Victory Cigar!!! BOS 101, NYK 99 (26-26)

[JimmyFromNz]

I'd be ok giving it to Thompson to change things up a bit, though Brown was good in spurts and that consistency is what kept us in the game. Smart was amazing down the stretch, and made some timely drives when we needed it, but need to acknowledge the fact he was sloppy for the most part.

Can't sugar coat the game though, that was a horrific watch.

At one point it looked like the brains on the bench had just given up on telling the players what to run or adjust to, 4-5 plays in the 4th quarter where the ball was walked up, went to two pairs of hands, stayed in two pairs of hands, then ended in a 30 ft heave or bobble to the other team, then the players just stare at each other.

Those stretches are just so common, I don't understand why they are being allowed to 'play through' them, you can't play through rudderless offense. A motion offense doesn't work when players aren't moving or passing.

Positives to end with - Romeo was active again, good bounce on the boards showing that, while he gets acclimatized, 'effort' is free in the meantime. I thought Grant Williams defense on Randle was very good for the most part, and it makes me feel a lot better about his slot in ability where the match up allows.

[Fierce1]

I expect TT to be factor in the playoffs.

[LoquaciousLarry]

If the Celtics are so caught up on the outside noise, thats a huge maturity issue. They need to stay focused on the task at hand.

[JHTruth]

I expect TT to be factor in the playoffs.

He'll throw his body around a bit but the guy just has terrible hands and his athleticism is degraded to nothing. He's also easily exploited in the PnR. Tonight he was trying to win his starting job back but I don't expect much the rest of the way

[CelticsPride18]

Romeo jumper looks smoother.

[playa-hater]

Easy VC to Brown tonight. Second night of a back to back against a pretty decent team is not a game we've won often this year. Now with the tanking wolves coming up the c's have a chance to capture some momentum before a tough WC trip.

For the first time I think you can start to see how this team might actually work.

Kemba-Smart-Brown-Tatum-Rob as starters

Pritchard-Fournier-Thompson as primary bench players

Langford-Semi-Grant fighting for the 9th spot/situational minutes come playoff time.

Ideally you'd want one more big wing, but not terrible. Brad already obviously has a lot of trust in Langford which is nice. He just loves guys who compete on defense.

I can't prove it, but I would bet switching these 2 players makes us a better team. much better defensively and greatly improves Tatum's slow starts and chemistry.

[Fierce1]

I expect TT to be factor in the playoffs.

He'll throw his body around a bit but the guy just has terrible hands and his athleticism is degraded to nothing. He's also easily exploited in the PnR. Tonight he was trying to win his starting job back but I don't expect much the rest of the way

The playoffs is a different story.

If the regular season if the basis for championships, the Bucks would've made the finals the last 2 seasons.

I don't think TT will dominate in the playoffs, but he will be a contributor.

[bucknersrevenge]

The good:

Well we won. And we needed to beat NYK who was the 7th seed while we were the 8th seed so this was important. We get back to .500 again. That's a good thing. We made enough plays to win an ugly game. Sometimes you win ugly in this league and at this point in the season, the way THIS season has gone, style points don't matter for ****. Marcus had a big 4thQ with I think 15 of his 17 including a HUGE 3 to give us the lead for good. Added 9 assists as well so I guess I give him the VC.?? I dunno, who cares, really? Jaylen bullied his way to 32/10. Tatum added 25/10/5 and Thompson came back from his hiatus to pitch in a solid game with rebounding and energy off the bench. Langford started in Kemba's absence. It was nice to see that vote of confidence in him. We shook off some bad shooting and hit some clutch 3's (Marcus in the 4th for a change) and rebounded enough to secure a win.

The bad:

Yes we won, but let's call a spade a spade, we were an unmitigated disaster for much of this game. The basketball gods clearly owing us one (they owe us several by my count with all these last player games) helped us get the bounces we needed to put away a Knicks team that for much of this game looked like they were going to steal it. We have got to be one of the dumbest teams in the league. No cap. We are an extraordinarily low IQ ballclub. The fact that this game was a battle between a 7 and an 8 seed belies the fact that neither team really looks like they belong in the playoffs at all. But they will get there. 20 more turnovers today on offense as we continue to isolate while players stand in the corner and pretend to look ready for passes that will never come their way and when they do, they fumble the ball out of bounds or it gets taken. Guys drive into the paint, stop, have nowhere to go and are forced to kick the ball ALL the way out which ends in an iso. You can set your watch by it. Tatum 8 turnovers tonight. 2 away from an ugly triple-double. Jaylen scored a lot early to start the game but his tunnel vision will continue to hurt this team. He had put up 12 shots before the fans could even get settled in their seats. Rob had an off-game and where he had been the fulcrum of good passing and movement in the last 2 wins, the offense bogged down tonight and he had little effect. On defense we continue to leave 3 point shooters wide the F open. We don't communicate on D and teams gouge us for it. 16 3's given up tonight. I mean you can set your watch to it by now. Wins are important but winning habits are just as important and we don't have any. There's not a ton in this win to really get excited about.

[Bad-Thoma]

[BostonCouchGM]

Jaylen obviously. Not even close. Best game I've seen from him in what seems like a month or so. Yes he's playing against a garbage team with dumb players who are bad on defense, but that's when he's got to take over and dominate and he did. Seems like when he's getting his customary wide open looks and hits a couple it opens everything up for him. He was also better on defense with more intensity. He legit looked like the deserving all-star he was playing like months ago. Just need this against good teams and we can close this season out strong

[Fierce1]

Speaking about bounces, Celts got 53 rebounds in this game and 16 of them were offensive rebounds.

Celts are a very good rebounding team this season.

[Kalela]

Voted for Brown. For big portions of the game, he was the Celtic's only offense.

[grindtime22]

Thompson for me and I think I just threw up a little bit. Maybe he already got that last allowable drug test. It might be time for Playoff TT. He was really, really good on the defensive end.

Tossup with Smart. He had a few careless turnovers, but mostly fantastic. He dished out 9 assists in a game starving for baskets, defended well, scored efficiently enough, got to the free throw line, and hit the biggest shot of the game.

[playa-hater]

The good:

Well we won. And we needed to beat NYK who was the 7th seed while we were the 8th seed so this was important. We get back to .500 again. That's a good thing. We made enough plays to win an ugly game. Sometimes you win ugly in this league and at this point in the season, the way THIS season has gone, style points don't matter for ****. Marcus had a big 4thQ with I think 15 of his 17 including a HUGE 3 to give us the lead for good. Added 9 assists as well so I guess I give him the VC.?? I dunno, who cares, really? Jaylen bullied his way to 32/10. Tatum added 25/10/5 and Thompson came back from his hiatus to pitch in a solid game with rebounding and energy off the bench. Langford started in Kemba's absence. It was nice to see that vote of confidence in him. We shook off some bad shooting and hit some clutch 3's (Marcus in the 4th for a change) and rebounded enough to secure a win.

The bad:

Yes we won, but let's call a spade a spade, we were an unmitigated disaster for much of this game. The basketball gods clearly owing us one (they owe us several by my count with all these last player games) helped us get the bounces we needed to put away a Knicks team that for much of this game looked like they were going to steal it. We have got to be one of the dumbest teams in the league. No cap. We are an extraordinarily low IQ ballclub. The fact that this game was a battle between a 7 and an 8 seed belies the fact that neither team really looks like they belong in the playoffs at all. But they will get there. 20 more turnovers today on offense as we continue to isolate while players stand in the corner and pretend to look ready for passes that will never come their way and when they do, they fumble the ball out of bounds or it gets taken. Guys drive into the paint, stop, have nowhere to go and are forced to kick the ball ALL the way out which ends in an iso. You can set your watch by it. Tatum 8 turnovers tonight. 2 away from an ugly triple-double. Jaylen scored a lot early to start the game but his tunnel vision will continue to hurt this team. He had put up 12 shots before the fans could even get settled in their seats. Rob had an off-game and where he had been the fulcrum of good passing and movement in the last 2 wins, the offense bogged down tonight and he had little effect. On defense we continue to leave 3 point shooters wide the F open. We don't communicate on D and teams gouge us for it. 16 3's given up tonight. I mean you can set your watch to it by now. Wins are important but winning habits are just as important and we don't have any. There's not a ton in this win to really get excited about.

I know I keep beating the same Drum, but isn't much of our problems the coaches responsibility to Fix?? Good Habits developed, rewarded while bad habits are admonished in some way?

[tlee324]

Read on Twitter

to be honest Brown is always aggressive.. too much so. Tatum is sometimes too passive. and both can be dumb asses..

I think you can live with aggressive mistakes than passive ones. That's why many fans ignore Marcus' flaws, because most of the time it's through hustle.

[playa-hater]

this is sadly true..

[Parasite]

Didn’t see it. But just from the box score I’ll give it to Brown. Anybody know why Kornet didn’t play? The fact Grant Williams is getting minutes over him is pretty mind-boggling.

[1st banana]

Good win don’t give a **** that it’s the Knicks their d is legit. Don’t give a **** that it looked like booty and was very stressful. And finally don’t give a funk that our offense struggled.

Defense was really good for stretches Jaylen and smart played some excellent defense for a huge part of that game. Tristan too he really is vertically challenged to say the least but he had a couple great blocks and quietly moves his feet pretty well.

Went Jaylen for VC kind of regret not going Tristan tho he had a nice bounce back game smart too gets a huge puff. Jaylen took a lot of shots but really attacked the basket.

[JHTruth]

Didn’t see it. But just from the box score I’ll give it to Brown. Anybody know why Kornet didn’t play? The fact Grant Williams is getting minutes over him is pretty mind-boggling.

Brad Stevens coaches this team. 'Nuff said

[grindtime22]

It was nice not to have a small guard on the floor for most of the game.

Even when PP was on the floor, I thought we were too quick to double. Let him battle RJ Barrett if they want to play bully ball.