2024 Playoffs: Around the League NBA Finals News Thread

[TOO]

It's interesting that they won like 66 games and people still aren't sure if they are for real.

[In2ition]

How many games have the Celtics lost in these playoffs so far? They are ultra deep and talented across the board. It's a very even and balanced team.

What's their weaknesses?

[ShelC]

I think they're kinda bullsht. The fact they went thru the East without Porzingis proves how easy they had it. People still talk about the '21 Suns beating injured teams on their way to the Finals but the Cs beat the Heat without Butler, the Bucks without Giannis and the Pacers without Haliburton. And the Pacers only beat the Knicks because the Knicks were missing 4 starters. No way the Cs beat a healthy Knicks team. I don't even think the Mavs are all that good either, not Finals worthy but the NBA's been shifting and it was kind of a down year for a lot of teams.

[TOO]

I think they're kinda bullsht. The fact they went thru the East without Porzingis proves how easy they had it. People still talk about the '21 Suns beating injured teams on their way to the Finals but the Cs beat the Heat without Butler, the Bucks without Giannis and the Pacers without Haliburton. And the Pacers only beat the Knicks because the Knicks were missing 4 starters. No way the Cs beat a healthy Knicks team. I don't even think the Mavs are all that good either, not Finals worthy but the NBA's been shifting and it was kind of a down year for a lot of teams.

But why are we discounting the fact that they destroyed the East during the regular season? You can only beat who is in front of you and they've done it all year.

[Mori Chu]

I think they're kinda bullsht. The fact they went thru the East without Porzingis proves how easy they had it. People still talk about the '21 Suns beating injured teams on their way to the Finals but the Cs beat the Heat without Butler, the Bucks without Giannis and the Pacers without Haliburton. And the Pacers only beat the Knicks because the Knicks were missing 4 starters. No way the Cs beat a healthy Knicks team. I don't even think the Mavs are all that good either, not Finals worthy but the NBA's been shifting and it was kind of a down year for a lot of teams.

I respect this take but don't agree with it. Yeah the East playoffs were pretty easy this year. But Boston has a really nice roster and I think they would have beaten the 100% healthy Knicks, Bucks, Pacers, and/or Heat. They're one of the best teams in the league on both offense and defense. They have a lot of guys who can score, and almost everybody who gets minutes is a plus defender. During the regular season they racked up 60 wins against all these teams when they were healthy as well as the best of the West. And to invert your initial argument, the fact that they went through the East without Porzingis shows just how scary good they are now that they do have him back. I don't think this Boston team is a Warriors or Bulls level dynasty or anything crazy like that, but I do think they're a legit championship-level team that doesn't need any asterisk next to them if they win it all.

[ShelC]

Regular season is a different beast. A lot of teams can win 50 games blowing thru the regular season. Kidd's Suns used to do it all the time, the Cavs did it last year and they were 1st round outs.

And I don't understand inverting the argument because the crux of the argument is that they went thru an injured East without him. All the teams they played were missing their best player. There's no way they have the bodies up front to handle guys like OG, Randle, Mitch Robinson and Hartenstein in a 7 game series. They have a ton of depth and firepower on the perimeter but only KP and Horford up front.

[Split T]

I think the Celtics are legit, but they absolutely had the easiest path to the finals I’ve ever seen..and people doubt them because they don’t have that one guy you can trust to carry you when times get tough. Tatum has disappeared far too many times(like last year vs Miami).

I think Boston will win because their team is just a lot better, but I don’t think they are some juggernaut…and they really didn’t play an elite team all playoffs…8-4-6-5 seeds. Kinda like Denver last year.

[AmareIsGod]

Jaylen Brown is highly intelligent and was offered an opportunity with NASA:

- Brown was offered an internship with NASA, likely due to his interest and aptitude in physics and other sciences.[4][9][10]

- He took graduate-level classes at UC Berkeley as a freshman while also playing college basketball. He was at the top of his high school class academically.[4][5][6]

- Brown was on the chess varsity team at UC Berkeley and learned multiple languages including Spanish and Arabic.[5][6]

- At age 22, he became the youngest elected vice president of the National Basketball Players Association.[4][6]

- Brown has given lectures at prestigious universities like Harvard (where he was the youngest ever guest lecturer), MIT, and his alma mater UC Berkeley.[4][6][9]

- He is an MIT Media Lab fellow and has collaborated with MIT to create educational programs for underserved youth interested in STEM fields.[4][6]

- Some NBA scouts and executives were concerned Brown was "too smart" coming out of college and had too many diverse interests outside of basketball.[1][5][10]

So in summary, yes, the evidence overwhelmingly suggests Jaylen Brown has exceptional intelligence across many academic domains, to the point he was offered a rare opportunity to intern at NASA. His intellectual pursuits are highly unusual for an NBA player.

Citations:
[1] Jaylen Brown - NASA Science https://science.nasa.gov/image-detail/brown/
[2] The Shocking Truth About Jaylen Brown's IQ - YouTube
[3] NBA Star Jaylen Brown: Genius and Activist - BetUS https://www.betus.com.pa/locker-room-ra ... 8-04-2023/
[4] Is Jaylen Brown A Professor At MIT? All Details On 27YO Celtics ... https://www.essentiallysports.com/nba-a ... education/
[5] Jaylen Brown is a genius who happens to be an NBA player
[6] Jaylen Brown - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaylen_Brown
[7] Jaylen Brown 2023-24 Stats per Game - NBA - ESPN https://www.espn.com/nba/player/gamelog ... ylen-brown
[8] “World Truly Is Jaylen Brown's Oyster”: Celtics' $304M Rich All-Star ... https://www.essentiallysports.com/categ ... ic-genius/
[9] Jaylen Brown Won't Settle for Less - GQ https://www.gq.com/story/jaylen-brown-c ... 20-profile
[10] Jaylen Brown Is A GENIUS? - YouTube
[11] Jaylen Brown what the fuck are you talking about dude. : r/billsimmons
[12] Jaylen Brown's Remarkable Academic Achievements Are Going Viral https://athlonsports.com/nba/jaylen-bro ... oing-viral
[13] Jaylen Brown's Insane Resume Includes Cal, Harvard, MIT, NASA ...
[14] Let me give you FACTS about Jaylen Brown - YouTube

[SunsRIt]

Damn

[TOO]

I thought Browns academic exploits were widely known.

[SunsRIt]

I had no idea.

[Superbone]

How Holiday was traded from the Bucks to their top rival who are now on the verge of a championship. (Maybe that Lillard acquisition wasn't the best move for the Bucks. You could say the same about the Suns and KD but at least Bridges/Johnson aren't competing for the top prize with a Western Conference rival.)

NBA Finals 2024: The twists and turns that led Jrue Holiday back to the Finals

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/402 ... ack-finals

[AmareIsGod]

I had no idea.

Neither did I! Amazing. Doesn't prevent someone from dating IG models though, apparently

[Mori Chu]

How Holiday was traded from the Bucks to their top rival who are now on the verge of a championship. (Maybe that Lillard acquisition wasn't the best move for the Bucks. You could say the same about the Suns and KD but at least Bridges/Johnson aren't competing for the top prize with a Western Conference rival.)

NBA Finals 2024: The twists and turns that led Jrue Holiday back to the Finals

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/402 ... ack-finals

That one is really coming back to bite them. Jrue was great for them. Dame was flashier but IMO a worse fit for their roster. And now Jrue is helping a key conference rival get directly to a title in his first year there.

[Split T]

Boston would’ve won the East with or without Jrue..he’s great but I don’t think he actually made the difference here.

And Milwaukee lost in round 1 because Giannis was hurt, not because Dame replaced Jrue

[Mori Chu]

If you watched Game 2 last night, you saw Jrue contributing mightily to the Celtics' win. He's been maybe their best player outside of Jaylen Brown. With Porzingis also playing great, it's interesting to see that Jayson Tatum is maybe only the 3rd or 4th best player on the Celtics in this series. That speaks to how much talent and depth they have.

[Split T]

Also speaks to Tatum being overrated. Boston is winning because their top 6 is elite. He’s clearly closer to Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday than he is a Luka Doncic for example.

[AmareIsGod]

They're up 2-0. I'm sure their fans don't care who's best, who's aligned most to other superstar players, where Tatum is on the pecking order. What a blessing it must be to be on the cusp of another championship. We can only hope.

[Split T]

They care…I’ve talked to Boston fans and they are a little sensitive about Tatum

[TOO]

They care…I’ve talked to Boston fans and they are a little sensitive about Tatum

All of them?