Celtics (1-2) at Pacers (3-0) Game #4 12/29/20

[mr. dee]

What a game we forget how good the Pacers talent is when they have a full squad. Feel both these teams will be battling in the standings.

Sabonis looks like an allstar if you ask me

He is an All-Star. He did make it last year.

[liam]

Hopefully G Williams played himself down the rotation a bit after that one...I really don't see much in that guy at all.

Realistically he’s our 4th big and 5th wing when we’re healthy and playing well

Grant looks out of shape. Maybe the short off season but he looks a step slow on everything.

[esel1000]

Lol the Heat are getting throttled so badly by the Bucks that TNT went to regional broadcasts

[cltc5]

Keep giving pp and rw3 minutes and develop nesmith and we may something to build on

[liam]

Great win. Toughen up Celtics!

TT just called Pritchard double P!

I like it!

[kraidstar]

Great win!!!
 
Red sends his blessing, TP's for all!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great GIF

Right?

I feel like I first saw it here posted by one of the mods. Saved it to my PC for future glory.

Love this win though. C's were swarming on D like last year's playoff Heat. Considering our athleticism, we will be hard to beat if we keep that level of focus.

[liam]

DOUBLE P!!!!!!!!!!!

[DefenseWinsChamps]

I don't complain much about CBS rotations, mostly because I think he is smarter than I am.

I really do not understand why he played Theis so many minutes in the second half tonight. He wasn't good. He wasn't a threat offensively. He played ok positionally on defense, but got scored on many, many times. I didn't think he was particularly effective against Sabonis. I didn't think he defended the three point line well against Turner. I didn't think he defended the rim well.

While Rob Williams was definitely erratic and a bit frenetic tonight, I thought he was still a net positive on the court. I don't understand what CBS saw that made him keep give Theis so many minutes and bench Williams.

The only possibility that I can think of is that CBS felt like playing Theis and Thompson would force the Pacers to play Sabonis and Turner, which would mean Pritchard and Tatum would be able to get them in the pick-and-roll on the perimeter and create easier looks.

Sometimes, I'd just love to sit in the coaches meetings, or get a one-on-one session with CBS and just ask him what he saw that helped him make the decision to play Theis there, because there was nothing in the box score or from my eye test that would suggest it was a good decision.

[Tr1boy]

PP was sick

JT was really good today. Congrats on 4000 point

[Jiri Welsch]

DOUBLE P!!!!!!!!!!!

PP returns

[liam]

Solid win and we have a bench this year.

[BringToughnessBack]

and Tatum beasted tonight with a quiet 27 points, 3 steals, 5 assists and 12 rebounds and a huge plus 19 while on floor in old school 40 minutes of playing.

Great to see a comeback and win.

[blink]

Solid win and we have a bench this year.

if we can get Kemba and Langford back it gets a lot deeper

[jambr380]

On a more negative note  I absolutely hate the TT/Theis starting front court. I realize IND has a ton of size up front - and so do MIL and BKN to an extent - but I'd love to just start one of them and maybe even give FPP some run. His ability to penetrate opens things up quite a bit and it's not like our defense is super-stellar or anything with that duo.

[Atzar]

I don't complain much about CBS rotations, mostly because I think he is smarter than I am.

I really do not understand why he played Theis so many minutes in the second half tonight. He wasn't good. He wasn't a threat offensively. He played ok positionally on defense, but got scored on many, many times. I didn't think he was particularly effective against Sabonis. I didn't think he defended the three point line well against Turner. I didn't think he defended the rim well.

While Rob Williams was definitely erratic and a bit frenetic tonight, I thought he was still a net positive on the court. I don't understand what CBS saw that made him keep give Theis so many minutes and bench Williams.

The only possibility that I can think of is that CBS felt like playing Theis and Thompson would force the Pacers to play Sabonis and Turner, which would mean Pritchard and Tatum would be able to get them in the pick-and-roll on the perimeter and create easier looks.

Sometimes, I'd just love to sit in the coaches meetings, or get a one-on-one session with CBS and just ask him what he saw that helped him make the decision to play Theis there, because there was nothing in the box score or from my eye test that would suggest it was a good decision.

TBH at this point in the season I think Stevens is experimenting.  A little bit of this in the cup, a little of this, now let's see what happens.  I think that's why Javonte was starting in the preseason, and I think that's why we're going with two bigs now.  We have a funked up roster with some serious holes and an injury absence that we're struggling to work through, and we're looking for a way to make it all work for us.

Theis is an issue for this roster right now.  He doesn't shoot well enough to play well with another big, and Thompson and R Williams are outplaying him.  So I'm not sure where he fits in the rotation. 

I do wonder why R Williams isn't on the court more.  I think his inability to step out and guard on the perimeter is problematic in our defensive system, but he brings enough in other areas that I think he's worth minutes anyway.