Fire Joe! ... or critique Joe ... or defend Joe... or worry about Joe's coaching

[Phantom255x]

Justified firing. Unacceptable loss and this goes on Joe. So you see Mitchell exposing Hauser and what do you do? Continue to leave Hauser on Mitchell.

Yeah that's almost like when Tatum was cooking Niang on Cleveland. But Cleveland would try to adjust and they also traded for Hunter at the deadline. Mitchell vs. Hauser? What were they expecting.

[smicker16]

Why do people think Craig is a good defender? His defensive stats are and have been worse than Hauser on an overall team level. i just am not sure where that comes from really. genuinely asking are there stats to back that up or is this an eye test thing?

Queta should have played but I have no problem with the Hauser decision and looking at +/- he clearly had a positive impact.

[Vermont Green]

Who should have Joe played. Pritchard?  He was -36 in 25 minutes. You want Walsh?  Scheierman?  Craig managed -8 in 3 minutes. We were down 2 starters. This was a rough game. CLE is a really good team. Just move on to DEN. 

[jpotter33]

Who should have Joe played. Pritchard?  He was -36 in 25 minutes. You want Walsh?  Scheierman?  Craig managed -8 in 3 minutes. We were down 2 starters. This was a rough game. CLE is a really good team. Just move on to DEN.

It's clearly Craig. He's a step up as an individual defender over Hauser, and he can still spread the floor and hit the three - which Hauser wasn't even doing tonight.

Why do people think Craig is a good defender? His defensive stats are and have been worse than Hauser on an overall team level. i just am not sure where that comes from really. genuinely asking are there stats to back that up or is this an eye test thing?

Queta should have played but I have no problem with the Hauser decision and looking at +/- he clearly had a positive impact.

And that is why +/- is such a useless stat on a single game basis. No reasonable person watched that game and thought that he added 18 points of value to the game. He was the primary hole on defense that they literally - not figuratively, literally - exploited every single time down the floor. And he didn't do anything offensively either.

And I'm not sure where you're getting the Craig stuff from. He's been on awful defensive teams the last several years, and the advanced defensive stats are very noisy and difficult to parse out individual performances, particularly for wings and particularly on bad teams. Craig is clearly a better defender than Hauser and wouldn't have been such an easy target for Garland and Mitchell. That's clear as day. Hauser does his best, but he's just too slow-footed laterally to have any chance against the Mitchells and Garlands of the world. Same with Kornet.

[Goldstar88]

Who should have Joe played. Pritchard?  He was -36 in 25 minutes. You want Walsh?  Scheierman?  Craig managed -8 in 3 minutes. We were down 2 starters. This was a rough game. CLE is a really good team. Just move on to DEN.

Celtics really can?t afford to not have Porzingis this postseason. Horford/Kornet rotation at the 5 isn?t going to cut it.

[ozgod]

Justified firing. Unacceptable loss and this goes on Joe. So you see Mitchell exposing Hauser and what do you do? Continue to leave Hauser on Mitchell.

So is he getting fired by Monday? 

[Who]

I'm not sure T Craig is a good switch defender. I like him defending guys his own size. He is physical defender against them. I don't think he is as good defender smaller guards. I don't think he is quick enough. I'd say Hauser is the more disciplined positional defender whereas T Craig relies more on physical tools.

I am not sure T Craig would have fared any better on D Mitchell & D Garland than Hauser did. A good chance T Craig would have been worse than Hauser.

[mobilija]

I'm not sure T Craig is a good switch defender. I like him defending guys his own size. He is physical defender against them. I don't think he is as good defender smaller guards. I don't think he is quick enough. I'd say Hauser is the more disciplined positional defender whereas T Craig relies more on physical tools.

I am not sure T Craig would have fared any better on D Mitchell & D Garland than Hauser did. A good chance T Craig would have been worse than Hauser.

Agreed. Maybe if we had kept Springer, he coulda been a defensive deterrent. Next in line would be maybe Walsh but he?s not quite there yet. However, for a regular season game where ur horses are exhausted it woulda been worth a looksy.

[Vermont Green]

I'm not sure T Craig is a good switch defender. I like him defending guys his own size. He is physical defender against them. I don't think he is as good defender smaller guards. I don't think he is quick enough. I'd say Hauser is the more disciplined positional defender whereas T Craig relies more on physical tools.

I am not sure T Craig would have fared any better on D Mitchell & D Garland than Hauser did. A good chance T Craig would have been worse than Hauser.

Agreed. Maybe if we had kept Springer, he coulda been a defensive deterrent. Next in line would be maybe Walsh but he?s not quite there yet. However, for a regular season game where ur horses are exhausted it woulda been worth a looksy.

I know the sample size is small but so far I am not seeing Craig as a better defender than Hauser. Springer is but he would not have been playing.

The scheme was switch every thing for BOS and Mitchell just worked it until he had the match up he wanted. Keep in mind that no one has had an answer to this all season. BOS has done well vs CLE when we were not down two starters. 

I think the adjustment is to throw doubles at Mitchell sometimes. Change it up.  Make the match up hunting harder. There is not much else you can do.

[tenn_smoothie]

I'm not sure T Craig is a good switch defender. I like him defending guys his own size. He is physical defender against them. I don't think he is as good defender smaller guards. I don't think he is quick enough. I'd say Hauser is the more disciplined positional defender whereas T Craig relies more on physical tools.

I am not sure T Craig would have fared any better on D Mitchell & D Garland than Hauser did. A good chance T Craig would have been worse than Hauser.

Agreed. Maybe if we had kept Springer, he coulda been a defensive deterrent. Next in line would be maybe Walsh but he?s not quite there yet. However, for a regular season game where ur horses are exhausted it woulda been worth a looksy.

Mazzulla should have given Walsh and the bench more minutes, especially for the defensive end earlier in the 4th.
The starters were exhausted late, which leads to defensive breakdowns and missed shots.
Hate losing any 20+ point lead, but we were short-handed and played the starters into the ground (as usual).

[tenn_smoothie]

Speaking of Jaden Springer, we could have used him in this game.
Why are we making salary-cutting moves when we are in absolutely win-now mode ?

[SparzWizard]

One of the worst coaching performances I've ever seen thus far that might have cost them this series

[Phantom255x]

15-60 from 3 is actually diabolical. They went 10-39 in the 2nd half alone

[jpotter33]

Welp - time to refresh this thread.

That's a firing-worthy game. All of this nonsense is derivative of Joe and his ridiculous Mazzulla Ball philosophy that over-prioritizes the three ball. That was one of the ugliest displays of offense that this league has ever seen, and it will be used as a poster child for all of the criticism of today's current NBA.

And because he's so dogmatic on this, Joe made*zero* adjustments to help the team - even after we shot 19 OF 20 SHOTS FROM THREE IN THE THIRD QUARTER. We then followed it up with even more crap in the fourth quarter.

We win DESPITE Joe, not because of him. Fire him.

[SCeltic34]

It's a shame.  I'm really trying not to take the Tatum and Brown era for granted.  We have a uniquely talented team with all of our core under contract.  It's a golden age from a talent standpoint.

It's ruined by Mazzulla ball.  A lazy offensive philosophy which results in a high number of rushed, low percentage 3 point attempts.  A boom or bust offense.  I think a team this talented would be better served by a philosophy that has much better balance.

What we witnessed on 5/5/25, game 1 against the Knicks, was straight up coaching malpractice.  That 2nd half was the exact opposite of what we needed to do to win this game.   I think we'll still win the series, but it will probably have to be in spite of Joe.