounder from the Sixers. The Sixers have their own pick next year as well as the Sacramento Kings’ first rounder so the Celtics would get the higher of the two next year unless either lands on No. 1 overall then they’d get the other pick instead.

In case you were wondering, the Kings finished 27-55 this year, which was tied for the 6th worst record in the NBA, with no signs of improvement next year. So either way the Celtics could be nabbing another Top 5 pick if not this year then very likely next year.

In an Effort to End Tanking, NBA Changing Draft Lottery in 2019, Which is Perfect Timing to Not Affect the Celtics!

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ESPN – The NBA’s board of governors voted to pass legislation on draft lottery reform and guidelines for the resting of healthy players in the regular season, league sources told ESPN…The lottery reform changes will be instituted for the 2019 NBA draft..The NBA needed a three-fourths majority to pass draft lottery reform, which is designed to discourage teams from tanking to pursue the best possible odds to select highest in the draft order.

This is great news for Celtics fans in the sense that we won’t be getting fisted out of the last of our coveted (hopefully) lottery picks. Not so much for small market teams that rely on tanking. Christ, Sam Hinkie wrote the book on tanking. Dude got canned by the Sixers, but they wouldn’t be where they are today without him. Trust the Process indeed.

Thankfully the Celtics have already pocketed all those Nets picks:

2018: No. ? – Traded to CLE as part of Kyrie Irving deal
2017: No. 3 – Jayson Tatum (Right to swap with Nets and BOS traded down from No. 1)
2016: No. 3 – Jaylen Brown
2014: No. 17 – James Young

Now the C’s will bank on the 2018 Lakers pick being a Top-2 pick next summer. Looking back, the Celtics “only” got two top-five picks from the Brooklyn trade. Imagine if they’d gotten none because of changes to the Draft Lottery?

Starting in 2019, when the Celtics no longer have top, unprotected, golden lottery picks, the rules change. Perfect. If this shit happened four years ago those Nets picks are DRASTICALLY less valuable and maybe Billy King still has a job.

Long story short, having the worst record in the league is no longer a one way ticket to a top pick. Things are a lot murkier now.

“The three teams with the worst records will share a 14 percent chance of getting the No. 1 overall pick, a change from the descending percentages of 25, 19.9, and 15.6 in the current system.”

So while it was always a nail biter for the team with the worst record because you still only had a 1/4 chance of getting the No. 1 pick; now thats down to a 14 percent chance for 3 teams. In theory that should deter a team from saying fuck it and just tanking down the stretch if the bottom three teams all have the same chance of getting the No. 1 pick. Teams will still tank to get down to the bottom 3, but I guess its a step in the right direction if the NBA truly wants to eradicate tanking (good luck).

“Four teams — increased from three — will become part of the lottery draw, which means the No. 1 lottery seed could drop no further than fifth, No. 2 could drop no further than sixth, No. 3 no further than seventh, and No. 4 no further than eighth.”

Imagine having the worst record and somehow dropping to the No. 5 overall pick? If I’m a fan of that team I’m drinking a bottle of whiskey on Draft Lottery night.

Gotta love the NBA though, they’re always pivoting, always changing shit. Remember back in 2006 when they tried to introduce a new basketball and reversed course like 2 weeks later?

Well virtually every player in the NBA bitched about the new ball. Why change the only piece of equipment that actually matters? Who the hell knows. But hey they tried it. It bombed. And rather than just forcing it down everyones throats because it was the league’s decision they said yup you’re right, fixed it, and moved on. Thats what keeps leagues relevant, adapting to the times, trying new things, and if it doesn’t working cutting your losses and moving along. Not burying your head in the sand (NFL vs CTE) or staunchly opposing evolution (MLB vs everything).

So good luck to all the Lottery teams in 2019, I’m just glad the Celtics will have no part of it because I can’t handle that kind of stress in my life.

Lakers Reportedly Souring on Lonzo Ball, Shockingly Because of LaVar

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CSN – When the Lakers landed the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft, it seemed like all but a formality that they would select UCLA’s Lonzo Ball. But with the draft just weeks away, Magic Johnson and the Lakers may be souring on Ball, according to The Huffington Post’s Jordan Schultz. And, you guessed it, it may be LaVar’s fault.

If the Lakers pass on Lonzo Ball, who Magic Johnson has all but professed his love for on TV, right AFTER Lonzo apparently passed on a $10 million shoe deal because of his loudmouth father then I think its time for LaVar Ball to officially pipe down.

Pretty hard to sell shoes and be a household name in Phoenix or if you’re LUCKY, Philadelphia. In a matter of like 6 months LaVar may have hurt his own son’s draft value, killed his dream of playing for his hometown LA Lakers and made his son pass on a shoe deal for the sake of tentpoling his own Big Baller Brand. Welp, better hope Lonzo’s pretty fucking good because ain’t no Kardashians coming to Sacramento.

I do find it hard to believe that Magic Johnson is gonna pass on the guy though. By all reports Magic seemingly covets Lonzo. MJ is gonna pass on a flashy PG to draft some project big man? Don’t buy it. Magic would be the first fucking guy out in a Friday night poker game with the boys because no one believes a goddamn word he says. But you gotta love the fact its prob making Lavar sweat a bit.

If Lonzo doesn’t end up in LA that is a yuuuge hit for LaVar’s grand stage-dad plan for him. Andrew Wiggins was the No. 1 overall pick and got his own shoe deal and I have never seen a single person wearing them. You don’t hear a single word about him unless you’re watching SportsCenter at midnight. Meanwhile as a Laker, Nick Young, AKA Swaggy P, is an internet star and dating (formerly?) Iggy Azalea. All while being TERRIBLE at basketball.

Even in this day and age of social media, geography is a big deal. There’s a reason LeBron and co. built a super team in Miami and not in Utah.

As I said though, Magic is probably just trying to throw everyone off his scent because the Ball family in LA just makes too much sense to not happen. Not to mention, they are guaranteed to team up with the Kardashians and spawn some hit reality show like Ballin with the Kardashians or some shit.

Celtics Defy All My Expectations And Land the No. 1 Overall Pick. What’s Next?

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In a stunning turn of events last night, the Celtics did NOT get hosed by the ping pong balls in the NBA Draft Lottery. More than 12 hours later and I am still shocked.

I was biting a towel, I was ready for it, I was fully expecting the C’s to get porked last night. We even had that smiling bastard Magic Johnson up there threatening to steal our shine.

I just want to take a quick second to once again thank the Brooklyn Nets for what may go down as the worst/best trade in the history of sports. Hershel Walker, please sit down.

I mean the number of times the C’s have taken a beating by the ping pong balls is insane. This team has never won the draft lottery. Ever. Now obviously having 17 championships doesn’t routinely put you in pole position to win the No. 1 overall pick. But even when they’ve been up there hoping against hope, they typically get fucked. Lets just run through the past few years real quick.

  • 2014: Best odds at No. 5 overall. C’s dropped to No. 6 and took Marcus Smart
  • 2007: The Oden/Durant draft that would make or break two franchises. Best odds at No. 2 overall. C’s dropped to No. 5 somehow and draft Jeff Green. Green then got shipped out in the Ray Allen trade.
  • You can go through the whole history of the Celtic’s lottery results here, but the only time the C’s EVER improved their position was 1986, when they had the best odds at No. 5 and ended up at No. 2 where they took Len Bias. Who, ya know, died 2 days later. So, not a great example.

Now we turn our attention to the beautiful and shiny words “Number One Overall Pick.” By most accounts Markelle Fultz is the guy to take here.

Unless of course Danny wants to wet his beak in the Big Baller Brand and take Lavar (I mean Lonzo) Ball.

Everyone after that is too much of a project to reach for at No. 1. I don’t give a shit that the Celtics have 11 guards on their roster, don’t mess around, take the best player. And as previously mentioned, me and Markelle are already best friends and he’s looking forward to wearing green, so just make it official Danny.

Or the C’s could trade the pick. I don’t know about you, but now that its officially the No. 1 pick I’m a little more hesitant to deal it unless you are getting an absolute stud. I love Jimmy Butler, but 2 years of Butler for 10 years of a potential stud like Fultz? Eh. Paul George? Not for the 1 year he has left on his contract. By all accounts George wants to be a Laker, so I don’t see this happening.

I heard Toucher and Rich this morning throw out Anthony Davis, who I would trade legitimately everyone on the roster to get. I don’t know why The Brow always gets thrown out in trade rumors. I legitimately believe he is going to be the best player in the NBA sooner than later and teams don’t just give those guys away.

The move here is to draft Fultz and let Brad Stevens figure it out. Him and Isaiah would be a dynamite 1-2 scoring punch. Team them up with Horford, Crowder, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Avery Bradley (assuming no one gets traded) and thats a pretty goddamn good team. Or maybe the C’s deal one of their guards like Bradley and bring in a guy like Gordon Hayward.

Either way, I think you keep the pick and continue to build. If you can swing a max guy like Hayward then that only accelerates things. What I don’t wanna see is perennial all-star Markelle Fultz playing for someone else while we bemoan the fact we sold that guy for 2 years of some to-be-named rental.

The C’s have traded a couple of lottery picks over the years that look bad. (No, not Jeff Green because he sucks.) The fact that the C’s traded Chauncey Billups and Joe Johnson, who were drafted 4 years apart, instead of building with a core of Billups, Johnson and Pierce, is nuts. Thats a pretty solid team right there. Throw in Antoine Walker with that core? Kobe and Shaq woulda had no rings and maybe Toine wouldn’t be broke playing ball in Puerto Rico.

PS – I can’t help but dance on the graves of the fallen.