Celtics (21-22) at Bucks (28-14) Game #44 3/24/21

[jambr380]

Some of you are being way too nice. Don’t get me wrong I’m not crying over this loss but this team deserves 0 credit. The only reason they even had to comeback was because they, as usual, played with sticks up with their butts for at least two quarters.

Play hard they would have won. I’m done with moral victories, the only acceptable loss is when they play hard and lose ( like our bad but hard working 15-17 teams).

Yeah, those 2015-2017 teams had a strong mentality. Even in losing, they still fought hard.

This team? All this talent and still losing games left and right? Pretty much the same team that made it to the ECF 6 months ago? Downright embarrassing!

Exactly from possible title contender to this. It is embarrassing.

Lol. We we're never a title contender this year. That was the biggest preseason myth. It was cute, but it was never realistic.

Cute?  lol

Last year they were up and coming. This is a major step back.

We've been up and coming for half a decade now except we keep losing All-Star talent and replacing them with end of bench fodder. I don't understand how fans are so surprised that half conference has passed us by. We're running a marathon when the race is a sprint.

Who'd a thunk losing more talent in multiple consecutive off-seasons than you're brining in would have these kinds of consequences

Exactly, people wanted to act like losing Hayward wasn’t a big deal. It’s a flawed roster. But it’s ok we’ll just keep waiting until there’s no more super teams, it worked when waiting out the Warriors. Oh wait the Nets exist now? Guess we’ll need to wait them out too. Then the next super team will form and the process will repeat.

Some people actually rejoiced when Hayward left because they said he was trash and overpaid because he sacrificed his own output to take a back seat and a supporting role to the Jays who were both trying to get paid. Sometimes it's only when the player leaves that fans realize that he was actually a key part of success.

I don't think there were many people 'rejoicing' over Hayward's departure. We all knew what a blow it was to lose somebody of Hayward's caliber. I think people were more treating it like an ex-girlfriend who you took care of when she was ill, but decided to dump you when she was all better.

They also hoped that the bubble chemistry was real and that we didn't really need him; but losing Kyrie, Horford, and Hayward was always going to put this team on a new trajectory. Last offseason was the end of Danny's 2nd rebuild (first ended in 2013) - which ended with craziness and bad injury luck. He now needs to build the best team he can around the Jays - hopefully he knows this.

[hardlyyardley]

Pritchard played 4 minutes....hope it wasn't because of a pending trade

Smart is really upsetting

[Celtics4ever]

If we had a bench, we win this game

I think the bench was a little better this game than in other games actually.  Teague went off, Grant actually played good D.

I have to wonder if the trade rumors is not affecting the play of some our guys.  Rob has not been himself and Smart seems set on showing his worth to the team but his shot selection is killing us.

[nyceltsfan]

Just a thought on that final play - we did not need a 3 pointer.  We had the momentum and could try to get the win in OT.  We have 2 guys on the team that I think may be suited for that situation: Tacko Fall and Robert Williams.

Why were neither in the game?  If Smart were to throw a high pass over the basket where only Fall can reach it, wouldn't that be the perfect opportunity to use him?  If Stevens doesn't want to give Fall any time (I don't see why not or how the results could be any worse than what we have achieved so far), we have Robert Williams who has elite leaping ability and is skilled at the lob plays.  Why were those not options in that situation?

[Who]

Also, I think people are overreacting on Smart. Yeah, he's not been great since coming back from injury, but neither has the team. Smart is still a crucial piece of what we do, but he's being asked - and/or allowed - to do too much out there due to the futility of the rest of the roster and coaching and the overall failure of our "gameplan" and philosophy to work. When put back in a situation when he's not asked to do too much, he'll be just as valuable to us as he's always been.

Historically, Smart struggles with his shot whenever he returns from an injury.

You have the missed period of the injury + a period post injury where he has to play himself back into shape / sharpness where you get subpar performances from him ... before you get ideal Marcus Smart.

Unfortunately, he gets injured a lot.

It used to bug me a lot when he was younger. Missed time + subpar time vs quality performance. But I am so used to it at this point I just look past it.

Wait for the better days to come (as Smart gets back into the groove) as they always have in the past.