Celtics (13-13) vs Suns (20-4) Game #27 12/10/21

[Goldstar88]

I thought Smart was turning the corner, but then he goes 1-13 from the field and has ZERO assists. So much for Marcus the point guard. Yeesh.

CP3 played the same amount of minutes as Marcus, shot 4-9 from the field and had 12 assists. Gets his teammates involved, and does whatever the Suns need to win games.

[ozgod]

Watching Post Game Live, Mannix made the point we were all making about how dismal the Celtics offense is, how little off ball movement there is...and Scal trying to defend Udoka by saying "every time at halftime the coaches say to not iso but they still do, so the players are going rogue". My question is, if they are not following the game plan then why are they still on the court?? Udoka needs to put his foot down if they aren't following instructions because it's ultimately his responsibility to make sure things happen.

Here is the video of the exchange. It's cellphone video so my apologies, I did the best I could 

https://youtu.be/CTNOpCMU37Y

[Kuberski33]

This team stinks. And this what lousy teams do - get their asses kicked on west coast road trips.

[radiohead]

Watching Post Game Live, Mannix made the point we were all making about how dismal the Celtics offense is, how little off ball movement there is...and Scal trying to defend Udoka by saying "every time at halftime the coaches say to not iso but they still do, so the players are going rogue". My question is, if they are not following the game plan then why are they still on the court?? Udoka needs to put his foot down if they aren't following instructions because it's ultimately his responsibility to make sure things happen.

Here is the video of the exchange. It's cellphone video so my apologies, I did the best I could 

https://youtu.be/CTNOpCMU37Y

I think part of that “going rogue” part can be attributed to players’ frustrations. I can certainly see it in JT. Here he is having a great first quarter and then gets yanked out of the game. When he’s sent back in, you can feel that he’s trying to get his rhythm back to the point of going ISO. Once he made a jumper, he was again yanked out of the game by Ime. And then it becomes a vicious circle.

[Ogaju]

I thought Smart was turning the corner, but then he goes 1-13 from the field and has ZERO assists. So much for Marcus the point guard. Yeesh.

CP3 played the same amount of minutes as Marcus, shot 4-9 from the field and had 12 assists. Gets his teammates involved, and does whatever the Suns need to win games.

Are you really comparing Smart to the PG GOAT. Celtics fan should thank Cuban and Gilbert for keeping CP3 from the Lakers when they traded for him.

[Somebody]

This team is downright awful. Getting blown out by a Suns team without Booker and Ayton after losing to a Clippers team with no George or Leonard. We aren't making the playoffs this season.

It is hard to disagree.  At best it feels like we are 7-10 seed and in the play in games.
I hope I am wrong.  But there have only been a handful of games where I feel like we look like a sure fire playoff team (top 6 seed)

I just don't see how a team with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, Marcus Smart, Dennis Schroeder and multiple solid role players is a borderline play-in team on paper - where's the blame on the person supposed to get the best out of them?

I agree on paper it seems like we should be better.  But the product on the court begs to differ...I don't know who to blame honestly.
Hopefully they will improve once Jaylen gets back, but they also might not.  It has been a frustrating / disappointing season so far.
The team is rarely fun to watch, and not just because they are losing, it just feels like we are always under-performing, and they don't have a team identity.  Everyone is up and down.  Hard to explain.   I guess a lot of that just describes mediocrity...

The product on the court begs to differ because we look clueless out there on the court: we're wasting our defensive talent by using gimmicky schemes and we are running a worse iteration of our 70s offence under Heinsohn in 2021. For all the complaints about our shooting, our overall shooting is only this poor because our coach thinks it's okay to have Marcus Smart and an ice cold Al Horford chuck 9 threes per game at a 30% clip while our best shooters in Grant Williams and Romeo Langford (both are over 40% on 2-3 attempts each) are barely getting 20MPG each.

All of this translates into a team that's not entertaining to watch and looks like they're constantly underperforming - as I said, this hire will take us to mediocrity and it's looking to be spot on so far. Stop blaming the players and start rightfully asking questions of our inept coach.

[Somebody]

Brad's got his work cut out for him. This core group just doesn't work. We changed the coach, changed the bench, same results. We need to change the core.

More like we got rid of a mediocre coach for a WOAT level one (Stevens was burnt out after the bubble and turned painfully mediocre), upgraded the bench and had our young players improve, but regressed because doing the first thing can tank teams if they're not overwhelmingly talented.

[Somebody]

Watching Post Game Live, Mannix made the point we were all making about how dismal the Celtics offense is, how little off ball movement there is...and Scal trying to defend Udoka by saying "every time at halftime the coaches say to not iso but they still do, so the players are going rogue". My question is, if they are not following the game plan then why are they still on the court??Udoka needs to put his foot down if they aren't following instructions because it's ultimately his responsibility to make sure things happen.

Here is the video of the exchange. It's cellphone video so my apologies, I did the best I could 

https://youtu.be/CTNOpCMU37Y

My question would be if they are not following the instructions of the coach, then why is the coach still here? Last time I checked, the main reason why he was hired was his ability to communicate with his players.

Another good question would be how bad the schemes that the coach wants his players to follow are if the very same players who've been under one of the 'softer' coaches in the league for years are refusing to listen to him.

[SparzWizard]

I just think the problem is this core group. Is it a generation thing? The philosophy of copying the 2015 Warriors? Not tough enough? Bad coaching fit? All of the above?

Granted these were the Suns so a loss was inevitable, but man they got blown out and not only that they lost 4 of their last 5 road games in the West. The worst I have ever seen in a long time.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Does any other team in the NBA start more non-shooters than the Celtics? I would love to see Grant Williams and Romeo move into the starting lineup.

Schroder
Romeo
Tatum
Grant
Horford

Does any other team in the NBA have more non-shooters, period, than the Celtics?

[Somebody]

I just think the problem is this core group. Is it a generation thing? The philosophy of copying the 2015 Warriors? Not tough enough? Bad coaching fit? All of the above?

Granted these were the Suns so a loss was inevitable, but man they got blown out and not only that they lost 4 of their last 5 road games in the West. The worst I have ever seen in a long time.

This was a Suns team without Devin Booker and DeAndre Ayton - it was a very winnable game.

[ozgod]

Watching Post Game Live, Mannix made the point we were all making about how dismal the Celtics offense is, how little off ball movement there is...and Scal trying to defend Udoka by saying "every time at halftime the coaches say to not iso but they still do, so the players are going rogue". My question is, if they are not following the game plan then why are they still on the court??Udoka needs to put his foot down if they aren't following instructions because it's ultimately his responsibility to make sure things happen.

Here is the video of the exchange. It's cellphone video so my apologies, I did the best I could 

https://youtu.be/CTNOpCMU37Y

My question would be if they are not following the instructions of the coach, then why is the coach still here? Last time I checked, the main reason why he was hired was his ability to communicate with his players.

Another good question would be how bad the schemes that the coach wants his players to follow are if the very same players who've been under one of the 'softer' coaches in the league for years are refusing to listen to him.

Well that was the other half of the question...it's ultimately Ime's job to get the best out of the players, and the inconsistency suggests he isn't. He has command responsibility at the end of the day. And having your players "go rogue" (like Man U did when they were trying to get Mourinho fired) definitely doesn't bode well for Ime. Maybe the players are trying to get him fired.

[Birdman]

No Ayton..No Booker..and still Suns was up 25 at one point..

[ozgod]

Does any other team in the NBA start more non-shooters than the Celtics? I would love to see Grant Williams and Romeo move into the starting lineup.

Schroder
Romeo
Tatum
Grant
Horford

Does any other team in the NBA have more non-shooters, period, than the Celtics?

I looked into this during the game, supposedly there are 8 teams that shoot worse than us from 3.



And it gets worse when you look at wide open threes...we're 26th in the league when it comes to making wide open 3s.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I just think the problem is this core group. Is it a generation thing? The philosophy of copying the 2015 Warriors? Not tough enough? Bad coaching fit? All of the above?

Granted these were the Suns so a loss was inevitable, but man they got blown out and not only that they lost 4 of their last 5 road games in the West. The worst I have ever seen in a long time.

I've said this a bunch of times, but since you brought it up I'll say it again: It is absolutely a problem that Boston has been trying to copy the Warriors. Why? Because the Warriors have maybe the two best shooters of all time, plus one of the best defensive players of all time. Those are not things you can duplicate. It works because of what they have; if you can't have what they have, then don't bother trying to do what they do!

I've said a similar thing about people trying to copy LeBron James teams, which usually featured a smallish lineup and no dominant center—it's LeBron James. As much as I dislike the guy, I can't deny that he's a generational talent, and that's not something you can duplicate!

Teams need to find their own identity. The Warriors didn't copy anyone; they might've been a bit lucky to land Curry, Thompson, and Green, but they blazed their own path. Boston has to figure out its own path.