Final 20 min of New Orleans game

[slamtheking]

When someone posted that Brad did not call a Timeout as the lead dwindled from 24 to 5 I found it difficult to believe but it appears to be the case from the play by play posted above.

have to agree with those that call out Brad for his usage (or lack thereof) of timeouts on this one.  took NO barely over a quarter to erase a 24 point deficit and no timeout until they got it down to 5.  I can't recall any other coach since I've been following the NBA for over 40 years that would not have called a TO to stop the bleeding.   Most would have called a TO when the lead dropped under 20 and definitely would have called one when it dropped under 15.

Brad's philosophy of letting the players figure it out has not worked out during his time here.  I'm not big on the "blame Brad" reasoning for a lot of what goes wrong but I'm coming around on him being a bigger part of the issue than I've previously considered.

[W8ting2McHale]

When someone posted that Brad did not call a Timeout as the lead dwindled from 24 to 5 I found it difficult to believe but it appears to be the case from the play by play posted above.

I understand this fits the narrative that Brad hoards timeouts (especially in the game threads) but it’s NOT true, at least in this case.

I only got to watch part of the 2nd half. Celtics up 22 when I turned the game on. They went up 24, then back to 22. It looked like an easy win, and then the wheels came off.

The Pelicans steadily chipped away, but when the lead was cut to 16, Brad DID call a timeout. I distinctly remember thinking “That was a little sooner than usual.” Was it still not soon enough? Maybe. But he did in fact call one. The score was 84-68 and when they showed the Celtics huddle it was pointed out that Kemba was masked up and not in the huddle. It was speculated that he was done for the game. It turned out not to be the case as Kemba was forced to return when the lead was down to 10 or so.

Look at the game logs above. I didn’t need to, but I double checked. Celtics timeout, up 16.

As for Kemba smiling at the end. I don’t think it was a happy smile. It looked like a smile of disbelief. He took at seat and thought the game was over with Celtics up 22. I guess the rest of the team felt the same and stopped playing. When they were forced into stepping on the gas again, they couldn’t do it. Tatum repeatedly dribbling into double teams and other iso ball certainly didn’t help.

They missed a lot of shots that looked rushed to me. It looked like they went from cruising, to playing not to loose, into panic mode. Kemba was shaking his head as much as smiling. He couldn’t believe what was happening anymore than I could.

But Brad did call a timeout, don’t let the agenda fool you.

[tonydelk]

Too much one on one crap.  It is boring, and doesn't work. There are rare moments where it is necessary.  This team in 4th quarters has become a total iso related offense.  It really is a drag, and is a major source of our poor rating at end of games.

100% agree.  They just forget what they did for the first two quarters that went well and decide to be the hero.  Just look at the Jazz.  This is the type of office the C's are supposed to be running but Brown, Tatum and Kemba get into that Iso ball in the 2nd half and it just doesn't work.  They can easily get their shots in the flow of the offense if they just stayed patient. 

[86MaxwellSmart]

Simple NBA fact: When you relax with a huge lead....it's almost impossible to get it going again.
Remedy: Don't relax.

[nickagneta]

I get that in today's three point happy NBA that 20 something point leads can evaporate quickly. But that's not what happened against the Pellies. New Orleans simply got tough, played energetic defense and pounded the ball inside. Slowly but surely from the 2 minutes left in the 3rd quarter mark until he end of the game, the Pels just out muscled, out hustled and outplayed the Celtics, roughing them up along the way.

I can live with a team getting super hot in their shooting and closing a 20 something point lead quickly. But that didn't happen. The Celtics stopped giving any effort and played ridiculously soft. Like melted butter soft.

And THAT, is unacceptable!!!!

[ozgod]

I decided to take the trouble to look at that last 20 mins, or basically with 6:29 to go in the 3rd, when the score was 79-55 and we had a 24 point lead, up to the end of regulation in the 4th. You can see how NO came back - they gashed us in the paint. Zion was actually on the bench from the 5:59 to the 1:03 mark of the 4rd but he still scored 6 points in the paint, the first of which was a putback after he got his own offensive rebound. Zion scored 16 points in the paint and 3 at the FT line when he had only scored 5 points prior to that. Same with Ingram, he scored 8 points of his 12 points in the paint and converted an and one as well as his 3.

Most of us who watched the game saw all this, we were commenting about it, but here are the stats to back up the fact that we either stopped playing defense, or NO made an adjustment and we didn't.

[bopna]

Simple NBA fact: When you relax with a huge lead....it's almost impossible to get it going again.
Remedy: Don't relax.

Lets not forget they also let Atlanta back from a large lead down to 9 I believe with 4 minutes to go but because its Atlanta...they survived.

Brad just waits for 12 to 15-0 scoring bursts by opponents before calling for timeouts...its just his habit. Next thing you know there is no way of responding and its really too late. Likes also to leave Tatum on his own with 4 bench scorers while JB and Kemba rests but I think it can be done that 2 of three should always be on the court, its just a matter of timing your substitutions.

[ozgod]

Simple NBA fact: When you relax with a huge lead....it's almost impossible to get it going again.
Remedy: Don't relax.

Lets not forget they also let Atlanta back from a large lead down to 9 I believe with 4 minutes to go but because its Atlanta...they survived.

Brad just waits for 12 to 15-0 scoring bursts by opponents before calling for timeouts...its just his habit. Next thing you know there is no way of responding and its really too late. Likes also to leave Tatum on his own with 4 bench scorers while JB and Kemba rests but I think it can be done that 2 of three should always be on the court, its just a matter of timing your substitutions.

This was very noticeable at the start of the 4th against NO, when our lineup was J.Tatum P.Pritchard T.Thompson A.Nesmith D.Theis. Which obviously resulted in a lot of Tatum iso ball.

[tstorey_97]

They were awful....

As there are two sides to any coin? For a good part of an NBA game the Boston Celtics looked like they were going to run the Pelicans right out of their own gym.

[iadera]

...have been all on Brad again. I'm pretty done with him.