Post#5 » by lethalweapon3 » Sat Mar 16, 2019 3:39 pm
Check out the big brain on… Brad!
“I think everybody knows, generally, where we are,” quipped Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens to the media after practice on Wednesday. No. he’s not talking New England geography. Rather, it’s the perilous #5 seed where his NBA team finds itself, a potentially disadvantageous position once the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs arrives.
The Pacers are unrelenting, while the 76ers are extra-motivated to avoid giving up their first-round homecourt spot, especially to a renowned rival like the Celtics. “We play those guys (Indy and Philly) three more times out of our (now 13 remaining) games. But every one of our games is important from the seeding standpoint.” Coach Brad has matchups like today’s matinee against the visiting Atlanta Hawks (12:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, NBC Sports Boston) squarely in mind.
The big fixes for the closing run are “pretty simple,” in Stevens’ mind, as he outlined them to the Gardner News. “Better transition defense and improve our habits in the halfcourt defensively, improve our habits in execution,” were the bullet points to his team for getting them out of neutral gear.
“As you go through a film, there’s a million things you can highlight. But, I think ultimately if we do these three things, then we’ll be better than we are today. And I think we need to be better than we are today to be able to move on, once the playoffs start, regardless of where we’re seeded.”
The C’s (42-27) are amidst the final homestand of the season, a three-game stretch that began on Thursday with a comeback win over Sacramento and concludes on Monday evening against Denver. After that, there are no more consecutive home games in the regular season.
Whether the next pair of consecutive contests at TD Garden occur in Games 1 and 2, or Games 3 and 4, depends on how well they finish games in the coming weeks. Their 25-10 record at the Gahden hasn’t been as solid as their Top 4 conference rivals’, with victory today granting Boston consecutive home wins for the first time since February 3.
There haven’t been any absurdly bad losses of late, unless you’re counting defeats at the hands of the visiting Lakers and Clippers in early February. But if they want to host the Sixers or Pacers to kick off a series, they can’t afford any more losses to “bad” teams (it’s nice putting quotes around bad these days) like the Hawks (24-45).
The situation was looking more harrowing after the All-Star Break than it does now. Boston had lost four of five games, including double-digit defeats at Chicago, at Toronto and versus Houston, before hitting the road for four games on the West Coast.
Then came the resounding win at the full-strength Warriors’ house on March 5, sparking a pair of additional road wins and turning the frown of Grumpy-Cat-turned-All-Star guard Kyrie Irving (2nd-career triple-double in Thursday’s win vs. SAC) upside down.
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes that I take full responsibility for,” Irivng introspectively shared with Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports earlier this week, regarding his interactions with media that have created a lot of unnecessary dandruff and think-pieces. “For me, I think because of how fixated I was on trying to prove other people wrong, I got into a lot of habits that were bad, like reading stuff and reacting emotionally.”
We get it, Kyrie. Rolling out there as a yung’un with Peak LeBron, and watching your foes bow humbly before you, getting all those favorable press clippings in Northeast Ohio, all of that was much more fun and carefree. But while you can’t do much about the problematic Boston sports media, there is no guarantee you’ll be able to buddy-ball and bully-ball your way to any better circumstance than you have right now (career-highs of 49.5 FG%, 41.1 3FG%, 7.1 APG) in Celtics Green. Chin Up, Uncle Drew!
I agreed with a good comment on Tha Internets about the recent downturn of play and focus from Marcus Morris. Separation Effect: one’s powers get weaker, the further away a twin gets. Mook and Keef are like the NBA’s Zan and Jayna (Did I just age myself? You bet I did! When does DC start casting for that movie?).
Marcus shook off the barnacles in 36 minutes against the Kings (21 points, 13 rebounds, 2 steals, 3-for-7 3FGs). That followed a 14-game stretch, once Markieff went from DC to OKC, when the starting power forward’s struggle was real (40.0 FG%, 25.7 3FG%, 11.9 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 2 steals total in the past month).
Morris and Gordon Hayward (30 off-bench points @ GSW) are showing occasional signs of life. Jayson Tatum has returned healthy after missing a game due to persistent shoulder soreness. And $29 million professional Embiid-stopper Al Horford (11.6 PPG, 5.8 RPG in last 5 games) continues doing whatever the heck else he does.
All they need is for Coach Brad to continue to stir the pot, Horford (5.0 APG, 1.8 TOs/game in last 5 games) and the Boston bigs to continue moving the ball effectively, and for Irving to just go create buckets, when it’s not so simple to just go get his own.
Trae Young is already halfway to Kyrie’s eight-year-career triple-double tally. The Hawks rookie star hasn’t approached that exalted stage, yet, where fans and media go from making his assailable defensive shortcomings subject to highlighted scrutiny and ridicule, to a point where not a single person gives a whit or anything that rhymes with whit. For guards especially, like Irving, Harden, and the retired Kobe, once the big plays during big wins start rolling in, Defense By Teammates Win Championships.
Back on December 14, Trae’s last visit to Boston included Gahden-variety defense (minus-26 in 23 minutes, no D-Rebs, no steals) and woeful offense (0-for-6 3FGs, 3 assists, 3 TOs). His teammates weren’t much better, especially as the Celtics packed the paint (ATL 20-for-48 2FGs), and as the Hawks left plentiful points on the parquet (20-for-32 FTs). About to drop to 6-22 on the season, Atlanta fell behind 42-19 in the opening frame, and a 41-26 slide in the third quarter proved too deep a hole from which to climb out.
Atlanta evened out at 8-8 during the games before the rematch, and the January 19 contest in Atlanta was much more level. Despite solid scoring from Irving (32 points, 5-for-8 3FGs) and Tatum, their teammates were well-contained, Atlanta breaking out to a 36-23 lead late in the first quarter behind 9 points by DeAndre’ Bembry.
The Celtics needed to tighten the screws defensively. Sparked by reserves Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown, Boston held the Hawks to 16 fourth-quarter and 38 second-half points to sneak out of the Farm with the 113-105 edge.
While Young has improved greatly and will only draw more defensive attention, the Celtics have yet to find a way to deal with the other rookie starter. He’s no Boston Strangler just yet, but Kevin “Strawberry Shortcake” Huerter had a team-high 19 points (5-for-8 3FGs) for the Hawks in Boston back in December, then matched Young with seven assists in January, to go along with his team-high 18 points (4-for-10 3FGs) and 3 steals.
Improving fullcourt play from Atlanta’s swingmen, including Huerter, Bembry, and Taurean Prince (feel free to join the party, Kent Bazemore), alleviates Young and John Collins while making the Hawks a greater challenge for the Celtics to overcome than in past meetings.
Since the last fun holiday, the Valentine’s Day massacre by the Knicks, coach Lloyd Pierce’s crew has not lost a game by double-digits. After the Hawks dominated the offensive glass and ran the Grizzlies ragged in Wednesday’s 132-111 victory, coach Stevens’ transitional defense and ball-controlling schemes will be put to the test.
Indeed, it’s St. Patty’s Day weekend in Beantown. By afternoon’s end, will Celtic eyes be smiling?
Hearts out to our New Zealand brethren. Let’s Go Hawks!
~lw3
"Dunking is better than sex." - Shawn Kemp, 1996
