What we learned after one game

[KGs Knee]

There is absolutely no need to panic after one game. There are a lot of good pieces on this team. However, it is clear that there has to be significant improvement on the defensive side. Clearly it will get better, but how much better is the question.

As for Jeff Green, I never liked the deal. I got a little excited by his preseason play, but tonight he reverted back to the Jeff Green I learned to not love. Again, only one game, but I hope that this isn't this guy's MO.

I agree.

You get a bad rap sometimes, don't know why?

[Who]

The defense will look a lot better against non-Miami Heat teams.

Their offense is extremely difficult to defend against.

[blink]

I think that Miami's season will go how their 2nd team goes.  I think Ray and Lewis played better than I expected.  If they can play that well the whole year, then yes the heat will be an extremely tough out.

But I for one wouldn't be depending on R. Lewis to give them what he did tonight, or that the team as a whole is going to shoot that well every night.

I think tonight was a lot of poor D by the celtics, a lot of good shooting by the heat (maybe coming from bad D).  If we get at least one more stop when we were down by 4 or 6 and it might have been a different outcome.

The Miami heat are really really good.  So far that is all I know with any real conviction.

[guava_wrench]

We learned that will will not go undefeated.

It was a single game. You can't learn much from a single game.

It did seem like we lacked anyone rim protection, but so do the Heat. That is not a deal breaker.

[ianboyextreme]

The Celtics still need to find a consistent low post threat.



The team defense needs work and time.



The team either has to play a lot better or start looking to make changes.

lol

[blink]

Well melo has a long way to go before he is a difference maker against the heat.  the frustrating part is that he has the physical tools to make it difficult on lebronze and dwade when the put their heads down and try to get to the rim.

If we could transplant KG's brain and experience into Melo's body then we might have something.  I am still rooting for melo though.  I think he is a good kid, but probably won't get much of a shot this year.

I would agree, trying to beat Mia at their own game is a fools errand.  The best way to beat Mia is to go big.  Gotta take them out of their comfort zone.

I'm not sold we have the bigs (sans KG) on the roster to do it.

Melo developing might be our only hope against Heat, scary thought.

[blink]

TP for this one.  Miami is a great team who shot lights out tonight.  We played a lot of bad D, had a lot of turnovers and were still within 4 within 2 min left.  If we play with a bit more composure, and get a couple more stops it could have been a different last two minutes.

If we play 25 other NBA teams tonight we win fairly easy...

quote author=Who link=topic=60405.msg1328577#msg1328577 date=1351655238]
The defense will look a lot better against non-Miami Heat teams.

Their offense is extremely difficult to defend against.
[/quote]

[tenn_smoothie]

I think they need a stronger big man who can anchor the team while Garnett gets some rest. Those lineups with Bass out there at center look dodgy.

we had a bench full of big strong centers, Doc didn't play them.

is Chris Wilcox healthy or is he still hurt ?

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

Green is still a question mark.

Ray is still clutch.

If the defense doesn't show up, we don't win.

Ehh. I don't think he is all that clutch anymore... he had one really contested basket that he made (that 3) that was clutch, other than that it was just bad defense by JET. As soon as Doc decided to let Barbosa play, he SHUT Ray down!!! If JET doesn't get it together defensively... well, never mind, what he can do offensively will problem get him a pass.


Defense was good by certain people Bass, KG (when he didn't have to help off of Bosh), Lee, Barbosa, and RR. I thought Sully was bad on defense as he usually is, Jet was bad on D like usual (it really hurt that his offense was bad too), Green should be better on D than that (I was shocked at how bad he was tonight), and Doc was bad on D by forcing players who were playing bad and not using guys (Barbosa) earlier when he saw the others struggling!

[Kane3387]

We have a lot to feel good about.

We can play ALOT better. Other then James not going out in the fourth, can Miami really say that?

Ray and Rashard were a combined 9-12 for 29 points. Chalmers 11 assists. They got very good games from their big three, but they got a lot from the role players. If the role players and their big three give them this production consistently then I don't see how they lose. I just don't think Chalmers, Ray, and Shard give them that consistently.

As for us. KG was awful.

Kevin Garnett was virtually non-existent for the Celtics. Not only was ineffective on offense, he also failed to provide any inside defensive presence. There hasn't been many games where Garnett was third-best option in the frontcourt

http://www.nba.com/games/20121030/BOSMIA/gameinfo.html?ls=iref:nbahpgt[0021200002]

Jet and Green were bad. Bass and Barbosa played well though. Lee was very solid.

My point is how can Miami play much better? I don't think they can and we were in the game. We can play much better and I think we will.

[biggbird]

I learnt that watching celtics basketball is still bad for my anger levels

[Celts Fan 92]

Miami is still by far the best team in the NBA and should be a big favorite to win it all. We really could be watching a dynasty in the making.

Only one game, but Jeff Green is still the Jeff Green I did not like when the Celtics acquired him.

Doc's small ball lineup was moronic and if Barbosa did not go off, they would have lost by a lot more.

This was a 20-plus point blowout if Lebron plays the whole game.

This is the worst defense I have seen since KG got here and it needs to improve 100 percent if this team is going to contend.

Sullinger is not ready for prime time.

Jason Terry looks like he got slow and was really weak on defense.

Rondo still needs to grow up.

rofl wow doggie u dis heated ova 1 game? glad to have u back Vinnie

[Roy H.]

Green is still a question mark.

Ray is still clutch.

If the defense doesn't show up, we don't win.

Ehh. I don't think he is all that clutch anymore... he had one really contested basket that he made (that 3) that was clutch, other than that it was just bad defense by JET. As soon as Doc decided to let Barbosa play, he SHUT Ray down!!! If JET doesn't get it together defensively... well, never mind, what he can do offensively will problem get him a pass.

Ray was clutch in that he came into a game with a ton of pressure on his shoulders, and he delivered big time.  He hit big shots for Miami.

[Chris]

For all those claiming we should have gone big, here is the issue.

In order to be able to punish the Heat for their lack of size, you need to have an elite low post scorer.  The C's don't have one of those.  There are only a couple of them in the league right now.  KG is the closest we have (and really the closest most teams have), and he had a bad game. 

Defensively, it would have been nice to have another shotblocker in there, but that wasn't the problem.  The problem was with pick and roll defense on the perimeter, and rotations on the Heats (spectacular) ball movement.  Putting a guy like Wilcox or Darko in there, would have just slowed the C's rotation and pick and roll defense down even more.

I think Doc made the right move in going small, in order to try to get quick feet out there to close out shooters, and close out lanes.  Unfortunately, most of those quicker feet were still moving at preseason speed, while the Heat were much closer to playoff speed. 

Hopefully by the next time we play them, KG will be back to where he was last year, so he can make them pay down low, Green, Terry, Bass, KG (yes, KG was also very weak defensively) and others will have sped up their rotations, and locked in more on the pick and rolls, and things will look a bit different. 

In the meantime, I am excited for Friday to see how they bounce back, and see how guys like Green and Sullinger adjust to more standard regular season speed (rather than playoff speed that the Heat were playing at).

[biggs]

Barbosa's shooting/play was great, but his speed really impressed me.  This team is really built to run.  I think Terry will be better, but his size and speed are going to be major liabilities defensively. I hated him covering ray, awful! He will be further down in the rotation I think when Bradley returns, which makes him an expensive Dooling, but I can't see him helping much on defense.

I agree we lack rim protection.  The idea of KG at center seems like a potential bad fit at this stage in his career. We're going to need Sully to step it up big time. Our big men to be revitalised desperately.

Not sure about Green.  He kinda got caught up in the moment and the drama, but so did KG.  KG needs to get over the Ray thing and let us hate him.  The Celts get bad enough calls as it is, we don't need to be playing angry. Plus KG is our leader so he needs to keep his cool.

I miss Shaq.

Mayo looked good.

I still feel weak at the 3 even with Jeff Green there.  Perhaps Barnes would have been a good fit (says captain retrospect) perhaps Joseph can step it up.  I see flashes of Gerald Wallace in him.

We need Bradley to really gauge ourselves vs Miami.