Author Topic: R-E-L-A-X, We'll Be Just Fine (Update: We're Doing Better!)  (Read 8128 times)

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R-E-L-A-X, We'll Be Just Fine (Update: We're Doing Better!)
« on: November 04, 2018, 11:23:35 AM »

Offline Phantom255x

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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.
« Last Edit: December 07, 2018, 09:43:28 AM by Phantom255x »
"Tough times never last, but tough people do." - Robert H. Schuller

Re: R-E-L-A-X, We'll Be Just Fine
« Reply #1 on: November 04, 2018, 11:32:45 AM »

Offline KG Living Legend

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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.

Re: R-E-L-A-X, We'll Be Just Fine
« Reply #2 on: November 04, 2018, 11:34:10 AM »

Online Birdman

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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
C/PF-Horford, Baynes, Noel, Theis, Morris,
SF/SG- Tatum, Brown, Hayward, Smart, Semi, Clark
PG- Irving, Rozier, Larkin

Re: R-E-L-A-X, We'll Be Just Fine
« Reply #3 on: November 04, 2018, 11:34:22 AM »

Offline KG Living Legend

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 See. We should have traded him before he blew that layup

Re: R-E-L-A-X, We'll Be Just Fine
« Reply #4 on: November 04, 2018, 11:34:32 AM »

Offline Phantom255x

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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:

"Tough times never last, but tough people do." - Robert H. Schuller

Re: R-E-L-A-X, We'll Be Just Fine
« Reply #5 on: November 04, 2018, 11:35:44 AM »

Offline Phantom255x

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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
"Tough times never last, but tough people do." - Robert H. Schuller

Re: R-E-L-A-X, We'll Be Just Fine
« Reply #6 on: November 04, 2018, 11:59:11 AM »

Offline knuckleballer

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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.

Re: R-E-L-A-X, We'll Be Just Fine
« Reply #7 on: November 04, 2018, 12:07:12 PM »

Offline cman88

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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.

Re: R-E-L-A-X, We'll Be Just Fine
« Reply #8 on: November 04, 2018, 12:13:23 PM »

Offline Rondo9

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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.

Re: R-E-L-A-X, We'll Be Just Fine
« Reply #9 on: November 04, 2018, 12:17:44 PM »

Offline cman88

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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.

Re: R-E-L-A-X, We'll Be Just Fine
« Reply #10 on: November 04, 2018, 12:29:43 PM »

Offline ozgod

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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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Re: R-E-L-A-X, We'll Be Just Fine
« Reply #11 on: November 04, 2018, 02:13:09 PM »

Offline mqtcelticsfan

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Yeah, there’s a lot of “sky is falling” type worries for a team on pace for 55 wins.

Re: R-E-L-A-X, We'll Be Just Fine
« Reply #12 on: November 04, 2018, 03:27:58 PM »

Offline Boris Badenov

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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.

Re: R-E-L-A-X, We'll Be Just Fine
« Reply #13 on: November 04, 2018, 07:30:50 PM »

Online tenn_smoothie

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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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Re: R-E-L-A-X, We'll Be Just Fine
« Reply #14 on: November 04, 2018, 09:33:04 PM »

Online tenn_smoothie

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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)
The Four Celtic Generals:
Russell - Cowens - Bird - Garnett

The Four Celtic Lieutenants:
Cousy - Havlicek - McHale - Pierce