Eccoci finalmente alla ECF. È la 6a volta in 8 anni che la raggiungiamo...con una sola vittoria...che non festeggiammo, perché qui a Boston queste cose non si festeggiano (cit.). Ma è un passaggio necessario .

Troviamo gli Indiana Pacers del MLS che, anche come consulente, ha evidentemente dato le dritte giuste per la costruzione di un ottimo roster, integrato a febbraio con l'arrivo di Pascal Siakam.

La squadra di Rick Carlisle ha guidato l'NBA nel punteggio durante la stagione regolare, con una media di 123,3 punti a gara, insieme a 30,8 assist a partita e 50,7 percentuali di field goal, i migliori del campionato.
Quella produzione offensiva non è diminuita molto durante i playoff, con Indy che ha guidato tutte le squadre durante l'azione post-stagionale con 112,9 punti a partita in due round. Ieri i Pacers hanno battuto i Knicks tirando con il 67,1% dal campo: un nuovo record nei playoff NBA.

Lato Celtics nulla da dire: dobbiamo continuare con le "solite" prestazioni. Abbiamo avuto il vantaggio (costruito e meritato) di maggior riposo rispetto a tutte le altre squadre arrivate alle finali di conference. Stiamo per recuperare Porzingis ( ) e continuiamo ad avere il miglior +/- anche in questi PO.

Injury status:
BOS: Porzingis OUT
IND: Mathurin OUT (per la stagione)

La partita si giocherà alle 02:00 nella notte fra martedì 21 e mercoledì 22 con diretta su League Pass

Let's go Celtics

Pacers in quattro

Anche in meno....

Bene Gianfa,
imbarchiamoci in questa ulteriore avventura!

Pensiero della mattina: i Pacers sono una formazione temibile perchè giovane, grintosa, aggressiva , con un bell'organico, con attitudine difensiva e talentuosa in attacco. Haliburton è una stella crescente e Rick Carlise è un tecnico con i fiocchi!
Soffrono di alti e bassi ma adesso che si fa sul serio metteranno in campo tutto quello che hanno: mi aspetto un Nesmith aggressivo e cattivo visto che con noi ha il dente avvelenato!
Turner e Siakam ci daranno da fare sotto canestro.
Serviranno i migliori Celtics per batterli.
Però, siamo onesti: forti si e meritano rispetto però bisogna anche dire che contro NY sono stati portati alla settima da un avversario distrutto dagli infortuni e con 6 giocatori costantemente in campo per quasi tutti i 40 minuti.
Cioè, grande impresa dei Pacers però vanno considerati per quello che sono, una pericolosa mina vagante che va affrontata con la massima concentrazione e con grande sagacia tattica.
Non vi nego che per esempio nella mia testa sarebbe utile utilizzare o per lo meno in alcuni frangenti della partita per fungere da freno agli ardori dei giovani bulli dell'indiana...cioè dai su senza troppi giri di parole...ci saranno momenti in cui loro cercheranno di fare i bulli, tipo Nesmith, tipo Turner, tipo Siakam ed anche McConnell è un peperino mica male è...ecco, come la buona vecchia scuola insegna, magari qualche badilata spesa bene da parte nostra potrebbe riportare tutto alla ragione !!!

Sotto canestro dovremo lottare ma anche senza Porz abbiamo gli strumenti per contenere Turner e Siakam...sappiamo che se in serata al tiro loro sono pericolosi e che Haliburton farà comunque le sue magie, però sono loro che debbono preoccuparsi di affrontarci, non il contrario!
Dobbiamo scendere in campo con il fuoco negli occhi, soprattutto dobbiamo evitare di regalare la "tradizionale seconda partita" agli avversari, dobbiamo mettere da subito la Serie nei giusti binari.
Dobbiamo fare i Boston Celtics !!!

Mi aspetto la solita partenza.

Carlisle e Bird

Carlisle ha giocato a Boston 3 anni (157 partite in tutto, pochi minuti, maglia 34... l'altro, si sa, aveva la 33) ma ha vinto il titolo del 1986 e faceva parte della squadra che ha giocato le finali nel 1985 e 1987 e le ha perse contro i maledetti Lakers.
Era passato già dal New England alle High School (lui è nativo di New York) e al college giocando per l'università del Maine i Black Bears, prima di chiudere con due anni a Virginia University e essere scelto nel draft del 1984 da Red Auerbach con la scelta 70 al terzo giro.
Dopo i tre anni ai Celtics come riserva della riserva (Ray Williams) della riserva (Quinn Buckner) della PG titolare (Dennis Johnson), un breve passaggio a New York e ai New Jersey Nets, prima di lasciare da giocatore per intraprendere presto la carriera di allenatore. Partendo da Detroit come assistente.
Nel 1997, la svolta : Carlisle si unì all'organizzazione degli Indiana Pacers come assistente allenatore sotto l'ex compagno di squadra Larry Bird appena assunto come Head Coach. Durante il suo periodo come assistente allenatore di Larry Legend, i Pacers hanno avuto due delle loro migliori stagioni di sempre. Innanzitutto, nel 1997-98 , i Pacers portarono i Chicago Bulls alla settima partita delle finali della Eastern Conference. Poi, nella stagione 1999-2000 , arrivarono per la prima volta alle finali NBA , perdendo contro quei maledetti dei Los Angeles Lakers . A quel punto Bird si dimise dalla carica di allenatore, dopo tre anni esaltanti cui mancò solo il titolo, e risaputamente spinse affinché il suo fidato Rick Carlisle fosse scelto come suo sostituto, ma non lo ascoltarono e l'incarico fu affidato ad Isiah Thomas. proprio a lui...
Carlisle allora partì altrove e ripartì proprio dai Pistons (che intreccio assurdo...) che guidò come HC esordiente con due stagioni al 60% di vittorie (forse solo Mazzulla ha fatto meglio nella storia), per poi approdare ai Pacers nel 2003-2004. Guarda caso proprio quando Bird diventa executive e lo nomina head coach.
Manco a dirlo: stagione straordinaria dei Pacers che chiudono primi in NBA con oltre 60W e poi ai Playoff spazzano via i Celtics 4-0 al primo turno e si fermano solo in finale di conference davanti ai Pistons che Carlisle aveva plasmato e che poi vinceranno il titolo contro i maledetti Lakers. Il connubio Carlisle - Bird durerà qualche anno ancora. Si interrompe con la stagione 2007, con un record negativo dei Pacers e una ricostruzione impellente. Carlisle passa allora ai Dallas Mavericks che porterà al titolo al suo terzo anno nel 2010. Rimane in Texas fino al 2020, giusto fino a quando The Hick from French Lick, dopo 3 anni di ferie, ritorna nelle stanze dei bottoni dei Pacers e lo richiama a sè. C'è da ricostruire di nuovo. In 3 anni hanno costruito una squadra che gioca un basket arioso, estroverso, offensivo. E sono ancora assieme ad affrontare una finale.

Dai, se non fosse che ci sono i Celtics dall'altra parte, in tutta onestà, sarei a tifare questi due autentici geni del gioco che ancora una volta hanno messo assieme qualcosa di molto speciale.
Invece, tifando ardentemente Celtics come ragione di vita, non posso (proprio non posso) dirmi minimamente sereno avendo da affrontare questi due...

GO CELTICS

Se stavi cercando di sottolineare velatamente la differenza di curriculum fra i due Coach sappi che ci sei riuscito.

Non ho visto veli.

Io vado controcorrente. Spero che rimanga HC almeno per i prossimi 3 anni e che porti a compimento la profeZIO.

Questo lo speriamo tutti Gianfa!!!
A Canossa si sta da Dio in estate.... prenoto una doppia?
Lo zio ci raggiunge ginocchioni sui ciccioli, tanto è lì a due passi.

Celtics-Pacers preview: vs. Tyrese Haliburton and keys to Eastern Conference finals

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5505666/2024/05/20/celtics-pacers-eastern-conference-final-preview-nba/?source=freedailyemail&campaign=601983&userId=14483357

After closing their second-round series on Wednesday, they learned their Eastern Conference finals opponent on Sunday when the Indiana Pacers eliminated the New York Knicks in seven games. The Celtics and Pacers will open their series on Tuesday night at TD Garden with an NBA Finals berth on the line.

What will be the keys in the matchup against Indiana? We’re glad you asked.

1. How much can the Celtics limit Tyrese Haliburton?
Jared Weiss: Beating Tyrese Haliburton starts with Boston’s shot selection. Can the Celtics take smart shots and maintain numbers in transition defense? What makes the Pacers dangerous in transition isn’t that they can race out with a numbers advantage, but Haliburton can get off the ball early and then be a threat as a trailing 3-point shooter. Boston needs his 3s to be stepbacks in isolation as much as possible.

Haliburton wants the Celtics in drop coverage so he can get downhill to floater range, so Boston was at its best against him when switching or putting two defenders on the ball. Indiana will counter this by giving him higher screens or working him off-ball out of the corner, plus Indiana keeps length on the floor to be a problem on the offensive glass. So much of curtailing Haliburton is ensuring Indiana doesn’t get second chances when Pascal Siakam and Obi Toppin crash for boards.

In Boston’s one game against Indiana after the Siakam trade, it seemed like Haliburton’s strategy was to get Kristaps Porziņģis dropping deep toward the rim, then kick the ball back to the perimeter so the Pacers could get clean looks. Since Porziņģis might not be back early in this series, it will be interesting to see how much pressures the ball so Indiana has to beat Boston to the rim.

Jay King: Compared to his incredible early-season success, Haliburton struggled after the All-Star break. His 3-point shooting percentages plummeted late in the season, but he has regained his outside stroke to some extent in the playoffs while shooting 37.5 percent on more than nine 3-point attempts per game. Though he has had some duds in the postseason, he also delivered a few big games against the Knicks, including a 26-point effort in Game 7.

Can the Celtics steal some of his comfort? They will likely try to run him off the 3-point arc, limit his team’s transition opportunities (he dissects opponents with passing on the break), and be physical with him. That’s all easier said than done, especially because the Pacers play with such pace, but Boston has waves of big perimeter defenders to send at Haliburton. Horford, who spent a lot of the second round chasing guards around the perimeter, threw back the clock to shut down the Cavs’ Darius Garland in Game 5 of that series but will likely be tested more by Haliburton.

2. How much will Indiana be able to dictate pace — and how much will it matter?
King: Before meeting the Pacers in the In-Season Tournament, the Celtics focused heavily on controlling the game’s pace. While listening to and the players discuss the topic, I almost thought they spent too much energy trying to slow down the action. Sure, a slower game probably favors Boston, but damaging the Indiana defense in transition is also important.

The Pacers do want to play fast though. Extremely fast. While on offense, they used less of the shot clock than any other team this season, according to Inpredictable.com. They were also the fastest-paced team after opposing buckets, so they try to run in any situation. And they don’t simply try to shoot quickly. They run fast. They cut fast. They play fast in every way. With their pace, they can punish even the briefest moments of carelessness. Through two rounds of the playoffs, they’re the only team that has scored more efficiently than the Celtics. Indiana finished second behind Boston in regular-season offensive rating.

This series will be a test of the Celtics’ defensive discipline. Can they stay attached to shooters consistently? Can they stay physical with Haliburton on every possession? Can they stay attentive on cutters to take away some of the easy buckets Indiana produces so regularly? Can they execute on offense to limit the Pacers’ transition opportunities?

Weiss: The Celtics were great at running off makes against Cleveland, so Indiana’s tempo shouldn’t be a shock to the system. So much of this series will come down to Boston’s 3-point shooting and whether the Pacers can get out and running off misses. The Celtics will probably get to post-ups plenty to mess with Indiana’s defensive alignment and try to get guys in foul trouble. Anything to prevent the classic Haliburton early kick-aheads that result in him attacking open space a few moments later.

Boston will often have his man down in the dunker spot to keep him 94 feet away from the other end, to make sure he can’t get an outlet pass and run ahead of the transition defense. The Celtics have the luxury of plenty of individual scorers New York didn’t, so the Pacers won’t be able to get into a rhythm attacking in transition quite as easily when they don’t know where Boston’s offense is coming from.


3. Can the Celtics take advantage of the Pacers’ shaky defense?
King: After the Siakam addition, the Pacers aren’t exactly the same team that ranked 24th in defensive efficiency during the regular season. They were a slightly less abominable 19th after the trade deadline; Siakam gives them length and athleticism they will need badly in the East finals.

The Pacers defense, however, is still problematic. They ranked 12th in defense out of 16 teams in the first round even while facing the Milwaukee Bucks without Giannis Antetokounmpo. Indiana was similarly roasted by the Knicks before New York essentially ran out of healthy bodies. The Celtics should be able to score in this series.

Expect them to target Haliburton, not just because he’s a questionable defender but also because the toll of guarding every action should diminish his impact on the other end. The Celtics have enough size to go after Haliburton in all sorts of ways. They could post him up with . They could throw him into screening actions against and . The Celtics lineup doesn’t offer a place to hide. They are ruthless at their best.

One subplot I’m eagerly anticipating: The Aaron Nesmith experience. He always plays like the next possession could decide the fate of his entire life. With a trip to the NBA Finals on the line against his former team, I expect him to spin around the court like a tornado. I would set the over/under at five minutes before he crashes into one of the Celtics players, sending them both tumbling to the court. Can Nesmith, one of the Pacers with enough physicality to compete with the big Boston wings, bother them at all? It should be fun to see him try.

Weiss: Expect to see the Celtics do to Haliburton what they did with Garland and the Heat’s Tyler Herro. Tatum or Brown will bring the ball downcourt, whoever Haliburton is guarding will come over to run into a screen, and the Celtics will play out of that action. Either of the Jays can put a shoulder into him to get downhill and force the Pacers into rotation, then kick it out to find the shooter. It’s going to be a tall challenge for Rick Carlisle to find ways to counter this, just like it was for Cleveland and Miami.

Because of Tatum and Brown, Boston is better equipped to go right at center Myles Turner than most teams in the league, so that already mitigates a huge advantage Indiana had against New York. When or if Porziņģis returns in this series, that’s three players on the floor who can score over anyone. The Pacers don’t have perimeter defenders who are both physical and disciplined, so it’s hard to imagine them containing Boston’s drives in the half court for too long.

Boston can play patient and set up its physical leverage points where it wants, so the Celtics should be able to dictate the tempo of the game as long as they aren’t shooting ice cold. If that doesn’t work, they can go to spread pick-and-roll to get , Tatum and Brown some pull-up looks. Andrew Nembhard and Nesmith can bother them a bit getting over those screens, but good luck keeping those guys out of foul trouble.

4. Will T.J. McConnell and the Pacers bench continue producing big runs?
Weiss: After winning Game 7 against the Knicks, Haliburton said the Pacers have the best bench in the NBA. That might be a stretch, but they are certainly playing like it right now.

T.J. McConnell was one of the Pacers’ best players in the Knicks series, as his ability to hit shots through the trees deep in the paint has been a safety net for Indiana when Haliburton is off the floor. McConnell is so good at staying on the attack on both ends of the floor and making impact plays in the nooks and crannies. Boston usually wants to target small guards in isolation, but McConnell is such a tough defender with great hands that he can disrupt anyone’s rhythm.

The big question for the Celtics is whether they will switch Indiana’s bigs, which would be the best way to keep McConnell from getting downhill. But even when he has centers on him, he is so good at driving under the rim to reset the attack from the post and catch defenders off guard. Especially with Ben Sheppard shooting so well and Toppin being a threat to cut when McConnell inverts the shape of the offense, the Pacers bench is going to pose real problems for the likes of and on defense.

King: McConnell shifts the entire shape of a game. During the second round, the Pacers outscored the Knicks by 31 points with him in the lineup while losing all the other minutes by three. He picks up steals in the full court. He attaches himself to the opponent’s ballhandlers. He is a tiny lightning bolt striking everywhere across the court.

The Celtics bench, like Indiana’s, has changed plenty of games this season. This series should provide a good clash of two high-energy second units. Pritchard versus McConnell should be feisty. They have both made their impact felt in the playoffs.

5. What should be the expectation for Kristaps Porziņģis?
King: Porziņģis last worked out in front of the media at Celtics shootaround before Game 4 of the second round. He operated at far from top speed that day but has had nearly a week to recover since then. Working in his favor, the start of the East finals was pushed back to Tuesday, allowing him a couple of extra days to rest. By the time the series starts, he will be nearly three weeks removed from his calf injury. The average time lost to a soleus strain is 17 days, according to In Street Clothes. If that estimate is relevant, Porziņģis should be close to coming back.

When asked if there’s optimism the big man could return at some point this series, Mazzulla said, “I’m an optimistic person in general.”

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Porziņģis during this series, but calf injuries can be tricky. The Celtics should be cautious. They shouldn’t need to rush him back if they continue to take care of business like they have.

Weiss: This is also one of those matchups where Porziņģis isn’t an ideal fit. As we mentioned above, the Pacers’ offensive game plan is to get Porziņģis dropping to the rim so they can get cleaner looks from 3 and take some floaters. The Pacers will run a ton of Haliburton-Turner pick-and-roll so Turner can get wide-open 3s. If he isn’t shooting, the Pacers can run that action from the left elbow so Turner can get to his righty hook over Porziņģis. Having Horford in there switching and forcing Indiana to play with less flow and attack cross matches is for the best, at least on defense.

Boston would love Porziņģis’ floor spacing on the other end to make Turner pay for dropping on pick-and-rolls. You saw how Turner’s rim protection ruined every Knicks run in Game 7, and he would make life tough for Tatum and Brown. If Porziņģis gets out there, expect to see a lot of pick-and-pops or just spacing out to the elbows. Boston will want to limit how much he has to run downhill and how far he has to run to get back on defense, especially against the team that loves to hit the gas early and often.

Così come i primi due turni è già tanto se si va a gara 5
Inutile negare che avremmo firmato tutti all'inizio per beccare indiana in finale di conference

Purtroppo non ho fatto nessuno screenshot delle espressioni "senza mani" di MarcUS durante la diretta di ieri sera...

.....però ce lo vedo proprio nella vasca come Banfi, con qualche pollo magari.....