Ime has got to go!

[MarcusSmartFanClub]

I think Celtics fans are discrediting the Bucks. They have an excellent coach and in my opinion, the best basketball player in the world. They also have underrated depth.

Ime is in his first year. His 2nd half of the regular season is already legendary. I think the winner of this series wins the championship. I see no issues with Ime going forward, and I wish him the best of luck.

Go Celtics!

[Goldstar88]

So Al had 30 points last game, shooting 11-14 from the field and 5-7 from 3pt. He was by far the most efficient scorer for the C’s. Tonight he has 7 shot attempts. How does that happen?? In the 8 games of this postseason, Horford is shooting 56.5% from the field, 53.5% from 3pt and 80% from the line. I triple checked, not a typo: 56.5% from the field, 53.5% from 3pt and 80% from the line. Someone seriously needs to let Ime know, because he clearly doesn’t. How do you not get a player putting up those kind of numbers involved in the offense EVERY game? Again, this is just bad coaching.

I'm just curious, why is it you think it's always the coach's plan/fault when certain players get the ball or not? I don't think Ime is the guy holding the Xbox controller deciding "I'm not going to let Al get the ball". Sometimes it's on Al to call for the ball or get himself in a position where he can score. Sometimes it's on the players to decide to get their teammates involved. Sometimes it's how the other team's coverages work out, clearly Milwaukee didn't want Al to do another special on them. Sometimes it's just the way the ball bounces and doesn't find people.

The players aren't puppets on strings, they need to ask themselves if certain players aren't getting the ball in scoring positions. They're the ones on the court with the ball.

This reminds me of the Kyrie Irving comments when he was talking about the Nets not really needing a coach and that he, KD and Harden could just run the show.

Do teams not have a playbook? Or are the players free to audible out there on every possession and do whatever they want? I was under the impression that the coach is the one creating/calling the plays, strategizing, setting lineups, and making adjustments/substitutions throughout the game. If he’s not doing that than I guess Kyrie would be correct.

[SparzWizard]

I think Celtics fans are discrediting the Bucks. They have an excellent coach and in my opinion, the best basketball player in the world. They also have underrated depth.

Ime is in his first year. His 2nd half of the regular season is already legendary. I think the winner of this series wins the championship. I see no issues with Ime going forward, and I wish him the best of luck.

Go Celtics!

More like the best football player in the NBA. Able to just mow down our players with no penalty, swing elbows and get away with it.

The Bucks might be exhausted after the ECSF, prob Miami would give them a run. Then again, the Bucks need to finish Game 6 first so we'll see.

[Goldstar88]

I think it was Roy who mentioned this earlier in the thread? That if Ime can't get to the conference finals then the Celtics' success in the calendar year of 2022 counts for less (or something to that effect).

Would you reconsider now, say if they end up losing this series?

I think so. A domination of Brooklyn in the first round, and going toe to toe in an extremely competitive series with the Bucks (they lost Middleton, we lost Timelord and I think Smart for some of these games).

Would you not at least give this another year to grow? At the very least I would.

At this point, he definitely should get another opportunity regardless of the outcome this post season. If he gets the C’s to the conference finals (hopefull beyond)this year, I consider that a successful season. If he can’t this year or next, you move on from him. This group is too talented for anything else to be acceptable. 

[liam]

I dog Ime a lot but he's a very good coach in only his first year. We are a young team with the core locked up and plenty of room to grow.

[Roy H.]

I think it was Roy who mentioned this earlier in the thread? That if Ime can't get to the conference finals then the Celtics' success in the calendar year of 2022 counts for less (or something to that effect).

Would you reconsider now, say if they end up losing this series?

I think so. A domination of Brooklyn in the first round, and going toe to toe in an extremely competitive series with the Bucks (they lost Middleton, we lost Timelord and I think Smart for some of these games).

Would you not at least give this another year to grow? At the very least I would.

I don't remember if I said that, or some version of that, but it doesn't sound wildly off base to me.

Ime had the team extremely motivated to end the regular season.  We were feasting on teams.  So of those teams were no doubt going through the motions, etc.  It's playoff success that teams will ultimately be evaluated on; nobody care if a team wins 68 games if they lose in the first round.

So, how do we evaluate the 2022 Celtics if they lose this series?  I think they've established that they're a top-four team in the East that can beat anybody on any given night.  However, if they lose one of the next two games, it's fair to conclude they're also behind Milwaukee.  If we can't beat a Bucks team that doesn't have Middleton, while we have home court, then they're just plain better.

Is that a tangible leap over where we were in 2020?  Probably not; we're probably just as close (and just as far away) to a championship as we were back then.  But, I remain optimistic anyway.  We've got the potential to do great things on defense and to make things extremely difficult on other teams.  We simply need more horses to play when things get tough.

[wiley]

That loss is not on Ime.  It's on 4th quarter turnovers (spread throughout the quarter) and great Bucks' three point shooting.

[Goldstar88]

Can’t blame Ime for not getting rebounds

Yeah, I mean he doesn’t control the lineups or anything…

[wiley]

Can’t blame Ime for not getting rebounds

Yeah, I mean he doesn’t control the lineups or anything…

Top offense(?) and defense second half of the season....poor play does not mean suddenly the coach forgot what he's doing...

[Goldstar88]

Can’t blame Ime for not getting rebounds

Yeah, I mean he doesn’t control the lineups or anything…

Top offense(?) and defense second half of the season....poor play does not mean suddenly the coach forgot what he's doing...

What does that have to do with him not making adjustments in the game yesterday, playing Grant heavy minutes even though he was struggling mightily from the very beginning to the end, instead of playing Theis who was having a great game. Or not getting Horford involved offensively all game or coming up with a terrible play at the end where Smart is taking the last shot… it was horrendous and if you missed all of that, idk what to tell you..

[wiley]

Can’t blame Ime for not getting rebounds

Yeah, I mean he doesn’t control the lineups or anything…

Top offense(?) and defense second half of the season....poor play does not mean suddenly the coach forgot what he's doing...

What does that have to do with him not making adjustments in the game yesterday, playing Grant heavy minutes even though he was struggling mightily from the very beginning to the end, instead of playing Theis who was having a great game. Or not getting Horford involved offensively all game or coming up with a terrible play at the end where Smart is taking the last shot… it was horrendous and if you missed all of that, idk what to tell you..

It's still a win if players do their job well...no coach makes perfect adjustments...do you bench every player who has a rough stretch?  In any case, agree to disagree.  I prefer to pin losses like this on players who are NBA veterans.  Credit to the Bucks as well for hitting those shots..

[tarheelsxxiii]

CelticsStrong needs to draft an agreement through which Ime and the front office respond to our questions here.  Let's start weekly and go from there.

[MattyIce]

Can’t blame Ime for not getting rebounds

Yeah, I mean he doesn’t control the lineups or anything…

Top offense(?) and defense second half of the season....poor play does not mean suddenly the coach forgot what he's doing...

What does that have to do with him not making adjustments in the game yesterday, playing Grant heavy minutes even though he was struggling mightily from the very beginning to the end, instead of playing Theis who was having a great game. Or not getting Horford involved offensively all game or coming up with a terrible play at the end where Smart is taking the last shot… it was horrendous and if you missed all of that, idk what to tell you..

That wasn't what Ime called, I assumed everyone knew that by now.  Although i'm not an Ime apologist, not impressed.  he may be a motivator, that's about it.

[nickagneta]

Can’t blame Ime for not getting rebounds

Yeah, I mean he doesn’t control the lineups or anything…

Top offense(?) and defense second half of the season....poor play does not mean suddenly the coach forgot what he's doing...

What does that have to do with him not making adjustments in the game yesterday, playing Grant heavy minutes even though he was struggling mightily from the very beginning to the end, instead of playing Theis who was having a great game. Or not getting Horford involved offensively all game or coming up with a terrible play at the end where Smart is taking the last shot… it was horrendous and if you missed all of that, idk what to tell you..

By your logic, Tatum should have been benched in the second half of a whole bunch of games this season and a couple in this series because he struggled badly in the first half of games. What you are calling for is not an adjustment, it's crisis management which, I have been saying for years, is what will lose a coach his locker room, but also get him fired very quickly.

As a coach, you trust your players to bounce back from bad halves or quarters. You take all year building that trust with players and therefore players will player harder knowing they won't be yo-yoed in and out of the lineups and games. They know missing some shots or playing poor defense or missing some rebounds isn't going to adversely affect them and they will be able to work through whatever struggle they are having.

[pokeKingCurtis]

Can’t blame Ime for not getting rebounds

Yeah, I mean he doesn’t control the lineups or anything…

Top offense(?) and defense second half of the season....poor play does not mean suddenly the coach forgot what he's doing...

What does that have to do with him not making adjustments in the game yesterday, playing Grant heavy minutes even though he was struggling mightily from the very beginning to the end, instead of playing Theis who was having a great game. Or not getting Horford involved offensively all game or coming up with a terrible play at the end where Smart is taking the last shot… it was horrendous and if you missed all of that, idk what to tell you..

By your logic, Tatum should have been benched in the second half of a whole bunch of games this season and a couple in this series because he struggled badly in the first half of games. What you are calling for is not an adjustment, it's crisis management which, I have been saying for years, is what will lose a coach his locker room, but also get him fired very quickly.

As a coach, you trust your players to bounce back from bad halves or quarters. You take all year building that trust with players and therefore players will player harder knowing they won't be yo-yoed in and out of the lineups and games. They know missing some shots or playing poor defense or missing some rebounds isn't going to adversely affect them and they will be able to work through whatever struggle they are having.

Same reason why Ime was right to keep Brown on Giannis in game 3 or whatever, imo. You gotta put faith in your guys.

Phil Jackson was supposedly famous for letting his guys play through difficult stretches without calling a timeout.

On the other end of the spectrum, Stan Van Gundy is notorious for panicking. I didn't really follow the Pels but seems to not have worked out? It seems to have worked out for the "form a f---ing wall" Pistons before that, though - too bad Brandon Jennings got injured otherwise that team would have been pretty cool to watch, man.

Edit: I guess extreme micromanaging works on some teams and not others.