Raptors (1-2) at Celtics (2-1) Round 2 Game 4 9/5/20

[#1P4P]

Give Toronto credit, they took the ball out of Walker and Tatum's hands for the most part and forced Brown, Smart, Theis, Semi and Wanamaker to beat them.

Stevens has to make adjustments to get shots for his guys.

This is going to be the focal point during the team’s film session. Toronto agressively doubled Tatum and Kemba on the pick especially in the 4th, that is where the adjustment must be made.

One adjustment Stevens can make is having Tatum screen for Brown and vice versa. Stevens is an excellent coach, but going back to Butler, there’s something stagnating about his offensive system that gets exploited during crunch time of the playoffs/Round of 64.

He has to figure it out and put his best players in better position to score and those players have to finish, until then this team will be succumbing to teams that they can beat.

[wiley]

KEYS TO GET BACK ON TRACK:

1.  Do not look so dejected while trying to play a sport.  Life is mostly good.  Smile and kick butt.

2.  Do not sulk after turnovers or linger after non calls.

3.  Do not take a high dribble through the teeth of one of the best NBA defenses as if it's a cakewalk.

4.  Keep it up with the mostly excellent defense. 

5.  Shoot the ball more like Kemba.  Just let it fly without measuring so hard. 

6.  Brown-get your nice step back turnaround j's flowing again to get your offense back on track.

7.  Tatum- take care of each possession.  Less turnovers = more shots.  Also work to
     set guys up to get yourself into a good flow.  Start the game with your inner Gordon Hayward
     flowing, then gradually you can shift to your inner MJ/Kobe once the flow is there and the shots
     are falling.  Don't start the game with a high level of difficulty MJ/Kobe vibe. 

8.  Brown and Tatum-lead with your energy and don't think about anything else.

9.  Give the other team their due for being extremely good.  That's an easy mental shortcut to avoid
     feeling entitled to a victory rather than slogging and suffering for it.
     

[Roy H.]

KEYS TO GET BACK ON TRACK:

1.  Do not look so dejected while trying to play a sport.  Life is mostly good.  Smile and kick butt.

2.  Do not sulk after turnovers or linger after non calls.

3.  Do not take a high dribble through the teeth of one of the best NBA defenses as if it's a cakewalk.

4.  Keep it up with the mostly excellent defense. 

5.  Shoot the ball more like Kemba.  Just let it fly without measuring so hard. 

6.  Brown-get your nice step back turnaround j's flowing again to get your offense back on track.

7.  Tatum- take care of each possession.  Less turnovers = more shots.  Also work to
     set guys up to get yourself into a good flow.  Start the game with your inner Gordon Hayward
     flowing, then gradually you can shift to your inner MJ/Kobe once the flow is there and the shots
     are falling.  Don't start the game with a high level of difficulty MJ/Kobe vibe. 

8.  Brown and Tatum-lead with your energy and don't think about anything else.

9.  Give the other team their due for being extremely good.  That's an easy mental shortcut to avoid
     feeling entitled to a victory rather than slogging and suffering for it.
   

Not to be reductive but:

1. Hit shots;

2. See #1.

[LilRip]

Offensive rebounds/2nd Chance points killed us.

Bad shooting can happen, and to the team’s credit they took it inside to generate points but bad block outs doomed the team. Can’t overcome bad shooting by not completing defensive possessions.

[Atzar]

Not to be reductive but:

1. Hit shots;

2. See #1.

Basically this.

I saw a stat that said Boston was 5-22 on uncontested threes, while Toronto was 6-8.  So we hit less open threes than they did despite getting nearly three times as many good opportunities.

Now, it’s not necessarily as simple as just chalking it up to luck.  Maybe we were pressing, or maybe our heads weren’t in the game or whatever.  I do know that most of Jaylen’s shots weren’t even close.  He was all over the place.  But I’m hopeful that, given the same quality of looks, our shooters will experience some positive regression to the mean in game 5.

They’ll need it.

[Ogaju]

KEYS TO GET BACK ON TRACK:

1.  Do not look so dejected while trying to play a sport.  Life is mostly good.  Smile and kick butt.

2.  Do not sulk after turnovers or linger after non calls.

3.  Do not take a high dribble through the teeth of one of the best NBA defenses as if it's a cakewalk.

4.  Keep it up with the mostly excellent defense. 

5.  Shoot the ball more like Kemba.  Just let it fly without measuring so hard. 

6.  Brown-get your nice step back turnaround j's flowing again to get your offense back on track.

7.  Tatum- take care of each possession.  Less turnovers = more shots.  Also work to
     set guys up to get yourself into a good flow.  Start the game with your inner Gordon Hayward
     flowing, then gradually you can shift to your inner MJ/Kobe once the flow is there and the shots
     are falling.  Don't start the game with a high level of difficulty MJ/Kobe vibe. 

8.  Brown and Tatum-lead with your energy and don't think about anything else.

9.  Give the other team their due for being extremely good.  That's an easy mental shortcut to avoid
     feeling entitled to a victory rather than slogging and suffering for it.
   

I think #7 is probably the most important point. Add one more point.

Stop losing Anunoby.... he is probably their best player so far this series.

[SparzWizard]

KEYS TO GET BACK ON TRACK:

1.  Do not look so dejected while trying to play a sport.  Life is mostly good.  Smile and kick butt.

2.  Do not sulk after turnovers or linger after non calls.

3.  Do not take a high dribble through the teeth of one of the best NBA defenses as if it's a cakewalk.

4.  Keep it up with the mostly excellent defense. 

5.  Shoot the ball more like Kemba.  Just let it fly without measuring so hard. 

6.  Brown-get your nice step back turnaround j's flowing again to get your offense back on track.

7.  Tatum- take care of each possession.  Less turnovers = more shots.  Also work to
     set guys up to get yourself into a good flow.  Start the game with your inner Gordon Hayward
     flowing, then gradually you can shift to your inner MJ/Kobe once the flow is there and the shots
     are falling.  Don't start the game with a high level of difficulty MJ/Kobe vibe. 

8.  Brown and Tatum-lead with your energy and don't think about anything else.

9.  Give the other team their due for being extremely good.  That's an easy mental shortcut to avoid
     feeling entitled to a victory rather than slogging and suffering for it.
   

I think #7 is probably the most important point. Add one more point.

Stop losing Anunoby.... he is probably their best player so far this series.

Yes...Anunoby is basically Khris Middleton of the Raptors. Neutralize him.

[Somebody]

KEYS TO GET BACK ON TRACK:

1.  Do not look so dejected while trying to play a sport.  Life is mostly good.  Smile and kick butt.

2.  Do not sulk after turnovers or linger after non calls.

3.  Do not take a high dribble through the teeth of one of the best NBA defenses as if it's a cakewalk.

4.  Keep it up with the mostly excellent defense. 

5.  Shoot the ball more like Kemba.  Just let it fly without measuring so hard. 

6.  Brown-get your nice step back turnaround j's flowing again to get your offense back on track.

7.  Tatum- take care of each possession.  Less turnovers = more shots.  Also work to
     set guys up to get yourself into a good flow.  Start the game with your inner Gordon Hayward
     flowing, then gradually you can shift to your inner MJ/Kobe once the flow is there and the shots
     are falling.  Don't start the game with a high level of difficulty MJ/Kobe vibe. 

8.  Brown and Tatum-lead with your energy and don't think about anything else.

9.  Give the other team their due for being extremely good.  That's an easy mental shortcut to avoid
     feeling entitled to a victory rather than slogging and suffering for it.
   

Tatum doesn't have an inner Gordon Hayward lol, he's a limited playmaker. I think less ballhandling duties so he can focus on scoring instead of doing something he's not good at would be a good adjustment from us. Get Tatum and Brown moving off the ball so they can quickly get into their attacks when they catch the ball and alternate ballhandling duties between Smart and Kemba.

[LilRip]

Not to be reductive but:

1. Hit shots;

2. See #1.

Basically this.

I saw a stat that said Boston was 5-22 on uncontested threes, while Toronto was 6-8.  So we hit less open threes than they did despite getting nearly three times as many good opportunities.

Now, it’s not necessarily as simple as just chalking it up to luck.  Maybe we were pressing, or maybe our heads weren’t in the game or whatever.  I do know that most of Jaylen’s shots weren’t even close.  He was all over the place.  But I’m hopeful that, given the same quality of looks, our shooters will experience some positive regression to the mean in game 5.

They’ll need it.

And yet the C’s were fairly in it despite the good offense but bad conversion rate. And I would credit the defense. Just really need to close out the defensive possessions and box out rim runners. Make them go over the top of you

[gouki88]

KEYS TO GET BACK ON TRACK:

1.  Do not look so dejected while trying to play a sport.  Life is mostly good.  Smile and kick butt.

2.  Do not sulk after turnovers or linger after non calls.

3.  Do not take a high dribble through the teeth of one of the best NBA defenses as if it's a cakewalk.

4.  Keep it up with the mostly excellent defense. 

5.  Shoot the ball more like Kemba.  Just let it fly without measuring so hard. 

6.  Brown-get your nice step back turnaround j's flowing again to get your offense back on track.

7.  Tatum- take care of each possession.  Less turnovers = more shots.  Also work to
     set guys up to get yourself into a good flow.  Start the game with your inner Gordon Hayward
     flowing, then gradually you can shift to your inner MJ/Kobe once the flow is there and the shots
     are falling.  Don't start the game with a high level of difficulty MJ/Kobe vibe. 

8.  Brown and Tatum-lead with your energy and don't think about anything else.

9.  Give the other team their due for being extremely good.  That's an easy mental shortcut to avoid
     feeling entitled to a victory rather than slogging and suffering for it.
   

Not to be reductive but:

1. Hit shots;

2. See #1.

3. Box out

[ozgod]

Well I missed watching this game live...maybe that's why I'm a bit more calm than everyone else 

At the risk of being the happy face guy I think it's too premature to be slitting wrists and giving up the season as lost. I know the overreaction is part and parcel of the emotions at the end of a must-win game but if at the start of the season we had been told we would be 2-2 with the defending champions in the ECSF we would have all taken it I think. We have to respect the fact that Toronto was going to come back, they have pride and they have heart, they're the defending champions. They didn't want to get swept and so they came out firing and we didn't.

This was easily the worst game for the team in the bubble and they failed to rise to the occasion. The team shot poorly, they were only 7-35 on 3s and 5-22 of those were uncontested, meaning the team got a shooter a good look and they just failed to execute. For JB in particular it was apparent that he probably spent the last 2 days dwelling on the breakdown that left Anunoby open for that game winning with 0.5 to go, because he couldn't hit the side of a barn door and his body language was negative as well. Sometimes I feel he puts too much pressure on himself, he probably decided to carry a cross after the Anunoby fail and it wore on him as the game went on and as he kept missing. He plays best when he's "just hooping" and not thinking about anything.

Brad Stevens needs to take responsibility for failing to prepare the team mentally, his main job (other than making in game adjustments) is to make sure the team is prepared with the right mindset before taking the floor. The team that took the floor last night was hesitant and unsure of itself and so it didn't make shots it usually made, didn't make open shots it would usually drain. When multiple players say that they didn't play hard enough and that the other team played harder, in a quasi-must-win playoff game, that's a failure in preparation. But the other way of looking at that is that they created 22 open shots from the perimeter, and they were still in with an outside chance despite playing bad.

My view is playoffs, like life in general, are about encountering adversity and responding, we can play the coulda shoulda woulda game and say if only someone had guarded Anunoby it would have been 3-0 and instead of slitting wrists we'd be getting ready to break out the champagne. But end of day we're still in with a great chance, best of 3 moves on. We have to make adjustments, just like Toronto did. Now we see what these kids are made of. These are all experiences that will either make them better or break them. Sweeping Philly might have given us all a false sense of security with respect to how good they actually are at this point...now someone has climbed off the mat and hit them in the mouth after nearly being counted out. It will be exciting to see how they respond. Shooting better than 7-35 would be a start. But if it's any consolation, the Raptors shot 25% from 3 in Game 1 and here they are 2-2. Whoever makes their shots, wins. I still think they can do it. Nobody said the road to Everest was easy. 

[RodyTur10]

Predictable iso garbage... for Kemba or Tatum or Brown

High screen and blitz. Or quick collapse close to the basket

How about letting the bench shoot a little more?? 

Gwill please score the buckets yourself sometimes. Wide open. Stop passing way back ... back to the high screen.

It would be nice if half our bench wasn't unplayable or at least Brad thinks so.

I'd agree that outside of Wanamaker and Robert Williams, our current bench is unplayable.  Grant Williams is ok in limited minutes, but we were already weak as a bench before Hayward went down. That took Smart out of our bench group. Langford's not ready and also has a torn ligament in his shooting hand. Kanter, we saw what happened when he plays in the last game. Semi is awful, I cringe whenever he gets the ball. That's basically it. Guys like Waters and Edwards and Taco should not be in consideration to see the floor in a playoff series.

How about giving Javonte Green some minutes instead of Ojeleye?

[ozgod]

Predictable iso garbage... for Kemba or Tatum or Brown

High screen and blitz. Or quick collapse close to the basket

How about letting the bench shoot a little more?? 

Gwill please score the buckets yourself sometimes. Wide open. Stop passing way back ... back to the high screen.

It would be nice if half our bench wasn't unplayable or at least Brad thinks so.

I'd agree that outside of Wanamaker and Robert Williams, our current bench is unplayable.  Grant Williams is ok in limited minutes, but we were already weak as a bench before Hayward went down. That took Smart out of our bench group. Langford's not ready and also has a torn ligament in his shooting hand. Kanter, we saw what happened when he plays in the last game. Semi is awful, I cringe whenever he gets the ball. That's basically it. Guys like Waters and Edwards and Taco should not be in consideration to see the floor in a playoff series.

How about giving Javonte Green some minutes instead of Ojeleye?

I believe he's injured.

The problem with Semi is he's indecisive offensively...unless he's wide open he hesitates about what he's going to do. He's really just a wide open spot up shooter. So if he's not open or if someone is closing out on him he will pump fake and then he holds the ball for a number of seconds which then kills our flow. Gotta be decisive in what you do, whatever that is.

[nickagneta]

Not to be reductive but:

1. Hit shots;

2. See #1.

Basically this.

I saw a stat that said Boston was 5-22 on uncontested threes, while Toronto was 6-8.  So we hit less open threes than they did despite getting nearly three times as many good opportunities.

Now, it’s not necessarily as simple as just chalking it up to luck.  Maybe we were pressing, or maybe our heads weren’t in the game or whatever.  I do know that most of Jaylen’s shots weren’t even close.  He was all over the place.  But I’m hopeful that, given the same quality of looks, our shooters will experience some positive regression to the mean in game 5.

They’ll need it.

Yeah, what Roy said. They simply had a terrible shooting night. They go 10 for 35, which is still terrible, and they win the game.

Both teams have played amazing defense but Boston shot itself in the foot by not hitting wide open looks. I don't see them shooting just 20% from three in any of the next few games.

[Birdman]

Celtics hit threes, they will win the series..if they don’t, they will lose the series..simple as that...