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?
They played a team that shut them down defensively and also had enough offense carried by Steph to push them over the top. Warriors top to bottom were a little worse talent wise, but they were more consistent. Wiggins gave Tatum a lot problems defensively and the Celtics were stretched into multiple wars before getting to the finals. It’s hard win a title going to war with the bucks and heat like that. You run out of gas