PG Thread: Oh Steve, What a Bummer. Celtics Get Demolished at Home.

[Mr_Mojo_Risin]

Losses happen but our FG% does seem to go down a lot with the pressure of a big game, it’s often not the opposing defense.

JT was great, defense mostly good. Need to make shots when it matters to win the chip, that and KP being healthy is what will make or break us.

[fallguy]

Celtics with their worst TS% of the season and franchise worst in last 67 years (44.8%) after their best TS% in franchise history and 2nd best in NBA history (80.5%).

That doesn't make me LESS worried about shooting variance in the playoffs.

[Fierce1]

Why is OKC considered a team that matters?

That OKC team has not made the playoffs since air travel was banned for the whole world.

A team that hasn't made the playoffs the last 3 seasons is suddenly a contender?

It's not like OKC went from a lottery team to acquiring Lebron, Wade and Bosh or KG, Pierce, and Ray.

[fallguy]

Why is OKC considered a team that matters?

That OKC team has not made the playoffs since air travel was banned for the whole world.

A team that hasn't made the playoffs the last 3 seasons is suddenly a contender?

It's not like OKC went from a lottery team to acquiring Lebron, Wade and Bosh or KG, Pierce, and Ray.

Presumably you can answer this question yourself.

[GrandTheftRondo]

Why is OKC considered a team that matters?

That OKC team has not made the playoffs since air travel was banned for the whole world.

A team that hasn't made the playoffs the last 3 seasons is suddenly a contender?

It's not like OKC went from a lottery team to acquiring Lebron, Wade and Bosh or KG, Pierce, and Ray.

Because in the eyes of doomers, being the new and shiny thing is more impressive than three consecutive ECF trips with one finishing in a finals loss. That experience is a bad thing apparently.

[Fierce1]

Why is OKC considered a team that matters?

That OKC team has not made the playoffs since air travel was banned for the whole world.

A team that hasn't made the playoffs the last 3 seasons is suddenly a contender?

It's not like OKC went from a lottery team to acquiring Lebron, Wade and Bosh or KG, Pierce, and Ray.

Presumably you can answer this question yourself.

No!

OKC has yet to win anything.

SGA is legit.

But are you sure guys like Kiddey, Chet, and Ja. Williams will not be affected by playoff pressure?

[djFan71]

Celtics with their worst TS% of the season and franchise worst in last 67 years (44.8%) after their best TS% in franchise history and 2nd best in NBA history (80.5%).

That doesn't make me LESS worried about shooting variance in the playoffs.

Only has to be on the high side 4 out of every 7 nights

[Fencer reregistered]

Why is OKC considered a team that matters?

That OKC team has not made the playoffs since air travel was banned for the whole world.

A team that hasn't made the playoffs the last 3 seasons is suddenly a contender?

It's not like OKC went from a lottery team to acquiring Lebron, Wade and Bosh or KG, Pierce, and Ray.

Presumably you can answer this question yourself.

No!

OKC has yet to win anything.

SGA is legit.

But are you sure guys like Kiddey, Chet, and Ja. Williams will not be affected by playoff pressure?

It's very possible they could crumble. Likely, even.

Unfortunately, it's also somewhat possible that Chet is a significantly better player in June than he is today.

[playa-hater]

Edit..

[djFan71]

Presumably you can answer this question yourself.

No!

OKC has yet to win anything.

SGA is legit.

But are you sure guys like Kiddey, Chet, and Ja. Williams will not be affected by playoff pressure?

It's very possible they could crumble. Likely, even.

Unfortunately, it's also somewhat possible that Chet is a significantly better player in June than he is today.

He’s been so good. I was completely wrong on him. I thought he was gonna be another twig that got bodied in the nba. Year off and weight training helped quite a bit. I still think this isn’t their year, but they are tough for sure. He’s gonna be a monster if he continues to improve.

[zoyathedestroya]

Celtics with their worst TS% of the season and franchise worst in last 67 years (44.8%) after their best TS% in franchise history and 2nd best in NBA history (80.5%).

That doesn't make me LESS worried about shooting variance in the playoffs.

Logically speaking, there might be less variance when shooting at the rim and the FT line. But we are not a team that gets to the rim a ton (28th in frequency in FGAs within 3 ft of rim) and to the line (18th in FTr). The latter has improved from last season, thanks to KP.

Warriors won their titles despite not being rim- and FT-heavy. But then again, we're not the Warriors.

[Fierce1]

Presumably you can answer this question yourself.

No!

OKC has yet to win anything.

SGA is legit.

But are you sure guys like Kiddey, Chet, and Ja. Williams will not be affected by playoff pressure?

It's very possible they could crumble. Likely, even.

Unfortunately, it's also somewhat possible that Chet is a significantly better player in June than he is today.

Let's say SGA and Chet are legit, what about the others?

Too early to proclaim the OKC Thunder as contenders.

[Fencer reregistered]

No!

OKC has yet to win anything.

SGA is legit.

But are you sure guys like Kiddey, Chet, and Ja. Williams will not be affected by playoff pressure?

It's very possible they could crumble. Likely, even.

Unfortunately, it's also somewhat possible that Chet is a significantly better player in June than he is today.

Let's say SGA and Chet are legit, what about the others?

Too early to proclaim the OKC Thunder as contenders.

They have close to the best record in the league, they've beaten a bunch of good teams, Chet has month-by-month upside, and they have ammo to add further talent.

Of course they're contenders. They may not be contenders as strong as their results to date would suggest, but they're definitely contenders.

[Fierce1]

It's very possible they could crumble. Likely, even.

Unfortunately, it's also somewhat possible that Chet is a significantly better player in June than he is today.

Let's say SGA and Chet are legit, what about the others?

Too early to proclaim the OKC Thunder as contenders.

They have close to the best record in the league, they've beaten a bunch of good teams, Chet has month-by-month upside, and they have ammo to add further talent.

Of course they're contenders. They may not be contenders as strong as their results to date would suggest, but they're definitely contenders.

We'll see.

[GrandTheftRondo]

It's very possible they could crumble. Likely, even.

Unfortunately, it's also somewhat possible that Chet is a significantly better player in June than he is today.

Let's say SGA and Chet are legit, what about the others?

Too early to proclaim the OKC Thunder as contenders.

They have close to the best record in the league, they've beaten a bunch of good teams, Chet has month-by-month upside, and they have ammo to add further talent.

Of course they're contenders. They may not be contenders as strong as their results to date would suggest, but they're definitely contenders.

Playoff experience counts for something

[1st banana]

Just the way she goes.

[_Und3r][D4wg_]

Seems odd to beat one's chest & bask in personal glory as an "overreaction" to a dominant win (on the strength of outlier/unsustainable FG%+3P%) against a slumping team on a b2b, and then confidently expect the same next game only to find oneself chastising/dismissing other folk's "overreaction" to just another fluke loss to some rando team on a b2b in meaningless January.

We all need to put things into perspective... Shouldn't get too high with highs, nor too low with the lows. Boards such as this are meant to give us fans an outlet to celebrate proudly or vent in frustration without the threat of cancel culture or fandom gatekeeping from supporters with differing schools of thought than ours.

Fact is, we all hope to finally celebrate #18 by season's end, and that anything less would have all of us grieving to varying degrees 'til next season starts and we go through that same rollercoaster again.

Be better, Celtics! Let's get #18!

[zoyathedestroya]

I want more of this type of games/opponents. But hopefully with Porzingis playing. We're just a different team on offense when he's on the court. Celtics 121.5 offensive rating and 62.0% true shooting when Porzingis is ON the court lead all rotation players.

The idea that we're only pretenders because we have games like this or we struggle against the tough defenses (which is only partially true) is asinine though. Following that logic, everyone else including the Nuggets, Clippers, and OKC aren't contenders either. Even after this loss, the Celtics still lead the league in win percentage (72.2%) and have the most wins (13) against the top 10 defensive teams. They also have the #2 offense and #3 defense against such teams.

Below is the TS% of our top 6 in the 5 losses against the top 10 defensive teams:



Good news: Tatum's shooting efficiency is largely unaffected.
Bad news: Everyone else is at best, inconsistent, and at worst, just shot terribly in the losses.

[zoyathedestroya]

There have been two games this season that while watching, I went "we just don't have any answers for their defense." This game and the game against the Magic (both got us blown out). I don't think it's a coincidence that those were the two games KP missed. He was OUT vs. the Clippers last night and missed most of the 2nd half against the Magic back in late November. Horford just doesn't bring the same impact on offense when he has to fill in for KP. And before anyone suggests for Brad to bring in another big, no, no realistically available big can fill in for KP either when he misses a game or two. The other three losses where he was available were by four points or less.

[Fierce1]

Celtics of this season are the same Celtics of last season without KP.

Every time Al starts for KP's absence, it will be back to chucking 3s.

The Celtics just look different when KP is playing.