Celtics (57-14) at Hawks (31-39) Game #72 3/25/24

[celticinorlando]

If you were hoping the Celtics had learned from the 19-dribble Tatum fadeaway in Cleveland, here’s what I believe is a 23-dribble possession for Jaylen Brown where nothing develops and he’s forced to rush up a bad shot after Atlanta pulled ahead late.

[libermaniac]

Did anyone notice Scal saying the Cs have the 5th best net rating in crunch time? This game was awful but I think we just all overreact to losses. They are human and they are in the middle of a long road trip and virtually have HCA throughout the playoffs locked up. They let their guard down. This kind of environment won’t happen in the playoffs. So, hard to read too much into this. It’s clearly a pattern when they play undermanned teams.

They are not perfect but neither is any other team.

[CelticSooner]

Guys it doesn't matter who the coach is if we are continuing to wait on Tatum to reach his final form. It's sad to say but he's better off being the guy with the hockey assist then the one hitting the game ender.

We need a coaching staff that will hold the guys accountable to playing the right way at the end of games. As good as Tatum is, he's not good enough to consistently every game take over and win games himself. That's just not who he is. Given that, we have to have a stronger coach who holds the guys accountable and makes them play the right way.

Joe clearly does not seem to be the guy to do that. Ime certainly had it in him, even if some of this was still happening in his year here. But I think that was more due to an overall lack of talent and needing Tatum to be that guy more than anything, as we simply didn't have better options offensively. Even with much more talented rosters and options to go to down the stretch, Joe has not been able to break this habit with the Jays, and I don't think he has it in him to do so.

And it's really hard to see us getting to banner 18 if we don't fix this end-game issue.

Trying to overcome Tatum's shortcomings with a head coach is folly. You aren't winning a title unless you have a top 5 guy that can play like it when things are tight. I cringe thinking about a potential Denver series when Jokic literally makes every right play down the stretch while the C's best option is Tatum getting doubled potentially leading to somebody else open.

[celticinorlando]

Did anyone notice Scal saying the Cs have the 5th best net rating in crunch time? This game was awful but I think we just all overreact to losses. They are human and they are in the middle of a long road trip and virtually have HCA throughout the playoffs locked up. They let their guard down. This kind of environment won’t happen in the playoffs. So, hard to read too much into this. It’s clearly a pattern when they play undermanned teams.

They are not perfect but neither is any other team.

Unfortunately most of us had to watch nba tv with the hawks broadcast and their announcers were probably the worst I’ve heard. Worse than Doris Burke.

Snarky and just unprofessional for a national broadcast

[Who]

Did anyone notice Scal saying the Cs have the 5th best net rating in crunch time? This game was awful but I think we just all overreact to losses. They are human and they are in the middle of a long road trip and virtually have HCA throughout the playoffs locked up. They let their guard down. This kind of environment won’t happen in the playoffs. So, hard to read too much into this. It’s clearly a pattern when they play undermanned teams.

They are not perfect but neither is any other team.

They have been fantastic in the Q4 this year. They have pulled so many wins out of tight games or deficits late on.

[SparzWizard]

An NBA fan said the Bucks are the best team in the East.

Talk me off the ledge, but, I starting to think the Bucks are the best team in the east. They have that mentality. Championship experience. They don't choke as badly as the Celtics do.

Giannis is a force. Dame can score 3's at will. Khris is back to form. Pat Bev is a defensive menace. Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis tough. Jae Crowder coming together.

[libermaniac]

An NBA fan said the Bucks are the best team in the East.

Talk me off the ledge, but, I starting to think the Bucks are the best team in the east. They have that mentality. Championship experience. They don't choke as badly as the Celtics do.

Giannis is a force. Dame can score 3's at will. Khris is back to form. Pat Bev is a defensive menace. Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis tough. Jae Crowder coming together.

They were playing better last year before getting dispatched in the first round. Nothing will be given to the Celtics but no need worrying about any other team now until we face them in the playoffs.

[jpotter33]

Guys it doesn't matter who the coach is if we are continuing to wait on Tatum to reach his final form. It's sad to say but he's better off being the guy with the hockey assist then the one hitting the game ender.

We need a coaching staff that will hold the guys accountable to playing the right way at the end of games. As good as Tatum is, he's not good enough to consistently every game take over and win games himself. That's just not who he is. Given that, we have to have a stronger coach who holds the guys accountable and makes them play the right way.

Joe clearly does not seem to be the guy to do that. Ime certainly had it in him, even if some of this was still happening in his year here. But I think that was more due to an overall lack of talent and needing Tatum to be that guy more than anything, as we simply didn't have better options offensively. Even with much more talented rosters and options to go to down the stretch, Joe has not been able to break this habit with the Jays, and I don't think he has it in him to do so.

And it's really hard to see us getting to banner 18 if we don't fix this end-game issue.

Trying to overcome Tatum's shortcomings with a head coach is folly. You aren't winning a title unless you have a top 5 guy that can play like it when things are tight. I cringe thinking about a potential Denver series when Jokic literally makes every right play down the stretch while the C's best option is Tatum getting doubled potentially leading to somebody else open.

By that logic then, should we just tear it down and rebuild? While I think Tatum is top five overall, I don't think anyone can reasonably say he's top five when it comes to those end-game situations, especially lately. He simply freezes up and reverts to his bad iso habits in those situations, which isn't a top five level player in those situations.

Rather, he and JB both need a more authoritative, strong leader-type coaching staff that are going to better put them in situations to succeed in those scenarios, rather than just sit back and let them drowned themselves due to their extreme philosophy.

This team is absolutely good enough to win a championship, but it has to be done a certain way with our personnel. We're not like a Denver, Milwaukee, etc. where we can just put the ball in Tatum's hands and expect him to get us a good look every time down the floor. Our approach in end-game scenarios has to be more strategic and guided from the top, which just hasn't happened at all leading to a lot of preventable losses on our part.

[jpotter33]

Did anyone notice Scal saying the Cs have the 5th best net rating in crunch time? This game was awful but I think we just all overreact to losses. They are human and they are in the middle of a long road trip and virtually have HCA throughout the playoffs locked up. They let their guard down. This kind of environment won’t happen in the playoffs. So, hard to read too much into this. It’s clearly a pattern when they play undermanned teams.

They are not perfect but neither is any other team.

They have been fantastic in the Q4 this year. They have pulled so many wins out of tight games or deficits late on.

But that's biased by a lot of games that we pulled away early in the fourth quarter. Even with the pretty decent clutch numbers of games within five points with five minutes remaining, this is still partially true. When you look at the "real" close games that are within one possession in three minutes or one minute remaining, we are much more neutral to poor in those scenarios, which encompasses some of our big losses this year (e.g., Denver x 2, Minny, OKC, Cavs, Philly, etc.).

[GetLucky]

I am loathe to overreact, but I've seen a lot of these games. Tatum hasn't decided if he wants to be LeBron, Kobe, or Carmelo in the clutch. I wish he'd just pick one.

[libermaniac]

Did anyone notice Scal saying the Cs have the 5th best net rating in crunch time? This game was awful but I think we just all overreact to losses. They are human and they are in the middle of a long road trip and virtually have HCA throughout the playoffs locked up. They let their guard down. This kind of environment won’t happen in the playoffs. So, hard to read too much into this. It’s clearly a pattern when they play undermanned teams.

They are not perfect but neither is any other team.

Unfortunately most of us had to watch nba tv with the hawks broadcast and their announcers were probably the worst I’ve heard. Worse than Doris Burke.

Snarky and just unprofessional for a national broadcast

When I watched live I had to too (or thought I had to) but when I went back to watch the end my YoutubeTv had recorded the home broadcast. I agree. They were awful. Kept saying Porzingis doesn’t block shots. He’s averaging 1.8, good for 10th in the league, to Capella’s 1.5. 😂

[CelticSooner]

Guys it doesn't matter who the coach is if we are continuing to wait on Tatum to reach his final form. It's sad to say but he's better off being the guy with the hockey assist then the one hitting the game ender.

We need a coaching staff that will hold the guys accountable to playing the right way at the end of games. As good as Tatum is, he's not good enough to consistently every game take over and win games himself. That's just not who he is. Given that, we have to have a stronger coach who holds the guys accountable and makes them play the right way.

Joe clearly does not seem to be the guy to do that. Ime certainly had it in him, even if some of this was still happening in his year here. But I think that was more due to an overall lack of talent and needing Tatum to be that guy more than anything, as we simply didn't have better options offensively. Even with much more talented rosters and options to go to down the stretch, Joe has not been able to break this habit with the Jays, and I don't think he has it in him to do so.

And it's really hard to see us getting to banner 18 if we don't fix this end-game issue.

Trying to overcome Tatum's shortcomings with a head coach is folly. You aren't winning a title unless you have a top 5 guy that can play like it when things are tight. I cringe thinking about a potential Denver series when Jokic literally makes every right play down the stretch while the C's best option is Tatum getting doubled potentially leading to somebody else open.

By that logic then, should we just tear it down and rebuild? While I think Tatum is top five overall, I don't think anyone can reasonably say he's top five when it comes to those end-game situations, especially lately. He simply freezes up and reverts to his bad iso habits in those situations, which isn't a top five level player in those situations.

Rather, he and JB both need a more authoritative, strong leader-type coaching staff that are going to better put them in situations to succeed in those scenarios, rather than just sit back and let them drowned themselves due to their extreme philosophy.

This team is absolutely good enough to win a championship, but it has to be done a certain way with our personnel. We're not like a Denver, Milwaukee, etc. where we can just put the ball in Tatum's hands and expect him to get us a good look every time down the floor. Our approach in end-game scenarios has to be more strategic and guided from the top, which just hasn't happened at all leading to a lot of preventable losses on our part.

The only way this team is going to win a title is if they can overwhelm their opponent with too much talent. The only team that hasn't worked against is Denver. Those kind of series come down to 1 or 2 close games and that certainly favors them. We just continue to wait for Tatum to reach his potential or don't. Maybe it's this playoffs? If not no title once again.

[tenn_smoothie]

Celtics ~ Bad 3-point shooting night = Automatic Loss

Never make adjustment to offensive attack when the 3's are not falling, No changes, No time-out adjustments, Nothing.

Bewildered Coach stands on sideline hoping the players will figure something out because he somehow thinks this is a good idea and because he doesn't know what to say during timeouts to fix what is going wrong anyway. I could kneel in the huddle and say, Quit shooting 3's and take better shots and drive to the rim, move the ball and stop the iso step-backs. How hard is that to say ?

[tenn_smoothie]

On the bright side, if the Celtics get bounced in the ECF or before the ECF again then Joe can finally go

Eh, we thought that last year after a very underwhelming playoffs and getting knocked out by a clearly inferior 8th seed team, but then we got the excuses around the Ime suspension and lack of assistant coaching staff to cover up the larger issue of Joe's inexperience and dogmatic ways. I'm sure the same will be true this year even if we get bounced early and Joe is once again a key cog in the failure.

My biggest fear of all.
As good as he has been constructing this roster, I do not trust Brad with making the right coaching choice.
His decision to retain Mazzulla this season has been his worst decision since coming to Boston ...... whether as Coach or GM.

[scaryjerry]

Kinda random but what is the Celtics signature win this season? For a team that’s pulled away with easily the best record I can’t think of many…the overtime win against the wolves without Gobert? Choked in the play in tournamanet, lost both games to Denver and seemingly most of their losses are crunch time chokes against legit contenders

That 140-88 win against the Warriors.

There's also that iconic 126-115 win at Lakers on Christmas.

So 2 wins against play in teams. Which they also had 2 of their worst losses against those bum teams.