Is Mamba Mentality gonna doom Boston in the playoffs?

[FultzNationRISE]

I said this earlier in the season, they need to play THRU the guy who’s one of the league leaders in TS% among 20+ ppg scorers more, instead of around him. They need to keep going to him UNTIL the defense adjusts, and let that open things up for the rest of them.

^ Also I KNOW this is correct, because RMWG disagreed with it so it is guaranteed to be an intelligent idea.

[elementally morale]

What exactly is your point?

That Porzingis' declining contribution was not simply the result of him having been left out of possessions as was previously suggested. I'd still have to watch the game again to be able to tell what happened to him after the 1st because I was caught up in the action and paid little attention to Kristaps when he wasn't scoring. And he wasn't after the 1st 12 minutes.

[elementally morale]

They have a unicorn on the team, and instead of riding it theyve got two dudes who arent those dudes just goin out there throwin it up, and sometimes getting KP involved as a secondary option.

It very well could cost them.

You may be right, I don't watch the Celtics too often. In this game though the score was close all night. Boston went on miniruns in the middle of the quarters but the Nuggets kept coming back. And in the 4th Denver played better defense. I won't die defending my position but Boston seemed equally good all game long save for the last few minutes. It was just different guys stepping up. (Not White, he was there all game long.)

If you want to say a team is better off with Porzingis as the 1st option, I'm not at all sure. We saw that already and his team went nowhere. He somehow wasn't able to to it with Doncic and that may have been more becaus of the style Luka plays but throughout his career Porzingis is quite the same player. Great for stretches. A great game on occasion. But doesn't seem like the guy you want to carry your team. Boston is doing pretty well despite this loss. Can't win them all and both Jokic and Murray played very good games even by their respective standards. (Jokic would've finished with like 13-14 assists if Gordon and Watson had been able to not miss everything today.)

[FultzNationRISE]

If you want to say a team is better off with Porzingis as the 1st option, I'm not at all sure. We saw that already and his team went nowhere. He somehow wasn't able to to it with Doncic and that may have been more becaus of the style Luka plays but throughout his career Porzingis is quite the same player. Great for stretches. A great game on occasion. But doesn't seem like the guy you want to carry your team. Boston is doing pretty well despite this loss. Can't win them all and both Jokic and Murray played very good games even by their respective standards. (Jokic would've finished with like 13-14 assists if Gordon and Watson had been able to not miss everything today.)

I am not saying you just give Porzingis the ball and get out of the way. That's not his game. That's why I intentionally used the phrase 'best finisher' rather than 'best scorer.' He's not a guy who scores on his own the best, but he IS their best finisher. Whether it's rim running, popping out for the open 3, or catching a pass in the post off a mismatch and shooting over a smaller defender.

The Celtics could absolutely be doing more to go through him than they currently are. First of all they should be finding him way more in the pick n roll, as I said they should basically just keep doing it until the defense adjusts, and THEN let the other guys exploit the attention on KP. Beyond that, they could even just extend possessions out longer to increase the chances of finding KP for a lob or a mismatch in the post.

Instead, Tatum and Brown frequently have to put on a game-long iso exhibition so everyone can see the moves they practiced over the summer. It's just not smart basketball. These two are NOT Embiid on offense. Theyre not Luka. They're not Shai. They are not good enough to justify putting Mamba Mentality above ball movement and off-ball movement. Ideally these guys are just excellent role players, but they've been saddled with the expectation of being 'stars' because fans think every team has to have someone be the flashy star or theyll suck.

Maybe this will be enough to win the East, but if it is that will speak more to the lack of other elite teams. To beat one of the elite teams out west in a Finals they're gonna have to play better basketball, plain and simple.

[FultzNationRISE]

The funny thing is, the Celtics are doing the exact same thing the Spurs were criticized for. Having a bunch of chucker guards ignore the Unicorn.

The Celtics are on the opposite end of the win column because they have far more talent and experience, but they're still playing the same exact style everyone was calling the Spurs low IQ for. Ignoring the unicorn. Same exact situation.

[elementally morale]

I am not saying you just give Porzingis the ball and get out of the way. That's not his game. That's why I intentionally used the phrase 'best finisher' rather than 'best scorer.' He's not a guy who scores on his own the best, but he IS their best finisher. Whether it's rim running, popping out for the open 3, or catching a pass in the post off a mismatch and shooting over a smaller defender.

The Celtics could absolutely be doing more to go through him than they currently are. First of all they should be finding him way more in the pick n roll, as I said they should basically just keep doing it until the defense adjusts, and THEN let the other guys exploit the attention on KP. Beyond that, they could even just extend possessions out longer to increase the chances of finding KP for a lob or a mismatch in the post.

Instead, Tatum and Brown frequently have to put on a game-long iso exhibition so everyone can see the moves they practiced over the summer. It's just not smart basketball. These two are NOT Embiid on offense. Theyre not Luka. They're not Shai. They are not good enough to justify putting Mamba Mentality above ball movement and off-ball movement. Ideally these guys are just excellent role players, but they've been saddled with the expectation of being 'stars' because fans think every team has to have someone be the flashy star or theyll suck.

Maybe this will be enough to win the East, but if it is that will speak more to the lack of other elite teams. To beat one of the elite teams out west in a Finals they're gonna have to play better basketball, plain and simple.

Makes sense.

I'm at the same point with this Celtics team as I'm at with Embiid (and to a lesser extent the 76ers because Embiid is the 76ers now). I'll give both one more playoffs to see if they qualify for 'great'. These teams should meet in the ECF and I want both playing out of their minds great basketball. Both can't advance to the Finals but if neither can do it I'll not take them seriously next year. I very well shouldn't now but I'll show some patience.

[Manny98]

Porzingis had the hot hand and was completely iced out by Tatum trying to be the hero

[FultzNationRISE]

Porzingis had the hot hand and was completely iced out by Tatum trying to be the hero

Tatum for Lebron who says no?

[FultzNationRISE]

Someone that actually knows about the Celtics would know that Tatum shots 47% and Brown shoots 49%. They lost today but they are not "the problem, " whatever the problem is for the best team in the league.

Such a simplistic low IQ take as usual.

[tpols]

This isn't a really great bumpable thread. Zingis would get hurt with a larger burden and white isn't a true superstar talent albeit a very good ancillary player.

The only way the Celtics win is if Tatum nuts up and Brown does similar.

[rawimpact]

Tatum and brown are the most disappointing duo we've seen in a while. Always underachieving in the post-season, consistency is a problem as is coaching adjustments IMO.

[ImKobe]

There's no Mamba Mentality in Boston. In fact, they're soft AF. They can be pushed around. Not enough dawg in that team.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Such a simplistic low IQ take as usual.

What does Mamba mentality" mean? Did Tatum demonstrate it when he settled for 13 shots? You're an idiot. You and the other twits can keep on going nuts every time time the best team in the league loses a game. Remind me of a bunch of insects scrambling after someone lifts the rock they were buried under.

[Wally450]

Tatum and brown are the most disappointing duo we've seen in a while. Always underachieving in the post-season, consistency is a problem as is coaching adjustments IMO.

Comparing where they are in their careers compared to some other duos, they should be approaching the age where they get their first title. Most guys hit it around that 27-28 year old mark. They get looked at as disappointing because they've made deep playoff runs right from the start of their careers.

[Street Hunger]

The Celtics have a whole nice set of versatile offensive weapons