Washington River Rats vs Boston Alcoholics Sunday 1:00 PM EST

[Error Afflalo]

Our bench is so bad

I'd like to see Oubre on Thomas more going forward to see if his length can cause problems like it did earlier this year. We need Mahinmi and Morris back badly.

[AFM]

I went to a birthday party this afternoon, catered at a minor league baseball stadium during a game. Set my dvr to record the Wiz knocking off the Celtics. Had a great time. Came home, and... my 2 year old 60" Vizio TV is busted. No power, no nothing. Dead as a doornail (except it's the general shape & almost the size of a door not a doornail).

Now I learn that my electronics miscue gave the Boston Gremlins a lift & they not only beat us but Morris came up lame.

The boxscore -- all I have until I find a replay somewhere -- looks incredibly weird. In 79 minutes, Wall/Beal combined for 5 rebounds, all of them defensive. OTOH, the Celts backup PG Rozier played only 15 minutes but had 8 rebounds, of which 2 were offensive boards.

Then there's the fact that Al Horford led the C's in assists with 10 of them?????? I assume they mostly came on passes to the perimeter for open 3's. Is that right? They must have found something in our defensive schemes that led to all those open 3's.

Their bench played 86 minutes & got 17 rebounds. Our bench played 70 minutes & got 6 rebounds (!).

Here's another way of looking at our execution on the boards: Wall, Beal & the entire bench combined for 149 of the 240 minutes our guys played & got 11 rebounds -- total. The other 3 guys (Morris, Gortat, Porter) combined for 91 minutes on the floor & got 27 rebounds. Any questions?

We actually shot d&mn well -- we went 34-64 on 2 point attempts; that's 53+% (just slightly better than Boston). We shot 43.5% on 3-point attempts. Yet, even leaving out our poor FT shooting, we'd have lost -- if both teams make all their FTAs, we still lose by 6.

In the end this game comes down to how the h#ll did we let them shoot 39 threes, most of which I take it were open? How'd they get so many open 3-point shots?

If we can't fix that, series over. Or so it looks -- I'm still trying to find a way to see the game, remember. So... if I'm missing something important, please feel free to enlighten me.

This was your typical Wizards game, gone turbo extreme. Starters opened the game to a 16-0 lead. Kept the lead around there until the second quarter. Bench came in and played like ASS and Boston tied it. Then Morris went down with a rolled ankle and Boston took a decisive lead we couldn't recover from. They shot absolutrly lights out from 3. Even their players who aren't known as shooters. Jar Crowder was 6-8 from 3 IIRC.
Hard to beat a team that hits 20 3s.

[Error Afflalo]

We need to get into our offense quicker when the second unit is in. Everything was slow-developing iso garbage. I still think we can win this series, but we can't have those unproductive stretches we seem to have every other game.

[FAH1223]

Al Horford's 'Oops,'I did it again in the playoffs' highlights.

Same sweeping leg motion in both plays.

Yes, I'm going to call it dirty.

Yep. He learned this while with the Hawks. It was one of their specialities.

I was in the ATL a couple of years ago and was sitting right behind the bucket when some clown from the Hawks (cant remember his name) did this to Kobe after Kobe had scored 30 in the third period.

It's a really dirty play and the league needs to crack down hard on it.

I remember when that happened to Kobe in 2013. It was a few weeks before he tore his achilles. I think it was Dahntay Jones who did that.

[OldCeltics]

Al Horford's 'Oops,'I did it again in the playoffs' highlights.
Same sweeping leg motion in both plays.
Yes, I'm going to call it dirty.

I like the..."oh I was going for the block...see, my hand is up, and oh, I just was looking the other direction and didnt see where I was putting my feet" look. Very well practiced.
I imagine this will get reviewed by the NBA, and something will be said to the Celtics.

If you've ever played basketball, when you fall down, your momentum carries you. He was trying to turn so as not to get fouled, and then to rebound. You are looking for something that just isn't there.

[FAH1223]

Al Horford's 'Oops,'I did it again in the playoffs' highlights.
Same sweeping leg motion in both plays.
Yes, I'm going to call it dirty.

I like the..."oh I was going for the block...see, my hand is up, and oh, I just was looking the other direction and didnt see where I was putting my feet" look. Very well practiced.
I imagine this will get reviewed by the NBA, and something will be said to the Celtics.

If you've ever played basketball, when you fall down, your momentum carries you. He was trying to turn so as not to get fouled, and then to rebound. You are looking for something that just isn't there.

Congrats on the series win

[80sballboy]

We need to get into our offense quicker when the second unit is in. Everything was slow-developing iso garbage. I still think we can win this series, but we can't have those unproductive stretches we seem to have every other game.

Agree, it's horrible, esp. when Beal is in. Beal just tries to create for himself by going 1 on 5 or using a screen from Smith/Gortat. What's the point of having Jennings on the floor if he can't push the pace it off the rebound or steal. Of course, when Beal is in with the second unit, the whole Cs defense is focused on stopping him. As bad as the unit looks, they can look better with more ball movement. We know that Bogs can shoot (he didn't have shot in the first half) and Kelly can make one if he's open.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Al Horford's 'Oops,'I did it again in the playoffs' highlights.
Same sweeping leg motion in both plays.
Yes, I'm going to call it dirty.

I like the..."oh I was going for the block...see, my hand is up, and oh, I just was looking the other direction and didnt see where I was putting my feet" look. Very well practiced.
I imagine this will get reviewed by the NBA, and something will be said to the Celtics.

If you've ever played basketball, when you fall down, your momentum carries you. He was trying to turn so as not to get fouled, and then to rebound. You are looking for something that just isn't there.

Have played B-ball bruh.

It's a pretty well-known cheap a$$ play to jump under the legs of a shooter.

Big Al doesn't have to worry about retribution given that he doesn't actually jump when he shoots.

[Sluggerface]

I see a ton of people already overrating the defensive aptitude of Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart

More of this, please

Surprised to see the discredit of Bradley and Smart's defense. Bradley is a better defender than Tony Allen. Avery Bradley's perimitter D, and Smarts explosive D are legitimate.

Again, I wasn't trying to discredit Bradley or Smart. They're both good defenders, but saying that Bradley is a better defender than Tony Allen doesn't really reflect reality. Memphis has the 7th best defense in the league, and Allen is a huge part of that. It bears out in the numbers. Allen has a much higher adjusted plus minus than Bradley, and opponents generally converted fewer field goals when being directly guarded by Allen than Bradley. Allen was in the 79th percentile for isolation defense and 70th for pick and roll defense. Bradley was in the 19th and 64th respectively.

Bradley plays more and has a higher usage than Allen, so I consider him a better player overall, but I don't really buy that he's a better defender.

[liveod]

I like the..."oh I was going for the block...see, my hand is up, and oh, I just was looking the other direction and didnt see where I was putting my feet" look. Very well practiced.
I imagine this will get reviewed by the NBA, and something will be said to the Celtics.

If you've ever played basketball, when you fall down, your momentum carries you. He was trying to turn so as not to get fouled, and then to rebound. You are looking for something that just isn't there.

Have played B-ball bruh.

It's a pretty well-known cheap a$$ play to jump under the legs of a shooter.

Big Al doesn't have to worry about retribution given that he doesn't actually jump when he shoots.

It's something I do to this day, and it's by accident. I play very aggressive defense in tight moments, sometimes get too close to shooters and up under them but they haven't landed on my foot. Just gotta be careful

Al is a classy guy, he's not a dirty player.

[Concernedcad]

If you've ever played basketball, when you fall down, your momentum carries you. He was trying to turn so as not to get fouled, and then to rebound. You are looking for something that just isn't there.

Have played B-ball bruh.

It's a pretty well-known cheap a$$ play to jump under the legs of a shooter.

Big Al doesn't have to worry about retribution given that he doesn't actually jump when he shoots.

It's something I do to this day, and it's by accident. I play very aggressive defense in tight moments, sometimes get too close to shooters and up under them but they haven't landed on my foot. Just gotta be careful

Al is a classy guy, he's not a dirty player.

Watch on YouTube

Classy.

[Marvel]

Al Horford's 'Oops,'I did it again in the playoffs' highlights.

Same sweeping leg motion in both plays.

Yes, I'm going to call it dirty.

Yep. He learned this while with the Hawks. It was one of their specialities.

I was in the ATL a couple of years ago and was sitting right behind the bucket when some clown from the Hawks (cant remember his name) did this to Kobe after Kobe had scored 30 in the third period.

It's a really dirty play and the league needs to crack down hard on it.

I remember when that happened to Kobe in 2013. It was a few weeks before he tore his achilles. I think it was Dahntay Jones who did that.

Yeah that's dangerous, i hate it. I mentioned this on our board but players really need to be more aware of where they plant their feet contesting shots. Just careless.

[Darth Celtic]

Haha classic over reaction by Wiz fans. 6min in, Boston is Inferior, we will win in 4/5, and the Cavs are in trouble. Now this series is over. Boston will shoot 50 percent from 3 every game, we will shoot 50 percent at the ft line, and Wall will suck. The fact is that with the last 3 things I just named being heavily in Bostons favor, this was still a 3pt game midway through the 4th. Calm down. I won't even think that it's over even if we lose game 2. Sorry but I have no fear of Smart, Crowder, Olympic, and Bradley running through us this series. We will show up

Don't forget the Celtics spotted the wizards 16 points to start the game. Don't think that happens again. If the wizards lose the next game, I believe it's over.

Because the Celtics/Bulls series was over after Bulls went up 2-0? That's just dumb. If Boston wins the next game, they are supposed too. 7 game series. You win your home games and try to take just 1 game on the road as the Wiz and you win the series.

[KamikazeK]

My whole bottom line to Wiz fans and Celtics fans about this series. Every once in a while there is a exception to the rule and also this seems like one of those fairy tale stories where they use ITs sister as motivation and go on a big run but the truth is that barring major injuries, the other 90-99 times out of 100, the creme always rises to the top in a best of 7.

You guys can be crazy and bet your money on a bunch of role players or a deep bench full of role players but the truth is that stars will adjust. Boston will win games strictly on heart and will. Guys like Smart, Bradley, and Crowder are going to give there all on every possession. That's why they are in the league.

Guys like Wall & Beal and our superior role players don't do that. It is why Boston will always be a high sees but go home early like Thibbs Bulls. There will be a point within the next 2 games where we adjust. You can't be on cruise control against this team. They won't let you rest. You have to be intense and focus every possession. Guys aren't used to that until you face it. The underdog player always wins early strictly because of that.

Then at some point the stud figures it out and you start seeing the difference between a 5'9 one way star vs a 6'4 2 way star.A feel good story in Bradley vs a real star in Beal. 2 rough house Rudy type defenders in Smart & Bradley vs unstoppable guys and so on down the list. Give them time to adjust. Their style is a shock to the system but when you get used to it, I won't be surprised if we will 4 straight.

Also lets stop acting like Stevens is the golden child. He literally had the worst playoff record in history until Rondo went down and we may not even be playing them if that didn't happen. Then he got lucky today with the Morris injury which made it easier to start Smart in the 2nd half. Be patient. These guys will figure out how to get past there hustle game and the superior talent will take over

Quoting for future reference

[AFM]

Come on dude. Stop trolling.

[Jimmy Recard]

Al Horford's 'Oops,'I did it again in the playoffs' highlights.

Same sweeping leg motion in both plays.

Yes, I'm going to call it dirty.

Yep. He learned this while with the Hawks. It was one of their specialities.

I was in the ATL a couple of years ago and was sitting right behind the bucket when some clown from the Hawks (cant remember his name) did this to Kobe after Kobe had scored 30 in the third period.

It's a really dirty play and the league needs to crack down hard on it.

I actually remember mentioning it the playoff game thread 2 years ago when Beal went down that I thought it was a dirty play and Horford knew exactly what he was doing. **** that guy. Same guy who ended TJ Ford's career with a bush league move.

[Mojo Amok]

I'm surprised that there's any controversy over the blatant Horford undercut. It's quite clear that it's a dirty play on this one:

Read on Twitter

He's not going up to challenge the shot so much as creating a context where he can plausibly undercut Morris, which just, gosh, happened to take place in the playoffs. Again.

It's not even remotely close to being a natural shot challenging motion. There would be no more efficient method of getting your foot to that exact spot quickly than What Horford did.

The intent was clear.

[Dat2U]

IMO the reason we lost game 1 came down to one thing. The Celtics made 19 of 39 3s. That's a whopping 57 pts on 39 shots. That's nearly impossible to beat when you allow that. We gave up 123 points in a regulation game. I question the defensive strategy of trying to shut off Thomas' driving lanes b/c every time Thomas attacked the paint, the defense would get sucked in and he'd kick out and someone on the perimeter would be open either on the first or second pass EVERY SINGLE F*CKING TIME. We focused so much on Thomas getting in the paint that we allowed guys like Crowder to go bonkers from deep. Wall & Beal had their troubles sticking with Thomas as expected but all honesty I don't think Thomas killed us. He did what he normally does, it was everyone else getting off.

With Thomas on the floor, we were dead even with the Celtics in terms of +/-. In the 10 minutes Thomas was off the floor, we were -13. Again our bench raises it's ugly head. People will look at the box score and say Bogdanovic had an efficient game scoring 10 pts on 5 shots in 19 minutes. In reality he gave up so much more on the other end as Boston targeted him directly on defense. That's going to be a problem. Jennings gave us nothing but poor defense. Oubre was brutal despite the two 3s he made early on. Boston was able to rest Isaiah on defense against Oubre b/c he's mostly standing on the wing and isn't a threat to dribble drive. On defense he constantly got lost on his rotations. I'm ready to call for Satoransky to eat some of Bogdanovic & Jennings minutes. We lose something offensively but that's not really a problem for us right now. We also desperately need Mahinmi back as he'll be insurance for the dribble drives Bogs & Jennings will inevitably allow.

The only solace I take is it's unlikely that Boston goes 50% from 3 on 40 shots. But if we keep giving them such wide open looks from 3 were probably going to lose the series because they'll still likely make a good percentage due to the amount of guys they have that can shoot from deep.

[WallToWall]

Al Horford's 'Oops,'I did it again in the playoffs' highlights.
Same sweeping leg motion in both plays.
Yes, I'm going to call it dirty.

I like the..."oh I was going for the block...see, my hand is up, and oh, I just was looking the other direction and didnt see where I was putting my feet" look. Very well practiced.
I imagine this will get reviewed by the NBA, and something will be said to the Celtics.

If you've ever played basketball, when you fall down, your momentum carries you. He was trying to turn so as not to get fouled, and then to rebound. You are looking for something that just isn't there.

Sadly not the case. I played high school, and still play weekend games. I have a pretty good idea of where my opponent is, where his hands are, which way his body is going, and a reasonable idea of where his feet will be, when its a jump shot. By the time you get into the NBA, you know where to put your feet. You know where you opponents feet are going to touch down. You've seen a jump shot a million times by then. I'd like to believe that there was no malice intended, but the video dont lie. Look at where his hand is...he is not going for the block. His hand is way to the left of the shot. He is more concerned about where to put his left foot. If he were indeed trying to turn and not foul, as you suggest, then he would continue to pivot his body to the right, and not do the extra butt bump. He may be 250lbs, but there is plenty of video that shows he has pretty good body control to complete that pivot/rotation (he's done it in the past). One more thing of note...look at where Horfords right foot lands. It would be exactly where Morris' right foot would have been if he came down cleanly. Now, in addition to Morris' left ankle, imagine what this could have been if Horford stepped on and pinned Morris' right foot on the ground (250lbs would do that, you know), after the butt bump, and Morris continued his fall to the ground. Yah, Horford knew what he was doing, and he is pretty well practiced at it. Thats just my opinion. You can put on your own polarized lenses on and see things different.
When I played pick-up games, we used to see players that would do things like that once in a while. You get to know when they're really going for a block, and when they're trying to take you out.

[dangermouse]

This series is now the WIZ KARATE KIDS series.

They sweep the leg, we kick their azz.