GT: Suckers vs Bullets part 4

[JWizmentality]

I don't see the point of insulting IT. He's a tremendous basketball player -- pound for pound he might be the best player in the league! & he's got a lot of heart too. Wasn't too long ago we were all urging Ernie to sign him!

As to complaining that he doesn't get the calls he should get -- show me an NBA player that doesn't think that!

Yeah...then he should stop being a little b*tch.

[Mojo Amok]

I don't see the point of insulting IT. He's a tremendous basketball player -- pound for pound he might be the best player in the league! & he's got a lot of heart too. Wasn't too long ago we were all urging Ernie to sign him!

As to complaining that he doesn't get the calls he should get -- show me an NBA player that doesn't think that!

I agree on IT, though it's not a great look in the postgame presser for him - especially given that their perimeter defenders are quite handsy too, which makes it seem particularly hypocritical. Wall also drew quite a bit of contact around the rim that went uncalled.

And in fairness, they're complaining about those remarks from IT over on the Celtics Postgame thread as well.

But still, critiques should be above the belt; 'not a great look for the team leader' would be better than 'LOL, what a ****ing *****!!!' and the like.

[P'Oed]

That 3rd quarter run was fast-break porn. Seriously, I've never seen so many end-to-end scores off of steals or misses in a row in my life. They start getting quick with the whistles on some of those strips up in Boston and we won't be able to put that kind of run together again. Our half court offense is decent but man, when we get out and run the series definitely turns in our favor.

[Revived]

Gerald Green: We're Gonna Beat Wizards Ass In Game 4

Gerald Green had sharp words for the Washington Wizards following the Boston Celtics' Game 3 loss that was feisty and one-sided.

Kelly Oubre was ejected when he shoved Kelly Olynyk to the floor in the second quarter following a hard screen.

“We’re gonna beat their ass in Game 4,” Green said.

Green started in Game 3 after not playing in Game 2.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/245859/Gerald-Green-Were-Gonna-Beat-Their-Ass-In-Game-4

[zero2hero]

Yep. The Celtics aren't usually the talking team. From Marcus Smart's comments to Green's - now Isaiah's, I'd like to think we've built a house in their heads . You won't beat us playing in the muck

[WallToWall]

Hopefully no more home cooked officiating for Boston in game 5. Gotta get that game 5 win.

I hope so too. I think the NBA looked at how the game was being played in this series, after they had to judge what to do with Oubre. If true, I am quite glad about it. I have hope that the refs will call the game properly.

[CobraCommander]

Captain Jack in DC

Ok i checked....Money Stacks is from Texas, didnt play in DC (closes to DC is Oak Hill

[CobraCommander]

I really like the Wizards playoff home uniforms. I'd like these to be their regular home uniform.

They are just the best.

why Beal gotta always be the dude with "the 4.0 GPA, going to med school, with the perfect jump shot form and im classy" look

[Zonkerbl]

Is it just me or is it clear the Wizards are the better team in this series?

[Saqs]

Is it just me or is it clear the Wizards are the better team in this series?

It's been clear. Talent for talent the C's can't stay with the Wiz for 48. They need some kind of anomaly (shooting lights out from 3, a superhero performance, refs giving them help) for it to even be close to being in their favor.

[dangermouse]

Is it just me or is it clear the Wizards are the better team in this series?

When teams let us play our style of ball, we look like the best team in the league.

[stevemcqueen1]

Gerald "I Meant Game 5" Green.

[80sballboy]

I don't see the point of insulting IT. He's a tremendous basketball player -- pound for pound he might be the best player in the league! & he's got a lot of heart too. Wasn't too long ago we were all urging Ernie to sign him!

As to complaining that he doesn't get the calls he should get -- show me an NBA player that doesn't think that!

All respect to IT and what he's done throughout the ordeal with his teeth and the horrible tragedy of losing his younger sister. Yet, we always think Wall should get all the calls driving to the basket. He didn't in this game and lost the ball several times or missed several layups early, where there may have been contact. I just think Danny Crawford and company decided to not make it a free throw contest and that's what great players expect. Initiate contact and get the call. Drive to the basket and get stripped but you get the call because the defender may have also hit your hand, wrist or body. He did not the calls in this game that he got at home and didn't really get them in Game 3, though he just played poorly. He was great early in this game but then the Wiz forced him to drive and took away the 3.

While I don't think you should not get some calls, I like when players have to make shots and not get every single call going into the lane or initiating contact like a Harden gets. It makes for more fun watching even if it hurts our best player (Wall).

[WallToWall]

Is it just me or is it clear the Wizards are the better team in this series?

We are the better team. However, the better team doesn't always win the series. If the C's get a few lucky breaks, a few missed calls or home cookin' by the refs, this (as so far proven) will be a different series with an outcome that doesn't favor us.

[Kanyewest]

Little b*tch mad he's not getting all his usual BS calls. Poor baby. He should try running into his teammates more often. GTFO

Watch on YouTube

He was complaining about the officials in the last game as well.

[stevemcqueen1]

Agreed. Bradley does the best against Wall. And IT on Beal is your best option there. It'll be interesting to see how things shake out in the next few games. I think both sides are pretty much done with feeling out each other's strategy. Now it's just matchup exploitation. I think Brooks will continue to try and find ways for Beal to take advantage of IT. Simply backing him down in the post doesn't seem to be working that well. But there are other ways to do it.

Meanwhile, the Wizards seem to have settled on their strategy to handle the IT pick-and-roll. Gortat is showing harder on the screens and a help defender is dropping down to contain the rolling big. Washington is content to force the other players to beat them from 3-point range. If Crowder, Olynyk, Bradley and Smart hit their 3's, the Celtics will win. If they don't, they'll lose.

Sticking Thomas on Beal isn't a great strategy though because we can run our half court offense through Beal. If you force Thomas to run through screens you're going to wear him down and get bad switches that lead to Beal hitting open threes like he did in the third quarter. Those shots are almost lay ups for him.

Wizards are a particularly bad match up for Boston because we're one of the only teams where our entire starting five can score and thus there is nowhere to hide Thomas. I thin you have to go back to sticking him on Porter and hope that Otto is feeling passive/not hitting his jumper.

Beal's defense on Isaiah Thomas has been outstanding in these last two games. When he's dialed in like this, Beal's on ball defense is very underrated. He has elite lateral speed, probably the best on the team. And he attacks screens aggressively. He's strong and well conditioned. And he has great footwork, you can tell he's worked really hard to develop that. Also see it on offense in that highly effective herky jerky hesitation dribble drive game. So putting him on Thomas has been one of the main keys to limiting his effectiveness. Thomas is not very good at passing out of doubles and traps. That surprises me. He doesn't keep his head up on the drive, so he's not seeing the floor the way he should and he ends up panicking too often. Tonight it led to a lot of live ball turnovers.

[Illmatic12]

We don't have to post Beal on IT. Thomas gets screened off by a gust of wind, if we just run Beal off of curl screens he'll have an open midrange jumper every time. IT won't be anywhere in the vicinity once he gets screened off by Gortat.

And agreed @steve, Beal moves laterally on defense a lot quicker than you would think from watching him on O. He moves smooth and methodically on offense, but on defense he has very quick hands + feet

[zero2hero]

Meanwhile, the Wizards seem to have settled on their strategy to handle the IT pick-and-roll. Gortat is showing harder on the screens and a help defender is dropping down to contain the rolling big. Washington is content to force the other players to beat them from 3-point range. If Crowder, Olynyk, Bradley and Smart hit their 3's, the Celtics will win. If they don't, they'll lose.

Thomas is not very good at passing out of doubles and traps. That surprises me. He doesn't keep his head up on the drive, so he's not seeing the floor the way he should and he ends up panicking too often. Tonight it led to a lot of live ball turnovers.

Yeah, that surprised me too. I just watched highlights of the game and you were right Nate, it seemed we were having our bigs hedge hard on PNR's with the trailing man setting a trap, while dropping a guy back playing almost a free-safety role. The blitzing trap prevented Isaiah from making that skip pass to the weakside corner 3. It seemed like the only thing Isaiah could do was throw it to the pop/roll guy, in which our wing guys were aggressive and made damn good plays on the ball. I'm wondering if Stevens will counter this and try to have Isaiah get rid of the ball earlier. Hopefully Brooks can make that necessary adjustments if Stevens does counter our current scheme. They had a guy open underneath a buncha times but Isaiah wasn't able to find them. Then again he is 5'9 so maybe he can't actually see over our length.

[Kanyewest]

I remember mentioning before this series (I think here?) that tempo will dictate the series. The Celtics playing an under control game got them two straight games. However, the last 2 games being out-of-control pace has changed the series.

Washington has all the momentum right now. They're the second-best (maybe best?) fast-break team in the league for a reason.

I think the Celtics have to start Jaylen Brown, I don't know about you guys but I think Gerald Green and Amir Johnson can't compete with your group. Maybe Brown can, idk.

Porter is super underrated dude. Wall/Beal are great but he took it to another level this year.

Overall, I'm disappointed my team lost but I love it entertainment-wise when a series goes long so at least this is fun now. I just hope Boston can pull out Game 5.

GG, gents.

What does starting Jaylen Brown accomplish? Who is he replacing? The fundamental problem still exists. There is no where to hide Isaiah on the Wizards, and Wall is so good that even Boston's exceptional perimeter defenders cannot guard him one-on-one.

Yeah, I'm not sure where the Celtics go from here and who becomes their 5th starters

Smart- Probably their best perimeter defender. Move Crowder to the 4. Your spacing becomes pretty bad although Smart is OK from corner 3s.

Johnson- He plays well in stretches however it looked he got gassed in the 2nd half after scoring the first 5 points for the Celtics.

Brown- His length is interesting and certainly has the highest upside. Reminds me of Kelly Oubre in that he will often make a spectacular play but commit a boneheaded mistake, and TBH he makes more mistake prone than Oubre.

Olynyk - At least you can argue he stretches the floor. I feel his interior defense is pretty bad especially when Wall penetrates I feel like he's pretty unaware defensively though.

Green- He is probably your best 3 point shooter but seems like he's a bad defender overall.

Terry Rozier- Probably the best offensive player out of the bunch. May be able to penetrate pretty well after the Wizards double Isiah. You guys will be super small and again a young player I'm not sure if his basketball IQ is high.

What I find interesting about your roster is that guys like Morris or Bojan could start for you guys although your bench overall has played much better than ours.

[J-Ves]

Little b*tch mad he's not getting all his usual BS calls. Poor baby. He should try running into his teammates more often. GTFO

Watch on YouTube

If Wall took zero free throws on the road we'd be pretty PO'd as well. The refs were letting a lot of contact go both ways and it ended up benefiting the Wizards big time, but I'm not too confident that's going to continue the rest of the series.