Watching fewer games, don't miss it much.

[PickNRoll]

I can relate.  I've gone through phases in my life where I watch more or less Celtics.  Currently I watch every game.  We have a great group of guys and a great coach right now that makes for entertaining games. 

Like slamtheking said, I'm not in love with all the 3pt chucking.  I'd rather watch WNBA than a Rockets game and I've never seen a wnba game.  But sadly it's the correct strategy.  Who would've imagined that 27' stepback 3's is a viable strategy?  SMH @ Steph.  I think if we had it to do over again, we'd make them worth 2.7 points. 

[walker834]

The NBA has been like this for a while now.  Most big men don't even play  inside anymore.

Steph Curry is bad for the nba too.  Pretty soon we will see players launching it from way beyond the 3 pt line purposely where they have to make a 4 point shot or something if it keeps trending this way.

I'd rather see players take good shots.  The game has become very predictable with drive and kick for 3's. 

USA basketball has been that for years too. 

[walker834]

Steph Curry is a good player and kids all want to be like him.  I can't stand trends that way because it really does affect the game at it's core.  No offense to steph curry but it takes away from actual skill and talent.  Steph Curry is a good player but he does not compare to other players in the past who were much more skilled.

That's half our issue right now.  Marcus can't shoot.  Why even have big men? Why not just have 5 guards that can shoot and just play percentages.  That's what it's coming to.

Before you used to have actual positions.  Ainge has been drafting guards like crazy but has more gone the defensive route in ways and more balance   as well as having those shooters, and iit's not working overly well so far.

You need 5 guys who can all shoot. It's bad basketball.

We are a .500 basketball team because we basically have a few guys who can shoot and a few other guys where we can go another direction.

[PickNRoll]

Steph Curry is a good player and kids all want to be like him.  I can't stand trends that way because it really does affect the game at it's core.  No offense to steph curry but it takes away from actual skill and talent.  Steph Curry is a good player but he does not compare to other players in the past who were much more skilled.

That's half our issue right now.  Marcus can't shoot.  Why even have big men? Why not just have 5 guards that can shoot and just play percentages.  That's what it's coming to.

Steph is incredible.  He's basically mastered professional basketball in its current form.  He can generate more points per possession on stepback 3's than you can with post-ups.  You can't guard him because he needs a sliver of daylight and he correctly has no conscience.  Can't handcheck him.  Can't play him tight or he's shooting 3 FT's.  Play him physical and he works the refs.  Overload against him and the rest of the dream team will bury you in more 3's.  He's one of the most talented players ever, it's just the strategy of today's game feels less nuanced.  It's like Jonah Hill telling you that deep pass interference calls are the best play in football and engineering a team around it.

[walker834]

I really don't like the splash brothers that much the more I think about.  It's jerry west.   He got sick of losing to the celtics all those years.  They really don't do anything that exceptional besides just hit 3's.  Even before they got Durant they had Green and Barnes would come in to give them that extra punch.  They had Ezeli who would give them enough defense but outside of 3 point shooting that's really what separates them.  They almost lost to OKC  because of their physical wing play was bothering them enough and then lost to cleveland. But now they have Durant.  West just found a way to play percentages with the 3 ball that way. And he got the right guy in Curry to do it.

That's the whole point with what Ainge is trying to build here imo is to be able to shoot but also play physical where we can slow them enough I feel but so far we are .500.

GS basically plays positionless basketball though. They might as well just have 5 guys out there shooting 3's.  They haven't gone that far but they are pretty close.

Jerry West is enamored with himself. Curry is a great player.  Scoring machine in that system.

[Ogaju]

try to watch as many C's games as I can.  catch about half of them.  have to admit I don't like the current style of play of chucking 3's but that's what a lot of the league is doing now.  god i miss watching Mchale in the post.  never really cared about non-C's games -- still don't.  fan of the C's, not the NBA.

haven't been to a baseball game since 1994 when the players went on strike and caused the World Series to be cancelled.  haven't watched a game either which is saying a lot because at the time I was such a diehard fan I could have told you 23 of the 25 players on every team's roster on any given day including any transactions that occurred within 24 hours regarding players brought up from the minors
--> don't miss it at all

don't watch football except the Super Bowl.  never really a diehard fan and it's been a while since my Skins were relevant in the title chase.

Don't watch hockey except the outdoor winter classic and the Stanley Cup when my Kings were playing.

have found other things to occupy my time.

I was going to respond to your post that I agree with you about watching McHale in the post, what a thing of beauty, then I thought maybe not BUT when you added the Skins part. I knew I had to respond.

I am a long time Redskins fan too, but not back to the day when they were the Boston Braves (lol). I think most of all what the Skins need is a new owner.

[Rosco917]

I've been watching the Celtics so long it's a habit.

But I will say this, this year it's less satisfying because of the high expectations I had for this team. I actually thought we were looking at a 55 win season lol. The weakness in the team I saw, have now really become very evident.

When fans realize the needs of the team, and these needs, not only do not get addressed, but they get ignored, many fans get frustrated.

I'm beginning to get a bit annoyed with Angie, and his wait for the "3 run homer" approach to being the GM. I get the feeling DA is waiting for lightning to strike like it did in 2008. IMO the NBA is on to him.

There are a few ways to skin a cat. In the mean time...

[Redz]

I've definitely cut back on sports watching and following since becoming a Dad and working full time for someone else (I owned a retail biz for 15 years with plenty of idle time that coincided with the Celtics season).  I no longer pay attention to college sports and I've limited myself to one Fantasy team per season.  I also don't spend nearly as much time on here.

I watch the Patriots and Celtics most religiously still, though the advent of the DVR has changed my viewing habits quite a bit.  I kind of prefer not watching it live now so I can zip through commercial and free throws etc...As a result I find I don't watch the games with as much focus anymore. 

I've missed the last couple of games due to pre-holiday craziness, but I don't feel heartbroken.  Sports is entertainment and it just doesn't seem to be as entertaining as it used to be for me.  I still love it though.

[snively]

The NBA isn't as compelling as it used to be. No historic rivalries active at the moment. The Finals match-up feels like a foregone conclusion for the 2nd year in a row. The rule changes have paved the way for a homogenized, monotonous style of play that rewards consummate usage hogs who repeat essentially the same pick and roll actions ad infinitum.

And we're sort of the poster boys for the new NBA. We're very small. We play a gimmicky brand of basketball with a huge volume of 3s. The new face of our franchise is a mini-Iverson who would have been a 6th man change of pace guy in any other era but completely dominates our entire offense. Our coach is a blank-faced number-cruncher who specializes in sanitized soundbites.

And we don't have any real rivalries - we just grabbed the best player off the team that beat us in the playoffs and everyone basically shrugged. Cleveland is so much better than us that we can't call them rivals. The rest of the East is too thoroughly mediocre to take much pride in beating or shame in losing to.

Compare that to the drama and excitement of the KG years. A real rivalry with LeBron and the Lakers out west. Genuine dislike of other teams. An entertaining half drama queen coach in Doc. A lifelong franchise star in Pierce. A massively polarizing and exciting prodigy in Rondo. A savior/betrayer in Ray. A real contrast in styles between our group and teams like Miami, LAL, Orlando, SAS, Detroit, Phoenix, Dallas and so on.

The league has really suffered since.

[CelticSooner]

I had tickets to the C's/OKC game last Sunday and I didn't go. You know why? I expected a pretty boring game and that's what it was. I blame the league more so for this than anything. Being such a player driven league isn't such a good thing. You go into a season knowing one of a handful teams will win it. This season, 3 true contenders: GS, SA, and CLE. That's all well and good for those cities but for everyone else it becomes a waiting game that tends to get old. At least in other leagues you can get hot in the playoffs and win it all. First world problems for sure but time is the most valuable commodity a person has, best use it wisely before you're six feet under.

For this particular team, the fat needs to be trimmed. Can't have it both ways.

[celticsclay]

I had tickets to the C's/OKC game last Sunday and I didn't go. You know why? I expected a pretty boring game and that's what it was. I blame the league more so for this than anything. Being such a player driven league isn't such a good thing. You go into a season knowing one of a handful teams will win it. This season, 3 true contenders: GS, SA, and CLE. That's all well and good for those cities but for everyone else it becomes a waiting game that tends to get old. At least in other leagues you can get hot in the playoffs and win it all. First world problems for sure but time is the most valuable commodity a person has, best use it wisely before you're six feet under.

For this particular team, the fat needs to be trimmed. Can't have it both ways.

I do think it was very bad for the league that Durant went to Golden State. That was kind of the final shift away from competitiveness that the league really did not need. I wonder if ratings went down? I used to get excited watching the Thunder and Warriors game the last few years. They were 4 of maybe 20 games for the entire year you expected to be competitive. Now those games are pretty boring too.

[fingerlakes]

This is a very interesting thread.  I do not post much but I agree with so many of you that it would take too long to copy and paste all the comments I liked.  Validated many of my thoughts that sometimes made me think I was a nutcase.  Huge baseball fan as a kid.  Cannot watch one inning now.   3 hours plus commitment for 2 minutes of action and anyone actually running. NFL barely holds my interest either.  It is way too hyped up and those military jets flying over the stadium during pregame make me sick.  We cannot click on anything anymore on the internet without watching a 30 second commercial. Used to love watching politics and NPR but Trump has made me turn that off as well with each cabinet pick he selects.  Too depressing to watch and actually makes me lose any hope at all for the future of this country. I still love the NBA though and watch every Celtic's game.  The Pierce/Garnett years were priceless. The Durant signing however really hurt and it's the Warriors and Cav's in the finals for at least the next three years no matter who we trade for or sign.  Reality is there is nobody out there to sign or available for trade. The C's chucking all these threes is beginning to get old especially when we are a poor shooting team.  Rozier and Brown are what keep me tuning in.  Love watching the development of these guys. I would rather watch someone slash to the hoop with a great move over all these 3 pointers any day.  Was wondering if anyone else here is tired of all the charge calls.  Defenders do not even defend anymore in the circle.  They just stand up straight and wait for the charge,  I don't remember playing like this in the 70's and 80's.  We never just stood there.  Is there anyway the rule book could open up that lane again?  Between the 3's and the charges the game is just not that enjoyable anymore.  I just may have to go out and find a girlfriend. 

[flybono]

Were all getting old!

Money and time are becoming more valuable on where, when and how we use it....