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Against Chicago, the Celtics went for a hack-a-Drummond while being up by almost 30.
Running up the score on a 30 point lead is insane, but Boston had a good reason for it.
You see, these were the standings on the final game of the in-season tournament group stage.
So in order for them to get that final 4th spot and advance in the quarterfinals, the Celtics needed to catch up to the +18 point differential of New York.
And this is where the chaos begins. The 2 games were played at the same time and right at this moment in the third quarter, with the Knicks up by only 1 and Boston up by 31, the Celtics caught up to the point differential and even had a 12 point advantage on New York. If the games ended like this, they would advance to the quarterfinals.
But the thing is you could see that both of these teams were playing with a sense of urgency and had the in-season tournament score in the back of their minds.
So the Knicks really ramped it up in the fourth, especially Emanuel Quickley who scored 16 in the final period and helped his team get a huge 24 point win.
These 24 plus the 18 that they had on the Celtics, meant that Boston would have to win by more than 42 points. And they actually tried and kept their starters up until the very end on a 30 point blowout, but it was just too much for them.
The chaos didn’t end there however because here are the quarterfinal matchups and you see that the Celtics actually advanced and will play against the Pacers. But the calculations about how they got there were something like this legendary clip from inside the NBA.
I’ll break down what happened with Boston at the end of this video, because now we gotta move on to another wild ending.
Playing without Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro the Heat had a 3 point lead late in the game against the Bucks. And winning it meant that they would advance in the quarterfinals potentially knocking the Bucks out of the tournament.
Bam had a monster game but maaan if Milwaukee goes out to a big night from a 37 year old Kyle Lowry and Josh Richardson who bounced around 6 different teams in the last 4 years, that would have been crazy.
But this was just as crazy:,
Moments later we got this:
And then:
So the Bucks survived and will face off against the Knicks.
In the west, Houston decided for their own destiny and with a win against Dallas who were out of it anyways, the Rockets would advance so Jalen Green and company were fired up for this one.
But so were the Mavs as they had an answer to every Rocket point.
And there was even some chippynes and trash talk.
But at the end a 41 point game from Luka capped off by this hook shot at the end, killed the dreams of this young roster for the Rockets.
However the chaos is nowhere near ending. Follow Gobert here for the entire possession at the end of the game against the Thunder. Look at his incredible defensive intensity. Rudy was so hyped that he fist pumped here in the middle of the play. And he stays with it, contesting one final time on this shot that ends up being an airball. Unbelievable defense, and the rumors are true, he is absolutely back to his defensive player of the year level from a couple of years ago.
This game also went down to the wire, but Anthony Edwards got injured and left the game so Minnesota needed another hero. And they found it in Troy Brown Jr.
OKC didn’t give up tho and played the foul game till the very end, eventually securing an opportunity to send the game into overtime.
But the Timberwolves hold on to win this game that ended up being meaningless for both teams but set up the ultimate showdown between Sacramento and Golden State.
Golden State has to win by 12 points or more to advance over Sacramento. The Kings had an 11 point cushion here but right out of the gate that was gone, as the Warriors came out swinging and quickly built a 24 point lead.
The Kings were fighting for their tournament chances first and foremost trying to get the lead down to 11, but D’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk and the rest of the Kings got so hot on the comeback run, that they came all the way back and actually took over the lead.
Still, despite all that effort, Sacramento was down by 4 with 50 seconds to go and the Dubs had the ball. So then, the real madness starts unfolding.
The arena is about to explode and under that pressure, Draymond commits a turnover.
Setting the stage for this incredible play at the end.
Unbelievable! All the gotta do now is watch out for Steph Curry at the end.
The Kings win and advance to the quarterfinals while the Warriors are out of the tournament in the most improbable ending.
This is how things look in the West: Lakers vs Phoenix and Sacramento vs the Pelicans. Amazing.
Now I haven’t forgotten that I gotta explain just how the Celtics found themselves here.
35 Comments
Pause it right when Steph takes that final shot; I dare you to tell me with a straight face that it wasn't a bad shot. He shoulda swung it over to wide-open Klay who was already set.
Steph takes a lot of bad shots like this but never gets called out for it cuz they usually go in.
vegas owns the nba now
lets gooo CELTICS are moving on in the IST
The NBA is a F'NG joke!! This GARBAGE ERA OF BASKETBALL is an insult to the history of the great game!!!
I'm sorry but the in-season tournament is the dumbest thing I've witnessed in the last 35 years of watching NBA basketball. The only reason it exists is bc gambling is priority #1 for pro sports. Its the same reason for all the changes in MLB. Gambling has ALWAYS been an issue, but now its their entire business model. Pretty gross.
I hate the point differential. The energy of the Boston/Chicago game was lousy, and we still got an entire fourth quarter of garbage time. Do people who are enjoying it bet on games, or something? I've never liked running up the score in any sport, and I dont get why so many folks are excited by great teams stomping on bad ones.
This in season tourney is kinda good. And the point diff is definitely a banger. You cant just win games, total points matter
Whatever makes them play hard and care
Hell yeah!! They were trying hard to beat each other!! Reminds me of the David Robinson vs Shaq scoring title that came to the last game. Love the energy!!
What is the wildcard for?
i wonder if there wasnt online betting whether there would a tournament.
This in season tournament is such a lame idiotic idea. How bad is your product, how low is the level of competitiveness, how apathetic are the players that you have to create a gimmick incentive like this to make things interesting. It is really an indictment of the level of quality of the NBA.
Who cares about the antiques of the system when ties arise…..
What we are seeing on the court is what we all missed and wanted sooooooo bad!!!!!
NBA x Champions League
Ain’t no defence can stop Luka getting to his spot
I mean Brooks and Smith jr both good defenders but didn’t stop Luka unleashing his magic on them.
Lukas fire power too much for anyone 🔥
This Chicago Bulls lineup has the worst offensive AND defensive rating of any NBA lineup BY FAR. (minimum 100 minutes)
They're getting outscored by an obscene 34 points per 100 possessions.
Even the Wizards and Pistons don’t have a lineup that comes close to being that bad 💀
Lovin these videos
i believe draymond was bet for sac in that last warrior game 😭😭,,
I mean it is a good thing that teams are playing with an extra sense of urgency though… This makes otherwise "garbage time" less garbage.
That Dallas Mavericks case is a rare one. Most of the time when a team had no chance to progress through the group stage of a tournament they normally would throw their last match in fear of injury and fatigue. However on rare occasion some team decided to go Super Saiyan in that situation. Some of their reasons are:
1. Bad Blood: when their last match is against their rival or a team they hate, then they'll be ready for war.
2. Something to prove: a young team with zero experience, a player in redemption arc, a coach under management pressure, etc.
3. Fame: small team with zero chance of winning any trophies but want to steal the spotlight as a "Giant Killer".
4. For shit and giggles: some team thought that ruining another team's chance is fun.
I had a feeling that Mavs reason was probably #4, they just wanna troll Rockets. 🤣🤣🤣
I dont see how heat winning by that small margin will advance anyway, their point differential is still far behind knicks and other 3-1 teams (cleveland/magic/nets). still needed to win by more than 18 before advancing. bucks would also have advanced anyway if they kept it under 9 point loss
Nah steph almost really hit that tho
This video was so good I forgot it was a video
The lakers dont have their 2 best wing defemders and their best guard defender. Just Imagine what would happen if they all get healthy
And here so many people said the in season tournament didnt matter to anyone. Well apparently it really does. These teams are going for it!
Bro Gobert was emoting in game 💀
I fuck with chaos… at first.
Never has there been, this level of excitement, for BASKETBALL, in November. The meme is: the REAL NBA season doesn't get started until Christmas. The in-season tournament (Needs a better name, its current name is bad marketing) is the best idea basketball has had in decades. The knockout rounds are going to look and feel like Game 7's. Christmas came early to the NBA.
Kings weren't that hot we just fouled too much man
The NBA need to keep the In Season Tournament and get rid of the play in.
I've lost hope in the warriors
I get it. Money is involved so the players care. In the end, no one cares who wins this tournament
4:54 Jordan Poole's homie
How does curry never get any calls?
Most of the courts are ugly, the point differential thing is stupid, as well as the weirdness of the stats of the championship game, not counting as a normal career game, and so on… but if the rest of of the in season tournament continues to be this good, this thing might really catch on.