This team is soft

[Ogaju]

The problem with the Celtics is not the starting five. That I believe can be sorted out.

The bigger problem is who is the first man off the bench (the sixth man). Right now people have defaulted Morris as the sixth man. Does he come off the bench first? Have we labeled him sixth man because he is the most effective bench player?

If Hayward is sent to the bench like a lot of you want, who replaces him in the lineup as a starter? Morris? Smart? Rozier? I guess Hayward goes to the bench first makes  him the first off the bench. So that at least solves that problem because right now  there is no clear sixth man between Smart, Rozier and Morris. Sending Brown to the bench does not solve that problem. Only Heyward to the bench gives you an undisputed sixth man.

My solution is to think outside the box and just field two teams...

[Chris22]

Irving, Smart, Morris, Tatum, and Horford starting.

[Ogaju]

Irving, Smart, Morris, Tatum, and Horford starting.

who is your sixth man?

[Spicoli]

This is the softest iteration of the C's that I've personally witnessed. They even have a dude as big as Baynes out there jacking up three's like there's no tomorrow. This is an embarrassing brand of offensive basketball.

[mr. dee]

How do you have an 18pt lead at one point and still lose?

[gouki88]

How do you have an 18pt lead at one point and still lose?

Ask our offensively challenged lineup of Baynes-Ojeleye-Morris-Smart-Rozier, lol

[SCeltic34]

How do you have an 18pt lead at one point and still lose?

It's not blowing that huge lead that I'm annoyed about.  Basketball is a strange game.  You can lose an 18 point lead as easily as you can gain one.  It's the way in which we lost it.  Brad's decision to roll out an anemic offensive lineup in the 2nd quarter completely destroyed our rhythm.  Couple that with bad defense - Semi's stupid gamble to leave Harris wide open for 3 comes to mind - and it was all downhill from there.  Bad coaching decision and poor response from the majority of our players.

I think we'll be fine, but right now this team IS soft.  Don't believe me then go re-watch the rebound we gave up from the free throw line.  Jokic basically stood there at the line and grabbed it without leaving his feet.

[tenn_smoothie]

A celtics loss and out come the over reaction threads. 

Like I said in another thread, we might as well just skip watching any games until June, then we can watch them win another banner without going through all the ups and downs of the regular season.

In the words of the Immortal Bob Grant, "It's fantasy hour, ladies and gentlemen"

[knuckleballer]

I only watched the first quarter last night, but just looking at the box score, I can tell that they aren't attacking the rim.  They only had 12 free throw attempts and 7 offensive rebounds.  This is a problem.  Most of their guys have the ability to get to the rim and draw fouls.  They just aren't aggressive enough and are settling for too many jumpers.

[KGBirdBias]

I continue to say this team is shooting way too many 3s with the skills they have to play a better brand of basketball. You can't live off the 3, but you can die from it. The way they played in the 1st quarter is how they need to play the entire game.

It has to finally be said. Kyrie is getting torched on D. Dipo and Murray killed us because Kyrie is only trying to go one on one. I'd rather see Kyrie get 20 pts and 12 assists than 31 pts and 3 assists.

Please go back to starting Baynes. The bench players are the only ones that want to do any dirty work.

[RodyTur10]

I continue to say this team is shooting way too many 3s with the skills they have to play a better brand of basketball. You can't live off the 3, but you can die from it. The way they played in the 1st quarter is how they need to play the entire game.

It has to finally be said. Kyrie is getting torched on D. Dipo and Murray killed us because Kyrie is only trying to go one on one. I'd rather see Kyrie get 20 pts and 12 assists than 31 pts and 3 assists (this were 5 according to NBA.com).

Please go back to starting Baynes. The bench players are the only ones that want to do any dirty work.

It seems more people support the idea of starting Baynes (as I have from the get go).

Irving is a special player, but probably needs special treatment (like Thomas). The team has to cover his defensive deficiencies. And although not ideal that's all right. Many teams have weak defensive guards with a rim protector to make up for that. You try to cover player's flaws and exploit their strengths.

Irving is a bit strange. You argue that you'd rather have Irving get 20/12 instead of 31/5 and yes sure that's even better, but Irving took just 17 shots (13 made) in 33 minutes and I'm perfectly fine with that. In fact I thought he wasn't shooting enough so far this season (averaging 15 shots a game).

But a couple of assists more would have been nice, but especially only getting 1 foul shot is concerning. As a viewer I got the impression that Irving was amazing and constantly had the ball, but in the end you think that his footprint on this ball game should have been bigger when you shoot so efficiently. It just feels that Thomas had much more impact on games.

[KGBirdBias]

I continue to say this team is shooting way too many 3s with the skills they have to play a better brand of basketball. You can't live off the 3, but you can die from it. The way they played in the 1st quarter is how they need to play the entire game.

It has to finally be said. Kyrie is getting torched on D. Dipo and Murray killed us because Kyrie is only trying to go one on one. I'd rather see Kyrie get 20 pts and 12 assists than 31 pts and 3 assists (this were 5 according to NBA.com).

Please go back to starting Baynes. The bench players are the only ones that want to do any dirty work.

It seems more people support the idea of starting Baynes (as I have from the get go).

Irving is a special player, but probably needs special treatment (like Thomas). The team has to cover his defensive deficiencies. And although not ideal that's all right. Many teams have weak defensive guards with a rim protector to make up for that. You try to cover player's flaws and exploit their strengths.

Irving is a bit strange. You argue that you'd rather have Irving get 20/12 instead of 31/5 and yes sure that's even better, but Irving took just 17 shots (13 made) in 33 minutes and I'm perfectly fine with that. In fact I thought he wasn't shooting enough so far this season (averaging 15 shots a game).

But a couple of assists more would have been nice, but especially only getting 1 foul shot is concerning. As a viewer I got the impression that Irving was amazing and constantly had the ball, but in the end you think that his footprint on this ball game should have been bigger when you shoot so efficiently. It just feels that Thomas had much more impact on games.

I can go along with that. 1 FT...wow...didn't know that. They have the ability to play more aggressive. It's like the starters are passive and the bench is aggressive.

Something tells me that Stevens is letting them figure it out and then later it will make his job easier because their way didn't work. Easier for them to come back to him, verses trying to reel them in.

[timpiker]

Which players are willing to get dirty and dive on the floor?  How many?  2?

[cman88]

I continue to say this team is shooting way too many 3s with the skills they have to play a better brand of basketball. You can't live off the 3, but you can die from it. The way they played in the 1st quarter is how they need to play the entire game.

It has to finally be said. Kyrie is getting torched on D. Dipo and Murray killed us because Kyrie is only trying to go one on one. I'd rather see Kyrie get 20 pts and 12 assists than 31 pts and 3 assists (this were 5 according to NBA.com).

Please go back to starting Baynes. The bench players are the only ones that want to do any dirty work.

It seems more people support the idea of starting Baynes (as I have from the get go).

Irving is a special player, but probably needs special treatment (like Thomas). The team has to cover his defensive deficiencies. And although not ideal that's all right. Many teams have weak defensive guards with a rim protector to make up for that. You try to cover player's flaws and exploit their strengths.

Irving is a bit strange. You argue that you'd rather have Irving get 20/12 instead of 31/5 and yes sure that's even better, but Irving took just 17 shots (13 made) in 33 minutes and I'm perfectly fine with that. In fact I thought he wasn't shooting enough so far this season (averaging 15 shots a game).

But a couple of assists more would have been nice, but especially only getting 1 foul shot is concerning. As a viewer I got the impression that Irving was amazing and constantly had the ball, but in the end you think that his footprint on this ball game should have been bigger when you shoot so efficiently. It just feels that Thomas had much more impact on games.

I can go along with that. 1 FT...wow...didn't know that. They have the ability to play more aggressive. It's like the starters are passive and the bench is aggressive.

Something tells me that Stevens is letting them figure it out and then later it will make his job easier because their way didn't work. Easier for them to come back to him, verses trying to reel them in.

I hate to blame the refs, but celtics made a more concerted effort to drive to the hoop last night. But they werent getting any calls from the refs. on the other end seemed they were getting called for ticky tack fouls. No excuses, but I thought guys like Kyrie/jaylen made a more concerted effort to get into the paint and not live by the 3

[Rosco917]

I don't know if soft is the right word. IMO it's more like, not confident or unsure.

Brown began the game aggressively, he was getting into the paint, scoring and defending well, then he was taken out of the game, allowed to cool off on the bench. He never again looked like he did in that first quarter for whatever reason.

Tatum simply never really got going period. 

Hayward never looked comfortable the entire game. He does do other little things while he's cold offensively like he rebounds and facilitates well, but he definitely looks out of sorts in general. His confidence is also up and down.

With the number of talented players we have, nobody really has a chance to find an offensive rhythm. You're taken out of the game to be replaced with another player that also calls for minutes. It reminds me of a pitching staff that never get a chance to pitch out of any trouble...they never get a chance to stretch out or grow and find themselves.

Let's not get into Rozier. Terry has an agenda all of his own. He's certainly "scary" but not in a good way. It's more like wild.

I feel certain players have to be sacrificed, the rotation needs to be shortened. Either that or a trade has to be made. We have too many "still developing" players demanding minutes. I'm getting so I don't like Brown, Tatum, and Hayward on the floor at the same time.