Quote:
Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich
It was messy, but Denver puts away the Wolves
Two series are finished
|
Three teams with championship aspirations went into last night with very similar circumstances: 3-1 series leads, attempting to close out at home against vastly inferior teams. In all three cases, the inferior teams "showed up" and fought hard. Denver and Phoenix eventually took care of business. The absolute "choke" that my Celtics offered up, however, really makes me wonder: Is it heart or brains that this team is lacking? Tempting to at least partially blame the rookie coach, whose decisions down the stretch were
questionable at best (
terrible, IMO).
After all, this isn't a one-off. Ever since January, this team has been playing down to the level of competition. On Jan 21st they were 35-12, a 61-win pace that would've locked up home court throughout the playoffs. Since then they went 22-13 - a 51-win pace that is good but not typically
contender-level ball - losing at least 10 games that they should've won... It's who they are...
I picked them to win the title because they are the deepest team in the association, and when they are on they are simply unbeatable. However, I can't say I feel real good about that pick, even though a) I don't really have any concern about the series vs Atlanta, b) they still should beat Philly (esp. w questions about Embiid's health), and c) there's a very real chance that Miami would be the team that awaits Boston (or Philly) in the EC finals (though the Bucks taking the next three against the Heat would not at all surprise me).