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KillahGhostface wrote:Last night felt more to me like the defense than the offense, though both were bad in the second half lol. In crunch time, Tatum went 3-4, though he had 1 ugly turnover. Jaylen went 2-3, with one ugly forced three. Al went 0-1, KP went 0-2, and Springer went 0-1.

A big problem was that the Celtics only cashed in on 5 of Tatum’s 15 potential assists, multiple of which were down the stretch. Considering they were primarily wide open threes, that was costly. The most glaring was the Springer one with 4 minutes left, as that would usually be White or Holiday, who drill those shots. Would have given them a 5 point lead. Celtics then went and got a stop on the next possession, Tatum passed the ball ahead to KP on the break, who got his layup blocked by Capela.

Also, I’m never the “ref” guy, but it was annoying watching the Hawks draw touch fouls down the stretch, while Tatum was getting tackled off-ball on the other end lol.

Atlanta ortg for the game was 129, or 15 points higher than the Harden-era Rockets team. Basically this shizz is going to happen where the 3pt rate has gotten so high, if a junk team shoots 50% from three and a good team shoots 29%, upsets are going to happen.

There is just higher variance now imo. Sort of like a hot hockey goalie or whatever.

In some ways makes the success this team has had even more impressive, it was just a year ago everyone was touting an 'era of parity' or whatever due to the three ball rates and the cap rules.

Don't hear much about that this year even though those trends have just continued to increase.

chrisab123 wrote:This might have been the worst 2nd half Mazzulla coached this year.

Not trying to be combative. I'm genuinely not sure how statements like this can be made when all of us are just watching the games on TV and therefore we don't have visibility into so much of the coaching that Mazzulla does.

None of us were in the locker room at halftime, none of us were on the bench, in the huddle. We don't know any of the words he actually said to the players during the game..

If you watch the play, the Jaylen Brown forced 3 was mostly a result of Porzingis. Porzingis was suppose to come over and set a screen and he was all confused. By the time Porzingis came over to set the screen he fell down on the floor and it broke up the play with about 3-4 seconds left on the shot clock. Not giving a pass to Brown (know one should ever dribble 23 times on this team) just stating the facts of what happened. Maybe know one knew what was going on? Maybe everyone was confused?

If there is anything I worry about with the Celtics in the playoffs it's Porzingis. Porzingis made a number of lazy passes last night, he was pushed around, long three point attempts in critical situations etc.

Is Porzingis ready for playoff basketball and playoff intensity?

I don't know, we will find out.

Look, aside from the Hot Hawk shooting, 2 missing starters, Porzingis having a below average game and anemic rebounding:

the Celtics shot selection was DUMB and that's all ON THE COACH.

36-57 2 point Field Goals = 63% from 2
11-38 3 point Field Goals = 28.9% from 3
13-19 Free Throws = 68%

It's pretty damn obvious that they should have switched from 3's to 2's and drives in the 2nd Half.

That's a decision you pay your coach to make. This one was a NO-Brainer. But they got a coach with no brain - so they lost.

They also got very little out of Hauser's 27 minutes of court time.

We certainly should have been able to overcome it with a 30 point lead, but to hear Murray say immediately after the game that they overcame the refs in the first half was laughable. He won so he won't be fined for it, but the way JT and JB were both mugged on and off ball in the 2nd half was bad. Like someone get a mic in front of Gobert in a hurry bad. They both push off on drives, but to hear Nique talk about it non-stop and ignore the contact before must be what other fans felt when listening to Tommy lol. I'll give the refs a slight pass in that they didn't call the push offs at least because if you're going to call those then you have to call that contact beforehand. I can't remember who it was, maybe Stan Van Gundy, but a few games ago a national announcer made that same statement when responding to a push off the Jays did that another announcer brought up. SVG might be the only national guy that likes us so that's why I'm thinking it was him.

Tatum getting locked up by Wesley Matthews was pathetic

Forgot to mention it was all Marcus Smart’s fault.

Sign the King of the Fourth - IT

Romeiro Celtic wrote:The Heat looking at us right now like...

F*** the Heat!

Green89 wrote:

JimmyFromNz wrote:Yes it's frustrating, but again perspective.

- We know this team is capable of playing some very rigid and lackadaisical ball in the clutch.
- Refer to the past 6 seasons under multiple different coaches...
- Today was one of those days compounded by complacency after going up 30 in a late March game.
- But consider that carefully in the wider context...

- We have won 20 of the last 22 games.
- We have already tied up the #1 seed.
- We are on track for one of the highest NET ratings ever.
- We are actively employing regular rest days for our top 8 players.

It doesn't mean there's no scrutiny allowed. The biggest outstanding red flag for me remains the final 4 minutes.

Luckily we have been blowing teams out at an unprecedented rate so it hasn't surfaced often, we also remain around the top 8 clutch teams in the league. Which is good, but relatively we then consider what we 'should be'... What does need to change is this stat:

Rank 30th: Boston Celtics Clutch Games Played: 31 Clutch Pace: 94.74

That is bottom of the league, and completely unacceptable for a team with the offensive weapons we have. For those that choose to watch the games, I think we can attest to how that links to what we are seeing with decision making of our two star players.

Just throw this one away and head to the next one.

Now 6-11 when tied or down in the game's final 2 minutes.

6+11 doesn't add up to 18 is what I am learning. Close... 1 in 38 needs to be reminded..

Jammer wrote:Look, aside from the Hot Hawk shooting, 2 missing starters, Porzingis having a below average game and anemic rebounding:

the Celtics shot selection was DUMB and that's all ON THE COACH.

36-57 2 point Field Goals = 63% from 2
11-38 3 point Field Goals = 28.9% from 3
13-19 Free Throws = 68%

It's pretty damn obvious that they should have switched from 3's to 2's and drives in the 2nd Half.

That's a decision you pay your coach to make. This one was a NO-Brainer. But they got a coach with no brain - so they lost.

They also got very little out of Hauser's 27 minutes of court time.

I mean, you make it seem so easy, like it's a video game or something. Press the A button for a 2 pt shot and press the B button for a. 3pt shot. Yeah, A button every possession magically win, right? It doesn't really work that way.

A lot of times, we take a 3 because that's what the defense gives you. Often times, they pack their defense into the paint to take away driving lanes.

Also, you don't just completely stop shooting 3's altogether. Just because they're going in at a low %, that could change very quickly during the course of the game - especially since we have one of the best shooting teams in the league.

Also, seems really over the top hyperbolic to use all these capital letters, use different color font and say it's all on the coach.Like, how do you figure? The coach isn't the one on the court taking the shots. Again, it's not a video game where Mazzulla can push a button to force his players to take a certain type of shot, just at the right time. The players are the ones making the players, making the reads, taking the shots. Seems weird to not give them even an ounce of blame/accoutability.

We did attack the paint sometimes. Look at the awesome dunk Tatum had where he drive, was patient, methodical, got into the paint and threw down the 1 handed dunk. I'm sure they'd like to make plays like that more often but again, the opposing defense often takes the paint away by packing their defenders into it.

Still, we scored more points in the paint in the 2nd half last night than Atlanta did:

31to6 wrote:Impressed with how many people blame the coach. Unless we were playing our crappy zone for long — were they?

Joe didn’t call the “take 9 seconds to get to half court” play.

Or go 1-for-a lot on 3s in the second half.

Coaches can help but it’s a players league.

maybe.. but what is the use of a coach then if he "won't help"

Deivork wrote:

Shak_Celts wrote:why does it always have to be us going in on each other after a loss? what is it about sports that makes us lose our minds? it's not like we were out there playing and caused the outcome. it's definitely not that serious! we all need to do better!

Couldn't agree more. It's okay to vent your frustrations, but there seems to be a fixation to judge other posters: whether on their opinions, on how and when they post, etc. No need for that. If someone critisizes your favourite team or player it's not an attack on you! Of course people will overreact, but we can't help that. This is a basketball forum and if the team played bad, it'll be called out.

The "judging" other posters are far more from 2 Posters who seemingly have an obsession with "protecting Joe" like he is a little puppy. Everyone else talks about Boston not "other" posters.

10 pages after a loss, 3 after a win, never change realgm celtics!

When you take all the emotions out of it and look at it from a bird's eye view, the Celtics were begging for a game like last night. This is the 4th game in a row where the opponent has shot better than 50% from the field. The opponents the last 4 games were the Bucks, Bulls, Pistons and Hawks. Not exactly a powerhouse of opponents.

During the last 4 games teams have shot .536 FG Pct and .421 3 PT Pct against the Celtics. Not exactly #2 Defense in the NBA.

Celtics just have to get back to playing defense.

playa-hater wrote:

31to6 wrote:Impressed with how many people blame the coach. Unless we were playing our crappy zone for long — were they?

Joe didn’t call the “take 9 seconds to get to half court” play.

Or go 1-for-a lot on 3s in the second half.

Coaches can help but it’s a players league.

maybe.. but what is the use of a coach then if he "won't help"

I think he's trying his best. Maybe it'll be good enough, and maybe it won't -- we'll have to see in the playoffs. His methodology so far has been to let the players play and try to win games. Often they do, but sometimes they do stupid things and then the coach gets a lot of the blame. That's how it is in all of the US team sports I'm familiar with.

CelticsPride18 wrote:Tatum getting locked up by Wesley Matthews was pathetic

the adjective I'd use is 'entirely predictable'.
Heck, Colin Sexton got rough with JT a week or so ago and threw him off.
Anyone can do it. He doesn't like contact.

Deivork wrote:

Shak_Celts wrote:why does it always have to be us going in on each other after a loss? what is it about sports that makes us lose our minds? it's not like we were out there playing and caused the outcome. it's definitely not that serious! we all need to do better!

Couldn't agree more. It's okay to vent your frustrations, but there seems to be a fixation to judge other posters: whether on their opinions, on how and when they post, etc. No need for that. If someone critisizes your favourite team or player it's not an attack on you! Of course people will overreact, but we can't help that. This is a basketball forum and if the team played bad, it'll be called out.

If you have the time check the game threads of the 15 Celtic losses.

You will see there are posters who blame Joe for every single Celtic loss.

I understand criticizing the player or the coach, that's fair game, but there's really something wrong if every Celtic loss is Joe's fault.

One of those posters is now resorting to using a burner account so that it won't be obvious it's the same person blaming Joe for every Celtic loss.