Celtics (41-16) at Bucks (39-17) Game #58 2/14/23

[Neurotic Guy]

Not sure it’s been said earlier, but if it hasn’t… Derrick White should start and finish over Marcus.

I actually seriously considered this for the first time tonight.  C's will never do it, but White is better offensively than Smart.

This is only half correct.  White and Smart should both start, with Rob or Al on the bench.

If choosing one of Smart-White, I’d want to see White. More importantly, I like White taking the ball up and initiating the offense. 

[ozgod]

Great game! I'm sure Budenholzer's sphincters were pretty tight for most of that fourth quarter and overtime 

[Vermont Green]

Not sure it’s been said earlier, but if it hasn’t… Derrick White should start and finish over Marcus.

I actually seriously considered this for the first time tonight.  C's will never do it, but White is better offensively than Smart.

This is only half correct.  White and Smart should both start, with Rob or Al on the bench.

If choosing one of Smart-White, I’d want to see White. More importantly, I like White taking the ball up and initiating the offense.

At the start of the season, everyone thought it would be Brogdon who would displace Smart as the starter.  Funny (to me anyway) that now it is White that is being discussed as the rightful starter or #1 PG.

It is tough because I feel that White is clearly a starter level player.  Brogdon may be as well.  It is like having a QB controversy in football.  I think Smart is the best of them though.  White is probably better for the role he had last night, but not when all the other starters are on the floor.  There is not a large difference though.  The team would still be good with either starting.

[boscel33]

They put up a good fight, in the end though, just not enough.

[Goldstar88]

Any of the Joe apologists still ready to excuse that one, too? Just another inexcusable brain fart by him.

Thinks bench players should just iso their way to tie the game up against the best defense in the league. Freaking inexcusable.

like what? Our b-team was playing man. this wasn't even supposed to be a game.

Love that people are trying to blame Joe for this loss. Yes, if only he called a timeout, Grant wouldn’t have dribbled the ball of of his own foot. it’s clearly Joes fault for letting Grant do that. 

Not blaming him, but don’t you think with a bunch of bench players he might have wanted to call a timeout to figure a play? It was a 2 point game. Did he want them to go for the tie or a 3 for the win? The position was going nowhere

Goldy is a Joe apologist. I don't even bother arguing with him about it anymore haha

But, yes, clear brainfart. Joe literally admitted that he screwed up in the game we lost to Miami under similar circumstances by not doing anything and letting them try to iso a possession to tie it up. Yet, with even more missing players and no stars, Joe yet again sat on his hands, didn't call a timeout or a play, and expected an exclusive bench unit to create against the best defense in the league.

I don't care how much of a Joe apologist that you are, that's incompetence and not learning from your mistakes.

Yes, I’m apologizing for Joe coaching the team to the best record in all of basketball. Do better Joe! We shouldn’t have lost a single game all season! Guess they are winning in spite of him. Team probably would be better without a coach. I mean, that’s what Kyrie always said.   

Your sentiments about Joe are all about the regular season.
Those of us who are critical of him are taking what we see now and translating it to the playoffs.
That is the difference.

Personally, I don't believe we can win a title with Joe Mazzulla as our head coach.
I hate the possibility that this guy may cost us a title we will never get back.
I hate that we might be wasting such a talented roster on a coach who just isn't ready or may never be.

This is baseless speculation. Joe has coached the C’s to the best record in basketball. That is a fact. He has a better record as coach than Ime did this time last year. That is is a fact. The Celtics have a top 3 offense this year, last year they were 12th. The defense, even with Rob missing 2+ months is now #6 in the NBA. Joe is doing a much better job managing the players minutes this year and he’s dealing with players in and out of the lineup much more than Ime did last year. The coach is doing a great job.

[angryguy77]

Any of the Joe apologists still ready to excuse that one, too? Just another inexcusable brain fart by him.

Thinks bench players should just iso their way to tie the game up against the best defense in the league. Freaking inexcusable.

like what? Our b-team was playing man. this wasn't even supposed to be a game.

Love that people are trying to blame Joe for this loss. Yes, if only he called a timeout, Grant wouldn’t have dribbled the ball of of his own foot. it’s clearly Joes fault for letting Grant do that. 

Not blaming him, but don’t you think with a bunch of bench players he might have wanted to call a timeout to figure a play? It was a 2 point game. Did he want them to go for the tie or a 3 for the win? The position was going nowhere

Goldy is a Joe apologist. I don't even bother arguing with him about it anymore haha

But, yes, clear brainfart. Joe literally admitted that he screwed up in the game we lost to Miami under similar circumstances by not doing anything and letting them try to iso a possession to tie it up. Yet, with even more missing players and no stars, Joe yet again sat on his hands, didn't call a timeout or a play, and expected an exclusive bench unit to create against the best defense in the league.

I don't care how much of a Joe apologist that you are, that's incompetence and not learning from your mistakes.

Yes, I’m apologizing for Joe coaching the team to the best record in all of basketball. Do better Joe! We shouldn’t have lost a single game all season! Guess they are winning in spite of him. Team probably would be better without a coach. I mean, that’s what Kyrie always said.   

Your sentiments about Joe are all about the regular season.
Those of us who are critical of him are taking what we see now and translating it to the playoffs.
That is the difference.

Personally, I don't believe we can win a title with Joe Mazzulla as our head coach.
I hate the possibility that this guy may cost us a title we will never get back.
I hate that we might be wasting such a talented roster on a coach who just isn't ready or may never be.

This is baseless speculation. Joe has coached the C’s to the best record in basketball. That is a fact. He has a better record as coach than Ime did this time last year. That is is a fact. The Celtics have a top 3 offense this year, last year they were 12th. The defense, even with Rob missing 2+ months is now #6 in the NBA. Joe is doing a much better job managing the players minutes this year and he’s dealing with players in and out of the lineup much more than Ime did last year. The coach is doing a great job.

Joe has done some good, things, but the bad things he does makes him untrustworthy. How do you not call a TO at the end?
For the love of all that is holy, tell your guys to not allow the ball to be dog walked at the end of the game.

He had his guys up last night, I'll give him that, but he really screwed up in key moments. It doesn't appear he's learning from his mistakes.

[Atzar]

A few takeaways from this game.

White's passing his starting PG test with flying colors.  I'm not on the "start White over Smart" train, but I do think we need to make a point of putting the ball in his hands even when we're healthy.  Whether he's starting or coming off the bench, he has the ability to make teammates better and we need to exploit that.

Brogdon can spend a few possessions on Giannis.  Previously I didn't think he had the size or strength to do it.  But he did a respectable job on the assignment last night.  Every little bit helps with that guy. 

Thought it was interesting - not in a good way - that Rob only got 13 minutes last night.  Perhaps the team doesn't like the way he matches up against the Bucks.  Or perhaps that ankle is worse than they're letting on.  If that's the case, I'd prefer that they just shut the guy down and let him get right.  Maybe there's a time to play through some minor injuries.  That time isn't the doldrums of February. 

[Phantom255x]

Mazzulla's tactics are very confusing to me. He admits he should have called a timeout at the end when the C's got the ball, but his reasoning to me seems inconsistent with basically everything he's done this whole season. Almost like he's also guessing when to call it or not

And also, when the C's scored a quick 5-6 points, Coach Bud would call timeout. But MIL again went on 13-3 or 11-2 runs and Mazzulla did nothing. Just let MIL casually get back in it.

This sort of stuff will definitely cost us a playoff game or two in the later rounds I fear

I really hope this is just a regular season thing but idk

[PAOBoston]

A few takeaways from this game.

White's passing his starting PG test with flying colors.  I'm not on the "start White over Smart" train, but I do think we need to make a point of putting the ball in his hands even when we're healthy.  Whether he's starting or coming off the bench, he has the ability to make teammates better and we need to exploit that.

Brogdon can spend a few possessions on Giannis.  Previously I didn't think he had the size or strength to do it.  But he did a respectable job on the assignment last night.  Every little bit helps with that guy. 

Thought it was interesting - not in a good way - that Rob only got 13 minutes last night.  Perhaps the team doesn't like the way he matches up against the Bucks.  Or perhaps that ankle is worse than they're letting on.  If that's the case, I'd prefer that they just shut the guy down and let him get right.  Maybe there's a time to play through some minor injuries.  That time isn't the doldrums of February.

The Rob minutes are due to the matchup with Lopez. When they go small or have a stretch 5 in there, it basically takes away what Lopez is good at because he has to come out to the perimeter. Rob isn’t a shooting threat so Lopez can clog the lane so I think it is just matchup based personnel decision.