Knicks (1-4) at Celtics (3-1) Game #5 11/1/19

[jpotter33]

Celtics have the worst Center rotation in the NBA. Totally ruined on the boards almost cost them this game.

In fairness, they were down two guys. They’d have done better with Kanter and R Will available.

Who just so happen to be our two best rebounders, by the way.

[RockinRyA]

Celtics have the worst Center rotation in the NBA. Totally ruined on the boards almost cost them this game.

Seriously? You have 2 rotation guys at that position injured, both of whom are two of their best rebounders. You lot keep on finding stupid things to complain about.

[azzenfrost]

Cheer up! C's won!

[keevsnick]

Classic play by Brad. Made Kemba a decoy and let someone shoot the final shot. Something that was impossible with a crybaby. Glad the guy is gone now.

All the IT plays where he started in the backcourt have given Brad a great way of making the court 3 on 3 (even years later). It gives him a ton of options

I mean I dont know if letting Tatum iso is actually all that great a play, it was statically one of the most inefficient plays you can run (at least last year). But hey, ball went in so who cares?

With a guy like Randle covering him, I kind if like it. You know he won't be able to contest the step back

I mean he did really contest it, so not sure I agree. Kid hit a tough shot, but I'm 100% sure that wasn't the first play call.

[SparzWizard]

That Tatum game-winning shot looked very Kobe-like with the step-back jumper and all.

Getting his moves from the Mamba I see.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Well, they eked out a win. Against the lowly Knicks. At home. Sorry, but I can't bring myself to say too much positive about this one.

Plenty of good teams eek out wins against bad teams.

Playing without one of our best players and our two best rebounders, we beat the Knicks when one of their players had a career night.

You can paint the narrative in different ways.

Sure. And I agree that any win is, in a vacuum, good. I just don't think it should come down to a last-second shot when playing a team of NY's caliber, even with Brown, Kanter, and R Will out. After all, we still have Kemba, Hayward, Tatum, and Smart, and the Knicks have ... a lot less.

[BitterJim]

Classic play by Brad. Made Kemba a decoy and let someone shoot the final shot. Something that was impossible with a crybaby. Glad the guy is gone now.

All the IT plays where he started in the backcourt have given Brad a great way of making the court 3 on 3 (even years later). It gives him a ton of options

I mean I dont know if letting Tatum iso is actually all that great a play, it was statically one of the most inefficient plays you can run (at least last year). But hey, ball went in so who cares?

With a guy like Randle covering him, I kind if like it. You know he won't be able to contest the step back

I mean he did really contest it, so not sure I agree. Kid hit a tough shot, but I'm 100% sure that wasn't the first play call.

He was there, but not right in Tatum's face. Not close enough to really bother him

I dint think any play like that has any true "first option", it will all come down to matchups, who's hot, etc. Tatum may have been the first option in this situation, but may be the 3rd the next time we run the exact same play

[Fierce1]

That Tatum game-winning shot looked very Kobe-like with the step-back jumper and all.

Getting his moves from the Mamba I see.

That was the same play from last season's loss against Orlando when Kyrie threw a tantrum.

[Phantom255x]

Last year's team doesn't win this game.

Hell, a year ago this was the kind of game where we frustratingly trailed for most of the game and lost by like 10.

Even with all the injuries (especially our entire frontcourt basically), we're winning and guys like Kemba, Hayward and Tatum are playing a big part of it (our "Big 3" which becomes "Big 4" with a healthy Jaylen)

[jpotter33]

Where was the 8 second call there?

It didn't hit 15. They have to wait until the shot clock hits 15 to ensure they get the full 8 seconds before crossing the half line.

It's 16. 15 would be 9 seconds.

No, I'm sure the practice for the refs is that they wait until as soon as it hits 15 on the shot clock. The logic is then that gives them the full 8 seconds to cross over. If they called it as soon as it hit 16, then it wouldn't be the full 8 seconds, but somewhere between 7 and 8 seconds.

To further this point because I think it's interesting and something that many people don't realize about the rules, see the videos below:

https://videorulebook.nba.com/archive/8-second-violation/

https://nesn.com/2013/05/nbas-seemingly-contradictory-shot-clock-eight-second-violation-rule-really-not-that-complicated/

One thing that apparently is far more confusing than it should be, however, is the eight-second violation and its relationship to the 24-second shot clock. Announcers and fans are constantly getting hung up on this one little detail, as though it is rocket science. Reggie Miller and Steve Kerr were befuddled for a good two minutes during Game 2 of the Heat-Pacers series, throwing into doubt the value of a UCLA or Arizona education.

The rule in question, in case it’s not your job to watch every moment of every NBA playoff game, is at what point on the shot clock referees are supposed to blow the whistle when the offensive team fails to get the ball over halfcourt in eight seconds. Subtraction dictates that this occurs when the shot clock reads :16. Simple. Twenty-four minus eight equals 16. Right?

Wrong.

This has thrown many a color analyst for a loop. Miller in particular cannot wrap his head around the idea that the eight-second violation occurs when the shot clock reads :15, not :16. At first, the wrinkle might seem contradictory. Seriously, though, it’s not that hard to understand.

If you have ever used a stopwatch, or wear a $14.99 Casio because you’re a cheapskate like me, you probably already get the concept. Hit “start” on the watch. Does the timer immediately go to :01? Of course not. If the watch has tenths or hundredths of a second, it counts upward. The seconds place reads :00 until 99 one-hundredths of a second becomes a full second. So when the timer reads :00.9, we know it is closer to :01 than :00, even though the seconds place is all zeroes.

The countdown clock on the shot clock works the same way, only backwards. For the first 19 seconds of the possession, the shot clock posts only full seconds. When there are 16 seconds on the shot clock, there are actually 16 seconds plus a few tenths. If the refs called an eight-second violation as soon as the clock hit :16, they would actually be whistling the play dead at :16.9 — robbing the offensive team of almost a full second.

In the final five seconds of the shot clock, tenths of a second get added. Again, think of the stopwatch. If the players, officials, coaches and fans could not read tenths of a second at the end of the clock, the shot clock would read :00 for a full second before the buzzer sounded. Instead, we see the timer count down in tenths of a second to ultimate zero, :00.00. Knowing how many tenths of a second are on the clock is vital, so a team knows whether it has enough time for a shot or just a tip-in attempt.

[Fierce1]

Jayson Tatum just has the mentality of a superstar player.

Marcus Smart has the same mentality, but Smart doesn't have the shot-making abilities of Tatum.

That's the difference between Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, Tatum has the mentality of a star player, Brown doesn't.

[Rosco917]

Celtics have the worst Center rotation in the NBA. Totally ruined on the boards almost cost them this game.

Seriously? You have 2 rotation guys at that position injured, both of whom are two of their best rebounders. You lot keep on finding stupid things to complain about.

They just gave up 16 offensive rebounds and got 3. On this night, in this game, under these circumstances their Center rotation is terribly weak. It almost cost them this game.

[Fierce1]

Celtics have the worst Center rotation in the NBA. Totally ruined on the boards almost cost them this game.

Seriously? You have 2 rotation guys at that position injured, both of whom are two of their best rebounders. You lot keep on finding stupid things to complain about.

They just gave up 16 offensive rebounds and got 3. On this night, in this game, under these circumstances their Center rotation is terribly weak. It almost cost them this game.

But the Celts made up for it by going 27-29 from the FT line.

That's why I keep saying, Celts still need an upgrade.

Ainge will make a move in a couple of months.

[Green-18]

That Tatum game-winning shot looked very Kobe-like with the step-back jumper and all.

Getting his moves from the Mamba I see.

That was the same play from last season's loss against Orlando when Kyrie threw a tantrum.

It's the first thing I thought of when I saw Kemba in the back court.  Kind of hoping someone casually asks about it during Brad's press conference.

[RockinRyA]

Well, they eked out a win. Against the lowly Knicks. At home. Sorry, but I can't bring myself to say too much positive about this one.

Plenty of good teams eek out wins against bad teams.

Playing without one of our best players and our two best rebounders, we beat the Knicks when one of their players had a career night.

You can paint the narrative in different ways.

Sure. And I agree that any win is, in a vacuum, good. I just don't think it should come down to a last-second shot when playing a team of NY's caliber, even with Brown, Kanter, and R Will out. After all, we still have Kemba, Hayward, Tatum, and Smart, and the Knicks have ... a lot less.

I disagree completely. Whenever you are depleted at a key position it is difficult, regardless of how stacked you are at other position.

It even gets worse if Smart and Kemba are injured instead of these three, because then youd have wanamaker and rookies playing the point.