Celtics still clear-cut title favorites? 🏆 Stephen A., Mad Dog & Austin Rivers debate | First Take 

It’s funny, Ant has a bad shooting game and gets complimented because he was doing other things and his team won but when Tatum was doing that in the Heat series and some of Cavs series everyone was clowning him

So if boston not blowing teams out. Failure

“ I know Edwards didn’t play well but fact that he didn’t play well and still lead his team to win “ brother that’s exactly what Tatum been doing all playoffs scoring 33/36 pts but then the discussion is his efficiency… My guy can’t win

No matter how the C’s win they always get criticized 🤷🏽‍♂️.

Celtics win games by 30 “they’re untested” “they are bad in the clutch and are getting no clutch reps” Celtics win a close game against a good Pacers team who had the 2nd best offense in NBA HISTORY btw, their stars hit multiple clutch shots, they locked down the Pacers who had more turnovers than baskets in the final 5 minutes of the game and OT and stole a game they should have lost. “They should have blown them out” “you can’t trust them” “too many 3’s”. Y’all are a supposed to be professionals. What an embarrassment you should all be ashamed of yourselves.

Mad dog making the most sense here is what's insane! These other three teams haven't been here!

The leads were blown when Tatum went to the bench. Idk what game yall was watching

Tatum is the only superstar who can put up 36-12-4-3 on 47% shooting and have a show just show his lowlights in the b-roll. What in the world is going on at ESPN?

Austin makes a fairpoint, a win is a win

Mad Dog being the voice of reason is messing with my head lol

After the way, the Celtics fought and clawed their way to win after the game seemed clearly lost, I think that you can see that they have the heart of champions. They will win the title this year, definitely.

Media literally hates the Celtics they don’t even try to hide it lmao

Shaq "is Anthony Edwards close to MJ?" Chuck "they both black"

ESPN is done. Celtics are the favorites if healthy and you’re nuts if you think otherwise

Andrew Tate ain't fooling anybody we all know that's him with a wig

Mad Dog being the voice of reason was NOT on my bingo card for this post season run.

The latest example of the "can't lose a game tax" morphing into the "you're not winning how we want you to win" agenda Even when the Celtics win, they are talked about as if they lose

I mean I’d pick the Celtics against the Mavs without Porzingis haha not against the Wolves though

Celtics have the number 2 offense in the league and 1st offense rating.

no matter what the Celtics do, no matter how great the Celtics are, no matter how much is elevated against almost every single opponent. The NBA has been able to throw at them. Still they receive criticism, is this what greatness is about?

Rivers, STOP BRINGING UP YOUR FORMER TEAMS. NO ONE CARES.

As a Boston fan...I don't want to hear any praise from this hypocritical media once we win the Championship.

WINNING IS WINNING🤷🏾‍♂️

Why does Andrew Tate never blink?

SAS is monumentally dumb...their offense is bad? they just went toe to toe with the best offense in the league and put up 133 points.

Thank you Celtics for the look on Stephen A's face lol 😂

Saying the Celtics have no chance against the Mavs without Porzingis is crazy. Timberwolves would be rough

This proves that the Celtics 🍀 are anything but the favorites.

We don't care about your opinions. You've all been wrong all year. So what!!! Favorite or not, we are going for the crown

Austin shouldn't be talking... never played in big games... go cover the regular season... go visit your pops on vacation

Oh so when Tatum goes for 36/12 on 47% from the field, he gets destroyed by the national media. But, Ant-Man can score 18 on 6/20… and he gets applauded. What has become of the media these days?? Sheesh.

Meanwhile Vegas has the Celtics at -165 to win the title which does make them favorites to win the title. Nobody GAF what Boomer SAS and Andrew Tate think.

"Anthony Edwards was on Murray's heels like a pair of fresh church socks" 😂

When Mad Dog is making the most sense and actually looking at the Celtics fairly you know somethings wrong

Tatum goes 7/24 for 16pts 15reb 7assist and it’s no one it’s doing what Edward’s is doing to still affect the team winning smh 🤦🏾‍♂️

Al is running on fumes and Kornets defense scares me. Tingus Pingus please come back

Mad Dog has been COOKING! Spitting facts since the near end of the regular season.

Lord have mercy. I can’t imagine the scrutiny the 08 celtics would’ve gotten during their playoff run if social media was big back then…

•Wins are wins more so than Ls are Ls •Boston GMen Sweeps Dallas

Austin isn't a seasoned analyst. Celtics are rusty and Pacers battle hardened, Despite this, Celtics won game 1. The Wolves team defense held Denver to 90 points in game seven. Ant struggling from the field just shows you they are vulnerable.

The Pacers brought their A+ game. Hard to reproduce a game like this again. This game should give the Celtics a wake up call.

They hating on Celtics

They probably don't need porzhingas to win. and he could be a bonus. They probably just need jrue holiday to win.

1:13 this is where we as fans want these pundits to state where the issue of not stepping on necks comes from. COACHING. Mazzulla took either Tatum or brown out when they got up 11 and offense went cold every time.

Imagine being so good that even when win and don’t blow out another team your dragged that’s pressure they gotta come with it

Waiting to hear what excuses they make for Ant tomorrow. Didn't see those "winning plays" he makes even tho he isn't shooting well tonight against Dallas

Media predictions are so bad this postseason, I'm actually glad they are going on and on about how the Celtics are not good enough to win the finals without Porzingis 😅😅

I love ESPN. They been shitting on us for not taking first two rounds too serious. Now Pacers gift us this win and now we are clear-cut favorites?

As a Celtics fan idk how anyone can say we are the clear cut favorites after last night. We need KP badly

“Only made the finals once,” Dallas and Minnesota together got 0 in the same timespan

133 points and their offense was “awful” geez man.

Boston legit had the most efficient offence in NBA history this year

So everytime Boston blew teams out they said they want to see them win in close games.. Now they win in close games and is still not good enough.. If Any other team in the NBA does this then is great

The media always has a massive hatred, bias and jealousy over Boston teams. The goalpost is constantly moved for the Celtics but in their same circumstances, other teams get praised

saying the celtics dont have a shot against dallas or minnesota feels a bit insane... they'd still have more top to bottom talent than both those teams in a series.

Austin rivers is annoying.. get more credible players on here ! Who accomplished things in the league!

Mad Dog looks like a Dollar General Dirk Benedict

Mad dog the only one speaking sense

That win is BC of Jaylen Brown. Caused the turnover and made the shot to send it to OT.. very efficient and great defense all game making the hustle plays. Tatum took so stupid shots.. struggled mightily in the 3rd Q when guarded by Nesmith.. settled a lot..

do they even know our records against dallas and the wolves this year? 😂

'Pacers Should've won' well they didn't. That was the Pacers chance. Reminds me of when Lebron got swept by the warriors in the finals and the Cavs blew a lead in Game 1 finals. Series over

So we're just going to ignore that the Celtics also had the best record against the Western Conference teams all regular season long also!? This narrative that they only dominated the Eastern Conference and act like they were terrible against the West is laughable. They would have still had 60+ wins even if you moved them to the Western Conference. They're just overwhelmingly talented from top to bottom.

They are honestly talking like we lost the game. Can’t win with the media we gotta beat every team by 30 to meet their expectations

Lmao the narrative is Celtics haven’t been tested. We win a close game against a solid team and it was supposed to be a statement game. The media are clowns

I think even without KP the Cs could beat Dallas in the NBA Finals. The Cs beat the Mavs in both games they played in the regular season, and Porzingis missed one of those games. Hopefully though the Unicorn will be available and healthy in a few days to help the Cs finally break through and win the chip!!

Same question for the past two weeks

Ant has a horrible game 6 ,30 fg %,18pts = he lead his team to victory Tatum drops 36 leads in rebound,assists = he doesnt have what it takes Alright.

Pacers won 47 games. They might have gotten 50 if Haliburton didn't miss 13 games. They're not scrubs, and are arguably better than both Miami and Cleveland. These heads talking like the Celtics should win every game by 30, and when they do win blowouts, they're "not battle tested."

The media hatred against the Celtics is CRAZY

Come on Austin. You've been asking for this team to be tested, and when they did you're going to say you expected a cakewalk? Come on man. Nothing's ever good enough. Stephen A, too much 1 on 1? Did you see how they abused the pick n roll? This Indiana team's defense is so bad that the Celtics can literally play pick n roll every single time and still get buckets?

I'm Celtics fan but they do need better ball movement they stand around to much on offense so this is why they go into these spurts of where they can lose games if they had better ball movement they would be very tough to beat.

Eh, I can see them beating Dallas, but I definitely don’t see them beating Minnesota

How they should of lost if both teams was even at the beginning of ot?

The same thing Austin said about ant he could’ve said Tatum. But all he did was down play the Celtics.

The Celtics can be the only team in history to win a conference final game and everyone thinks that they are not contenders anymore people are so critical of the Celtics but no one is critical of the Timberwolves losing at home we will hear just praise for Kyrie and Luka

By asking who the Celtics want is assuming they are going to win the series ...chill

Celtics are historically stacked and even if they win the chip. No one will care or be impressed

Stephen A "Boston are not the favorites but they are dominating the east" 😂😂wft

A win is a win and a loss is a loss how can you say Boston should have lost when Holiday and Brown's defense made turnovers and led to the contested 3 from Brown for the tie the crunch their teeth and showed up in crunch time this game is the same as a blow out win a 1point win is the same as a 20point win

jb just hit a shot to force ot & Tatum scored 10 in ot & they getting criticized

Austin loves the T wolves lolol tellem Mad Dog!

Why everybody counting luka and kyrie out for the nba is bias af

Austin rivers the has-been (had good one season) speaks!

That was a statement. They told oacers they shall not pass

Yeah I’m rooting for Dallas but I agree, Boston definitely don’t wanna see Minnesota in the last round

Yea just what I thought. Retired players criticizing Tatum for doing the same thing they are praising Ant for. Goes to show how the bias flows to the hot hand and not the consistent All-star

Its the eastern conference finals the pacers came back from 2-0. So you know they are competitive. I dont understand espn and other network always hating on the Celtics. even when they blow teams out the critique them.

This the first time I agree with Mad Dog

A team that’s won 64 games, the OVERALL 1 seed , 2 losses in the playoffs, 6th ECF appearance, top 5 net rating ALL TIME, 1st in offense, 2nd in defense, 3 wins away from 2nd nba finals appearance in last 3 yrs…..isn’t the title favorite? Lol…ok 😎

They were off for 6 days calm down.

WHY CANT THEY SAY IT TO TATUM LIKE THEY DID TO ANT?

Before you guys said they need to be tested. Now you guys say they to blow out the pacers. What the hell to do you guys need to see?!!!!!!

Fact of the matter is 2 other Boston players were more efficient then Tatum. Saying that doesn't mean Tatum had a bad game, but his counterparts were better. Nobody is a Clear Cut Title Favorite.

Shoutout to Mad Dog. Only Mad Dog gave Boston a fair shot in this panel. ESPN after Tatum and Boston win be like: "Nah, I don't like the Celtics's chances and Tatum is not playing well, he is not a leader, not efficient blah blah blah" (After blowing teams out and having a 15+ point differential in the past 2 series, Stephen A is still not impressed by the Boston offense. Tatum led all players in pts, rebs, steals, blocks, assists, etc, first since LEbron in 2016, but Stephen A is not impressed) Also ESPN after Edwards shot a horrendous 25% (6/24) and got carried by Gobert and Naz Reid "OMFG! HE IS THE SECOND COMING OF JORDAN! CROWN THE WOLVES NOW! EDWARDS IS SO GOOD! HE IS A YOUNG LEADER!" ESPN really has nothing but hate for Boston, and I am not even surprised at this point now. They have been hating on Boston for a long time, no matter if Boston wins or not. I really hope Dallas beats Minnesota and shuts these ESPN bums up with their fanaticism

Why the laugh when he mention Bill Russell 🙁

I KNOW THEY DIDNT JUST SAY EDWARDS IS 5/24 AND THEY STILL WIN GAMES. JT PLAYS BAD AND THEY GET THE W BUT HE STILL GETS MAD HEAT 😂 MAKE IT MAKE SENSE

How did Mad Dog have the best take

Get them Mad Dog, this puppies are all about feelings rather then facts

So we won but rivers still says that? A win is win. Focus on being good at basketball. Not hating. And We cant win without porzingus? Just stop.

Celtics are underrated……. But they are about to find out