I need to relax and wait for the 20 game rule!

[pokeKingCurtis]

Exactly 500

[Somebody]

And we have a neutral (or slightly negative after this loss) SRS with a .500 record. Simply unacceptable for the level of talent we have.

[Kiorrik]

And we have a neutral (or slightly negative after this loss) SRS with a .500 record. Simply unacceptable for the level of talent we have.

Idk bud.

I'd say it's about right for what we've seen.

It's largely just our players not hitting shots in the bad games.

[radiohead]

We have a brutal stretch of games coming up. Who knows what Celtic team shows up. It’s been a roller coaster ride during he first 20 games.

[Kiorrik]

We have a brutal stretch of games coming up. Who knows what Celtic team shows up. It’s been a roller coaster ride during he first 20 games.

It's like a one armed bandit.

Let's see if they'll end up with a winning record.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Just in case anyone thought the bad shooting against Brooklyn was a fluke, Boston just proved otherwise. No, they won't always shoot as badly as they did tonight, but make no mistake—this is a bad-shooting team, as their 20th-ranked TS%, 23rd-ranked FG%, and 24th-ranked eFG% confirm.

I'm sure some fans will focus on the near comeback and be encouraged by that, but I think that's fool's gold. Of course it's good to have the ability to pull off comebacks, and the Cs have done that at times, but comebacks, and even near comebacks, can mask significant problems, and this team has several. Why does Boston tend to start games poorly? Why do these guys often wait until their backs are against the wall before deciding to really get after it? And why do they often play down to their competition?

For the most part, they just got abused by a 4-win team. They just faced a defense ranked No. 27 in opponent FG% (46.9%) and No. 21 in opponent 3PT% (35.6%) and shot a putrid 37% and 29.4%, respectively. And most of that putridness came from Boston's starters—a.k.a. their best players. At one point they were down 24 against the team that came into this game with the fourth-worst winning % in the league.

I guess the Celtics are on the "It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better" plan?

[Ed Monix]

The NBA is shooting 45%.

When the Celtics shoot above 44%, they're 7-1.

But they've failed to hit that number in 12 of the 20 games, going 3-9.

Celtics NBA Ranking:

FG%: 23rd
3FG%: 26th
Offense: 20th
Defense: 9th

[Csfan1984]

Felt like this team's floor is a .500 team. Still feels that way which is some positive. Hopefully they can play up the next 20 games.

 If they can't improve does BS become a buyer with the coaches approach of "winning the next game is all you want". Does he become more a seller in the GM approach of "let's take a step back to try to position for a big move later".

[Banner18now!]

Just in case anyone thought the bad shooting against Brooklyn was a fluke, Boston just proved otherwise. No, they won't always shoot as badly as they did tonight, but make no mistake—this is a bad-shooting team, as their 20th-ranked TS%, 23rd-ranked FG%, and 24th-ranked eFG% confirm.

I'm sure some fans will focus on the near comeback and be encouraged by that, but I think that's fool's gold. Of course it's good to have the ability to pull off comebacks, and the Cs have done that at times, but comebacks, and even near comebacks, can mask significant problems, and this team has several. Why does Boston tend to start games poorly? Why do these guys often wait until their backs are against the wall before deciding to really get after it? And why do they often play down to their competition?

For the most part, they just got abused by a 4-win team. They just faced a defense ranked No. 27 in opponent FG% (46.9%) and No. 21 in opponent 3PT% (35.6%) and shot a putrid 37% and 29.4%, respectively. And most of that putridness came from Boston's starters—a.k.a. their best players. At one point they were down 24 against the team that came into this game with the fourth-worst winning % in the league.

I guess the Celtics are on the "It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better" plan?

They were doing the same things last year. We were told Brad was the problem and getting Ime would change things since that was Tatum and Browns guy. Same bad shooting team with lackluster effort.

[letsgoblue86]

Have never really been a fan of the brown and Tatum can’t exist together angle. I think the two of them can co-exist but clearly it’s not producing a winning product.
May be time to try and flip one of them. The question is which one…gun to my head id trade Tatum. I think we could probably get a return that makes a better team.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Felt like this team's floor is a .500 team. Still feels that way which is some positive. Hopefully they can play up the next 20 games.

 If they can't improve does BS become a buyer with the coaches approach of "winning the next game is all you want". Does he become more a seller in the GM approach of "let's take a step back to try to position for a big move later".

Seems like this has been the approach for years now. Still waiting for the big move.

[blink]

Well it seemed like they might have turned the corner when they got to 10-8.  But those last two losses completely halted any positive momentum they had.  If you look back at the first 20 games, we have maybe 3 decent wins.  We beat the Bucks, beat the Heat on the road, and beat the Hornets in overtime.  That is it.  All of our other wins are against pretty poor teams. 

We played 10 games against teams that are above us in the standings right now, we went 3-7 in those games.  Now who really knows if some of those teams are really that good (Chicago/Washington/Knicks), but if you had to take something from these first 20 games it would be that we aren't a very good team.  We have improved our defense from the horrible start of the year, but it only changed our trajectory a little bit.  Our offense just isn't good enough for all the reasons listed in dozens of other threads.

It is frustrating to say, but I don't see a lot of hope that we are suddenly going to be a top 6 team in the east.  It seems more likely we are going to be fighting to get into the playoffs, and since we can't beat the top teams, a first round loss seems likely.  I really hope I am wrong. 

But this team isn't even fun to watch at this point.  It feels like we can't even play to our strengths and do the things that should come natural to our best players.  At least last season there was the hope that Kemba would shake off the rust and we would get better.  Hard to pinpoint what exactly is the problem, other than we aren't a good shooting team.  I think that Tatum and Brown can play together.  I think Tatum still has a ways to go in the maturity category, and that hurts us at times.  I still don't think we should trade either Tatum or Brown.  But something is def off with the team.  Bad coaching?  Roster construction?  Players not playing up to their potential?  Probably a little bit of all of that.

[jambr380]

Tatum and Brown can play together, but they don't seem to be any better with Brown than w/o. Seriously, check out the Cs record over the years. In contrast, the team totally implodes when Tatum is out and only Brown is playing.

This is not to say that I think Brown sucks or that he needs to go; but it is obvious that they aren't playing to the team's strengths. And if this is going to continue to be the case, then perhaps we do need to look at a bigger deal. Jaylen is an incredibly talented player - and it might be more of a Tatum problem than a Jaylen one - but if we aren't going to play better as a team with an All-Star like him in the line-up, then maybe we need to find a different All-Star that does fit whatever we are trying to do.

[todd_days_41]

Celtics trade: Brown, Richardson, Hermangomez, Nesmith
Celtics get: Murray, Young, Wood, a SAS 1st, one scrub from HOU

Spurs trade: Murray, Young, 2 1sts
Spurs get: Brown, Hermangomez

Rockets trade: Wood, one scrub
Rockets get: Richardson, Nesmith, a SAS 1st

[liam]

Celtics trade: Brown, Richardson, Hermangomez, Nesmith
Celtics get: Murray, Young, Wood, a SAS 1st, one scrub from HOU

Spurs trade: Murray, Young, 2 1sts
Spurs get: Brown, Hermangomez

Rockets trade: Wood, one scrub
Rockets get: Richardson, Nesmith, a SAS 1st

I'm not a fan of trades where we give up the best player.