Celtics (1-1) at Pacers (2-0) Game #3 12/27/20

[slamtheking]

Why not drive and go for a fadeaway 2 rather than a fadeaway 3 when you are only down 1? That's what I don't get.

Same issue as the bucks game. It was poor shot selection. Dribble past the guy and go for a 2. It's a better option

Tatum is not very good at dribbling past people. He can do it some times but not all the time / most of the time. He lacks that explosive quickness or trickery of slower more capable ball-handlers.

I don't think CBS should be putting Tatum in those situations at end of quarters / end of games. He needs to run a play. Or get Tatum a touch closer to the basket in the mid-post / low post area where he can better use his size / shot fakes.

for a coach that supposedly uses a motion offense, he doesn't get much motion on his end of game plays.

C's needed to inbound to a better ball handler to feed Tatum in a better spot for him to score.  either that, or give it to Jaylen to create something or drive since he's much better at doing that.  It'd be one thing if there was so little time left that the pass would need to go to Tatum for a quick shot but there was enough time to inbound, set up for quick offense, pass and Tatum to take a much better shot than he ended up taking

[Somebody]

Why not drive and go for a fadeaway 2 rather than a fadeaway 3 when you are only down 1? That's what I don't get.

Same issue as the bucks game. It was poor shot selection. Dribble past the guy and go for a 2. It's a better option

Tatum is not very good at dribbling past people. He can do it some times but not all the time / most of the time. He lacks that explosive quickness or trickery of slower more capable ball-handlers.

I don't think CBS should be putting Tatum in those situations at end of quarters / end of games. He needs to run a play. Or get Tatum a touch closer to the basket in the mid-post / low post area where he can better use his size / shot fakes.

^^^this. We have a wing who can actually dribble past people pretty well and has a mid-post game, but we never use him when we need a bucket in crunch time

[Phantom255x]

The offense is just so predictable. I mean seriously, who here didn't think Tatum would get the last shot on an iso-play. I understand wanting to go to your best player to take the final shot but the defenses literally know this too. At least try to scheme something so that he's open, or that someone else like Brown can get wide open. Or I don't know, drive to the basket and try to initiate contact to draw a foul.

But nah, just come out of the timeout, dribble away the entire clock and take an iso-3 

This is an 0-3 team if Tatum doesn't hit that miracle shot against the Bucks.

[Kuberski33]

https://twitter.com/KeithSmithNBA/status/1343398313324924930?s=20


Brad doesn't sound too happy about that last shot

he should say that it was a BAD shot not a tough shot, A BAD SHOT!!

'Tough' is Basketball PC for 'Bad'. College announcers do it all the time because the NCAA doesn't want any negativity cast on their product.  Brad is about as PC as it gets with coaches though.

[Kuberski33]

Worked all day, DVR'd the game...came home watched the entire thing only to see Tatum freeze like a deer in headlights on that final possession....awful....dribble out the clock like Magic Johnson in the 84 Finals.

I think Tatum took the exact shot he was looking for.


The problem is that with the team down 1 point, the shot he was looking for was a step back three instead of trying to beat his man off the dribble and take it to the rim.

When you can get that shot any time you want it's easy to get comfortable with it. He doesn't attack the rim enough - that and his ball stopping are what prevent him from becoming a top level player despite what the announcers and media try to push.

He's not there yet. Whether he ever will or not is certainly up for debate - problem is the Celtics had to pay him like he's already elite in order to hold onto him.

[RJ87]

https://twitter.com/KeithSmithNBA/status/1343398313324924930?s=20


Brad doesn't sound too happy about that last shot

he should say that it was a BAD shot not a tough shot, A BAD SHOT!!

Why? Who does that benefit? Seriously, how does him publicly chastising his player benefit the player or the team?

[Phantom255x]

At this point, once the game gets to halftime, I'll stop watching and then return for the 4th. Don't need to see this team look like a kindergarten team in the 3rd quarter constantly.

[td450]

https://twitter.com/KeithSmithNBA/status/1343398313324924930?s=20


Brad doesn't sound too happy about that last shot

I watched that play pretty carefully 6-8 times, and I saw nothing that indicated the C's were trying to do anything other than give the ball to Tatum at the top. Smart picked off Tatum's man so he could come out deep and get the ball. No one else did anything. Grant Williams didn't look like he was trying to go elsewhere, and he just ran in and got in position to rebound. No cuts, no action.

[NKY fan]

So listening to Brad in detail about that last play it sounded that Tatum should not have gotten the ball off the entry pass at all.
I wonder if this time Bjorkgen outcoached Brad.
I guess he may have really instructed his players to allow a pass to Tatum 35 feet from the basket because he expected him to not pass and just take this low % shot like against the bucks.
Brad will probably need to work on this and have a long talk with Tatum.. don’t be surprised if Tatum is inbounding the ball next time in this situation

By the way all fans , players and media in Indy are glowing about the knowledge of their new coach

[NKY fan]

Weird thing is Brogdon landed kinda on tatums knee when he was releasing... I wonder if a certain player from a certain purple and gold team would have gotten a 3 FT award from the referees in that same situation

[nickagneta]

https://twitter.com/KeithSmithNBA/status/1343398313324924930?s=20


Brad doesn't sound too happy about that last shot

he should say that it was a BAD shot not a tough shot, A BAD SHOT!!

Why? Who does that benefit? Seriously, how does him publicly chastising his player benefit the player or the team?

It doesn't. Doing so would only make p!ssed off fans feel better....and that's not Stevens job.

[PhoSita]

Doing so would only make p!ssed off fans feel better....and that's not Stevens job.

Oh boy there are a TON of people on Twitter who will be very upset when they learn this.

[gouki88]

I am starting to fall into the fire brad camp.

He makes no changes, holds no one accountable and is not good at development.

Brown and tatum are not on brad and exclusively on themselves. He has developed no one.

I'm not a Brad apologist, but this is silly. You've had players that have come through here and had their best years under Brad. Evan Turner, Jordan Crawford, Isaiah Thomas. There's a lot of things Brad can improve, but developing players or getting more out of them than others coaches have isn't one of those things.

Isaiah Thomas didnt improve under Brad, he was playing very well prior coming here. He got time here, that is all.

Evan Turner and Jordan Crawford? Poor examples cause they are nothing players.

You can't actually be serious. Brad turned IT from a LouWill type into a legitimate MVP candidate.

You're also dismissing guys as poor examples because once they left Stevens they became nothing players. Hilarious. You realise you're making the opposing point by doing that, right?

[Damiano Brancopreto]

Completely Brad Steven's fault. With 7 seconds left all he can do is ball in Tatum's hands and try a 9 meter shot? "They denied the planned play". Ok, so didn't you have a better B plan than the one we saw??

[mobilija]

Weird thing is Brogdon landed kinda on tatums knee when he was releasing... I wonder if a certain player from a certain purple and gold team would have gotten a 3 FT award from the referees in that same situation

Did they come out w 2min ref thing and say it was a missed call?

Edit- looked it up. If I'm understanding it correctly....they're saying it was an incorrect non call on......Tatum! Offensive foul fir sticking his leg out unnaturally