Boston Celtics vs Milwaukee Bucks Seeding Game #1 7/31/20

[mobilija]

If you watch the game, the team played quite well.

Tatum had a bad night and that can happen to any player, he started to pass out of his looks and got a couple of assists. Giannis makes everyone look bad on defense.

Hayward was ok, the team would have been better if he had hit harder. His stats were fine, but watch the game.

Team needed Kemba in the last 7 minutes....obviously.

Brown played really really well.

Theis was good as always....

Wanamaker had a good game.

Smart was outstanding. He had two shots that tied the game amd one shot that put the Celtics in front. He is such a wild card, you simply can't guess what he's going to do next.

Grant,Semi & Kanter were ok, but played very little. Grant committed an awful foul on a three pointer.

Celtics bench Minutes - 88  points- 39
Bucks bench minutes - 90  points- 32

Smart really lead the team.

In the 4th, the Bucks were doubling Tatum deep from time to time which was funny as he was so cold.

I don’t understand what you mean here?

I think he meant Hayward should have been more aggressive on offense, which I agree with.

Hmmm...
I watched the game, Thought he was aggressive when he had his opportunities but didn’t shoot particularly well. However had a similar amount of shots as the other starters (excluding Kemba on restrictions). Memory of box score says 16 for Hayward, 15 for Brown, 13 for Theis(!) and 18 for Tatum. Can’t remember how many Smart took.

So that seems like a function of the offense rather than Hayward. There are 4 All-Star quality players sharing the ball, 5 if u count Smart and 6 if you add in wide open Theis.  It looks to me like they are constantly “taking turns”. He led everyone in assists and was second in rebounding. Not sure what he should be doing instead, given the roster construction. I think this team is designed to share, Hayward does that well.

If he or Brown shoots A little better or Tatum makes more than 1 basket, likely we win. And no one is complaining about Hayward lack of aggressiveness.

Biggest takeaway from me for the game...all our PGs has very good games. That may be our biggest strength against the Bucks.

[SparzWizard]

Marcus Smart fined $15k for comments about officials and Giannis.

[footey]

Marcus Smart fined $15k for comments about officials and Giannis.

Wonder if JB gets fined too.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Marcus Smart fined $15k for comments about officials and Giannis.

If I made as much as Marcus does, I'd be complaining about the refs a lot.

[tenn_smoothie]

Marcus Smart fined $15k for comments about officials and Giannis.

The team would be better off if Brad Stevens were getting these fines for going off on the officials. Stevens is way too compliant and accepting of their bad calls and even worse explanations. Somebody has to say something and it always seems to be Marcus.

[tenn_smoothie]

Brandon Clarke highlight(21 pts, offensive rebounds etc) last night... would have looked good in a Celts uniform

https://youtu.be/-H4FTI_0uKQ

100% agree. I called for us to pick him before the draft. I love Grant Williams and think he will be a consistent contributor - he knows how to play and does the dirty work. What the hell we saw in Langford is beyond me. Danny and his perimeter fetish, I suppose.

[Somebody]

Marcus Smart fined $15k for comments about officials and Giannis.

The team would be better off if Brad Stevens were getting these fines for going off on the officials. Stevens is way too compliant and accepting of their bad calls and even worse explanations. Somebody has to say something and it always seems to be Marcus.

I'm doing plenty of complaining

[Vermont Green]

The Bucks game was a weird one.  Kemba on limited minutes and Tatum essentially disappearing were mitigating and likely generally won't happen but Smart might not always play that well either.  And yes, GA should have fouled out at least once and that would have helped.

To me the issue was size.  We still have an issue.  We aren't able to occupy their bigs (they can float and clog the middle) and we lack the defensive presence to stop them getting some easy baskets in the paint.

Games can (or often) come down to a handful of buckets.  When you give up a few too many easy baskets to their bigs, you then put more pressure on your team to make more of the big tough shots.  With the Tatum disappearance and Kemba on minutes limits, we had to make too many big shots and just couldn't do it.

There will be nights where we will hit enough big shots to overcome easy baskets that their bigs get but it just puts more pressure on us, especially against a team like the Bucks.  We are what we are though, at least for now.

[gift]

Not all that discouraging to me. This team is a little rusty, but they showed they still have that fight that allows them to keep games close when they're not playing well or climb back from deficits. The other stuff will come. If Tatum has an even slightly sub-average game, the Celtics would have won and that would have been fool's gold. So this loss might not be the worst thing.