Game Thread: Celtics (34-31) @ Magic (21-44) – 7:00PM, Wed. 05-05-21

[Hal14]

Read on Twitter

Rest JB the next two games. REALLY HOPING WE HAVE EVERYONE FOR THE HEAT GAMES.

I disagree. The Bulls lost last night with both Lavine and Vucevic out, but based on this article it looks pretty likely that both of them will play vs the celtics on friday:

https://ontapsportsnet.com/2021/05/03/zach-lavine-cleared-to-return-as-nikola-vucevic-misses-second-straight-game/

We lost to the bulls last time and they didn't even have Lavine. So I do not feel comfortable just saying "screw it, we're gonna beat Chicago easy, let's just sit Brown"...the loss we suffered to the thunder (a team supposedly tanking it) is enough proof that we can lose to any team..I feel like if Brown sits, we might lose to Chicago and every game matters right now. We're in a dogfight for playoff positioning and trying to avoid the play-in game (currently 7th seed so we'd be in the play-in game if season ended today).

With all of the injuries and health issues with this team, we MUST avoid the play in game to get that extra 5-6 days of rest.

[Bleeding Green]

Bulls are completely out of the playoffs and they are probably trying to tank so they can keep that pick. What an abysmal trade deadline for them if they end up losing that pick. Of course, if any team can lose to a team that is actively tanking, it's the Celtics.

[Hal14]

Bulls are completely out of the playoffs and they are probably trying to tank so they can keep that pick. What an abysmal trade deadline for them if they end up losing that pick. Of course, if any team can lose to a team that is actively tanking, it's the Celtics.

Exactly. The loss to the Thunder should tell you that we can not just relax and call a game an automatic win, even if a team is supposedly tanking.

[cloverleaf]

I have no idea what that "available" tweet is talking about. Edit: it's talking about Kemba duh. The team has officially listed JB OUT for tomorrow. But Brad says it's more to do with the previous ankle sprain than the collision at the end of the Blazers game. Also, Thompson is questionable for tomorrow.

JT and Kemba and everyone else are good and expected to play. So pretty good injury news, really.

Read on Twitter

Maybe a little time for Mr. Kornet tonight?

Tonight?

Not till tomorrow, which means more time for Thompson to rest up and hopefully be out there vs Orlando..

Yeah, sorry. Tomorrow.

[JHTruth]

Health is what it is. You either have your guys, or you don't, as long as you don't have a desparate coach overplaying the starters.

My biggest concern is that when fully healthy, this team has shown itself capable of playing with anyone except maybe a fully healthy Brookllyn or Philadelphia. But, if they're shooting lights out, 3's top 2's so maybe this Celtics team could go all the way. But I don't think that it would happen because to be shooting lights out from 3 over a 7 game series guys like Fournier, Nesmith and Pritch would have to have big games and Stevens as already shown MANY times that he will let Brown go 4-24 before giving time to Nesmith and Smart can go 3-14 before giving more time to Pritch. So Orlando game aside, my concern is that Stevens will impede the talent of the team by simply not playing steaming hot new guys when they are ON and sticking with vets on their worst days.

I'm already expected BS to start Thompson over Robert Williams III, which is completely unfair to the much better TL.

Rob is second in win shares for the entire team this season and he comes off the bench. It's a legit slap in the face. If I was him I'd flip Brad and Danny the bird and go someplace that appreciates me

[JHTruth]

Kind of getting that as well. The reward for finishing 6th 7th or 8th is getting swept on national TV. I'm sure they would rather start their vacation early then play a going through the motions series.

Celtics are sort of like the Lakers and Heat this year. They all have the sense that they just don't have it this year. COVID, injuries, etc. Just zero momentum at this point.

I think they will just bow out quietly this year then look to a big offseason unloading the vets and going full on Tatum-Brown era...

3 of the 4 teams that had the least time off after the bubble. Not a coincidence IMO.

Agreed. Short offseason really hurt these teams

[moonie_mcgee]

I'll also add I am not much of a believer in the east's top tier. And I hope we can still give a good fight if we end up in the 8 to 6 range.

I may be alone with this opinion. But I prefer to stay out of the 4/5 seeds. Give me one of top 3 for the first round and let's see what they're capable of or not.

Getting through the first round on a middling team doesn't mean much to me; but, getting knocked out in the first round should be a bad taste kept over the summer and motivation the following year.

IMO, #6 would be ideal.

Me too. I want the Bucks.

[Hal14]

Celtics are sort of like the Lakers and Heat this year. They all have the sense that they just don't have it this year. COVID, injuries, etc. Just zero momentum at this point.

I think they will just bow out quietly this year then look to a big offseason unloading the vets and going full on Tatum-Brown era...

3 of the 4 teams that had the least time off after the bubble. Not a coincidence IMO.

Agreed. Short offseason really hurt these teams

Yeah and the other one of last year's final 4 in the bubble (Denver) is no longer considered a contender after their 2nd best player (Jamal Murray who played a ton of mins in the bubble) suffered a season ending injury recently..

[moonie_mcgee]

I don't want to hear their excuse that they only lost to a team that made it to the finals, or whatever. I think 5th seed would be perfect. A great series against the Knicks, with underdog seeding, would give their young guys some more experience and the team overall a chance to both gel and heal before possibly moving up to larger competition. Losing to the Knicks would be a tougher offseason pill for them to swallow than losing to one of the top 3 IMO.

Not to say the Knicks or Hawks are below the Celtics at all, but does the element of "playing down" to your competition worry you given this teams history?

IMO, give me the Bucks and let's see what happens.

Me too. I just want the Cs to play hard and play to their capability. All out and see what happens. n a PO series is that too much to ask.

[Hal14]

Health is what it is. You either have your guys, or you don't, as long as you don't have a desparate coach overplaying the starters.

My biggest concern is that when fully healthy, this team has shown itself capable of playing with anyone except maybe a fully healthy Brookllyn or Philadelphia. But, if they're shooting lights out, 3's top 2's so maybe this Celtics team could go all the way. But I don't think that it would happen because to be shooting lights out from 3 over a 7 game series guys like Fournier, Nesmith and Pritch would have to have big games and Stevens as already shown MANY times that he will let Brown go 4-24 before giving time to Nesmith and Smart can go 3-14 before giving more time to Pritch. So Orlando game aside, my concern is that Stevens will impede the talent of the team by simply not playing steaming hot new guys when they are ON and sticking with vets on their worst days.

I'm already expected BS to start Thompson over Robert Williams III, which is completely unfair to the much better TL.

Rob is second in win shares for the entire team this season and he comes off the bench. It's a legit slap in the face. If I was him I'd flip Brad and Danny the bird and go someplace that appreciates me

Rob has been back 3 games. The first game he didn't start (mins restriction). The 2nd game he did start vs San Antonio.

The 3rd game vs Portland he didn't start. Why not? Maybe it was because Thompson had a hell of a game (possibly his best game in a celtics uniform) the previous game vs San Antonio. Maybe Brad wanted to limit Rob's minutes given his injury history.

Who will start vs ORL? I don't know. What we do know is Time Lord was clearly better than Thompson las game vs Portland and we all know that overall over the course of the season Time Lord is better (Time Lord is top 10 in the entire NBA in win shares per 48 mins, PER, TS%, FG%, rebounding %, blocks %, offensive rating, defensive rating and BPM) however, Time Lord's health is a wildcard. We need to be careful with him to protect his long term health, given his injury history (the PAES in his halves, the hip, the tendinitis in his knee) so if he is ever out of the starting lineup or is playing less mins I just assume it's some type of injury popping up again.

With that being said, Time Lord is not on the injury report for tomorrow's game vs ORL, whereas Thompson is listed as questionable. So I'd say that more than likely, Time Lord will start tomorrow.

I'm expecting this to be the starting lineup:

C Time Lord
F Tatum
F Fournier
G Smart
G Walker

Bench: Nesmith, Pritchard, Thompson (or Kornet if TT can't go) that's your primary rotation with leftover mins to Langford/Grant W

Should be an easy win. Maybe we build a big lead and then rest all 5 starters for most or all of the 4th quarter. Then again, I feel like any game this year where we didn't have either Brown or Tatum has either been a loss or very close win, so we'll see..

[Hal14]

I have no idea what that "available" tweet is talking about. Edit: it's talking about Kemba duh. The team has officially listed JB OUT for tomorrow. But Brad says it's more to do with the previous ankle sprain than the collision at the end of the Blazers game. Also, Thompson is questionable for tomorrow.

JT and Kemba and everyone else are good and expected to play. So pretty good injury news, really.

Read on Twitter

I wonder what the odds are that Thompson's pectoral strain is due to his Kardashian wife giving him a titty twister as payback for his rumored affair with an instagram model

https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/830469-khloe-kardashian-no-longer-wearing-tristan-thompsons-ring-amid-cheating-scandal

[exculpatory]

Heat lost.
Win as expected & tied for 6 seed.

[GoCeltics123]

Just **** win baby

[Curmudgeon]

Right now the Celtics and Magic are the same team. They should switch jerseys just before the game.

The only drama here is whether or not the Magic will score 145 or a mere 125.

[tfribs45]

time to get that 4/5 seed, no more excuses! Playoffs start tonight

[MagicBagley18]

Let’s get a win baby! As far as seeding gimme 4 or 5 all day long especially with Philly in the 1 seed. That’s a path to have somewhat of a chance of a long playoff run. Bucks beat us in 6 rather easily.

Either way, gotta win tonight. So let’s start here

[Celtics_History_Lesson]

This will provide inspiration and good fortune as the Celtics seek to harvest more free throws.

Read on Twitter

You don't trade your entire team, and release former All-Star Teague, if you don't want this.








Nick Anderson, couldn't harvest free throws if you gave him a tractor and a combine and Mark Price.

[Ill News]

Of course we all want a title, but I'm already mostly satisifed with the season. The Jays continue to elevate their game with Tatum scraping that elusive MVP-level tier ever so closely. A couple of Ainge draftees -- Timelord, Pritchard, Nesmith, even Langford and Grant -- have shown some potential of at least becoming rotation/situational players moving forward when given appropriate opportunity. Decisions needed to be made regarding our four vets but we have something to work with in terms of young talent. We have a reclamation project in Parker (something in the vein of the Randle Renaissance would be the ideal outcome). As a team, it's been the most disappointing and frustrating season in Stevens' tenure, but individually, the players have made varying degrees of progress. I'm still hoping for (not expecting) a deep playoff run 'cos there's still no better teacher than actual experience. But yeah, I'm now content (and realistic) with however this season ends up.

Very well-put. I've all but given up on this season as nothing more than a bridge year; all those injuries and COVID absences suck, they really denied our team finding any sort of identity this season.

Like you, the silver lining that I'm taking from this nightmare season is the fact that our stars vastly improved (Brown and Tatum) despite the lackluster support they had, and we found some impactful role players with upside to be even better (Time Lord, Nesmith, Pritchard). Ainge also managed to get some useful pieces and reclamation projects (Thompson, Parker and Fournier, who hopefully resigns on a reasonable deal). And of course, there's Smart, the rock of our team.

My mind's already set for next year, where I hope the bad karma we suffered this season will be evened out. Who knows, these guys might finally put it all together and click next year on the way to a 2015 Warriors-like run. I'm confident that Tatum will have an MVP-worthy campaign next season; he would've had one this year had it not been for COVID and injuries.

[JediMasterRevan]

Bulls are completely out of the playoffs and they are probably trying to tank so they can keep that pick. What an abysmal trade deadline for them if they end up losing that pick. Of course, if any team can lose to a team that is actively tanking, it's the Celtics.

Maybe Lavine will realize that he could be a great teammate and focuses on learning to play make and playing off the ball more, then forces a trade to Boston.

[31to6]

Mo SWagner going for 38/22 and then awarded the keys and title to Boston immediately after the game. Declares war on Toon Town, chaos ensues. At least we have Semi.