Tag: Sixers

Don’t Look Now, But the Celtics Are…Good?

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Watching the Celtics roll to 9-1 in their last 10 games (including a complete dismantling of the Sixers) with their only loss coming by one point, has me feeling like Austin in Not Another Teen Movie when he sees Janey Briggs’s “makeover.” Complete and utter shock. The makeover in this analogy being the Celtics’ renewed focus and tenacity on defense. After months of up and down play, has this team finally figured it out?

The Celtics are….good?

ESPN’s Zach Lowe seems to think so:

“Boston is about to overtake the Golden State Warriors for No. 1 in defensive efficiency. Their starting five has allowed a bonkers 88.8 points per 100 possessions — easily the stingiest mark among lineups that have logged 100-plus minutes…Smaller groups with Time Lord as the only traditional big have been impenetrable; Boston’s potential new closing lineup — Smart, White, Brown, Tatum, Robert Williams — might be a problem…They are a threat to beat any conference rival in the playoffs..”

Anybody can cherry pick specific stats and point to a winning streak as reasons to be optimistic, but the Celtics weren’t exactly playing the Warriors and Bucks every night. The Ringer says the Celtics recent success goes beyond that though:

Sure, a favorable recent schedule helps, but point differential is a stronger predictor of future success than record, and the streaking Celtics now boast the best point differential in the conference, at plus-4.8 per game.

Already a defensively oriented team—the Celtics are up to second in the league in defensive rating, per CtG—Boston doubled down at the trade deadline. Individual defensive stats are squishy, but trade acquisition Derrick White ranks fourth in the entire league in defensive impact this season, according to estimated plus-minus. Boston now employs two guards who rank in the top 10. Good luck scoring against the Celtics’ new closing five.

I know the NBA is worlds different than it was back in 2007-08, but seeing the Celtics return to one of the toughest defenses in the league to play against has me clutching my beer stained Kevin Garnett jersey.

This team needs more than just a hot streak to turn their season around because we’ve seen chemistry issues for a couple of years now. It’s put up or shut up time for this group or else Brad Stevens will have every justification he needs to shake this team up in the offseason. But, can we please put to bed the narrative that Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown don’t want to play together? Can they improve their ability to consistently play well at the same time rather than just watching each other go off for 30+ in alternating games? 100 percent. But splitting them up? Unless you’re getting an elite elite level talent like KAT then splitting up the Jays makes this team worse, and not in one of those addition by subtraction kind of ways. Most players in the league leave their current team so they can link up with another All-Star. That’s exactly what Tatum and Brown have here in each other. Even Tatum scoffed at the notion on JJ Reddick’s podcast recently.

Speaking of the chemistry issues this team has seen bubble to the surface, Tatum, also on Reddick’s podcast, addressed the comments Marcus Smart made early in the season calling out him and Jaylen Brown.

While Tatum didn’t address the comments for several days in the aftermath, he said a meeting with Marcus Smart at the practice facility ended up getting everyone on the same page.

“I wasn’t angry or mad or anything,” Tatum said. “I just waited to the next day. I saw Marcus at the facility and we sat down and talked. It was a great talk actually. We had some time to sleep. The adrenaline was gone from the game. He apologized for what he said and that was something he shouldn’t have said in the media and that they got his words mixed up. I didn’t take offense.

“I started it off by saying, ‘Bro I’m not perfect. I make mistakes. I still got a long way to go from where I’m trying to get to.’ I think we ended the conversation on, we are in this together, we are all on the same team and we are trying to figure it out. Trying to say things like that in the media doesn’t help anyone’s case because that’s all they talk about for the next week or so when referring to the Celtics. It wasn’t the end of the world. No harm, no foul, we are past it now. “ – via MassLive

Smart can be a loose cannon at times. The man still has glass in his hand from punching a picture frame a couple years ago, but if you tell me that you’ve never punched an inanimate object, then you’re a liar and we can’t be friends. So yes, he can be…let’s say…hot headed, and the words “Marcus Smart for three” keep me up at night, but this team is simply better when he’s engaged and playing his role. Easier said than done, but it’s true. And Tatum knows that.

With that said, I have been incredibly wary of truly investing in this team because the Celtics really have been like Lucy ripping the football away from Charlie Brown the last couple of years. Now I always take advanced analytics with a grain of salt because you can paint any picture you want with the right numbers, but when their core four are all healthy and playing together this team is GOOD.

This season Tatum has missed time, Brown has missed time, Williams has missed time so naturally Marcus Smart left the Sixers game the other night with a hobbling ankle injury. With the All-Star break though he’ll have had plenty of time to rest up. So hopefully, hopefully the Celtics can soon get their core four together on the court all at once and with the addition of Derrick White finally make the deep playoff run we all know they’re capable of making.

The Celtics are back in action on Thursday night to take on the new look Brooklyn Nets with James Harden getting swapped out for Ben Simmons at the deadline.

1.4.21 Hoop Tales: Chef Curry is Back, so Let’s Take Advantage Edition

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Sunday: 3-0… FINALLY! (+2.58 units)

Season: 11-15 (-5.66 units)

Recap: We hope Kevin Durant is okay and his over prop wins will be waiting when he gets back.


First Pick: 7:10 PM Sixers -2.5 1st quarter vs Hornets (-117)

The Logic: This is the third game in four nights for the Hornets. Yes, I know they played Philly on Saturday, but Philly ran them amuck in the first quarter and I’d expect another fast start given how the Sixers are playing right now.


Second Pick: 10:10 PM De’Aaron Fox O22.5 points vs Warriors (-134)

Fact #1: Fox has hit this mark in two of his last three and four and three of four overall.

Fact #2: Now that Chef Curry is back (62 points last night), he’ll be expending a lot of energy on offense to continue showing everyone that he takes the slander personally.

Fact #3: Most importantly, the Warriors are allowing the second-most points per game to the PG position at 31.1.


Third Pick: 8:10 PM Donte DiVincenzo O11.5 points vs Pistons (+100)

Fact #1: The Pistons allow an average of 27.1 points per contest to the 2-guard position this season.

Fact #2: Donte has 12+ points in four of six games this season. Said another way, he has hit this number in games where his team wasn’t involved in a blowout.

#RushHourRap – 21 Savage – A Lot

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I pray for Markelle ’cause they fucked up his shot,
Just want you to know that you got it
Though I never met you, I know that you special
And that the Lord blessed you, don’t doubt it
Dennis Smith Jr., stay solid

With the NBA Draft today I was looking for a relevant #RushHourRap (we already did Draft Day) so what better excuse for some more J. Cole? On last year’s Grammy winning 21 Savage track “A Lot,” Cole swoops in with one of the best features of his career as he gives life advice to everyone, including Orlando Magic point guard (and friend of The 300s) Markelle Fultz.

Fultz promptly unliked our tweet after all the blowback his twitter activity got. We miss ya, Markelle

Check out just how impactful that J. Cole line was for a struggling Fultz in this interview with NBA.com:

A verse written by J. Cole in that song helped inspire Magic guard Markelle Fultz and let the former No. 1 overall Draft pick know that not everyone had given up on his struggling basketball career.

Here’s the backstory: J. Cole and Knicks guard Dennis Smith Jr. are both from Fayetteville, N.C., and have known each other for years. Smith is also close to Fultz from NBA Summer League and the two refer to each other as brothers. Roughly a year ago, Smith described how his “brother” was hurting to the five-time Grammy nominee.

Less than a year after being chosen by the Sixers in 2017, Fultz suffered from a shoulder injury and was later diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, which robbed him of his full-range shooting motion and jeopardized his future. Fultz played only 33 games his first two seasons and the Sixers virtually gave him to the Magic last February.

“He was going through a situation and it was a tough situation for someone mentally,” Smith Jr. said. “Cole said, ‘Let me holla at him.’ They just locked in. Cole chopped it up with him and one thing led to another. Crazy.”

Billboard Magazine rated “A Lot” by 21 Savage and J. Cole as the No. 6 song of 2019. It has gone platinum three times and Cole’s lyrics were hailed by critics. Fultz was nearly moved to tears the first time he heard it.

“It was dope,” Fultz said. “Him shouting me out on a song really showed the love and the person he is. I play it a lot, all the time. I love it. To get put in a song is like, dope, an honor.”

The Process Ends Today

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Well, ladies and gentlemen, today is the today The Process finally ends, and how sweet it is to be the team that does it. The Sixers were always going to have a hard time beating the Celtics once Simmons went down for the year, but there was a glimmer of hope after Game 1 when Hayward got hurt. However, whatever light was left on their season was thoroughly stamped out by the drubbing in Game 2 and the lackluster finish in Game 3.

Just in case you didn’t watch, the Sixers were actually up 94-92 with under two minutes to play. But then they blew it. Embiid forced a terrible pass that was stolen by Smart, then got stuffed by Tatum, who then went on to block Richardson the next time down the court. The C’s finished on a 10-0 run to win 102-94. And that, my friends, is the end of the Philadelphia 76ers as we know them.

Yesterday afternoon, news broke that the Sixers, down 0-3 in the series, actually CANCELLED PRACTICE the day before Game 4. If that’s not throwing in the towel, I don’t know what is.

Image
“Get me TF outta here.” – Joel Embiid, probably.

As much as Embiid seems to fade in the fourth quarter, obviously you can’t blame this on him. As Scal said, Brett Brown should already have sold his house and started looking for a new job, but I don’t think it’s his fault either. The fault lies solely in the hands of Elton Brand.

Tobias Harris, Joel Embiid, Al Horford, Sixers, Celtics
Even in this picture Embiid looks tired from carrying these stiffs.

It doesn’t take a genius to know that Simmons and Embiid are a great core to build around. Beyond that, you need shooters. How easy is it for the Celtics to double team Embiid and just let mooks like Furkan Korkmaz and Alec Burks chuck bricks. You need real shooters around Embiid. Shake Milton and Josh Richardson are solid bench players, but that’s all they are. The real question is, why pay Tobias Harris more than any other Sixer ever with a $180 million max contract, and then pay Al Horford another $109 mil for 4 years on top of that? WHAT ARE YOU THINKING??

Nearly $300 million on Harris and Horford has resulted in a combined 19.6 PPG, 17.3 RPG (fine), 6.7 APG, 1 steal and 1.6 blocks per game. They have hit exactly 0 threes in 13 attempts and have shot 34.9% from the field and 71.4% from the line. To put those numbers in perspective, Joel Embiid is averaging 30 and 13. It’s absolutely mind boggling that Brand thought JJ Redick and Jimmy Butler could be replaced with this kind of production. Sixers fans are crying themselves to sleep thinking about how they drafted Markelle Fultz over Jayson Tatum.

What the Sixers need to do is start by firing Brand and Brett Brown. Some people think Embiid will be traded, or even demand a trade, but I think that would be a bad move. Those two aren’t the problem. They need to get rid of the garbage contracts and add wing players who can shoot and play defense. DeMar Derozan, Marcus Morris, Evan Fournier, Goran Dragic, and Jordan Clarkson would all be good fits, assuming they can afford any of them. But they probably won’t, so us Celtics fans will continue to laugh, flaunt Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and bury them once again.

We’ve Got Bruins AND Celtics Playoff Games Tonight!

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I won’t lie, living in semi-quarantine for the past 5-6 months has been a mixed bag of misery for all of us so night’s live this take on even more significance than ever before. Two playoff games in one night was alway a luxury, but when you have nothing to watch for months except Netflix and reruns of Bar Rescue then you really appreciate this kind of sports overload. So kudos to Adam Silver for leading the way with the idea of putting an entire league into a bubble.

Boston Bruins (-1.5) vs Carolina Hurricanes
Bruins Lead the Series 2-1
Puck Drop: 8 pm, NESN
Breakdown: After Tuukka left the B’s in a precarious position by opting out of the season…the morning of a playoff game…Jaroslav Halak stepped in and played pretty damn well (minus the ugly goal he gave away trying to play the puck behind the net). So while it was en vogue to bash Tuukka for a number of reasons, many Bruins fans have ironically gotten exactly what they were hoping for: a new goalie. Halak was obviously never supposed to play in the playoffs because he’s the backup, but he’s not your typical backup. Since Tuukka never played well with a heavier workload, he and Halak have basically been splitting time evenly the past 2 seasons. Granted Tuukka was 2nd in the NHL this year in GAA, Halak wasn’t far behind at 7th in the league so we’re still in pretty good hands all things considered.

Boston Celtics (-5.5) vs Philadelphia 76ers
Tip Off: 6:30 pm, ESPN
Breakdown: The Celtics have had a lot of success against the Sixers in recent years, winning the last four playoff series the two have played against one another. Not to mention the C’s have beaten the Sixers in 18 of the last 24 regular season matchups. Now the Sixers are without Ben Simmons who suffered a season ending knee injury. Philly was already a dysfunctional mess before that so while I am always fearful of what a motivated Joel Embiid can do on any given night, I think the C’s win the series in 6 games.

The Gamblers Guide to Betting on the Celtics and the Atlantic Division This Year

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So we’re two weeks into the 2019-20 NBA season and the Celtics are a solid 4-1 with wins over the Knicks (twice), the Raptors, and an incredible comeback win over the Bucks. Their only loss came on opening night to the Sixers, made worse by the sight of Al Horford in a Philly jersey. The Celtics look like they’ll be a pretty good team made better possibly with addition by subtraction. Kemba Walker looks like a match made in heaven as a guy who can drop 30 a night, yet is more than happy to pass up a last shot to blossoming superstars like Jayson Tatum.

What made that Tatum game winner even better was that it was the exact same play that the Celtics ran in Orlando last year leading to Kyrie throwing a fit on the court for not getting the ball. Oh and Kyrie continues to be an absolute PILL in New Jersey, memorialized by Jackie MacMullan’s great piece last week. Enjoy the ride, Nets fans.

Now for the most important part: the gambling.  Its a little early to overreact one way or the other and the Celtics’ unlikely come from behind double digit win over the Bucks probably skews things a little bit. But pick your spots with this C’s team and you could make some decent cash as they continue to surprise people.

  • Philadelphia 76ers
    • ESPN Projected Finish: 57-27, 2nd in the East
    • Key Storylines: Addition of Al Horford, Finally Getting Over the Hump, Overcoming Lack of Depth
    • 5-0 Against the Spread

The Sixers took their biggest weakness last year, a lack of bench depth, and doubled down on it. They lost Jimmy Butler and JJ Reddick, but picked up big man Al Horford to pair with Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. The Sixers have arguably the best starting 5 in the league, but the end of the bench is pretty barren yet again. With that being said they are 5-0 and the current No. 1 seed in the East so while they don’t have much margin for error, they are one of the most talented squads in the league.

  • Boston Celtics
    • ESPN Projected Finish: 48-34, 3rd in the East
    • Key Storylines: Loss of Kyrie Irving and Al Horford, Addition of Kemba Walker, Addition by Subtraction, Jayson Tatum the All-Star
    • 3-2 ATS

If the Celtics are going to go anywhere this year its going to largely be due to Jayson Tatum. Sure Kemba Walker is the latest max free agent in town and Jaylen Brown just got PAID, but this team needs Tatum to become an elite wing player this season if they want to do some damage. I’ve been predicting big things for Tatum despite a less than stellar second season. So far this season he looks excellent averaging 22 PPG while shooting 40% from the field, an impressive 48% from three and an abysmal 75% from the line. Along with Pascal Siakam, Tatum was voted by ESPN as the most likely player to make their first All-Star team in the East, both earning 68.2% of the votes. With Tatum and likely Kemba making the All-Star team, an improved Brown, a finally looking like a basketball player again Gordon Hayward, and All-World defense from Marcus Smart, this team could be in business. As we seem to say every year since KG and Perk left town, the Celtics will need someone to step up as a rim protector/rebounder/big man presence. Whether thats Enes Kanter, Daniel Theis or Robert Williams evolving into the role, the C’s will need someone to step up if they want to compete with the Sixers.

  • Brooklyn Nets
    • ESPN Projected Finish: 45-37, 5th in the East
    • Key Storylines: Addition of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, Kyrie Still a Pill
    • 2-4 ATS

This will be a much safer bet next season when Kevin Durant returns to the court, assuming he’s healthy, but in the meantime they will be a fun team to watch. Despite all his bizarre antics and issues with the media, Kyrie Irving remains one of the most electric one on one players in the league. While thats not necessarily the best path to winning a title, it definitely will steal the Nets some games they have no business winning.

  • Toronto Raptors
    • ESPN Projected Finish: 45-37, 6th in the East
    • Key Storylines: Defending Champs, Loss of Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, Growth of Pascal Siakam
    • 4-2 ATS

Man what a roller coaster ride 2019 has been for Drizzy Drake’s favorite squad. Sorry let me clarify, I meant Drake’s hometown team the Raptors not his other favorite squad the Golden State Warriors. Winning their first title behind a Herculean effort from Kawhi Leonard solidifying his spot as the best player in the NBA…to Kawhi walking away and now defending their title with Pascal Siakam and not much else. Siakam was voted by ESPN as the co-favorite to earn their first time All-Star bid in the East. Its hard to be mad as the defending champs, but they went from the favorites (especially with a rapidly imploding Warriors team) to a team that will be scrapping for a bottom half seed in the East this year.

  • New York Knicks
    • ESPN Projected Finish: 26-56, 13th in the East
    • Key Storylines: ….lottery picks and 2020 Free Agency?
    • 1-6 ATS

If you bet real, actual, American dollars on the New York Knicks then you are on your own. Sure Marcus Morris is great to watch when he’s on, but you are banking on the latest iteration of James Dolan’s madness here. Maybe if you get them in a parlay, but other than that I cannot advise gambling on this dumpster fire.

So to wrap it up, who has the best shot at winning the division? Lets not get ahead of ourselves and ask who’s going to take down LeBron and the Lakers or Kawhi and the Clippers in the Finals quite yet. As of late October, the Sixers had become -200 favorites to win the Atlantic, improving from -160 on opening night. The Celtics remained the second-favorite, but were well back at +420, only a shade ahead of the new-look Raptors at +490 with all odds via Sports Betting Dime. Expect those odds to be a little closer together when they’re updated next. Boston’s impressive 116-105 win over the 60-win Bucks made a statement that Brad Stevens’ team is going to be a tough out this year.

I LOVE the Celtics at +420 to win the division. Sure that means catching the Sixers and winning 50+ games, who ESPN has them finishing 9 games behind, but those are odds to bet on. The Sixers at -160 is almost even money and forget it if Embiid misses time with the annual injury or load management concerns. The Raptors feel pretty unlikely to leapfrog both Boston and Philly so I’m not sold on them, and I think this season is a holding pattern for Brooklyn and yet another rebuilding year for the Knicks. So slap down some cash on the Celtics and enjoy the ride.

The Greatest Trick the Devil Ever Pulled Was Convincing the World He Didn’t Tamper With Every Young Player in the NBA

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ESPN – Philadelphia 76ers general manager Elton Brand called Los Angeles Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson on Monday afternoon to apologize for insinuating in a radio interview that the Lakers had called — unprompted — to ask permission for Johnson to speak with Sixers forward Ben Simmons, league sources told ESPN.

In the interview with 97.5 The Fanatic on Monday morning, Brand said, “[Lakers GM] Rob Pelinka called me and said that Ben wanted to talk to Hall of Famers after the season; Magic was on the list. He asked for authorization … I said no.”

Brand did not mention in that interview that someone from the Sixers, at the urging of both of Simmons’ brothers, had contacted Pelinka first, which is what prompted Pelinka’s call to Brand.

Granted I’m a 90s kid so I never grew up watching Magic Johnson, but I just don’t see the same aura around him that someone 10 or 15 years older than me might. With that being said, I am constantly in awe of how this guy just gets people falling all over themselves to kiss his ass.

I have a developing theory that Magic is in fact the Keyser Soze of the NBA.

He tampers with their kids, he tampers with their wives, he tampers with their parents and their parents’ friends. He burns down the houses they live in and the stores they work in, he tampers with people that owe them money. And like that he was gone. Underground. Nobody has ever seen him since. He becomes a myth, a spook story that NBA GMs tell their kids at night.

Did you know that you can’t find a single clip of his old Magic 8 Ball segment on ESPN? The one where he struggled to speak complete coherent sentences, yet is now the President of the Lakers? Yea well they’ve all been scrubbed from the internet.

Okay so just a quick recap for anyone that is a little out of the loop. Ben Simmons is a player that LeBron James has publicly coveted for a long time and after Simmons signed with LeBron’s Rich Paul’s agency Klutch Sports, many thought LeBron was headed for Philly. Obviously that didn’t happen as LeBron went to LA, but the two now share the same agent.

LeBron and Magic proceeded to tamper with other young big name players like Anthony Davis, also a Rich Paul client, with rumors and leaks and very public trade requests. AD didn’t get moved as the Pelicans hold out hope for the holy shit mega deluxe package from Danny Ainge and the Celtics.

Now most recently, Sixers GM Elton Brand came out and said the Lakers asked to speak to Ben Simmons, which obviously set off massive tampering alarms right? Well not really as the league has seemingly turned a blind eye to Magic Johnson in the same way everyone in Boston used to adoringly say oh thats just Manny Being Manny every time Manny Ramirez did something moronic.

NBA spokesman Mike Bass told ESPN on Monday, “The league office is looking into whether any contact took place between Ben Simmons and the Los Angeles Lakers that violated NBA rules.”

Brand told ESPN earlier Monday that Simmons simply wanted the Sixers to help him facilitate “chatting with some of the game’s all-time greats.”

So a little bit more context to that story came out today. Allegedly Ben Simmons wanted to have a meeting with his (and LeBron’s) agent and Magic Johnson, the President of Basketball Operations for the Lakers (whom LeBron plays for) to just chat about basketball. All of this with everyone in the world knowing that LeBron has pined after Simmons, Simmons signed with the same agent and lifelong friend of LeBron, and now they all want to have a meeting with Magic Johnson, who has repeatedly gotten into dubious situations regarding tampering.

Got all that?

Well if you’re the Sixers GM you’re probably pretty pissed off about the whole thing right? Well you’d be wrong because today HE apologized to Magic Johnson for the whole situation.

I don’t get it. This is how the Lakers routinely wind up with the best players in the league despite offering nothing but nice weather and poor management. Magic has got guys apologizing to him after trying to steal their players. Got it.

Jimmy Butler is an Excellent Player, But I Fully Expect the 76ers to Implode

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Full disclosure, at one point I wanted Jimmy Butler on the Celtics. Granted that was PT (Pre-Tatum), but I did want the player at one point.

So much of success in the NBA is about fit. You can have elite talent, but if the individuals can’t play together effectively then that team is going nowhere. Jimmy Butler is going from a young promising team in Minnesota, which seemed like a pretty good fit last year, to another young promising team in Philly. Just take a look at these two situations and tell me which is a better one.

  • Team A: Two No. 1 overall picks under 24 on a team that made the playoffs last year with a dysfunctional GM likely to be soon fired.
  • Team B: Two No. 1 overall picks under 24 on a team that made the playoffs last year with a dysfunctional GM that was fired last year.

Which situation looks more appealing to you? Looks pretty damn similar if you ask me. If you followed the Bryan Colangelo saga last season then you already know Team B is the Sixers so if you want to lean towards Team B because they also have an extra Top 3 pick under 24 I get it, but just know that guy you’re banking on is a big man that has played in 109 out of a possible 246 games in 3 years due to foot injuries. He’s missed more games in his career than he’s played. That player of course is Joel Embiid. One of the No. 1 overall picks Butler will be leaning on is a guy that is averaging 8.1 pts and 3.7 assists for his career and can’t shoot, which is important in the NBA.

All of this would be fine if Jimmy Butler just wasn’t feeling it in Minnesota, no hard feelings, just didn’t work out. Thats not exactly what happened. Butler feuded with the younger guy, publicly bitched about the team and his teammates, and shot his way out of town.

*That* guy is going to a team with a big man who loves to talk shit, a No. 1 overall pick that can’t shoot who’s confidence is wrecked, and another No. 1 overall pick that refuses to shoot 3 pointers in Ben Simmons. Oh yea, that should go swimmingly.

I’m sure Butler won’t butt heads with these guys any more than he did with the young guys in Minnesota. If the Sixers somehow figure out a fit and it works then Butler gets to be the man on a young and promising team. Orrr Butler loses his patience with Fultz and makes him cry in a game, blows up on Simmons for continuously passing out of open 3-pointers, all while Embiid watches from the bench in a boot.

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.

Celtics Unable to Complete the Sweep of Sixers (and the Refs)

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The Celtics missed an opportunity to put the Sixers away and end the series last night on a clean 4-0 sweep as they fell 102-93 to Philadelphia. While some serious home cooking from the refs didn’t cause the C’s to lose, it certainly didn’t help. Basically all of Boston’s top players were in foul trouble mid-way through the 2nd quarter, which is unusual to say the least.

Thats 4 rotation players and 2 of your top 3 offensive threats already forced to take their foot off the gas just to make it through the game (Marcus Smart fouled out later anyways). Hell Brad Stevens even had to jump in and get a technical foul just to prevent the refs from tossing Jaylen Brown on a shaky call later in the night.

Aside from all that nonsense though, the Celtics were sloppy, forcing up prayer shots and turning the ball over way too much.

I know we were ready to curb stomp Philly, but they are a pretty damn good team and when you make a boatload of mistakes anybody is going to make you pay for that.

In Scary Terry News, Terry Rozier finished with 11 points, 8 rebounds and a near fist fight with Joel Embiid.

Just to put this into perspective, Joel Embiid is 7’0″ tall and Rozier is 6’2″ Thats a full 10 inches Rozier is giving up and he don’t give a shit. Gotta love the tenacity. And even on a night where he only shoots 4-11 Terry is still feeling himself.

Also getting into it with Embiid was one Marcus Morris who were both jawing and talking shit throughout the game. Morris was able to body Embiid in the trash talk department though.

At least I think it was Marcus?

What really put the nail in Celtics coffin though was this sequence late in the game. Down 10 with 7 minutes to go the C’s were in a good spot to chip away, play D, and extend the game. Instead they uncharacteristically started playing hero ball and forcing a bunch of terrible looks rather than taking what was given to them. Over the next 5 minutes here’s what the Celtics did on offense.

Terry Rozier 3 pt MISS

Marcus Smart 2 free throws

Marcus Smart layup

Jayson Tatum 3 pt MISS

Terry Rozier 3 pt MISS

Marcus Morris 3 pt MISS

Jayson Tatum 3 pt MISS

And that was basically the game. Down 10 points with plenty of time left the Celtics force five three pointers and miss them all. Not great.

The Celtics will now look to close out the series back at home on Wednesday night. The Sixers and TJ McConnell (19 pts) in particular are starting to feel themselves a little bit, but put them back in the Garden and get ahead early and this team will roll over. Lets put this team away so we can actually face the final boss in the Eastern Conference Finals with some gas left in the tank.

My biggest concern? LeBron finished off his sweep of the Raptors so now he’s just chilling on his couch getting extra rest waiting for us…