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

[Captain_Caveman]

No he’s not. He is stealing about $8- $10 million a year for the Celtics. I’m ok with Horford getting paid $15 million a year because he does a lot of good things on the floor for this team. But at $25 million a year, everyone knows he is super over paid.

Horford has been bad for a few weeks now.

I’m loving how Monroe has played over the last 2 games.

What are you even getting at?

Monroe is a complete scrub and defensive **** pile who has done a decent job for two games against backup bigs.

Horford is helping to anchor an overachieving team and their #1 defense.

And you are trying to compare them somehow? Holy ****. Get a glove and get in the game. Just terrible. Absolutely terrible.

Sometimes, you just overanalyze the **** out of everything. The point is, we needed bench scoring and Monroe gives us that, regardless of how bad he is on defense. This team could have greatly used Lou Williams, and he sucks on D. Monroe as a bench big who can score in the paint is a tool we use to our advantage. We obviously didn’t want him for defense. Our team execs aren’t that stupid to have not realized what we were getting with him. But let me guess, you know better and would have added X player to our roster because you know it all, know it all in advance, and know more than anyone here about the Dubs. Your schtick is getting so old.

And regarding Horford, when he disappears in big games, we have a right to be pissed and criticize. Yes, overall, he’s been great this year and his value to this team is extremely underrated at times, and lots of criticism here is unjust, but let’s face it, Monroe was better tonight. Much better. The time to defend Horford and berate Monroe was definitely not tonight’s game.

There's nothing to analyze here other than a lot of posters here have zero knowledge about basketball, who make up for that by putting too much emphasis on stats. Monroe was a fine buyout pickup with the DPE. He is also a career loser and a net negative on the floor on all but the most limited roles.

Would I like to have Horford at $15m a year? Sure, but that wasn't the choice. We were 4 years into a rebuild, and our best big man was Kelly Olynyk. The option was winning, or not winning.

With $50-60m in cap room, and absolutely no frontcourt whatsoever, yes, of course you pay an All-Star caliber big man $30m a year if you can get him. Especially when he is a leader, all-around, unselfish winner who plays the game the right way.

Furthermore, he has earned it with his impact on our team, our defense and our ability to win.

Again, just stop posting.

[bucknersrevenge]

“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 are impaired. Nobody on this team is worried about one loss. Nobody on this team is worried about seeding. And gun to head, nobody on this team is even worried about this year. The front office isn't even worried about this year. We dramatically improve our team next year without having to do a single thing but get healthy. Most of the major rotation players on this team are 25 and lower and still learning about each other. The difference between you and most of the other fans on this board is that you will continue to climb the drapes over every win and loss like it was the End of Days while everybody else sees the forest from the trees. Kyrie laughs at people like you at press conferences.

[Captain_Caveman]

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.

Tatum wet the bed after a promising start. Stevens couldn't even trust him down the stretch late.

Without Smart the game is not within reach. Worst "my" stat of the night I've seen in some time. A lot of things went wrong down the stretch but you're picking on Smart of all people. Who's overanalyzing now??

In the last month, Tatum has been more games like a complete p---y than Smart has in his entire life.

[Wow, the p-word doesn't get filtered, lol].

[DarkAzcura]

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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So while I did say I don't like either play, as you know, I do think the winning team doing it is a bit worse. To extend on the idea that a team committing the penalty should never benefit from the penality:

When a losing team fouls the winning team to get the ball back, the winning team still gets to shoot free throws to extend the lead. While there is a small benefit to the losing team (simply getting a chance), most of the benefit still is for the winning team because they get a chance to hit the two easiest shots in basketball. It's a game of luck for the losing team at this point. I'd say the benefit weighs 80/20 in favor of the winning team in this scenario. It rarely works for the losing team trying to come back. The losing team committing the foul probably only has a 20% shot of this strategy working for them.

Now, when a winning team up 3 decides to foul the losing team, this benefits the winning team 95%. There is little to no benefit to the losing team other than praying the Rockets miss a free throw which is a separate play. It completely prevents them from making a play. The winning team committing the foul should not benefit 95% the way the Rockets did.

Put simply, the team being fouled should never be put into such an unfavorable situation. The team being fouled should always have a more favorable situation than not. When a losing team commits the foul, the winning team is still in control so it's fine even if a little annoying. When a winning team does it to maintain the lead, we have a bit of an issue, imo.

When you mix both scenarios together like last night, you have a completely misbalanced situation favoring the winning team way too much. As a Celtic fan, you are basically put in a situation of praying the Rockets miss free throws in a situation where you should never have to worry down 3.

Again, I think it'd be better for all intentional fouls to go away, but I do think there is a quite a bit of a difference here in terms of benefit.

[Captain_Caveman]

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.

Tatum wet the bed after a promising start. Stevens couldn't even trust him down the stretch late.

Without Smart the game is not within reach. Worst "my" stat of the night I've seen in some time. A lot of things went wrong down the stretch but you're picking on Smart of all people. Who's overanalyzing now??

Smart had two critical mistakes down the stretch that contributed to this loss. We also have a much higher winning percentage in games where Smart keeps his field goals under 10. I didn’t see anything at the end of the game where Tatum helped contribute to the loss. Late in this game, Smart took a contested 13-footer where his miss led to Harden layup at the other end. Our 113-110 lead went down to 113-112 at the 2:30 mark.

That was an unnecessary shot that Marcus didn’t need to take, and I was pointing out he took too many in that game. 11 is too many shots for him. Especially when used an ill advised one to help choke away the game. Especially when he’s had problems all year taking shots he has no business taking. Especially when he didn’t do any of that in his first 4 games after the break. All valid criticism. If you think the worst shooter on our team deserves double digit shot attempts per game, and our young rookie who’s at the top of the league in 3pt fg% should take half of what Smart takes per game, I can’t help you.

Terrible.

Stop posting.

[CelticTillDeath]

You are impaired. Nobody on this team is worried about one loss. Nobody on this team is worried about seeding. And gun to head, nobody on this team is even worried about this year. The front office isn't even worried about this year. We dramatically improve our team next year without having to do a single thing but get healthy. Most of the major rotation players on this team are 25 and lower and still learning about each other. The difference between you and most of the other fans on this board is that you will continue to climb the drapes over every win and loss like it was the End of Days while everybody else sees the forest from the trees. Kyrie laughs at people like you at press conferences.

Wait a freaking minute. Did you just say no one on this TEAM is worried about seeding? Or worried about this year? Are you high as a kite? So you think this team doesn’t believe in itself to make the finals or even win? These are world class athletes and competitors. If you think for one second that this team is just like “ehh this year doesn’t matter, we’ll just wait till next year when Hayward gets back and we get older” then your even dumber then I previously assumed. That right there, is without a doubt the DUMBEST take I’ve ever heard in my entire life. EVER. I’d bet my life, Kyrie would laugh at YOU if you sigguested in front of his face that he doesn’t care about this season. I mean good god, what an incredible idiotic take.

Oh, and last night Draper said the locker room was “extremely pissed off and down” after the loss. Kyrie especially. He said Kyrie was alone at his locker with his head down and clearly upset with himself. The. There is the quote from horford who said this loss was one that would stick with him. He felt it was in his shoulders and it was a tough one for him. So I’d say they cares greatly about last nights loss.

And I don’t “climb the drapes over every win and loss like it’s the end of days”. I was simply giving my point of view on how blowing a lead in the final two minutes of a game and allowing the opposing team to finish in a 12-2 run is nothing to cheer about. This team is better then that, so I don’t do moral victories. I praise them when they play well, and I call them out when they play poorly. It’s really that simple. That’s what post game threads are for.

I still can’t believe you just said no one on this team cares about this year, hahahahahaha. So competitors like Kyrie, horford, smart, brown, rozier, Tatum, Morris, theis, and just about every other player on this team, doesn’t care about this season and they’re just waiting for Hayward next year? Brad doesn’t care about this season? Good god man. You just exposed yourself something serious. What a complete joke.

[Captain_Caveman]

Resigning Monroe to the max allowed (I think It’s like 6.2 million or something) and trading Al might be the best move for all involved. Celtics win last night if he sat

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.

LMAO @ casually throwing AD into that scenario retroactively.

[truth18]

I don’t do moral victories.

For real? I could have sworn you did.

[Captain_Caveman]

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

If I am New Orleans and looking to deal AD, I DEFINITELY want to trade him for a lesser big man like Horford who makes a lot more money. The fact that he would also kill my team's ability to tank for the next two years would just be a bonus.

[CelticTillDeath]

I don’t do moral victories.

For real? I could have sworn you did.

So your calling me out for repeating the moral victory thing, but have nothing to say about the poster who I was originally replying too that just suggested no one on this team even cares about this season, and they’re just waiting till next year?

When you see the level of stupidity to which I’m replying too, You’d think you’d see why I feel the need to repeat certain things.

[bucknersrevenge]

You are impaired. Nobody on this team is worried about one loss. Nobody on this team is worried about seeding. And gun to head, nobody on this team is even worried about this year. The front office isn't even worried about this year. We dramatically improve our team next year without having to do a single thing but get healthy. Most of the major rotation players on this team are 25 and lower and still learning about each other. The difference between you and most of the other fans on this board is that you will continue to climb the drapes over every win and loss like it was the End of Days while everybody else sees the forest from the trees. Kyrie laughs at people like you at press conferences.

Wait a freaking minute. Did you just say no one on this TEAM is worried about seeding? Or worried about this year? Are you high as a kite? So you think this team doesn’t believe in itself to make the finals or even win? These are world class athletes and competitors. If you think for one second that this team is just like “ehh this year doesn’t matter, we’ll just wait till next year when Hayward gets back and we get older” then your even dumber then I previously assumed. That right there, is without a doubt the DUMBEST take I’ve ever heard in my entire life. EVER. I’d bet my life, Kyrie would laugh at YOU if you sigguested in front of his face that he doesn’t care about this season. I mean good god, what an incredible idiotic take.

Oh, and last night Draper said the locker room was “extremely pissed off and down” after the loss. Kyrie especially. He said Kyrie was alone at his locker with his head down and clearly upset with himself. The. There is the quote from horford who said this loss was one that would stick with him. He felt it was in his shoulders and it was a tough one for him. So I’d say they cares greatly about last nights loss.

And I don’t “climb the drapes over every win and loss like it’s the end of days”. I was simply giving my point of view on how blowing a lead in the final two minutes of a game and allowing the opposing team to finish in a 12-2 run is nothing to cheer about. This team is better then that, so I don’t do moral victories. I praise them when they play well, and I call them out when they play poorly. It’s really that simple. That’s what post game threads are for.

I still can’t believe you just said no one on this team cares about this year, hahahahahaha. So competitors like Kyrie, horford, smart, brown, rozier, Tatum, Morris, theis, and just about every other player on this team, doesn’t care about this season and they’re just waiting for Hayward next year? Brad doesn’t care about this season? Good god man. You just exposed yourself something serious. What a complete joke.

You're mistaking worrying about seeding with wanting to compete. Nobody said they didn't want to compete and want to win games. And immediately right after a tough loss, sure they might have been frustrated. As I said before, frustrating losses are frustrating. The difference is, they're gonna shake this loss off and they're not gonna be like "Oh no!!! What about our seeding?!?!?!" It's a loss. Losses happen. It's alright.

You weren't simply doing anything. You are over here having an aneurysm about this loss and predicting that the sky will fall because we gave up a small lead to a really good team on the road. These guys will forget this game and move on to the next one which you will apparently have trouble doing. And yes, while all the players are competitors and want to win and make no excuses, I think gun to head, truth serum given, the core players know that when Gordon gets back next year we will be an even stronger team. This is why nobody was complaining about not making more moves at the deadline. But by all means, continue with your tantrum. Don't let me stop you.

[ballup]

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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So while I did say I don't like either play, as you know, I do think the winning team doing it is a bit worse. To extend on the idea that a team committing the penalty should never benefit from the penality:

When a losing team fouls the winning team to get the ball back, the winning team still gets to shoot free throws to extend the lead. While there is a small benefit to the losing team (simply getting a chance), most of the benefit still is for the winning team because they get a chance to hit the two easiest shots in basketball. It's a game of luck for the losing team at this point. I'd say the benefit weighs 80/20 in favor of the winning team in this scenario. It rarely works for the losing team trying to come back. The losing team committing the foul probably only has a 20% shot of this strategy working for them.

Now, when a winning team up 3 decides to foul the losing team, this benefits the winning team 95%. There is little to no benefit to the losing team other than praying the Rockets miss a free throw which is a separate play. It completely prevents them from making a play. The winning team committing the foul should not benefit 95% the way the Rockets did.

Put simply, the team being fouled should never be put into such an unfavorable situation. The team being fouled should have always have a more favorable situation than not. When a losing team commits the foul, the winning team is still in control so it's fine even if a little annoying. When a winning team does it to maintain the lead, we have a bit of an issue, imo.

When you mix both scenarios together like last night, you have a completely misbalanced situation favoring the winning team way too much. As a Celtic fan, you are basically put in a situation of praying the Rockets miss free throws in a situation where you should never have to worry down 3.

Again, I think it'd be better for all intentional fouls to go away, but I do think there is a quite a bit of a difference here in terms of benefit.

I can‘t come to the conclusion that a winning team shouldn't be allowed to secure a win. Of course the winning team has more benefit on these scenarios, they're winning. Losing teams have to take more risks to win, which is why intentional fouling is not the same proportions. I just don't agree we should treat two tactics wih the same mechanics anh differently

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[titlebound1]

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.

Yes losing sure does suck. It much be horrible to hate losing so much more than everyone else does

[titlebound1]

This thread has given me heartburn. Would anyone like to read a 5 paragraph essay about how much I hate heartburn?

[KumaJG]

Tatum wet the bed after a promising start. Stevens couldn't even trust him down the stretch late.

Without Smart the game is not within reach. Worst "my" stat of the night I've seen in some time. A lot of things went wrong down the stretch but you're picking on Smart of all people. Who's overanalyzing now??

Smart had two critical mistakes down the stretch that contributed to this loss. We also have a much higher winning percentage in games where Smart keeps his field goals under 10. I didn’t see anything at the end of the game where Tatum helped contribute to the loss. Late in this game, Smart took a contested 13-footer where his miss led to Harden layup at the other end. Our 113-110 lead went down to 113-112 at the 2:30 mark.

That was an unnecessary shot that Marcus didn’t need to take, and I was pointing out he took too many in that game. 11 is too many shots for him. Especially when used an ill advised one to help choke away the game. Especially when he’s had problems all year taking shots he has no business taking. Especially when he didn’t do any of that in his first 4 games after the break. All valid criticism. If you think the worst shooter on our team deserves double digit shot attempts per game, and our young rookie who’s at the top of the league in 3pt fg% should take half of what Smart takes per game, I can’t help you.

Terrible.

Stop posting.[/quote

Smart did play bad in the 4th. Had like 3 costly turnovers. But he could do no wrong your eyes, I get it.

[CelticTillDeath]

You're mistaking worrying about seeding with wanting to compete. Nobody said they didn't want to compete and want to win games. And immediately right after a tough loss, sure they might have been frustrated. As I said before, frustrating losses are frustrating. The difference is, they're gonna shake this loss off and they're not gonna be like "Oh no!!! What about our seeding?!?!?!" It's a loss. Losses happen. It's alright.

You just said that no one on this team is worried about this season. You said not even the front office is worried about this season. You brought up getting Hayward back next year, and the team being too young this year, as your reasoning. That without a doubt is the dumbest statement I’ve ever seen in my life in this forum. Bar none. They are the 2 seed, and have been fighting and competing to to try to regain the 1 seed. Homecourt is important, and every team would love it. Period. Are they going to lose sleep if it doesn’t happen? No, because they are competitors and they have confidence in their abilities as a team, but if you asked them if they want home court throughout they will absolutely say yes. That’s what they play the regular season for.

We saw last year against the wizards just how important homecourt can be, especially for a young team.

You weren't simply doing anything. You are over here having an aneurysm about this loss and predicting that the sky will fall because we gave up a small lead to a really good team on the road. These guys will forget this game and move on to the next one which you will apparently have trouble doing. And yes, while all the players are competitors and want to win and make no excuses, I think gun to head, truth serum given, the core players know that when Gordon gets back next year we will be an even stronger team. This is why nobody was complaining about not making more moves at the deadline. But by all means, continue with your tantrum. Don't let me stop you.

Again, no one is having an aneurysm about the loss. No one predicted the sky was going to fall. No one is having a tantrum. Your making all of this up to somehow try and support your argument. I critiqued a choke job against a top team in a game we should have won and I went on to say how a close loss like that can absolutely effecting seeding when the season is over. They can’t play that way in the playoffs if they want to make a deep run either. So please, tell me where the “aneurysm” is? Tell me how saying those things means that I think the sky is falling? It’s a one game critique because they played terribly down the stretch. I just said I still think they can beat any team in the east and make the finals, but yet here you are accusing me of having “Aneurysms” and “a sky is falling” attitude.

And Obviously Hayward makes us better next year. Everyone, even the players on the team know that, but if you think for one second that the team is using that as an excuse to nit care, or “not be worried” about this season, then youre crazy. They have beaten every great team in the league this year and have the 4th best record in the nba. This narrative that just because Hayward isn’t there this season means this team, coaching staff, or ownership, doesn’t think they can succeed, is CRAZY. You sound so uneducated when you say that. Stop it.

“Hayward makes us better next year!”...wow what a hot take.

“Gun to my head no one on this team is even worried about this season”.... Dumbest take I’ve ever heard in my entire life.

[Shak_Celts]

again, hate injuries but I hope this injury to Theis was good for us in the long run. people may forget but 2 games ago Monroe didn't get 1 second in that game Theis was injured in and if you saw him on the bench it was the first time his demeanor stunk, he was ticked and had his arms folded the entire second half while slouching in his seat. he was not happy that he didn't at least get a chance. If you will also recall, he said he was more prepared to play after the break but the first 2 games were still bad from him. Theis has been out the last 2 and Monroe has had two really good games and I think it is doing the same for Monroe as it did for roze (no kyrie and smart), Jayson (Hayward and Morris) and everyone else who have stepped up at times when there are injuries. I hope it continues to work in our advantage when Theis is back, the way it has for roze. that bench could become even more potent with Monroe providing the offense while Theis helps him on D (some O too). CBS isn't doing anything different with Monroe than he has every game since the break but the difference is Monroe knows he is going to play, he is now hitting the buckets he was missing and it's opening up his confidence and the rest of his game.

If this is the real bench for the rest of the reg season and playoffs, teams are going to get hurt! **crossed fingers on injury luck**

[Feed Your Head]

Smart had two critical mistakes down the stretch that contributed to this loss. We also have a much higher winning percentage in games where Smart keeps his field goals under 10. I didn’t see anything at the end of the game where Tatum helped contribute to the loss. Late in this game, Smart took a contested 13-footer where his miss led to Harden layup at the other end. Our 113-110 lead went down to 113-112 at the 2:30 mark.

That was an unnecessary shot that Marcus didn’t need to take, and I was pointing out he took too many in that game. 11 is too many shots for him. Especially when used an ill advised one to help choke away the game. Especially when he’s had problems all year taking shots he has no business taking. Especially when he didn’t do any of that in his first 4 games after the break. All valid criticism. If you think the worst shooter on our team deserves double digit shot attempts per game, and our young rookie who’s at the top of the league in 3pt fg% should take half of what Smart takes per game, I can’t help you.

Terrible.

Stop posting.[/quote

Smart did play bad in the 4th. Had like 3 costly turnovers. But he could do no wrong your eyes, I get it.

Pretty impressive considering he had 1 turnover for the whole game, check the box score yourself. I think there may have been another one that was 50/50 and someone else got the turnover. Either way throwing out incorrect hyperboles is lame yo.

[Shak_Celts]

we played poorly to end this game so that takes away all the close games we have had where we executed better in the end? I don't have any stats but I'm willing to bet we are one of the better teams at winning close games. we finished poorly here but it hasn't been the case most of the season. we usually play better in the crunch this season. we played like crap b4 the break but we usually show up against the better competition. we showed up vs. Houston again, this time it ended in their favor, it is what it is.

[CelticsPride18]

Terrible.

Stop posting.[/quote

Smart did play bad in the 4th. Had like 3 costly turnovers. But he could do no wrong your eyes, I get it.

Pretty impressive considering he had 1 turnover for the whole game, check the box score yourself. I think there may have been another one that was 50/50 and someone else got the turnover. Either way throwing out incorrect hyperboles is lame yo.

Smart missing shots count as turnovers too. That’s this board rule now.