Hawks (0-1) at Celtics (1-0) Round 1 Game 2 4/18/23

[Phantom255x]

2-0 BOSTON!!!!!



2 down, 14 to go

[SparzWizard]

A playoff series does not start until you win on the road...is that what the great Doc Rivers said?

Well, time to start winning road playoff games. Last year the C's did so well on the road. Let's continue that streak.

[SHAQATTACK]

Put Rob III. Back in a bottle seal him up under armed guard .  No sharp knives, no slick shower floors ,  have people taste his food before he eats . 

[Celtics2021]

zero reason for anyone on this team to be tired going through the playoffs. we have depth. use it. no excuse this year with AL and timelord. use the third big guy or even blake at times. keep al and TL fresh.

we still have grant and pritch also.

I'm not real sure why Brad made the effort to add another post player (Muscala) when Joe won't play him.

Brad said in an interview that when getting end of the bench depth guys, he made it clear that they won’t be playing much unless one of the top guys go down. On the other hand, I find it odd that Joe didn’t empty his bench in the end of games 1 and 2 when the result was pretty much settled. Not complaining though.

With regard to not emptying the bench, I think he was waiting for the Hawks to do so.  I thought for sure the backups were coming in when the Hawks called a timeout down 22 with 2 minutes to go, but they surprisingly left everyone in, so Joe did too.

I think also he’s less concerned about minutes at this point because they rested guys the last week of the season, then there was a week off, and then there are two nights off after games 1 and 2.  A couple minutes Saturday and last night really aren’t going to save anyone in terms of energy in June.

[A Future of Stevens]

I love the way White cuts off ball. It is devastating to a team like the hawks. Seems like they never had an answer with his slippery off ball movement into the lane.

[Vermont Green]

A couple of really good home court wins.  Didn't like giving up the big lead in game 1 but overall, a lot to like.

I am a little surprised by the rotations.  Horford for example has 70 min in two games.  Seems like a lot, maybe more than necessary.  But he is also our top +/- guy right now at +36 over two games (so -10 I believe when he is not playing).  We have been much better when he is out there.  I guess that is what Joe is seeing and why he is playing him as much as possible.

RWill has looked good but he is -8 overall.  He has been just the opposite of Horford.  The team is losing when he is on the floor.  It doesn't match my eye test though.  He appears to me to be playing well.  +/- or On/Off stats are usually pretty reflective but not always.  This may just be one of those cases where the numbers are funky.

I think Smart and White have both been great.  Both are +15 over the two games.  White scoring more and more efficiently, Smart doing Marcus Smart things.  Smart has 6 steals, White has 5 blocks.  Smart a better DRTG by 4.5 points and a better NRTG by 2.6 pts.  But Brogdon is the one wining the combo guard +/- and NRTG race.  Brogdon is +25 over 2 games with fewer minutes, while shooting 29% overall and only 1 for 7 from 3 (14%).  Brogdon's NRTG is 21.7, way better than Smart or White.  I can't explain that one.

And the final thought is regarding Jaylen Brown.  He has not looked great to me, it seems to me his hand is bothering him some.  He has been scoring efficiently, the team is preforming well when he is on the court (+16) but he has 10 turnovers (Brogdon for example has 1 turnover).  Brown needs to figure out a way to take care of the ball or adjust his game so that he is not in situations that lead to turnovers as much.

[Roy H.]

zero reason for anyone on this team to be tired going through the playoffs. we have depth. use it. no excuse this year with AL and timelord. use the third big guy or even blake at times. keep al and TL fresh.

we still have grant and pritch also.

I'm not real sure why Brad made the effort to add another post player (Muscala) when Joe won't play him.

Brad said in an interview that when getting end of the bench depth guys, he made it clear that they won’t be playing much unless one of the top guys go down. On the other hand, I find it odd that Joe didn’t empty his bench in the end of games 1 and 2 when the result was pretty much settled. Not complaining though.

With regard to not emptying the bench, I think he was waiting for the Hawks to do so.  I thought for sure the backups were coming in when the Hawks called a timeout down 22 with 2 minutes to go, but they surprisingly left everyone in, so Joe did too.

I think also he’s less concerned about minutes at this point because they rested guys the last week of the season, then there was a week off, and then there are two nights off after games 1 and 2.  A couple minutes Saturday and last night really aren’t going to save anyone in terms of energy in June.

Every minute our guys are on the floor, there's potential for injury.  If he's keeping his starters in because he's worried about what the other coach is doing in a 20 point game with two minutes left, Joe is focused on the wrong things.

[Phantom255x]

So a bit of a fun story, at the game last night we actually sat next to three Hawks fans who were all good friends. And they were super awesome people, even made social media friends with them lol. The funny part though was, even they were like "yeah we know we're getting swept but we're just here to have a good time" haha 

They were originally in Boston just for the Boston Marathon and to spend 1-2 days going around the area, but conveniently the Hawks got the 7 seed so they decided to get tickets and visit TD Garden for the first time as well.

I just thought it was funny that even Hawks fans seem to think "yeah we got no chance". What surprised me a bit too is that 2 of them said they hope Trae Young gets traded this offseason. They don't see him as an alpha but they also don't see how they can land another star alongside him without gutting the team around him anyway. They do think they can get a haul for him in a trade

[footey]

So a bit of a fun story, at the game last night we actually sat next to three Hawks fans who were all good friends. And they were super awesome people, even made social media friends with them lol. The funny part though was, even they were like "yeah we know we're getting swept but we're just here to have a good time" haha 

They were originally in Boston just for the Boston Marathon and to spend 1-2 days going around the area, but conveniently the Hawks got the 7 seed so they decided to get tickets and visit TD Garden for the first time as well.

I just thought it was funny that even Hawks fans seem to think "yeah we got no chance". What surprised me a bit too is that 2 of them said they hope Trae Young gets traded this offseason. They don't see him as an alpha but they also don't see how they can land another star alongside him without gutting the team around him anyway. They do think they can get a haul for him in a trade

I think they trade Trae in off-season. I just don't think he has much trade value, and few teams that could make it work.  Simmons talked about this in last night's podcast.

[Vermont Green]

zero reason for anyone on this team to be tired going through the playoffs. we have depth. use it. no excuse this year with AL and timelord. use the third big guy or even blake at times. keep al and TL fresh.

we still have grant and pritch also.

I'm not real sure why Brad made the effort to add another post player (Muscala) when Joe won't play him.

Brad said in an interview that when getting end of the bench depth guys, he made it clear that they won’t be playing much unless one of the top guys go down. On the other hand, I find it odd that Joe didn’t empty his bench in the end of games 1 and 2 when the result was pretty much settled. Not complaining though.

With regard to not emptying the bench, I think he was waiting for the Hawks to do so.  I thought for sure the backups were coming in when the Hawks called a timeout down 22 with 2 minutes to go, but they surprisingly left everyone in, so Joe did too.

I think also he’s less concerned about minutes at this point because they rested guys the last week of the season, then there was a week off, and then there are two nights off after games 1 and 2.  A couple minutes Saturday and last night really aren’t going to save anyone in terms of energy in June.

Every minute our guys are on the floor, there's potential for injury.  If he's keeping his starters in because he's worried about what the other coach is doing in a 20 point game with two minutes left, Joe is focused on the wrong things.

I am not that worried about the last 2 or 3 minutes of decided games in terms of wear and tear.  They are mostly just walking the ball up the court and letting the shot clock tick down.  Sure, someone could get injured but I don't see the need to take players out to protect them.  You can get them out so the crowd can acknowledge them, that is always nice.  Or to give some of the bench an opportunity to play, get in the stat book.  But you can only protect the players so much.

I don't have any issue with the end of game substitutions that they have done so far.  They could have done things a little differently but I don't see it as making any difference.

[Phantom255x]

So I get life happens, and this is still a very active forum

But I'm a bit surprised. 25 pages Game 1, and 25 Game 2 for the GDTs. Feels very low. Are people just not fond of this series lol?