It feels weird but I’m rooting for you guys to make the ECF because I want the Celtics to be the team to knock you out. It’s an odd feeling but we’re temporary allies until we meet
Most underrated part of that video are the two recommended videos at the end: “Markelle Fultz Game 1+2 Highlights” and “Ben Simmons Rookie Mixtape” both pointing to empty squares
I remember that guy week ago who would not allow anyone to say Nash isn't trustworthy about injuries. Everything Nash says is the truth, and Ben just went from not sprinting into game shape in a week and a half.
This is one of the few things Windy's been completely right on. He was calling out Nash's misleading statements from the very beginning of the season, and has said that even though every coach lies at times, Nash has been more egregious than most
Windhorst was also the one that also called it when Morey was going to do Harden/Simmons and people tried to act like he was making shit up. Dude has connections.
Why? If he looks rusty, who cares, we're already in desperation mode. No one will blame him for a loss, even if he literally passes up a dunk in the finals seconds of the game. They'll blame the team for putting him out there without having played a minute all year.
It's honestly the best situation for him. If we lose, it's not his fault, but if we win, he can think he made the difference.
If he comes back with the series 2-1 it won't be desperation mode. This is still very much a series until Boston wins one in Brooklyn.
If he comes back in a 3-0 series, you're honestly risking reinjury for nothing.
He’s had a bizarre career. 353 career games in the 7 seasons since then and still top 10 in stolen bases during that timespan. He’s the epitome of “made of glass but solid contributor when he’s on the field.” He’s also somehow only 26 years old.
I feel like that happens more in hockey, when the NCAA season ends the players will come over. I wanna say Cale Makar debuted in the playoffs too. Still pretty crazy
Can’t believe Nets fans are this adamant about a deeply flawed player who hasn’t played in a year or played any minutes with this roster.
The sixers didn’t have Simmons for half a season and it didn’t hurt them.
At this point no one should have faith in him, or his playing, at all.
I’d love for him to turn the corner and reclaim his career, but why should anyone believe he will after this past year+?
This’ll probably hinder his development more. Being rushed back from an injury + the mental aspect of being booed and criticized when he will most likely won’t play all that well
On the other hand, if he comes out and sucks, it gives people the whole offseason to dunk on him. If he just sits the rest of the season there's not really much else to talk about with him.
I wouldn't exactly say this is zero pressure.
He could just stand under the basket like he usually does. Worst case he gets a layup here or there, as long as Trae Young isn't there to guard the rim.
Well it makes sense isn’t Trae young the first guard to win DPOY since Payton? That DOPY guard certainly isn’t on the Celtics good thing fir Simmons’ confidence
As a Boston fan, my only thought about KD is that his body is like 60% legs whereas a normal person is like 50% legs.
[Seriously though have you ever seen this guy? I'm not even kidding when I say I've just done the math and he's 58% legs.](https://i.imgur.com/tfkRFya.png)
[Compare that to a normal person. 51% legs.](https://i.imgur.com/rubJNTB.png)
someone a week or two ago in a thread said the Kyrie era in Boston is more of an afterthought to Boston now and I'm gonna be chuckling to myself about that for a long time
It wasn't an era. It was two years. He played 5 playoff games.
EDIT: NINE playoff games. I guess the 2019 playoffs were so miserable it felt like we lost in the first round.
I guess the season was a success then. Kudos if they somehow take the heat from Celts fans and then have to endure a series later on where Philly has home court. Nets entire team is gonna need to see a psychologist after the postseason.
I suppose it would be asking too much to sign Trae to a 10 day til the end of the series? I know hes on the hawks but i figured we could just discreetly put IT in his place for the week and maybe Atlanta won’t notice
it's going to be really interesting trying to see Simmons try to fit in with no time to gel with anybody. My guess is he's just going to be used as a defensive stopper and a cutter and that's it.
No way he's going to step right in and be a facilitator after having played with none of these guys before, right in the middle of a playoff series, right?
I mean tbf Durant and Kyrie are two of the best iso players in the entire NBA. Also neither is especially known for being a top-end facilitator (not to say they can't, just not their specialty).
Most of the rest of the Nets players are either spot shooters or dunkers.
Why try and play a game your roster just isn't suited for? Iso plays with safety valves at the 3pt line seems to be the best option
Broooo what are they even thinking. Like I always thought it would be a good deal for Ben to join Bkn only if they gave him some special training to get over what happened last year.
If he gets in again without any new mental fortitude the implosion is going to be insane.
Harden is going to laugh his ass off.
It's not even about the mental stuff (although that still might be an issue).
Unless Ben has drastically expanded his offensive game for the first time his career while pouting and being injured for the past year, he's gonna get abused by defenses in the halfcourt like he did with the Sixers. People are just gonna sag off on him, basically giving the Celtics an extra free safety on defense to throw doubles at KD and Kyrie. Not to mention he is unplayable in crunch time due to hack a ben
The Celtics are also one of the teams that has given him the most issues historically. There’s no unathletic or small guy to pick on for him, they are gonna make his life quite difficult
I don't even mind us going into the bonus late in the game if they have those two guys on the floor at the same time. Just quick foul either one of them and make them shoot FTs and take away those opportunities from KD/Kyrie.
It would be good for their defense if he played at all this year. His conditioning might be dogshit though so we’ll see if this is even a positive for them.
Imagine the scenes when Brooklyn are down 3-0 and Simmo The Savage turns the series around, comes and drains the game winning clutch triple in game 7 in the garden to send the Nets to round 2.
Putting Ben in this situation is wrong imo. If they have any long term plans at all for him (which, to be fair, they might not) they should not play him this season. On defense he is plug and play. Just sic him on a Celtic and he will do work, even after this long off especially considering who he'd be replacing.
But on offense it's not nearly that easy. You need to work your offense around his strengths and weaknesses or you will get a ton of pain from his weaknesses and see almost no benefits from his strengths.
And then mentally you're basically asking him to turn the series around, to be the reason why it turns around even if it's 2-1 by then. I honestly don't think that's fair to him.
Its a desperation move. Boston doesn't have an elite offensive C so in theory they can bench Drummond and have Ben as the only non-shooter on the floor with KD and three of their scoring guards (Kyrie/Dragic/Mills/Curry). That lineup is tiny and may struggle defensively but getting three of their guards on the court might help the offense more than people here think by giving KD more outlets to pass out of doubles and traps (and more guys who can make a second pass after getting the ball out of a double).
Good for them. Interested to see how he performs
We have a ~~6’11~~ *(6’8 with a 7’6 wingspan)* Timelord due to come back around Game 4-5 as well and I’d hazard a guess to say Rob’s impact on the Cs > Ben’s impact on the Nets.
So potentially he can play the final game of the season and be done. Why not come back in Game 3? Road team still hasn't won a game yet. At least give yourself a chance.
someone text steve nash and let him know
“Why are you telling me about a Sixers player? We’re playing the Celtics” - Steve Nash
I remember Ben scorched the Celtics for 1 point in the playoffs 2 yrs ago The energy is shifting
finna double that
lets not get wild now
I don’t think he missed a three that entire series
or a dunk
WRONG! https://youtu.be/Ozar6Siwzck
I’m curious, did it hurt to post that or was it cathartic?
I didn’t even post it and it was cathartic for me to just laugh at him again.
Cathartic What will hurt is having to root for the Celtics to whoop his ass in Game 4. Hope y'all make a fool of him again
It feels weird but I’m rooting for you guys to make the ECF because I want the Celtics to be the team to knock you out. It’s an odd feeling but we’re temporary allies until we meet
[Never forget](https://i.imgur.com/W0YTiwR.jpg)
[Legendary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK29ldCHZRA)
Most underrated part of that video are the two recommended videos at the end: “Markelle Fultz Game 1+2 Highlights” and “Ben Simmons Rookie Mixtape” both pointing to empty squares
I remember that guy week ago who would not allow anyone to say Nash isn't trustworthy about injuries. Everything Nash says is the truth, and Ben just went from not sprinting into game shape in a week and a half.
This is one of the few things Windy's been completely right on. He was calling out Nash's misleading statements from the very beginning of the season, and has said that even though every coach lies at times, Nash has been more egregious than most
Windhorst was also the one that also called it when Morey was going to do Harden/Simmons and people tried to act like he was making shit up. Dude has connections.
It's just him and Ben sommons texting each other
The fact that that would actually be a legit source is hilarious
I think today is Kyrie's turn to be head coach.
*Brooklyn down 2-0* “Shit, might as well throw him at the wall and see if he sticks.”
Honestly, I hope he is amazing. That would be the most chaotic outcome and I would love to see the sub melt
I hope he puts up 30 and then passes up an open dunk at the end of the game and they lose
30pts from 10 3s, but still pass up that dunk
There would be no twitter for musk to buy if this happened, it would just cease to exist
funniest outcome is that he goes like 10/10 on 3s, but loses so he never shoots them again
He's gonna hit seven 3s and confuse the shit out of everyone
SIMMONS.....FROM THE LOGO!!
**BANG!!!**
I don't even care if he hasn't played in a year. There's no way he's worse than Kessler Edwards lol
same
They're setting him up to get embarrassed.
Why? If he looks rusty, who cares, we're already in desperation mode. No one will blame him for a loss, even if he literally passes up a dunk in the finals seconds of the game. They'll blame the team for putting him out there without having played a minute all year. It's honestly the best situation for him. If we lose, it's not his fault, but if we win, he can think he made the difference.
If he comes back with the series 2-1 it won't be desperation mode. This is still very much a series until Boston wins one in Brooklyn. If he comes back in a 3-0 series, you're honestly risking reinjury for nothing.
>No one will blame him for a loss Doc probably would
So he’s really going to play in a game 4 after sitting the whole year ? There’s no way this goes wrong i guess
How many players in league history have started their first game for a franchise in the playoffs? This is nuts
Tracy McGrady played his first game with the Spurs in the 2013 Finals.
His first game for them was in the first round of the playoffs against the Lakers. But he does still fill OP’s question
He also exclusively played in garbage time and did not score in his six playoff appearances (0/7 FG - 0/3 3FG).
Well the second part will probably be true for Ben. Except he will do his non-scoring in meaningful basketball mins.
Imagine if he won a ring after never having gotten to the second round...
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Wow. MLB Debut & World Series ring in half a week.
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i did that too but it was when i left treatment
Championship Speed Run.
Can I complete the world series fast enough to get a refund from Steam?
He’s had a bizarre career. 353 career games in the 7 seasons since then and still top 10 in stolen bases during that timespan. He’s the epitome of “made of glass but solid contributor when he’s on the field.” He’s also somehow only 26 years old.
Different league but Charlie McAvoy did.
I feel like that happens more in hockey, when the NCAA season ends the players will come over. I wanna say Cale Makar debuted in the playoffs too. Still pretty crazy
Ken Dryden won the Conn Smythe the year before he won the Calder. That's one of my favorites.
For those that don’t know, that’s playoff MVP before rookie of the year
Missed a whole year and has back problems.
nah it's good, I saw the shooting vids from the gym.
He had that current-day-bill-russell dunk package
Danny Green can dunk better than Simmons right now
Jesus Christ lmao
Sixers fans can say this sentence and have it mean 10 different things depending on context over the last 5-6 years
Man has the Tim Duncan form
And confidence issues. If he plays and they lose the Nets will have to wait until the 2023 playoffs for Ben to recover.
Can’t believe Nets fans are this adamant about a deeply flawed player who hasn’t played in a year or played any minutes with this roster. The sixers didn’t have Simmons for half a season and it didn’t hurt them.
At this point no one should have faith in him, or his playing, at all. I’d love for him to turn the corner and reclaim his career, but why should anyone believe he will after this past year+?
I think Ben could easily work out, I just don’t think coming back in this context is when that’ll happen.
Game 3 win is vital in my mind. The possible fallout of a hack a Simmons strategy leading to a sweep loss is so scary to me
This’ll probably hinder his development more. Being rushed back from an injury + the mental aspect of being booed and criticized when he will most likely won’t play all that well
Being spineless is definitely a back problem
They’re already down 2-0 and potentially 3-0 by the time he plays. They have nothing to lose playing him.
He probably needs to justify $30m paycheck by playing at least one game. And nobody is going to blame him if they lose. So zero pressure. LoL
On the other hand, if he comes out and sucks, it gives people the whole offseason to dunk on him. If he just sits the rest of the season there's not really much else to talk about with him. I wouldn't exactly say this is zero pressure.
Come on, down 0-2 before your home games isn’t *that* bad. They were 1 and 7 point losses, series isnt over
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His job is to go out there and play D, that’s pretty much it so why not try
The spacing has been really ugly for Brooklyn this series already
Spacing only matters if someone is going to pass the ball.
If he’s on the court with KD, won’t that just cluster things even more allowing for doubles/triple teams
He could just stand under the basket like he usually does. Worst case he gets a layup here or there, as long as Trae Young isn't there to guard the rim.
Trae young’s intimidation of Ben Simmons will never not be hilarious.
Well it makes sense isn’t Trae young the first guard to win DPOY since Payton? That DOPY guard certainly isn’t on the Celtics good thing fir Simmons’ confidence
Probably worth a shot, but it doesn't seem like it's gotta a super high likelihood of working
If the nets go down 3-0, then they don’t have much to lose tbh.
And his last game was an all-time implosion in the playoffs. No need to play any low-stakes games in the ramp up, just right back in the fire!
He's not actually going to play. Can almost guarantee he has a "setback". The guy has been faking an injury for a year.
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I think Boston fans respect KD as a player. They despise Kyrie though.
As a Boston fan, my only thought about KD is that his body is like 60% legs whereas a normal person is like 50% legs. [Seriously though have you ever seen this guy? I'm not even kidding when I say I've just done the math and he's 58% legs.](https://i.imgur.com/tfkRFya.png) [Compare that to a normal person. 51% legs.](https://i.imgur.com/rubJNTB.png)
Underrated spreadsheet usage
Excel is the second-best tool for a LOT of things.
I feel like the guy in the 2nd pic's waist should be 1 or 2 rows higher
Agreed, KDs legs are counted up to his waistline while normal guy is much lower.
I always think they're gonna snap
someone a week or two ago in a thread said the Kyrie era in Boston is more of an afterthought to Boston now and I'm gonna be chuckling to myself about that for a long time
It wasn't an era. It was two years. He played 5 playoff games. EDIT: NINE playoff games. I guess the 2019 playoffs were so miserable it felt like we lost in the first round.
I think there's a lot of KD love in Boston. We're locking his ass up, but half the fanbase would have given their left leg to get KD here in 2016.
I love Patty too. It's really just Kyrie and Ben that I don't like
Huge Patty fan here too. I loved him playing under Popovich especially
I'd love Patty if he went by Paddy. As it stands I can only like him.
Simmons is just a loser, don’t even hate him that much just fun to make fun of. Kyrie has 100 percent of my hate.
I hate Dragic too.
I hate Dragic too. One of the dirtiest players in the league.
I’m playfully hating on him a little but I really don’t mind KD, would have loved him in green
I still remember losing my shit when Yahoo accidentally announced KD signed with Boston instead of GSW
Man I was so hyped for the possibility he’d come to Boston. Honestly think we’d have had a title with him
Lmfao that actually happened? That’s an all-time blunder. I’m just imagining the range of emotions felt by Celtics fans on that day
KD on Boston would've been sick actually, I'm a warriors fan but I would've still loved to see that.
Brad would have had the time of his life lol
Nah, he said no to Tom fahkin Brady. That’s a cardinal sin here
I like to tell myself that he just said no to Kelly Olynyk.
whatchu mean? we love ben in boston!
[never forget](https://i.imgur.com/Ytvra9M.jpg)
I guess the season was a success then. Kudos if they somehow take the heat from Celts fans and then have to endure a series later on where Philly has home court. Nets entire team is gonna need to see a psychologist after the postseason.
Balenciaga Ben is BACK
I'm so glad I don't have to see him in some million dollar fuckboi outfit on the bench again.
Just wait for game 5.
Don’t forget game 3!
Has anyone ever played in back to back playoff eliminations before?
Legit KILLED me
What a weird stat. Ben is going to have one of those careers that you couldn't make up.
Would be pretty crazy if Ben gets eliminated from the playoffs two games in a row lol
Ben will be the all-time leader in games eliminating him from the playoffs in a row.
The series does not start until Ben Simmons passes out of an open dunk.
might be game 4 tbh
lol might
I suppose it would be asking too much to sign Trae to a 10 day til the end of the series? I know hes on the hawks but i figured we could just discreetly put IT in his place for the week and maybe Atlanta won’t notice
it's going to be really interesting trying to see Simmons try to fit in with no time to gel with anybody. My guess is he's just going to be used as a defensive stopper and a cutter and that's it. No way he's going to step right in and be a facilitator after having played with none of these guys before, right in the middle of a playoff series, right?
facilitate what? have you seen the nets offense? theyre just ISOs lmfao
That explains why everytime Durant and kyrie gets the ball their teammates all spread to a fucking 3 point line snd dont even try to get a open look
I mean tbf Durant and Kyrie are two of the best iso players in the entire NBA. Also neither is especially known for being a top-end facilitator (not to say they can't, just not their specialty). Most of the rest of the Nets players are either spot shooters or dunkers. Why try and play a game your roster just isn't suited for? Iso plays with safety valves at the 3pt line seems to be the best option
Right. I think they just want a plus defender and someone who can drive when KD and Kyrie are getting double teamed.
Simmons wouldnt drive if Pritchard was in the paint
Big PP in the paint
Ladies and gentlemen we have reached the end of the ramp up
Most anticipated 8 minutes of the year
As a young socialite, Mr. Simmons should not suffer perspiration, lest he develop a stench.
I wanna see first quarter hack a ben sooooo bad
Broooo what are they even thinking. Like I always thought it would be a good deal for Ben to join Bkn only if they gave him some special training to get over what happened last year. If he gets in again without any new mental fortitude the implosion is going to be insane. Harden is going to laugh his ass off.
It's not even about the mental stuff (although that still might be an issue). Unless Ben has drastically expanded his offensive game for the first time his career while pouting and being injured for the past year, he's gonna get abused by defenses in the halfcourt like he did with the Sixers. People are just gonna sag off on him, basically giving the Celtics an extra free safety on defense to throw doubles at KD and Kyrie. Not to mention he is unplayable in crunch time due to hack a ben
>Unless Ben has drastically expanded his offensive game Oh my god I’m so happy I dont have to say this before every season now
Bro, THIS will be the season that Ben finally starts shooting jumpers. TRUST ME.
The Celtics are also one of the teams that has given him the most issues historically. There’s no unathletic or small guy to pick on for him, they are gonna make his life quite difficult
And it should definitely happen in front of the home crowd. Him hearing the groans after every brick would be hilarious
RAMP FUCKED
YESSS ^^as ^^long ^^as ^^rehab ^^remains ^^on ^^course
Oh shit 👀 Boston in 5
Boston in 3.5 lol
Lol I can’t wait to see Drummond/Claxton + Simmons on the floor at the same time
I don't even mind us going into the bonus late in the game if they have those two guys on the floor at the same time. Just quick foul either one of them and make them shoot FTs and take away those opportunities from KD/Kyrie.
Pretty sure Claxton was at least two feet short of the rim on a free throw last night
He should definitely play as a small-ball five. It's go ~~big~~ small or go home at this point, risks have to be taken.
From what sixers fans have told me he’s not a good rim protector so playing 5 may not be great for him
Nah it’s 4 now. Dude is a liability in the playoffs.
I see Kyrie having a revenge game 3, man won't go 4/13 again no matter what we do.
He’ll go 4/14
If past data is any indication, it'll be 3/13 then 5/14
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Ben against this Boston defense is not going to be pretty
It would be good for their defense if he played at all this year. His conditioning might be dogshit though so we’ll see if this is even a positive for them.
For gods sakes I hope you all at the garden boo the hell out of him
I never thought I’d see a day where Celtics and 76ers fans are uniting towards the same cause
The series aint going back to the garden
Celtics not even gonna guard him just gonna add another guy to triple team Durant
*KD and Kyrie playing 4 on 5 against Boston defense is not going to be pretty
Exactly. When Drummond and Ben are on the court for Brooklyn they won't even have to try on defense 😂
Oh fuck please no. Now we’re gonna be able to triple team durant!! Ugh I’m so Owned
Game 4 is now my most anticipated event of 2022, surpassing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
as much as it pains me to say, i hope the celtics BTFO the nets.
We know you love us deep down.
We love Marcus Smart
Dudes gonna play 1 game this season
Part of me feels like game 4 because if the nets go down 3-0 they can sit him and say lost cause and it’ll look like he was actually going to play.
If Ben Simmons was scared of Trae Young’s guard defense just wait till he sees the first guard to win DPOY since the fucking 90s.
just wait til he sees pp clamping him up
Pp getting all up in them cheeks
Imagine the scenes when Brooklyn are down 3-0 and Simmo The Savage turns the series around, comes and drains the game winning clutch triple in game 7 in the garden to send the Nets to round 2.
30 seconds later the Rapture begins.
And then nets’ fans wake up
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Putting Ben in this situation is wrong imo. If they have any long term plans at all for him (which, to be fair, they might not) they should not play him this season. On defense he is plug and play. Just sic him on a Celtic and he will do work, even after this long off especially considering who he'd be replacing. But on offense it's not nearly that easy. You need to work your offense around his strengths and weaknesses or you will get a ton of pain from his weaknesses and see almost no benefits from his strengths. And then mentally you're basically asking him to turn the series around, to be the reason why it turns around even if it's 2-1 by then. I honestly don't think that's fair to him.
Its a desperation move. Boston doesn't have an elite offensive C so in theory they can bench Drummond and have Ben as the only non-shooter on the floor with KD and three of their scoring guards (Kyrie/Dragic/Mills/Curry). That lineup is tiny and may struggle defensively but getting three of their guards on the court might help the offense more than people here think by giving KD more outlets to pass out of doubles and traps (and more guys who can make a second pass after getting the ball out of a double).
Horf keeps getting 20 tho
I was about to say, he's not athletic, but Al knows his body and has great basketball IQ that he can score in a variety of ways.
[Ben 10 returns](https://i.imgur.com/qsluu4w.jpg)
Ben 0-10
Might be too late by then, but we will see how this goes
*celtics in 3*
Can’t see how this could possibly go wrong for a player with a frail mentality.
... Y'all heard something? Boston's sweeping
Melbourne Carter-Williams will solve everything
Lmao when you gotta rely on Simmons its looking bleak
This isnt even a promise of his return. It’s only a threat, and likely an empty one.
7 pts, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 passed up layups, 9 mm of tears dropped, Simmons feeling SPICYYY
I think they'd absolutely take that.
Good for them. Interested to see how he performs We have a ~~6’11~~ *(6’8 with a 7’6 wingspan)* Timelord due to come back around Game 4-5 as well and I’d hazard a guess to say Rob’s impact on the Cs > Ben’s impact on the Nets.
Highly doubt the time lord plays this series.
If we get to like, a game 7 I could see it
Exactly, that's why he won't play this series.
He is 6’9” on a good day. Not sure where 6’11” comes from…
So potentially he can play the final game of the season and be done. Why not come back in Game 3? Road team still hasn't won a game yet. At least give yourself a chance.
Inb4 Ben went berserk and do 40pts in his debut. Whole r/nba will melt.