Not So Cavalier Now Are You?!? NBA Cup Victory Cigar vs CLE 11/19

[Gant]

Joe Mazzulla on keeping Neemias Queta in Q3:

“Some of the shots they hit were tough, some of the stuff we gave up, he’s gotta work on. But if we’re going to believe in our guys and get them to a level that they need to get to, those are things that you have to go through."

via Noa Dalzell

Here's the other part of Mazzulla on Queta from Jack Simone:

Joe Mazzulla on what he's looking for from Neemias Queta: "Get better executing different coverages... I don't think he was bad. I just think the volume was high... Mitchell only had 4 points in the 3Q... You gotta trust your guys and trust them in critical moments... He'll continue to grow."

[Gant]

The Celtics have not lost this season when they've won the rebounds. They edged the Cavs 42-41 in that category last night.

On that note: Tatum was impressive on the boards last night. He was snatching them like Bird used to.

[Fierce1]

The Celtics have not lost this season when they've won the rebounds. They edged the Cavs 42-41 in that category last night.

On that note: Tatum was impressive on the boards last night. He was snatching them like Bird used to.

He's going for the MVP this season.

[Fierce1]

JT doesn't have to be better than Jokic.

As long as the Cs win 60 games and JT's numbers are up, JT's winning MVP.

[playa-hater]

Anyone concerned that Boston shot extremely well and only won by a small margin? Clearly getting KP back is Huge. But come playoffs, he is far from a guarantee to be/stay healthy. Meanwhile the Cavs should try to get one more solid Wing. Though I have no idea who that may be.

Tatum meanwhile took more conventional 3s vs over dribble step backs.. hence an MVP like performance. He needs to maintain those shots selections.

[Fierce1]

Anyone concerned that Boston shot extremely well and only won by a small margin? Clearly getting KP back is Huge. But come playoffs, he is far from a guarantee to be/stay healthy. Meanwhile the Cavs should try to get one more solid Wing. Though I have no idea who that may be.

Tatum meanwhile took more conventional 3s vs over dribble step backs.. hence an MVP like performance. He needs to maintain those shots selections.

Joe thinking big picture by letting Q play extended minutes is the reason why the Cavs lost by a small margin.

[Homerclease]

Definitely baptism by fire last night for Queta. This game was a measuring stick game for Joe to see if Queta is ready to be a contributor in a playoff setting. The short answer is no, he’s not there yet. But I’m fine force feeding him minutes to try to reach that goal because Tillman hasn’t been any better and Luke has severely regressed from last season. If/when KP goes down again in the post season, we’re likely going to need Neemy. That’s when games like this will matter most

[phincsfan]

Anyone concerned that Boston shot extremely well and only won by a small margin? Clearly getting KP back is Huge. But come playoffs, he is far from a guarantee to be/stay healthy. Meanwhile the Cavs should try to get one more solid Wing. Though I have no idea who that may be.

Tatum meanwhile took more conventional 3s vs over dribble step backs.. hence an MVP like performance. He needs to maintain those shots selections.

They missed Okoro for sure, but oh well.

Those two quick 3's by Merrill gave them some oxygen and just a bunch of hustle plays by the Cavs woke them up. I liked Joe's first timeout in the 3rd but they just didn't respond to it. I thought they finished the qtr strong though.

[brackdan70]

Anyone concerned that Boston shot extremely well and only won by a small margin? Clearly getting KP back is Huge. But come playoffs, he is far from a guarantee to be/stay healthy. Meanwhile the Cavs should try to get one more solid Wing. Though I have no idea who that may be.

Tatum meanwhile took more conventional 3s vs over dribble step backs.. hence an MVP like performance. He needs to maintain those shots selections.

They missed Okoro for sure, but oh well.

Those two quick 3's by Merrill gave them some oxygen and just a bunch of hustle plays by the Cavs woke them up. I liked Joe's first timeout in the 3rd but they just didn't respond to it. I thought they finished the qtr strong though.

No Okoro, Lavert, Wade, Struss so it didn’t count. Seriously though their bench and Merrill shot well, scored 40 and had a +29. Would Okoro et al beat that?

[ConstableGeneva]

Anyone concerned that Boston shot extremely well and only won by a small margin? Clearly getting KP back is Huge. But come playoffs, he is far from a guarantee to be/stay healthy. Meanwhile the Cavs should try to get one more solid Wing. Though I have no idea who that may be.

Tatum meanwhile took more conventional 3s vs over dribble step backs.. hence an MVP like performance. He needs to maintain those shots selections.

They missed Okoro for sure, but oh well.

Those two quick 3's by Merrill gave them some oxygen and just a bunch of hustle plays by the Cavs woke them up. I liked Joe's first timeout in the 3rd but they just didn't respond to it. I thought they finished the qtr strong though.

No Okoro, Lavert, Wade, Struss so it didn’t count. Seriously though their bench and Merrill shot well, scored 40 and had a +29. Would Okoro et al beat that?

LeVert would score 50 by himself so we lose by 40+.

[brackdan70]

They missed Okoro for sure, but oh well.

Those two quick 3's by Merrill gave them some oxygen and just a bunch of hustle plays by the Cavs woke them up. I liked Joe's first timeout in the 3rd but they just didn't respond to it. I thought they finished the qtr strong though.

No Okoro, Lavert, Wade, Struss so it didn’t count. Seriously though their bench and Merrill shot well, scored 40 and had a +29. Would Okoro et al beat that?

LeVert would score 50 by himself so we lose by 40+.

Not to mention he would shut down Tatum

[165bows]

No Okoro, Lavert, Wade, Struss so it didn’t count. Seriously though their bench and Merrill shot well, scored 40 and had a +29. Would Okoro et al beat that?

LeVert would score 50 by himself so we lose by 40+.

Not to mention he would shut down Tatum

Without Middleton (TM) as well, surprised that hasn't been mentioned much.

[Gant]

Only one player in NBA history has a higher scoring average against the Celtics than Donovan Mitchell.

It's Michael Jordan. Top 6: Jordan, Mitchell, Luka, Kareem, LeBron, Wilt.

[bisme37]

I love the attitude here as much as the shot. My latest favorite JT moment haha.

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[Lee Van Cleef]

Yeah "Spida" has always been a problem for us. He's a great offensive talent, and not a defensive liability.

[Gant]

This is interesting. Queta, Horford, and Kornet are 1st, 4th and 6th in the league for percentage of time spent by centers defending guards. It looks like the Mavs are doing the same thing.


Cameron Tabatabaie: "The Celtics are locking down the 3-point line and leaving their bigs to guard basically everything else.

Queta looks bad on defense by design, because Boston’s bigs are doing a big lift so everyone else can stay home on the perimeter."



Chart from an article by Owen Phillips
https://thef5.substack.com/p/cage-free-centers-and-incents

[He_Got_Game]

Anyone concerned that Boston shot extremely well and only won by a small margin? Clearly getting KP back is Huge. But come playoffs, he is far from a guarantee to be/stay healthy. Meanwhile the Cavs should try to get one more solid Wing. Though I have no idea who that may be.

Tatum meanwhile took more conventional 3s vs over dribble step backs.. hence an MVP like performance. He needs to maintain those shots selections.

The Celtics were in complete control throughout this game. The huge lead was lost by the bench which shouldn't be a concern in the playoffs regardless if Porzingis plays or not because the starters will all be playing huge minutes.

The Cavs are good but the Celtics are just better, even without Porzingis. Garland is not a big game player and neither is Allen.

[31to6]

Anyone concerned that Boston shot extremely well and only won by a small margin? Clearly getting KP back is Huge. But come playoffs, he is far from a guarantee to be/stay healthy. Meanwhile the Cavs should try to get one more solid Wing. Though I have no idea who that may be.

Tatum meanwhile took more conventional 3s vs over dribble step backs.. hence an MVP like performance. He needs to maintain those shots selections.

No, I expected it to be a close game, and it was. Celtics closed it professionally. And I almost never say stuff like this, but the Cs got a pretty rough whistle throughout the 4th quarter too.

Big YES to Tatum's shot selection. His step-back makes me cringe. Watching him shoot clean 3s -- especially catch and shoot -- makes me smile.

[bisme37]

The Cavs were shooting well over 50% as a team during their winning streak, which is absurd and was never sustainable. But now Cavs fans are chalking their loss up to random hot shooting from the C's.

[ConstableGeneva]

Issue with the Cavs that still needs addressing... They're not the most effective when four of their best players share the floor together. In 187 minutes with DG-DM-EM-JA, they only have a net rating of 2.6. It's when they sprinkle in their bench players that they've dominated this season. That's less of a factor come playoff time when they have to face starter-heavy lineups.

It's worse for the Knicks 'cos they've been so so bad defensively with Towns as their defensive anchor. Net rating of -0.3 in 250 minutes of JB-MB-OA-KT.

Other teams try and replicate the starting five of the Celtics. Keep trying. Cs legitimately have 5 guys (6 with Horford) that are above average on both ends of the floor. DW-JH-JB-JT currently have a net rating of 19.2 in 176 minutes together. (Outside of PP and some stints with Q, Celtics bench admittedly weak this season compared to last).

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In the playoffs where Cs starters + Horford will play the most minutes, Cavs won't have much of an answer.