Skip Bayless said "Shannon you picked them, and they self destructed".
1st round: They swept KD and Kyrie. A team that the Bucks and other teams wanted to avoid playing in the 1st round. Smart even said they wanted to face them and did not want to duck/dodge no one and said they would eventually have to see them in the playoffs so they may as well just get them outta the way.
2nd round: No Middlleton for the Bucks but everyone else was there. Went to 7 games, and they won a Game 6 at Milwaukee who were still the reigning defending champs. Holiday did make big defensive plays in Game 5, but they blew them out in Games 6 & 7.
3rd round: They couldn't stop Butler when he had those big games, but managed to find a way to win. The Heat could have also made the Finals that year, they were also knocking on the door.
Finals: Now the first 4 games, we could tell that no team had the advantage. They came back from being down or something if I remember. Then JT just shrank I guess. How do they do all of that in the previous rounds, and just not show up vs the Warriors? Was it just based on experience, or maybe fatigue?
There’s no reason, really
Steph went nuclear in Game 4. If Steph had a regular Steph game, maybe the Celts would open 3-1 and that would be it
At the same time, Middleton was injured. Maybe if Middleton was healthy, the Bucks would have won.
Or maybe if Jimmy gets the last 3, the Heat would’ve won
The good thing about the Celtics is that they’ve been consistently putting themselves in a position to win.
Of course the other top teams are pretty good too, so a little luck/randomness might be needed. This is true for the other teams as well.