Felger & Mazz: When do the playoffs actually start for the Celtics?
The Boston Celtics rolled in Game 1 over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night 120-95. The Celtics have now won 5 games in the 2024 Playoffs and 4 of them have been blowout victories. That led to Felger and Mazz asking the question….when do the playoffs actually begin for the Celtics?
When do the playoffs start for the Celtics?
Felger: When do the playoffs begin?
Mazz: Good question. Good question. I would say in about three weeks.
J-Stew: June 6th.
Mazz: Something like that. Yeah, about four weeks.
Jim Murray: Jimmy got it right.
Mazz: Four weeks. I texted Murray during the game last night, and I said, “this is awful. I feel like I’m watching a preseason game”. Murray, true or false, is that what I texted you?
Jim Murray: You are 100% correct.
Mazz: That’s what it felt like, a preseason game. And you know what? The crowd felt that way. The crowd in the arena, that to me is one of the telltale things. It’s like, what’s the level of engagement with the fans in the arena? It was low. The engagement level of the players on the floor relatively low.
Jim Murray: It’s a product that I like to refer to as an empty bee’s nest. No buzz, no buzz at all. And you said the same thing, I think you texted me, there’s no buzz at all.
Mazz: Zero.
Jim Murray: And so great, like I’m glad that they won, but I’m sorry, just as a consumer at home, I’m sure it was great for the people in the building, like what am I supposed to do with that?
Mazz: Useless!
Felger: I mean, it feels useless to me.
Mazz: It is useless. And frankly, I think it’s counterproductive.

Felger: So that’s my question. Is there a harm in this in your mind?
Mazz: I say yes because I think one of the things about the playoffs is that it’s supposed to ramp up as you go. Every step gets a little bit harder. It requires a little bit more intensity. And frankly, it’s supposed to be that way out of the gate. There’s supposed to be an uptick in the level of competition and the level of investment that is required. There was supposed to be an uptick along the way. The Celtics aren’t getting that at all. I think it’s doing them a disservice. I think it’s hurting them because I think what’s going to happen is they are going to get to the finals and then all of a sudden Minnesota is going to be waiting for them, or maybe Oklahoma City, or Denver if it still happens, but whatever, and that team is going to have played 2 or 3 hard series in a row and is going to be ready for the intensity level, and the Celtics aren’t. And so I think it hurts. I think, and I would say it’s it’s the rough equivalent, I would loosely compare it to what happened to the Bruins in the playoffs last year or what happened to the Tampa Bay Lightning the year they had the Record-setting season and then got picked off by Columbus in the first round. You played all these easy games, the winning is so easy, and that’s what it has been for the Celtics this year, it’s been easy, that all of a sudden you get resistance and you’re not ready to deal with that.