can it be-celts missing kelly on defense

[rollie mass]

we all think first of floor spacing and his outside shot -is that the thing i have felt was missing the last couple games

[LGC88]

Just poor defense execution. They almost never box out for rebound. No energy to defend the perimeter as well. They were flat half of the time. It's unreal to let Minny score 124pts considering how good boston's defense should be.
I don't like they make a run and almost win that game.
They'll think they got their chance but continue their bad habit or not playing well vs bad teams.

[DesertDweller]

Might have been nice to see Mickey in there for a spell maybe blocking a couple of Towns shots.
Last night Brian Scalabrine was interviewing Brad Stevens and he said to Brad "Jordan Mickey blocked 18 shots in 22 minutes the other nite". Brad replied, "you think he could do that for us".
Well coach, we'll never know unless you put the guy in the freaking game!!! Mickey played the last minute of the second quarter.
C's are giving up way too many points. when Boston scores 122 points they should own the game!!!

[j804]

Just poor defense execution. They almost never box out for rebound. No energy to defend the perimeter as well. They were flat half of the time. It's unreal to let Minny score 124pts considering how good boston's defense should be.
I don't like they make a run and almost win that game.
They'll think they got their chance but continue their bad habit or not playing well vs bad teams.

No real rim protector and Isaiah will always be a liability that's gonna hurt us

[Celtics4ever]

There was a stretch at the end of the third where Sully was a sieve on D.   He has a good night shooting but guys were going at him a lot when he was on them.  He does not have the size or athletic ability to bother guys like Dieng or Towns.   He was -16 despite playing decent on offense.

[Tr1boy]

There was a stretch at the end of the third where Sully was a sieve on D.   He has a good night shooting but guys were going at him a lot when he was on them.  He does not have the size or athletic ability to bother guys like Dieng or Towns.   He was -16 despite playing decent on offense.

Yup. Got owned under the basket.

[Tr1boy]

Sullinger looked like a dwarf vs Towns/dieng. A chubby dwarf

[Rosco917]

It's no secret, the C's need a tall, long defensive presence in the middle. If he can stretch the floor on offense, that much the better. Kelly is not that guy, he's getting better as a positional defender, but not the player we need.

Forget Sully and Zeller, both are backups. The center position has to be the number one area we need attention.

[Snakehead]

I think so.  He is much better on than Zeller on both ends of the floor.  Zeller was really terrible last night and has been the last few games.  He had a good stretch for like 4 games but now he looks just like he did early in the year.

[D Dub]

What happens to Amir?   Saw him icing his head all night.

[fairweatherfan]

Kelly might be part of it but it can't be chalked up to just his absence.  Teams with skilled size have bothered us all year, especially inside.  We just aren't a very big team, and while Kelly's 7 feet and greatly improved on D, he still doesn't play like a 7 footer on D.

[CelticPride2016]

These are games Kelly thrives in, those against inferior competition. He always dominated Summer League.

His defense is much better this year. They do protect him against a lot of centers, but unless the other team has one of those big guys, Kelly is a good center.

I think we miss mostly the energy he brings nearly every game. He is seven feet and not that slow. He is ultra creative and fits in exactly with Brad's vision.

I'm not saying he is close to being an All-Star, but we are not good enough where we can start losing rotation players.

As for Mickey, he deserves 10-20 minutes a game just like Rozier, RJ, and Young got. It doesn't have to be more than a couple games if has deer in the headlight syndrome, but give him that shot especially with Olynyk on the injured list.

[jambr380]

Kelly is often one of the C's leaders in +/- so even if he doesn't seem to be shooting lights out, he affects the game in a positive way. His positional defending is underrated at times and he might have helped prevent one or two of the runs Minny had after we made a run to catch back up.

[CelticPride2016]

A lot of people downplay the +- stat and it probably is overrated in general. However, Kelly seems to always have the best or one of the best +- stat every time. At some point one must say Kelly Olynyk is a good basketball player in a rotation. He got it done on schedule year #3. Hopefully he picks up where he left off when he gets back. It looks like he has time to recover, play some regular season games, and then it's no blood, no foul for his injury. Maybe Mickey emerges. Bass would be better than Zeller at this point. I was rooting for that guy. Maybe he is too nice a guy. Is that Zeller's problem? He has no fire? He's like Jeff Green?

[Chris22]

Play Mickey instead of the Swede.