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What adjustments can NN make to combat these problems down the stretch?

He should tell the players to make more shots.

Push the pace hard.
The side goal should be to have the celtics tired in the 4th quarter, while we've played energy guys in the middle quarters who get out and run & rebound

Its interesting because the Raptors are getting good shots for the most part(Raptors shot quality was better than the Celtics yesterday) and are getting stops for the most part.

Maybe some Matt Thomas and Small Ball but I don't see anything too drastic NN can do, people hate hearing this but you just aren't gonna win games shooting under 30% from 3.

I did hate the bench lineups at the end of the 3rd/start of the 4th though. But you cant play Kyle 48 minutes...right?

Time for Nurse to lace em up and make some shats!

Seriously though, they need more movement off the ball and more dribble penetration and get that ball moving around more. Problem is, they haven't really been that type of team this season. Kinda hard to implement at this stage of the game.

My biggest gripe with Nurse is the use of the bench. Not so much this series but how he has used them through out the year. Their development and use has been strictly from injuries. When our full squad has been healthy he has viewed them as only few minutes of rest bite for his regulars. Players like Lowry/FVV/Pascal pretty much guaranteed to play 40 min unless it was blow out.

Now these players are struggling beyond Ibaka/Norm we have not developed the bench to come in and change the game as plan B. I can't remember a game throughout the year in which Lowry/FVV/Pascal lost PT in a game because they were struggling and bench got extended minutes because they came in and where doing well.

I feel this team had enough talent to really have secondary team on the bench that could change the dynamics of certain games.

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Tell Siakam to do Siakam things:

- Run the floor hard
- Be the best defender on the floor
- Take advantage of mismatches (Smart is not a mismatch)

Start Ibaka.

- Get Gasol on the floor with Norman those guys feed of each other and they should both have better games.
- Gasol also gets to against back ups

That's the most frustrating thing about this game. There are no macro level or even that many micro adjustments you can make. I would so run Boston off the line entirely maybe and Kyle should always be on the floor with any bench lineup.


I also think now is the time to put OG on Tatum full time

Lowry, FVV, Powell, OG, Siakam
Serge, TD, Gasol

Lowry on Kemba
FVV on Smart
Powell on Brown
OG on Tatum
Siakam on Theis

Gasol on Timelord
Ibaka on Williams/Ojeleye
TD on Wanamaker

Fairview4Life wrote:He should tell the players to make more shots.

Oh wow! I'd never have thought of that! I hope Nurse thinks of that too!

HeadtopChunes wrote:Its interesting because the Raptors are getting good shots for the most part(Raptors shot quality was better than the Celtics yesterday) and are getting stops for the most part.

Maybe some Matt Thomas and Small Ball but I don't see anything too drastic NN can do, people hate hearing this but you just aren't gonna win games shooting under 30% from 3.

I did hate the bench lineups at the end of the 3rd/start of the 4th though. But you cant play Kyle 48 minutes...right?

DUde this is what is so frustrating. There is nothing better other than "make your open looks" the Raptors could have done. Again the Fred/Powell/Siakam/Ibaka/Boucher lineup without Kyle is problematic but that's such a one off thing and not systemic at all.

My biggest concern is our defensive scheme on Pick n Roll. We hang back with our big and the on ball defender chases over the screen. This allows the ball handler to go right at the big in attack mode. The big is often back pedaling to prevent getting beat off one dribble which leaves the mid range jumper wide open for the ball handler, or the big in a bad defensive position to stop the drive. I think Boston has this nailed as one of their main offensive points of attack.

nabbs wrote:

HeadtopChunes wrote:Its interesting because the Raptors are getting good shots for the most part(Raptors shot quality was better than the Celtics yesterday) and are getting stops for the most part.

Maybe some Matt Thomas and Small Ball but I don't see anything too drastic NN can do, people hate hearing this but you just aren't gonna win games shooting under 30% from 3.

I did hate the bench lineups at the end of the 3rd/start of the 4th though. But you cant play Kyle 48 minutes...right?

DUde this is what is so frustrating. There is nothing better other than "make your open looks" the Raptors could have done. Again the Fred/Powell/Siakam/Ibaka/Boucher lineup without Kyle is problematic but that's such a one off thing and not systemic at all.

Yeah, its like you get good shots, like wide-open ones and they don't make them lol. It's like what more can you do lol? Fred was an elite catch and shoot guy this year and he's gotten a bunch of them with time and space and he just hasn't converted.

Meanwhile, Marcus Smart is one fire and wins them the game essentially. The Raps are good process bad result right now and there's nothing more frustrating than that lol

Mostly just don't play Boucher over Davis, there is no reason for that basically ever but especially while Lowry is resting.

dhackett1565 wrote:Mostly just don't play Boucher over Davis, there is no reason for that basically ever but especially while Lowry is resting.

That's such a micro adjustment too. There is nothing systemic wrong with what Nurse is doing man. It's insane

Celtics just playing better. Theis and Williams are excellent defenders and that is bothering us. And everyone on that team is making shots. We’re screwed.

Basketball_Jones wrote:Celtics just playing better. Theis and Williams are excellent defenders and that is bothering us. And everyone on that team is making shots. We’re screwed.

I knew getting eliminated was possible because both teams are so competitive but I never dreamed that we'd be facing a sweep.

I just want us to win one game but if they lose game three I see the players packing it in for game 4 because they'll just want to go home at that point.

It's unbelievable that we're in this situation but it is what it is.

Basketball_Jones wrote:Celtics just playing better. Theis and Williams are excellent defenders and that is bothering us. And everyone on that team is making shots. We’re screwed.

This is actually the main reason we are not screwed. Our shots will start falling.

knickerbocker2k2 wrote:My biggest gripe with Nurse is the use of the bench. Not so much this series but how he has used them through out the year. Their development and use has been strictly from injuries. When our full squad has been healthy he has viewed them as only few minutes of rest bite for his regulars. Players like Lowry/FVV/Pascal pretty much guaranteed to play 40 min unless it was blow out.

Now these players are struggling beyond Ibaka/Norm we have not developed the bench to come in and change the game as plan B. I can't remember a game throughout the year in which Lowry/FVV/Pascal lost PT in a game because they were struggling and bench got extended minutes because they came in and where doing well.

I feel this team had enough talent to really have secondary team on the bench that could change the dynamics of certain games.

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That to me is the structural problem that limits your hand in adjustments.

Nurse built some of the offense around a couple flawed premises:

- Using Fred as the main creator when he has no elite skills and who's size limits his impact against some elite matchups. While also sidelining Gasol in a larger playmaker role (who has those elite skills) to make room for that.

- Building the bench around Norm hero ball instead of a cohesive offensive strategy that helped some of our younger players in the offense.

I know Gasol could easily snap back into being the fulcrum of an offense for spurts of a bench run, but the problem is guys like TD haven't had any reps with that this year.

It's slightly reminiscent of the DeRozan years where everyone was forced to adapt their game around how he played.

We have 43 minutes of majority Fred ball as our main identity and that's pretty much locked in. Very hard to make fundamental, core changes game to game.

dhackett1565 wrote:Mostly just don't play Boucher over Davis, there is no reason for that basically ever but especially while Lowry is resting.

Hmm there's like a 7" height difference.