Celtics (21-22) at Bucks (28-14) Game #44 3/24/21

[Celtics Mike]

 If only Celtics had started playing before the 4th Q
Hustle and Fight for 48 minutes not just the last 12

[liam]

They lost. That sucks.

But I WILL take a large positive out of this game, if I see the attitude they showed in the last 16 minutes rolling over into future play and it leading to wins.

They were almost the team that played so well in last year's playoffs, for a little while there. Let's hope that carries forth and we see some more inspired play.

Now if they come in next game and the Bucks destroy them, oh well! Nevermind.

If the games were 16 minutes long it'd be great.

[Atzar]

IMHO it's not effort that holds this team back. 

All game long, I watch guys overcommit on help, help when they shouldn't, lose guys off ball, miss rotations, miss extra passes, force contested shots, and miss assignments on the glass.  Effort is an element to some of these things for sure, but overall I think the biggest problem is that we just don't know how to play together.  We don't trust each other at all.  We aren't on the same page together at all. 

I've been in Stevens' corner but admittedly I'm wavering.  I'm not used to seeing this out of his teams.  In the past, his teams have been characterized by disciplined defense that often outweighed the sum of its parts and an egalitarian offense with a lot of shared responsibility.  This year I don't see any of that.  I do not think he is a bad coach.  I think he has his flaws, but is a good coach overall.  But I'm opening to the idea that this group of players just isn't listening to him.  And if that's the case, maybe it's time that we find a new voice. 

For the record, that may not solve anything.  It may very well be an issue with this group of players, rather than this coach.  But the grass on the other side of that fence is starting to look pretty [dang]ed green to me, compared with where we're sitting now.

[blink]

If Smart came off the bench.  Didnt shoot the 3. Stuck to posting up, shooting mid range, passing.

He would be a much better player

Brad has enabled and encouraged him to shoot the 3.   Even at the worst moments of the game. And for Smart to keep doing it and Brad rewarding him by leavinf him out there

The prime person to blame should be Brad imo

Excuse me, but who owns the record for 3 pt made in a game for the Cs?

Yeah, when was that. Streaky isn't the same as good. He's a career 31% 3 point shooter.

+1 that is exactly what I was going to say.  He is streaky good, but most of the time mediocre to poor.
One crazy game of hitting that many 3's doesn't make him a good shooter.

[liam]

This game was winnable with shooters on the floor at the end.

[jpotter33]

I never pray. Tonight I am. I am praying there is a significant shake up tomorrow and that Smart is no longer a Celtic. Literally can’t watch him anymore. I’m so done. Literally inexcusable that JB/JT didn’t have a single shot with a minute left.

Is that Smarts fault or Brads? Maybe call a timeout with 13 second left and not 2....could have actually drawn up a decent play.

This. Absolutely, Smart and the rest of the team own a share of the blame when they take bad shots.

But when it's this repetitive and it's clear that there's no semblance of offensive discipline or character on the team, that's a coaching staff issue. It's like raising a kid - if you enable them to continue to make bad decisions and demonstrate bad behavior, they're going to keep doing it.

The team doesn't respect the coaching staff, which is why these players just do whatever they want and take whatever bad shot they want. This crap doesn't fly under someone like Pop or hell even someone like Doc.

Sorry but the coach needs to tell his veteran PG to give the ball to his all nba player? Like come on. Tatum and Brown literally did not touch the ball in the last 1:32 of the game. Brad sucks and I hate him too but if your PG/leader can’t understand that he needs to give the ball to the best players, what are we doing here? He literally serves no purpose on this team. He’s not a rookie. He’s expected to make the right play and literally never does.

I mean, I think literally all of that can be attributed back to the coach not doing his duty lol If this was a one time thing? Sure. Absolutely. Completely all of the player's fault. But this is obviously not a one time thing. Smart has long had a terrible shot selection at times, yet Stevens has done nothing to reign it in. That's just as much on Brad as Smart at this point.

Also, I think people are overreacting on Smart. Yeah, he's not been great since coming back from injury, but neither has the team. Smart is still a crucial piece of what we do, but he's being asked - and/or allowed - to do too much out there due to the futility of the rest of the roster and coaching and the overall failure of our "gameplan" and philosophy to work. When put back in a situation when he's not asked to do too much, he'll be just as valuable to us as he's always been.

[blink]

They lost. That sucks.

But I WILL take a large positive out of this game, if I see the attitude they showed in the last 16 minutes rolling over into future play and it leading to wins.

They were almost the team that played so well in last year's playoffs, for a little while there. Let's hope that carries forth and we see some more inspired play.

Now if they come in next game and the Bucks destroy them, oh well! Nevermind.

If the games were 16 minutes long it'd be great.

The overall effort and discipline was completely lacking tonight.  Bad shot selection by Smart, bad defense / effort by Tatum a lot, Kemba just randomly dribbling everywhere with no plan or no strategy.  for the 2nd and 3rd quarters we just played flat.  I don't think there should be a reward for ramping up effort in the 4th.  It needs to be there the whole game.

[Ogaju]

If Smart came off the bench.  Didnt shoot the 3. Stuck to posting up, shooting mid range, passing.

He would be a much better player

Brad has enabled and encouraged him to shoot the 3.   Even at the worst moments of the game. And for Smart to keep doing it and Brad rewarding him by leavinf him out there

The prime person to blame should be Brad imo

Excuse me, but who owns the record for 3 pt made in a game for the Cs?

Yeah, when was that. Streaky isn't the same as good. He's a career 31% 3 point shooter.

Well he knows he owns the record and plays like it. That is why Brad should have given JB the chance to break that record when he got to 10 3s made the other night.

[Phantom255x]

The C's are the 8 seed and just half-a-game ahead of the 9 seed.

They are also 2 games back of the 4 seed

 

[gouki88]

If Smart came off the bench.  Didnt shoot the 3. Stuck to posting up, shooting mid range, passing.

He would be a much better player

Brad has enabled and encouraged him to shoot the 3.   Even at the worst moments of the game. And for Smart to keep doing it and Brad rewarding him by leavinf him out there

The prime person to blame should be Brad imo

Excuse me, but who owns the record for 3 pt made in a game for the Cs?

A career 32% three point shooter. You'll remember we lost that game when Smart hit 11 threes - like we lose all the games he shoots a lot in

[liam]

They lost. That sucks.

But I WILL take a large positive out of this game, if I see the attitude they showed in the last 16 minutes rolling over into future play and it leading to wins.

They were almost the team that played so well in last year's playoffs, for a little while there. Let's hope that carries forth and we see some more inspired play.

Now if they come in next game and the Bucks destroy them, oh well! Nevermind.

If the games were 16 minutes long it'd be great.

The overall effort and discipline was completely lacking tonight.  Bad shot selection by Smart, bad defense / effort by Tatum a lot, Kemba just randomly dribbling everywhere with no plan or no strategy.  for the 2nd and 3rd quarters we just played flat.  I don't think there should be a reward for ramping up effort in the 4th.  It needs to be there the whole game.

Agreed. Remember the time we almost beat someone isn't anything. It's just anther lose that appears to be no big deal to anyone on out team. Call out you team mates Brown. Call out Smart for jacking those crap shots Tatum. The 2021 Boston Celtics they almost one a game or two.

[radiohead]

Trade deadline can’t come any sooner. Let’s all hope were a better team by tomorrow.

[ozgod]

IMHO it's not effort that holds this team back. 

All game long, I watch guys overcommit on help, help when they shouldn't, lose guys off ball, miss rotations, miss extra passes, force contested shots, and miss assignments on the glass.  Effort is an element to some of these things for sure, but overall I think the biggest problem is that we just don't know how to play together.  We don't trust each other at all.  We aren't on the same page together at all. 

I've been in Stevens' corner but admittedly I'm wavering.  I'm not used to seeing this out of his teams.  In the past, his teams have been characterized by disciplined defense that often outweighed the sum of its parts and an egalitarian offense with a lot of shared responsibility.  This year I don't see any of that.  I do not think he is a bad coach.  I think he has his flaws, but is a good coach overall.  But I'm opening to the idea that this group of players just isn't listening to him.  And if that's the case, maybe it's time that we find a new voice. 

For the record, that may not solve anything.  It may very well be an issue with this group of players, rather than this coach.  But the grass on the other side of that fence is starting to look pretty [dang]ed green to me, compared with where we're sitting now.

TP, totally agree. They don't lack for effort, but they aren't coordinated together.

[liam]

The C's are the 8 seed and just half-a-game ahead of the 9 seed.

They are also 2 games back of the 4 seed

 

Making that draft pick valuable.

[RJ87]

Some of you are being way too nice. Don’t get me wrong I’m not crying over this loss but this team deserves 0 credit. The only reason they even had to comeback was because they, as usual, played with sticks up with their butts for at least two quarters.

Play hard they would have won. I’m done with moral victories, the only acceptable loss is when they play hard and lose ( like our bad but hard working 15-17 teams).

Yeah, those 2015-2017 teams had a strong mentality. Even in losing, they still fought hard.

This team? All this talent and still losing games left and right? Pretty much the same team that made it to the ECF 6 months ago? Downright embarrassing!

Exactly from possible title contender to this. It is embarrassing.

Lol. We we're never a title contender this year. That was the biggest preseason myth. It was cute, but it was never realistic.

Cute?  lol

Last year they were up and coming. This is a major step back.

We've been up and coming for half a decade now except we keep losing All-Star talent and replacing them with end of bench fodder. I don't understand how fans are so surprised that half the conference has passed us by. We're running a marathon when the race is a sprint.