2024-2025 NBA Playoffs Round 1, Game 4: (2) Boston Celtics at (7) Orlando Magic - 7pm ET

[eyriq]

The assist doughnut is the result of a tiny workload with fewer minutes at a slower pace, and a scheme where usage is funneled to Paolo and Franz.

Why does Cory Joseph have 12 assists in the series?

Why does Cole have 5 assists in 32 minutes and Black have 0 in 68 minutes?

Just more silliness.

Not everyone who points at the scoreboard understands the game, my guy.

[Skybox]

The assist doughnut is the result of a tiny workload with fewer minutes at a slower pace, and a scheme where usage is funneled to Paolo and Franz.

Why does Cory Joseph have 12 assists in the series?

Why does Cole have 5 assists in 32 minutes and Black have 0 in 68 minutes?

Just more silliness.

Not everyone who points at the scoreboard understands the game, my guy.

His "deferring" is coming along nicely

[basketballRob]

Why does Cory Joseph have 12 assists in the series?

Why does Cole have 5 assists in 32 minutes and Black have 0 in 68 minutes?

Just more silliness.

Not everyone who points at the scoreboard understands the game, my guy.

His "deferring" is coming along nicely

Pritchard has 2 asst 4 tov in the last 79 minutes with higher usage than AB. AB has played 69 minutes in the series. Is Pritchard a 3D wing?

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[Skybox]

Game 4 net points

Tatum +8.9
Paolo -6.3

Tatum's on another level...I don't remember him missing a free throw. Paolo bowls through crowds to get to the rim and draw fouls, but most of his game is difficult midrange shots - that he makes. Tatum's offense is much more refined (which is to be expected). Tatum packed on the muscle he needed and he does a fantastic job of creating space with a shoulder bump and a fallaway jumper that is silky. Tatum also uses his length really well (like Franz does). Paolo's dumped on for being "not a floor-spreader" but the man can definitely be a 3pt threat and he's absolutely cool in hot moments...that's his greatest (of many) attribute. The dude is so intense, yet so relaxed physically...he's so physical, but he combines it with soft hands, light touch. Special.

Paolo's close, and much younger, but it's a matter of refinement...and Tatum's 3pt release, like all of the Celts, is so quick & decisive.

The free throw percentage is a GIANT thing for any superstar and, clearly, Paolo's needs work. Bump that up and ratchet up the defensive IQ and effort and Paolo is close to MVP consideration, imo.

[eyriq]

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[Bergmaniac]

Our top 3 players in FGA in the playoffs:

Paolo - 109
Franz - 93
Wendell - 30

This is just not workable. I know Mo and Suggs are out, but you just can't have your top two scoring options take respectively 4 and 3 times more shots than the third option. Paolo and Franz together have taken 60.5% of our shots. They are 1st and 4th in FGA attempts in the playoffs and that's even though ours has been the slowest paced series this year. If we look at FGA per 100 possessions and remove guys who have played only a few garbage time minutes Paolo and Franz are the top 2 players in most FGA.

[VFX]

Passing him in what way? Certainly not on the basketball court in any capacity.

I think he is on the court.

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That is INSANE

Tatum is one of the five best players in the league.

He's very good to great at literally every element of basketball - scoring, shooting, passing, rebounding, defending, durability, playing a heavy minutes workload.

Paolo isn't on the same page. Paolo isn't even on the same chapter. He's barely in the same book.

People on this forum will tell you the sky is red and post a million reasons why.

It doesn't matter how ridiculous the justification is or how homer-ific it all sounds.

Paolo is better than Tatum (if you take rebounding, defense, 3pt%, basically every metric out of context)
AB is a point guard (If you discount what point guards are actually tasked with doing)
Wendell Carter is a perfect fit next to Paolo (If you don't like great rebounding or rim protection from your Center)

It never ends. The GB would laugh at the assumptions some people here make knowing 1/3 as much as some of these posters do.

[eyriq]

AB is a point guard (If you discount what point guards are actually tasked with doing)

The funny thing about fans getting AB's evaluation wrong is that "creator" isn't even eye-test fluff, there are concrete workload and skill markers. 19.6% usage (63rd percentile), assist ratio 22.1% (74th percentile), ast:tov 1.7 (51st percentile), on-ball scoring per-36 4.1 (79th percentile), rim pressure/foul draw 31.8% (79th percentile).

Usage + assist share + on-ball scoring volume + rim pressure form the playmaking package and AB checks all 4 boxes.

[Magicman125]

Our top 3 players in FGA in the playoffs:

Paolo - 109
Franz - 93
Wendell - 30

This is just not workable. I know Mo and Suggs are out, but you just can't have your top two scoring options take respectively 4 and 3 times more shots than the third option. Paolo and Franz together have taken 60.5% of our shots. They are 1st and 4th in FGA attempts in the playoffs and that's even though ours has been the slowest paced series this year. If we look at FGA per 100 possessions and remove guys who have played only a few garbage time minutes Paolo and Franz are the top 2 players in most FGA.

To be fair they are about 3-4x better than WCJ on offense imo. But I get your point is more about roster construction.

[Last Guardian]

I wish I could be this positive on Paolo as some people are. I find his game unappealing both to watch and to build an offense around. When is the last time he even threw a lob? Maybe I just don't remember. I feel like Franz does it all the time.

The team needs to do everything in their power to make Franz a good shooter. He gets that going, he'll be 28+ppg guy. It will make him that much more of a threat to drive, and that will open up his playmaking. When he makes those step backs I just think if he's consistent with that shot he'd be unstoppable.

I miss the team based offense when Franz was the guy. The defense was still there.

[VFX]

AB is a point guard (If you discount what point guards are actually tasked with doing)

The funny thing about fans getting AB's evaluation wrong is that "creator" isn't even eye-test fluff, there are concrete workload and skill markers. 19.6% usage (63rd percentile), assist ratio 22.1% (74th percentile), ast:tov 1.7 (51st percentile), on-ball scoring per-36 4.1 (79th percentile), rim pressure/foul draw 31.8% (79th percentile).

Usage + assist share + on-ball scoring volume + rim pressure form the playmaking package and AB checks all 4 boxes.

Anthony Black has ZERO total assists in the 4 games of this current playoff series.
Anthony Black is 1-10 in 3 pointers taken in this series.

His stats tell me exactly what the eye test does.

He's not a point guard.
He's not a creator.
He's not an on ball threat from outside.

Stop with this nonsense.

This is like trying to convince me that Cole Anthony is a Center because he can rebound the basketball.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Our top 3 players in FGA in the playoffs:

Paolo - 109
Franz - 93
Wendell - 30

This is just not workable. I know Mo and Suggs are out, but you just can't have your top two scoring options take respectively 4 and 3 times more shots than the third option. Paolo and Franz together have taken 60.5% of our shots. They are 1st and 4th in FGA attempts in the playoffs and that's even though ours has been the slowest paced series this year. If we look at FGA per 100 possessions and remove guys who have played only a few garbage time minutes Paolo and Franz are the top 2 players in most FGA.

I know it was bad but not this bad. We need shooters next season and Franz and Paolo need to pass.

[Bergmaniac]

Our top 3 players in FGA in the playoffs:

Paolo - 109
Franz - 93
Wendell - 30

This is just not workable. I know Mo and Suggs are out, but you just can't have your top two scoring options take respectively 4 and 3 times more shots than the third option. Paolo and Franz together have taken 60.5% of our shots. They are 1st and 4th in FGA attempts in the playoffs and that's even though ours has been the slowest paced series this year. If we look at FGA per 100 possessions and remove guys who have played only a few garbage time minutes Paolo and Franz are the top 2 players in most FGA.

I know it was bad but not this bad. We need shooters next season and Franz and Paolo need to pass.

We also need players who can not only shoot, but attack closeouts too when the defence rotate to them at the 3 point line. We are sorely lacking in such.

[eyriq]

Our top 3 players in FGA in the playoffs:

Paolo - 109
Franz - 93
Wendell - 30

This is just not workable. I know Mo and Suggs are out, but you just can't have your top two scoring options take respectively 4 and 3 times more shots than the third option. Paolo and Franz together have taken 60.5% of our shots. They are 1st and 4th in FGA attempts in the playoffs and that's even though ours has been the slowest paced series this year. If we look at FGA per 100 possessions and remove guys who have played only a few garbage time minutes Paolo and Franz are the top 2 players in most FGA.

Related lol

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[pepe1991]

This is hilarious list.

[VFX]

This is hilarious list.

Only two of the top 5 are going to be losing the first round of their series.

[zaymon]

I wish I could be this positive on Paolo as some people are. I find his game unappealing both to watch and to build an offense around. When is the last time he even threw a lob? Maybe I just don't remember. I feel like Franz does it all the time.

The team needs to do everything in their power to make Franz a good shooter. He gets that going, he'll be 28+ppg guy. It will make him that much more of a threat to drive, and that will open up his playmaking. When he makes those step backs I just think if he's consistent with that shot he'd be unstoppable.

I miss the team based offense when Franz was the guy. The defense was still there.

I never felt we are missing something important when Paolo was missing. Most of the time it feels like we are playing through Banchero just to make him happy not becouse its better idea than playing through Franz.

[AdamTheGreek]

Tatum isn’t the reason they won the game. He played fine. Porzingis and Horford’s defense were the reason.
That and we left the game in the refs’ hands.

Tatum had 37 points on a .594 TS%.

He led all players in rebounds.

He played very good defense.

He played 42 minutes with the ball in his hands a huge amount (more than anyone else on their team) and only had 2 turnovers.

He was great.

True shooting is very flawed when half those 14 free throw attempts were not deserved.
10-of-25 FGs.

[bigdogdylan5]

Not really sure why Black is everyone whipping boy today. The kid is 21 years old and he was a late starter of basketball in high school. He was always going to take time to develop. Everyone being so angry he isn’t ready to run a pro offense against the defending champs in the playoffs is a little laughable. The absolute biggest failure of Weltman in building this team is not having a backup plan if Suggs got injured and Black wasn’t ready to run an offense… An extremely likely scenario given history. Only having Cole Anthony and Cory Joseph is criminal. This season has a lot of blame to go around and honestly Black is pretty low on my list.

Everyone needs to be better. But it starts with Mosely and Weltman. The problems are clear and Paolo and Franz need to get better but they are ready to rock we need to fix this thing. Weltman gets blame as he should he needs to balance this roster but damn Mosely is displaying a real inability to coach a pro offense. That might be my biggest disappointment of the season.

[KillMonger]

I wish I could be this positive on Paolo as some people are. I find his game unappealing both to watch and to build an offense around. When is the last time he even threw a lob? Maybe I just don't remember. I feel like Franz does it all the time.

The team needs to do everything in their power to make Franz a good shooter. He gets that going, he'll be 28+ppg guy. It will make him that much more of a threat to drive, and that will open up his playmaking. When he makes those step backs I just think if he's consistent with that shot he'd be unstoppable.

I miss the team based offense when Franz was the guy. The defense was still there.

Unfortunately for you he's going to be here for a while so lock in my guy

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