National media doesn't watch the Celtics

[saltlover]

I'm convinced now after hearing them for the past 2 weeks and especially after Sunday, they don't watch or know how the Celtics play. They seemed to be shocked by all the 3 point shots and\or makes. Yes, they shot well Sunday but the only person that really played better than usual was Crowder. IT averages 27 against the Wiz and Horford always led all centers in assists.

They thought the Wiz would just roll over the Celtics but never realized the Celtics have probably the best perimeter defenders in the NBA in AB, Smart and Crowder. Wall and Beal will get there's but the Wiz have no bench and Wall and Beal will be hounded all night.

It's pathetic and I hope we put the smack down on the Wiz again tonight. The team gets no respect.

TP!

I was listening to the Bill Simmons podcast and house mentioned that he thought the Celtics were lucky to make that many 3's and that it won't happen again.

Apparently he didn't realize that the Celtics won a lot of games this year simply by hitting more 3's than their opponents.

For some reason the national media is prone to discounting the Celtics, where they anoint teams and players who have not had the same success. It's crazy that the Celtics are the top seed and still seem to be treated as the under dog by the media.

It's not luck.

It's some luck.  They got a lot of great looks.  That's not luck.  They hit a couple more of those open looks than they normally would.  That's some luck.  If they shot closer to 40% than 50% from 3 (about normal luck if not slightly bad luck given the looks they were getting), they'd have still won.  Sometimes those open shots fall, like they did Sunday, and sometimes they don't, like they didn't in Game 2 against Chicago, or even the first three minutes on Sunday.

If they keep moving the ball and creating the shots they did Sunday, they won't need anything more than average luck to win these games.  But luck is still there, even if it's just the absence of bad luck.

[KGBirdBias]

I can tell you now if the Wiz don't improve their defense and run the Celtics off the 3 pt line this series is going to be over quick. The Celtics are a good assist team and if you run them off the 3 line then it becomes a drive and kick game.

The Wiz don't have the interior defense or the perimeter defense to contain the Celtics. IT will have a field day in the lane and most NBA players can hit uncontested 3's. Rarely do I say that but the Celtics struggle against teams that are big and rebound and run...i.e.the Cavs. Not too many teams are built like the Cavs.

If the Celtics are going to shoot 35 3 pointers, if they hit 15 or more, the Wiz are in trouble. I'm going to keep an eye to see if the Celtics can get to 15...that's 45%.

[tarheelsxxiii]

I'm convinced now after hearing them for the past 2 weeks and especially after Sunday, they don't watch or know how the Celtics play. They seemed to be shocked by all the 3 point shots and\or makes. Yes, they shot well Sunday but the only person that really played better than usual was Crowder. IT averages 27 against the Wiz and Horford always led all centers in assists.

They thought the Wiz would just roll over the Celtics but never realized the Celtics have probably the best perimeter defenders in the NBA in AB, Smart and Crowder. Wall and Beal will get there's but the Wiz have no bench and Wall and Beal will be hounded all night.

It's pathetic and I hope we put the smack down on the Wiz again tonight. The team gets no respect.

TP!

I was listening to the Bill Simmons podcast and house mentioned that he thought the Celtics were lucky to make that many 3's and that it won't happen again.

Apparently he didn't realize that the Celtics won a lot of games this year simply by hitting more 3's than their opponents.

For some reason the national media is prone to discounting the Celtics, where they anoint teams and players who have not had the same success. It's crazy that the Celtics are the top seed and still seem to be treated as the under dog by the media.

It's not luck.

It's some luck.  They got a lot of great looks.  That's not luck.  They hit a couple more of those open looks than they normally would.  That's some luck.  If they shot closer to 40% than 50% from 3 (about normal luck if not slightly bad luck given the looks they were getting), they'd have still won.  Sometimes those open shots fall, like they did Sunday, and sometimes they don't, like they didn't in Game 2 against Chicago, or even the first three minutes on Sunday.

If they keep moving the ball and creating the shots they did Sunday, they won't need anything more than average luck to win these games.  But luck is still there, even if it's just the absence of bad luck.

Fortunately, the Wizards also shot 10/23 from deep (44%), which also isn't sustainable and should offset some of Boston's luck.

[SHAQATTACK]

National media is about the dumbed down masses ....

And helping the establishment keep them as such .

[Atzar]

I'm convinced now after hearing them for the past 2 weeks and especially after Sunday, they don't watch or know how the Celtics play. They seemed to be shocked by all the 3 point shots and\or makes. Yes, they shot well Sunday but the only person that really played better than usual was Crowder. IT averages 27 against the Wiz and Horford always led all centers in assists.

They thought the Wiz would just roll over the Celtics but never realized the Celtics have probably the best perimeter defenders in the NBA in AB, Smart and Crowder. Wall and Beal will get there's but the Wiz have no bench and Wall and Beal will be hounded all night.

It's pathetic and I hope we put the smack down on the Wiz again tonight. The team gets no respect.

TP!

I was listening to the Bill Simmons podcast and house mentioned that he thought the Celtics were lucky to make that many 3's and that it won't happen again.

Apparently he didn't realize that the Celtics won a lot of games this year simply by hitting more 3's than their opponents.

For some reason the national media is prone to discounting the Celtics, where they anoint teams and players who have not had the same success. It's crazy that the Celtics are the top seed and still seem to be treated as the under dog by the media.

Well, he's not wrong.  We aren't likely to shoot 49% from deep for the entire series.  We shot 36% as a team in the regular season.  Washington's poor defense will probably allow us to play better than that number, but not to the point that we're hitting half of our threes.  And if we DO stay that hot, this will be a very short and very fun series.

On the flip side, we also probably won't spot Washington a 16-point lead before we enter the arena again.  So the "fluke, won't happen again" argument works both ways. 

[KGBirdBias]

If I personally use a goal for the Celtics to hit at least 15 3s to almost ensure a win, I think we can get there. Here's what it takes.

IT-5
Crowder-3
AB-1
Horford-2
KO-2
Smart-1

This is 14 and not to far fetched to achieve. We would need a few from Green, Brown or Rozier.

[littleteapot]

Didn't watch that game, but for the record, the C's actually have a worse 3pt% in the regular season than the Wizards.

Sunday, the C's shot 48.7% (12.8% over their normal 35.9%), and the Wizards shot 43.5% (6.3% over their normal 37.2%).

[KGBirdBias]

Didn't watch that game, but for the record, the C's actually have a worse 3pt% in the regular season than the Wizards.

Sunday, the C's shot 48.7% (12.8% over their normal 35.9%), and the Wizards shot 43.5% (6.3% over their normal 37.2%).

35.9 vs 37.2 isn't a big difference. What's the average that each team takes for the season? I think this is part of our offense, is it part of their offense? I know Beal, BB and Porter are their main 3 point shooters.

[fairweatherfan]

We don't look like we should be as good as we are, particularly because our best guys are almost all undersized and not "name" players (though IT's getting there fast). We're unusually weak for a 1 seed, got clobbered by Cleveland in a memorable late game, and fell behind 2 games to the 8 seed, then rallied to beat them but with their PG out and no plausible backup. Pretty strong equation for getting underestimated.

Good news is game's played on the court, all the media stuff's just fluff. I'd rather win and not be respected than be respected and not win.

[KGBirdBias]

We don't look like we should be as good as we are, particularly because our best guys are almost all undersized and not "name" players (though IT's getting there fast). We're unusually weak for a 1 seed, got clobbered by Cleveland in a memorable late game, and fell behind 2 games to the 8 seed, then rallied to beat them but with their PG out and no plausible backup. Pretty strong equation for getting underestimated.

Good news is game's played on the court, all the media stuff's just fluff. I'd rather win and not be respected than be respected and not win.

All good points.

[LilRip]

I'm glad someone made this thread. Even when the C's win and mount a comeback after being down 20-3, all everyone focuses on are still the Wiz. Meanwhile the C's usually get a throwaway line at best like "don't get me wrong, the Celtics played well and I'm not taking anything from them, but..."

[Evantime34]

Didn't watch that game, but for the record, the C's actually have a worse 3pt% in the regular season than the Wizards.

Sunday, the C's shot 48.7% (12.8% over their normal 35.9%), and the Wizards shot 43.5% (6.3% over their normal 37.2%).

The Celtics defend the 3 a lot better than the Wizards do, so Boston outperforming their season averages are more likely than Washington doing so against Boston.

The Celtics are 2nd in the league allowing opponents to shoot 33.2% against them. Since a lot of statisticians believe that 3 point shooting percentages against are random I'd also like to note that Boston gave up the 7th fewest 3 point a game.

Washington on the other hand tied for 20th 3 point against % in the league giving up 36.4%. The Wizards allow the 17th most 3's against them.

Since our defense has been very good against the 3 and there defense has been very bad I'd argue that those numbers had a ton to do with defense and less to do with luck.

 
Here is a relevant quote from Celticsblog's Alex Kungu

And for those of you thinking, “well, the Celtics aren’t just going to keep hitting the three like that every night are they?” Probably not, but consider this. The Celtics were 19-39 from three in game 1. Of those shots 39 shots, 33 of them were open or wide open and according to NBA.com, and the Celtics made 17 of those attempts, meaning a majority of those made 3’s were actually just the Celtics hitting open looks

Washington hasn't been good defending the 3 this season and that continued on Sunday.