Celtics rotation vs Nets?

[Tr1boy]

After yesterdays quick yanking of Pritchard, looks like he is inching closer off the rotation 

He plays hard, started well, can shoot the 3... but has hit another wall unfortunately

Starting
TL (lets hope)
Tatum
Fournier
Smart
Walker

Bench
Thompson
Semi/Grant
Nesmith
Langford

The bigger concern imo is TL turf toe/hips.   Nets are already a handful with Jordan, Griffin and Claxton up front. 

Tacko time? Not sure what Brad has up his sleeves if TL can't play

How would you set the roster? 

[slamtheking]

obviously it depends on matchups, who's making shots and who'd defending their assignments well.

Pritchard is likely to get some run.  getting pulled from the Wash game doesn't mean the same will happen against the Nets although, if PP struggled against Beal and Westbrook, he's likely going to struggle against Kyrie and Harden

[Goldstar88]

I see TL missing the first two games and I think he should rest. This would put Tristan in the starting lineup. A bench rotation consisting of Pritchard, Nesmith, Langford, Semi, Grant and Kornet is shameful. 

[Tr1boy]

I see TL missing the first two games and I think he should rest. This would put Tristan in the starting lineup. A bench rotation consisting of Pritchard, Nesmith, Langford, Grant and Kornet is shameful. 

[dang]...

Celts should have probably kept Theis

[Tr1boy]

obviously it depends on matchups, who's making shots and who'd defending their assignments well.

Pritchard is likely to get some run.  getting pulled from the Wash game doesn't mean the same will happen against the Nets although, if PP struggled against Beal and Westbrook, he's likely going to struggle against Kyrie and Harden

This is where I'm at also

PP didnt look good vs Nets this season.  I still rememember him trying to guard KD.  And KD shot the 3 like he wasnt even there

[nickagneta]

obviously it depends on matchups, who's making shots and who'd defending their assignments well.

Pritchard is likely to get some run.  getting pulled from the Wash game doesn't mean the same will happen against the Nets although, if PP struggled against Beal and Westbrook, he's likely going to struggle against Kyrie and Harden

I think Pritchard got pulled last night not for his defense on Westbrook and Beal but because of his atrocious defense on Ish Smith. Ish isn't like Westbrook and Beal that are physically bigger, stronger and way more talented than Pritchard. Yet Smith turned Payton into a turnstile.

His defense has been the reason Pritchard has gotten pulled from a bunch of games this year. When he is that bad, he deserves to be pulled.

But as always, I think Brad will still go to Pritchard until he once again fails defensively. As long as Payton can be okay to good defensively and hit his open shots, I think Brad will give him his normal 17-21 MPG.

[Celtics2021]

Pritchard and Walker don’t seem to be an effective combination, or at least Stevens doesn’t seem to think so, as they almost never play together.  As Kemba plays more minutes in the postseason, Pritchard will necessarily get less.

Still, with the scoring that Brooklyn can put up, it would be surprising if Stevens doesn’t go to him some night during the series to get some points from someone other than Tatum and Walker.  Kyrie and Harden both can be unguardable at times, so Pritchard’s inconsistent defense won’t matter if no one else on the team can contain them either.

[PhoSita]

I would expect

Starters

Walker
Smart
Fournier
Tatum
Thompson

Reserves

Pritchard
Nesmith
Grant
Semi
Rob (if he can go)


Maybe Romeo could get some run instead of Semi, if he holds his own on defense.

[Tr1boy]

I would expect

Starters

Walker
Smart
Fournier
Tatum
Thompson

Reserves

Pritchard
Nesmith
Grant
Semi
Rob (if he can go)


Maybe Romeo could get some run instead of Semi, if he holds his own on defense.

really?

Romeo from what it looks like, is already ahead of Semi and Grant

Did you see the job he did on Westbrook yesterday??   

[slamtheking]

obviously it depends on matchups, who's making shots and who'd defending their assignments well.

Pritchard is likely to get some run.  getting pulled from the Wash game doesn't mean the same will happen against the Nets although, if PP struggled against Beal and Westbrook, he's likely going to struggle against Kyrie and Harden

I think Pritchard got pulled last night not for his defense on Westbrook and Beal but because of his atrocious defense on Ish Smith. Ish isn't like Westbrook and Beal that are physically bigger, stronger and way more talented than Pritchard. Yet Smith turned Payton into a turnstile.

His defense has been the reason Pritchard has gotten pulled from a bunch of games this year. When he is that bad, he deserves to be pulled.

But as always, I think Brad will still go to Pritchard until he once again fails defensively. As long as Payton can be okay to good defensively and hit his open shots, I think Brad will give him his normal 17-21 MPG.

this was my core point.  Can throw Ish into the Beal/Westbrook group in terms of players PP couldn't defend well

[Celtics2021]

I would expect

Starters

Walker
Smart
Fournier
Tatum
Thompson

Reserves

Pritchard
Nesmith
Grant
Semi
Rob (if he can go)


Maybe Romeo could get some run instead of Semi, if he holds his own on defense.

really?

Romeo from what it looks like, is already ahead of Semi and Grant

Did you see the job he did on Westbrook yesterday??

I’m on Team Romeo, but I think Semi might be more capable of offering resistance against KD than Romeo.  Can’t have Tatum guard KD the whole game AND need him to put up 40.  Certainly not for an entire series.

[hwangjini_1]

I would expect

Starters

Walker
Smart
Fournier
Tatum
Thompson

Reserves

Pritchard
Nesmith
Grant
Semi
Rob (if he can go)


Maybe Romeo could get some run instead of Semi, if he holds his own on defense.

this seems like the most likely scenario to me, though i tend to think that CBS will play langford before semi, as you mention in your final sentence.

not to derail the thread, but romeo is going to be a good nba player...once he develops a jump shot.  he has a higher ceiling than nesmith, i think. and i like nesmith.

[RPGenerate]

I think Pritchard is going to have a hard time earning minutes in this series, as I don't see him being able to defend Kyrie/Harden. I think we're going to see a lot of Smart at point and Nesmith/Langford at the 2 spot.

[Ogaju]

You put Tatum on KD and he will be riding the bench the entire series.

[jpotter33]

Obviously context-dependent given Timelord’s toe, but here’s what I’d like to see:

Starters:
Kemba
Smart
Fournier
Tatum
Timelord

Bench:
Thompson
Nesmith
Romeo
Semi
Payton with spot guard minutes when Smart/Kemba are resting

I’d pair Smart every second with Harden AND DO NOT SWITCH OFF OF HIM. He’s shown that he can really frustrate Harden defensively, and when we don’t fall into his switching/mismatch expertise we can really slow him down.

As for Kyrie, I think we give him different looks throughout the game, but primarily have Kemba or Romeo guard him with single coverage and try to have him beat us himself. I also would allow switches with Kyrie. Would do the same with Durant - different looks of Tatum, Fournier, Semi, and Romeo and give him different defensive looks.

The real issue I think is going to be covering Harris and not letting him torch us from 3. Not sure how well Fournier will do chasing him around.

Offensively, we won’t do this because Brad never does much to my chagrin, but I think we should hammer home and force the Kyrie, Harden, and DJ mismatches on Tatum, Fournier, and Kemba as much as possible. Try to get them in foul trouble and/or force them to guard every time down the court, because we know they’re not going to put effort in every time defensively and are subject to exploitation. They’re also apparently one of the worst teams guarding isolation, so with our strong iso players in Tatum, Kemba, and Fournier I think we can try to take advantage of them there. (That is, we always resort to iso ball anyways, so might as well do it in preferable matchups for us.)