The Magic were up 8 points on the Celtics with 2 minutes left in the game and ended up winning by 17. This isn’t an instance where the Magic were this dominant team and just took their foot off the gas at the end. They were literally down by 12 points in the 3rd quarter until Porzingis went down and the Celtics completely fell apart.

I kind-of agree with your sentiment, but even in this case, a team like the Celtics - who were the #1 seed in the group when the groups were created - at least deserve ‘last chance’ because they earned that privilege.

A guaranteed MVP is better than a ring as a team’s clear 2nd best player (especially since it was in the bubble). I don’t think he would have won an MVP in NOP, but in your hypothetical, I take the MVP every day.

As others have mentioned, defense is a huge factor, as well as health. Also, I am not sure of Booker’s on/off numbers, but Tatum’s are insane. People always talk about the talent around Tatum, but once he is off the court, the team completely crumbles. And when he is on, no matter who is out there with him, they excel.

Booker is an extremely talented player - maybe even slightly better offensively - but he doesn’t quite have that heliocentrism of the league’s other superstars that Tatum has seemingly developed.

What’s crazy is all of the best seasons across all 4 major North American sports haven’t resulted in a Title. You have the 2015-16 Warriors above, the 2007 [undefeated] Patriots, the 2022-23 Bruins, and the 1906 Cubs/2001 Mariners.

Maybe technically, but they’ve kind-of sucked lately. They consistently just take the 4th quarter off for some reason. They’ll need a depth big because they can’t keep pretending Luke Kornet is a viable option on a Title contender.

I want to say Tatum, but I’m not 100% sure they are actually better, just different. I love the KP move, but they lost Smart in order to do it. Getting Jrue sounded solid, but they gave up an All-Defense level big (and are now counting on Kornet for those minutes) and the 6MOTY. They also lost Grant Williams for nothing.

The Celtics sure are paying a lot of money for their team, but they might have overthought their moves this offseason.

I dunno, they called one on Porzingis a couple of weeks ago where he would have done a backflip if he didn’t hold on for an extra 1/2 second. Tatum has always taken his time coming down from the rim. He is super sensitive to how he might land and what might be below him (rightfully so).

Used to be Gordon Haywood. That was fun for 3 years

A few days ago, there were people who didn’t have Brown in their starting 5 of players named Jalen/Jaylen/Jaylin, so this opinion is hardly surprising.

Don’t get me wrong, Maxey is a fantastic player, but I’d say this post is more about trashing Brown than it is elevating Maxey

Go see what fans have to say about Belichick nowadays. At least you are saying that Pop has cemented his legacy; people are completely undoing poor Bill’s entire career.

As far as I’m concerned, both coaches have earned the right to coach as long as they want to with their respective franchises. They made them dynasties, their fans can wait until they’re ready to be done. And at least Pop has Wemby. It would have been great if Belichick got a franchise QB instead of Mac Jones.

If the Celtics keep rolling, don’t be surprised if Brown and Porzingis both make it

Are we all really comparing Caruso to Jrue Holiday now?

Total flop and the block was clean, but I get what Maxey was going for here. He may not have known the ball was actually blocked by Jrue, but he did know that his hands were hit (after the block). So there was actually contact, but not to that extent and not an actual foul.

Absolutely no reason not to re-sign everybody now. There is literally no benefit to them tanking. They are way better off with a middling team of aging stars than starting over from scratch. There isn’t even a scratch to start over from.

I’ll give him another week, but so far, not looking like the best pick for BOTH of my fantasy teams. Not to say he won’t have a good career, but in h2h leagues, you need consistency and availability.

Yeah, I watched all Celtics away games on TV38 using an antenna. I couldn’t watch the home games because they were on cable, so I had to listen to them. I would have been a fan either way, but I had to get creative back then. Definitely videotaped a game if I was going to miss it.

I used to have League Pass, but it’s just not worth it for the Celtics. Like half of their games aren’t on there.

As a Celtics fan, if we had last year’s version of White in the 2022 Finals, the Celtics likely would have won. In game 4, the Cs were up 2-1 and even had a lead with 5 minutes left. Derrick White, who was ass [offensively] for the Celtics his entire tenure up to that point, was a -19 and was 4/12 from the field. Andrew Wiggins was +20.

So it pains me to say this, but Wiggins showed up when it mattered most and White did not. Wiggins still clears White, but that may not always be the case. White is legit turning into a player literally every team would love to have on their roster.

He looks good, but the Ws were against the Spurs and Nets. Dallas could very easily struggle to reach .500, which will make it nearly impossible for him to win an MVP

He’s likely going to get another big contract, too - probably $30M+ aav. Even though he seemingly isn’t much of an impact player, he is a big all-around consistent wing. Even in fantasy he is almost always a top 60-70 player because he doesn’t hurt you in any categories.

82 games is a crazy amount of games. Getting some level of recognition for being the best that season isn’t an outrageous idea. Of course it shouldn’t count for anywhere near what a championship trophy counts for, but this definitely has some merit. I even like the retroactive part of it.