Pacers (26-20) at Celtics (36-11) Game #48 1/30/24

[Kernewek]

Lakers lose tonight too, so a double win for Celtics fans!

Yes!

Every time I hear Porzingis interviewed I’m impressed with his grasp of the language. His vocabulary is amazing and his grasp of colloquial English is also impressive.

Learning a second language is difficult*, but I wonder how much of that is based on an outmoded reality: the guy has been living and working in an English-speaking country for nearly 10 years, clearly grew up loving basketball (very much an English-language sport), and grew up in an EU country before that - English being the de facto universal language of the EU.

Not that every Latvian living in the US is going to be on that level of fluency, of course, but most 20-something Europeans will have largely grown up absorbing American-inflected English these days.

*especially if you're a native English speaker, because the necessity for most folks to get beyond 'donde esta la biblioteca' is fairly low.

[ozgod]

Nesmith was such a lazy bum in Boston. Was just a liability

He was never lazy. He was frantic, but he was never lazy.

TP. Thank you... What a lazy take.

It's a wild concept, but maybe players need to be allowed to play through mistakes in actual games to improve. Nuts. Bonkers. Insane... But true.

You don’t say! Holy moly what a concept. He just made no strides in Boston.

So basically he needed to be on a marginal team to grow. Couldn’t do that in Boston when they desperately needed someone off the bench to help.

You have to put some of it on Nesmith.

This is a big part of what helped him grow:



He went from 11-14 mpg in Boston, much of it irregular, to consistent 24+ mpg in Indiana, where he knew he was going to play every night. It helps a lot when you know you're going to see the court as opposed to not knowing when you're going to play and then trying to shine in those irregular moments.

Certainly he could have done better himself but it was unfortunate for him being a lower lottery pick on a team contending for a championship with a clear hierarchy ahead of him. Remember Tatum initially didn't want to get drafted by the Celtics for that reason - they were a contender, they had depth in every position and he didn't think he was going to get any playing time.

So I can't completely blame him, or Romeo - they have to take responsibility for their inability to adapt to their situation, but the situation they were in wasn't really conducive to their development. Both team and player (in Aaron's case anyway) are in a much better position now.

[ozgod]

Unecessarily tough game, but a win is a win.

TPs all.

Not every game can be a cakewalk, it's good for them to face adversity.

[ozgod]

Thankful for the win.

But the Celtics really need to knock teams out when the are up big.

Joe brought up this narrative after the Pels game, when the Pels jumped out to a lead and it took us nearly the entire game to whittle it down. I'll repost my post on what he said here:

Listened to Joe's presser and he was a little testy about what he called (and I paraphrase) "the entitlement that the Celtics should just be rolling out playing a perfect game blowing out teams and racking up wins". When he was asked about what was different about this latest comeback, he said "I just hope it happens ten more times, so that we can get rid of the entitlement that we're always supposed to be winning...I hope we blow leads, I hope all that happens, I really do...I feel like at times we're supposed to be winning all the time and it's just not the case...you can be losing even if you're playing good basketball because the result isn't being achieved, or you could be losing because you suck...I thought we sucked in the first quarter, we were losing because we weren't getting the result in the 2nd quarter, and there's a difference there"

Then he was asked again about the entitlement, and he clarified it wasn't the team, just the narrative around the team, that they're supposed to be perfect and not make mistakes. And why people are making a big deal out of them having to earn a win, battle for a win, because it's the NBA, doesn't matter if the opponent is 5-20 or unbeaten, it's going to be just as hard tomorrow.

Said that he likes games like tonight where they win where not everything goes their way because that's the only way they will build resilience when things go south, he hopes it happens 10 more times.

The entire interview is worth watching, he was in fine form, but I linked specifically to his first comment about entitlement below, and then the next link is to the next question he got on it where he went on to talk about trying to build resilience.


https://youtu.be/J0k_DIm130Y?si=a19avHDGkfVWwUlD&t=107

https://youtu.be/J0k_DIm130Y?si=_I3s4KY8AKFX5N6D&t=221

Does he have a point? Are we expecting perfection from our team and wanting blowouts every game? I guess as fans that would be perfect  but I guess as a coach or a player you want to be put under pressure so you can learn how to react when it is applied to you. And since we all hate Joe, if it was Pop that said this, would it be a good point? Are we an entitled fan base?

Basically the TLDR of what he said is, you can be losing even if you play well because you're missing good shots and not getting the result you need to be winning, or you can be losing because you suck...and that there's an entitlement that the Cs will blow teams out and win big all the time and it's not realistic because it's the NBA and any team can beat any other team on any given night. He hopes that we will blow leads and play bad and get pushed by other teams because that's the only way to learn to deal with adversity and not be front runners blowing everyone away all the time.

Is he right? Are we expecting too much from this team and wanting them to blow teams out because on paper they are so much better? Or is he using this as a cop out to excuse the fact that we are inconsistent? If it was anyone other than Joe that said this (say it was Pop or Spol) would they have a point? Or is it wrong because it was Joe and he's using it to disguise his own failings?

[Birdman]

Great team win!! Beat LA, Beat LA next!!!!

[Vermont Green]

Responding to several previous comments, the Celtics are playing like they believe making the playoffs is a given.  It does not appear to me that their heart is fully into every regular season game, every quarter.  But I am not sure this is a problem.  I would certainly prefer to see them play well every game, every quarter, but that is probably not realistic.

To me, there is a qualitative element to this that you have to judge by watching.  Are they losing or playing bad because they are missing shots and/or just not playing with energy, or is the other team flat out beating them.  And if the other team is flat out beating them, is it because they are just hitting shots at an unsustainable pace or is it more than that.

Of the recent losses, I would say that the LAC game was a case of them just being better on that night.  We didn't have Porzingis which matters but LAC outplayed us, not just out shot us.  In the DEN game, I felt that was a case of them just plain out shooting us.  The DEN game concerns me less than the LAC game.

[jambr380]

This is another one of those, C's would have lost this game last year type of games.

I don’t know - this feels exactly like most of our wins last year. We won 57 games - it’s not like we sucked - but a number of them felt similarly frustrating like this one.

Get out to a lead, have it evaporate in the blink of an eye, and eventually pull it out in the end even though it never should have come down to that.

[Atzar]

I don't know if I'd attribute it to heart or focus or anything like that.  My honest assessment is it looked like we had some tired legs on the second night of a back-to-back and it showed most on the glass.  Thankfully we were able to outshoot our exhaustion. 

On the bright side, we have the Lakers on Thursday and then a relatively light week coming up.  Memphis and Atlanta, each with two days of rest preceding.  So hopefully we can recharge the batteries some. 

[angryguy77]

We only shot 36 3's and gutted out a win against a tough team. I do wonder if Haliburton plays a full game if we win however.

[ozgod]

We only shot 36 3's and gutted out a win against a tough team. I do wonder if Haliburton plays a full game if we win however.

It really is a different game when you say "only 36 3s" 

[LilRip]

Weird game, but good win.

I don't want Indy in the playoffs.

Nor do I.  Have to imagine the Bucks are even more afraid of them.

As the standings are today, I hope we meet the Cavs/Sixers in the 2nd round and the Bucks meet the Pacers in the 2nd round.

Of course, if “things go our way”, that means then that we meet the Pacers in the ECF

[footey]

We only shot 36 3's and gutted out a win against a tough team. I do wonder if Haliburton plays a full game if we win however.

He wasn't playing that great (rust), plus remember how well the played against the Celtics earlier this month with him out.