Game Thread – Celtics @ Magic – 6:00PM, Sun, Nov. 9, 2025

[jmr07019]

Aside from Queta bigs as we know it are basically extinct in Joe's rotations. Garza playing less than 10 min, Tillman barely playing, and Boucher is getting DNPs already? Otherwise between the 96 PF/C minutes you have maybe ~35 being played by prototypical PF/C bigs and the rest by guys who are more like SG / SF size

Joe is obsessed with 3PA and it's hurting the team. There's more to basketball than 3PA

[cloverleaf]

Loss or not, I am still feeling Optimistic about watching Boston. Not for Wins and Loses but for the "Promise" of watching our young talented Group get better almost every game. _Minott-Queta, mainly and Hugo and Walsh with their encouraging play despite small sample sizes.

True
But you need to let the young play
Queta and Minott are starters now so they don't count (although every minute of experience counts)
I would like to see more Walsh, Hugo and Baylor minutes. Even Amari as a backup C
Cut Hauser and Simons minutes (I know we need to trade him but he is what he is right now, can score with expiring contract). Maybe even cut White or PP minutes if they play bad. No one should play more than 28-30 minutes
Let the kids play!

Minott is still very young, and it would be great for Queta and Minott to get a full year starting. Beyond that, Joe should find a way to get Hugo, Baylor and Walsh at least 10 minutes a night. (I almost feel like Brad's told him to play at least 2 of them every game.) I also want Amari up here by midseason.

[cloverleaf]

Watching DWhite, as I increasingly think there's a chance he might go this year.

[ThePigeon]

Aside from Queta bigs as we know it are basically extinct in Joe's rotations. Garza playing less than 10 min, Tillman barely playing, and Boucher is getting DNPs already? Otherwise between the 96 PF/C minutes you have maybe ~35 being played by prototypical PF/C bigs and the rest by guys who are more like SG / SF size

Joe is obsessed with 3PA and it's hurting the team. There's more to basketball than 3PA

We became a good midrange team. PP and Brown lead the charge
We also generate points from TOs and second chances
We do shoot a lot of open 3s - which is the best shot in basketball (look at ORL shots against us), just don't make them at an average clip.

More experience, more screwing on the heads of White, Hauser and PP and we should be alright

[jmr07019]

Aside from Queta bigs as we know it are basically extinct in Joe's rotations. Garza playing less than 10 min, Tillman barely playing, and Boucher is getting DNPs already? Otherwise between the 96 PF/C minutes you have maybe ~35 being played by prototypical PF/C bigs and the rest by guys who are more like SG / SF size

Joe is obsessed with 3PA and it's hurting the team. There's more to basketball than 3PA

We became a good midrange team. PP and Brown lead the charge
We also generate points from TOs and second chances
We do shoot a lot of open 3s - which is the best shot in basketball (look at ORL shots against us), just don't make them at an average clip.

More experience, more screwing on the heads of White, Hauser and PP and we should be alright

Boston is 29/30 in defensive rebounding. That is in part because of Joes rotations. It's a conscious choice to sacrifice rebounding for more 3PA.

The Celtics are 1st in 3PA and 28th in percentage. It's obviously a bad strategy. "Too much of a good thing" exists and you're seeing it almost every game. When the 3 ball isn't falling the Celtics lack any ability to change gears and try something different. They just keep chucking.

I do expect more 3's to fall but I don't think the Celtics are going to go from 28th in percentage to top 10. The percentage and number of attempts reflects that the Celtics are taking low quality shots.

[ThePigeon]

Joe is obsessed with 3PA and it's hurting the team. There's more to basketball than 3PA

We became a good midrange team. PP and Brown lead the charge
We also generate points from TOs and second chances
We do shoot a lot of open 3s - which is the best shot in basketball (look at ORL shots against us), just don't make them at an average clip.

More experience, more screwing on the heads of White, Hauser and PP and we should be alright

Boston is 29/30 in defensive rebounding. That is in part because of Joes rotations. It's a conscious choice to sacrifice rebounding for more 3PA.

The Celtics are 1st in 3PA and 28th in percentage. It's obviously a bad strategy. "Too much of a good thing" exists and you're seeing it almost every game. When the 3 ball isn't falling the Celtics lack any ability to change gears and try something different. They just keep chucking.

I do expect more 3's to fall but I don't think the Celtics are going to go from 28th in percentage to top 10. The percentage and number of attempts reflects that the Celtics are taking low quality shots.

First in open 3pt shots (defender 4-6 feet from shooter)
Fifth in wide open 3 pt shots (defender +6 feet from shooter)

About 5 3pt shots a game are tight or very tight (which we need to eliminate completely)

The shots are good, just don't fall in
Don't get me wrong - I advocated for the team to find another reliable offense if the 3 doesn't fall. I think that Brown and PP drive a lot more than previous years. But if the philosophy is to shoot 3s and the shots are good, I assume we will continue to see them

[31to6]

On Friday the Magic shot really well and the Cs rebounded pretty well
Magic shot about 2x as many FTs
TOs, point paints, and fastbreak points all pretty even
I wonder what changes today? Easy to imagine ORL shooting worse from 3, but also rebounding better -- we'll see

[31to6]

Garza has to go

Yeah, the foot speed is just not there.
He's like Enes Kanter.

Enes Freedom Kanter but about 3" shorter, which doesn't make for a compelling player
He does *try* on defense, and occasionally makes a defensive play with his hands -- but I do think he's a swing-and-miss by the Cs FO

[redslastlaugh]

We should have taken more seriously the possibility that without JT, Derrick could have a down year, and in that case that his age & contract will start to work against him as a trade chip.

I heard Celts fans all year talk about, "we're only trading White if we get a Mikal Bridges, Desmond Bane type of package," but Derrick will be 32 before next season and those guys were just younger, 26/27 at the time of those trades.

oh well, hopefully Derrick figures it out and gets better after this start. White typically looks great against Orlando, that's been a good matchup for him, so I hope he gets going today

Watching DWhite, as I increasingly think there's a chance he might go this year.

[redslastlaugh]

Also I thought Tristan daSilva looked pretty sweet for them? Dont remember his stats but he seemed impactful.
Is Da Silva always this good. I'm keeping my eye on this guy for Orlando today

On Friday the Magic shot really well and the Cs rebounded pretty well
Magic shot about 2x as many FTs
TOs, point paints, and fastbreak points all pretty even
I wonder what changes today? Easy to imagine ORL shooting worse from 3, but also rebounding better -- we'll see

[bisme37]

I just dropped a massive tree branch on my head so if the postgame thread sucks it's probably the concussion haha.

[Fierce1]

I just dropped a massive tree branch on my head so if the postgame thread sucks it's probably the concussion haha.

[Parliament10]

I just dropped a massive tree branch on my head so if the postgame thread sucks it's probably the concussion haha.

Wow. Sorry to hear that. Hope you're alright?

[Parliament10]

Read on Twitter

[bisme37]

I just dropped a massive tree branch on my head so if the postgame thread sucks it's probably the concussion haha.

Wow. Sorry to hear that. Hope you're alright?

I think I'm ok!

I was trying to prune a medium sized branch but it got tangled up with a much bigger branch on the way down and both of them fell. Whole thing basically bounced off my head and then landed in the neighbor's back yard.

[brackdan70]

I just dropped a massive tree branch on my head so if the postgame thread sucks it's probably the concussion haha.

Oh damn. Sorry . Hope you’re ok…sounds like a GTD.

[Parliament10]

[bisme37]

Enjoy the big game you guys!

Let's win this one go C's!

[Fierce1]

Watching Rockets and Bucks, it's really all about size and athleticism in today's NBA.

The Celts don't have that edge in shooting anymore, like in previous seasons, because majority of the teams are also attempting more 3s nowadays.

[Parliament10]

Watching Rockets and Bucks, it's really all about size and athleticism in today's NBA.

The Celts don't have that edge in shooting anymore, like in previous seasons, because majority of the teams are also attempting more 3s nowadays.

The 3pt shot has taken over.