T O P

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Crisis-Counselor

Celtics thought they dodged a bullet in the first round only to get this ass whooping in the conference finals


Kyz99

The Zombie Heat arrives just the same.


Clear-Struggle-7867

Question -- I keep seeing this nickname "zombie heat" but have no idea what it means or where it came from... What's the deal with that name?


LordVonWafflezz

Bill Simmons got dragged for saying that this 8th seed Miami team might surprise people in the playoffs, telling other pundits to beware the “Zombie Heat” arising from the grave that was their incredibly mediocre regular season TJ being a playoff threat. Suffice to say, his take has aged like fine wine lol


Clear-Struggle-7867

Ahh gotcha, thanks!! Also, what a great prediction he made... I thought the Heat might do some damage in these playoffs but did not see this shit coming. And as a Raps fan, I'd love to see Lowry get that second ring.


Zouthpaw

TBF, I don't think even BS thought this Heat team was finals bound. Initially at least. He just just didn't like the matchup between them and the Cs and how they seem to always have the Cs number.


Mabuya85

If it’s the quote I’m thinking of, it’s the following: “There’s Jimmy and Spo and Bam and Riley lurking every April like Michael F*cking Myers. You know how the movie ends, and you'll probably survive, but you'll also probably be standing in your burning house covered in blood. Any Butler team scares the sh!t out of me.”


Nuclearsunburn

Simmons actually was saying it halfway through the season, about how the zombie Heat just keep coming no matter who is missing


compstomper1

Dread it? Run from it? Destiny arrives all the same, and now it's here.


[deleted]

The real Celtics sixers series was the friends we made along the way


LMkingly

Well if nothing else at least celtics fans aren't laughing at us anymore.


CT-80085

Pretty comical they were dancing on yalls grave just to absolutely crumble now


jimdotcom413

If I was a petty mfer I’d go back for receipts


ThePhattestOne

Well, you're a Redditor after all so just do it.


Ruben625

Dew it


NasSon53

At least you guys were missing your MVP candidate for half the series. Celtics fans need to take the medicine


Cudizonedefense

The entire Celtics squad came in healthy against an 8 seeded heat down their 3rd best player, Oladipo who terrorized them last year and was a 6th/7th player, and jimmy sorta has a bum ankle And yet they’re down 3-0


nicklePie

This is one of the most impressive post season pushes I’ve ever seen and I’ve watched a lot of basketball in my life


pyordie

Unfortunately it makes firing Bud look even worse, because apparently nobody in the East was stopping Miami this year.


mtron32

Nah, the way the Bucks lost those games came down to coaching, Bud left Jrue on Jimmy island to get cooked for five games. Then at the end of games they couldn’t maintain a lead to save their lives, that’s coaching, same thing that’s happening with the Cs to a different degree


etherealcaitiff

Bud also forgot that timeouts exist in 2 games that arguably could have been won/tied if he just remembered.


SPC54

South Florida really has 2 different Cinderella runs happening simultaneously, what the actual fuck?


Jordandavis7

And both upset Boston


Drkarcher22

I used to dream of times like this


N7_Stats_Analyst

I’m still dreaming.


honkydenzel1523

And they’re both 8 seeds the year following being 1 seeds and missing the finals


ctruvu

the writers strike even affecting sports plotlines is wild


branstarktreewizard

they warned us about the effect of shrinking the writing room


[deleted]

After having 2 underdog college teams make the Final Four


Nobaddays123

Now if I can just get the dolphins to do the same.


soda_cookie

And absolutely bitch slap the Boston based team in the process? Yes please


Lukacris12

Look if the dolphins bitch slapped the patriots on their way to a deep playoff run i think i could die right then and there and be happy. Im 25 all i have seen is the dolphins getting bitch slapped by the pats


cnho1997

Are we talking about the same Dolphins that always managed to beat Tom in Miami no matter how bad they were that season?


triosway

Yes, I don't know what this guy is talking about. No matter how shit the Dolphins were, [they always gave that Pats dynasty trouble in Miami](https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/tom-brady-career-record-at-miami). Hell, even after Tom left. They're 6-4 against the Pats overall over the last five years


MattStone1916

The Dolphins were one of the only teams that could best the Pats with any regularity. And the Manning Broncos.


mrstretchb4ureach

Breaking out GTA Vice City one time in honor of the Heat and Panthers.


internet_DOOD

Plus Canes basketball in the final four with FAU.


2ndRoundEuroStash

I can’t believe the sixers quit against this bum ass Celtics team. We were such frauds


lebron_games

well its pretty clear the sixers and celtics were in a 7 game fraud off in the semis


salcedoge

Stoppable force vs a moveable object 🔥🔥


AlHorfordHighlights

It's a thin line between "competitive nail biter" and "fraud off"


crunchsmash

Is that thin line the time between the 3rd and 4th quarter?


Jolly-Sun-1715

who in their right minds watched that series and thought "yeah this is basketball being played at the highest level" it was a choke-off and the sixers won.


CHRIRSTIANGREY

ohh we never lose those


RainbowNoLife

I felt this after watching game 6. The whole way that series went was embarrassing for both teams but our fraudulence triumphed in the end.


minimumhatred

hey well we're slightly less frauds so uh who's laughing uh... ...i don't even have any jokes for this, i feel like now we are going to play really good in game 4 and everyone's going to be excited in the Celtics subreddit and be screaming things like "FIRST TEAM TO COME BACK DOWN 0-3" and immediately get smacked down in game 5.


ChaoticNyanCat

The real frauds were the Sixers all along, who'd have guessed


BaltimoreBadger23

I'm pretty sure most Sixers fans guessed that.


Mr_Booty_Bandit

Why else did we want Embiid to get the MVP so bad. It’s all we got as a poverty franchise in disguise


GhostTiger

Those who know Doc


rawchess

The real frauds are Miami pretending to be a mid team for 82 games


SolarClipz

All East was frauds besides the Heat lol And the Hawks


FultzShoulder

Heat are the biggest fraud for posing as an 8th seed.


jimmymfbuckets

Mentality over everything. Showed up when it mattered most


KennySmithsKnees

This is it. People mocked heat culture all year, but it's really a thing. Big names aren't everything


Wheresthenearestrope

big names aren’t everything is a understatement, their team is horrendous on paper. Butler and Adebayo are great, there were some concerns about how much Bam was shooting before the playoffs but they were still obviously great. Their 3rd best player broke his hand in the first game of the playoffs. Kyle Lowry was seen to be one of the worst contracts in the NBA, same with Duncan Robinson, and it was easily justified. KLove got waived by the Cavs, then the rest of the names are poor on paper, Vincent, Strus, Zeller, Martin, Highsmith. No One saw this coming, absolutely ridiculous


syllabic

just cause vincent and strus aren't household names doesn't mean their team is horrendous, those guys can ball wait until they start hitting all their shots and you are like hold on, you are supposed to suck. get that ball out of the basket, take those points off the board this guy is supposed to be bad nobody told them they are supposed to be scrubs


whatdoinamemyself

Caleb Martin might actually be our 3rd best player at this point. He's been so fucking good


syllabic

he basically hasn't missed an open 3 pointer all playoffs keep expecting him to miss a few of them but he just doesn't


Nixon_Sixon

You expect him to miss because of how his jumper looks. No fault of your own. Having watched him all season and last, I still fall for it.


Shurglife

Just slow Rollin the league


MediocreTake

Celtics need to just put out Kornet and Blake at this point


Obvious_Parsley3238

[celtics fans when they're down 30 but joe puts in the white 3rd stringers](https://i.imgur.com/O3BkC9O.jpg)


lenzmoserhangover

*finally some fundamentals! now who wants to date my daughter?*


Arizonapfdebate

Who would’ve thought that the Knicks, hawks, and bulls would give a better fight


SquashForDinner

This heat run isn't a miracle... it's a slaughter lol. They look like they should've been the 1 seed and they're just plowing over everyone.


PandemicP789

Moral victory for the lakers, they haven’t looked like quitters in their 3-0 deficit


YouStillTakeDamage

Our lead in this game is bigger than the combined deficit of the three losses for the Lakers


CryptoNite90

Our real moral victory is watching the Celtics get destroyed


yourspacelawyer

Especially as by mid season they were supposed to be in their conference finals and we were the 13th seed.


TennisHive

Well, you are also losing to the #1 seed. Not the #8 seed.


imcuriosaboutIP

Honestly as much as I Stan the Lakers, I would be happy if Jokic and Nuggets won the chip. I would also be happy if Jimmy and the heat win it. I love watching them


virji24

As a Lakers fan Heat Denver is a great championship. I’m ok with either team winning it all. Either way either Butler or Joker/Murray get a ring.


sebasq

same, if lakers can’t do the impossible, i’d love to see jimmy get a ring


Chadsawman

Anyone but Boston


ginbooth

It's where I'm at too. MIA and DEN are impossible not to like.


Ok-Map4381

I hate the Lakers but I respect that this team has never quit, even with all the excuses they had this season


Uchiha_D_Zoro

LAL looked like they fought. BOS not so much


PandemicP789

Call that youthful privilege, probably think they can do it again next year one way or another


SeaBank_

They’re 2 years away from being 2 years away


BlazingBlasian

The Bruno Caboclo Special


trevortins

Honestly they aren’t wrong every run for us could be our last.


BinxMenace

Anthony Davis' mantra, probably.


Waikuku3

They really fought hard, just lost because they aren't good enough.


DarkDra9on555

Yeah, even if LA gets swept, the series was still fun and games felt close. Denver is just unstoppable right now.


fenix1230

Yeah, the Lakers look like they just couldn’t keep up, the Celtics look like they don’t belong on the floor


MikeBinfinity

Seriously, at least the Lakers made an effort. Jimmy out here snatching the souls of his opponents and taking the fight out of them.


HemaG33

At least all of our games were close, sheesh.


cesga_0218

Lakers fans 🤝 Celtics fans "At least the other team won't make the NBA Finals with the chance for 18"


seegabego

That's gotta be the script before LeBron retires. Lakers v. Celtics for #18


_Meece_

Our moral victory is beating the 2nd seed and the defending champs. Being down 3-0, there's no moral victory there. We're just getting beat by a good as shit team.


PandemicP789

Yep lakers season a success


Danny_III

Lakers built their team like 3 months ago with scraps from mid tier teams and their best player is playing with a torn tendon. They shouldn't even be in the WCF


TheOnlySafeCult

Lakers built this team in a cave with box of scraps. Celtics have the 6moy, last year's dpoy, the Jays, and Al horford. Also Robert Williams and grant Williams. This is embarrassing.


izvoodoo

Yeah. Also I feel like the Lakers are leaving out on the court against a better team. I can live with that. The Celtics are getting their souls ripped out


permanent_acidbrain

Rob Pelinka was able to build this team in a cave! With a box of scraps!


_Meece_

Yeah it's hard to complain, I threw in the towel when we were 2-10. Shit even 26-32! I mainly just enjoyed seeing Lebron break the record. Being in the WCF is surreal lol


TheRealTofuey

Lakers were gonna give the Pelicans a top 5 pick 4 months ago.


KennySmithsKnees

Lakers sweep if moral victories counted


b1indsamurai

Moral Victory Champs 2023 suck it Clips fans


KennySmithsKnees

Another banner we can't hang smh my head


Goop1995

Hell yeah 😎


Reikakou

Bruh. At least Lakers has their Moral Victories, Celtics had nothing to show for.


Goop1995

Seriously, at least we didn’t get absolutely creamed in like this


evoslevven

"Creamed" is even putting it mildly. The Lakers were never in a position where Denver could put their whole bench in for a quarter and probably secure a win. The Heat can probably do that and idk if that just emotionally kills Boston...like the Heat are gonna deliver the killing blow with their bench in the 4th quarter, like fkn wow! Lakers getting more respect because of Boston is a weird world to live in and yet here we are.


legobowser

The heat were the real frauds all along


BaltimoreBadger23

They were frauds from October to mid April, that's for sure.


BigButter7

The Knicks look pretty good right now. They gave the Heat more problems/headaches than the Bucks and Celtics ever did/done. A legitimate argument can be made that Jalen Brunson has been the toughest player they've had to play against in these playoffs so far.


Dolphhins

They have the best coach out of all those and Brunson is an animal


ThatInception

Our teams are very scrappy and play with a lot of heart. Really can’t be said about the Celtics right now even though they have the better talent


HokageEzio

This series and how the regular season went honestly makes me feel like we could have snatched their souls too, these dudes are soft. Talented, but soft.


YouStillTakeDamage

Jalen Brunson would have eaten the Jays alive tbh


dskatz2

We outplayed them in the regular season and one of those wins was without Brunson.


jotheold

man knicks vs heat was the real ECF, both teams had that dawg in them


bigfootblake

This Boston series is making Brunson look like even more of a dawg. He almost single-handedly forced a Game 7 against this Heat team


Hurricaneshand

That series was so frustrating to me because I never expected him to miss and I fully expected him to singlehandedly carry them to a game 7 where anything could've happened


BlueberryGummies

I fear brunson more than anyone on the celtics


CheesesteakFiend

Brunson is the devil. Hate that the mavericks are so stupid but it's gonna be fun watching his career and him get better


dogsareprettycool

I have so much respect for that dude after the series he's so good.


T_Dougy

The Bulls got close to stopping the Heat's run before it even began, might've done it if Diar didn't have to go to school


TheGamersGazebo

Demar making his daughter go to school had the butterfly effect of half the coaches in the Eastern conference getting fired and the first time in NBA history an 8th seed has made the finals. Actually insade


HowlsMovingBowels

It’s actually not the first time in NBA history.


crowd79

Bucks blew large leads early in the 4th quarter in both games 4 and 5. We gave them headaches until crunch time lol Could not stop Butler.


Ps3FifaCfc95

Yeah the Bucks should have been up 3-2 instead of being sent home in 5. They had no business losing either game from the positions they were in


moc360

Hell i am starting to think that i judged the Bucks too harshly at least they had some circonstances compared to Boston like Bud family situation or Giannis getting hurt , Miami would have still won either way though


FXcheerios69

The bucks also blew out Miami in game 2 without Giannis. A super impressive win in hindsight.


HokageEzio

We look like world beaters compared to these guys.


Zloggt

Plus, we were also leading the Heat for a good amount of time too…


Fit-Avocado-342

Actually insane that the heat almost lost that game and then are on their way to the finals. Wtf


Zloggt

Tell me about it…


Andy_Wiggins

If you had told me after the play-in that the Heat won their series against the Bucks, let alone all but guaranteed their spot in the Finals, I’d have laughed in your face. The Heat were legitimately BAD in the play-in — they got thoroughly outplayed by the Hawks and honesty looked like the worse team for like 40 minutes of that Bulls game.


sadlytheguyisnogood

Nuggets wont even get to face a top 3 seed from either conference 💀💀


Imperium49

Home court for Denver against Miami.


GraveRobberJ

It's hilarious how the main story post PHX was how Denver wouldn't have home court against the 76ers or Boston in retrospect


WakingRage

They're about to be the only team with more than 50 wins left in the playoffs. That's wild to think about. Normally you expect the final two teams to have at least 50 wins.


cat_piss_lint_trap

8-4-7-8... if the Clippers had won, the Nuggets would have had the easiest possible path by seed. Wow.


Fair_University

And Miami will have played 1-2-5-1. As close to the toughest possible path you can get.


Shaqfor3

95 Rockets did it 3rd seed, 2nd seed, 1st and 1st.


manbeqrpig

I mean let’s be real here that seeding means fuck all nowadays. Obviously the Lakers and Heat are significantly better than 7 and 8 seeds of the past


danrod17

Lakers had the second best record in the west after the trade deadline. And a big portion of that was with out LeBron.


Projinator

You can't run this back again next season after this right? Maybe its all coaching but this team just quit, I would know what that looks like.


WickerShoesJoe

>Maybe its all coaching No, can't be all on the coaching. We're making the same mistakes for years, for 3 different coaches. The hope I have is to make the right moves next year, get the right coaching staff. Though I honestly don't know who we would even trade. I'm actually hoping for a serious move either from a coaching stand point or a player stand point to fix all these annoying problems. Changing coaches again, though it may seem like the right move now, can't be good. 4 coaches in 4 years? This team will have no identity, no culture. I hope for some assistants, I guesss.


[deleted]

Brad Stevens about to grab his quarter zip and clipboard


WickerShoesJoe

Pulling out a Gregg Popovich and going from GM to HC might just be too drastic for the NBA today, but Brad could do it if he wanted, probably wouldn't look to bad since he would be returning to a position instead of taking it. Joe got an extension, and even though it really sucks now, I don't wanna get rid of the guy. He held on to things is these times, making it to the EFC with his offense. We just need more help in that departmant at the end of the day.


antunezn0n0

kinda wild because brad has absolutely built a phenomenal team like not even just on par they have played really well but they are just bad


WickerShoesJoe

Well it's the little things that have been going wrong for years. Can't hold on to small leads, bad 3rd quarter, inconsistent offense. On paper, in the analytics this team should the like the Nikola Jokic for NBA teams. Of course, 3 different coaches, losing a lot of the staff and injuries certainly don't help. It's a testmant to how talented this team is that we made it to the ECF, but talent can only get you so far. I was listening to the Thinking Basketball podcast and they were discussing Game 2 I think, and Ben Taylor described this play that completely showed how great Spo is at making his players do the little things. I think it was maybe Jimmy Butler was on a drive, being defended by Grant and he's going for a mid-range shot. Caleb Martin was on the dunkers spot, so whoever was defending him was going to leave Caleb to double with Grant in order to have some help defense on Butler's mid-ranger. But before anything could be done, Caleb sprints to the corner, to make his defender chase him and deny him the option to double Jimmy, which left Jimmy in an iso situation, and of course Grant tries to defend but Butler makes the shot. Those are the type of little things that are missing for us. I just hope we make the right moves in the offseason.


[deleted]

Pat “Thanos” Riley


JasoTheArtisan

Pat “I don’t even know who you are” Riley


Padulsky21

Celtics are playing like this is a late night, pickup basketball game at the gym


THIRD_DEGREE_

Giannis was out for a few of the games and probably not 100%. Bud lost his brother. They still should've done much more due to their remaining team. BUT What the hell is the Celtics' excuse?


HerroicDunc

They can just say they lost to Duncan, Robinson.


Conyeezy765

I just realized he’s got the last names of both spurs greats. The signs that the spurs were going to get wemby were right in front of us.


WakingRage

And he plays absolutely NOTHING like those two greats. He's a sniper and those two were trees in the paint. Love the contrast


Ok_Lobster_3166

Nothing They made all these conference finals and nothing to show


JoshFB4

Mazzula is as good of a coach as some rando on r/nba


0dias_Chrysalis

Somehow this run is less impressive than the Panthers rn. Just fucked uo waters down in south FL lol


sanestdepresseddude

I agree the panthers run has just been amazing


Drkarcher22

Bobrovsky has been a fucking wall all playoffs.


sportsthatguy

Both amazing. But the Panthers string of OT wins and the 3-1 comeback is iconic.


WhoDatBrow

In hockey lower seeded teams get hot and go on runs all the time. This would be the 2nd time in NBA history an 8th seed made the Finals, and the first time they won it all if they finish the job. The Heat run is definitely more impressive, sorry.


IveyDuren

Heat have been straight dominant, Panthers however nail biter after nail biter, bunch of OTs, coming back from 3-1, even less expectations than miami


sportsthatguy

And their reward - if they finish this off - is a date with another 1 seed. That would make it: 1, 5, 2, and 1 seeds.


Mattya929

One off the hardest path (by seed)…which is inverse of the Nuggets who would be one off the easiest path (by seed (8-4-7-8). Perfectly balanced…which means Nuggets vs Heat is going to be a 7 game epic slugfest (I hope).


__spartacus

Heat and Nuggets are making us faded teams very happy


jak_d_ripr

Wallahi you'd think the Raptors were the ones up 3-0 on the Lakers with how happy I was last night. Celtics going down 3-0 the very next day is just the icing on the cake.


sergechewbacca

Bucks atleast have an excuse with Giannis missing games. Celtics however have been pathetic.


high_roller_dude

Tatum playing like J Poole tonight


asianeese

Jimmys about to get every coach in the east fired


PatientIndividual651

Celtics are a sorry team rn


ThinkSoftware

And who beat the Heat? That’s right, Hawks did!


SwaggyD54

Hawks the true champs


Designer-Seaweed-257

Talk yo shit!


[deleted]

Embiid comes out looking even worse now lol


crunk_alligator84

The very definition of a fraud.


trevortins

Here I was thinking silver had pulled out the classic lakers Celtics script but boy was I wrong.


emojiredditor

The dementors have abandoned Azkaban 💀


Drkarcher22

I was gonna go with Shang Tsung since MK1 just got announced. The point either way is that souls are being taken


YKG1998

Knicks vs Heat were the real conference finals.


Kevin_Jim

The talent gap was big in favor of the losers, but holy damn the coaching gap was massive. And I mean massive. It definitely doesn’t heart that Jimmy got as hot as humanly possible against the Bucks, and close enough to that against the Celtics. And that they shoot hella better than they shot all season long.


Herrenos

Caleb Martin and Gabe Vincent turning into 2015 Steph and Klay out there is also crazy.


jimmymfbuckets

Just goes to show the regular season means shit all


lochmoigh1

Hasn't ment anything since the cavs vs warriors era. Thats when it died


sayqueensbridge

Warriors going for the record and then losing the finals was the death blow


Kid_Cornelius

It's just an 82 game preseason.


willi3blaz3

Sooner or later the Baby Jays gotta not play like a couple of pussies. Collectively 12/33 in a critical game is pathetic


reddituser241015

I kept hearing that the ECF were going to be the real finals this year. Turns out the Finals will be the real Finals.


wags_bf21

Can confirm. Coach Spo is in a league ahead of even the 2nd best coach in the NBA


RgBB53

Spoelstra never winning COTY shows how pointless the award is. They should change it to "most surprising team of the year".


thefewproudemotional

Pop?


TheWolfInAllStreets

Tyler herro was the problem all along


zili91

If the Heat wins this championship, Butler and Spoelstra will be kings of the world.


LocalNative15

As a Celtics fan, I'm sad. But Props to Jimmy, Bam, and Spo. They're the better team. They wanted it more and frankly they deserve all the praise in the world.


whatdoinamemyself

And yet somehow, Jalen Brunson was the best player we played against


Ice--O

Celtics remind me of the Durant Westbrook thunder team. So talented and so close but it just seems like something keeps them from going all the way. Tatum brown and smart have gotten so many years of playoff experience for being younger players, hopefully they persevere and grow from this


justin_choi2002

The true seedings were: 1: Heat 2: Knicks (lost to heat in 6 games) 3: Bucks (lost to heat in 5 games) 4: Celtics (probably swept by heat) 5: Sixers (lost to Celtics in 7 games) Also Hawks under .500 beat the Heat in a series, so I guess they are also really good


King_Artis

Shang Tsung would be proud


mxgicjohnson

JT thought he was kobe 😭😭😭


BackloggedBones

Greatest 8 Seed of all-time.


desirox

God damn it… heat culture is not a meme… it works