Suns (27-26) at Celtics (37-15) Game #53 2/3/23

[radiohead]

On to the next. These bad games happen to every good team in this league. I’ve learned to accept the fact that sometimes the team just doesn’t show up. What i did notice is GWill’s -24. He’s been in a rut lately. I also don’t like the fact that he’s been complaining too much. I think the nearing trade deadline is affecting his game. Him not signing that extension makes him a legit trade candidate.

[blink]

ah man I can't believe we lost to these jokers and no Booker.

We need to start beating up on these bad teams and not taking the night off mentally.
It happens over and over again.

[footey]

I’m really concerned about Rob. He is physically not the same. Guys don’t even look for him on alley oops anymore. We need him back 100% or can forget about getting a chip.

[jpotter33]

we just don't play hard enough against bad teams.

that is pretty much all it is.  Look at our losses this year, many of them to bad teams that we just look past.
Really bad habits.

And that's on the coaching staff. Bad habits are needed to be worked out in practice and by coaching. Once we got going with Ime, we didn't really have nights like this. They played hard each and every night, even if sometimes it wasn't enough to win.

Just don't see that with this team. Feels like all of the discipline and accountability that was instilled by Ime and Brad last year has been lost, and we play hard only when we want to play hard.

Unlike last year - which was an amazingly likable team - I find this team just as often to be frustrating as enjoyable, as their offense is just trash that relies on bad shots to go again, and their effort level is a coin flip whether they bring it or not, especially against bad teams.

[SCeltic34]

JB is shooting 33% from three for the year, yet he feels empowered to shoot 3-12 threes tonight, mostly on iso pull up jumpers.

That's a lack of offensive discipline and accountability. That plagued Brad in his final year or so as coach. Joe is making it even worse with his extreme three point philosophy.

We're not winning anything when that's the offense we're throwing out there - i.e. an offense where you have to make low percentage and contested iso threes in order to win.

Reminds me of the latter stages of the Stevens era.

I'm not sure about the mentality of our players at this point.  Clearly we're not accomplished enough to think we can flip a switch, but we play that way.

[angryguy77]

JB is shooting 33% from three for the year, yet he feels empowered to shoot 3-12 threes tonight, mostly on iso pull up jumpers.

That's a lack of offensive discipline and accountability. That plagued Brad in his final year or so as coach. Joe is making it even worse with his extreme three point philosophy.

We're not winning anything when that's the offense we're throwing out there - i.e. an offense where you have to make low percentage and contested iso threes in order to win.

And Brad hires Joe who is just another version of him. All this talent could be wasted

[Goldstar88]

Starting jacking up 3s from the beginning and never stopped tonight. Just stupid shot selection. Lazy

Been a common theme with this team for years.

That’s how Brad believes the modern NBA should be played. Team shot a lot of 3’s when he was the coach, they did last year with Ime and it’s continuing with Joe.

[celticinorlando]

This version tonight of the suns…that’s a bad team. G league dudes, end of the rotation guys that just played harder. So frustrating

[jpotter33]

Has anyone noticed Tatum is getting worse at shooting 3’s instead of better? His bad shooting nights are really bad.

Actually, he has been worse every year shooting 3s, if we are talking about shooting percaentage. If fact, he is among the worse 3 pt shooter in the team.

I mean, he's also taking more than three times as many this year as his rookie year, and for the past four years or so he's been a primary focus of the defense instead of the fourth guy with more open space. He's at 36% for the season, which isn't great but isn't super terrible either.

Better shot selection from three and less of the iso threes would greatly help both JT and JB.

[jpotter33]

Starting jacking up 3s from the beginning and never stopped tonight. Just stupid shot selection. Lazy

Been a common theme with this team for years.

That’s how Brad believes the modern NBA should be played. Team shot a lot of 3’s when he was the coach, they did last year with Ime and it’s continuing with Joe.

You said this a previous game, too, but it's not really true.

Yes, both Brad and Ime prioritized the three point shot, but nothing to the extent of Joe who goes way overboard with it. This year, we have the second most attempts per game at 41.9. Ime last year we were 9th at 37.0 per game, and Brad's last year we were 10th at 36.5 per game.

That's around a 13% increase over Ime and Brad, and it leads to bad habits like tonight where we solely live and die by the three.

https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/three-pointers-attempted-per-game?date=2021-07-21

[radiohead]

I’m really concerned about Rob. He is physically not the same. Guys don’t even look for him on alley oops anymore. We need him back 100% or can forget about getting a chip.

I think Rob has not been his usual self because of how the team plays. I mean most of our offense ends up being a three pointer. There are instances when JT drives and just throws a lob for Rob to finish. But those have been hard to come by because of our offensive sets. Even on D his blocks seem to have gone down, mainly because of Joe’s defensive philisophy. It’s like he’s being underutilized on both ends of the court.

[jpotter33]

https://twitter.com/stoolgreenie/status/1621702957736824832?s=46&t=x_mgW0IaQRzxaF4xlwLKJw

“ Since Marcus Smart got hurt, the Celts have failed to break 100 points in 3 of the 6 games (2-4)”

I do think this is a big part of our recent struggles. Our point guard play has really suffered since he’s been out.

[CelticSooner]

https://twitter.com/stoolgreenie/status/1621702957736824832?s=46&t=x_mgW0IaQRzxaF4xlwLKJw

“ Since Marcus Smart got hurt, the Celts have failed to break 100 points in 3 of the 6 games (2-4)”

I do think this is a big part of our recent struggles. Our point guard play has really suffered since he’s been out.

Too many excuses for this team. Suns have guys out as well.

[Atzar]

I feel like Tatum has a specific type of defender that he struggles against, and the Suns took advantage of that.  Rather than put their best perimeter defender Bridges on him, they gave the job to Ish Wainwright.  Wainwright gives up a lot of inches in that matchup, but he's built like a cinder block and Tatum couldn't move him.  Did a good job of forcing Tatum to his left hand and funneling him into help in the paint. 

It doesn't work every night.  When Tatum is hitting his jumpshots there's only so much the defense can realistically do to take that away without compromising the rest of their scheme.  But Tatum is only hitting 35% of his threes this year and that's a better bet than anything else at this point. 

[SparzWizard]

We need reinforcements. Timelord is great but I can't trust his health. We also need a good PG.