in defense of KO

[Joe Green]

not too far from Miami and its "superstars".

Bosh is hurt, Wade has been playing great, you are aware they lost LeBron?   Deng is not a superstar.   I do not consider them having a superstar per se.    They do have more talent and we are playing beyond ours and very hard.   I can see that point but as for them having a "superstar"  that is hyperbole.

I know "no Lebron", but people were still picking them to be very good. They have 4 allstars (Dagic, Wade, Bosh and Wade) on their roster to our ZERO, plus "phenom" Hassan Whiteside. I am not saying they are the rockets - just pointing out how our "low talent" team compares to their shiny roster.

The whole is larger than the sum of the parts.

Give me our well coached, hard playing, smart basketball team over Miamis PRima Donna squad ANY DAY OF THE WEEK !

G O  C E L T I C S ! ! !

[D.o.s.]

I don't know why - but we are one of the best defenses in the league when he is playing in Feb...

Probably because of the teams we played:
http://www.nba.com/celtics/schedule

We played, uh, one playoff team that month?

[dang] you DOS! just [dang] you and your [dang]ed facts, and [dang]ed information, and [dang]ed insights. if you keep insisting on being [dang]ed logical and [dang]ed objective you will suck all the [dang]ed fun out of this [dang]ed site!!  [dang] it.

My b. Will use more hyperbole and emotion in the future.

[Joe Green]

I don't know why - but we are one of the best defenses in the league when he is playing in Feb...

Probably because of the teams we played:
http://www.nba.com/celtics/schedule

We played, uh, one playoff team that month?

Well, his defensive rating was 10 points better than Tyler Zeller, Marcus Smart and AB (arguably the three best defenders on the team) . Were they playing the Warriors while KO was on the bench?

[kozlodoev]

I don't know why - but we are one of the best defenses in the league when he is playing in Feb...

Probably because of the teams we played:
http://www.nba.com/celtics/schedule

We played, uh, one playoff team that month?

Well, his defensive rating was 10 points better than Tyler Zeller, Marcus Smart and AB (arguably the three best defenders on the team) . Were they playing the Warriors while KO was on the bench?

Excuse me if I can't take seriously a post that has Zeller and defense in the same sentence.

[D.o.s.]

I don't know why - but we are one of the best defenses in the league when he is playing in Feb...

Probably because of the teams we played:
http://www.nba.com/celtics/schedule

We played, uh, one playoff team that month?

Well, his defensive rating was 10 points better than Tyler Zeller, Marcus Smart and AB (arguably the three best defenders on the team) . Were they playing the Warriors while KO was on the bench?

Interesting query. Since I haven't been able to watch as many games as I'd like this year, I decided to investigate some reasons.

My first stop: Basketball Reference. Weirdly, Olnyk doesn't show up when you search for how many minutes each Celtics player played in February, which was my first inclination to an explanation for this difference...
http://bkref.com/tiny/H82fE

So I went to the game logs:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/o/olynyke01/gamelog/2015/

And it would seem that, go figure, Olynyk was on the bench while the rest of the guys were playing the Warriors:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201503010BOS.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201501250GSW.html

And he also sat out all of February. So. Uhm. There's that.

[Celtics18]

The critics are refusing to address the numbers that show that the Celtics' have been better defensively overall this season when Olynyk is on the floor than when he is on the bench.

I bolded the word "overall" because we should all know that looking at a player's overall numbers for a season is the best way to judge a given player's effectiveness. 

It's fine to look at a given block of games and determine that a player has been either good or bad over that stretch.  Every player will have his ups and downs when scrutinized in that way.

The overall numbers tell a more complete story.  And, Kelly's overall numbers are very solid for a second year player.  He's ahead of the curve.  He does some good things and some bad things on the court.

I predict that he will continue improving his game, his body, and his confidence as he continues to learn how to become a pro, and that ultimately he will be a very good one.

[kozlodoev]

Give me our well coached, hard playing, smart basketball team over Miamis PRima Donna squad ANY DAY OF THE WEEK !

I don't find our team particularly smart (there are sustained periods of awful shot selections, as well as multiple players prone to playing outside their capabilities). The coaching is spotty at best, although I've seen some improvement lately. As for hard-playing... did you not watch any games before the trade deadline?

[Celtics18]

Give me our well coached, hard playing, smart basketball team over Miamis PRima Donna squad ANY DAY OF THE WEEK !

I don't find our team particularly smart (there are sustained periods of awful shot selections, as well as multiple players prone to playing outside their capabilities). The coaching is spotty at best, although I've seen some improvement lately. As for hard-playing... did you not watch any games before the trade deadline?

Dumb, talentless, poorly coached, yet the team has won 15 of its last 24 games and find themselves well in the hunt to make the playoffs?

What gives?

[D.o.s.]

The nonexistent expectation of excellence in the lower two-thirds of the Eastern Conference.

[Celtics18]

Nobody is claiming--or expecting--excellence (at least for this season).  We are simply enjoying "pretty darn good." 

[D.o.s.]

Clearly we've got different standards for "pretty darn good."

Are they exceeding expectations? Mildly. Are they secretly a good basketball team? I don't think so.

[Celtics18]

Clearly we do. 

I don't even think it's a secret that this is a good basketball team right now.  This doesn't mean I like their chances of beating the number one or the number two seed as a seventh or eighth seed.

I am looking forward to seeing them get the chance to try, though. 

[Monkhouse]

KO was drafted as a rotational/role player. If he had great defense, and was always confident in his shot, I'm pretty sure he would've gone further than #13.

[kozlodoev]

Give me our well coached, hard playing, smart basketball team over Miamis PRima Donna squad ANY DAY OF THE WEEK !

I don't find our team particularly smart (there are sustained periods of awful shot selections, as well as multiple players prone to playing outside their capabilities). The coaching is spotty at best, although I've seen some improvement lately. As for hard-playing... did you not watch any games before the trade deadline?

Dumb, talentless, poorly coached, yet the team has won 15 of its last 24 games and find themselves well in the hunt to make the playoffs?

What gives?

Strength of schedule over our last 20 games = 0.461, second to last in the NBA. That gives.

http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/powerrankings/_/page/2/sort/sosL10

[Celtics18]

Give me our well coached, hard playing, smart basketball team over Miamis PRima Donna squad ANY DAY OF THE WEEK !

I don't find our team particularly smart (there are sustained periods of awful shot selections, as well as multiple players prone to playing outside their capabilities). The coaching is spotty at best, although I've seen some improvement lately. As for hard-playing... did you not watch any games before the trade deadline?

Dumb, talentless, poorly coached, yet the team has won 15 of its last 24 games and find themselves well in the hunt to make the playoffs?

What gives?

Strength of schedule over our last 20 games = 0.461, second to last in the NBA. That gives.

http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/powerrankings/_/page/2/sort/sosL10

That's a fair point.