Don't get down about the Pistons loss

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

It's not just the Pistons loss that bothers me, but the last two games overall. Boston couldn't score against Cleveland, then they couldn't defend against Detroit. And allowing a 14ppg, 41% shooter to go off for a career-high 31 on 62% shooting smacks of the classic Celtics shtick of getting burned by mediocre players. All of this is especially disappointing after a great effort against GS and a really nice bounce-back win over Charlotte.

So, yeah, I'm trying to not get down, but clearly struggling. 

[Evantime34]

At the start of the season I wanted the C's to be around .500 by the end of 2015. I figured if they could be around .500 by then they would probably finish the year around 10 games over .500.
The reasons for this
1. Brad Stevens teams tend to improve as the season moves along
2. The team will play better with more defined roles and roster continuity, which I expect to happen after Ainge trades some of the excess pieces at the deadline.
3. The schedule is going to be a lot easier in the second half. We have had the 9th hardest strength of schedule so far this year. So far our opponents have had a 52% winning percentage while our opponents winning percentages for the rest of the season is 48%.

[Kuberski33]

The performance last night stunk and they deserved to lose.  Teams weaknesses to me are starting to really show up (rebounding, turnovers and 3 pt shooting).  But such is the ebb and flow of an NBA season.  East is substantially better than a year ago, something to keep in mind.

[PhoSita]

Apparently we're still at the point in the rebuild where we make excuses for the team losing and chalk up moral victories, so there's that.


The Pistons are on a similar level to the Celts right now.  Much better top end talent (Jackson and Drummond), but much less depth.  The Pistons also have a size advantage at every position in the starting lineup, which tends to be a trump card against the Celts. 

Teams with that profile -- better top end talent, less depth, but a size advantage at several key spots -- are a very bad matchup for the Celts as currently constructed.

The Celts will be lucky to go .500 against teams as good as the Pistons this year.

So I agree ... not a loss to get down about.  But the last two games have served as a bit of a return to Earth for the team.  On certain nights, in certain matchups, they can look really good.  On other nights, they look hopelessly overmatched. 

The good news is that, unlike the Hawks, the Celts aren't stuck in their current position.  Half this roster will be gone by this time next year, most likely, and all but a few of these players might be gone two years from now.  Lots of turnover ahead.

[TheFlex]

Apparently we're still at the point in the rebuild where we make excuses for the team losing and chalk up moral victories, so there's that.


The Pistons are on a similar level to the Celts right now.  Much better top end talent (Jackson and Drummond), but much less depth.  The Pistons also have a size advantage at every position in the starting lineup, which tends to be a trump card against the Celts. 

Teams with that profile -- better top end talent, less depth, but a size advantage at several key spots -- are a very bad matchup for the Celts as currently constructed.

The Celts will be lucky to go .500 against teams as good as the Pistons this year.

So I agree ... not a loss to get down about.  But the last two games have served as a bit of a return to Earth for the team.  On certain nights, in certain matchups, they can look really good.  On other nights, they look hopelessly overmatched. 

The good news is that, unlike the Hawks, the Celts aren't stuck in their current position.  Half this roster will be gone by this time next year, most likely, and all but a few of these players might be gone two years from now.  Lots of turnover ahead.

I'm not sure the Celtics are "hopelessly" overmatched by any team in the East besides CLE. We only lost to DET by 3, after all.

But yes. Lots of guys will be coming and going in the next year or so.

[TheFlex]

It's not just the Pistons loss that bothers me, but the last two games overall. Boston couldn't score against Cleveland, then they couldn't defend against Detroit. And allowing a 14ppg, 41% shooter to go off for a career-high 31 on 62% shooting smacks of the classic Celtics shtick of getting burned by mediocre players. All of this is especially disappointing after a great effort against GS and a really nice bounce-back win over Charlotte.

So, yeah, I'm trying to not get down, but clearly struggling. 

Don't get upset about KCP going off, either -- he was due for a huge game. His shooting percentages have been way below his shooting ability all season. He's a much improved shot creator and is leading Detroit in minutes because of his defense, so he had plenty of opportunities to take shots. Last night, he just made them. Other nights, he hasn't. That's not Boston giving up 31 to a mediocre player. That's a 22-year old with tons of talent putting it all together in one night, like Marcus did scoring 26 in OKC.

[PhoSita]

I'm not sure the Celtics are "hopelessly" overmatched by any team in the East besides CLE. We only lost to DET by 3, after all.

Right, which is why I said "some nights ..." before that.  Some nights they will look hopelessly overmatched, like they brought a knife to a gun fight.  Other nights, they'll look like they can hang with anybody. 

They're a competitive team that will hang around .500 for most of the season, perhaps finish a few wins above that.

[TheFlex]

I'm not sure the Celtics are "hopelessly" overmatched by any team in the East besides CLE. We only lost to DET by 3, after all.

Right, which is why I said "some nights ..." before that.  Some nights they will look hopelessly overmatched, like they brought a knife to a gun fight.  Other nights, they'll look like they can hang with anybody. 

They're a competitive team that will hang around .500 for most of the season, perhaps finish a few wins above that.

I have them pegged for 45-48 wins, so that seems agreeable to me. Seems like you're thinking around 42-45. To-may-to, to-mah-to. At the end of the day, the team will have a good shot at advancing to the second round, perhaps the Conference Finals if they avoid a matchup with CLE earlier in the playoffs, but no further. And after that, it'll be time to take the next step in the rebuilding process and, as you said, move a lot of picks and players.

[Evantime34]

I'm not sure the Celtics are "hopelessly" overmatched by any team in the East besides CLE. We only lost to DET by 3, after all.

Right, which is why I said "some nights ..." before that.  Some nights they will look hopelessly overmatched, like they brought a knife to a gun fight.  Other nights, they'll look like they can hang with anybody. 

They're a competitive team that will hang around .500 for most of the season, perhaps finish a few wins above that.

With the schedule getting easier and the way the team performed last year, I can't see a way in which the C's won't improve record wise as the year goes along.

If they are around .500 now they will finish the year well above that. Last year they out hustled teams during the dog days of the season, I expect the same this year.

[86MaxwellSmart]

With this team--it's basically this:
They have to play 48 minutes--not 24, not 36...they can't afford to take it easy,
they're simply not that good...However, when they play hard all game--they can beat anyone.

A team with No Super Stars.

[McHales Pits]

It's not just the Pistons loss that bothers me, but the last two games overall. Boston couldn't score against Cleveland, then they couldn't defend against Detroit. And allowing a 14ppg, 41% shooter to go off for a career-high 31 on 62% shooting smacks of the classic Celtics shtick of getting burned by mediocre players. All of this is especially disappointing after a great effort against GS and a really nice bounce-back win over Charlotte.

So, yeah, I'm trying to not get down, but clearly struggling. 

Don't get upset about KCP going off, either -- he was due for a huge game. His shooting percentages have been way below his shooting ability all season. He's a much improved shot creator and is leading Detroit in minutes because of his defense, so he had plenty of opportunities to take shots. Last night, he just made them. Other nights, he hasn't. That's not Boston giving up 31 to a mediocre player. That's a 22-year old with tons of talent putting it all together in one night, like Marcus did scoring 26 in OKC.

Yeah - the KCP/Bradley matchup was a telling factor in the outcome of this one.

[TheReaLPuba]

The loss sucked and it hurts that the team has so much depth players don't know their roles.

I mean we have too many bigs and too many smallish guards.

This team needs to be thinned down at some point.