On May 16th, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued, and the results of today's Cavaliers vs. Green Army are estimated to be known to everyone, the Cavaliers lost to the Green Army 98-115, and the Celtics after winning the game also successfully entered the Eastern Finals, after James left the East, they became the hegemon of the East, and the team has reached the Eastern Final for 3 consecutive years, which is also the first time since Bird that the team has achieved this feat.
If you want to say that this round of the series plays the best, then it is definitely Tatum, in the first round because of its inefficient play, Tatum has been greatly questioned, this round of the series Tatum not only carried the offensive and defensive ends, but he also connected the team very well, this round of the series Tatum can average 26.8 points, 10.4 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 1.6 steals and 1 block per game, his five data are the first in the team, and he has become the second player in history to do it since James in 16.
This is the seventh year of Tatum's career, as a result, he has helped the team reach the Finals 5 times, I have to say that in the 17th, and even after the 17th session, he may be the most successful, although his key ball ability is still criticized, but Tatum has grown every season, the defense has improved significantly in the past two years, and his organizational skills have also improved this season, and he is moving towards a top star.
This may be the closest the Celtics have come to a championship in the past few years, and even closer to the championship than reaching the Finals in '22, because their opponents in the division finals, whether it is the Knicks or the Pacers, have a clear lineup advantage, and the Knicks can still compete with the Celtics before, but with Randle, Anunoby, Bojan and Mitchell Robinson injured, his strength has been greatly reduced.
The current Knicks rely on the record played by Brunson and other cores, that is, the Pacers are a young team, if the 76ers meet the current Knicks, they are likely to be able to defeat the opponent. This kind of death does not guarantee the health of the core, so even if they reach the division finals, it is estimated that it will be a head for the Green Army, and the Pacers are much worse, the Pacers are young, and they can make it to the second round by luck.
The reason why this is the closest Celtic have come to winning the championship is because they have a good chance of easily reaching the Finals, and even if Porzingis was injured in the first two rounds, the team swept the opponent as a gentleman, and if it wasn't for the loss of two home games due to laxity, they would have had a chance to sweep both teams. On the western side, it is different, even the most powerful Nuggets in the entire western region, they are expected to shed their skin if they want to fight out of the division.
Dragging a tired body into the playoffs could give the Celtics a selder. In the previous championship predictions of many American media, the Celtics have never been in the first place, and it can be seen from here how optimistic they are. Of course, the main reason why the Celtics are favored is that they have too much advantage in the depth of their roster, and their starting five positions are all All-Star level strength, and it is not an exaggeration to say that they are the most luxurious starting team in the league.
At the same time, there is also the veteran Horford on the bench, although he has entered the end of his career, but he is the center who has hit the most three-pointers in the playoffs so far, and he still has a lot of gas in the tank, and Horford scored 22 points and 15 rebounds in a single game in the elimination of the Cavaliers.
Ross Barkley gave a different opinion, although many times his predictions about the outcome of the game are very bad, but his judgment of the strength of each team is still very reliable, after all, he is a professional player, and they can find out the problems of each team at a glance. After today's game, Barkley talked about whether the Celtics can win the championship, and he bluntly said that the Celtics do not have the quality to compete for the championship.
"They're one of the worst teams I've ever seen in senior basketball, and their offense is like giving the ball to one guy and letting them play one-on-one, and they're able to win a lot of games because they have a lot of talent, Tatum has the ball at the top of the arc and he pulls back for a three-pointer, and then the next shot for a Brown ball and the rest of the body just watches, and it's frustrating that their way of attacking is not going to win a championship," Barkley said. ”
So far in the playoffs, the Celtics have averaged 22.7 assists per game, eighth in the league, only in the middle of the table, which is indeed a lot less than teams such as the Nuggets and Timberwolves, and their average assists per game are the same as those of the Mavericks. There is a saying that basketball is a five-person sport, I don't know if it works in front of the Celtics' absolute talent, but when it comes to this, do you think the Celtics have the strength to compete for the championship? Welcome to leave a message to discuss.