Celtics Regular Season News

[tenn_smoothie]

We blow out a couple of bad teams and we are now looking at 70+ wins ?

I think this team is better. Holiday replacing Marcus and his bad habits and Porzingis providing a component that this group has not had are significant improvements. Even Mazzulla looks a little better, though I still don't believe in the guy and his offensive philosophy of winning by jacking the most 3's.  Let's hope the bench guys develop and that Brad adds a quality post player at some point. We will need that come playoff time.

[tazzmaniac]

Kristaps Porzingis today at practice: “It might look like it’s already really good because we’re just beating these teams easy, but it’s gonna get much, much better.”

Yowza!!  Things could get really ugly for the competition.   
 

I hope they don't get too ugly. I always go back to the 2007 Patriots, who thrashed a lot of teams on their way to a perfect regular season ... and then lost the Super Bowl. I'd rather get some losses (and resulting growth) out of the way before the playoffs roll around.

Yup. The Miami Heat are like the New York Giants of football. Their kryptonite. I'll be content with 60-70 win column. Take some L's here and there to get them together. I just want them to sweep the Lakers this season.

I get this logic to some extent, but the fact that the NBA isn’t single-game elimination in the playoffs makes this situation very different. The 2007 Pats don’t lose to the Giants if it’s a best of 7 series.

You're probably right, but I think the point still holds true: I don't want the Celtics to be so successful in the regular season that it goes to their heads and they subsequently lose focus in the playoffs.

I think the bigger concern might be that they don't really get enough close-game reps because they're blowing everybody out. Remember when they went on that huge second-half run in 2022? They were destroying teams but it was hiding the fact that they weren't actually a good halfcourt offensive team and needed create TOs (and make threes) to make up the difference. When they ran into really disciplined teams that didn't give them easy points or their 3 ball was cold, they didn't know what to do.

I think they're an older and more offensively diverse team now so it shouldn't be an issue, but I would still like to see more close game possessions to inspire confidence going into the playoffs. What is their decision-making like when they are in a must-score situation and the 3 isn't falling? Can Tatum post-up consistently? Will Jaylen reduce his wild drives? Will Brown or Tatum really give up the ball if that's what is called for? How will Porzingis react when he's getting pushed around 24/7 by physical postseason play?

There will be plenty of that to come in a long season I would imagine...we will struggle to remember this time when we were blowing teams (well the last two teams anyway) out when we lose some close ones and people are calling for Mazz to be fired 

We beat the Knicks by 4, Miami by 7...there will be plenty of tests to come and I agree they will be needed. And we're only one injury away from people thinking us world beaters to beaten up. The first losing streak and the usual doubts and insecurities from the fanbase (well earned to be sure, based on past history) will come out. The media love them now but when that happens it will get stuck in to the team as well. That's when we will see what this team is made of.

Ye it's a trueism but wins are the best preventative medicine you can get. I'm sure there's going to be some bad games, because that's the nature of a long season. We started out last year looking unsustainably-good as well, which we all remember.

Having a proper scoring big has certainly been a gamechanger for now, though. We've not really had that in the Jays-era.

The encouraging part to me is that although we've started unsustainably hot, we that was mostly from the blowouts. We managed to beat two playoff teams while shooting significantly worse from 3 than our opponents (including shooting around 30% in the Knicks game), so I'm less worried about how we'll do when the shooting inevitably cools off

What makes the start unsustainably hot?  The offense is better because the players are better.  It is likely this team will be playing even better 20 games into the season.  This isn't a young team or a team playing over its heads.  Given the strong defense, they can still win on occasional off nights shooting.  Last season the team won 57 games so I'd say this season should be at least 62 wins. 

The 2015/16 Warriors had a 50-point blowout in their 4th game. They won their 1st 24 games before going on to 73 wins.

It’s unsustainably hot because to keep up the pace we would score about 5% more points per 100 possessions than any team in history, which would be beyond shocking.  I could even believe this team will set a record, but it’s unlikely to be by that large of a margin.

That's just statistical noise from a big blowout where the bench miraculously scored 46 points in the 4th quarter.  If the bench had scored 26 instead of 46, the team scoring avg would be 5 points lower but it wouldn't mean anything in regard to sustainability. 

[Goldstar88]

Celtics are now the only undefeated team in the NBA.

[radiohead]

https://twitter.com/c_ssndraa/status/1720471736368386437

They’ve really been training together I guess.

[cman88]

We blow out a couple of bad teams and we are now looking at 70+ wins ?

I think this team is better. Holiday replacing Marcus and his bad habits and Porzingis providing a component that this group has not had are significant improvements. Even Mazzulla looks a little better, though I still don't believe in the guy and his offensive philosophy of winning by jacking the most 3's.  Let's hope the bench guys develop and that Brad adds a quality post player at some point. We will need that come playoff time.

the eye test tells me that while we still are shooting alot of 3's Tatum/brown are going into the post/paint more.

I think this team has more potential to win in different ways. the spacing on the outside with our top 5-6 means teams cant double tatum/brown. and they are feasting in the paint with alot more space.

biggest difference is just more talent, and White seems to have taken another jump. My only concern is the bench. Pritchard/hauser not inspiring much confidence.

[Phantom255x]

We blow out a couple of bad teams and we are now looking at 70+ wins ?

I think this team is better. Holiday replacing Marcus and his bad habits and Porzingis providing a component that this group has not had are significant improvements. Even Mazzulla looks a little better, though I still don't believe in the guy and his offensive philosophy of winning by jacking the most 3's.  Let's hope the bench guys develop and that Brad adds a quality post player at some point. We will need that come playoff time.

70+ Wins? Sir we are looking at 82-0, then a 16-0 run right after that! 

For me, it's really all about health. Frankly, seeding doesn't even matter to me as much either (as long as we actually clinch a playoff spot lol). But I mean, while we've had some big wins at home in the postseason (2022 Game 7 vs. MIL, 2023 Game 7 vs. PHI), we've also had some bad losses and over the last two postseasons we are a combined 10-12 at home (oof). If it comes down to seeding or prioritizing rest/health, I'd 1000% do the latter

[Redz]

We blow out a couple of bad teams and we are now looking at 70+ wins ?

I think this team is better. Holiday replacing Marcus and his bad habits and Porzingis providing a component that this group has not had are significant improvements. Even Mazzulla looks a little better, though I still don't believe in the guy and his offensive philosophy of winning by jacking the most 3's.  Let's hope the bench guys develop and that Brad adds a quality post player at some point. We will need that come playoff time.

the eye test tells me that while we still are shooting alot of 3's Tatum/brown are going into the post/paint more.

I think this team has more potential to win in different ways. the spacing on the outside with our top 5-6 means teams cant double tatum/brown. and they are feasting in the paint with alot more space.

biggest difference is just more talent, and White seems to have taken another jump. My only concern is the bench. Pritchard/hauser not inspiring much confidence.

I have more confidence in Hauser settling into his role than Pritchard.  Hauser is just being asked to pop off screens and take 3’s and hustle on D.  He is a shooter and he will find his stroke. Pritchard seems like he needs more minutes to settle into his role on a nightly basis, but that’s not going to happen unless someone goes down.  He shows flashes but it’s not pretty when he’s overwhelmed out there.

[Goldstar88]

Bobby Manning: Good sign: Neemias Queta (foot, out for the 10th straight game) got in some light shooting and ran through defensive drills this morning – via Twitter RealBobManning

[Surferdad]

Bobby Manning: Good sign: Neemias Queta (foot, out for the 10th straight game) got in some light shooting and ran through defensive drills this morning – via Twitter RealBobManning

Oh good. Curious to see Q surrounded by all-stars.

[ozgod]

After 11 games, here's how our most-used lineups are doing.

I filtered out any lineup that was on the floor for less than 3 minutes. It is sorted by +/-.

The lineups with a red mark mean there were at least 2 of our Top Six playing with 3 bench guys, and the green mark means there were at least 3 of our Top Six playing with 2 bench guys.

Obviously with 6 All-Star caliber players we're not going to be a team that does first-unit, second-unit hockey subs, Joe's strategy is to always have a couple of the Top Six in with the bench, so it's interesting to see some of our "bench lineups" (e.g. bench players with a couple of starters) doing pretty well. The Al-White-PP-Hauser-Tatum lineup anchored by JT has a 6.3 +/- in 3 games playing 4.5 min a game. The Jrue-PP-Hauser-Kornet-Tatum lineup has played together for 5.8mins in 2 games and has a +/- of 7.



This data won't be really meaningful until we get a decent sample size of maybe 20+ games where we can see the most used lineups per game, so maybe end of December? But so far the bench hasn't embarrassed itself, because we've never had a situation where we have an all-bench lineup playing meaningful minutes - they are there to support the big guns they are on the court with and to help them be the best versions of themselves, and to hit open shots, rebound and hustle.

I included my query link below if anyone wants to change my filters:

https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/traditional?CF=MIN*GE*3&TeamID=1610612738&dir=D&slug=traditional&sort=PLUS_MINUS

[Goldstar88]

Tatum on Horford: “Someone that really took me under his wing…periodically and randomly throughout my first year would ask me how I’m doing, how I’m adjusting.” “Never late. Always on time … getting work in in the gym, taking care of his body.” – via Twitter RealBobManning

Jayson Tatum on Al Horford: “As I’ve gotten older, our relationship has grown. It’s based off respect and the respect that I have for him, and likewise. We know we need each other.” Says he sits next to Horford on the plane and calls him his “favorite teammate.”  – via Twitter SouichiTerada

[Roy H.]

Tatum on Horford: “Someone that really took me under his wing…periodically and randomly throughout my first year would ask me how I’m doing, how I’m adjusting.” “Never late. Always on time … getting work in in the gym, taking care of his body.” – via Twitter RealBobManning

Jayson Tatum on Al Horford: “As I’ve gotten older, our relationship has grown. It’s based off respect and the respect that I have for him, and likewise. We know we need each other.” Says he sits next to Horford on the plane and calls him his “favorite teammate.”  – via Twitter SouichiTerada

I think it's weird that Tatum publicly names his favorite teammates.  Last year, he named his favorite coach, and it was Ime rather than Joe.

Not a big deal, just something I can't relate to in my workplace, haha. 

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

 

[Kernewek]

Tatum on Horford: “Someone that really took me under his wing…periodically and randomly throughout my first year would ask me how I’m doing, how I’m adjusting.” “Never late. Always on time … getting work in in the gym, taking care of his body.” – via Twitter RealBobManning

Jayson Tatum on Al Horford: “As I’ve gotten older, our relationship has grown. It’s based off respect and the respect that I have for him, and likewise. We know we need each other.” Says he sits next to Horford on the plane and calls him his “favorite teammate.”  – via Twitter SouichiTerada

I think it's weird that Tatum publicly names his favorite teammates.  Last year, he named his favorite coach, and it was Ime rather than Joe.

Not a big deal, just something I can't relate to in my workplace, haha.

Really depends on the context of the question, right? I've had to sift through a lot of spoken athletic content in my life, though, and I'd say that guys in their 20's are more likely to say that now than earlier in the league's history.

It's a weird conundrum - we have more canned answers than ever, but we also have more candid answers about things that don't really matter (and more insights into players' private lives with the rise of social media).

[ChillyWilly]

Tatum on Horford: “Someone that really took me under his wing…periodically and randomly throughout my first year would ask me how I’m doing, how I’m adjusting.” “Never late. Always on time … getting work in in the gym, taking care of his body.” – via Twitter RealBobManning

Jayson Tatum on Al Horford: “As I’ve gotten older, our relationship has grown. It’s based off respect and the respect that I have for him, and likewise. We know we need each other.” Says he sits next to Horford on the plane and calls him his “favorite teammate.”  – via Twitter SouichiTerada

I think it's weird that Tatum publicly names his favorite teammates.  Last year, he named his favorite coach, and it was Ime rather than Joe.

Not a big deal, just something I can't relate to in my workplace, haha.

I'm not sure how many people you work with directly but my team is about 15 deep not counting leadership. I dont need any of my co-workers to tell me who they like and dont like I already know I work there too. I get along and can work positively with everyone on my team but I have a couple people I excel with because I dont need to shell things.