Ime has got to go!

[nickagneta]

After Udoka turned the Celtics around with a great coaching performance, many, many posters said, "Yeah, but let's see what he can do in the playoffs because that's a different game.

After two games, Udoka is doing a masterful job in these playoffs. National NBA guys are praising his coaching job this year and especially the past two games.

Maybe, Udoka is just, plain and simple, a great coach, regardless of whether he is white, black or something else. Whether he never had a head coaching job or not. Whether he was player selected and approved or not. Whether it's the regular season or not.

[Roy H.]

After Udoka turned the Celtics around with a great coaching performance, many, many posters said, "Yeah, but let's see what he can do in the playoffs because that's a different game.

After two games, Udoka is doing a masterful job in these playoffs. National NBA guys are praising his coaching job this year and especially the past two games.

Maybe, Udoka is just, plain and simple, a great coach, regardless of whether he is white, black or something else. Whether he never had a head coaching job or not. Whether he was player selected and approved or not. Whether it's the regular season or not.

Udoka has done a really nice job making adjustments and outmatching Steve Nash.  This video doesn't focus specifically on coaching, but it's a decent breakdown of some of the things the Celtics are doing right and the Nets are doing wrong:

https://youtu.be/AAtTgfjtQUk

Ime is an excellent coach.  That said, I do think that there were some legitimate questions coming into the playoffs:

1.  How would the team respond to increased pressure?

2.  Would the team play better in close games than it did earlier in the season?

3.  With other teams shortening their rotations and playing with more intensity, would the team have the same advantage it had playing balls to the wall since January?

4.  Can the team conquer the road in the playoffs?

So far, so good.

That said, perception is fickle.  If Marcus takes the shot at the end of Game 1 rather than passing, and he misses, all of a sudden Ime is being targeted as being "overmatched".  The narratives -- at least among critics -- would be that the Celtics collapsed in the fourth quarter, Ime didn't have the team ready, and he was stupid for not calling a timeout.

[angryguy77]

He's done a fantastic job and so far I believe he's way better than Brad. The style and how smart he has the team playing is way better than anything I saw during the BS years. He deserves a lot of props for getting this team on track after a terrible first half of the season.

You can't fault people for jumping ship earlier on as the team was playing below its ability until Jan.

[Donoghus]

Anyone send out a search party for Somebody yet?

[MarcusSmartFanClub]

He's done a fantastic job and so far I believe he's way better than Brad. The style and how smart he has the team playing is way better than anything I saw during the BS years. He deserves a lot of props for getting this team on track after a terrible first half of the season.

You can't fault people for jumping ship earlier on as the team was playing below its ability until Jan.

Why can't we fault people for knee jerk reactions?

I too was frustrated until mid January, but I didn't think a 1/2 year was a large enough sample size. People wanted to can Ime and get someone else, while some wanted anyone else. Could you imagine if Brad listened to these fair weather fans?

[SHAQATTACK]

Boy ….KD looked so awful depressed when he mumbled looking down shaking his head …after game interview …..they are beating us with OUR COACH .   Ouch…..Steve Nash 

Nash failed game 2 ….head to head Ime owned him.

[angryguy77]

He's done a fantastic job and so far I believe he's way better than Brad. The style and how smart he has the team playing is way better than anything I saw during the BS years. He deserves a lot of props for getting this team on track after a terrible first half of the season.

You can't fault people for jumping ship earlier on as the team was playing below its ability until Jan.

Why can't we fault people for knee jerk reactions?

I too was frustrated until mid January, but I didn't think a 1/2 year was a large enough sample size. People wanted to can Ime and get someone else, while some wanted anyone else. Could you imagine if Brad listened to these fair weather fans?

Under brad we underachieved IMO. It looked like that was happening again earlier this year. I'm not saying the calls for his head were correct, but given how they were playing with the talent they have, it is understandable why some felt that way.

[Moranis]

He's done a fantastic job and so far I believe he's way better than Brad. The style and how smart he has the team playing is way better than anything I saw during the BS years. He deserves a lot of props for getting this team on track after a terrible first half of the season.

You can't fault people for jumping ship earlier on as the team was playing below its ability until Jan.

Why can't we fault people for knee jerk reactions?

I too was frustrated until mid January, but I didn't think a 1/2 year was a large enough sample size. People wanted to can Ime and get someone else, while some wanted anyone else. Could you imagine if Brad listened to these fair weather fans?

Under brad we under achieved IMO. It looked like that was happening again earlier this year. I'm not saying the calls for his head were correct, but given how they were playing with the talent they have, it is understandable why some felt that way.

Did we underachieve?  I don't think we did.

[mobilija]

He's done a fantastic job and so far I believe he's way better than Brad. The style and how smart he has the team playing is way better than anything I saw during the BS years. He deserves a lot of props for getting this team on track after a terrible first half of the season.

You can't fault people for jumping ship earlier on as the team was playing below its ability until Jan.

Why can't we fault people for knee jerk reactions?

I too was frustrated until mid January, but I didn't think a 1/2 year was a large enough sample size. People wanted to can Ime and get someone else, while some wanted anyone else. Could you imagine if Brad listened to these fair weather fans?

Under brad we under achieved IMO. It looked like that was happening again earlier this year. I'm not saying the calls for his head were correct, but given how they were playing with the talent they have, it is understandable why some felt that way.

Did we underachieve?  I don't think we did.

So now, we're overachieving?

[angryguy77]

He's done a fantastic job and so far I believe he's way better than Brad. The style and how smart he has the team playing is way better than anything I saw during the BS years. He deserves a lot of props for getting this team on track after a terrible first half of the season.

You can't fault people for jumping ship earlier on as the team was playing below its ability until Jan.

Why can't we fault people for knee jerk reactions?

I too was frustrated until mid January, but I didn't think a 1/2 year was a large enough sample size. People wanted to can Ime and get someone else, while some wanted anyone else. Could you imagine if Brad listened to these fair weather fans?

Under brad we under achieved IMO. It looked like that was happening again earlier this year. I'm not saying the calls for his head were correct, but given how they were playing with the talent they have, it is understandable why some felt that way.

Did we underachieve?  I don't think we did.

Yes I believe we did. There's a stark contrast to how they play vs now and under Brad. I didn't comment that much during Brad's tenure, but when I did it was often about how it was like watching street ball. The shot selection was bad and there was no flow to the offense imo for the majority of his time coaching. Under Ime, I see a team playing, under Brad I saw 5 guys dribbling and shooting.

I 100% believe they lose yesterday if Brad was coaching. I can't remember anytime that I saw him adjust to a swarming(higher energy than normal) defense like what we saw out of the nets in the first half yesterday.

[angryguy77]

He's done a fantastic job and so far I believe he's way better than Brad. The style and how smart he has the team playing is way better than anything I saw during the BS years. He deserves a lot of props for getting this team on track after a terrible first half of the season.

You can't fault people for jumping ship earlier on as the team was playing below its ability until Jan.

Why can't we fault people for knee jerk reactions?

I too was frustrated until mid January, but I didn't think a 1/2 year was a large enough sample size. People wanted to can Ime and get someone else, while some wanted anyone else. Could you imagine if Brad listened to these fair weather fans?

Under brad we under achieved IMO. It looked like that was happening again earlier this year. I'm not saying the calls for his head were correct, but given how they were playing with the talent they have, it is understandable why some felt that way.

Did we underachieve?  I don't think we did.

So now, we're overachieving?

Room to get better, but I believe they're getting the job done.

[nickagneta]

He's done a fantastic job and so far I believe he's way better than Brad. The style and how smart he has the team playing is way better than anything I saw during the BS years. He deserves a lot of props for getting this team on track after a terrible first half of the season.

You can't fault people for jumping ship earlier on as the team was playing below its ability until Jan.

Why can't we fault people for knee jerk reactions?

I too was frustrated until mid January, but I didn't think a 1/2 year was a large enough sample size. People wanted to can Ime and get someone else, while some wanted anyone else. Could you imagine if Brad listened to these fair weather fans?

Under brad we under achieved IMO. It looked like that was happening again earlier this year. I'm not saying the calls for his head were correct, but given how they were playing with the talent they have, it is understandable why some felt that way.

Did we underachieve?  I don't think we did.

Gotta agree with Mo here. Yes, Brad's team underachieved in that final Kyrie year but when else did they? 2020...the ECFs? Maybe but I think they landed about where they should have given how they were perceived before and during the season. Last season? Maybe, but huge amounts of injuries and games missed to Covid and given crappy off-season additions from Ainge and .500 and an early out in the playoffs is, again, probably where they should have landed.

Other than that, just about every other Brad team overachieved. I don't think that can even be debated.

[Moranis]

He's done a fantastic job and so far I believe he's way better than Brad. The style and how smart he has the team playing is way better than anything I saw during the BS years. He deserves a lot of props for getting this team on track after a terrible first half of the season.

You can't fault people for jumping ship earlier on as the team was playing below its ability until Jan.

Why can't we fault people for knee jerk reactions?

I too was frustrated until mid January, but I didn't think a 1/2 year was a large enough sample size. People wanted to can Ime and get someone else, while some wanted anyone else. Could you imagine if Brad listened to these fair weather fans?

Under brad we under achieved IMO. It looked like that was happening again earlier this year. I'm not saying the calls for his head were correct, but given how they were playing with the talent they have, it is understandable why some felt that way.

Did we underachieve?  I don't think we did.

Gotta agree with Mo here. Yes, Brad's team underachieved in that final Kyrie year but when else did they? 2020...the ECFs? Maybe but I think they landed about where they should have given how they were perceived before and during the season. Last season? Maybe, but huge amounts of injuries and games missed to Covid and given crappy off-season additions from Ainge and .500 and an early out in the playoffs is, again, probably where they should have landed.

Other than that, just about every other Brad team overachieved. I don't think that can even be debated.

Yeah I just don't think the talent degradation the team went through the last several years has ever truly been appreciated by the majority of this board.  The talent on the team got significantly worse every year the last 3 years of Ainge's tenure (basically after Tatum's rookie year on).  This year a large part of the turn around was the significant changes to the roster that Stevens made, which quite simply made the overall talent on the team better.  The top 9 is the most talent the team has had since KG/PP/RA got old.  It also fits better around the strengths of Tatum, which has allowed him to unlock more of his potential and become a top 10 player he always had the talent to be.  Ainge failed miserably the last few years he was here and did a great disservice both to his coach and the players.  Stevens corrected that in his role as GM and the team is significantly better because of it. 

[Big333223]

I think the biggest difference between Brad and Ime has been that Brad would make more adjustments in response to the opponent. He'd make changes to the starting lineup and play certain guys more against certain teams (Semi seems to only be on the team to guard Giannis).

Ime seems to be taking the position, we do what we do and focus on doing that the best we can. I think this is the root of his short lineups all season. He's saying, "I don't care what the score is or who is in front of us, we're going to play our game every time."

With that mentality seeded and now growing, I think we'll see him expanding the lineups more in the future but for now, he's got his guys and showing them that he has confidence in them to get the job done.

[Goldstar88]

He's done a fantastic job and so far I believe he's way better than Brad. The style and how smart he has the team playing is way better than anything I saw during the BS years. He deserves a lot of props for getting this team on track after a terrible first half of the season.

You can't fault people for jumping ship earlier on as the team was playing below its ability until Jan.

Why can't we fault people for knee jerk reactions?

I too was frustrated until mid January, but I didn't think a 1/2 year was a large enough sample size. People wanted to can Ime and get someone else, while some wanted anyone else. Could you imagine if Brad listened to these fair weather fans?

Under brad we under achieved IMO. It looked like that was happening again earlier this year. I'm not saying the calls for his head were correct, but given how they were playing with the talent they have, it is understandable why some felt that way.

Did we underachieve?  I don't think we did.

Gotta agree with Mo here. Yes, Brad's team underachieved in that final Kyrie year but when else did they? 2020...the ECFs? Maybe but I think they landed about where they should have given how they were perceived before and during the season. Last season? Maybe, but huge amounts of injuries and games missed to Covid and given crappy off-season additions from Ainge and .500 and an early out in the playoffs is, again, probably where they should have landed.

Other than that, just about every other Brad team overachieved. I don't think that can even be debated.

You’re really going to put that on Brad when Kyrie quit on the C’s in that series against Milwaukee? He had already decided he was going to Brooklyn and was blatantly sabotaging the team during those games.