Lakers (14-6) at Celtics (10-7) Game #18 1/30/21

[LilRip]

We need Payton.  How sad.

We don’t need Payton. We need someone better than Teague lol doesn’t sound like the hardest thing to do.

Payton is better than Teague.

But he’s injured.

I honestly would’ve played Javonte Green or Waters instead of Teague. The only player who isn’t better than Teague on our roster is probably Carsen Brick Edwards

[kraidstar]

I bet LeBron doesn't want to see us in the Finals.  We have personnel that can defend and score against him.

Lol I’m sure lebron would love to see us in the finals.

Blatant hometown, but hopefully you were kidding.

Not kidding. Wings rule the game, and we have wings that can challenge Steroid Boy. We are in a great spot.

We just took their best shot. Our defense was legit and we were one score away from winning

[hwangjini_1]

I bet LeBron doesn't want to see us in the Finals.  We have personnel that can defend and score against him.

Even last year...i think we could beat the Fakers in the finals...too bad we are a terrible match for the cHeat.

i think injuries were more of a factor, but yes, not a good match up.

again, i hate the loss, but this team can beat the lakers in 7. i believe that.

[scaryjerry]

I bet LeBron doesn't want to see us in the Finals.  We have personnel that can defend and score against him.

Even last year...i think we could beat the Fakers in the finals...too bad we are a terrible match for the cHeat.

Truly delusional.

Heat beat us because they were better and then had no chance against the lakers just like we would’ve had no chance

[blink]

AND YET ANOTHER BLOWN GAME DOWN THE STRETCH BECAUSE WE DON'T WANT TO CALL A TIMEOUT DOWN THE STRETCH. PATHETIC. FIRE BRAD. tHERE WAS NOTHING GOING THERE.

no, this one's not on Brad.  made sense to go with it based on who the Lakers had on the floor.  Kemba had a makable shot even with the helter skelter passing.  he needed to make it.

For all Brad's faults, he's an elite ATO play designer.

That is absolutely the wrong call there - especially given that he LITERALLY drew up a great play for a Tatum shot just the previous play. A 1-12 guy getting the final shot on a scramble is not a good shot.

Just an awful in-game and end-game coach. He's lost us dozens of games down the stretch due to those kinds of dumb decisions.

You’re gonna pass up a fast break with Kemba/Brown with 8 seconds left to give the Lakers a chance to set their good defense? Come on man.

Absolutely for three reasons:

1) It wasn't a clean fastbreak. Sure, you try and see if you can get an easy look off the fastbreak, but as soon as JB pulled that back out Brad should've called a timeout. Kemba shooting an off the dribble fadeaway with his night tonight is NOT a good shot, no matter what people want to try and rationalize.

2) Brad is elite with ATO plays, literally just getting Tatum a good look that he knocked down the play before due to an ATO play.

3) They have nobody that can truly challenge Brown and Tatum on the iso, especially Tatum. Given both of their nights, I absolutely ride them that take the chance on that broken fastbreak.

#1 absolutely yes.  That fastbreak was a turnover waiting to happen, Kemba with a really bad pass to Brown with Caruso waiting to pick it off.  Jaylen had to give a great effort just to get the ball back.  Kemba forcing the pass to Brown when it really wasn't there was the first mistake.  Once Brown got the ball back, we still have 5-6 seconds left.

At that point, I dunno if as timeout gets us a better shot, Kemba got a good shot but couldn't hit it.  Tatum was hot at the end of the game.  Kind of 50/50 to call the timeout as far as I am concerned.

The biggest issue with our team right now is Kemba isn't integrated very well, and he isn't playing well at all right now.  That last second steal was a great play, but the C's just looked out of sorts the whole time Kemba was in the game tonight.

[MICeltsfan]

We need Payton.  How sad.

We don’t need Payton. We need someone better than Teague lol doesn’t sound like the hardest thing to do.

Payton is better than Teague.

But he’s injured.

I honestly would’ve played Javonte Green or Waters instead of Teague. The only player who isn’t better than Teague on our roster is probably Carsen Brick Edwards

Tbh I’m kinda surprised we didn’t see green tonight. I would’ve thought he’d be a good fit in this game and I thought he’d been playing pretty well.

[hwangjini_1]

We need Payton.  How sad.

We don’t need Payton. We need someone better than Teague lol doesn’t sound like the hardest thing to do.

Payton is better than Teague.

But he’s injured.

I honestly would’ve played Javonte Green or Waters instead of Teague. The only player who isn’t better than Teague on our roster is probably Carsen Brick Edwards

by the way, why no grant williams tonight?

[JBJT619]

I think all the Kemba talk is kind of off track.

Will Kemba get backed to speed and average 15+ with 6 assists on good percentages and make some valuable plays? Certainly; I don't think anyone here will say that he can't perform at that level.

I think the bigger issue is that we have seen that he can't perform at a high level against teams that key in on him with length and big bodies. We just watched Schroeder basically nullify Kemba.  We saw Kemba absolutely disappear  against the Heat and be basically useless.

If we actually believe we are contenders the biggest issue is:
1. Our 3rd option is getting paid 35M+ keeping us from adding more depth/a better player than Kemba lol
2. Because of deteriorating health and diminutive size he is struggling to perform well in the postseason.

I never understood why we signed Kemba in the first place because he was never going to be able to replace Kyrie and he wouldn't put us over the hump. At this point it's hard to argue that either of those opinions are wrong at this point.

What purpose does Kemba serve to this team long term?

[Silas]

We need Payton.  How sad.

We don’t need Payton. We need someone better than Teague lol doesn’t sound like the hardest thing to do.

Payton is better than Teague.

But he’s injured.

I honestly would’ve played Javonte Green or Waters instead of Teague. The only player who isn’t better than Teague on our roster is probably Carsen Brick Edwards

by the way, why no grant williams tonight?

They didn't need a 6'6" center tonight.

[RJ87]

We need Payton.  How sad.

We don’t need Payton. We need someone better than Teague lol doesn’t sound like the hardest thing to do.

Payton is better than Teague.

But he’s injured.

I honestly would’ve played Javonte Green or Waters instead of Teague. The only player who isn’t better than Teague on our roster is probably Carsen Brick Edwards

by the way, why no grant williams tonight?

Lol. Because he'd get pwned by Lebron and AD.

[Atzar]

by the way, why no grant williams tonight?

Lost his job.  He's been ineffective pretty much all year. 

[nickagneta]

Gotta agree with jpotter on this one. Brad should have called TO as soon as Kemba secured the ball. The last guy I wanted taking a last second shot was 1 for 11 Kemba. Not when Brown and Tatum had shown all game they could score at will.

But I'm not going to complain about this loss. It was an amazing game versus the defending champs. The defense was great. It was played at an NBA Finals intensity level.

Well done by both teams. Just a tremendous game overall.

[NKY fan]

We need Payton.  How sad.

We don’t need Payton. We need someone better than Teague lol doesn’t sound like the hardest thing to do.

Payton is better than Teague.

But he’s injured.

I honestly would’ve played Javonte Green or Waters instead of Teague. The only player who isn’t better than Teague on our roster is probably Carsen Brick Edwards

by the way, why no grant williams tonight?

Grant is so bad he might have scored an own basket front three point distance this game

[MICeltsfan]

We need Payton.  How sad.

We don’t need Payton. We need someone better than Teague lol doesn’t sound like the hardest thing to do.

Payton is better than Teague.

But he’s injured.

I honestly would’ve played Javonte Green or Waters instead of Teague. The only player who isn’t better than Teague on our roster is probably Carsen Brick Edwards

by the way, why no grant williams tonight?

I assume it’s because you can’t teach length and athleticism? I figure he sat because he’s not a good matchup (my opinion without backing data) against the lakers due to their length.

[tenn_smoothie]

Brad USED TO BE an elite out-of-bounds play caller. Now he just gives Tatum the ball for a dribble-dribble iso. I could draw that up.