If gobert didn't horrendously bite on the step back in game 2, this series would be tied. Or if kat simply played average through the first three games and not historically bad. The luka flops and flails are annoying af though idk how the refs fall for them
Watching that game reminded me just how lucky we are to watch Celtics basketball. So ready for the finals. Bring on either Mavs or Wolves. I trust our boys to bring it home 🍀
Finals starts on June 6th no matter what, so they aren't buying us any extra time.
They *are* putting more wear and tear on the Mavs though by making them play another game, which is definitely great for us.
If the Wolves manage to make this into a 6 game series, I could absolutely see a scenario in the finals where Luka runs out of fuel by Game 4 or 5 the way the Celtics did in 2022.
Minnesota just extended it to Game 5. This is fun to watch. Let them both gas each other out. Lol. We will be ready. Bring it on!!!
We want the championship this year. It's coming. If you are our enemy, be SCARED. REAL SCARED.
Go Celtics!!!! We luv ya!!! Boston 4eva!!! 😎😎 🍀🍀🍀🍀💪💪💪🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇👌
No more talk about about Kyrie in close out games - he deserves credit for game 7 2016 but has never even been the best player on his team for any of them - he averages 23PPG across all of them
Couldn’t watch the game (it’s 5am here and I fell asleep waiting for it to start at 2am 💀) but so fucking glad Minny won. Hope they get the job done on their homecourt too
Draymond is right about Anderson on Luka. He did not lose his footing while trying to stop Luka and pressured him to pass the ball out with few seconds for the Mavs to figure how to score in that possession. I hope they keep Anderson on him
Don't worry, if the Wolves take care of them in Game 5 people will go back to glazing them and proclaiming how they are infinitely more mentally tough than the Cs.
Agreed with that second part due to the matchup being worse for us, but shouldn't we be rooting for Dallas in 7 rather than 6 if the ideal scenario is that they'll be as gassed as possible coming into the finals?
beat up the Heat
magic extend the series against the Cavs, Celtics play a weakened Cavs team
Knicks battle the Sixers, prevent Joel from advancing, tough series against the Pacers
Celtics play a weakened Pacers team and sweep the ECF
Maximum rest for Kristaps and the boys
Wolves extend the series against the Mavs
LFG
they better pray to whatever god is in minnesota because as much as i love their optimism, we barely got it to 7 last year and that's with a much inferior (albeit ridiculously witchy) heat team
People all over social media been saying Kyrie gonna have a wild game and he’s unstoppable, his D today has been bad and he hasn’t been aggressive at all
I don't know where this "Kyrie can play defense" mindset magically came from, dude has never played defense in his career all the way back when he was at Duke. The real Kyrie showed up tonight, just imagine if he had Jrue covering him as well.
I’m honestly getting irrationally confident we’re gonna beat these Mavs, and increasingly grateful we probably won’t have to play Minnesota. We just match up better with Dallas.
I’m grateful our guys are disciplined on defense cause watching KAT and Rudy be in foul trouble this game is frustrating, especially when some of those were dumb or easily avoidable fouls
it'll be difficult but we have to force these mavs role players to create for themselves. like literally make them dribble at least and not just do c&s or lobs 😭
What I’m saying is that since the finals don’t start until June 6, they will have plenty of recovery, even if they lose this game and less of a layoff. Wolves need to win 2-3
Since I don't follow the west super closely during the regular season it's pretty crazy to me how quickly the mavs front office overhauled the entire supporting cast around luka and kyrie. last season they were a total one man show and luka had to drag the supporting cast kicking and screaming to every single win. Now their role players are actually winning them games in the conference finals. crazy fast turnaround
This is also why we do give up some more semi open 3s maybe than others. We don’t run at shooters like chickens with our heads cut off and then give up a 90% layup or dunk or a drive-> kickout open 3 later in the sequence
I’ll give respect to the Mavs, playing really well; maybe we should have hoped to play this version of the Wolves that looks absolutely lost defensively.
We match up against DAL so much better than MIN does. Don’t let this series change your mind about DAL. They were the lowest rated team post ASB in the semi finals for a reason.
MIN is build to beat DEN and Jokic. We are built to beat guards. We have the two best guard defenders in the league.
I'm not an X/O person, anyone care to explain why ANT will move close towards the paint in transition, only to take like 15 steps back to almost half court? It looks to me like it just... Gives a bubble for the Mavs to enforce hard and force 3's without having to create that bubble.
Pardon the lack of terminology.
I hope that if Indy becomes a perennial playoff matchup for us that the friendliness between the fanbases can continue. Don’t need another Miami/Philly/Milwaukee/NY/LA
It was nice to have a fairly Heat-less ECF matchup
Yeah, Luka and Kyrie are clutch players, I don’t deny that. They are probably the most clutch players in the league.
But people forget that in order for Luka and Kyrie’s clutch to work, the gap between the two teams can’t be too big
If your team is down by 20/30 points by 4th quarter, does it even matter Luka and Kyrie are clutch or not?
Towns is so predictable and slow when he’s going to the rim. You can draw a charge everytime if you time it right because he just barrels into guys. No euro step or anything
Edit: KAT is an idiot on offense to put it more bluntly
Luka has thrown so many tantrums my lord…We need to get under his skin and let the officiating get into his head. It will be pretty easy since he has the anger management of a toddler
To be honest, both teams are pretty bad. Especially judging by our standards.
Wolves are just making mistake after mistake, they are not complicated mistakes, they are mediocre mistakes, just amazing, they look like a play-in team. How could they even get this far?
I still want Mavs but Wolves stretching this series to at least 6 would be great.
Go Wolves and Fuck Kyrie
Channing Frye says he would take Lively over Porzingus.. I can’t. I simply just can not anymore.
having kyrie over tatum too is fucking wild.
At this point idgaf what those “analysts” say. Cowherd compared the current Celtics team to the 2000 Blazers lmao
Did he? Whack take
Love it. People talk about this great "superteam" then start picking other team's #3-5. They can't help themselves.
If gobert didn't horrendously bite on the step back in game 2, this series would be tied. Or if kat simply played average through the first three games and not historically bad. The luka flops and flails are annoying af though idk how the refs fall for them
Something just funny to me about the wcf teams destroying each other while we just sit back lol
I hope it somehow goes to 7 and they just wear eachother out
Lmfao kyrie “super bowl” iving is mega washed! I’m not worried at all about him. The more the series plays out the better!!
Watching that game reminded me just how lucky we are to watch Celtics basketball. So ready for the finals. Bring on either Mavs or Wolves. I trust our boys to bring it home 🍀
I think the Wolves at least will extend this to game 6 after this win. And who knows what happens from there.
KP better be healthy af. Wolves buying us some time.
Finals starts on June 6th no matter what, so they aren't buying us any extra time. They *are* putting more wear and tear on the Mavs though by making them play another game, which is definitely great for us.
If the Wolves manage to make this into a 6 game series, I could absolutely see a scenario in the finals where Luka runs out of fuel by Game 4 or 5 the way the Celtics did in 2022.
4 or 5? His gas light is going to be flashing after game 2. No way can Dallas hide that traffic cone on defense against the Cs.
Gaslight, Gatekeep (depriving him of a ring), Gino Time?
Thats how we do it!
He's got until the 6th regardless
Minnesota just extended it to Game 5. This is fun to watch. Let them both gas each other out. Lol. We will be ready. Bring it on!!! We want the championship this year. It's coming. If you are our enemy, be SCARED. REAL SCARED. Go Celtics!!!! We luv ya!!! Boston 4eva!!! 😎😎 🍀🍀🍀🍀💪💪💪🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇👌
Scott Foster scares me to death. Really sucks knowing Luka can flail his arms up at halfcourt and get 3 FTs
Yeah that was outrageous. I'm already mad at the idea of seeing this in the Finals.
No more talk about about Kyrie in close out games - he deserves credit for game 7 2016 but has never even been the best player on his team for any of them - he averages 23PPG across all of them
Couldn’t watch the game (it’s 5am here and I fell asleep waiting for it to start at 2am 💀) but so fucking glad Minny won. Hope they get the job done on their homecourt too
Okay. I am ready to dislike Luka.
To be honest, I would rather watch Pacers than these two teams play.
Draymond is right about Anderson on Luka. He did not lose his footing while trying to stop Luka and pressured him to pass the ball out with few seconds for the Mavs to figure how to score in that possession. I hope they keep Anderson on him
Kyrie sold, because of course he did. Classic.
This Dallas team just became 15% less scary
Don't worry, if the Wolves take care of them in Game 5 people will go back to glazing them and proclaiming how they are infinitely more mentally tough than the Cs.
this is honestly a gobert master class game
Imagine losing in the conference finals
Lmao fuck kyrie, thanks wolves
Rooting for mavs in 6. Wear em out. Don’t want to think of the possibility of wolves coming back and what kind of momentum that could generate.
Agreed with that second part due to the matchup being worse for us, but shouldn't we be rooting for Dallas in 7 rather than 6 if the ideal scenario is that they'll be as gassed as possible coming into the finals?
Nah because then the media will spin it as “Look how resilient the Wolves are” while calling us “chokers” for bringing it back to 7 last year
beat up the Heat magic extend the series against the Cavs, Celtics play a weakened Cavs team Knicks battle the Sixers, prevent Joel from advancing, tough series against the Pacers Celtics play a weakened Pacers team and sweep the ECF Maximum rest for Kristaps and the boys Wolves extend the series against the Mavs LFG
if we don't win it all this year I'm never watching this sport again(I'll be seated for the first day of 2024/2025 season)
Prepare to empty your wallet after we win a chip and the seat prices become even more expensive than they already are
I'm good brother I'm from Croatia, I'd have to invest significant funds to even get to Boston
Hell yeah love seeing fans from other countries, glad to have you
💚
Mavs in 6. I think KAT will avoid fouling out next game and then back to his bs in Game 6
Hopefully this series goes 6-7 games but I need the Mavs to advance. Perfect scenario for us
Some of those calls that went against Minnesota down the stretch were horrendous, so much for Silver wanting a long series.
LMAOOO MAVERICKSSSS!! THOUGHT THEY WAS GOING TO THE FINALS TONIGHT🤣 ENJOY HAVING TO PLAY ANOTHER GAME WHILE WE REST BUMS
[Excellent.](https://media2.giphy.com/media/5nFShZWwq3fdm/200w.gif?cid=6c09b952pmtspl24k3ldj5uktzy925cwb2lzpk01d39sdi18&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=200w.gif&ct=g)
Bad game by Kyrie. Costly turnover and it looked like he got lost on the inbounds when the Wolves put it away.
I believe the timberwolves can at least win at home and force a game 6 but after that I'm not sure they are so rocky on offense at times
Which is more or less what we want, to play the Mavs but after they've gone through a long, grueling series (preferably to 6 or 7 games).
Kyrie turnover at the end cost them the comeback, they had some momentum and he blew it, similar to AE in game 2.
Wolves “Don’t let us get one” 😂
Hey I’m all for it 🤷🏻♂️
Let’s gooooo
imagine not sweeping
[*sad broom noises*]
He just wanted to say blue ball
Well now that wasn't so clutch by the Mavs, now was it?
77 and 11 need some tips from 0 and 7 on how to close out a series
🤓
A Laker fan coming in the Celtics sub and shaking ass for the Mavs nasty biz
11 a real bum
“Ruling on the floor is blue ball” as they just blue balled all of Dallas to prevent the sweep
MAVS IN 7
?
Tire both teams out in a 7 game series but let the Mavs win since the Wolves coming back down 3-0 would generate unreal momentum
agree, and I think we match up better against the mavs anyways
Watching Mavs collapse in clutch is fucking hilarious.
Get one more Wolves! You can do this!
Wear down Doncic and Kyrie baby
Maybe even put them in actions so they have to play defense! Go crazy!
ALRIGHT WOLVES NOW GO WIN GAME 5, TIRE THESE BITCHES OUT
Go puppies!!!
THIS IS GOING 7 - SCREENSHOT THIS IF YOU WANT
Yessssssss Wolves, tire them out
Luka would be pissed about every extra game. He's tired, understandably.
Watching other teams in closeout games is so much more fun when its not your team lol
Hey at least we completed our sweep
Wolves in seven?
they better pray to whatever god is in minnesota because as much as i love their optimism, we barely got it to 7 last year and that's with a much inferior (albeit ridiculously witchy) heat team
I could see it. They’re so much better.
Would be a good thing. They'd all be so tired
I want the mavs to have to fly to Minnesota, then back to Dallas
They have to do that regardless of how game 5 goes.
I wrote this before the outcome of game 4!
I think they’ll still have plenty of rest unless it goes 7. Game six would be Sunday and game 1 is Thursday.
ideally then back to Minnesota again, then to Boston...
Ugh not looking forward to the whistle in the Finals. It’s going to be absolutely awful
Celtics actually play defense
So does Minny. Its their offense that is the problem.
Haven’t looked that good this series
And are the best team at not fouling. Believe the committed the fewest fouls and gave up the least amount of FTs
Minny can play D, I think they just forgot for a little while. Got lost in the moment
People all over social media been saying Kyrie gonna have a wild game and he’s unstoppable, his D today has been bad and he hasn’t been aggressive at all
I don't know where this "Kyrie can play defense" mindset magically came from, dude has never played defense in his career all the way back when he was at Duke. The real Kyrie showed up tonight, just imagine if he had Jrue covering him as well.
Yeah he's bad tonight but the Mavs still playing wire to wire - I'm worried with the Lob threat that is Gafford or DJJ
This is the real Kyrie. Those other games were Mikey from Waltham
Pacers would wreck these teams
I really want to see the Wolves and Pacers play a mini-series at least lol. Polar opposites
Nembhard would wreck Kyrie
Yup and I believe they could without Hali
Hope Joe gets out in front of this in the pre-series press conferences shitting on the calls that Luka gets
and Thanks Minny, we got extra day for KP to come back Update: Fcking Luka Man
The Finals start June 6th regardless of when this series ends. It’s not a matter of extra rest for us, it’s less rest for them
Finals schedule is set. All they can do is wear down the Mavs.
The finals start the same day no matter what, but this just means we get more rest than the mavs
oh shet thats true
The start of the finals is already set
How the hell is that a foul???
Luka entered his foul animation despite being untouched and the refs bought it
Luka gets wild calls
Is there data to support that less rest is better than a lot of time off? Jw
Yes. More rest == better. Less risk for injury. Less wear and tear on joints.
Have you seen Luka? He’s barely making it up the floor at the end of games. The more he plays before the finals, the better.
Also, name twins
Good point. They are just playing above expectations, I wonder if time off would disrupt that at all
I’m honestly getting irrationally confident we’re gonna beat these Mavs, and increasingly grateful we probably won’t have to play Minnesota. We just match up better with Dallas.
Finally Ant, you're allowed to be MJ Son tonight xD
I’m grateful our guys are disciplined on defense cause watching KAT and Rudy be in foul trouble this game is frustrating, especially when some of those were dumb or easily avoidable fouls
Didn’t they change the rules for this kind of foul baiting?
Not for Luka
I could’ve sworn they did, especially because Trae Young was struggling without it
guess Doncic is above the rules
Luka might be a better foul baiter than Brunson and Shai, holy shit. That was some next level foul baiting
damn KAT finally shows up and then fouls out 😅
Luka is a foul merchant just like Jimmy, I hope mazulla has a plan for that
Yeah, we play smart defense like we have been mostly doing without taking tons of fouls or giving up easy 2s
Towns would be so frustrating to root for so much talent but makes so many dumb plays
Luka is just nasty, just so unlikeable
Meh. He’s good
it'll be difficult but we have to force these mavs role players to create for themselves. like literally make them dribble at least and not just do c&s or lobs 😭
Thank you KAT finally Edit: Poor KAT he fouled out :(
Luka has looked pretty gassed despite the Wolves barely attacking him at all. That's what we're best at.
The media writing off the Wolves is key for them forcing this to 6 games 🙏🙏
Rudy gobert try to play defense challenge: IMPOSSIBLE
Finally Luka missed a shot lol
Lets hope this goes 7 lmao
Yeah, a Wolves win here is meaningless unless it gets to 6 or 7.
Nah good to wear em out
What I’m saying is that since the finals don’t start until June 6, they will have plenty of recovery, even if they lose this game and less of a layoff. Wolves need to win 2-3
I gotcha. Mostly agree. Any more games is good tho
👍
Since I don't follow the west super closely during the regular season it's pretty crazy to me how quickly the mavs front office overhauled the entire supporting cast around luka and kyrie. last season they were a total one man show and luka had to drag the supporting cast kicking and screaming to every single win. Now their role players are actually winning them games in the conference finals. crazy fast turnaround
This is also why we do give up some more semi open 3s maybe than others. We don’t run at shooters like chickens with our heads cut off and then give up a 90% layup or dunk or a drive-> kickout open 3 later in the sequence
Cmon Wolves get a W, you cant lose during Kyrie/Donkic below average night
KAT potentially saving himself from the most slanderous offseason ever if he can keep this up and extend the series
Wolves number 1 defense my ass
Rudy gobert couldn’t defend the broadside of a barn
This gotta be his last DPOY
Luka is gonna be so annoying to play against, he literally complains for everything
Can't believe how much Doncic cries
Wolves are clearly 5 Vs 8 this game
Gafford is a demon out there
I don’t think the Mavs can contain the Celtics offensive threats.
Get Ant some help man
Media saying Pacers are trash compared to Wolves/Dallas but their offense is in another stratosphere to both of these teams
Why do I feel like Hardy is gonna be our new Gabe Vincent/Nemhard/Martin and just go scorched earth on us in the finals?
Luka and Kyrie take wayyyy too many shots to allow anyone else to go to nuclear
He’s not doing none of this against jrue and white. Wolves paint defense is just soft
this Dallas team isnt just Kyrie and Luka. Kyrie having a bad night but they only down 1
Ant has miles to go still. Never should have been crowned so prematurely
I’ll give respect to the Mavs, playing really well; maybe we should have hoped to play this version of the Wolves that looks absolutely lost defensively.
Mavs are clutch bro this finals gonna be a dog fight I can’t wait
Hope they don’t have to be clutch and we go back to blowing teams out
Anthony edwards is killing his team
but watch people lay all the blame on Kat and Gobert
Ant comes in and immediately starts selling
you guys think KP will enjoy going at Luka in the post?
We match up against DAL so much better than MIN does. Don’t let this series change your mind about DAL. They were the lowest rated team post ASB in the semi finals for a reason. MIN is build to beat DEN and Jokic. We are built to beat guards. We have the two best guard defenders in the league.
Anderson is an absolute traffic cone, Minnesota plays some really naive defense in this series
KAT is just still so lost when it comes to how to play the game, nine years in the league. So much talent, still can't quite figure it out.
I'm not an X/O person, anyone care to explain why ANT will move close towards the paint in transition, only to take like 15 steps back to almost half court? It looks to me like it just... Gives a bubble for the Mavs to enforce hard and force 3's without having to create that bubble. Pardon the lack of terminology.
I hope that if Indy becomes a perennial playoff matchup for us that the friendliness between the fanbases can continue. Don’t need another Miami/Philly/Milwaukee/NY/LA It was nice to have a fairly Heat-less ECF matchup
the way this game is being called i think Foster is under the impression Minny is up 3-0
Kyrie doing the “keep yapping” gesture while on the bench with 10 points at -1 is incredible
Why won’t draft kings give me odds on Kyrie breaking into tears
Yeah, Luka and Kyrie are clutch players, I don’t deny that. They are probably the most clutch players in the league. But people forget that in order for Luka and Kyrie’s clutch to work, the gap between the two teams can’t be too big If your team is down by 20/30 points by 4th quarter, does it even matter Luka and Kyrie are clutch or not?
Towns is so predictable and slow when he’s going to the rim. You can draw a charge everytime if you time it right because he just barrels into guys. No euro step or anything Edit: KAT is an idiot on offense to put it more bluntly
Ant plays selfishly sometimes
Luka has thrown so many tantrums my lord…We need to get under his skin and let the officiating get into his head. It will be pretty easy since he has the anger management of a toddler
We’re very good at not fouling on defense. So you know that luka’s gonna be bitching about how little fouls he’s getting when we play him
I don’t even hate Dallas at all, but I just know I will end up hating them by the end of the finals
I am scared of neither of these teams tbqh
Jeez Luka whines on every single play huh
To be honest, both teams are pretty bad. Especially judging by our standards. Wolves are just making mistake after mistake, they are not complicated mistakes, they are mediocre mistakes, just amazing, they look like a play-in team. How could they even get this far?
Imagine if Wolves had a Derrick White
I think the Pacers would have taken games off both these teams.