Author Topic: We're Just Maddeningly Inconsistent...  (Read 3614 times)

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Re: We're Just Maddeningly Inconsistent...
« Reply #15 on: January 01, 2019, 04:05:00 AM »

Offline rocknrollforyoursoul

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I still stand by what I said in the original post, that this team can still beat anyone (even the league’s best) on any given day. They have the talent to do it.

Maybe that’s a good thing when things get shortened/magnified in a playoff series but in a 82-game season the inconsistency can unfortunately hurt us.

Got to survive this stretch and then when the schedule eases up in January we’ve got to pounce again. No one’s running away with the East (yet).

We haven’t played well but it also feels like some teams are just getting hot against us (Rockets and Spurs making everything - even the contested shots).

At this point, just move on and focus on the next game.

The thing is, in the NBA, anyone can beat anyone else on any given day. Normally I expect good teams to occasionally lose to bad teams, but this Celtics team is losing to all kinds of teams, and regularly.
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Re: We're Just Maddeningly Inconsistent...
« Reply #16 on: January 01, 2019, 05:14:35 AM »

Offline LatterDayCelticsfan

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Remember that reloaded 2012-2013, roster which Danny Ainge brought in the likes of Courtney Lee and Jason Terry to help the core of KG, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo? Remember how that roster would win 6 straight looking like world championship material, then look like lottery material losing 6 straight regardless of the opposition? This roster is giving me uncomfortable memories of that roster, which I believe convinced Danny Ainge that the window was closed and we had to go to a full rebuild.
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Re: We're Just Maddeningly Inconsistent...
« Reply #17 on: January 01, 2019, 11:08:24 AM »

Offline GreenWarrior

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I don't think this team has looked great at any point this season.

Re: We're Just Maddeningly Inconsistent...
« Reply #18 on: January 01, 2019, 12:26:04 PM »

Offline PhoSita

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Remember that reloaded 2012-2013, roster which Danny Ainge brought in the likes of Courtney Lee and Jason Terry to help the core of KG, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo? Remember how that roster would win 6 straight looking like world championship material, then look like lottery material losing 6 straight regardless of the opposition? This roster is giving me uncomfortable memories of that roster, which I believe convinced Danny Ainge that the window was closed and we had to go to a full rebuild.

This season has also reminded me of that one at times, but I think it's mostly because of the divide between expectations and outcome.

The 12-13 team was below .500 at the end of December and finished the season 41-40.  They finished the year with a -.02 point differential.
You’ll have to excuse my lengthiness—the reason I dread writing letters is because I am so apt to get to slinging wisdom & forget to let up. Thus much precious time is lost.
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Re: We're Just Maddeningly Inconsistent...
« Reply #19 on: January 01, 2019, 12:38:28 PM »

Offline Phantom255x

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I don't think this team has looked great at any point this season.

They looked great during that 8-game winning streak. But that's about it.
"Tough times never last, but tough people do." - Robert H. Schuller

Re: We're Just Maddeningly Inconsistent...
« Reply #20 on: January 01, 2019, 01:02:52 PM »

Offline PhoSita

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I think the only time this season I thought the team looked like a dominant contender was the opener against Philly.

Otherwise it's been a good number of blowouts against bad teams and close, come back wins against good teams.

Not much in the way of convincing wins against solid playoff opponents.
You’ll have to excuse my lengthiness—the reason I dread writing letters is because I am so apt to get to slinging wisdom & forget to let up. Thus much precious time is lost.
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Re: We're Just Maddeningly Inconsistent...
« Reply #21 on: January 01, 2019, 01:19:51 PM »

Offline Phantom255x

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I think the only time this season I thought the team looked like a dominant contender was the opener against Philly.

Otherwise it's been a good number of blowouts against bad teams and close, come back wins against good teams.

Not much in the way of convincing wins against solid playoff opponents.

Yeah pretty much. We actually had a pretty good start to the year overall (starting 6-2, wins over PHI, OKC, DET x2, then against a 7-0 MIL team at the time). Then it started to unravel and we went 4-8 after that to get to 10-10 (and here we are).
"Tough times never last, but tough people do." - Robert H. Schuller

Re: We're Just Maddeningly Inconsistent...
« Reply #22 on: January 01, 2019, 01:42:18 PM »

Offline CroCorvus

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Season so far and this is not s championship team period. Maybe if Ainge can pull off some trade, but that is so hard to expect. No serious team should expect that kind of inseason adjustment...     

Re: We're Just Maddeningly Inconsistent...
« Reply #23 on: January 01, 2019, 05:28:14 PM »

Offline GreenWarrior

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I don't think this team has looked great at any point this season.

They looked great during that 8-game winning streak. But that's about it.

even then I wasn't impressed and still felt the problems were masked.

Re: We're Just Maddeningly Inconsistent...
« Reply #24 on: January 01, 2019, 05:32:42 PM »

Offline LarBrd33

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I'm not sure we're maddeningly inconsistent.  We've been mediocre at best all season.  Our win streak came against creampuffs.  The last two "decent" teams we beat were over a month apart and only  happened because Kyrie carried us with 40+ points. 

This team just isn't that good right now.  They have 1 star and everyone else is lesser than.  Until someone else steps up, we might be a 5th seed all season.

Frankly, if we hadn't beaten the Bucks in game 7 of the 1st round, I'm not sure there'd be any real reason to believe this team can contend.  Really the only reason we see ourselves as superior to the Pacers right now is because we went on a playoff run last year.

Re: We're Just Maddeningly Inconsistent...
« Reply #25 on: January 01, 2019, 05:50:36 PM »

Offline RodyTur10

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I'm not sure we're maddeningly inconsistent.  We've been mediocre at best all season.  Our win streak came against creampuffs.  The last two "decent" teams we beat were over a month apart and only  happened because Kyrie carried us with 40+ points. 

This team just isn't that good right now.  They have 1 star and everyone else is lesser than.  Until someone else steps up, we might be a 5th seed all season.

Frankly, if we hadn't beaten the Bucks in game 7 of the 1st round, I'm not sure there'd be any real reason to believe this team can contend.  Really the only reason we see ourselves as superior to the Pacers right now is because we went on a playoff run last year.

On paper though there's still a lot of undeniable talent.

Irving is a star, who has proven to be able to carry the load on the big stage.
Horford and Hayward, if fully healthy and mentally engaged, are two excellent experienced complementary players.
Smart, Morris, Baynes and Theis are fine supporting players, who serve specific roles for a contender.
With Rozier, Brown and Tatum there are a couple of very talented youngsters with significant playoff experience.
And then you have a raw unique athletic center in Williams.

I don't think it will be enough to win a championship yet, but there's definitely a lot to work with. And what we have seen so far on the court is underwhelming in comparison to the talent on paper. With most teams Stevens was able to get more out of his guys than expected, but this season that's not the case. It should change and I think it's reasonable to demand improvement.

Re: We're Just Maddeningly Inconsistent...
« Reply #26 on: January 01, 2019, 05:54:40 PM »

Offline Neurotic Guy

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I'm not sure we're maddeningly inconsistent.  We've been mediocre at best all season.  Our win streak came against creampuffs.  The last two "decent" teams we beat were over a month apart and only  happened because Kyrie carried us with 40+ points. 

This team just isn't that good right now.  They have 1 star and everyone else is lesser than.  Until someone else steps up, we might be a 5th seed all season.

Frankly, if we hadn't beaten the Bucks in game 7 of the 1st round, I'm not sure there'd be any real reason to believe this team can contend.  Really the only reason we see ourselves as superior to the Pacers right now is because we went on a playoff run last year.

Not really the boldest take in the world.  So the fact we were really good at the end of last year (without our top 2 players), led people to think we'd be really good going into this year?  Yes, I think that does makes sense.

This team has admittedly played worse than expected and have been disappointing.  Yet they are still a stone's throw from the leaders in the East. 

Re: We're Just Maddeningly Inconsistent...
« Reply #27 on: January 01, 2019, 06:05:41 PM »

Offline jambr380

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Well, at the very least, the disappointing results (so far) will probably make Ainge more likely to go all-in for AD once the offseason rolls around. Giving out record breaking contracts to two complementary stars like Al and Hayward could have worked if our young players were more 'ready', but it appears we are going to need more top level talent to really compete (it's a real shame about Hayward). This unfortunately means we will likely see Tatum in a Pelicans uniform next year.

Of course we can all keep watching the games and hoping for more consistency - maybe we will even peak at the right time - but there are currently a lot of obstacles facing us.

Re: We're Just Maddeningly Inconsistent...
« Reply #28 on: January 01, 2019, 06:59:52 PM »

Offline LarBrd33

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I'm not sure we're maddeningly inconsistent.  We've been mediocre at best all season.  Our win streak came against creampuffs.  The last two "decent" teams we beat were over a month apart and only  happened because Kyrie carried us with 40+ points. 

This team just isn't that good right now.  They have 1 star and everyone else is lesser than.  Until someone else steps up, we might be a 5th seed all season.

Frankly, if we hadn't beaten the Bucks in game 7 of the 1st round, I'm not sure there'd be any real reason to believe this team can contend.  Really the only reason we see ourselves as superior to the Pacers right now is because we went on a playoff run last year.

Not really the boldest take in the world.  So the fact we were really good at the end of last year (without our top 2 players), led people to think we'd be really good going into this year?  Yes, I think that does makes sense.

This team has admittedly played worse than expected and have been disappointing.  Yet they are still a stone's throw from the leaders in the East.
Nah I'm saying the Bucks took us to 7 games... and thanks to Rozier going off for 26 and 9 combined with the fact the Bucks were horrifically coached, we beat them.  Imagine this season has played out exactly as it's played out, but the only difference is - the Bucks won game 7 and we didn't have that playoff run.

Nobody would see us as a contender right now.   Really the only reason anyone sees this team as better than the Pacers is because we happened to win that Game 7, then face a completely unprepared Philly team, and then gave the Cavs some trouble.  Had the Bucks won that game 7, smoked the Sixers, and went toe-to-toe with leBron, you'd have no real reason to think this team is a contender.  We're building our entire premise of this team being elite on some flukey unprecedented playoff run.  If you ignore that noise and live in the present, you'd see a deeply flawed team that's in the 5th seed right now for good reason.  Outside of Kyrie Irving, it's lacking in talent.  We have no second star.  Our chemistry isn't great.  Guys we expect to rely on have been awful.  There's too many guys trying to get in a grove individually and players are struggling to find a role with limited touches and minutes.   Team isn't good right now.  Long-term, maybe we are... but right now - we're on the outside lookin in and probably shouldn't be seen as a favorite to make the conference finals.

Re: We're Just Maddeningly Inconsistent...
« Reply #29 on: January 01, 2019, 07:06:17 PM »

Offline nickagneta

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I'm not sure we're maddeningly inconsistent.  We've been mediocre at best all season.  Our win streak came against creampuffs.  The last two "decent" teams we beat were over a month apart and only  happened because Kyrie carried us with 40+ points. 

This team just isn't that good right now.  They have 1 star and everyone else is lesser than.  Until someone else steps up, we might be a 5th seed all season.

Frankly, if we hadn't beaten the Bucks in game 7 of the 1st round, I'm not sure there'd be any real reason to believe this team can contend.  Really the only reason we see ourselves as superior to the Pacers right now is because we went on a playoff run last year.

Not really the boldest take in the world.  So the fact we were really good at the end of last year (without our top 2 players), led people to think we'd be really good going into this year?  Yes, I think that does makes sense.

This team has admittedly played worse than expected and have been disappointing.  Yet they are still a stone's throw from the leaders in the East.
Nah I'm saying the Bucks took us to 7 games... and thanks to Rozier going off for 26 and 9 combined with the fact the Bucks were horrifically coached, we beat them.  Imagine a world where the Bucks win that game. 

Nobody would see us as a contender right now.   Really the only reason anyone sees this team as better than the Pacers is because we happened to win that Game 7, then face a completely unprepared Philly team, and then gave the Cavs some trouble.  Had the Bucks won that game 7, smoked the Sixers, and went toe-to-toe with leBron, you'd have no real reason to think this team is a contender.  We're building our entire premise of this team being elite on some flukey unprecedented playoff run.
Except we did beat Milwaukee. Then we did beat Philadelphia. Then we took Lebron James to 7 games. And prognosticators saw a team that was young, talented and missing it's two best players.

So it wasn't some fluke run. The team was in the ECFs the year before.