Now that Kyrie is injured the Celtics are about to play optimal team basketball

[AirBonner]

And improve defensively. Obviously it will take a few games to get it down but it

[AirTupac]

Jayson Tatum - 16/8 on 33% shooting, Jaylen Brown - 12/5/2 on 28% shooting
In a chokejob loss after being up by double digits then losing by double digits when Kyrie got injured, Jayson and Jaylen just couldn’t get the job dine

[AirBonner]

[QUOTE=AirTupac]Jayson Tatum - 16/8 on 33% shooting, Jaylen Brown - 12/5/2 on 28% shooting
In a chokejob loss after being up by double digits then losing by double digits when Kyrie got injured, Jayson and Jaylen just couldn

[Wally450]

Until we lose games because we get too stagnant on the road and can't score. Same reason we missed Kyrie in the playoffs last year. We need him for tough road games like the stretch we're about to go through.

[LostCause]

Kyrie has one of the top 5-6 RPMs in the league, especially offensively and he's also been a plus defensively this season

Boston needs him if they plan to go all the way. He's far and away their best player

[Gus Hemmingway]

Boston won't skip a beat without Kyrie


1st seed before he arrived


WCF without him


Added Gordon Hayward

[DMAVS41]

Kyrie has one of the top 5-6 RPMs in the league, especially offensively and he's also been a plus defensively this season

Boston needs him if they plan to go all the way. He's far and away their best player

This is true, but that hasn't ever been the question about Kyrie. Never been whether or not he's an elite player...

It is about his impact on his teammates and whether or not he can make it work at an optimal level.

And, of course, he has to figure out a way to stay healthy. He's missing roughly 20 games a year and he's essentially missed two full playoffs...both on teams that contended for titles.

And, while it isn't the largest sample this year, they are 7-2 without him. Last year 14-8 without him and almost made the finals.

[3ball]

The first post I ever made on hoop forums was the cp3/nash effect:

You can't win with a short PG that dominates his team's distribution of the offense win share (OWS)

So cp3 and Kyrie's OWS is really high, but everyone else's is really low.. You can't win that way

Winning short PG's like Isiah, Parker and Chauncey didn't dominate their team's distribution of OWS.. it was a more equitable distribution of the offensive win share - that's the only way short PG's can win.. guys like cp3, Nash and Kyrie will always fail at the highest level - you can't be a short, super ball-dominant PG and win.

Big PG's like magic can get away with dominating the OWS because they play multiple positions - and non-PG's win by dominating OWS all the time - magic's PG style is vastly different and than Nash/cp3 in that he could dominate the paint and was always taking on other roles like post play

Anyway, i don't remember all the wrinkles of the argument, but it was something like that and I think the historical record (short PG's that dominate OWS don't win) shows there's validity to the argument