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Life in the Bubble – A Whole New World
Looks like a few Celtics joined Tacko Fall for his bike ride: pic.twitter.com/Fo6J9A1Icx
— Boston.com Celtics News (@BDCCeltics) July 14, 2020
The Celtics jumped into the Disney World bubble and immediately started sharing their whole new world with everyone on social media. Jayson Tatum tore everyone’s heart out with the picture of his son, Deuce, getting his last hug from Dad. Enes Kanter, Marcus Smart, Tacko Fall and others made C’s fans laugh. The official accounts (and not-so-official) started to get everyone hyped for the incoming season finale of the craziest NBA season anyone can remember. The best part for fans? All this content helps bring some normalcy to life again. The Celtics Bubble Preview can hopefully add some normalcy to your life too.
Celtics: Bubble Preview – The Warm Up Scrimmages
The scrimmages, oh the scrimmages. The first match against the Oklahoma City Thunder was frustrating, with just a few glimpses of the solid playmaking and scoring that came days later. The team operating at game speed for the first time in months showed how rusty they had become since the break. The locker room WD-40 was used on at least one player; Enes Kanter had a particularly productive night racking up a double-double with eleven points and ten rebounds. There wasn’t much else to brag about as the Celtics looked slow throughout the game and fell 98-84 to OKC.
Sunday’s game against the Phoenix Suns was back and forth like a good boxing match. The C’s were much more aggressive. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown stepped into their roles as the go-to guys on the team. Jaylen in particular has looked extra aggressive since returning, and is creating a big problem for other teams. Squads having to plan for two young stars in Jayson and Jaylen, on top of the Celtics’ other weapons, is getting more and more difficult. Kemba Walker saw minutes on the floor and didn’t look limited in performance. The knock-out punch in this game was the bench, they saw good minutes towards the end of the game and produced. Brad Wanamaker and Romeo Langford each had nine points, and though Langford took a nasty fall onto his tailbone, he seemingly came out uninjured. The C’s took the W, 117-103.
The Last Preview – What to Watch For
The final scrimmage is Tuesday night, 8 PM EST, against the Houston Rockets. Marcus Smart defending James Harden is maybe my favorite matchup in the NBA. Just watch for what will hopefully be an incredibly frustrating game for Harden. Being upfront, for those that don’t know, I think “the Beard” is everything wrong – and not entertaining – about the modern NBA. If I wanted to sit and watch 30+ free throws a game from the same guy, well…I wouldn’t ever want that. He sucks to watch. Celtics will win in a close matchup, Rockets and Celtics games lately come down to the wire. Smart will goad Harden into at least two fouls in the process.
Celtics: Bubble Preview – The Seeding Games
It’s not going to be an easy road for the Celtics. Kicking off the official season re-launch this Friday is arguably their hardest challenge in the seeding schedule. The Milwaukee Bucks are a tough matchup for the C’s; Giannis can be a defensive nightmare and he isn’t their only weapon. Both teams are healthy and seem to be firing on all cylinders; one of the biggest advantages for the Celtics however, is player experience in the playoffs. The Bucks have consistently and perennially wilted once the playoffs begin, and Giannis Antetokounmpo has yet to show up and take the next step. While some could argue that the current crop of Celtics has about as much playoff consistency as the Bucks; when analyzing the last few years of playoffs, the C’s have overachieved and played better than anticipated, while the oft-favored Bucks have fallen flat.
Another team that gives the Celtics fits, the Toronto Raptors, comes to town the following Friday – thank you NBA for these excellent Friday night matchups. That is primo scheduling coming from the league. I would be far more worried if the Celtics had to travel to Toronto; they suffer up North. The NBA Bubble being as neutral a location as possible favors the Celtics in this matchup. While I will always argue that Garden fans – especially in Celtics’ playoff games – are the best anywhere in the world, the Scotiabank Arena is as unhospitable a place for Boston as anywhere else in the league. The lineups for each team match up very evenly, from the age and experience, to the scrappy play, to the chips on their shoulders. Pascal Siakam and Kyle Lowry dueling Tatum and Brown is about as entertaining as it gets.
The Seeding Games – Projected Record
Stephen A. Smith doubled down on his Celtics hype by placing bold NBA Finals odds on Boston. https://t.co/UcpCObJrY4 pic.twitter.com/t2b6JduM9c
— NESN (@NESN) August 29, 2018
Projecting wins and losses for the eight seeding games is difficult given how fluid each teams roster and situations are with all of the bubble stipulations. *Cough* *cough* Lou Williams *cough* *cough.* That being said, with the health of the Celtics looking generally all good (with the exception of Kemba’s mystery knee) the boys are ready to play in the Happiest Place on Earth.
I believe the Celtics will go 6-2 in the seeding games, with losses against the Milwaukee Bucks and Miami Heat; both teams have given the C’s trouble this season. The Bucks are simply difficult to start against, while Miami is also closer to home than any other team; that should theoretically make for an easier transition into the bubble while already playing at a high level. The Raptors game will also be difficult, but the Celtics will walk away victorious as they hit their stride by that point. The two losses will be close, but will help to gel the team into the cohesive unit that is going to run rampant in the playoffs.
Celtics: Bubble Preview – Secret Weapons
The Celtics have two secret weapons, one more obvious, while the other is a lesser known doomsday device. The first is a healthy Robert Williams a.k.a. Time Lord. He brings an element the Celtics have sorely lacked this season, a board crashing, lob catching, highlight machine. If he can find his place in the lineup (his minutes in scrimmages have been lacking to none) other teams won’t have had the time to prep and plan for “Lob Williams.”
This is your casual reminder that on the road, where Gordon Hayward is allowed to game as much as he wants, he averaged
— Dan Greenberg (@StoolGreenie) July 7, 2020
18.1/6.7/4.1 on 53/35% splits
Orlando Hayward is about to destroy people
The Celtics’ other, more secret weapon of mass destruction is Gamer Gordon Hayward. His stats while on the road, just gaming and playing basketball, are approaching another 20+ point a night player. He may hit levels people haven’t seen in a C’s jersey, he has never had this much time to during an NBA season to focus solely on basketball and video games. He has looked very comfortable in the scrimmages so far. There is the caveat that Hayward has to leave for, realistically, about four to six days while his wife gives birth. The planned leave of absence allows Hayward to avoid the two week quarantine, however. The short time away should not impact team chemistry while he’s with his family, it also gives an opportunity for another guy to step up.
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