Celtics 120 @ Rockets 123 Post-game Notes (44-20)

[chrisab123]

Sure if you want the team to regress we can do that.

So trading Al’s salary to match up for an AD deal makes the team regress? I like Al and all but it’s getting tiring to see him struggle against elite teams. Monroe at whatever number is a steal. He seems to be working out on the 2nd unit.

Well AD is not available.

Neither was Kyrie last year...

Point is depending on where NO finishes it seems like an easy sell with all of the picks etc. Still keep defensive stopper Smart instead of S&T

[titlebound1]

Ass of shame? Are you kidding me?

We were playing the second best team in the league on the road, with them having won 14 straight.

Losing at the end like that sucked, but I didn’t expect us to even be in a position to win to be honest.

Yeah, no way this should be an ass, lol.

This is where we just have a difference of opinion. I don’t do the whole “moral victory” thing because we played them so tough for 46 minutes and damn near led throughout that whole time frame. I look at the game in its totality. I put more onus on how teams play and close out during crunch time of a close game against a great team, then I do with how they play for the first 46 minutes. Last night, the Celtics choked away what would have been the best win of the season, by allowing Houston to go on a 12-2 run to close out the game.

For the most part, the team played fantastic, but only for 46 minutes. Those last two minutes were “pre-allstar break losing streak” bad. Kyrie had a missed lay up, two turnovers, gave up a transition layup off his own missed lay up, gave up a transition 3 off his turnover, and he couldn’t even properly miss a free throw on two separate tries. To give away the best win of the season because of those kind of mental lapses in crunch time, to me that deserves an ass of shame. Especially if you consider the fact that the whole night was like that for Kyrie. He shot a mere 6-17 from the floor and had 4 turnovers. He couldn’t stop a nose bleed on defense either.

Al was just as bad, so I’m not letting him off the hook either. There were far too many times he was just standing there and watching a rocket player get an offensive rebound for a put back lay up. It was embarrassing. Then there was the play where horford got the loose ball, and instead of calling a timeout and just holding on for a jump ball, he throws it right to a rocket player which led to more transition points. Kyrie and Al we’re a -18 and -22 respectively. That cost us the biggest win of the season. These guys need to be held more accountable and to higher standards. They can’t play like this in big games. I’d give them both an AOS vote.

You're way too emotional about one game. Losses happen. Yeah we probably should have won. But the world isn't going to end. Good players learn from losses.

[titlebound1]

On a side note...I absolutely hate the way Houston was fouling at the end. I know it's the smart thing to do..but I really don't believe that it should be allowed. Play the game

[ballup]

On a side note...I absolutely hate the way Houston was fouling at the end. I know it's the smart thing to do..but I really don't believe that it should be allowed. Play the game

It's a valuable strategy. I remember Doc implementating the exact strategy here and thinking he was a genius for it

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[DarkAzcura]

On a side note...I absolutely hate the way Houston was fouling at the end. I know it's the smart thing to do..but I really don't believe that it should be allowed. Play the game

It's a valuable strategy. I remember Doc implementating the exact strategy here and thinking he was a genius for it

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I don't really care that we lost, just the regular season, but that ending was a buzz kill. It doesn't happen enough for the NBA to do anything about it, but I don't get how this was any different than the 'hack a Shaq' rules? Aren't intentional fouls with 2 minutes left in the game supposed to be 2 shots and the ball?

EDIT: oh you have to be off the ball. I still think it's kind of lame. Such a good game, and it was reduced to that. I think it's smart to take advantage of that loop hole, but it's not good for the game. Defend the 3.

[Jakeopp]

On a side note...I absolutely hate the way Houston was fouling at the end. I know it's the smart thing to do..but I really don't believe that it should be allowed. Play the game

Agreed, but I certainly don't blame Houston for doing it. Do what you gotta do to win, it was a smart move by them. Does it feel cheap? Sure. It's the league's fault though.

[ballup]

On a side note...I absolutely hate the way Houston was fouling at the end. I know it's the smart thing to do..but I really don't believe that it should be allowed. Play the game

It's a valuable strategy. I remember Doc implementating the exact strategy here and thinking he was a genius for it

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

I don't really care that we lost, just the regular season, but that ending was a buzz kill. It doesn't happen enough for the NBA to do anything about it, but I don't get how this was any different than the 'hack a Shaq' rules? Aren't intentional fouls with 2 minutes left in the game supposed to be 2 shots and the ball?

EDIT: oh you have to be off the ball. I still think it's kind of lame. Such a good game, and it was reduced to that. I think it's smart to take advantage of that loop hole, but it's not good for the game. Defend the 3.

But why should we accept the losing team fouling to save time if we don't allow the winning team do the same to prevent the losing team from taking 3s? The same "defend the 3" could be rearranged in the former scenario like "make a defensive play instead of relying on stopping the clock"

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[CelticTillDeath]

“The ramifications could be costly!" "The ramifications could be costly!" THE RAMIFICATIONS COULD BE COSTLY!!!!!

My God man get a hold of yourself. This is the worst take ever. Sure, losing a game that you think you had can be frustrating. But your way beyond reactionary response about "this is inexcusable" and all that...it's a bad look man. Please, like I'm a 5 year old, explain the scenario in which during an 82 game season where we will lose 20-30 times how THIS loss and not others is the one that costs us and why? And if it's so inexcusable that we lost a game we were up by a certain amount with a certain time left, then what do you have to say about the last time we played Houston? We were down 26 and came back to win. There's no reason we should've won that game. And there have been at least a half a dozen games other than that one that you can say that about. By this logic, we should probably be closer to 36-28 than 44-20. Frustrating losses are frustrating. That's why we're fans. But can we not leap to the illogical and start lobbing empty veiled insinuations about the future of this team based one game. You're the kind of person Kyrie laughs at when they say things like that.

Look, if you can’t grasp how losing a game where we clearly should have won, while were in the midst of a tight race for the first seed, could be costly by the end of the year, then I don’t know what to tell you. I said this isn’t the first or “ONLY” loss that could be categorized as costly either, As I used the laker loss in LA as another example. I’m sure if I go back and look at the schedule, I could find a couple more games just like this one or the one in LA too. Games where you choke them away down the stretch, games that should have clearly been victories. Those are the games that can absolutely come back to haunt teams later in the year. If we lose the one seed by ONE game, there will be some people that go “man if only Kyrie made that lay up in Houston, then we would have had homecourt throughout”.

If Kyrie hits that lay up, your now up 8 with just over 2 minutes to play. That should have been the icing play. After that miss, the Celtics gave up a 12-2 run to close out the game, and completely choked away the best win of the season all in thanks to poor shot making, poor defense, poor decisions that led to turnovers, and a complete lack of focus which was clearly evident when Kyrie was trying to miss those free throws. If you can’t see for yourself how that kind of play in the last two minutes of a close game is inexcusable execution down the stretch, then I don’t know what else to tell you. We can’t play like down the stretch of close games in the playoffs or the outcome will be the exact same as it was last night. Our all stars absolutely need to be held more accountable and they need to flat out be better in close games or it will cost us. It’s so simple to grasp, that I’m actually kind of taken aback that your not getting this.

There’s a big difference in games that you lose, where there was no doubt you should have lost, and the games where you lose, that you should have won. The wins that you feel you gave away will always stick with you if it somehow effects seeding once the season is over. It such a simple concept to grasp.

And what the hell do those close wins, or comeback wins, have to do with what im talking about? We WON those games. Games you win can’t come back to hurt you down the stretch, because you WON. Just because we maybe shouldn’t have won some of those games is irrelevant. They still count as wins on your record, just like last night still counts as a loss on your record. The difference is in THOSE games that we came back to win, they had the execution you need down the stretch to Be successful. You take those wins and your happy. Whether you think they were lucky, or you think we should have lost, its irrelevant because it’s still a win. You take the W and you move on. Wins can only help you.

[titlebound1]

It's a valuable strategy. I remember Doc implementating the exact strategy here and thinking he was a genius for it

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

I don't really care that we lost, just the regular season, but that ending was a buzz kill. It doesn't happen enough for the NBA to do anything about it, but I don't get how this was any different than the 'hack a Shaq' rules? Aren't intentional fouls with 2 minutes left in the game supposed to be 2 shots and the ball?

EDIT: oh you have to be off the ball. I still think it's kind of lame. Such a good game, and it was reduced to that. I think it's smart to take advantage of that loop hole, but it's not good for the game. Defend the 3.

But why should we accept the losing team fouling to save time if we don't allow the winning team do the same to prevent the losing team from taking 3s? The same "defend the 3" could be rearranged in the former scenario like "make a defensive play instead of relying on stopping the clock"

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There is a bit of a difference. One is being used to extend the game, the other to simply prevent the other team from actually playing.

It's legal and obviously the smart thing to do. But like others have mentioned, it cheapens the game. I think most fans would prefer to watch it actually play out.

[DarkAzcura]

It's a valuable strategy. I remember Doc implementating the exact strategy here and thinking he was a genius for it

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

I don't really care that we lost, just the regular season, but that ending was a buzz kill. It doesn't happen enough for the NBA to do anything about it, but I don't get how this was any different than the 'hack a Shaq' rules? Aren't intentional fouls with 2 minutes left in the game supposed to be 2 shots and the ball?

EDIT: oh you have to be off the ball. I still think it's kind of lame. Such a good game, and it was reduced to that. I think it's smart to take advantage of that loop hole, but it's not good for the game. Defend the 3.

But why should we accept the losing team fouling to save time if we don't allow the winning team do the same to prevent the losing team from taking 3s? The same "defend the 3" could be rearranged in the former scenario like "make a defensive play instead of relying on stopping the clock"

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

I don't really like it when they do that either. I'm against all intentional fouling. Penalties should never have a positive outcome for the team committing the penality. It's a flaw of the game.

In general, though, it just looks worse when the winning team employs the same tactic. Have some confidence in your defense.

[truth18]

“The ramifications could be costly!" "The ramifications could be costly!" THE RAMIFICATIONS COULD BE COSTLY!!!!!

My God man get a hold of yourself. This is the worst take ever. Sure, losing a game that you think you had can be frustrating. But your way beyond reactionary response about "this is inexcusable" and all that...it's a bad look man. Please, like I'm a 5 year old, explain the scenario in which during an 82 game season where we will lose 20-30 times how THIS loss and not others is the one that costs us and why? And if it's so inexcusable that we lost a game we were up by a certain amount with a certain time left, then what do you have to say about the last time we played Houston? We were down 26 and came back to win. There's no reason we should've won that game. And there have been at least a half a dozen games other than that one that you can say that about. By this logic, we should probably be closer to 36-28 than 44-20. Frustrating losses are frustrating. That's why we're fans. But can we not leap to the illogical and start lobbing empty veiled insinuations about the future of this team based one game. You're the kind of person Kyrie laughs at when they say things like that.

Look, if you can’t grasp how losing a game where we clearly should have won, while were in the midst of a tight race for the first seed, could be costly by the end of the year, then I don’t know what to tell you. I said this isn’t the first or “ONLY” loss that could be categorized as costly either, As I used the laker loss in LA as another example. I’m sure if I go back and look at the schedule, I could find a couple more games just like this one or the one in LA too. Games where you choke them away down the stretch, games that should have clearly been victories. Those are the games that can absolutely come back to haunt teams later in the year. If we lose the one seed by ONE game, there will be some people that go “man if only Kyrie made that lay up in Houston, then we would have had homecourt throughout”.

If Kyrie hits that lay up, your now up 8 with just over 2 minutes to play. That should have been the icing play. After that miss, the Celtics gave up a 12-2 run to close out the game, and completely choked away the best win of the season all in thanks to poor shot making, poor defense, poor decisions that led to turnovers, and a complete lack of focus which was clearly evident when Kyrie was trying to miss those free throws. If you can’t see for yourself how that kind of play in the last two minutes of a close game is inexcusable execution down the stretch, then I don’t know what else to tell you. We can’t play like down the stretch of close games in the playoffs or the outcome will be the exact same as it was last night. Our all stars absolutely need to be held more accountable and they need to flat out be better in close games or it will cost us. It’s so simple to grasp, that I’m actually kind of taken aback that your not getting this.

There’s a big difference in games that you lose, where there was no doubt you should have lost, and the games where you lose, that you should have won. The wins that you feel you gave away will always stick with you if it somehow effects seeding once the season is over. It such a simple concept to grasp.

And what the hell do those close wins, or comeback wins, have to do with what im talking about? We WON those games. Games you win can’t come back to hurt you down the stretch, because you WON. Just because we maybe shouldn’t have won some of those games is irrelevant. They still count as wins on your record, just like last night still counts as a loss on your record. The difference is in THOSE games that we came back to win, they had the execution you need down the stretch to Be successful. You take those wins and your happy. Whether you think they were lucky, or you think we should have lost, its irrelevant because it’s still a win. You take the W and you move on. Wins can only help you.

You're just repeating yourself over and over.

Are you new to sports? This isn't a playoff game, it was a **** **** show of an ending and we **** up big time. Terrrible **** like losing games you should have won happens sometimes, you watch the film, learn from it and move on. In a month, no one will care about this game or the game we beat the Rockets in.

[CelticTillDeath]

Yeah, no way this should be an ass, lol.

This is where we just have a difference of opinion. I don’t do the whole “moral victory” thing because we played them so tough for 46 minutes and damn near led throughout that whole time frame. I look at the game in its totality. I put more onus on how teams play and close out during crunch time of a close game against a great team, then I do with how they play for the first 46 minutes. Last night, the Celtics choked away what would have been the best win of the season, by allowing Houston to go on a 12-2 run to close out the game.

For the most part, the team played fantastic, but only for 46 minutes. Those last two minutes were “pre-allstar break losing streak” bad. Kyrie had a missed lay up, two turnovers, gave up a transition layup off his own missed lay up, gave up a transition 3 off his turnover, and he couldn’t even properly miss a free throw on two separate tries. To give away the best win of the season because of those kind of mental lapses in crunch time, to me that deserves an ass of shame. Especially if you consider the fact that the whole night was like that for Kyrie. He shot a mere 6-17 from the floor and had 4 turnovers. He couldn’t stop a nose bleed on defense either.

Al was just as bad, so I’m not letting him off the hook either. There were far too many times he was just standing there and watching a rocket player get an offensive rebound for a put back lay up. It was embarrassing. Then there was the play where horford got the loose ball, and instead of calling a timeout and just holding on for a jump ball, he throws it right to a rocket player which led to more transition points. Kyrie and Al we’re a -18 and -22 respectively. That cost us the biggest win of the season. These guys need to be held more accountable and to higher standards. They can’t play like this in big games. I’d give them both an AOS vote.

You're way too emotional about one game. Losses happen. Yeah we probably should have won. But the world isn't going to end. Good players learn from losses.

No one is suggesting the world is going to end. I’m just not going to be like some people here and jump for joy and praise the team with moral victories because we out played them for 46 out of 48 minutes. I’m simply just saying they need better execution down the stretch to win games like this come playoff time. No loss is a good loss. Especially when you could have iced it with a layup with just 2 minutes left. We blew the game. No moral victories here.

I still think this team is a good team, I still think they can beat any team in the east in a 7 game series, and I still think we can get to the finals. I’m just not going to sit here and say I’m happy with the loss because we almost pulled it off against the best team in the nba who also happens to be on a 15 game win streak. I don’t do the moral victory thing, especially when you allow a 12-2 run to close out the game.

[titlebound1]

“The ramifications could be costly!" "The ramifications could be costly!" THE RAMIFICATIONS COULD BE COSTLY!!!!!

My God man get a hold of yourself. This is the worst take ever. Sure, losing a game that you think you had can be frustrating. But your way beyond reactionary response about "this is inexcusable" and all that...it's a bad look man. Please, like I'm a 5 year old, explain the scenario in which during an 82 game season where we will lose 20-30 times how THIS loss and not others is the one that costs us and why? And if it's so inexcusable that we lost a game we were up by a certain amount with a certain time left, then what do you have to say about the last time we played Houston? We were down 26 and came back to win. There's no reason we should've won that game. And there have been at least a half a dozen games other than that one that you can say that about. By this logic, we should probably be closer to 36-28 than 44-20. Frustrating losses are frustrating. That's why we're fans. But can we not leap to the illogical and start lobbing empty veiled insinuations about the future of this team based one game. You're the kind of person Kyrie laughs at when they say things like that.

Look, if you can’t grasp how losing a game where we clearly should have won, while were in the midst of a tight race for the first seed, could be costly by the end of the year, then I don’t know what to tell you. I said this isn’t the first or “ONLY” loss that could be categorized as costly either, As I used the laker loss in LA as another example. I’m sure if I go back and look at the schedule, I could find a couple more games just like this one or the one in LA too. Games where you choke them away down the stretch, games that should have clearly been victories. Those are the games that can absolutely come back to haunt teams later in the year. If we lose the one seed by ONE game, there will be some people that go “man if only Kyrie made that lay up in Houston, then we would have had homecourt throughout”.

If Kyrie hits that lay up, your now up 8 with just over 2 minutes to play. That should have been the icing play. After that miss, the Celtics gave up a 12-2 run to close out the game, and completely choked away the best win of the season all in thanks to poor shot making, poor defense, poor decisions that led to turnovers, and a complete lack of focus which was clearly evident when Kyrie was trying to miss those free throws. If you can’t see for yourself how that kind of play in the last two minutes of a close game is inexcusable execution down the stretch, then I don’t know what else to tell you. We can’t play like down the stretch of close games in the playoffs or the outcome will be the exact same as it was last night. Our all stars absolutely need to be held more accountable and they need to flat out be better in close games or it will cost us. It’s so simple to grasp, that I’m actually kind of taken aback that your not getting this.

There’s a big difference in games that you lose, where there was no doubt you should have lost, and the games where you lose, that you should have won. The wins that you feel you gave away will always stick with you if it somehow effects seeding once the season is over. It such a simple concept to grasp.

And what the hell do those close wins, or comeback wins, have to do with what im talking about? We WON those games. Games you win can’t come back to hurt you down the stretch, because you WON. Just because we maybe shouldn’t have won some of those games is irrelevant. They still count as wins on your record, just like last night still counts as a loss on your record. The difference is in THOSE games that we came back to win, they had the execution you need down the stretch to Be successful. You take those wins and your happy. Whether you think they were lucky, or you think we should have lost, its irrelevant because it’s still a win. You take the W and you move on. Wins can only help you.

Holy crap...yeah we all wanted them to win

[truth18]

This is where we just have a difference of opinion. I don’t do the whole “moral victory” thing because we played them so tough for 46 minutes and damn near led throughout that whole time frame. I look at the game in its totality. I put more onus on how teams play and close out during crunch time of a close game against a great team, then I do with how they play for the first 46 minutes. Last night, the Celtics choked away what would have been the best win of the season, by allowing Houston to go on a 12-2 run to close out the game.

For the most part, the team played fantastic, but only for 46 minutes. Those last two minutes were “pre-allstar break losing streak” bad. Kyrie had a missed lay up, two turnovers, gave up a transition layup off his own missed lay up, gave up a transition 3 off his turnover, and he couldn’t even properly miss a free throw on two separate tries. To give away the best win of the season because of those kind of mental lapses in crunch time, to me that deserves an ass of shame. Especially if you consider the fact that the whole night was like that for Kyrie. He shot a mere 6-17 from the floor and had 4 turnovers. He couldn’t stop a nose bleed on defense either.

Al was just as bad, so I’m not letting him off the hook either. There were far too many times he was just standing there and watching a rocket player get an offensive rebound for a put back lay up. It was embarrassing. Then there was the play where horford got the loose ball, and instead of calling a timeout and just holding on for a jump ball, he throws it right to a rocket player which led to more transition points. Kyrie and Al we’re a -18 and -22 respectively. That cost us the biggest win of the season. These guys need to be held more accountable and to higher standards. They can’t play like this in big games. I’d give them both an AOS vote.

You're way too emotional about one game. Losses happen. Yeah we probably should have won. But the world isn't going to end. Good players learn from losses.

No one is suggesting the world is going to end. I’m just not going to be like some people here and jump for joy and praise the team with moral victories because we out played them for 46 out of 48 minutes. I’m simply just saying they need better execution down the stretch to win games like this come playoff time.

No, you're not simply saying that, you're saying it over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

[ballup]

I don't really care that we lost, just the regular season, but that ending was a buzz kill. It doesn't happen enough for the NBA to do anything about it, but I don't get how this was any different than the 'hack a Shaq' rules? Aren't intentional fouls with 2 minutes left in the game supposed to be 2 shots and the ball?

EDIT: oh you have to be off the ball. I still think it's kind of lame. Such a good game, and it was reduced to that. I think it's smart to take advantage of that loop hole, but it's not good for the game. Defend the 3.

But why should we accept the losing team fouling to save time if we don't allow the winning team do the same to prevent the losing team from taking 3s? The same "defend the 3" could be rearranged in the former scenario like "make a defensive play instead of relying on stopping the clock"

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I don't really like it when they do that either. I'm against all intentional fouling. Penalties should never have a positive outcome for the team committing the penality. It's a flaw of the game.

In general, though, it just looks worse when the winning team employs the same tactic. Have some confidence in your defense.

I respect this stance

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[titlebound1]

This is where we just have a difference of opinion. I don’t do the whole “moral victory” thing because we played them so tough for 46 minutes and damn near led throughout that whole time frame. I look at the game in its totality. I put more onus on how teams play and close out during crunch time of a close game against a great team, then I do with how they play for the first 46 minutes. Last night, the Celtics choked away what would have been the best win of the season, by allowing Houston to go on a 12-2 run to close out the game.

For the most part, the team played fantastic, but only for 46 minutes. Those last two minutes were “pre-allstar break losing streak” bad. Kyrie had a missed lay up, two turnovers, gave up a transition layup off his own missed lay up, gave up a transition 3 off his turnover, and he couldn’t even properly miss a free throw on two separate tries. To give away the best win of the season because of those kind of mental lapses in crunch time, to me that deserves an ass of shame. Especially if you consider the fact that the whole night was like that for Kyrie. He shot a mere 6-17 from the floor and had 4 turnovers. He couldn’t stop a nose bleed on defense either.

Al was just as bad, so I’m not letting him off the hook either. There were far too many times he was just standing there and watching a rocket player get an offensive rebound for a put back lay up. It was embarrassing. Then there was the play where horford got the loose ball, and instead of calling a timeout and just holding on for a jump ball, he throws it right to a rocket player which led to more transition points. Kyrie and Al we’re a -18 and -22 respectively. That cost us the biggest win of the season. These guys need to be held more accountable and to higher standards. They can’t play like this in big games. I’d give them both an AOS vote.

You're way too emotional about one game. Losses happen. Yeah we probably should have won. But the world isn't going to end. Good players learn from losses.

No one is suggesting the world is going to end. I’m just not going to be like some people here and jump for joy and praise the team with moral victories because we out played them for 46 out of 48 minutes. I’m simply just saying they need better execution down the stretch to win games like this come playoff time. No loss is a good loss. Especially when you could have iced it with a layup with just 2 minutes left. We blew the game. No moral victories here.

I still think this team is a good team, I still think they can beat any team in the east in a 7 game series, and I still think we can get to the finals. I’m just not going to sit here and say I’m happy with the loss because we almost pulled it off against the best team in the nba who also happens to be on a 15 game win streak. I don’t do the moral victory thing, especially when you allow a 12-2 run to close out the game.

No one is asking you to jump for joy over a loss. You just keep saying the same thing over and over again in massive 5 paragraph posts as if people here don't understand how winning and losing works

[CelticTillDeath]

“The ramifications could be costly!" "The ramifications could be costly!" THE RAMIFICATIONS COULD BE COSTLY!!!!!

My God man get a hold of yourself. This is the worst take ever. Sure, losing a game that you think you had can be frustrating. But your way beyond reactionary response about "this is inexcusable" and all that...it's a bad look man. Please, like I'm a 5 year old, explain the scenario in which during an 82 game season where we will lose 20-30 times how THIS loss and not others is the one that costs us and why? And if it's so inexcusable that we lost a game we were up by a certain amount with a certain time left, then what do you have to say about the last time we played Houston? We were down 26 and came back to win. There's no reason we should've won that game. And there have been at least a half a dozen games other than that one that you can say that about. By this logic, we should probably be closer to 36-28 than 44-20. Frustrating losses are frustrating. That's why we're fans. But can we not leap to the illogical and start lobbing empty veiled insinuations about the future of this team based one game. You're the kind of person Kyrie laughs at when they say things like that.

Look, if you can’t grasp how losing a game where we clearly should have won, while were in the midst of a tight race for the first seed, could be costly by the end of the year, then I don’t know what to tell you. I said this isn’t the first or “ONLY” loss that could be categorized as costly either, As I used the laker loss in LA as another example. I’m sure if I go back and look at the schedule, I could find a couple more games just like this one or the one in LA too. Games where you choke them away down the stretch, games that should have clearly been victories. Those are the games that can absolutely come back to haunt teams later in the year. If we lose the one seed by ONE game, there will be some people that go “man if only Kyrie made that lay up in Houston, then we would have had homecourt throughout”.

If Kyrie hits that lay up, your now up 8 with just over 2 minutes to play. That should have been the icing play. After that miss, the Celtics gave up a 12-2 run to close out the game, and completely choked away the best win of the season all in thanks to poor shot making, poor defense, poor decisions that led to turnovers, and a complete lack of focus which was clearly evident when Kyrie was trying to miss those free throws. If you can’t see for yourself how that kind of play in the last two minutes of a close game is inexcusable execution down the stretch, then I don’t know what else to tell you. We can’t play like down the stretch of close games in the playoffs or the outcome will be the exact same as it was last night. Our all stars absolutely need to be held more accountable and they need to flat out be better in close games or it will cost us. It’s so simple to grasp, that I’m actually kind of taken aback that your not getting this.

There’s a big difference in games that you lose, where there was no doubt you should have lost, and the games where you lose, that you should have won. The wins that you feel you gave away will always stick with you if it somehow effects seeding once the season is over. It such a simple concept to grasp.

And what the hell do those close wins, or comeback wins, have to do with what im talking about? We WON those games. Games you win can’t come back to hurt you down the stretch, because you WON. Just because we maybe shouldn’t have won some of those games is irrelevant. They still count as wins on your record, just like last night still counts as a loss on your record. The difference is in THOSE games that we came back to win, they had the execution you need down the stretch to Be successful. You take those wins and your happy. Whether you think they were lucky, or you think we should have lost, its irrelevant because it’s still a win. You take the W and you move on. Wins can only help you.

You're just repeating yourself over and over.

Are you new to sports? This isn't a playoff game, it was a **** **** show of an ending and we **** up big time. Terrrible **** like losing games you should have won happens sometimes, you watch the film, learn from it and move on. In a month, no one will care about this game or the game we beat the Rockets in.

I’ve been watching basketball since the mid 80s, so no I’m not new to sports. And your making my point. You just said yourself this was a bad loss, a **** show of an ending, and a game we should have won. That’s my EXACT point. I don’t look at this as a moral victory, I look at this like a bad loss. That’s been my point this whole time.

There is one thing where I respectfully agree to disagree with you on though. I’m the kind of guy that if we miss out on the one seed by ONE game, I’ll remember bad losses like this one or the lakers one and I’ll question how that could have changed playoff matchups and outcomes. If we lose a game seven on the road to the raptors in the playoffs, because they finished one game ahead of us in the standings, this loss will be remembered by me. Look how important home court was last year in that wizards series. So yea, bad losses where we should have won, absolutely stick with me through the playoffs if those losses effect seeding.

[ballup]

I don't really care that we lost, just the regular season, but that ending was a buzz kill. It doesn't happen enough for the NBA to do anything about it, but I don't get how this was any different than the 'hack a Shaq' rules? Aren't intentional fouls with 2 minutes left in the game supposed to be 2 shots and the ball?

EDIT: oh you have to be off the ball. I still think it's kind of lame. Such a good game, and it was reduced to that. I think it's smart to take advantage of that loop hole, but it's not good for the game. Defend the 3.

But why should we accept the losing team fouling to save time if we don't allow the winning team do the same to prevent the losing team from taking 3s? The same "defend the 3" could be rearranged in the former scenario like "make a defensive play instead of relying on stopping the clock"

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There is a bit of a difference. One is being used to extend the game, the other to simply prevent the other team from actually playing.

It's legal and obviously the smart thing to do. But like others have mentioned, it cheapens the game. I think most fans would prefer to watch it actually play out.

It doesn‘t make sense to call one "not letting the other team play" and not the other. They're both forcing the other team to not play on offense.

Of course it's ugly, but eliminating intentional fouls has to go both ways.

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[Captain_Caveman]

My stat of the night:

Smart and Tatum played about the same minutes tonight, but Smart took 12 shots and Tatum took 6. They both made 4 shots.

I have been as high on Tatum as anyone, but Smart was about 5 times better than him tonight.

Horrible post lol.

It’s like hitting a home run early in the game, but striking out in the 9th inning with runner’s on base and you lose. Big freaking deal you play well early, because it’s how you finish the game that matters. Smart always seems to come up lame in the end. And I stand corrected from an earlier post. He didn’t take that unnecessary, contested shot with under two minutes to go, it was with 2:34 to go. Either way, it was a **** time for him to become Mr. Hero Smart with the ball. Didn’t even look to pass there. I don’t care how well he played earlier in the game, he sucked with the game on the line.

I’ll take the far more efficient Tatum getting 12 shots a game and let Smart take only 6, any game, any night. Tatum’s the more efficient shooter and Smart has no business taking a dozen shots in any Celtics game. He’s not that good an offensive player to be taking that many shots away from better shooters. Thought he had turned a corner by not chucking shots, especially late in games, and staying under 10 shots per game in his first 4 back from injury. I guess I was wrong. He hasn’t.

Yeah, Smart has been terrible for us in crunch time.

All that hustle and grit is clearly killing us.

Stop posting, lol.

[Feed Your Head]

I have been as high on Tatum as anyone, but Smart was about 5 times better than him tonight.

Horrible post lol.

It’s like hitting a home run early in the game, but striking out in the 9th inning with runner’s on base and you lose. Big freaking deal you play well early, because it’s how you finish the game that matters. Smart always seems to come up lame in the end. And I stand corrected from an earlier post. He didn’t take that unnecessary, contested shot with under two minutes to go, it was with 2:34 to go. Either way, it was a **** time for him to become Mr. Hero Smart with the ball. Didn’t even look to pass there. I don’t care how well he played earlier in the game, he sucked with the game on the line.

I’ll take the far more efficient Tatum getting 12 shots a game and let Smart take only 6, any game, any night. Tatum’s the more efficient shooter and Smart has no business taking a dozen shots in any Celtics game. He’s not that good an offensive player to be taking that many shots away from better shooters. Thought he had turned a corner by not chucking shots, especially late in games, and staying under 10 shots per game in his first 4 back from injury. I guess I was wrong. He hasn’t.

Yeah, Smart has been terrible for us in crunch time.

All that hustle and grit is clearly killing us.

Stop posting, lol.

Everything is Smarts fault for certain posters, it's pretty sad. Smart should turn down good shots because Tatum (who everyone knows I'm high as hell on) gets gun shy? He may have forced a couple of shots last night but he also got guys a ton of good looks and kept the ball moving.

Celtics lost, so blame Horford and Smart. Wash, rinse, repeat. Marcus has won them a handful of games in crunch time this year, anyone who knows basketball can see that.