Small Ball

[GreenRunsDeep33]

Aside from the subpar officiating last night, the Rockets did an excellent job at deterring drives with their team defense. They shaded toward the paint, cutting off driving lanes without straying too far away from their assignment. They were excellent at collapsing into the paint when someone was able to penetrate and still close on their assignment if the pass was made.

Stevens’ gets a little too stagnant after the initial moves with the guys in the corner. The C’s need more off ball action with Jaylen cutting to the basket for ally oops or to the free throw line for a stop and pop. When shots aren’t falling, this five out system has to be more than pick and pops and dribble drives from the top of the key with guys stuck in the corners.

This is such a great point. The guys standing in the corner...ugh I hate it. With all of the versatility this team had they should be playing like the Warriors the past 5 years. Ball movement, bodies constantly moving and cutters. The problem is we don't pass as well as the Warriors. Too much one on one from Jaylen and Jayson at times. Hayward is really a great playmaker who rarely forces shots and when his shot isn't on, find some other way to impact the game. The Js will learn that ad they get older.

[LilRip]

We should’ve posted up more. Not Kanter or Theis who are at their best when being set up or off scrambles. We should’ve been posting up Hayward, Tatum and Jaylen more. JT is a mismatch problem and it might’ve helped him get back on track offensively

[bopna]

We should’ve posted up more. Not Kanter or Theis who are at their best when being set up or off scrambles. We should’ve been posting up Hayward, Tatum and Jaylen more. JT is a mismatch problem and it might’ve helped him get back on track offensively

Exactly.. Brad stupidly played to the kind of smallball basketball the Rockets were playing... Posting JB and wrecking havoc from there with virtually no shot lockers is a recipe Brad should have utilized... Instead they shot too much from three on a night when JT had zilch and Kemba was crappy as well.

[nickagneta]

The idea that Tacko Fall could somehow have fixed what happened the other night is ridiculous. Kanter and Theis, both players that are many, many times better as basketball players, were ineffective in that game. Tacko would have been made to look like the G League level player that he is. That Houston team isn't going to be beaten simply by throwing someone tall, with little overall NBA skills out there.

The Celtics can beat that Rockets team if they remain physical and don't let the officials dictate their level of defensive intensity, which clearly happened Tuesday night. The officials were pathetic in that 2nd half with the non-existent or ticky tack fouls they called. I don't blame the officiating but it's simply an incorrect statement to say they didn't affect how the game was played and possibly it's outcome.

Turnovers were also problematic. The Celtics can beat that team if they don't turn over the ball, a very high for them, 18 times.

[W8ting2McHale]

Yeah, to me the answer to getting called for ticky-tak fouls is not to shy away from contact and then get called for fouls when you’re just in the general area or breathing on an offensive opponent.

That’s the way Olynyk played. He’d get called for an early foul, and then shy away from contact, play soft, and still get called for fouls.

I think the best response is a couple of hard fouls. Earn the foul and send a message to the refs and the opponent that ticky-tak fouls won’t stop you from playing defense.

[mmmmm]

(1) They got guys who are better at attacking the rim than we do.

(a) HOU went 18 of 25 on FGA at the rim.   The Celtics were 19 of 28 on FGA at the rim.
(b) per player-tracking: HOU had 46 drives in this game.  Boston had 54.
(c) Also, a huge portion of Houston's FTAs were actually from fouls called on 3PT shots, not from drives.
(d) Jaylen, one of our better drivers, was playing on bad ankles.
(e) A significant portion of Kemba's poor shooting numbers was the number of times he _did_ drive, got hit, missed the shot but got no foul call.  If the foul gets called, no FGA gets charged.

EDIT:  Added player-tracking info.

[mmmmm]

We tried pounding it into Kanter a couple of times and it was a disaster, the shots didn't go and it threw off our rhythm.

We needed to focus on exploiting the boards, especially offensive boards with Kanter, rather than low-efficiency offense disrupting post banging.

That's a fair description of what happened.

It begs the question of whether the couple of times we tried with Kanter was a sufficient 'try' of that strategy before completely abandoning it.   I can understand folks questioning Stevens on that.

[mmmmm]

Adam Himmelsbach from the Boston Globe had some thoughts about this in his report of the game.

When discussing Houston’s small-ball approach in recent days, Celtics coach Brad Stevens frequently pushed back, pointing out that Houston’s frontcourt players are strong and built like linebackers, and it can be dangerous to believe you can just post them up because they’re not as tall. Enes Kanter, who has had success overpowering opposing big men, found this out the hard way in the first quarter, when he was simply unable to move P.J. Tucker before throwing up an 8-footer that missed. Kanter figured to be a defensive liability in this game due to the personnel differences, and he played just eight minutes and had 3 rebounds and no points.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/celtics/2020/02/12/celtics-seven-game-winning-streak-snapped-rockets/YENDTwbAUNJpgvP4qFKTMJ/story.html

That's pretty weak logic by Himmelsbach.   Just because something didn't work for two plays early in the game hardly is really indicative that completely abandoning using Kanter was the right move.   The Celtics were "simply unable" to make a ton of plays work through Tatum, Smart & Kemba, who combined to shoot a gawd-awful 13-of-42.

[mmmmm]

I'm trying to understand how the Celtics got beat at their own game last night. How does Stevens NOT tell the team to pound the ball inside or take the ball to the paint with no rim protection from the Rockets. It perplexes me by some of Stevens coaching moves at times. How does Kanter not score one bucket? We just kept jacking 3 and 3 after 3.

I thought Stevens was the king of small ball! Yes, the officiating was ridiculous but this was the perfect game to use Theis, GWill and Kanter in mismatches all over the court.

Here's your 2nd TP, welcome to the forum. Adam Himmelsbach from the Boston Globe had some thoughts about this in his report of the game.

When discussing Houston’s small-ball approach in recent days, Celtics coach Brad Stevens frequently pushed back, pointing out that Houston’s frontcourt players are strong and built like linebackers, and it can be dangerous to believe you can just post them up because they’re not as tall. Enes Kanter, who has had success overpowering opposing big men, found this out the hard way in the first quarter, when he was simply unable to move P.J. Tucker before throwing up an 8-footer that missed. Kanter figured to be a defensive liability in this game due to the personnel differences, and he played just eight minutes and had 3 rebounds and no points.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/celtics/2020/02/12/celtics-seven-game-winning-streak-snapped-rockets/YENDTwbAUNJpgvP4qFKTMJ/story.html

Well these are good points but it doesn't excuse the inability to adjust and this is what frustrates me with Stevens...his inability to adjust on the fly.

He can't have it both ways. Claim the team was too big and get pounded on the boards or get beat at your own small ball game. Where was Tacko? Tacko would've flipped the advantage back to the Celtics and would've created fouls. So what if Tucker takes him outside and shoots a few 3s. Is Tucker really going to go off for 10 3s? No.

Sometimes it feels like the coaching is too cautious and it's not to win the game but to be competitive.

Why not get a technical when you see the officiating calling so many fouls that Harden and Westbrook went to the FT more than the entire Celtics team...that's worthy of a techical.

Posting up bigs is one thing. Driving to the rim is something else. We lost because they bulldozed to the rim more than us.

Except, that didn't happen.  As I posted above, player tracking shows that the Rockets only drove 46 times compared to 54 times by the Celtics.

A huge chunk of their FTA advantage actually came on light, whisper-contact fouls on 3PT attempts.  Those aren't from "bulldozing to the rim".

[chiken]

We lost the game in the final 5 - 6 minutes on the road with Tatum having a subpar shooting game. And to throw a little extra sewage on the cake, JB was rolling on two bad wheels.

To blame BS is weird to me. They have 2 MVP ISO Nightmares who basically took over the game down the stretch...  Our Stars didn't play like stars, their stars did.  That will get you beat 9 times out of 10.





 

[GreenRunsDeep33]

Let's please stop devaluing Tacko presence. He can change or block at least 5-7 shots during a game. He's not Wilt but we don't need him to be. Those shots or extra possessions are the difference in a game. It also keeps our  wings out of foul trouble.

Mins, defensive FG%, reboundin and timely rotations all make a difference every game.

[GreenRunsDeep33]

Trust me 7'3 makes a difference on a simple layup or shot.

[nickagneta]

I don't think I can say this enough. 7'5" means nothing without actual talent or skill. Tacko is not, at this time an NBA player and he would have been very quickly abused by that Houston team.

People need to get over their height fetishes. Talent trumps height every single time.

[ozgod]

I don't think I can say this enough. 7'5" means nothing without actual talent or skill. Tacko is not, at this time an NBA player and he would have been very quickly abused by that Houston team.

People need to get over their height fetishes. Talent trumps height every single time.

For those of us old enough to remember Manute Bol, I actually think Manute on debut was better than Tacko currently is. And Manute was pretty bad. The style of the NBA back the suited him better than the style of the NBA suits Tacko today. Tacko still has a long way to go. Anyone who thinks otherwise is rating him on the 3 mins a game of garbage time he plays and hasn't been watching him in the G League.

That said, I'm rooting for Tacko to be successful, but there's a reason he wasn't drafted - he's not ready yet. And his development would be better served by people not hyping him up and placing unrealistic expectations on him.

[RockinRyA]

Let's please stop devaluing Tacko presence. He can change or block at least 5-7 shots during a game. He's not Wilt but we don't need him to be. Those shots or extra possessions are the difference in a game. It also keeps our  wings out of foul trouble.

Mins, defensive FG%, reboundin and timely rotations all make a difference every game.

No he wont. There were countless of really tall guys in nba history. Just because they were tall doesnt mean they are good defenders, esp on this day and age.

Even against low quality talents in the D league he isnt dominating. For as long as he is he does pretty poorly in closeouts. Another reason why not to play him against the Rockets.