Thunder (39-24) at Celtics (42-20) Game #63 3/8/20

[liam]

Young teams play dumb.  On to the next one....

[nickagneta]

Not sure how it's Brad's fault when late in the game, 2 of our stars miss point blank layups, the refs call a bad foul on Tatum to put Adams on the line, the team allows Paul to get an offensive rebound, Kemba makes a boneheaded turnover to give up the winning bucket and then OKC plays great defense and Tatum misss the last shot.

How any of those losing plays by players on the floor late in the game by star players is Stevens fault is beyond me.......

Unless of course you just have a Stevens agenda.

This loss is all on this team's best players playing poorly late.

[ETNCeltics]

Not sure what's going on with Kemba. We can't blame the knee, he's been playing bad basketball for several weeks now.

That's 4 out of 5 now. Our lead over Miami is almost gone. I think Tatum and his team by extension listened to too many people telling them how good they were. Maybe we can beat Indy or Miami in the 1st round - maybe - but can anyone honestly see us getting to the ECF (to say nothing of the finals)? I can't.

[apc]

lose by a point- a technical foul Tatum on a foul he absolutely committed.
very bad game by Tatum.
Kemba looking meh for a while now.
Stevens looking like an average coach, this season what happened to the magic ATO plays??

frustrated.
get us a bench next year DA.

[GreenFaith1819]

We are REALLY missing Jaylen Brown's perimeter D...

[Scottiej23]

And Brad blows yet another game for us by not calling the timeout and leaving us in a bad spot on the play. How many games is he going to have to blow for us down the stretch before he gets held accountable for this crap??

Lol, you are becoming more entertaining than the game itself. I am almost hoping we lose close games now just to watch and enjoy your ridiculous meltdowns.

[jpotter33]

Are you kidding me...

Another play where a timeout should've been called to not be down by our basket so THAT right there doesn't happen 

No, that is not at all on Brad. You can keep going on your mission to make everything his fault, but OKC were certain to get another possession. Keeping the timeout is the right call.

That is all on Kemba. Absolutely terrible terrible move by Kemba, and he should be ashamed.

Naw, that's a terrible spot to be inbounding from at that point, because THAT is what happens when things go bad - no defenders there and easy access to the basket. You ALWAYS call the timeout in that scenario and advance the ball. Typical dumb Brad end-game decision-making.

Lol, whatever man. You always want to blame Brad, even though he’s not the one out there that missed open layups, dribbled and passed into double teams, and didn't box out. Really predictable at this stage

I mean, did you see me blaming him for any of those things? lol No, I don't ever do that because that's clearly not his fault. For example, I explicitly called out Tatum for his lack of showing up today - in particular his lackluster decision-making and the dumb T he picked up - but I never once called out Brad for things that are out of his control. In fact, on two separate occasions I praised Brad's decision-making tonight, both with the challenge decision and the ATO play.

The fact of the matter is that Brad has been instrumental in our last 4-5 losses (except the Jazz game) due to poor decisions he has made down the stretch or throughout the game. Yeah, I harp on his decision-making a lot lately - more than normal - because he's had more than his usual crap to harp at.

I understand that I criticize Brad a lot, but y'all act like I blame him for everything that happens out there and don't give him his credit when it is due (see the two posts above I reference), which is simply not true at all. lol I am very, very specific in my criticisms of Brad and always have been, because his chosen philosophy in those situations is flat out wrong and has hurt us over and over again throughout the years.

[jpotter33]

Not sure how it's Brad's fault when late in the game, 2 of our stars miss point blank layups, the refs call a bad foul on Tatum to put Adams on the line, the team allows Paul to get an offensive rebound, Kemba makes a boneheaded turnover to give up the winning bucket and then OKC plays great defense and Tatum misss the last shot.

How any of those losing plays by players on the floor late in the game by star players is Stevens fault is beyond me.......

Unless of course you just have a Stevens agenda.

This loss is all on this team's best players playing poorly late.

Perhaps you can point to where I said any of these things were Brad's fault? You can't, because I never said that. You're just making a strawman and avoiding the real argument.

It absolutely was a mistake for Brad not to call a timeout there. You ALWAYS call a timeout and advance the ball there to avoid THAT VERY SITUATION occurring, because you're right there at our basket and there's no defender there to stop them. That's NBA basketball 101 for coaches and absolutely how you utilize the advance rule there. Bar none. We had no reason to save that timeout in that situation. Nada.

[Rondo9]

I think this means one thing: the Celtics have always sucked as a team.

[RockinRyA]

Not sure how it's Brad's fault when late in the game, 2 of our stars miss point blank layups, the refs call a bad foul on Tatum to put Adams on the line, the team allows Paul to get an offensive rebound, Kemba makes a boneheaded turnover to give up the winning bucket and then OKC plays great defense and Tatum misss the last shot.

How any of those losing plays by players on the floor late in the game by star players is Stevens fault is beyond me.......

Unless of course you just have a Stevens agenda.

This loss is all on this team's best players playing poorly late.

Some ofthe fans on Liberty Ballers mention that it is absurd that our fans blame Brad after every loss. And I agree. The coach can only do so much if the players esp your best ones, plays poorly.

[ozgod]

Missed the game again, have to watch in on DVR. Looks like it could have gone either way. I almost hate to ask who the pinata is going to be. I see the usual suspects are being mentioned at least.

One thing I will say is that the last 4 games we've lost close ones after having double digit leads. Either we're struggling defending late or the other team is playing out of their heads in the end.

[Mahk E Mahk]

tatum has to learn how to quickly identify and pass out of the double teams, or the c’s will be an early exit from the playoffs.

[nickagneta]

Not sure how it's Brad's fault when late in the game, 2 of our stars miss point blank layups, the refs call a bad foul on Tatum to put Adams on the line, the team allows Paul to get an offensive rebound, Kemba makes a boneheaded turnover to give up the winning bucket and then OKC plays great defense and Tatum misss the last shot.

How any of those losing plays by players on the floor late in the game by star players is Stevens fault is beyond me.......

Unless of course you just have a Stevens agenda.

This loss is all on this team's best players playing poorly late.

Perhaps you can point to where I said any of these things were Brad's fault? You can't, because I never said that. You're just making a strawman and avoiding the real argument.

It absolutely was a mistake for Brad not to call a timeout there. You ALWAYS call a timeout and advance the ball there to avoid THAT VERY SITUATION occurring, because you're right there at our basket and there's no defender there to stop them. That's NBA basketball 101 for coaches and absolutely how you utilize the advance rule there. Bar none. We had no reason to save that timeout in that situation. Nada.

Did I say you said it was Brad's fault those things happened? No!

I said I don't see how someone could blame Brad for the loss because the players lost the game with the actions I mentioned.

At least try to get your goal post moving comments right.

[ozgod]

Not sure how it's Brad's fault when late in the game, 2 of our stars miss point blank layups, the refs call a bad foul on Tatum to put Adams on the line, the team allows Paul to get an offensive rebound, Kemba makes a boneheaded turnover to give up the winning bucket and then OKC plays great defense and Tatum misss the last shot.

How any of those losing plays by players on the floor late in the game by star players is Stevens fault is beyond me.......

Unless of course you just have a Stevens agenda.

This loss is all on this team's best players playing poorly late.

Some ofthe fans on Liberty Ballers mention that it is absurd that our fans blame Brad after every loss. And I agree. The coach can only do so much if the players esp your best ones, plays poorly.

I think we talked about this last year, most teams would love to have Brad Stevens if he was available as a coach. Like, who would we replace him with who would be better and available? Fizdale? Atkinson? Stan Van Gundy? I remember some people suggesting they wanted a demonstrative coach, someone who would jump up and down on the sideline, because at least that coach would look like he cared, and would be like the fans at home jumping up and down in front of their couch. Maybe we could replace Brad with Thibodeau? I'm sure he'd get the whip out.

[jambr380]

Missed the game again, have to watch in on DVR. Looks like it could have gone either way. I almost hate to ask who the pinata is going to be. I see the usual suspects are being mentioned at least.

One thing I will say is that the last 4 games we've lost close ones after having double digit leads. Either we're struggling defending late or the other team is playing out of their heads in the end.

Don't do it, man - giving up a 7-pointer at the end of the half and the atrocious last half minute. No reason for slitting your wrists when you can avoid it. Consider yourself lucky!