Suns (5-5) at Celtics (3-5) Game #9 11/17/14

[SHAQATTACK]

I couldn't watch most of the game tonight. Did Kelly suffer an injury or something? The box score claims he only played 13 minutes.   

We watched a lot of Bass 

[timobusa]

AB has to go.

Bradley was a +2.
Rondo was a -10.
Bradley committed 2 turnovers.
Rondo committed 5 turnovers.

Bradley had the biggest turnover of the game.
plus minus stats are irrelevant.

Only to an idiot.

You really think plus minus is all that?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

That's all I gotta say.

[MBunge]

The Celtics are a bad, young team in the process of rebuilding.  Bad, young, rebuilding teams tend to have issues with closing out games.  It's not that complex an issue, honestly.

Bad, young, rebuilding teams don't regularly build double-digit leads against even good teams.  And Boston was pretty bad and pretty young last season but was playing defense a lot better than this.

Bad, young, rebuilding teams lose close games but they more often lose decisively or get blown out.  They don't really look like these Celtics.

Mike

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

I couldn't watch most of the game tonight. Did Kelly suffer an injury or something? The box score claims he only played 13 minutes.   

bad game. didn't start second half. second run was bad too. when he isnt involved in the offense he doesnt get a flow.

[nostar]

So I didn't read this whole 31-page thread but it occurs to me that we're losing games on purpose. If that's what's happening then I'm actually more excited about this brand of tanking than the Sixers brand. At least we have a watchable product for 90% of the game. At the end of close games we give the ball to Rondo. He bobbles it (unlike him), shoots a 3 (unlike him) or clangs free throws (totally in his wheelhouse) to make the close games fun for fans but ultimately lose and score an organizational victory. It makes for fun TV and it's an okay message to possible free agents, "Hey, we're right there with the great teams, just need 1 more piece!"

So call me crazy, I could just be reading what I want in to these games. Losing close games to the Suns, Cavs, Raptors and possibly Mavericks and winning against the Bulls without Rondo there to orchestrate the bobble makes me suspect we've got a very fan-friendly strategy.

I watched the Phoenix game. Our fans were in to it from start to finish. I've also watched a Sixers game. Totally different atmospheres.

So watch the close games this year and see how many Rondo throws away like wrapping paper. I'm personally very pleased we might have a star smart enough to play this game. I know others will certainly disagree.

[SHAQATTACK]

The Celtics are a bad, young team in the process of rebuilding.  Bad, young, rebuilding teams tend to have issues with closing out games.  It's not that complex an issue, honestly.

Bad, young, rebuilding teams don't regularly build double-digit leads against even good teams.  And Boston was pretty bad and pretty young last season but was playing defense a lot better than this.

Bad, young, rebuilding teams lose close games but they more often lose decisively or get blown out.  They don't really look like these Celtics.

Mike

If this is true ....it's an indication of leadership and ......ah coaching malady

[GratefulCs]

I couldn't watch most of the game tonight. Did Kelly suffer an injury or something? The box score claims he only played 13 minutes.   

he was benched. Foul issues.  Suns players were driving in on the celts all night long and KO/Sully had issues preventing shots from going in. Bass and Zeller did a better job

Thanks for the info!  I kind of freaked out for a second when I saw the box score, haha.

I guess foul issues are better than injury issues   

[Chris22]

AB has to go.

Bradley was a +2.
Rondo was a -10.
Bradley committed 2 turnovers.
Rondo committed 5 turnovers.

Bradley had the biggest turnover of the game.
plus minus stats are irrelevant.

Only to an idiot.

You really think plus minus is all that?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

That's all I gotta say.

No, what you said was that plus and minus was irrelevant.

Now you are changing your tune.

It's a great stat because it's the only stat that includes team offense and team defense.

Rondo can't defend.

[Celtics4ever]

I couldn't watch most of the game tonight. Did Kelly suffer an injury or something? The box score claims he only played 13 minutes.

We had a bad case of unathleticitis tonight.   At times, Sully and KO looked unable to run with the bigs on the other team.   Zeller could though.

[86MaxwellSmart]

Wow----our point guard is shooting like 30% from the line...and refuses to play defense.

Jeff Green is playing his way out of town one way or another---Someone will overpay more than we did for him.

At least Zeller is great....86% shooting from the FIELD....Great hands---and he's a really good shooter from outside---he just hasn't taken any outside of 8 feet.

[timobusa]

AB has to go.

Bradley was a +2.
Rondo was a -10.
Bradley committed 2 turnovers.
Rondo committed 5 turnovers.

Bradley had the biggest turnover of the game.
plus minus stats are irrelevant.

Only to an idiot.

You really think plus minus is all that?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

That's all I gotta say.

No, what you said was that plus and minus was irrelevant.

Now you are changing your tune.

It's a great stat because it's the only stat that includes team offense and team defense.

Rondo can't defend.

Not changing my tune, I still think plus minus is irrelevant.

Bradley can't pass, dribble, and has a low basketball IQ and makes 1 good play out of 10.

Irrelevant.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

AB gave the game away on that last pass, there is no doubt about it. I am p---ed.

Even though I am ticked with that turnover. AB had a good game until that moment.

[SCeltic34]

We gotta start winning games.  Not just for the sake of our record, but to stop some of these ridiculous over-reactionary threads.  Just the nature of sports message boards though.

[hwangjini_1]

The Celtics are a bad, young team in the process of rebuilding.  Bad, young, rebuilding teams tend to have issues with closing out games.  It's not that complex an issue, honestly.

perhaps this stat supports this point. of the celtics' 9 games, 6 have been decided by 5 points or less. amazingly, they do seem to be competitive so far, but inconsistency tips the scale against them more often than not it seems.

a crude analysis, but it is late and tomorrow is another research day. 

[MBunge]

The Celtics are a bad, young team in the process of rebuilding.  Bad, young, rebuilding teams tend to have issues with closing out games.  It's not that complex an issue, honestly.

Bad, young, rebuilding teams don't regularly build double-digit leads against even good teams.  And Boston was pretty bad and pretty young last season but was playing defense a lot better than this.

Bad, young, rebuilding teams lose close games but they more often lose decisively or get blown out.  They don't really look like these Celtics.

Mike

If this is true ....it's an indication of leadership and ......ah coaching malady

You've clearly got to give Stevens credit for how good the team looks at times but they've got to, at some point, stop losing winnable games like they repeatedly did last season and so far this year.

Mike