In search of Larry O'Brien: 2015 NBA Playoffs

[The Six]

They the...North?

[DS729]

The way the Raptors looked tonight, they made the Wizards look like a hybrid of Lob City, the Splash Brothers

Beal and Wall were like Harden and Westbrook at times tonight.

Key word at times. They've yet to do it consistently, Wall is still a guy you don't want shooting the ball from 18+ feet and Beal isn't quite the 30 point a night guy yet. I think his ceiling is maybe a Dwayne Wade type, but I don't know if he'll ever be that prolific of a scorer, I will say that he is a much better shooter than Wade but still.

It's great to see Otto Porter really blow up in this series, he was the third pick 2 years ago and barely cracked the rotation last year and all of a sudden he's blossomed behind Pierce, has been hitting his jumpshot, and being the all-around guy that we drafted him for. For such a young team the Wizards have come to play in the playoffs the past 2 years.

While Atlanta hasn't looked too hot, I still don't think this team has it in them to get past them but it's not everyday that a 4 seed gets swept.

[Seadragon76]

They the...North?

Nah... it's more like 'They Got Swept'.

[2001mark]

I want to make fun of the Raptors, but as a Celtics fan, I'm in no position to throw stones.

Kyle Lowry threw enough stones up this series for all of us.

[truepg]

Well Perkins has just retaliated. So... the Cavs are the team with no class now.

What do you mean? That's just a hard playoff screen.

This got me laughing so hard, man, LOL. Good one!

In all seriousness, all of them, Olynyk and Perkins should've been ejected from the game along with Smith. All that stuff was straight from kindergarden.

[C's]

I want to make fun of the Raptors, but as a Celtics fan, I'm in no position to throw stones.

Sure we are. We went down swinging and got a playoff berth over several veteran teams even though we were projected to be fighting for lottery position this year. We have something to build off of.

Toronto got swept despite home court advantage and now they're stuck with a middling eastern conference playoff team after falling for Lowry's contract year stats. (A similar fate awaits whoever signs Brook Lopez.)

[C's]

NBA fans normally: "what teh f man games so boring now players are so soft, they'd get poo'd on in the old days man"

NBA fans after games like today: "waahhhhhh games r too fyzikal nao go back to best of 5 plzzz!!! :( :("

[CLEstones]

Well Perkins has just retaliated. So... the Cavs are the team with no class now.

What do you mean? That's just a hard playoff screen.

This got me laughing so hard, man, LOL. Good one!

In all seriousness, all of them, Olynyk and Perkins should've been ejected from the game along with Smith. All that stuff was straight from kindergarden.

I hope the sarcasm came through with that comment. I'm so sick of hearing the announcers defend the dirty play of the Celtics and the overall narrative that Playoff basketball is so much more physical and punishing. Well, it shouldn't be. Its still basketball. All the dimensions and rules are the same. They type of play shouldn't change. Its hurting the product. The inconsistency is staggering.

The NBA had a problem. When you DONT throw Olynek out... you almost can't throw Perkins out. Neither made basketball plays, neither were innocent. However, when you don't throw out a guy who plays with reckless abandon after he dislocates a star player's shoulder, than its kind of hard to throw out a guy who simply pushes someone.

As I said, the blame is SOULY on the NBA and their officials. Game 3 was an absolute mugging by the Celtics on to the Cavs. The NBA should have stepped in immediately and cleaned it up. However, they refused. Once Love's shoulder got ripped out, they should have thrown him out and warned both benches that they are cleaning the game up and its going to get tight. Instead, it lead to ANOTHER injury after JR Smith retaliated, crumbling Jae Crowder, causing his kneed to sprain (and possible torn ligaments). The officiating was comically bad in Games 3 and 4 and that isn't a Cleveland biased comment, that's just someone who watched the game.

Just for posterity:

[C's]

Oh yeah, playing with "reckless abandon" during the mad dash for a rebound is totally the same as going up to someone at half court and randomly shoving them. The refs' hands sure were tied during that one!

Go jump in the lake.

[truepg]

Well Perkins has just retaliated. So... the Cavs are the team with no class now.

What do you mean? That's just a hard playoff screen.

This got me laughing so hard, man, LOL. Good one!

In all seriousness, all of them, Olynyk and Perkins should've been ejected from the game along with Smith. All that stuff was straight from kindergarden.

I hope the sarcasm came through with that comment.

It did.

[CLEstones]

Oh yeah, playing with "reckless abandon" during the mad dash for a rebound is totally the same as going up to someone at half court and randomly shoving them. The refs' hands sure were tied during that one!

Go jump in the lake.

Olynek's reputation since he has been in the league has been playing with reckless abandon, throwing his big body around at the expense of other players. I know you are butt hurt, but TRY and be objective. If Olynek was on the Cavs and did the same thing, you would flip and be saying the same exact things.

However, when it comes to severity, yes, Olynek's foul was WAY more egregious than Perkins' shove. Watch the replays. Olynek grabbed, gripped, and yanked. I did laugh at the "mad dash" comment... you mean when Love had Olynek boxed out and Kelly had no chance of making a play on the ball so he made a play on Love' limb. Right... "mad dash."

Perkins just pushed Crowder, it wasn't violent, it was actually one of the softer pushes that occurred during the course of this Series. Do you forget when Kyrie got pushed in the back but then was called for a travel? Or the double arm close line he took? Or how about the multiple "jump balls" that were called in Games 3 and 4 when you could see the blatant and obvious hacks occurring from shoulder to wrist on Love, Mosgov, and Thompson? Or maybe you are forgetting when Kyrie took a forearm to forehead and there was no foul called. And just as icing on the cake, Thomas' steal of the out of bounds pass where he not only contacts LeBron, but also contacts the ball out of bounds with a referee standing 5' away. And if you actually look at the play were JR Smith hits Crowder, watch how many times Crowder is pushing JR smith up around the shoulders and neck. Sorry, but those are fouls, multiple fouls.

Seriously man, I'm all for being a homer (everyone here knows that), but at least TRY and be objective. You have no leg to stand on. The Celtics had every outside advantage in that series and still couldn't pull off a win.

Sorry, but ripping a shoulder out of its socket is way more damaging and career threatening than getting pushed and falling gently on your behind.

Take of the green-colored glasses and TRY to look at it SOMEWHAT objectively.

[Rockstar Matt]

Please stop it. You're making me like the Celtics.

[TheRicSlick]

Oh yeah, playing with "reckless abandon" during the mad dash for a rebound is totally the same as going up to someone at half court and randomly shoving them. The refs' hands sure were tied during that one!

Go jump in the lake.

The Celtics had every outside advantage in that series and still couldn't pull off a win.

What? Superstars are always known to get the benefit of the doubt in the NBA. How much superstars do the Celtics have? 0. Do you really think the NBA wanted a team like the Celtics to beat the Cavs this year? If so, that's hilarious.

[C's]

First of all, Rusty Hardin, it's Olynyk, not Olynek. A quick glance at literally any piece of written game idea from any Celtics game played this year or last could have told you that. Unless replacing y's with e's is some sort of hilarious Ohio in-joke that I'm not privy to.

Second, how in the hell is severity relevant? The Olynyk/Love thing happened when the ball was loose and they were both trying to get it. Regardless of what the actual intent was, there is absolutely plausible deniability in the heat of the moment. Perkins literally strolled up to Crowder at half court and shoved him, out of the blue. His intent could not possibly have been more clear. Yet you want to pass that bull off as a hard screen while tagging the Olynyk play as premeditated headhunting? And you have the audacity to tell me to be more objective?

It's nice of you to let me know that you're all for homerism though. As if I wouldn't have figured that out on my own after cringing my way through that steaming pile of bloody diarrhea you came up with.

[CLEstones]

First of all, Rusty Hardin, it's Olynyk, not Olynek. A quick glance at literally any piece of written game idea from any Celtics game played this year or last could have told you that. Unless replacing y's with e's is some sort of hilarious Ohio in-joke that I'm not privy to.

Second, how in the hell is severity relevant? The Olynyk/Love thing happened when the ball was loose and they were both trying to get it. Regardless of what the actual intent was, there is absolutely plausible deniability in the heat of the moment. Perkins literally strolled up to Crowder at half court and shoved him, out of the blue. His intent could not possibly have been more clear. Yet you want to pass that bull off as a hard screen while tagging the Olynyk play as premeditated headhunting? And you have the audacity to tell me to be more objective?

It's nice of you to let me know that you're all for homerism though. As if I wouldn't have figured that out on my own after cringing my way through that steaming pile of bloody diarrhea you came up with.

So, when I said "hard playoff basketball screen" you were the ONLY person in the thread to take that as a serious comment? I thought the sarcasm was pretty thick, everyone else seemed to get it. But right, you aren't being biased at all, you are looking at it objectively.

Sorry, I spelled his name wrong. My deepest, most sincere apologies. But I'm glad you made an Ohio joke... nothing spells defeat like resorting to sophomoric burns. OLYNYK does not play with much control. That's his reputation. He throws his body around at the expense of other players. Its one thing to be physical and aggressive... its another thing to cause injury and harm to players because of negligence.

I wasn't sure if you knew I was cool with your homerism, since I was talking about ACTUAL events that occurred over the series, as opposed to you crying over the Celtics got swept and making up excuses.

What? Superstars are always known to get the benefit of the doubt in the NBA. How much superstars do the Celtics have? 0. Do you really think the NBA wanted a team like the Celtics to beat the Cavs this year? If so, that's hilarious.

Oh, absolutely not. I don't think they wanted the Celtics to win at all against the Cavs. I think the NBA would love for the Cavs to win in the first year of LeBron's return to NEO. It would be a huge money grab storyline.

In honestly, I don't think the NBA ever wants a sweep (why do you think every series is best of 7), that's for sure... nor do I think they were trying to skew the game or a series either direction. But I think the NBA let it get too physical. Now, you have a title contender missing one of their best players, and Jae Crowder could have a career-threatening injury.

[DS729]

Please stop it. You're making me like the Celtics.

And I'm starting to hate the Cavs as well. Between these shenanigans and the 3 lotteries won between 2011-2014 despite having a top 3 odds just once makes me want to hate Cleveland.

Or am I just a horrible person?

[DC in Da House w/o a Doubt]

Paul Pierce be like

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Paul Pierce be like

[DarkJourney]

Nice to see the Warriors D-League franchise in Santa Cruz win the title. By the way that team has Klay Thompson's brother Mychel and Blake Griffin's brother Taylor on it.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Jason Kidd's band of long-limbed young guys is really fun to watch.

EDIT: MCW might just have one game like this in his career, but he's playing crunch-time minutes in an elimination game on the road. One more reason to hate Philadelphia for throwing him away like garbage.