Kemba 5 pts in 52 minutes

[Csfan1984]

Felt from the beginning who ever was better between Lowry and Walker would determine the series. Walker needs to out play Lowry game 7.

[wiley]

playing better or worse is a real thing.  But arbitrary offensive numbers don't matter.

I'd rather Walker have 5 points, zero turnovers and great defense than 23 points on poor efficiency shooting with lots of turnovers from trying to do too much.  They keyed in on Walker so then Smart and Brown went off...great...that means Walker is a great decoy...which for a team like
C's with multiple weapons is what you want.

So forget the numbers and look at wins and losses and total impact.  The world has been calling on Siakam to do more because he's an all star.  Well, they just won a thrilling OT game with him doing close to nothing...in fact hurting his team more than helping for most of the game...

Someone posted that if the foul on walker at end of regulation had been called, he'd walk off as the hero.  And that is correct and is it should be...and should have been...

[johnnygreen]

playing better or worse is a real thing.  But arbitrary offensive numbers don't matter.

I'd rather Walker have 5 points, zero turnovers and great defense than 23 points on poor efficiency shooting with lots of turnovers from trying to do too much.  They keyed in on Walker so then Smart and Brown went off...great...that means Walker is a great decoy...which for a team like
C's with multiple weapons is what you want.

So forget the numbers and look at wins and losses and total impact.  The world has been calling on Siakam to do more because he's an all star.  Well, they just won a thrilling OT game with him doing close to nothing...in fact hurting his team more than helping for most of the game...

Someone posted that if the foul on walker at end of regulation had been called, he'd walk off as the hero.  And that is correct and is it should be...and should have been...

Kemba has had two bad games in this series (games 4 and 6), and the Celtics lost both. Your star players need to impose their will on each game. Star players don't get max contracts, so they can be decoys for their respective teammates.

I remember Kyrie tried to facilitate during games on the Celtics. However, come crunch time, nobody could defend the guy and prevent him from scoring. Kyrie has the ability to flip the switch at will. I don't think Kemba has that same switch. I know he tried last night towards the end of the game, but it was too late for himself to get going. I know when I look at the box score, I am amazed half the time, when I see Kemba's stat line, because it never seems like he shot the ball as many times as the box score indicates.

[BASS_THUMPER]

he comin back!!



*sippin*

[wiley]

playing better or worse is a real thing.  But arbitrary offensive numbers don't matter.

I'd rather Walker have 5 points, zero turnovers and great defense than 23 points on poor efficiency shooting with lots of turnovers from trying to do too much.  They keyed in on Walker so then Smart and Brown went off...great...that means Walker is a great decoy...which for a team like
C's with multiple weapons is what you want.

So forget the numbers and look at wins and losses and total impact.  The world has been calling on Siakam to do more because he's an all star.  Well, they just won a thrilling OT game with him doing close to nothing...in fact hurting his team more than helping for most of the game...

Someone posted that if the foul on walker at end of regulation had been called, he'd walk off as the hero.  And that is correct and is it should be...and should have been...

Kemba has had two bad games in this series (games 4 and 6), and the Celtics lost both. Your star players need to impose their will on each game. Star players don't get max contracts, so they can be decoys for their respective teammates.

I remember Kyrie tried to facilitate during games on the Celtics. However, come crunch time, nobody could defend the guy and prevent him from scoring. Kyrie has the ability to flip the switch at will. I don't think Kemba has that same switch. I know he tried last night towards the end of the game, but it was too late for himself to get going. I know when I look at the box score, I am amazed half the time, when I see Kemba's stat line, because it never seems like he shot the ball as many times as the box score indicates.

Kemba has been a big clutch performer his whole career....to me he doesn't need to prove anything..I only care about the team and wins.  Individual stuff I don't care except as a side story.

And regarding Kyrie he killed the C's against the Bucks last year by selfishly forcing non stop after getting frustrated at some point, to the point it looked like he'd given up.   Thank God that won't happen with Kemba. 

I don't think with a career, season and post season that Kemba has had so far, we get to suddenly say if he doesn't do X in the next game then he's not a big game player.  It takes(should take) more than one or two games of struggling or post-season failure for an all-star to get labeled.  Lowry wore the label for years but he didn't earn it after one bad post season.  If Kemba is terrible in the next game then it's fine to criticize a couple bad games, but no label him as this or that imo.

His effort was great in the last game...just didn't score...should have on foul shots at end.  Just my two cents on what players deserve from fans and don't deserve.  To me Kemba has earned trust and the right to fail in the short term.  He's done it with effort. performance and attitude all season long.

[Ogaju]

hard to score when you get no foul calls at all

And you're the littlest guy on the court getting knocked around for 53 minutes and you're an All-Star.

How does the Cs all-star point guard  not get a foul shot all game plus two overtimes? Do the refs get together before the game and have a meeting? Yeah, they actually do. Why do they need a meeting?

[celts55]

hard to score when you get no foul calls at all

And you're the littlest guy on the court getting knocked around for 53 minutes and you're an All-Star.

How does the Cs all-star point guard  not get a foul shot all game plus two overtimes? Do the refs get together before the game and have a meeting? Yeah, they actually do. Why do they need a meeting?

Well, it would help if he took more than 11 shots. Granted, they blew the call on the drive at the end of regulation, but he really wasn’t very aggressive besides that.

Kemba needs to come to play and be aggressive. It’s that simple. I don’t care about box and one. Celtics keyed on Lowery, and he still killed them. That’s what great players do.

[droopdog7]

What are the expectations for kemba if the raptors continue to play a box and 1 on him again?  I'm not sure that's really on kemba.  Hard to get into any kind of rhythm even when they get out of that defense.

[Tr1boy]

What are the expectations for kemba if the raptors continue to play a box and 1 on him again?  I'm not sure that's really on kemba.  Hard to get into any kind of rhythm even when they get out of that defense.

Then you make someone else bring up the ball

Have Kemba run around screens.   Kemba just has to work harder. He has to have his best game tonight

On defense, Smart and Brown need to cover Lowry and Van Vleet.   If they try to PNR /switch.... just double team Lowry or Van Vleet and make them give up the ball

I rather have Siakam or OG try to score on their own/facilitate

Celtics must go back to how defended in game 5.   They put a lot of pressure and prevented matchup issues by being aggressive. 

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

What are the expectations for kemba if the raptors continue to play a box and 1 on him again?  I'm not sure that's really on kemba.  Hard to get into any kind of rhythm even when they get out of that defense.

Then you make someone else bring up the ball

Have Kemba run around screens.   Kemba just has to work harder. He has to have his best game tonight

On defense, Smart and Brown need to cover Lowry and Van Vleet.   If they try to PNR /switch.... just double team Lowry or Van Vleet and make them give up the ball

I rather have Siakam or OG try to score on their own/facilitate

Celtics must go back to how defended in game 5.   They put a lot of pressure and prevented matchup issues by being aggressive.

Yeah, I don't know why they didn't just have Smart bring up the ball and try to get Kemba open off screens. I don't think they're going to double him when he doesn't have the ball.

[droopdog7]

What are the expectations for kemba if the raptors continue to play a box and 1 on him again?  I'm not sure that's really on kemba.  Hard to get into any kind of rhythm even when they get out of that defense.

Then you make someone else bring up the ball

Have Kemba run around screens.   Kemba just has to work harder. He has to have his best game tonight

On defense, Smart and Brown need to cover Lowry and Van Vleet.   If they try to PNR /switch.... just double team Lowry or Van Vleet and make them give up the ball

I rather have Siakam or OG try to score on their own/facilitate

Celtics must go back to how defended in game 5.   They put a lot of pressure and prevented matchup issues by being aggressive.

Yeah, I don't know why they didn't just have Smart bring up the ball and try to get Kemba open off screens. I don't think they're going to double him when he doesn't have the ball.

Huh?  A box and 1 doesn't care who brings up the ball.  And no amount of running off screens or working harder will make any difference for the guy being guarded that way. 

[RodyTur10]

What are the expectations for kemba if the raptors continue to play a box and 1 on him again?  I'm not sure that's really on kemba.  Hard to get into any kind of rhythm even when they get out of that defense.

Then you make someone else bring up the ball

Have Kemba run around screens.   Kemba just has to work harder. He has to have his best game tonight

On defense, Smart and Brown need to cover Lowry and Van Vleet.   If they try to PNR /switch.... just double team Lowry or Van Vleet and make them give up the ball

I rather have Siakam or OG try to score on their own/facilitate

Celtics must go back to how defended in game 5.   They put a lot of pressure and prevented matchup issues by being aggressive.

Yeah, I don't know why they didn't just have Smart bring up the ball and try to get Kemba open off screens. I don't think they're going to double him when he doesn't have the ball.

Huh?  A box and 1 doesn't care who brings up the ball.  And no amount of running off screens or working harder will make any difference for the guy being guarded that way.

By this post I looked up what a "Box-and-1"-defense actually is and now I understand why Smart and Brown had such good starts that game. That defensive system gives a lot of opportunities to secondary guys on the wing.

The "Box-and-1" kept Walker in check, but it let the Celtics as a team go off. We should have had a more comfortable lead at halftime.

[makaveli]

What are the expectations for kemba if the raptors continue to play a box and 1 on him again?  I'm not sure that's really on kemba.  Hard to get into any kind of rhythm even when they get out of that defense.

Then you make someone else bring up the ball

Have Kemba run around screens.   Kemba just has to work harder. He has to have his best game tonight

On defense, Smart and Brown need to cover Lowry and Van Vleet.   If they try to PNR /switch.... just double team Lowry or Van Vleet and make them give up the ball

I rather have Siakam or OG try to score on their own/facilitate

Celtics must go back to how defended in game 5.   They put a lot of pressure and prevented matchup issues by being aggressive.

Yeah, I don't know why they didn't just have Smart bring up the ball and try to get Kemba open off screens. I don't think they're going to double him when he doesn't have the ball.

Huh?  A box and 1 doesn't care who brings up the ball.  And no amount of running off screens or working harder will make any difference for the guy being guarded that way.

so teams should have just played box and 1 on jordan, kobe, lebron etc. and would be no way for them to carry their teams?

[KGs Knee]

What are the expectations for kemba if the raptors continue to play a box and 1 on him again?  I'm not sure that's really on kemba.  Hard to get into any kind of rhythm even when they get out of that defense.

Then you make someone else bring up the ball

Have Kemba run around screens.   Kemba just has to work harder. He has to have his best game tonight

On defense, Smart and Brown need to cover Lowry and Van Vleet.   If they try to PNR /switch.... just double team Lowry or Van Vleet and make them give up the ball

I rather have Siakam or OG try to score on their own/facilitate

Celtics must go back to how defended in game 5.   They put a lot of pressure and prevented matchup issues by being aggressive.

Yeah, I don't know why they didn't just have Smart bring up the ball and try to get Kemba open off screens. I don't think they're going to double him when he doesn't have the ball.

Huh?  A box and 1 doesn't care who brings up the ball.  And no amount of running off screens or working harder will make any difference for the guy being guarded that way.

so teams should have just played box and 1 on jordan, kobe, lebron etc. and would be no way for them to carry their teams?

Well, teams weren't allowed to play zone for the majority of NBA history, including all of Jordan's career and part of Kobe's.

I'm totally on board with going back to forcing teams to play man-to-man defense.  I hate zone defense, it's amateur.  It's best left to the collegiate and children's levels.

[ozgod]

Van Gundy made a good point about getting Kemba his buckets in transition when they are in man to man. You could see when the zone closes off a lot of the shots that kemba can get from the perimeter in pick and rolls and he has a guy shadowing him as well, its almost like a permanent trap. But it leaves opportunities open at the seams of the zone, that's where we need people to hit those shots. Kemba needs to do a better job trying to find those open guys and do a better job feinting the defense away from them... End of day if a shot opportunity is created because someone's being trapped and we take advantage of it then it's ultimately ok.