Bucks (12-9) at Celtics (20-4) Game #25 12/4/17

[slightly biased bias fan]

'If Ifs and Buts Were Like Candy and Nuts, Everyday Would Be Christmas'

Got to get over the what if Giannis stuff, be happy for the Bucks finally having another superstar after 40 years, I hope he stays there his whole career...their fans deserve it. We also couldn't have afforded Hayward if we had Giannis.

[Jiri Welsch]

Jaylen Brown has been having a few “off” nights (or has just continued to struggle at the rim) — it’s good to see Tatum stepping up in his stead.

When one of those two guys can put up close to 20 points, we are tough to beat.

[GratefulCs]

glad we pulled it out

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Giannis is great, but does anyone else notice that Kidd is visibly frustrated by some of his decisions and defense? I mean, Kidd always looks a bit stressed out, but he shakes his head a lot after Giannis has a miscue.

First half was the Bucks moving the ball, but the second half it became iso ball. Giannis just got too tired to do that for the full game. Serious, the Bucks offense was night and day from the first to the second half. Either their gameplan obviously shifted, or the players got too lazy to implement a ball movement offense for the full game. I was worried that if they kept moving the ball for the full game, it would eventually wear on our defense and keep Giannis fresh.

The opposite happened. Teams make runs in the late third on us normally, but our guys are relentless on defense. Then, our best players get rest while theirs don't, which allows our guys to finish the game.

[PAOBoston]

Celtics win.

Greek heritage night.  Giannis looked great.

Double win for me.

[nickagneta]

Sippin

 

Saw this and thought my bro Bassthumper had returned.

[slamtheking]

great game.  Greek Freak gets away with a lot but he's a genuine stud.  if he develops his outside shot, he'll be unstoppable.  hope Cleveland and Milwaukee have to match up in the playoffs before we have to see either of them -- will enjoy them beating on each other for a series.

[fairweatherfan]

21-4. Who'd've thunk it? And this one was in our control basically throughout. What a great year it's been.

[kozlodoev]

Celtics win.

Greek heritage night.  Giannis looked great.

Double win for me.

Giannis looked every bit like a young LeBron, including the horrible wide open brick 3s...

[mr. dee]

great game.  Greek Freak gets away with a lot but he's a genuine stud.  if he develops his outside shot, he'll be unstoppable.  hope Cleveland and Milwaukee have to match up in the playoffs before we have to see either of them -- will enjoy them beating on each other for a series.

It will be a one-sided beatdown in favor of the Cavs. Bucks have no one to stop Cavs perimeter shooting. They key on beating Lebron is exploiting his teammates on both ends.

[GreenEnvy]

Jaylen Brown has been having a few “off” nights (or has just continued to struggle at the rim) — it’s good to see Tatum stepping up in his stead.

When one of those two guys can put up close to 20 points, we are tough to beat.

As much as it’s still heartbreaking that Hayward can’t play, it’s really be so fun to see those two kids ball.

I simply cannot wait to see this team at full strength. To think we are still getting an All-NBA talent to add to a 21-4 team.

And who knows, maybe a top-5 pick next draft.

[alley oop]

Kyrie Irving +0, lowest of all that played except D. Theis with -1. He shot 13-24 and had 1 assist. The next most shot attempts by a Celtic was Horford, 8-10 with 8 assists. Marcus Smart had 7 assists.   

Against the best teams, this type of shoot first "point guard" play will lead to a loss.

[jdz101]

Kyrie Irving +0, lowest of all that played except D. Theis with -1. He shot 13-24 and had 1 assist. The next most shot attempts by a Celtic was Horford, 8-10 with 8 assists. Marcus Smart had 7 assists.   

Against the best teams, this type of shoot first "point guard" play will lead to a loss.

An absolutely ridiculous take.

The Celtics bounce around anywhere from 6th-10th on assists per 100 possessions which is more than fine considering our roster and how we play.

Kyrie Irving's only shot below 50% from the field ONCE in his last 9 games. Overall, 96-for-166 (57.8%) and 23-of-45 from 3 (51.1%). 28.9 PPG.

He doesn't have to move the ball to someone else if he is scoring it at that efficiency and volume. In fact, considering the absolute crapload of open looks he's creating for Tatum and Horford by just drawing the defense, I think the best thing for us to keep winning at this clip is to keep doing exactly what he's doing.

He started off playing super heavy effort wise on defense and deferring more to his teammates on offense and he got massacred on here for not scoring enough, and now he's being criticized for not being a proper traditional "point guard". All the while both these criticisms are happening when we're winning games at a .840 clip.

My goodness.

I won't even get into the box score watching plus minus quoting disaster.

[Androslav]

Kyrie Irving +0, lowest of all that played except D. Theis with -1. He shot 13-24 and had 1 assist. The next most shot attempts by a Celtic was Horford, 8-10 with 8 assists. Marcus Smart had 7 assists.   

Against the best teams, this type of shoot first "point guard" play will lead to a loss.

Yes, it is so illogical that our best scorer shoots the most while being extremely efficient.
It makes much more sense that Kyrie passes to Smart for 20 shots per game and not the other way around, like we just did in a win (It wasn't even 20 so it shouldn't count at all).
Brad is guilty, and he should pay for this with his job (Phil Jackson, Sam Mitchell and Earl Watson are available anyway, hire ALL of them and go from there) as he definitely lost his marbles.

[Green-18]

Kyrie Irving +0, lowest of all that played except D. Theis with -1. He shot 13-24 and had 1 assist. The next most shot attempts by a Celtic was Horford, 8-10 with 8 assists. Marcus Smart had 7 assists.   

Against the best teams, this type of shoot first "point guard" play will lead to a loss.

lol Are you really using this one game example of Kyrie's "shoot first" style of play?  I'm assuming you are trolling.  It's blatantly obvious that Kyrie has put forth a full effort to play within Brad's system.  Even last night he did an excellent job of hitting the open man when the Bucks tried to trap him early in the game.  The reason his individual assist numbers didn't pile up is because our points were coming off of a 3rd or 4th pass.  FYI, the Celtics are 6th in assists per field goal made.  This number will only improve as the team chemistry grows throughout the season.  I would define Kyrie's style as "give the game what it needs".