Celtics (15-15) at Mavericks (13-15) Game #31 2/23/21

[86MaxwellSmart]

at least Tacko got in with .01 to go...Really wanted our 7-6 gimmick in earlier against their 7-4 gimmick.

[86MaxwellSmart]

Good job, Good effort.

[ozgod]

Washburn's latest. He's not too hard on them actually.

The Celtics let the game slip away midway through the fourth quarter because they began playing hero ball, had botched coverages against Jalen Brunson, who scored 16 of his 22 points in the final period, and fouled too much again.

Boston just isn’t good enough to play sloppy or absent-minded basketball. But it does. The Mavericks were in the bonus for the final 7:54, meaning the Celtics had to play nearly perfect defense to win. That’s a difficult request, especially against Doncic.

“It’s a killer,” coach Brad Stevens said of the constant foul trouble. “They had a foul to give on the last play and I heard Rick [Carlisle, the Mavericks’ coach] yell to give it. We don’t have a foul to give. So, if we can switch up into Doncic’s airspace at 50 feet and foul him, that’s a totally different deal. We’re trying to be more physical because we need to be, but we’ve got to balance that with fouling.”

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/02/24/sports/celtics-rallied-end-it-was-another-loss/

[Tr1boy]

Tatum body language with 4 mins to go was concerning

[cltc5]

i dont know how anyone thinks any coach is winning with this scrub roster.   ainge needs to go.  someone else needs to take a look at how to go forward.

Ya know, Brad also had a roster with kyrie, Gordon Hayward, al horford, oh and terry rozier, oh and Tatum and brown to boot.  For 2-3 years.  How many titles did that bring us?  At some point reality needs to set in...you can give this coach an all star roster and he can’t get them where they need to be.  Coaching at this level has a lot to do with connecting to the players and building relationships.  A lot of that is psychological and being in tune with the players.  Not saying brad doesn’t have a good relationship with players but can they lean on him when they need that little extra.  I have yet to see that.

[cltc5]

Scal alluding to the fact that sometimes some of the Celtics play with “agendas” instead of just moving the ball around and making plays and looking to be aggressive

we figured this out too Scal. It doesn’t take an expert to see that the ball is not moving.

The problem is the coach and players don’t see it

[Rikibellevie]

Scal alluding to the fact that sometimes some of the Celtics play with “agendas” instead of just moving the ball around and making plays and looking to be aggressive

we figured this out too Scal. It doesn’t take an expert to see that the ball is not moving.

The problem is the coach and players don’t see it

I was surprised that Stevens said two days ago that he found we had one of our best collectiv match against Pels during first half and then one of the worst in second half... I didn't see that, Pels played poorly at the begining, our player come with good intentions in the match but when other teams step up in agressivity and intensity we fall...

I was also mad yesterday when luckily we hit 3 3 point in a row to mirucalously come back all the staff was there jumping on the bench. We are playing the reverse we should do. I am really surprise. Didn't think I could see a team with Brad with so much iso, so few assist and so much turnovers. Many red flag and now we have to stop with the injuries or Covid speach. Now it is Romeo Langford and Smart the saviors... We were hurt, but now it is a coaching, mental and roster problem.
The option to go young and give more time to Nesmith, Pritchard and Rob is good; now Brad must build a collectiv and show he was so respected for his schems for a reason; because like that we are going nowhere and it is painfull and uggly to watch. Incredible when we have the best young duo in the league. After I know Towns, Luca, Trae Young are also struggling, but last year we couldn't imagine what happened this year. A transition year, I was sure we had a chance because of the weakness of the east; but maybe I was wrong.

[moiso]

Scal alluding to the fact that sometimes some of the Celtics play with “agendas” instead of just moving the ball around and making plays and looking to be aggressive

we figured this out too Scal. It doesn’t take an expert to see that the ball is not moving.

If we wanted to play this way we may as well have gone after Harden.  He's the best at this style.  It now seems like Brown and Tatum are pretty much taking turns going 1 on 5.  At least when Smart is around he breaks up the monotony by chucking up his own share of bad shots.  Last night the guy they drafted to be a sniper- Nesmith- played 22 minutes and had zero shot attempts.  They couldn't run one or two plays for the guy???

[cltc5]

Scal alluding to the fact that sometimes some of the Celtics play with “agendas” instead of just moving the ball around and making plays and looking to be aggressive

we figured this out too Scal. It doesn’t take an expert to see that the ball is not moving.

If we wanted to play this way we may as well have gone after Harden.  He's the best at this style.  It now seems like Brown and Tatum are pretty much taking turns going 1 on 5.  At least when Smart is around he breaks up the monotony by chucking up his own share of bad shots.  Last night the guy they drafted to be a sniper- Nesmith- played 22 minutes and had zero shot attempts.  They couldn't run one or two plays for the guy???

Part of the problem is also I’m seeing some selfishness outta brown and Tatum.  They barely look for nesmith.  Wide open guys are standing around and they and even Kemba would rather drive the lane.  A coach needs to step up and yell at these guys about what they are doing.  Don’t like it, get stepping.  You want players on your team that are gonna play team ball.  Ball has to be fair but firm.  I think yesterday was the first time I heard him yell about backing up on bongovodich.  Too late to yell now brad, your team doesn’t listen.

[footey]

Scal alluding to the fact that sometimes some of the Celtics play with “agendas” instead of just moving the ball around and making plays and looking to be aggressive

we figured this out too Scal. It doesn’t take an expert to see that the ball is not moving.

If we wanted to play this way we may as well have gone after Harden.  He's the best at this style.  It now seems like Brown and Tatum are pretty much taking turns going 1 on 5.  At least when Smart is around he breaks up the monotony by chucking up his own share of bad shots.  Last night the guy they drafted to be a sniper- Nesmith- played 22 minutes and had zero shot attempts.  They couldn't run one or two plays for the guy???

Harden is now playing very unselfishly with the Nets. He is an amazing point guard really. One of the best passers in the league.

[footey]

Just a thought: Wonder if Luka gets that last shot off if Rob Williams was out there defending him on that last play?  The one before was defended very well by Theis, so that would be hard to second guess. But the game winning shot, I wonder if Rob would have gotten it? (remember that block of Ingram 3 prior game). We will never know.

[td450]

Washburn's latest. He's not too hard on them actually.

The Celtics let the game slip away midway through the fourth quarter because they began playing hero ball, had botched coverages against Jalen Brunson, who scored 16 of his 22 points in the final period, and fouled too much again.

Boston just isn’t good enough to play sloppy or absent-minded basketball. But it does. The Mavericks were in the bonus for the final 7:54, meaning the Celtics had to play nearly perfect defense to win. That’s a difficult request, especially against Doncic.

“It’s a killer,” coach Brad Stevens said of the constant foul trouble. “They had a foul to give on the last play and I heard Rick [Carlisle, the Mavericks’ coach] yell to give it. We don’t have a foul to give. So, if we can switch up into Doncic’s airspace at 50 feet and foul him, that’s a totally different deal. We’re trying to be more physical because we need to be, but we’ve got to balance that with fouling.”

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/02/24/sports/celtics-rallied-end-it-was-another-loss/

For a demonstration on why Kemba has to go, just watch the last few minutes of the 4th quarter. Brunson is scoring at will,  and Kemba is running around on defense like a kindergartner with OCD. Brunson isn't doing any Ray Allen level cutting, he's just moving to open spots, and Kemba consistently loses track of where he is, or he gets distracted by someone else, but he's in no position to actually do anything helpful. He justs loses sight of his man. The most frustrating part was he got burnt the exact same way about 5 times in one quarter, but never made any adjustment. How is that possible for a high level NBA player, or his coach for that matter.

This was not a one game lapse. This is a consistently huge flaw in his game. Kemba is one of the worst off ball defenders I've ever seen in the NBA

[td450]

Scal alluding to the fact that sometimes some of the Celtics play with “agendas” instead of just moving the ball around and making plays and looking to be aggressive

we figured this out too Scal. It doesn’t take an expert to see that the ball is not moving.

If we wanted to play this way we may as well have gone after Harden.  He's the best at this style.  It now seems like Brown and Tatum are pretty much taking turns going 1 on 5.  At least when Smart is around he breaks up the monotony by chucking up his own share of bad shots.  Last night the guy they drafted to be a sniper- Nesmith- played 22 minutes and had zero shot attempts.  They couldn't run one or two plays for the guy???

Part of the problem is also I’m seeing some selfishness outta brown and Tatum.  They barely look for nesmith.  Wide open guys are standing around and they and even Kemba would rather drive the lane.  A coach needs to step up and yell at these guys about what they are doing.  Don’t like it, get stepping.  You want players on your team that are gonna play team ball.  Ball has to be fair but firm.  I think yesterday was the first time I heard him yell about backing up on bongovodich.  Too late to yell now brad, your team doesn’t listen.

I really think this analysis is unfair to Brown. He's scoring almost the exact same amount as Tatum, but has a total time of possession around half of Tatum's, and his assists are way up in the last month or so. His progression as a passer is outstanding. He's really not the problem here.

[NKY fan]

Scal alluding to the fact that sometimes some of the Celtics play with “agendas” instead of just moving the ball around and making plays and looking to be aggressive

we figured this out too Scal. It doesn’t take an expert to see that the ball is not moving.

If we wanted to play this way we may as well have gone after Harden.  He's the best at this style.  It now seems like Brown and Tatum are pretty much taking turns going 1 on 5.  At least when Smart is around he breaks up the monotony by chucking up his own share of bad shots.  Last night the guy they drafted to be a sniper- Nesmith- played 22 minutes and had zero shot attempts.  They couldn't run one or two plays for the guy???

Part of the problem is also I’m seeing some selfishness outta brown and Tatum.  They barely look for nesmith.  Wide open guys are standing around and they and even Kemba would rather drive the lane.  A coach needs to step up and yell at these guys about what they are doing.  Don’t like it, get stepping.  You want players on your team that are gonna play team ball.  Ball has to be fair but firm.  I think yesterday was the first time I heard him yell about backing up on bongovodich.  Too late to yell now brad, your team doesn’t listen.

I really think this analysis is unfair to Brown. He's scoring almost the exact same amount as Tatum, but has a total time of possession around half of Tatum's, and his assists are way up in the last month or so. His progression as a passer is outstanding. He's really not the problem here.

If Brown is hurting shouldnt he sit out and heal for a month? Then Tatum ISO - limit his minutes to 4 minutes stints every quarter if he really gets that tired ... Play the rest of the minutes Kemba and the misfits - have them play Brad Ball and see how it goes.
I mean can it really get worse than what is now? We are losing against teams with losing records and also teams that are missing rotation players..

[SparzWizard]

A sub 500 team losing to teams with losing record? Sounds like the norm now. What do we expect from them beating above .500 teams lol