What we learned after one game

[Snakehead]

Lastly I would like to say I did not like it whey Jeff Green was the biggest guy on the court for the Celtics. I'm thinking they might like to have at least one big guy out there, just in case there is a rebound to be had.

In the 2nd half when that happened I would have liked to see Sully out there.  But I didn't mind Doc trying to keep Green on the floor for a while and get him some action.

[CelticG1]

Healthy Ray Allen > Jason Terry.

Im pretty sure that is going to change game to game

[Q_FBE]

look..boston has 4 guys playing right now that even played last year...everyone is new or missed the season.

defense is always the hardest part

bigger concern for me is how Doc handles this team....rotations were all over the road

Miami is ahead of us on team development. The Celtics have 8 new players on the team from last year and it will take time to get the chemistry and the rotations right. So aside from the turnovers and defending their three point shooters the Celtics have the makings to be an excellent team. But as of this point, they are not equipped to beating Miami when they are at the top of their game (but then again, name me another team that is capable of beating Miami at the top of their game).

Barbosa made an impression in the 4th qtr and [dang] near stole the game for the Celtics by himself.

Otherwise, last nights game was unwinnable.

[Snakehead]

Also I think forgotten in this loss is that Rondo's stat line and for me at least I don't think he even played that well.  Legitimate MVP canidate, especially with this new offense.  Assists will be easier with the scorers added and attention to those scorers will allow him to score.  His shot looked pretty good too.

[Fafnir]

Our offense is so much better than last year's (and the years before). I was amazed to see how we managed to score on almost every possessions, without ever enduring a dreaded scoring drought. And our offense was that efficient with Green and JET basically being non factors so I feel very good about it going forward.

I saw a pretty bad scoring drought and turnover fest late in the third that allowed Miami to build their lead. If Barbosa doesn't go nuts in the 4th I don't think we'd be as happy with our offense.

I think we have a lot more offensive talent, and you could see that. But right now Lee/Terry/Green are still out of sorts somewhat offensively.

[Snakehead]

Our offense is so much better than last year's (and the years before). I was amazed to see how we managed to score on almost every possessions, without ever enduring a dreaded scoring drought. And our offense was that efficient with Green and JET basically being non factors so I feel very good about it going forward.

I saw a pretty bad scoring drought and turnover fest late in the third that allowed Miami to build their lead. If Barbosa doesn't go nuts in the 4th I don't think we'd be as happy with our offense.

I think we have a lot more offensive talent, and you could see that. But right now Lee/Terry/Green are still out of sorts somewhat offensively.

I think our offensive execution wasn't really good.  We allowed fronts to stop us from getting KG the ball.  We didn't exploit Mike Miller or Rashard Lewis more than a couple times when they were out there a lot and at the same time even.

So yes, I agree Barbosa helped how our offense looked.  But the raw talent and ability is there.  Execution needs major work.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Our offense is so much better than last year's (and the years before). I was amazed to see how we managed to score on almost every possessions, without ever enduring a dreaded scoring drought. And our offense was that efficient with Green and JET basically being non factors so I feel very good about it going forward.

I saw a pretty bad scoring drought and turnover fest late in the third that allowed Miami to build their lead. If Barbosa doesn't go nuts in the 4th I don't think we'd be as happy with our offense.

I think we have a lot more offensive talent, and you could see that. But right now Lee/Terry/Green are still out of sorts somewhat offensively.

Even though Rondo had a good game, I felt that he wasn't running our offense in an effective manner, the was no cohesiveness. Loved when Pierce called him out for "over thinking it".

So I have to question both Doc's and Rondo's system as it pertained this one game, and I keep being disappointed on how we don't exploit our advantages. And it starts with forcing mismatches in the post. We never have, and I don't understand it.

It's scary to think that we shot 52% from the field and scored 107 points despite these problems.

[Moranis]

What I learned...

Last night was only the 4th time in the last 313 regular season games that the Celtics allowed an opponent to score 120 points or more.  That really tells me that our defense is a work in progress and has quite a ways to go to return to the elite level of the last few years.

Did you really learn that last night?  I mean it seemed pretty obvious to me that Boston's defense was going to be much worse this year than years past as almost all of the new additions are offensive players and limited defensively.  Couple that with KG and PP getting another year older and this team was destined to be no where near as good defensively as years past.  The offense will have to carry the team. 

[MJohnnyboy]

What I learned...

Last night was only the 4th time in the last 313 regular season games that the Celtics allowed an opponent to score 120 points or more.  That really tells me that our defense is a work in progress and has quite a ways to go to return to the elite level of the last few years.

Did you really learn that last night?  I mean it seemed pretty obvious to me that Boston's defense was going to be much worse this year than years past as almost all of the new additions are offensive players and limited defensively.  Couple that with KG and PP getting another year older and this team was destined to be no where near as good defensively as years past.  The offense will have to carry the team.

Really? Last year it was Rondo-Bradley-Pierce-Bass-Garnett who got the job done on both ends of the floor. I really don't think anything has changed much for them outside of they are all one year older.

[j804]

Our offense is so much better than last year's (and the years before). I was amazed to see how we managed to score on almost every possessions, without ever enduring a dreaded scoring drought. And our offense was that efficient with Green and JET basically being non factors so I feel very good about it going forward.

I saw a pretty bad scoring drought and turnover fest late in the third that allowed Miami to build their lead. If Barbosa doesn't go nuts in the 4th I don't think we'd be as happy with our offense.

I think we have a lot more offensive talent, and you could see that. But right now Lee/Terry/Green are still out of sorts somewhat offensively.

Even though Rondo had a good game, I felt that he wasn't running our offense in an effective manner, the was no cohesiveness. Loved when Pierce called him out for "over thinking it".

So I have to question both Doc's and Rondo's system as it pertained this one game, and I keep being disappointed on how we don't exploit our advantages. And it starts with forcing mismatches in the post. We never have, and I don't understand it.

It's scary to think that we shot 52% from the field and scored 107 points despite these problems.

I agree this is a thing to be excited about, we did this all against a Miami team who seemed to be clicking picking up where they left off and stayed intact for the most part. The good thing is we got a lot more potential to improve and have a bunch of pieces, we will be a force once we click.

[MJohnnyboy]

What I learned last night was that continuity pays dividends for you. Especially when you add two chiseled vets who have gone on deep runs before and know how it feels to win. The Heat picked up right where they left off and frankly the Celtics are still figuring out what rotations are the right ones. There's no need to panic because our best defensive guard is out (Plus Lee did a pretty good job on Wade), and Doc's taking it easy on our injured bigs.

What I would take from this is that even though there wasn't a whole lot of offensive flow, we still scored 107 against the world champs. And that was despite a rusty KG, a not-so-adapted Jet, and a clearly nervous Jeff Green (Here's to hoping last night was a fluke on his part, which I think it was). We still had great contributions from Rondo, Pierce, Bass, Lee, and especially Barbosa (Who would have guessed?!).

Most importantly though is that we're not winning a championship if our best player is a hothead. Rondo's gotta know better than what he did last night, even if D-Wade is a massive Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline.. Makes you kinda miss Keyon.

[Prof. Clutch]

What I learned...

Last night was only the 4th time in the last 313 regular season games that the Celtics allowed an opponent to score 120 points or more.  That really tells me that our defense is a work in progress and has quite a ways to go to return to the elite level of the last few years.

Did you really learn that last night?  I mean it seemed pretty obvious to me that Boston's defense was going to be much worse this year than years past as almost all of the new additions are offensive players and limited defensively.  Couple that with KG and PP getting another year older and this team was destined to be no where near as good defensively as years past.  The offense will have to carry the team.

Yup, I learned that last night.  I knew there would be a learning curve with all the new players but I watched every game of the pre-season and didn't think there would be a huge drop-off.  I still don't think they'll be allowing anywhere close to 120 points per game on a regular basis, but it is alarming considering how infrequently it's happened in the last few years.  I don't think anyone predicted they'd be as bad as they were on defense last night.

[Eja117]

I have learned nothing

[Rtpas11]

Rondo still won't shoot or be aggressive as he needs to in order for this team to stand a chance against a Miami smart defensive team. The Mavs play the same way, hopefully Rondo understands this very soon & get in attack mode.

Other than Rondo's play this team isn't too far off. Defense looked poorish mostly because of bad offense (T.O.'s & Failed execution).

Only 1 game tho, we'll do better. BARBOSA! Needs the ball more...lol