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

[ozgod]

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2024/04/joe-mazzulla-gives-bizarre-assessment-of-celtics-game-2-defense-vs-heat.html

The Heat made history in Game 2 on Wednesday night, erupting for a postseason franchise record 23 3-point makes in a 111-101 upset win over the Celtics to even the series at 1-1. The bombardment came from a diverse cast for the undermanned Heat with six different players knocking down multiple 3s as the team shot a scorching-hot 53.5 percent from 3-point range.

The move to fire away from deep should not come as a surprising choice. Without Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier, Miami lacks reliable creators and attackers at the rim outside of Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro. The team was going to need to roll the dice from beyond the arc to give themselves a chance. Their hot start put added pressure on a Celtics offense that struggled to keep pace and got little help all night beyond their two All-Stars.

Yet the assessment of Miami’s steellar shooting after the game led to a bizarre evaluation by Mazzulla of his team’s role defensively in the outburst.

“Defensively, obviously they made a conscious effort with free reign to shoot more,” Mazzulla said. “I thought most of those were moderately to heavily contested, so we’re going to have to make the adjustment on some of those.”

That assessment stood in contrast to a couple of Celtics players after the defeat as Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday acknowledged the Celtics were willing to let most Heat shooters fire away.

“They were making shots, guys that we want shooting the ball were hitting them,” Brown said. “Seemingly couldn’t get them to miss. Credit to those guys.”

Holiday was more candid about Boston’s tactics right out of the gate.

“I think just starting off, the guys that we wanted to shoot, not that we let them, but it wasn’t like a get out to them and put it on the ground,” Holiday said. It was kind of like protect the basket but still get a close-out, but they started knocking them in. We know Martin can shoot, but they had guys out there that were knocking in everything, even Jaime Jaquez just knocking it in.”

Miami’s hot shooting night should have had a familiar feel for the Celtics as Game 2 proved to be the fourth time in the last two postseasons that the Heat shot 50 percent or better from 3-point range.

A video review of Miami’s made 3s indicates that Mazzulla’s assertions are dubious. There were maybe 10 total contests of those 23 3-point field goals by the Heat and that’s having a generous threshold for what this author considers to be a contested shot. Boston moderately or heavily contested perhaps a handful of those makes. The rest? The Celtics were inviting wide-open looks. A few came on defensive breakdowns via rotations (another area Boston had to clean up) but the Celtics gameplan here was clear and failed.

Mazzulla’s late-game tactics were also questionable. The team threw an extra body at the Herro/Adebayo pick-and-roll and left wide-open hot shooters (Haywood Highsmith, Caleb Martin) with the game on the line with ugly results. Closing the game out with Kristaps Porzingis (-32) over Al Horford (+8) invites debate as well since Horford was the superior defender on this night.

Ultimately, there is nothing here that the Celtics can’t clean up going into Game 3. Yet, Mazzulla’s gameplan opened the door for the Heat to fully lean into their high 3-point shooting volume. Miami’s drivers shouldn’t share the Celtics more than their ability to hit the 3-ball in this series. While Jaquez and Martin shot over their heads in Game 2, they did so on wide-open looks. Meanwhile, Boston did a horrific job respecting a host of 40 percent 3-point shooters (Herro, Highsmith, Jovic) and was punished accordingly.

The pressure is on Mazzulla and the Celtics to respond on this front in Game 3 to retake command.

“I think we’ve gotta be more creative,” Tatum said. “The playoffs are about making adjustments game to game, and they did that...They’re supposed to try to mess things a little up, and make it a little bit tougher. So it’s our job to react in real time, as well as make our adjustments going from game to game.”

I love BRobb. He's always willing to call out Joe's questionable decisions.

This is just so bad. Not only were all of our memories right that the majority of the shots were anything but "moderately to heavily contested", but this kind of gameplan just makes no sense to me whatsoever. Sure, in the NBA you at times definitely have to give up something to stop something that is more impactful, but that's generally the case for high-powered offenses like Denver, where you might sag off of Gordon to double Jokic or stay tighter to everyone else.

But against a mediocre Heat offense that has no Butler or Rozier, why in the world are we giving up open looks to their shooters, particularly some of their better shooters? In fact, this just played right into their hands. Their only chance was to try and shoot and hit a lot of threes, and at their core that's what they are - a three point shooting team. So what sense does it make to really pack the paint in this scenario? And it's not like we laid off some of their shooters to stay tighter on their better shooters like Herro or Robinson, as we were essentially giving them wide open looks off of every PnR by dropping so low with our big. And then Robb picks up on the late-game adjustment to bring the extra help out on the high PnR instead of just going small, which again just left wide open hot shooters to hit more threes.

Just make it make sense.

History repeating itself…they did this last year, dared the lesser names to shoot and they made us pay

[angryguy77]

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2024/04/joe-mazzulla-gives-bizarre-assessment-of-celtics-game-2-defense-vs-heat.html

The Heat made history in Game 2 on Wednesday night, erupting for a postseason franchise record 23 3-point makes in a 111-101 upset win over the Celtics to even the series at 1-1. The bombardment came from a diverse cast for the undermanned Heat with six different players knocking down multiple 3s as the team shot a scorching-hot 53.5 percent from 3-point range.

The move to fire away from deep should not come as a surprising choice. Without Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier, Miami lacks reliable creators and attackers at the rim outside of Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro. The team was going to need to roll the dice from beyond the arc to give themselves a chance. Their hot start put added pressure on a Celtics offense that struggled to keep pace and got little help all night beyond their two All-Stars.

Yet the assessment of Miami’s steellar shooting after the game led to a bizarre evaluation by Mazzulla of his team’s role defensively in the outburst.

“Defensively, obviously they made a conscious effort with free reign to shoot more,” Mazzulla said. “I thought most of those were moderately to heavily contested, so we’re going to have to make the adjustment on some of those.”

That assessment stood in contrast to a couple of Celtics players after the defeat as Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday acknowledged the Celtics were willing to let most Heat shooters fire away.

“They were making shots, guys that we want shooting the ball were hitting them,” Brown said. “Seemingly couldn’t get them to miss. Credit to those guys.”

Holiday was more candid about Boston’s tactics right out of the gate.

“I think just starting off, the guys that we wanted to shoot, not that we let them, but it wasn’t like a get out to them and put it on the ground,” Holiday said. It was kind of like protect the basket but still get a close-out, but they started knocking them in. We know Martin can shoot, but they had guys out there that were knocking in everything, even Jaime Jaquez just knocking it in.”

Miami’s hot shooting night should have had a familiar feel for the Celtics as Game 2 proved to be the fourth time in the last two postseasons that the Heat shot 50 percent or better from 3-point range.

A video review of Miami’s made 3s indicates that Mazzulla’s assertions are dubious. There were maybe 10 total contests of those 23 3-point field goals by the Heat and that’s having a generous threshold for what this author considers to be a contested shot. Boston moderately or heavily contested perhaps a handful of those makes. The rest? The Celtics were inviting wide-open looks. A few came on defensive breakdowns via rotations (another area Boston had to clean up) but the Celtics gameplan here was clear and failed.

Mazzulla’s late-game tactics were also questionable. The team threw an extra body at the Herro/Adebayo pick-and-roll and left wide-open hot shooters (Haywood Highsmith, Caleb Martin) with the game on the line with ugly results. Closing the game out with Kristaps Porzingis (-32) over Al Horford (+8) invites debate as well since Horford was the superior defender on this night.

Ultimately, there is nothing here that the Celtics can’t clean up going into Game 3. Yet, Mazzulla’s gameplan opened the door for the Heat to fully lean into their high 3-point shooting volume. Miami’s drivers shouldn’t share the Celtics more than their ability to hit the 3-ball in this series. While Jaquez and Martin shot over their heads in Game 2, they did so on wide-open looks. Meanwhile, Boston did a horrific job respecting a host of 40 percent 3-point shooters (Herro, Highsmith, Jovic) and was punished accordingly.

The pressure is on Mazzulla and the Celtics to respond on this front in Game 3 to retake command.

“I think we’ve gotta be more creative,” Tatum said. “The playoffs are about making adjustments game to game, and they did that...They’re supposed to try to mess things a little up, and make it a little bit tougher. So it’s our job to react in real time, as well as make our adjustments going from game to game.”

I love BRobb. He's always willing to call out Joe's questionable decisions.

This is just so bad. Not only were all of our memories right that the majority of the shots were anything but "moderately to heavily contested", but this kind of gameplan just makes no sense to me whatsoever. Sure, in the NBA you at times definitely have to give up something to stop something that is more impactful, but that's generally the case for high-powered offenses like Denver, where you might sag off of Gordon to double Jokic or stay tighter to everyone else.

But against a mediocre Heat offense that has no Butler or Rozier, why in the world are we giving up open looks to their shooters, particularly some of their better shooters? In fact, this just played right into their hands. Their only chance was to try and shoot and hit a lot of threes, and at their core that's what they are - a three point shooting team. So what sense does it make to really pack the paint in this scenario? And it's not like we laid off some of their shooters to stay tighter on their better shooters like Herro or Robinson, as we were essentially giving them wide open looks off of every PnR by dropping so low with our big. And then Robb picks up on the late-game adjustment to bring the extra help out on the high PnR instead of just going small, which again just left wide open hot shooters to hit more threes.

Just make it make sense.

It's time to start holding Brad accountable for this. Any GM can make moves when an owner gives you a blank check. Usually GM's start getting heat when their second coach flames out.

JT will have his prime wasted if the franchise doesn't get competent leadership.

[libermaniac]

The Celtics can’t win a championship with this coach. It’s not going to happen. He doesn’t have a clue how to adjust or change the rotation on the fly ect ect ect. Or anything else. You can’t fire the players although Brad has tried. And this isn’t an over action. I’ve been saying this for ever. He’s over his head and unless Tatum goes Lebron / Jokic on teams we won’t win it. The evidence is right infront of us.

It’s unfortunately much deeper than Mazzulla being out of his depth. The truth is that this is not a team, it’s just a collection of talented players. If you want to see what an actual team looks like, watch Denver.

Seriously?

[angryguy77]

If a title isn't in the cards this year, I hope Miami puts us out. No way this idiot keeps his job after such an embarrassing loss....the. again I'd not be shocked if Brad kept him because he's equally as bad at being GM.

I can't help bit think what this team could do over the next 8-10 years if it had a coach like Nurse or Quinn. It's just not fair we get the talent but fumble the coach. This franchise is starting to look like the packers after 67'-95....a ton of glory years but can't add anything in the modern era.

Meanwhile LA stacks titles and dirt bag feanchises like Miami won more in this millennium than we do.

Heck even the poverty franchise in Milwaukee has a less dusty ring.

I'm sorry for rambling, but as a fan since '91, this sucks.

[DrinkinCelticKool-Aid]

Joe should have never been in charge of this group when other coaches were available to go get, especially when there were missed opportunities to win a ring with this group because of a lack of identity or better yet a backbone.

But at the same time, maybe Tatum should have been more worried about the game tonight, than his "shoe drop". When I see stuff like that, it makes me wonder where our players priorities are.

Come to think of it, I can't remember Bird being distracted by $#i+ like that, then again he wasn't even distracted by a broken orbital bone versus the Pacers. I guess these Celtics are built differently...

[scaryjerry]

Joe looked nervous and like a deer in headlights last night. Similar to Tatum.
Concerning to say the least.
As good as a regular as they had all it did was ramp up the pressure and expectation. Pressure and expectations I don’t think they can handle.

[michigan adam]

Look.  Miami shot over 50% from 3.  Some of that was game plan/lack of D.  Most of it was the team shot lights out.  C's do this fairly often themselves.  The players on the heat are in the league for a reason.  Relax.  It is unlikely to reoccur in this series.  Unfortunate, but one game at a time.

[Roy H.]

Look.  Miami shot over 50% from 3.  Some of that was game plan/lack of D.  Most of it was the team shot lights out.  C's do this fairly often themselves.  The players on the heat are in the league for a reason.  Relax.  It is unlikely to reoccur in this series.  Unfortunate, but one game at a time.

That's what we were told last year as well, though. 

If something unexpected happens (such as their mediocre shooters hitting shots), then the coach needs to make in-game adjustments.

[celticinorlando]

My biggest concern is the lack of adjustments on defense. They let Miami's players see the ball go through the net. Boston was not going to challenge their 3 point shooter because they did not think they would make them. Jaylen Brown even said as much after the game.

Joe does not seems to change anything even when it is obvious. The 3 point defense killed us last year in this same series. Same guys. We all said it will average out and it finally did....vs Denver in the finals.

On offense...Boston did what we all wanted them to do...the played inside...scored there at will.

[Yuckabuck33]

So all the people saying Joe will be a liability in the playoffs were right?

[celticinorlando]

NBA tracking on Miami 3-point attempts in Game 2:

Very tight defense (0-2 feet): 1-1
Tight defense (2-4 feet): 1-5
Open (4-6 feet): 6-14
Wide open (6+ feet): 15-23


No Joe, they were not contested as you said.

[celticinorlando]

Look.  Miami shot over 50% from 3.  Some of that was game plan/lack of D.  Most of it was the team shot lights out.  C's do this fairly often themselves.  The players on the heat are in the league for a reason.  Relax.  It is unlikely to reoccur in this series.  Unfortunate, but one game at a time.

That's what we were told last year as well, though. 

If something unexpected happens (such as their mediocre shooters hitting shots), then the coach needs to make in-game adjustments.

Why did he not make the adjustment in the game and why after last year would he possibly think that letting their guys have wide open threes be a good idea?

“Defensively, obviously, they made a conscious effort to have free reign to shoot more,” Mazzulla said. “I thought most of those were moderately to heavily contested. So, we’re gonna have to make the adjustment on some of those.”

[Roy H.]

So all the people saying Joe will be a liability in the playoffs were right?

I don't want to be right, that's for dang sure.

It just amazes me that people forgot over the course of the season how bad Joe's coaching in last year's playoffs was. 

He is the epitome of the saying "everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth".  He's just incapable of making adjustments in game. In my profession, you'd say he can't think on his feet.  He can't improvise or adjust.

But, let's hope this was a one game blip, because this is the best and most talented team that we are likely to see for years to come.

[Vermont Green]

NBA tracking on Miami 3-point attempts in Game 2:

Very tight defense (0-2 feet): 1-1
Tight defense (2-4 feet): 1-5
Open (4-6 feet): 6-14
Wide open (6+ feet): 15-23


No Joe, they were not contested as you said.

So this tracking is saying that MIA had 37 3PAs that were either open or wide open (and made 21)?  That doesn't sound right.  The defense did not look that bad to me, but I wasn't measuring how close the defender was.

What was the tracking for BOS 3PA?

Edit:
I found the stats (learned to fish).  Boston attempts:

Very tight defense (0-2 feet): 0-0
Tight defense (2-4 feet): 1-6
Open (4-6 feet): 10-17
Wide open (6+ feet): 2-9

Most of BOS 3PA were open or wide open too, although MIA had a lot more wide open shots per this tracking over just open.  We were only 2-9 on our wide open shots (22%).  MIA was 41.3% on wide open 3PA in the regular season.  65% in the game last night.

[Roy H.]

NBA tracking on Miami 3-point attempts in Game 2:

Very tight defense (0-2 feet): 1-1
Tight defense (2-4 feet): 1-5
Open (4-6 feet): 6-14
Wide open (6+ feet): 15-23


No Joe, they were not contested as you said.

So this tracking is saying that MIA had 37 3PAs that were either open or wide open (and made 21)?  That doesn't sound right.  The defense did not look that bad to me, but I wasn't measuring how close the defender was.

What was the tracking for BOS 3PA?

It certainly tracks with what I saw. 

As I said in the game thread, the difference in the game was that they covered our shooters, and we didn't cover theirs.