CelticsStrong
Celtics Basketball => Celtics Talk => Topic started by: Phantom255x on November 04, 2018, 11:23:35 AM
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First off, hey guys! I'm back regularly again. Sorry I was a bit busy (with life but also Red Sox in playoffs lol) but still have followed the Celtics games along the way.
Anyways, I agree it's been a bit of a frustrating start all-around, but honestly it was expected. We're still 6-3 though and as of now a Top-4 seed in the East, so it's not all doom-and-gloom yet.
Hayward is coming back from a gruesome injury so of course it was going to take some time for him to become adjusted again back on the court, and of course there would be probably a lot of "bad" from Hayward before a lot of "great". I mean, if you were hoping that Hayward would come back and immediately look like his All-Star self again, then you're simply going to have to wait longer. It will be frustrating for now, but folks need to realize that if we want to make another deep run in the playoffs (including the Finals), then we need Hayward to be at 100% and to be one of our best players, which he can't do if we don't ease him in and give him some minutes early in the year.
Same with Kyrie, he's looked red hot lately, but he's also coming off a significant injury so his cold start, although very surprising, was not something I expected would last a long time, and of course it hasn't.
I always expected October and November would primarily be months with a lot of inconsistent basketball since CBS will continue to ease guys back in, figure out rotations and minutes, etc.
Also, I'm not sure why some folks on here seem shocked that the Pacers and Raptors look really good (as in, look like they could actually be Top-3 in the East and Toronto the clear #1). Looking at long-term picture is one thing, but ultimately Toronto were the 1 seed last year and upgraded from DeRozan to Leonard (who is seemingly very close to being 100% healthy). Pacers gave us a ton of trouble last season and are no "middle-of-the-pack" team. Bucks and Sixers are also true threats, though maybe not to the extent of Toronto.
I still am confident we'll figure things out and finish as a Top-2 seed in the East, but for now we just got to be patient and everything will sort itself out.
I do agree that this current style of basketball they are playing is not one I like (just shooting a ton of 3s during the entire game), but CBS isn't stupid. He'll realize it's not working and make adjustments from there. Also, if we're being honest, opposing defenses have actually looked bad against us and are leaving us open behind the arc, so we're trying to take advantage. Maybe Ainge sees this over the course of the season and finds a way to add/trade for another sharpshooter at the deadline as a result? But yeah, we don't have Curry + Thompson's on our team where this is something that will last and win us a ton of games over the course of a whole season.
So guys, R-E-L-A-X. It's been ugly, yes, and frustrating, but better to deal with this stuff now than in say, March/April. We've just got to hope we can stay as healthy as possible but if we do, we're still the biggest threat to Golden State along with Toronto ;D
We can obviously criticize this team and talk about the "bad", but lets just try to avoid a bunch of blazing hot-takes and "this team may not be a Top-5 team in the East" takes on November 4.
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Agreed Phantom TP. Do I get any credit for the thread idea?
I posted RELAX at 9:26 am in another thread.
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No inside game on offense and no one to protect the rim will continue..3rd best team behind Toronto and Milwaukee in the East
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See. We should have traded him before he blew that layup
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Agreed Phantom TP. Do I get any credit for the thread idea?
I posted RELAX at 9:26 am in another thread.
Yes, lets pretend I saw it. TP! :laugh:
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No inside game on offense and no one to protect the rim will continue..3rd best team behind Toronto and Milwaukee in the East
See, this is fine. A lot better than saying, "OMG we have no inside game and no one to protect the rim, we're missing the playoffs!"
I agree though, that's something that has to change and frankly we may need to look outside the organization (trade/buyouts) to help solve that a bit. Unfortunately for now that'll last. Just got to keep pace and weather the storm meanwhile
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I'm optimistic, but frustrated. I'm particularly frustrated with how they have played offense in the last two games. Their defense has been good and despite making 43% of their 3's, both were close games. The reason is they're not taking the ball to the rim and drawing fouls. In those two games, they're averaging 50.5 three point attempts and just 11 foul shots. It's lazy and not good basketball. Golden State with Curry, Thompson, and Durant is averaging 32.1 threes and 22.5 fouls shots. We have good, but not elite three point shooters and a lot of guys with the ability to drive to the hoop. Irving, Brown, Tatum, and Hayward should all be driving and cutting to the hoop more. With the offense so spread out, there are lanes. Maybe, they're trying to be unselfish. I'm confident Stevens will address this, but he has a lot of coaching to do.
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if Kyrie doesnt get in foul trouble I think we win last nights game easily. I mean smart had nearly as many shots as him.
Im not worried. we are 9 games in and the celtics are 6-3. all while Hayward is not himself, and Kyrie is Just now getting back to being last years Kyrie.
Only complaint so far is that we are settling for too many 3 pointers. I dont care how open they are, a 2 point shot around the rim is always a higher percentage. I mean 8 3's to start the game in a row? That is too many. Drive to the hoop, get fouls. Jaylen brown right now seems to be the only player who is doing that consistently as he is an average 3 point shooter.
But we know Kyrie/tatum/hayward ALL have the ability to get to the rim easily and finish. With all the spacing I would like to see more finishes at the basket than just passing up a layup for a wide open 3.
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No inside game on offense and no one to protect the rim will continue..3rd best team behind Toronto and Milwaukee in the East
Her the Celtics are a top defensive team.
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People get so caught up with the early season. All these teams will look drastically different come the end of the year. The Raptors will have their struggles as well at some point. This team is just trying to adjust to everyones new roles.
with the raptors/bucks its easy. giannis/Kawhi are your best players and everyone else plays as a roleplayer.
Luckily I think the celtics are starting to get back to realizing Kyrie is your best player and should take the most shots and everyone play around him. Early season I think they were being too conservative with his shots/having him take a backseat. But he is your best scorer.
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At this stage of the season, 9 games in, I'm ok with 6-3.
Could they be playing better? Absolutely. I don't think they've really been at their best anytime this season other than maybe parts of Game 1. But every game we've played has been competitive. We folded in the last couple of minutes of the Toronto game which is really the only time when we have not been in contention at the death. Every other loss has been single possession where we were still in it with a chance to win even though we shot poorly.
They just need to figure out how to get the balance right between taking what the defense is offering them when it comes to 3s and scoring inside. Looks like they are going with a strategy of attack the basket and then kick it out to the perimeter, as opposed to playing from the perimeter and feeding cutters to the basket. I have zero problem with them taking 3s if the D doesn't rotate or if the bigs stay in the paint, they just need to make sure they don't cross the line between taking those types of 3s and from the wrong players hoisting up contested ones or heat check ones early in the shot clock.
Defensively I think they're pretty solid. I think we're No.1 or 2 in terms of defensive rating. That's the reason why we have been in every game we have played. Even though stars like Kawhi and Giannis have scored on us we've locked down their supporting cast.
What I'm looking for over the next couple of months is consistent improvement - better judgment from a shotmaking perspective, more precision when it comes to the shots falling, and continuing to move the ball. We have a lot of players who could conceivably have a 30%+ usage rate, so they need to figure out when to be unselfish and when to take their shot.
Look at the bright side - playing like this in October is much better than playing like this in April.
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Yeah, there’s a lot of “sky is falling” type worries for a team on pace for 55 wins.
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Yeah, there’s a lot of “sky is falling” type worries for a team on pace for 55 wins.
Some of those 82-0 predictions in the "predict the record" thread were apparently more serious than we realized.
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Just don't think they are "pretty solid" defensively. Their defense and rebounding concerns me more than their offense.
The offensive stumbles were predictable with the integration of Hayward and the adjustment of roles from our young guys who played so much in the playoffs last season.
We may have some numerical rating that represents good defense, but I am going by what I see on the court. 1> They are simply not trying hard enough on defense. It takes hard, gritty, painful work and commitment to play great defense and they ain't gettin' it done. 2> Same could be said for rebounding, hard work and committment - plus it helps if your 6-10 behemoth center is crashing the boards instead of hanging out at the 3-line waiting for his next perimeter attempt. Not sure what the exact averages are, but we are not hurting teams on the offensive boards and we are losing key defensive rebounds late in close games.
Just hope all our new hype and glamour doesn't destroy our blue-collar personality that I think has been the strength of this current group. Also hope our two mentally-fragile point guards keep their focus on the team's goals and not their own.
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Post-game vs Indy - Horford sounded more upset than Stevens
Horford: "We have been living too much on the edge, Maybe this will wake us up"
(We are shooting too many bad 3's and not working on defense)
Stevens: "We lost to a good team"
(I am afraid of my players and don't want to tell them when they are taking bad shots
and being lazy on defense)
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Post-game vs Indy - Horford sounded more upset than Stevens
Horford: "We have been living too much on the edge, Maybe this will wake us up"
(We are shooting too many bad 3's and not working on defense)
Stevens: "We lost to a good team"
(I am afraid of my players and don't want to tell them when they are taking bad shots
and being lazy on defense)
Yeah, taking a lot of liberties with those quote interpretations. Especially Stevens. Indy is a good team. The Pacers we're at home. In the final seconds the Pacers performed and the Celtics didn't. This isn't some bad loss like the Knicks loss was. They lost to a good team when the C's held them to 102 points and shot over 41% from three
Horford probably did mean they didn't take it inside enough but the C's take it inside to then send it out for wide open shots. That's their offense.
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Post-game vs Indy - Horford sounded more upset than Stevens
Horford: "We have been living too much on the edge, Maybe this will wake us up"
(We are shooting too many bad 3's and not working on defense)
Stevens: "We lost to a good team"
(I am afraid of my players and don't want to tell them when they are taking bad shots
and being lazy on defense)
Yeah, taking a lot of liberties with those quote interpretations. Especially Stevens. Indy is a good team. The Pacers we're at home. In the final seconds the Pacers performed and the Celtics didn't. This isn't some bad loss like the Knicks loss was. They lost to a good team when the C's held them to 102 points and shot over 41% from three
Horford probably did mean they didn't take it inside enough but the C's take it inside to then send it out for wide open shots. That's their offense.
That is not their offense. Their best offense has more balance between the perimeter 3's and more scoring in the lane with internal passing and dribble-driving off their offensive patterns - not going one-on-one or jacking up the first glance from the 3-line. The Celtics did not shoot nearly this many 3's last season and Brad just lets them continue with impunity.
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Post-game vs Indy - Horford sounded more upset than Stevens
Horford: "We have been living too much on the edge, Maybe this will wake us up"
(We are shooting too many bad 3's and not working on defense)
Stevens: "We lost to a good team"
(I am afraid of my players and don't want to tell them when they are taking bad shots
and being lazy on defense)
Yeah, taking a lot of liberties with those quote interpretations. Especially Stevens. Indy is a good team. The Pacers we're at home. In the final seconds the Pacers performed and the Celtics didn't. This isn't some bad loss like the Knicks loss was. They lost to a good team when the C's held them to 102 points and shot over 41% from three
Horford probably did mean they didn't take it inside enough but the C's take it inside to then send it out for wide open shots. That's their offense.
That is not their offense. Their best offense has more balance between the perimeter 3's and more scoring in the lane with internal passing and dribble-driving off their offensive patterns - not going one-on-one or jacking up the first glance from the 3-line. The Celtics did not shoot nearly this many 3's last season and Brad just lets them continue with impunity.
Still quite a big reach on the Stevens quote.
And if Stevens has us playing this way, then it is our offence.
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If we play those final 37 seconds over ten more times, I bet we win 8 or 9 of them.
Oladipo (shooting 68% from the stripe) sank both free throws, then Kyrie missed a relatively easy layup, then Oladipo hit a tough contested three (was 9 for his previous 33 from deep), and then we couldn’t even get a shot attempt with more than enough time.
Tough loss, but no reason to overreact. These types of games happen throughout the season.
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I think we will be ok, every team is targeting us and we are a team to beat. We get their best effort and some nights we don't match that intensity.
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Regarding this strong Raptors and Milwaukee starts.
They are, as we projected, our biggest threat to reach the finals.
But one thing I learned over the years is that you need to play your best ball in April, May and not in the October and November. I remember Toronto playing amazing this early in seasons before. I remember the Clips playing out of their minds, but come playoff time they disappointed. I also remember the Spurs and their rodeo trips, as well as the Sir Alex Fergusons Man United teams that peaked in springtime.
As they did, we will gradually raise our play and timely enter our best stretch entering the playoffs. We do that in CBS era and this is the most talented roster he ever had.
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We are shooting WAY TOO MANY 3s.
We are letting teams off the hook by not using all the skills of each player. If all can drive, dribble, pass and shoot - can we see that please. We aren't getting to the FT line because everyone is just jacking 3s.
I'm not convinced that Jaylen Brown should be starting. I would rather go back to Baynes at C starting. No one in the starting lineup is willing to do the dirty work.
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We can say this and that, but we'll be just fine and that means the NBA finals. I remind, season is very long, injuries will start in all teams and after that our bench takes the main role. Raptors are the closest to us, but still we got stronger bench, with Morris who seems pretty hot at the start. Kyrie's still catching his form, Hayward too. We're gonna be juuust fine. Trust me.
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Post-game vs Indy - Horford sounded more upset than Stevens
Horford: "We have been living too much on the edge, Maybe this will wake us up"
(We are shooting too many bad 3's and not working on defense)
Stevens: "We lost to a good team"
(I am afraid of my players and don't want to tell them when they are taking bad shots
and being lazy on defense)
Yeah, taking a lot of liberties with those quote interpretations. Especially Stevens. Indy is a good team. The Pacers we're at home. In the final seconds the Pacers performed and the Celtics didn't. This isn't some bad loss like the Knicks loss was. They lost to a good team when the C's held them to 102 points and shot over 41% from three
Horford probably did mean they didn't take it inside enough but the C's take it inside to then send it out for wide open shots. That's their offense.
That is not their offense. Their best offense has more balance between the perimeter 3's and more scoring in the lane with internal passing and dribble-driving off their offensive patterns - not going one-on-one or jacking up the first glance from the 3-line. The Celtics did not shoot nearly this many 3's last season and Brad just lets them continue with impunity.
Still quite a big reach on the Stevens quote.
And if Stevens has us playing this way, then it is our offence.
Stevens: "We lost to a good team"
( I hope my wife is making that pot roast that I love tonight...)
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Post-game vs Indy - Horford sounded more upset than Stevens
Horford: "We have been living too much on the edge, Maybe this will wake us up"
(We are shooting too many bad 3's and not working on defense)
Stevens: "We lost to a good team"
(I am afraid of my players and don't want to tell them when they are taking bad shots
and being lazy on defense)
Yeah, taking a lot of liberties with those quote interpretations. Especially Stevens. Indy is a good team. The Pacers we're at home. In the final seconds the Pacers performed and the Celtics didn't. This isn't some bad loss like the Knicks loss was. They lost to a good team when the C's held them to 102 points and shot over 41% from three
Horford probably did mean they didn't take it inside enough but the C's take it inside to then send it out for wide open shots. That's their offense.
That is not their offense. Their best offense has more balance between the perimeter 3's and more scoring in the lane with internal passing and dribble-driving off their offensive patterns - not going one-on-one or jacking up the first glance from the 3-line. The Celtics did not shoot nearly this many 3's last season and Brad just lets them continue with impunity.
Still quite a big reach on the Stevens quote.
And if Stevens has us playing this way, then it is our offence.
Stevens: "We lost to a good team"
( I hope my wife is making that pot roast that I love tonight...)
Being lazy on defense- Kyrie on the last possession- just watched Olapido nailing that 3.
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We can say this and that, but we'll be just fine and that means the NBA finals. I remind, season is very long, injuries will start in all teams and after that our bench takes the main role. Raptors are the closest to us, but still we got stronger bench, with Morris who seems pretty hot at the start. Kyrie's still catching his form, Hayward too. We're gonna be juuust fine. Trust me.
Yeah my dentist tells me the same thing...everything will be fine. I believe it, but doesn't mean I have to enjoy the process. LOL
You make a great point. We shouldn't deal with many long term injuries if guys are playing less and splitting time. Our bench will be crucial later. I'm concerned that Kyrie may be a better Robin than Batman.
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Post-game vs Indy - Horford sounded more upset than Stevens
Horford: "We have been living too much on the edge, Maybe this will wake us up"
(We are shooting too many bad 3's and not working on defense)
Stevens: "We lost to a good team"
(I am afraid of my players and don't want to tell them when they are taking bad shots
and being lazy on defense)
Yeah, taking a lot of liberties with those quote interpretations. Especially Stevens. Indy is a good team. The Pacers we're at home. In the final seconds the Pacers performed and the Celtics didn't. This isn't some bad loss like the Knicks loss was. They lost to a good team when the C's held them to 102 points and shot over 41% from three
Horford probably did mean they didn't take it inside enough but the C's take it inside to then send it out for wide open shots. That's their offense.
That is not their offense. Their best offense has more balance between the perimeter 3's and more scoring in the lane with internal passing and dribble-driving off their offensive patterns - not going one-on-one or jacking up the first glance from the 3-line. The Celtics did not shoot nearly this many 3's last season and Brad just lets them continue with impunity.
Still quite a big reach on the Stevens quote.
And if Stevens has us playing this way, then it is our offence.
The team continues to take ill advised 3's multiple times a game. Guys like terry will shoot the team's chances for a win down the toilet. There's 2 reasons for this
1-Brad doesn't have the guts to check these guys.
2-Brad is ok with bad shots being taken.
Either way, the team suffers. I'm telling you all right now, if they don't win the title this year, it will be due to this problem not being fixed.
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I agree with the last poster.
The difference in the Warriors offense and the Celtics is the Warriors are more willing passers, the pass and cut, they drive and dish. We're playing too much one on one ball.
Stevens knows they shoot too many 3s but he's afraid of telling them because he likes them playing care free. Care free is good, careless is not good.
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I agree with the last poster.
The difference in the Warriors offense and the Celtics is the Warriors are more willing passers, the pass and cut, they drive and dish. We're playing too much one on one ball.
Stevens knows they shoot too many 3s but he's afraid of telling them because he likes them playing care free. Care free is good, careless is not good.
Stevens is not afraid of telling them anything. Posters on this board are privied to less than 5% of what Stevens tells them, which means we have no idea what he does or does not say. All we see is the action on the court.
What we do know is that Stevens has not been happy with the ball movement and has mentioned that in multiple interviews. We do know that he stresses "Great shooting teams are great passing teams." We do know that he holds players accountable, but not in the old school way of yanking them out of the game.
We also know that struggles on offense to begin the season is par for the course under Stevens. He implements pieces of his offense as he is confident in the player's ability to execute.
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I agree with the last poster.
The difference in the Warriors offense and the Celtics is the Warriors are more willing passers, the pass and cut, they drive and dish. We're playing too much one on one ball.
Stevens knows they shoot too many 3s but he's afraid of telling them because he likes them playing care free. Care free is good, careless is not good.
Stevens is not afraid of telling them anything. Posters on this board are privied to less than 5% of what Stevens tells them, which means we have no idea what he does or does not say. All we see is the action on the court.
What we do know is that Stevens has not been happy with the ball movement and has mentioned that in multiple interviews. We do know that he stresses "Great shooting teams are great passing teams." We do know that he holds players accountable, but not in the old school way of yanking them out of the game.
We also know that struggles on offense to begin the season is par for the course under Stevens. He implements pieces of his offense as he is confident in the player's ability to execute.
Stevens is in a very strong position as a coach. I don't think that there is any player in Boston that management would side with over Stevens. They don't call him Trader Danny cause he goes to Trader Joe's to buy his coffee...
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I agree with the last poster.
The difference in the Warriors offense and the Celtics is the Warriors are more willing passers, the pass and cut, they drive and dish. We're playing too much one on one ball.
Stevens knows they shoot too many 3s but he's afraid of telling them because he likes them playing care free. Care free is good, careless is not good.
Stevens is not afraid of telling them anything. Posters on this board are privied to less than 5% of what Stevens tells them, which means we have no idea what he does or does not say. All we see is the action on the court.
What we do know is that Stevens has not been happy with the ball movement and has mentioned that in multiple interviews. We do know that he stresses "Great shooting teams are great passing teams." We do know that he holds players accountable, but not in the old school way of yanking them out of the game.
We also know that struggles on offense to begin the season is par for the course under Stevens. He implements pieces of his offense as he is confident in the player's ability to execute.
If he is in fact disciplining them, then he needs to reevaluate his approach because clearly his new millennium way of discipline isn't working. This team is far too talented to have to rely on the 3 ball sinking night in and night out. We should've gone to the finals last year but they decided to keep taking bad shots praying they would go in.
Brad is actually in a good position to keep his guys in line. With the amount of talent here, he's not held hostage by players who don't want to listen. This is why I think he's ok with his guys pretending they're in a game of NBA Jam.
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I've no idea who the offensive assistant coach is on this team but this brand of offense is absolutely ridiculous. When the Pacer game started the first 10 shots or so were all three pointers. That is on the coach. First of all, as a fan i don't want to see that, and second of all i don't think it's conducive to winning anything. Adam Silver needs to move the 3 point line way back to discourage this kind of basketball, but until that happens Brad Stevens needs to step up and implement an offense that consists of something more than jacking up threes and hoping that they fall in. This team will die by the 3.
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First quarter last night was a brand of beautiful basketball and what the Celtics need to play like....then they reverted to old habits and trying to force shots. Not sure why they got away from it. But at least the glimpses are there of how to play.
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Morris went back to being his old self.
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I'm not relaxed, but I'm waiting at least 20 games before drawing any strong conclusions about the team.
So far Jaylen and Jayson are playing like their age, and Hayward looks like he's at least a year away from playing like an above average NBA starter again.
But again, it's very, very early. We'll see.
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Celtics have lost four games to teams that are a combined 34-7
Celtics are the best defensive team in the league "statistically" Opp FG%, 3pt%, PPG
Offensively they are 4th worst FG% and mid pack on 3pt%
Raps, Pacers, Nuggets, Bux are white hot right now.
Celtics don't look that bad really. Excuses include that Hayward has now played 10 full games with his new team. Morris is the teams leading % shooter with the shorter gentleman coming 9in second.
Big men seem to be messing with the Celtics, but, not overly badly.
Murray hung 55 points on them....kind of like Patrick Mahomes, huh? Is there some kind of advance plan for opposing guards going ballistic on the Celtics? He hit 5 out of 6 threes in the fourth...best to get on the bus and get the hell out of Denver for the one time you have to play there.
They were interviewing Tommy Heinsohn when he had just retired from coaching. The topic was drinking booze the night before a game. Red was worried about a New Years day game in Cincinnati against the Royals.
Tommy described how Red put everyone on curfew and had an alcohol free new Years party in his hotel suite to keep everyone honest.
'So, Tommy, how did Red's no booze policy work out for the Royals game?"
Tommy laughs..."They killed us, I think we lost by 18 points."
Sometimes your going to get beat.
Terry three stix is 39% from three. which means the best "offensive" starting line up is...
Irving
Rozier
Morris
Tatum
Horford
Brown
Hayward
Smart
Baynes..........off the bench
Of course, based on his output last night...
#44 Robert Williams from Texas A&M is the starting center for the Boston Celtics
At his HOF induction ceremony, Bob will joke that one of his first rookie games, Jamal Murray stuck 55 points on his team.
Phoenix and Utah are a combined 6-13...maybe the Celtics can get some statistical improvement going against them.
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We will. It's easy to forget Tatum's hammer on LeBron a few months ago during this time of hangover when games mean virtually nothing.
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Brad Stevens is having a really bad season coaching thus far. His rotations have no flow to them and are very robotic. He is making zero adjustments offensively. He is allowing his players to do whatever they want out there. Tatum and Stevens have really disappointed me thus far this season. I had high expectations for both of them.
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Stevens rotations always look like a mess early in the season. Things will look great by early December.
Tatum is another issue though, maybe that was the Lakers plan, use Kobe to get into his head and corrupt him. He needs to learn where to best pick his spots for the efficiency of himself and the team
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Still relaxing ?
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Still relaxing ?
I think I'm just going to get in a state of apathy until January, lol.
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Still relaxing ?
you need more that RELAX for this one... you need to CHILLAX.
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(https://media.giphy.com/media/RWEEZXPBXg98s/giphy.gif)
So relaxed.
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Still relaxing ?
100%
Pacers are 8-5 now, Sixers 8-6. Bucks have also lost 2 of their last 3. Should they be panicking too? Besides the Raptors and maybe Warriors (exception being the Bucks game), no one right now is playing their best basketball and to their truest potential.
It's still way too early to be worrying. We may be 7-6 after tonight but frankly I'll take going 7-6 our first 13 games of the year than say, a 7-6 stretch sometime in late February/early March. If we aren't playing good basketball still by mid-December, I'll start to worry.
Also you have to go through growing pains with easing Hayward in right now. If we want to make a legit run at making the Finals, Hayward has to be one of our 3-4 best players on the court.
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Still relaxing ?
100%
Pacers are 8-5 now, Sixers 8-6. Bucks have also lost 2 of their last 3. Should they be panicking too? Besides the Raptors and maybe Warriors (exception being the Bucks game), no one right now is playing their best basketball and to their truest potential.
It's still way too early to be worrying. We may be 7-6 after tonight but frankly I'll take going 7-6 our first 13 games of the year than say, a 7-6 stretch sometime in late February/early March. If we aren't playing good basketball still by mid-December, I'll start to worry.
Also you have to go through growing pains with easing Hayward in right now. If we want to make a legit run at making the Finals, Hayward has to be one of our 3-4 best players on the court.
Not to mention that out of our first 13 games we have played 4 home games JUST 4!!!!
And we have played the following good to great teams: Philly, Toronto, Milwaukee, OKC, Indiana, Denver, Utah, Portland and Detroit twice(Detroit's record without the 2 Celtic losses being 6-3).
That's a really hard schedule. If they win tonight, an 8-5 record with that schedule is pretty darn good.
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Still relaxing ?
100%
Pacers are 8-5 now, Sixers 8-6. Bucks have also lost 2 of their last 3. Should they be panicking too? Besides the Raptors and maybe Warriors (exception being the Bucks game), no one right now is playing their best basketball and to their truest potential.
It's still way too early to be worrying. We may be 7-6 after tonight but frankly I'll take going 7-6 our first 13 games of the year than say, a 7-6 stretch sometime in late February/early March. If we aren't playing good basketball still by mid-December, I'll start to worry.
Also you have to go through growing pains with easing Hayward in right now. If we want to make a legit run at making the Finals, Hayward has to be one of our 3-4 best players on the court.
Not to mention that out of our first 13 games we have played 4 home games JUST 4!!!!
And we have played the following good to great teams: Philly, Toronto, Milwaukee, OKC, Indiana, Denver, Utah, Portland and Detroit twice(Detroit's record without the 2 Celtic losses being 6-3).
That's a really hard schedule. If they win tonight, an 8-5 record with that schedule is pretty darn good.
The 5-game road trip early this season (including 4 games on the West Coast) was also a tough obstacle. But it's nice we got that over with after tonight. After the Raptors game this Friday, the schedule really eases up, so we could start to get rolling after that. :)
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Still relaxing ?
100%
Pacers are 8-5 now, Sixers 8-6. Bucks have also lost 2 of their last 3. Should they be panicking too? Besides the Raptors and maybe Warriors (exception being the Bucks game), no one right now is playing their best basketball and to their truest potential.
It's still way too early to be worrying. We may be 7-6 after tonight but frankly I'll take going 7-6 our first 13 games of the year than say, a 7-6 stretch sometime in late February/early March. If we aren't playing good basketball still by mid-December, I'll start to worry.
Also you have to go through growing pains with easing Hayward in right now. If we want to make a legit run at making the Finals, Hayward has to be one of our 3-4 best players on the court.
Not to mention that out of our first 13 games we have played 4 home games JUST 4!!!!
And we have played the following good to great teams: Philly, Toronto, Milwaukee, OKC, Indiana, Denver, Utah, Portland and Detroit twice(Detroit's record without the 2 Celtic losses being 6-3).
That's a really hard schedule. If they win tonight, an 8-5 record with that schedule is pretty darn good.
Also, all that time on the road reduces the amount of time they have to practice which this team really needs.
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Relax or not this team is a big disappointment so far.
It’s really all excuses.
The team look unprepared and everyone but Kyrie and Morris are under performing.
Look at Toronto implementing two new players one who haven’t played for a year.
I got patient for Hayward not for anyone else.
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Next weekend we have a back to back with Toronto and Utah but after that it looks to get a little easier. Charlotte,New York, Atlanta, Dallas, New Orleans, Cleveland, Minnesota, New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Washington, Atlanta, Detroit, Phoenix....
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Relax or not this team is a big disappointment so far.
It’s really all excuses.
The team look unprepared and everyone but Kyrie and Morris are under performing.
Look at Toronto implementing two new players one who haven’t played for a year.
I got patient for Hayward not for anyone else.
It's easier to integrate Kawhi into the Toronto lineup, he basically is a like-for-like replacement for DeRozan, same usage rate, high ppg scorer. For Boston you're integrating 2 players into the playoff team, one which you have basically never really played in that lineup, and asking two young players who blossomed with much more minutes than expected to take lesser roles and another to go to the bench and be an immediate impact when he comes on. They're all trying to figure out what their roles are, it's not like swapping out Brown for Hayward and everyone else still does the same thing.
It's going to be a big challenge, and seeing how they are struggling with it I wouldn't be surprised to see inconsistency heading into December. My hope is that once there's enough games under everyone's belt either the chemistry will develop, or if it doesn't, then Brad needs to make lineup changes when it becomes obvious over a period of a couple months that it isn't working.
Anyway look at the bright side, we could be like Houston ;D
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Now that the tough West Coast Trip (overall a 5-game road trip including one at Indiana) is over, we can get ready to roll!
We have 2 tough games this weekend against Toronto and Utah, but we play Chicago this Wednesday and if you look at it, after the Utah game on Saturday, the next 14 games the C's play will be against mediocre/bad teams, up until 12/21 when they play the Bucks again. This could be a stretch where the C's can hopefully start to figure things out and rack up some wins.
If they can find a way to go something like 12-5 in the next month (17 games), then they are back in business ;D
Yes, it's been ugly and frustrating (no denying that), but we're only 13 games into the season. I do think Hayward needs to be coming off the bench now primarily, to ease him in better, but ultimately the goal should be staying as healthy as possible as well for the 2nd half/playoffs. Also Hayward can hopefully ease himself back into the starting lineup later in the season. We can afford to wait a bit, because honestly I'd much rather go into the playoffs with the best team possible as opposed to going in as a 1-2 seed but still looking real uneven/inconsistent.
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I didn't anticipate that Brown and Tatum would show no growth from the playoff run of last year as far as confidence goes. I guess I'm spoiled seeing Donovan Mitchell, Simmons and D. Fox play.
To me this year Brown looks like he's still 19. Tatum may be coming around, fingers crossed. I figured the maturation of these two would provide Hayward time to mend properly and give us a boost in the second half.
I knew Hayward would have at least a slow first half of the season. Which he is. Even at 80%, he has a well-rounded game. He rebounds well, he passes well, physically he needs time.
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How we feeling now guys! ;D
Yeah we obviously still have lots of work to do and we're still far from a perfect team. But that was a BIG statement win tonight and probably Hayward's best game so far this season. Now start racking up more wins as the schedule eases up and we're in a good spot :)
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How we feeling now guys! ;D
Yeah we obviously still have lots of work to do and we're still far from a perfect team. But that was a BIG statement win tonight and probably Hayward's best game so far this season. Now start racking up more wins as the schedule eases up and we're in a good spot :)
If we beat Utah tomorrow the following games are
@Charlotte
NYK
@Atlanta
@Dallas
@NOP
Cleveland
@Minnesota
NYK
@Chicago
At that point we could well be 18-7 and have played 15 games on the road vs just 10 at home. That's a dang good start to the season and could and should be reality.
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How we feeling now guys! ;D
Yeah we obviously still have lots of work to do and we're still far from a perfect team. But that was a BIG statement win tonight and probably Hayward's best game so far this season. Now start racking up more wins as the schedule eases up and we're in a good spot :)
If we beat Utah tomorrow the following games are
@Charlotte
NYK
@Atlanta
@Dallas
@NOP
Cleveland
@Minnesota
NYK
@Chicago
At that point we could well be 18-7 and have played 15 games on the road vs just 10 at home. That's a dang good start to the season and could and should be reality.
It's going to be tough for these guys to maintain their energy tomorrow night though coming off a draining OT win. I hope they stay focused.
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How we feeling now guys! ;D
Yeah we obviously still have lots of work to do and we're still far from a perfect team. But that was a BIG statement win tonight and probably Hayward's best game so far this season. Now start racking up more wins as the schedule eases up and we're in a good spot :)
If we beat Utah tomorrow the following games are
@Charlotte
NYK
@Atlanta
@Dallas
@NOP
Cleveland
@Minnesota
NYK
@Chicago
At that point we could well be 18-7 and have played 15 games on the road vs just 10 at home. That's a dang good start to the season and could and should be reality.
It's going to be tough for these guys to maintain their energy tomorrow night though coming off a draining OT win. I hope they stay focused.
Utah played last night also and lost and then they have to fly into Boston and get into hotel, etc. Plus Mitchell should be tired from hoisting up 35 shots. We also have a little revenge due. Advantage Boston.
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How we feeling now guys! ;D
Yeah we obviously still have lots of work to do and we're still far from a perfect team. But that was a BIG statement win tonight and probably Hayward's best game so far this season. Now start racking up more wins as the schedule eases up and we're in a good spot :)
If we beat Utah tomorrow the following games are
@Charlotte
NYK
@Atlanta
@Dallas
@NOP
Cleveland
@Minnesota
NYK
@Chicago
At that point we could well be 18-7 and have played 15 games on the road vs just 10 at home. That's a dang good start to the season and could and should be reality.
It's going to be tough for these guys to maintain their energy tomorrow night though coming off a draining OT win. I hope they stay focused.
Utah played last night also and lost and then they have to fly into Boston and get into hotel, etc. Plus Mitchell should be tired from hoisting up 35 shots. We also have a little revenge due. Advantage Boston.
The biggest advantage will be if they play like they did towards the end of regulation and OT last night by attacking the rim rather than looking for three pointers as their first option.
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How we feeling now guys! ;D
Yeah we obviously still have lots of work to do and we're still far from a perfect team. But that was a BIG statement win tonight and probably Hayward's best game so far this season. Now start racking up more wins as the schedule eases up and we're in a good spot :)
Last night certainly felt like a must win, at least in terms of elevating the teams confidence early in the season. It was great to see Hayward playing with aggression in crucial moments. As you said, it was easily his best game of the season.
I'm really hoping to see Rozier and Jaylen give the team a lift tonight. Rozier was VERY frustrating last night, particularly in the 3rd quarter. There are times where he takes poor contested shots as the primary ball handler, yet turns down open looks and over-complicates things when playing off the ball. Everything just feels so out of sync.
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How we feeling now guys! ;D
Yeah we obviously still have lots of work to do and we're still far from a perfect team. But that was a BIG statement win tonight and probably Hayward's best game so far this season. Now start racking up more wins as the schedule eases up and we're in a good spot :)
If we beat Utah tomorrow the following games are
@Charlotte
NYK
@Atlanta
@Dallas
@NOP
Cleveland
@Minnesota
NYK
@Chicago
At that point we could well be 18-7 and have played 15 games on the road vs just 10 at home. That's a dang good start to the season and could and should be reality.
actually, those are the games even if the celtics do not beat utah. ;D
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Relax or not this team is a big disappointment so far.
It’s really all excuses.
The team look unprepared and everyone but Kyrie and Morris are under performing.
Look at Toronto implementing two new players one who haven’t played for a year.
I got patient for Hayward not for anyone else.
It's easier to integrate Kawhi into the Toronto lineup, he basically is a like-for-like replacement for DeRozan, same usage rate, high ppg scorer. For Boston you're integrating 2 players into the playoff team, one which you have basically never really played in that lineup, and asking two young players who blossomed with much more minutes than expected to take lesser roles and another to go to the bench and be an immediate impact when he comes on. They're all trying to figure out what their roles are, it's not like swapping out Brown for Hayward and everyone else still does the same thing.
It's going to be a big challenge, and seeing how they are struggling with it I wouldn't be surprised to see inconsistency heading into December. My hope is that once there's enough games under everyone's belt either the chemistry will develop, or if it doesn't, then Brad needs to make lineup changes when it becomes obvious over a period of a couple months that it isn't working.
Anyway look at the bright side, we could be like Houston ;D
Plus Hayward has been slowly getting back from his injury, and he has flat out stunk at times this year because of it.
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We'll still be fine in the long run, but for now they've got to figure out what the problems are and fast. Losing home games to the Knicks early in the season is how we potentially lose the chance at home court advantages in the 2nd round and ECF of the playoffs :(
Also when this team takes a 20+ point lead early, it gets blown fast. Fall behind by 20 early and they mount a comeback that falls short while the other team manages to hold on to it. Repeat. Just frustrating.
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We'll still be fine in the long run, but for now they've got to figure out what the problems are and fast. Losing home games to the Knicks early in the season is how we potentially lose the chance at home court advantages in the 2nd round and ECF of the playoffs :(
Also when this team takes a 20+ point lead early, it gets blown fast. Fall behind by 20 early and they mount a comeback that falls short while the other team manages to hold on to it. Repeat. Just frustrating.
You seriously got your glass half full. The SECOND ROUND and ECF?? How about the first round like as a 7 or 8 seed?
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We'll still be fine in the long run, but for now they've got to figure out what the problems are and fast. Losing home games to the Knicks early in the season is how we potentially lose the chance at home court advantages in the 2nd round and ECF of the playoffs :(
Also when this team takes a 20+ point lead early, it gets blown fast. Fall behind by 20 early and they mount a comeback that falls short while the other team manages to hold on to it. Repeat. Just frustrating.
You seriously got your glass half full. The SECOND ROUND and ECF?? How about the first round like as a 7 or 8 seed?
Love the optimism! :P
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We'll still be fine in the long run, but for now they've got to figure out what the problems are and fast. Losing home games to the Knicks early in the season is how we potentially lose the chance at home court advantages in the 2nd round and ECF of the playoffs :(
Also when this team takes a 20+ point lead early, it gets blown fast. Fall behind by 20 early and they mount a comeback that falls short while the other team manages to hold on to it. Repeat. Just frustrating.
You seriously got your glass half full. The SECOND ROUND and ECF?? How about the first round like as a 7 or 8 seed?
Love the optimism! :P
Why would I be optimistic? They lose at home to the Knicks after two previous losses. What is there to be optimistic about? Their effort? their desire? Or just that they were anointed the Eastern Conference based on last year? Sorry, but until I see effort as a team I cannot be optimistic. Yes I see individual effort from players like Kyrie and Smart at times, but there is no consistent "team" effort or "team" heart. It wouldn't even be half this bad if I thought they cared.
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How we feeling now guys! ;D
Yeah we obviously still have lots of work to do and we're still far from a perfect team. But that was a BIG statement win tonight and probably Hayward's best game so far this season. Now start racking up more wins as the schedule eases up and we're in a good spot :)
If we beat Utah tomorrow the following games are
@Charlotte
NYK
@Atlanta
@Dallas
@NOP
Cleveland
@Minnesota
NYK
@Chicago
At that point we could well be 18-7 and have played 15 games on the road vs just 10 at home. That's a dang good start to the season and could and should be reality.
0-2 so far. We might end up 4-5 with our wins coming against Cleveland, Chicago, Atlanta and Dallas. Yeeshk! The team is playing U-G-L-Y right now
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I predict we're going to land at around 50 wins now, I'm hoping we're playing at the level we need to play by then. I don't think we realistically have a chance at the finals this year though because the possibility of home court in the playoffs is diminishing every game.
In the next few games I predict we beat Atlanta (unless trae young unloads on us for 50) and lose to the mavs and pels.
My bet is that when Ainge decides this isn't our year he'll trade Rozier. Another week or two of .500 ball and I think he's considering it (if he isn't already). Why just let him walk if we don't really need his services this year anyway?
I think that could be the mark that the team is looking to next year instead.
Or we could reel of 15 straight wins and no one remembers this start.
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How we feeling now guys! ;D
Yeah we obviously still have lots of work to do and we're still far from a perfect team. But that was a BIG statement win tonight and probably Hayward's best game so far this season. Now start racking up more wins as the schedule eases up and we're in a good spot :)
If we beat Utah tomorrow the following games are
@Charlotte
NYK
@Atlanta
@Dallas
@NOP
Cleveland
@Minnesota
NYK
@Chicago
At that point we could well be 18-7 and have played 15 games on the road vs just 10 at home. That's a dang good start to the season and could and should be reality.
0-2 so far. We might end up 4-5 with our wins coming against Cleveland, Chicago, Atlanta and Dallas. Yeeshk! The team is playing U-G-L-Y right now
I saw us losing @CHA (we just don't seem to win games @CHA honestly and it's a struggle there), but the home loss to a 4 (now 5) win Knicks team was bad.
We can hope it rejuvenates them but otherwise yeah we could still remain around .500 2 weeks from now. I'm keeping the faith though! We're going on a run soon 8)
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We're starting to flip the script for good ;D
We play inconsistent, hit "rock bottom" vs NYK at home 2 weeks ago, win 4 of our next 5 (including 2 quality road wins over NOP & MIN), then come back and return the favor to the Knicks at home last night.
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We're starting to flip the script for good ;D
We play inconsistent, hit "rock bottom" vs NYK at home 2 weeks ago, win 4 of our next 5 (including 2 quality road wins over NOP & MIN), then come back and return the favor to the Knicks at home last night.
6th in the league average scoring margin at +5.4 and top in average scoring margin over the last four games at +21.8 (including wins over two teams who are also top 11 in scoring margin over the last three games, new orleans [top 10 for the year] and minnesota).
the eye test also shows that the team is playing completely differently on offense, moving the ball, going to the basket and taking better shots. averaging 29.8 ast/game over the last four games (golden state current top in the league on the year at 27.9 ast/game).
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i like the energy and passing of late.
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Ahh yes, this is more like it. Ball is moving, more energy to start the games. I really like the 2nd unit of Rozier, Hayward and Brown. Hayward is a great playmaker.
At always I watch assists and as long as we're above 30 per game, we're fine. A few weeks ago I said 40 games would be a bench mark and thought 22-8 would be good but I will take 19-11. We should run off the next 5 playing like this.
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Overall most players are doing much better and the offense is quite fluent. However they still take too many threes. We have to implement post play and back cuts and be more agressive when driving to the basket. I liked the fact that Stevens got Horford more involved in the offense through pick-and-roll in the second quarter.
On defense I really don't think Tatum/Morris/Horford is the trio you want to prolong as your starting frontcourt. That doesn't offer enough rebounding and inside defense. After a fantastic start Morris has cooled off quite a bit (only shooting 35% form 3 in the last 8 games, and not a single block btw) and I really don't think there's much reason to keep giving him so many minutes.