Pre-Season: Celtics @ Hornets – 7:30PM, Fri, Sept. 28, 2018

[GoCeltics123]

Terry Rozier was a beast tonight though. Looks like early playoffs Terry

[Jakeopp]

Semi's shot still looks awful, time to lay off the biscep curls and work on that shot. Not going to stay in the league just because you're built like the Hulk.

[ajones9219]

They looked bad and casually dropped 60 points in the first half. They'll be fine

[Joshyjess]

A few thoughts:
Tatum looked more like a Rookie tonight than he did last year. He was forcing almost everything (no worries though)
Horford looked like he's going to need all of the pre-season games to really get ready to play
Heyward definitely looked tenative, but a few more games should help a lot
Irving is ready and rearing to go (had some pretty amazing moves for this early in the pre-season)
Brown is ready. I think he's going to outshine Tatum this year
Rozier was probably the second best PG on the floor tonight (for both teams)
Morris has an attitude (in case people didn't realize that), and looks like he wants to prove something - that's good for us!
Theis - Welcome back!!! After seeing him tonight, I think he's in for a great season!
Baynes - 1 for 1 on threes - 100% 3pt shooter this year
Williams - I love how the kid is always around the ball, looking to get involved. Rusty yes, but great potential
If the first half is any indication of what this team is going to do, it's going to be a fun ride this year.

Why on earth did Charlotte have half of their starters playing in the 4th against our 4th string (maybe they figured tonight was the only chance they'll have to beat Boston this year)
I do feel kind of bad for the Hornets. They probably played their best quarter of basketball (3rd quarter) that they are going to play all year - and it doesn't count)
If what the refs did tonight (especially in the second half) is any indication of what it's going to be like this year, it's going to be a long, frustrating season. In that 3rd quarter the refs only knew how to do 2 things - Call stupid fouls on Boston, and call fouls on Willy Hernangomez (or whatever his name is). Is the league really trying to wussify the league even more?

On a side not, if you watched the game on NBA league pass, what's up with them jacking up the volume about 400% every time a Lebron James segment came on?

[Parliament10]

I say again, 4 Preseason games is bunk.
We should have 12.

Gotta get the rhythm back.

[Parliament10]

So Duke basketball fans give Irving/Tatum stats for even preseason lol.

Read on Twitter

Does anyone else think Hayward, Kyrie, Brown and to a lesser, more performance based extent, Tatum, played too many minutes for preseason?

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401077234

Played too much.

It's this BS, 4 Preseason Bogosity.
They need time to get up to speed.

I petition for 12 Preseason games, Starting in Early Sept.
And 72 Regular Season ones, Starting at the Beginning of Oct.

[djFan71]

We shot 34% and 19% from three, played our 4th stringers, got called for 777 fouls and still only lost by 7.

Morris looked good with getting to the basket. Only forced one or 2. He's gonna play a lot this year - he's our main wing off the bench. I don't mind Semi missing, but his form looked rough. Hopefully he gets that ironed out.

Hayward survived, that's good.

Terry looked great.

Miles Bridges too. Nobody on our deep bench played as hard as he did. Will be a kid to watch to see if he keeps it up or if that was crazy first game adrenaline or something.

[FlatearthZorro]

Loved how the starters look overall. Gordon still needs time, so preseason will help him. Terry was great, jayelen looked good, too. Morris did well. Horfie did well. Kyrie was himself. Jayson got a bit of the Kobe offense going, but I'll give him time it's preseason.

[itrsteve]

Not that disappointing, eventually they’ll relax and let the game come to them. I’m not worried. I’m concerned with their win percentage when I see them in person, it’s becoming troubling.

Two observations: Terry didn’t skip a beat. It’s like the summer never happened.

Something that you guys wouldn’t have caught watching on TV, but Baynes in both warmups was damn near automatic from 3. I didn’t know what to make of it. It may be an interesting addition to his game.

This would have been a nice game for Smart to inject some of his late game energy and bring it back to life.

[SmartWentCrazy]

A) I didn't watch the game, but was happy to see our top 9 rotation pieces in the first half were the starters
+ Rozier, Morris, Baynes and Semi. Throw in Smart and I feel like were in really good shape.

B) I stopped caring about summer league stats long ago as the sample is too small and the guys generally dont care at the same level that they would for a regular season game.

C) Trends in game strategy do matter, though, and I loved that we kept launching threes. Analytically, this tweak should give us a top 10 offense this year. Couple in the growth of some players and we should really be strong there this year.

D) I also liked that Semi shot a lot, even if it didnt go in. He was too strong of a shooter in college for me to believe the skill set vanished. He needs reps and will eventually start hitting them at a 34%+ clip.

E) One of my hottest takes this season was that Brown will be an all star while Tatum will not. Part of this was based on the fact that players in the league love him and seem to be higher on him than the general fan. I think hes going to take a lot of shots this year, and Im looking forward to his continued growth.

[Green89]

Everyone looked rusty, a step behind on D, and there were way too many deep twos taken. All of this is not a concern because it's game 1 after only two practices.

Best part of the game: Rozier. I think he's on a mission this year. Scary for sure.
Worst part of the game: Semi's shooting. Looks like he hasn't shot a basketball since last season. He better never take 8 shots in a real game.

[Green89]

Brad said he was impressed by Yabs, I just don't see it. He looks like the same player he was as a rookie. I wonder if Wannermaker is going to look better then Lemon this preseason, I thought he would be the third ball handler.

Yabs had a few good defensive plays. Not saying he’s good or a keeper, though maybe the Pats could use him on their line.

Maybe I'm just focusing too much on his missed boxout on Bridges. Seems like he needs to hit the three at a decent clip to stay in the league anemic I'm just not sure he will. His shot just looks the same as it did when he entered the league.

I thought he looked quicker, a tad leaner, and I liked his effort. That post up move over Kaminsky was nice.

[celticfan42487]

Tatum played like a bad Marcus Morris.

I'm glad he's read his own hype and thinks he's Kobe out there, but with another all-star in the starting lineup I hope he reverts back to last year's Tatum when the season starts.

The shots will come, no need to be the worst version of old Kobe or Melo out there.

[31to6]

Everyone looked rusty, a step behind on D, and there were way too many deep twos taken. All of this is not a concern because it's game 1 after only two practices.

Best part of the game: Rozier. I think he's on a mission this year. Scary for sure.
Worst part of the game: Semi's shooting. Looks like he hasn't shot a basketball since last season. He better never take 8 shots in a real game.

Semi worked with that famous trainer Drew Hanlon this summer. Hope it pays off sometime..

[celticfan42487]

Everyone looked rusty, a step behind on D, and there were way too many deep twos taken. All of this is not a concern because it's game 1 after only two practices.

Best part of the game: Rozier. I think he's on a mission this year. Scary for sure.
Worst part of the game: Semi's shooting. Looks like he hasn't shot a basketball since last season. He better never take 8 shots in a real game.

Semi worked with that famous trainer Drew Hanlon this summer. Hope it pays off sometime..

I mean theoretically, if it doesn't because he's a hack. That would also mean Fultz shot doesn't pay off.

So even when we lose, we win.

It would also mean he just got lucky like the poacher he is sniping Tatum as a client when he was 13 and has nothing to do with Tatum's success.

[droopdog7]

Not concerned about the game, just glad nobody got hurt. My initial analyses are:

It’s going to take a little time for the team to gel completely, which is scary since they were up almost 20 in the first half.

I actually thought Hayward looked smooth and athletic. Sure, the ball didn’t go in a lot but I thought it was more about playing with the team for the first time in a year than anything about him personally.

Kyrie and Al were themselves. They’ll be fine, nothing to report.

Tatum was on cruise control. Can’t wwit for him to let loose. That’ll will come as the team gels.

Still bugged about Browns wilingness to shoot the contested three too often. He should not settle so much. But when he did attack, especially in transition, he looked electric.

Speaking of electric, rozier looks like he’s taken another step in terms of explosiveness. A couple of wow plays as he exploded to the basket.

[Curmudgeon]

Let's not sugar coat it. Except for Rozier, everyone on the first two units looked bad, and the third quarter was horrendous. That wasn't Golden State they were playing.

[24istheLAW]

I thought Rozier was great. He pushed the pace, showed defensive intensity, and he made good decisions.

Brown and Tatum were more of a work in progress. Jaylen in particular didn’t seem in sync with his role in the offense, he was holding onto the ball too long, and taking shots off the dribble. He did have a few good contests, but he’s going to take some time to adapt to playing off our vet big 3

Ojeleye’s shot looks like a mess. It’s hard to believe he ever shot 40% at a level. I’m glad we didn’t move Morris to clear playing time for him as some have suggested.

Oh and it’s not a coincidence that we played our best ball last night with Horford on the floor.

[CeltsfanSinceBirth]

I am thankful we never have to see that awful UNC court ever again. I found that watching the game and having to stare at that shade of blue made my eyes hurt.

As for the game - we looked great in the first half, but it also looks like everyone got tired. Plus its preseason, so I think everyone stopped trying.

Things I liked:
-Kyrie. Shot is looking smooth
-Jaylen - he is creating his own shot now
-Hayward - good to get that 1st game out of the way
-Terry - it is going to be painful for me to see him in another uni next season

Things I didn't like
- too much iso-ball. I get that we have talented guys, but it didn't look like the starters were running too many plays out there. I get that Brad gives his guys freedom, but our guys treated it like a pick up game. 57 points though. Lol
- the second half - just ugly, but again, it looked like the whole team shut it down after 24 minutes. Maybe Brad tells them to play 36 minutes on Sunday night.

[jmr07019]

Turned it off at half. Thought we looked excellent. Scored 60 despite missing a lot of open shots. Got wide open looks constantly. Defense was pretty good even with no Smart. It's funny seeing all the negative comments. 2nd half must have sucked.

tRaDE mArCuS mOrRiS sO sEmI oJeLeYe CaN pLaY mOrE!!!!!!