"I was good with the way we ended that" - Brad on no timeout at the end

[ozgod]

Brad was getting a lot of heat on the game thread for not calling a timeout in those final seconds against Houston. Here's his reasoning. Do you agree or disagree with a) the decision and b) his philosophy on timeouts in general? Obviously none of the players will say anything about it, but do you think Brad lets players play too much, trusting their ability and doesn't intervene often enough?

BOSTON - The Boston Celtics had the ball, down one, with 24.3 seconds on the clock, and a timeout in hand. They had time and options as they tried to complete an improbable win over the Houston Rockets.

Obviously, it didn’t work out for them, and in the immediate aftermath of the loss, second-guessers questioned whether Brad Stevens should have taken a timeout to reset after Jaylen Brown’s progress was stopped by Robert Covington.

Stevens said no.

“We felt like calling an action we were comfortable with and looking at multiple options, which they blew up a couple of the options with their defense,” he said. “But like Jaylen going to his right hand for a pull-up jump shot, it’s hard to get a good look in those moments. And he got a clean look at the rim and we believe in him and trust him.”

Stevens has called timeouts in similar situations before. He’s not opposed to stopping a sloppy play in its track to start over or call something new. But Jayson Tatum’s account of what happened shows the play ran mostly the way it was supposed to run.

“We were running one of our set plays where I throw it to Gordon (Hayward)," he said. "I was supposed to come off a flare and you can either do a dribble handoff with the guy in the corner, (Jaylen Brown), or come off a ball screen that Theis sets. JB got a good shot. Something he can hit. It just didn’t go in.”

Here’s a look at the play.

https://twitter.com/RedsArmy_John/status/1234016570436878336

You can see how Tatum’s account jives with how it played out. The Rockets did a good job denying Tatum off the screen, so the next option was Brown coming up from the corner. Rather than throw himself into Covington and hope for a foul, he opted for a step-back jumper.

“It felt good,” Brown said. “That’s a shot I’ve been shooting all season, I’ve been working on, it just didn’t fall.”

Gordon Hayward agreed.

“Were trying to get something out of a play that we run and that was a good look as well.” he said. “We competed out there, fought back to give ourselves a chance and had our opportunities.”

Stevens opted not to call a timeout in that moment, instead trusting his players to run a set play and get a good shot. Had the shot fallen, few would question his decision.

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2020/03/boston-celtics-brad-stevens-comfortable-with-final-play-of-overtime-i-was-good-with-the-way-we-ended-that.html

[RPGenerate]

Uh oh, this isn't gonna sit well with the people on the game threads lol.

[Phantom255x]

Well Brad....

[Roy H.]

We had one timeout, right?

So let’s say after a timeout the play works, and we score. Houston calls a timeout and they score quickly. I guarantee you people would be complaining because Brad did not leave a time out.

Or, if the team took a quick shot out of a time out and miss and Houston got the ball. After a couple of made free throws, we would need a three, again with no timeouts.  Same complaining.

Jaylen got a good look. He makes that shot 50% of the time I bet.

[Phantom255x]

We had one timeout, right?

So let’s say after a timeout the play works, and we score. Houston calls a timeout and they score quickly. I guarantee you people would be complaining because Brad did not leave a time out.

Or, if the team took a quick shot out of a time out and miss and Houston got the ball. After a couple of made free throws, we would need a three, again with no timeouts.  Same complaining.

Jaylen got a good look. He makes that shot 50% of the time I bet.

My personal thought was, dribble up the floor, and then call a timeout with 10 seconds left.

What you have to do is have time to potentially take two shots (or foul quickly and get back another possession) if you miss the first time. And as we saw, Jaylen missed, we got the offensive board, and Theis hit the jumper BUT it was well after the buzzer.

Even if Houston gets the rebound off a Jaylen miss, force them with 2 FTs and you still have a chance to tie down 3.

[SparzWizard]

But I was not good with the way we ended that.

[droopdog7]

People ALWAYS complain when the ball doesn’t go in.  I saw zero issue with a time out and frankly, it didn’t even cross my mind until I saw people complaining.

[KGs Knee]

I don't really like this 'run a set play' mentality of Brad's.  Put the ball in your best player's hands and get the heck out of the way.

1 shot for the game?  That's Tatum's shot.  Not anyone else's unless he passes it to you.

[jambr380]

We had one timeout, right?

So let’s say after a timeout the play works, and we score. Houston calls a timeout and they score quickly. I guarantee you people would be complaining because Brad did not leave a time out.

Or, if the team took a quick shot out of a time out and miss and Houston got the ball. After a couple of made free throws, we would need a three, again with no timeouts.  Same complaining.

Jaylen got a good look. He makes that shot 50% of the time I bet.

My personal thought was, dribble up the floor, and then call a timeout with 10 seconds left.

What you have to do is have time to potentially take two shots (or foul quickly and get back another possession) if you miss the first time. And as we saw, Jaylen missed, we got the offensive board, and Theis hit the jumper BUT it was well after the buzzer.

Even if Houston gets the rebound off a Jaylen miss, force them with 2 FTs and you still have a chance to tie down 3.

I agree. The way it played out, we only had one chance at it anyway so we might as well have gotten the best shot possible when Houston's defense proved to be effective. Call a TO with 10 seconds left, try to get a shot going to the hoop with ~3 seconds left (if possible), and have everybody else crash the boards.

I don't really buy the arguments of scoring too quickly or missing/fouling/needing the TO after FTs. The goal was obviously to get the last shot (as evidenced by Jaylen's fall-away jumper), but that can't have been the best shot.

Brad is a great coach, but he kind-of blew this one by not doing what he does best (ATOs).

[tazzmaniac]

No reason to call a timeout if you're comfortable with the play call and how the players are executing it.  This wasn't a situation where movement stopped and players were trying to force ISOs. 

The article's suggestion to call a timeout when Covington stopped Brown's progress is idiotic.  There'd have been 5 seconds left on the clock to inbound the ball and likely be forced to put up a worse shot. 

[GreenFaith1819]

I'm happy with not only last night's coaching but the last 5-6 years of CBS.

He is fast to admit his mistakes.

The ONE play he DID not...COULD not call was THIS one:



We took a bonafide contender to overtime without our quiet leader.

Coach Stevens is NOT at fault for last night.

[Who]

I am happy with the decision. Timeouts give opponents time to set up their defense better. If your team is organized and knows what it wants to do - do it. No need for a timeout. Better to get up and go. Give your opponent no rest, no time to get organized.

In this individual case it worked reasonably. Not great but certainly not badly. It wasn't an ideal shot but a decent one. Ball in the hands of a good player (Jaylen) getting a make-able shot for him. A 15 footer fading away. Probably shoots around 40% on that. Average game winners are like what 30% (because it is so hard to get a clean look at the basket). Something like that. So a decent opportunity.

[Rosco917]

They lost the game because they were outplayed in the second half, physically.

Because the bench scored a total of 4 points.

Because the starters had a total of 10 assists. (Harden had 8 himself.)

Marcus shot the ball 22 times, at a horrible percentage, while Gordon Hayward shot the ball 16 times at near 50%.

Harden saw he wasn't having a great night, for what ever reason, and handed the keys to the car to Westbrook. (Or should I say Westbrook took them)

Shooting percentage, and assists (assisting in easy baskets) mean something. There are only so many shots in a game. Knowing when to stop trying to put the square peg in the round hole, and learning to decoy yourself by finding the man with a better percentage shot also means something.

 

[hpantazo]

I don't really like this 'run a set play' mentality of Brad's.  Put the ball in your best player's hands and get the heck out of the way.

1 shot for the game?  That's Tatum's shot.  Not anyone else's unless he passes it to you.

The problem is, we tried that about 10-12 times late in the 4th and in OT last night, with poor results.

[GreenFaith1819]

They lost the game because they were outplayed in the second half, physically.

Because the bench scored a total of 4 points.

Because the starters had a total of 10 assists. (Harden had 8 himself.)

Marcus shot the ball 22 times, at a horrible percentage, while Gordon Hayward shot the ball 16 times at near 50%.

Harden saw he wasn't having a great night, for what ever reason, and handed the keys to the car to Westbrook. (Or should I say Westbrook took them)

Shooting percentage, and assists (assisting in easy baskets) mean something. There are only so many shots in a game. Knowing when to stop trying to put the square peg in the round hole, and learning to decoy yourself by finding the man with a better percentage shot also means something.

So much THIS.

It is a crying shame that someone like PJ Tucker has NEVER - to my knowledge - got ANY Defensive Team votes over the years.

C'MON NBA give Pops Junior some Defensive Team love!!



Dude imposed his will on us last night...was all over the place....reminded me of a 2 inch taller and about 20 pounds heavier Marcus Smart....

It is he and Covington that will make HOU serious contenders...they proved this to me last night.

So proud of our team for fighting against them.