What Did You See Against New Orleans?

[Big333223]

The Celtics started strong and closed well last night against the Pelicans. The obvious change was Smart and Morris in the starting lineup, with Jaylen Brown out, but what changed on the floor.

I was watching at a bar and so I wasn't as attentive as I could've been but it seemed like the C's were getting out on the break a lot more than usual. Looking at their numbers this morning, they're 7th in the league at creating turnovers, 15.5 per game. Last night they had 22 turnovers and it felt like those led to a lot of points at the basket which made the outside shots feel a little easier.

I think being aggressive on defense and getting out strong on the break was the big difference for the team last night.

[RJ87]

The biggest thing was the improvement of our pick and roll defense with Smart and Horford. I think with that shored up, we forced more turnovers and were able to get out on the fastbreak a lot more.

If Mirotic didn't go crazy from 3 in the 2nd quarter, I think it would've been a bigger blowout.

[Roy H.]

I think a lot of it was just going up against a bad defense (26th in the NBA), and attacking it.

[slamtheking]

of particular note:
- C's forced a lot more turnovers than they have been which led to some easier buckets but most importantly, took away scoring opportunities for NO.
- C's actually hit outside shots instead of laying bricks all night.  This team lives and dies by the 3 and last night they lived. 

[Erik]

of particular note:
- C's forced a lot more turnovers than they have been which led to some easier buckets but most importantly, took away scoring opportunities for NO.
- C's actually hit outside shots instead of laying bricks all night.  This team lives and dies by the 3 and last night they lived.

Yep, I think if we're hitting nearly 50% of our 3's we're going to win. I wouldn't read much more into it than this, except for the fact that the 3's seemed a bit more open.

[The Oracle]

The C's scored a season high 32 points off turnovers.

They held N.O. to 34 points in the paint which is a season low for any Celtic opponent.

They had a season high EFG% of 59.3%

Smart was the energizer bunny and played almost 40 minutes.

Horford was fully engaged.

Kyrie was Kyrie.

[bopna]

Nothing ive not seen in their
Wins and losses...

If they struggle to make threes.. They lose 98% of the time.

Basically a team that feels like they are the Warriors but in reality they are a close clone of the Wolves.

[apc]

Good win. But i saw a lot of room for improvement- mainly avoidable turnovers. this game could have been over in the 2nd Q.

I am happy giving this starting five a few more games together to see how it goes.

[Chris22]

New Orleans looked like they spent too much time on Bourbon Street.

Their passing was atrocious.

[Chris22]

Nothing ive not seen in their
Wins and losses...

If they struggle to make threes.. They lose 98% of the time.

Basically a team that feels like they are the Warriors but in reality they are a close clone of the Wolves.

This was my thinking.

[Phantom255x]

They played better and they definitely seemed to find something with Smart starting.

That said there's still a ton of work to do and consistency is still a question mark. This team can beat NOP on the road but then can lay a stinker the next game against a bad team (like CLE this Friday though hopefully not).

Also they seem to rely on the 3-ball, which is great when it's working but horrible when not. Our big leads got cut real fast when they couldn't fall and unfortunately it seems when they don't, the C's just keep trying 

[GreenEnvy]

One game is tough to gauge. They looked pretty good for the most part, but most teams will when they hit 19 treys. We won’t do that every game. Still have to get to the stripe more, but I recall less iso and guys not hesitating to take open shots.

New Orleans hasn’t been playing well, but was undefeated at home with AD.

I think CBS is fine with tinkering with the starting lineup and rotations and substitutions now, he’s paying close attention to what’s working and what’s not. I think he’s not overly worried about the wins and losses. Some games we win that we shouldn’t (Phoenix) and some we don’t win that we should’ve (Indiana). We don’t NEED home court. It’s not THAT serious. No team has never won a title without winning a road game. We’re gonna have to do it at some point.

[GreenEnvy]

Nothing ive not seen in their
Wins and losses...

If they struggle to make threes.. They lose 98% of the time.

Basically a team that feels like they are the Warriors but in reality they are a close clone of the Wolves.

Here are the 3P% in wins:

PHI .297
NYK .360
OKC .344
DET .412
DET .290
MIL .436
PHO .378
CHI .441
TOR .346
ATL .325
NOP .487

Quite a few that weren’t exactly scorching from behind the arc, yet we still won.

The far bigger issue is that we get to the line 7 fewer times and make 6 less free throws in losses than wins.


And I have no idea how we are a close clone of the Wolves, of all teams.

[Who]

of particular note:
- C's forced a lot more turnovers than they have been which led to some easier buckets but most importantly, took away scoring opportunities for NO.
- C's actually hit outside shots instead of laying bricks all night.  This team lives and dies by the 3 and last night they lived.

Possession creation is the big thing for me during this bad spell over the last few weeks --- when you are not playing well, not hitting your shots, you gotta find a way to get yourself more opportunities. Gotta get those rebounds. Gotta force those turnovers. Get extra possessions.

The C's are not setup to be a dominant rebounding team so forcing turnovers is key to winning on nights when they are not shooting the ball well. So delighted to see them do that.

[knuckleballer]

I only saw the first half, but it looked like they were more aggressive in scoring in the paint.  Yet still they only generated ten free throws.  I find that concerning because you can't expect to make 49% of a high volume of threes and win the the turnover battle by 9.