The Celtics unsurprisingly advanced to the Eastern Conference finals, and this team with green blood has entered the Eastern Conference finals four times in the past five years under the leadership of the young double tanhua, but the media is full of prejudice and double standards for such a team with excellent regular season records and repeated playoffs to the finals.
Why is that? Perhaps this is precisely because the Green Army has created too many glories, won many championships, as a famous NBA team, people's expectations for them are too high, even if they have achieved very good results in recent years, but as long as they fail to make it to the end, they will become the object of media criticism and fan scolding.
The higher you stand, the more painful your fall becomes! But standing tall is the only way to see far, isn't it? For the Celtics, not winning a championship is a failure, there is no doubt about it, and their goal has always been to win the championship. Fail again and again, get up again and again, and the more experience you accumulate, the closer you are to success. No matter what the outside world criticizes, the success of the Celtics is not to be discredited, they are the best team in the regular season and playoffs, they have a 64-18 record in the regular season, and they are the league's first in offensive efficiency, second in defensive efficiency, and first in the league in net efficiency. In the playoffs, they also had the highest net efficiency and rebounding percentage in the league. So far in this year's playoffs, the Celtics have won eight games, seven of which have been double-digits, and only the semifinals have won in the G4 single-digit numbers. At the same time, from the first round of the playoffs to the second round, the Celtics only lost two games, which is also the team with the fewest losses in the league so far.
But it was precisely these two games that made the unbearable media begin to make it difficult, and the league's No. 1 team would lose in the face of the Heat without Jimmy Butler, full of injuries, and the Cavaliers, who were exhausted after 7 games? In this regard, as the Celtics' top name, Tatum gave an explanation after the game: "You may see all kinds of claims about us on TV, on social media, thinking that we are a super team, but that's not the case. We didn't win Coach of the Year, we didn't win MVP, we only had two All-Stars. We're a good team, but it's not perfect. We try to play the right way, and the right way doesn't always win, sometimes the shot just doesn't go in. But as long as we play enough games, according to the normal distribution law, sooner or later the shots will go in, and we will win sooner or later. Tatum's answer was satisfactory and appropriate.
Indeed, after many playoff games, Tatum seems to have grown a lot. As a matter of course for losing in the NBA, there are no weak teams in the NBA, so the Celtics lose two games, and we don't seem to be too critical, after all, they have advanced to the East finals Knicks, the Pacers are still fighting each other, and the teams in the West are also fighting hard, and before the dust settles, the Celtics can already sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight.
Therefore, we should not be overly nitpicking.
So, will the Celtics be a serious contender for the title? According to the latest reports from the American media, the NBA playoffs this season's championship probability rankings of teams have just been released. The Celtics have a 52.9% chance of winning the title, which is far ahead of the rest of the team. But it seems that people expect a lot from them, but they don't look favorably with them. Even if their fundamentals are solid, there are still many people who don't believe they can actually win the championship. Most of the reasons given by fans are "Tatum's grade is not enough", "the key ball ability is not good", "the playoff play is very soft", "the Celtics temperament is not good", "too dependent on three-point shots" and other remarks, which sound indisputable but are deeply ingrained in the masses.
But if the playoffs of the last few years have taught us anything, it's that a championship team doesn't have the absolute strength and a fixed championship system that fans call it, they only need to win four series in a year, and people will naturally have that kind of strength and system. It's like the Bucks fell behind 0-2 in the Finals and the Suns finally won the championship, and until then, the core brother has been criticized for his shooting shortcomings and free throws. The Lakers' offense in the park was not stellar, and Danny Green, who relied most on three-point firepower from the outside, almost made a few three-pointers in the playoffs, but the Lakers won the championship with their defense. Before winning the championship, the Nuggets were also considered by everyone to be absolutely incapable of the star, and they couldn't defend against the pick-and-roll, the mid-range that couldn't prevent the pick-and-roll, and the inability to save the outside three-pointers.
There is no perfect team in this world, just as there is no absolutely perfect person in this world.
No one is perfect, and once a team is dissected as it is in anatomy, I am afraid that no team can become a qualified champion as you define it. But in any case, the Celtics are indeed going to be stronger this year than they have been in past seasons, and their starting five is the most efficient in the league. All positions are considered top-notch existences, and Porzingis on the inside is a space-type interior line, with excellent height and arm span, and can defend the interior with a pillar on the defensive end. On the offensive end, he can pull up outside shots, shoot from the mid-range, master three-point shots, and shoot free throws well, and Porzingis has had the best shooting percentage of his career this season. The big reason for this is that the Celtics' teammates are really strong, and they can attract the attention of defenders and open up more space for Porzingis to make the most of his shooting ability.
Tatum and Jaylen Brown on the front line, although the state of the offensive end is erratic, but fortunately, the young and strong bodies of the two put a lot of pressure on the opponent's defense, and the help defense is also quite good. Holiday and White on the guard line are also very defensive guards, and at the same time, they are also quite good at combing on the offensive end and their own shooting skills.
Such a starting five is arguably the strongest in the entire league at the moment, with few shortcomings and points that other teams can break. They are also good in the bench rotation, the young Horford, the three-point capable Pritchard, and the outside pitcher Hauser are all very good and qualified substitutes. With such a lineup, there is no doubt that it is a strong contender for the championship.
People will also say that although the lineup is strong, the Celtics' offense is too magical, too reliant on three-pointers, and once the three-pointers are not accurate, the Celtics' offense will lose its direction and eventually collapse.
That's true, but it's hard to blame them for shooting threes, because that's what they're playing. They became the league's No. 1 stop shooting on these three-pointers, and there's certainly no reason for them to abandon that style of play in the playoffs. The stats don't lie, relying on the magic ball play, the Celtics' offensive efficiency in the regular season is the first in the league, the number of three-point shots is 1351, and the average three-point shot is 16.5 per game, he is also the first in the league, which is the magic weapon for them to win. And for now, the Celtics got three points in the playoffs with the same resoluteness and excellent head shooting.
Whether it's right or wrong to overshoot threes in a game is perhaps not yet an answer to the question. After all, the Magic Ball style of the Green Army is in a good situation at the moment, as for the future, we still don't know, if the Celtics end up failing, then you can define the conclusion that over-reliance on three-point shooting will not succeed, but if the Celtics win the championship in the end, then the three-point shot of the magic ball is the secret and magic weapon of their success.
The road knows the horsepower, and the people will see it for a long time. Time will give the answer to everything, and we will wait and see the blue sky through the clouds and mist.