Celts Hungry for a Title, Start By Eating Big Apple! Opening Night Victory Cigar vs NYK 10/25

[Homerclease]

Jaylen Brown lead the 2nd unit the last 5 minutes of the 3rd quarter and the Celtics went up 82-73 with a 9 point lead.
Celtics subbed Jayson Tatum for Jaylen Brown to start the 4th quarter and the Knicks in 3 minutes went on a 13-2 run to take a 86-84 lead.

I can just imagine what this forum would have been like if Brown came in in the 4th and the Knicks went on a 13-2 run. Tatum does it and it barely gets mentioned. This board needs to get over their Jaylen Brown obsession.

By the way, Jayson Tatum was absolutely fantastic last night and Jaylen Brown outside of a 1 minute stretch (turnover, turnover, foul on 3 point shooter) was unselfish and played the role that was needed from him on that particular night. Same for White and Holiday.

KP played great and was VC for me.

Bingo. It’s not often the team was able to hang with Tatum on the bench but they were able to not only hang, but extend the lead with their superstar resting. Brown and Jrue are going to settle in on offense, and the team is going to shoot much better as a whole as the season progresses. The main takeaway from last night should be about the defense. Hands were active, rotations were good and Porzingis had the paint on lockdown. Jrue is a far better defender than I originally gave him credit for

[Hal14]

Told y’all we should’ve traded Jaylen.

Just imagine Trae, Tatum and Porzingis smfh

I can imagine it. Both JT and KP free and Trae jacking it from 32 feet then watching his man waltz past him to the basket.

I have a number of issues with JB, but he is far better than Trae and he will have better games than tonight.

You’re out your mind if you think JB is better than Trae, think you may be one of the only people that thinks that. JB could never lead a team to the ECF. You’re forgetting that JB is a chucker at times as well. Trae is a much more willing passer than Jaylen, he’s just forced into the first option role.

Eh, it's debatable. I think Trae and JB are in the same tier.

And I actually wrote multiple posts this summer about why I felt like (based on the contract situation of both of them, and based on this specific celtics team having more of a need for a playmaking PG rather than another scoring wing) Trae was the better fit for this celtics team and I would have traded JB for Trae.

With that being said, Trae got the Hawks to the ECF 3 seasons ago. So that is not super relevant to a discussion happening today. Trae also had a pretty easy path to get to the ECF that year, especially with Simmons completely crumbling and forgetting how to play basketball in the semi-finals that season.

Also, we don't know whether JB would be able to lead a team to the ECF. Maybe he would, maybe we wouldn't. Hard to hold that against him, when he wasn't been put in he position yet to show whether or not eh can do it. What we do know, is he was our best player during the 2022 NBA finals.

Yes, obviously Trae is a better playmaker. But that's not very fair, since they play completely different positions. Trae is a PG and JB is a wing. Most star PG's are better playmakers than star wings. That's obvious.

But JB is a better defender, has more size, and is a better finisher at the rim.

[big-shot-ROB]

Going to be a long season for Jaylen Brown now that the board can no longer split their hate between him, Smart, Grant and Brogdon.

Let's wait until crowning a career treadmill guy our second best player when Brown has been to the ECFs what? 5 times? And was our best player on the 2022 NBA Finals?

[ConstableGeneva]

Read on Twitter

[Deivork]

KP & JT - everyone else meh

White played very well

[shackles10]

Boston had control of most of that game, until Quickley went off in the second half and sparked a Knicks 3 point festival. We need to get better at closing games and not losing a 9 point lead during my bathroom break.

But overall, solid defensive effort. Tatum looked locked in. Joe needs to be careful playing KP so many minutes, but last night was needed.

I’m not concerned with Jaylen. He’ll bounce back. Buttttt I do hope we limit the times where he’s running the offense and trying to create. It’s not his strength. He just needs to attack.

Poop at halftime man, come on!

[ConstableGeneva]

KP & JT - everyone else meh

White played very well

Yep. Like Horford, he was also efficient with limited shots.

Read on Twitter

[Hal14]

KP & JT - everyone else meh

White played very well

For the most part. But he did make a few dumb mistakes in the 1st quarter.

[ConstableGeneva]

We're so used to JB making it look pretty/easy as a scorer. Fans will also need time to adjust watching him being awkward transitioning into a different role. It's preferable for me that he's trying than not. Much like I prefer passing turnovers over dribbling turnovers. (I did call him a dumbass after that late 4th pass, sorry for that, kneejerk reaction, it was such a stupid pass in such a crucial moment). He will still have games where he's dominant as a scorer and can't seem to miss. Wanted to trade him for two offseasons, no doubt, but he's here now and we're trying to win it all. Got to make this work. And him not forcing anything last night in terms of his own shot is a POSITIVE sign in the right direction. Let it look clunky first few weeks. We'll be a better-oiled machine come March to June.

[sam_I_am]

Jaylen Brown lead the 2nd unit the last 5 minutes of the 3rd quarter and the Celtics went up 82-73 with a 9 point lead.
Celtics subbed Jayson Tatum for Jaylen Brown to start the 4th quarter and the Knicks in 3 minutes went on a 13-2 run to take a 86-84 lead.

I can just imagine what this forum would have been like if Brown came in in the 4th and the Knicks went on a 13-2 run. Tatum does it and it barely gets mentioned. This board needs to get over their Jaylen Brown obsession.

By the way, Jayson Tatum was absolutely fantastic last night and Jaylen Brown outside of a 1 minute stretch (turnover, turnover, foul on 3 point shooter) was unselfish and played the role that was needed from him on that particular night. Same for White and Holiday.

KP played great and was VC for me.

Bingo. It’s not often the team was able to hang with Tatum on the bench but they were able to not only hang, but extend the lead with their superstar resting. Brown and Jrue are going to settle in on offense, and the team is going to shoot much better as a whole as the season progresses. The main takeaway from last night should be about the defense. Hands were active, rotations were good and Porzingis had the paint on lockdown. Jrue is a far better defender than I originally gave him credit for

Brunson was 6-21 for 15 pts guarded mostly by JB but everyone only remembers the one 3 pointer he made when Brown rotated to help JRue. Meanwhile, JRue guarded Randle who was 5-22 and 14 pts.

Offensively both JRue and JB were out of synch mainly because Tatum and KP were so lightning hot to start the game that they never got touches and started forcing their own shots.

FWIW, for advance stats fans, JB had highest offensive rating on the team and tied for second highest net rating among ‘6 starters’.
In other words, JBs terrible game wasn’t nearly that bad.

[CelticsPride18]

Going to be a long season for Jaylen Brown now that the board can no longer split their hate between him, Smart, Grant and Brogdon.

Let's wait until crowning a career treadmill guy our second best player when Brown has been to the ECFs what? 5 times? And was our best player on the 2022 NBA Finals?

I can already see that Brown, Hauser and Kornet will be blamed for every loss.

[KillahGhostface]

One game of offensive rating and net rating is not what fans of advanced stats look at, fwiw. Takes probably a third of the season before you can take anything from it, which is why most advanced stats don’t drop until 20-30 games in.

People went way overboard last night, IMO. That said, while Jaylen has never been a guy to draw many doubles and traps, I think you’re going to see it quite a bit early in the season. Hell, teams were even doing it in the preseason lol. It’s not just the turnovers, but the Heat really showed teams how to make him uncomfortable, even creating his own shot. He’s always been a guy to take tough shots, but last night he really struggled getting himself open. That’s going to be an adjustment for him, and making the right read is the only way defenses are going to back off.

Saying he should be the third option is whatever to me, it’s more nuanced than that. The Tatum/KP two man game is just a match made in basketball heaven, so they are going to spam teams with it. I think the second option will probably vary quite a bit.

I fully expect Jaylen to have a very good season, it just may take a few weeks for him to look comfortable in the offense.

[BK_2020]

Jaylen Brown lead the 2nd unit the last 5 minutes of the 3rd quarter and the Celtics went up 82-73 with a 9 point lead.
Celtics subbed Jayson Tatum for Jaylen Brown to start the 4th quarter and the Knicks in 3 minutes went on a 13-2 run to take a 86-84 lead.

I can just imagine what this forum would have been like if Brown came in in the 4th and the Knicks went on a 13-2 run. Tatum does it and it barely gets mentioned. This board needs to get over their Jaylen Brown obsession.

By the way, Jayson Tatum was absolutely fantastic last night and Jaylen Brown outside of a 1 minute stretch (turnover, turnover, foul on 3 point shooter) was unselfish and played the role that was needed from him on that particular night. Same for White and Holiday.

KP played great and was VC for me.

Bingo. It’s not often the team was able to hang with Tatum on the bench but they were able to not only hang, but extend the lead with their superstar resting. Brown and Jrue are going to settle in on offense, and the team is going to shoot much better as a whole as the season progresses. The main takeaway from last night should be about the defense. Hands were active, rotations were good and Porzingis had the paint on lockdown. Jrue is a far better defender than I originally gave him credit for

Brunson was 6-21 for 15 pts guarded mostly by JB but everyone only remembers the one 3 pointer he made when Brown rotated to help JRue. Meanwhile, JRue guarded Randle who was 5-22 and 14 pts.

Offensively both JRue and JB were out of synch mainly because Tatum and KP were so lightning hot to start the game that they never got touches and started forcing their own shots.

FWIW, for advance stats fans, JB had highest offensive rating on the team and tied for second highest net rating among ‘6 starters’.
In other words, JBs terrible game wasn’t nearly that bad.

For me it's less about Brunson's Fg% than the fact that he routinely broke down the defense and put us in rotation with Jaylen at the PoA. Not only Brunson but RJ Barrett, too.
Like for example, in the photo below, Brunson easily got two steps on Jaylen and bricked a wide open runner. I'm not prepared to chalk that up to Jaylen's good defense.

[lon3lytoaster]

Read on Twitter

I believe he actually only committed two turnovers. That was probably the most surprising statistic of the night. He was much worse than two turnovers worth of bad decisions.

He had some individual moments but he botched so many plays defensively as well.

[BK_2020]

Brunson's second miss while "guarded by Jaylen." Declines the screen (he's really good at this, crosses Jaylen over and gets clear by him, the entire defense runs to him but he's open for a midrange pull up. Miss. 0-2 while guarded by Jaylen. Not convinced that that's a sign of anything good.

[ConstableGeneva]

Read on Twitter

The Luke Kornet Effect

[BK_2020]

Rewatching the game now and what I notice is Jaylen's decision-making on offense was quite good. He's made some very timely passes and played within himself most of the game. His shots weren't falling but he wasn't forcing it.

[ryan in Maine]

Read on Twitter

[KillahGhostface]

Rewatching the game now and what I notice is Jaylen's decision-making on offense was quite good. He's made some very timely passes and played within himself most of the game. His shots weren't falling but he wasn't forcing it.

[ConstableGeneva]

Read on Twitter

Pour more salt into that wound. Squeeze some lemon in it too.