Spurs (14-21) at Celtics (18-19) Game #38 1/5/22

[nickagneta]

On the plus side, I didn’t have to listen to Scal tonight.

Why do people hate Scal generally?

I quite like him. He's gotten a lot better and I dig his bants with Mike.

Scal is a thousand times better than Mannix. Tough to fill Tommy's shoes.

I like them both to be honest. Scal has improved a lot since his days when he was a comic sidekick to Kyle Draper and I think Mannix makes a lot of solid, well thought out points. I don't always agree with him but his thoughts usually have logic behind them, rather than just being made out of emotion. It's also good that he is able to fill in on really late notice, there were a few times he said he was sitting on his couch at home and got a call from NBC to cover for Mike or Scal to be the color commentator on 2 hours notice and showed up. I'd be freaking out if that was me 

I want Cedric Maxwell and Sean Grande to take over when Mike retires. They are a solid duo.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X_yioE0yhlo

They are good for sure...just not sure if the Sports Hub will let them go.

As long as Max leaves his duckie duckie quack quack at the Sports Hub, I would love him and Grande doing television.

[todd_days_41]

JB gonna have to go all JB on the Spurs to win this.

Yeah, not so much. It ain’t a winning formula.

JB almost forced this game to OT by himself. He made it 97-95 on a layup. If not for a fantastic defensive play on the charge, he ties it up. After Smart's miss, he forces and gets the steal, gets fouled with a smack in the face, but refs call jump ball. He stole in the bounds and if not for a missed basket interference, this game is in OT.

Tough to be sour on JB the way he played at the end of that game.

You’re confusing your love of Brown with the post itself. Any player “going all himself” is the opposite of what this team needs to win games. Tonite’s 4th quarter was just one more shining example of this.

It sure read like you were critiquing Brown going all Brown and not just any player trying to go all out by himself.

Also, I never meant it as Brown trying to singlehandedly do everything by himself, more like him putting the team on his back and doing all he can to make the team better and lead them to a win.

Which he almost did.

So I think we both kinda misinterpreted what the other was trying to say.

Brown, Tatum, and to a lesser extent Smart share the blame. Smart has a tendency to play hero ball in the 4th, which is a problem. But Tatum and Brown struggle in a huge way to make other players better — including each other — and it’s a big reason why the Cs “talent” doesn’t translate to wins.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Awesome. Classic. And this is why I don't get excited when the Cs beat a great team like the Suns. Because it's likely a fluke. In this case, they follow that big win with an overtime squeaker against the second-worst-in-the-league Magic, then lose to a thoroughly unintimidating Spurs team—AGAIN. Second time this season.

Brown's missed layup was, of course, awful, but why were the Cs even down, at home, after two days off, against a weak opponent that played last night?

Certainly would've helped if Boston didn't have such porous defense in the first half. Or if Tatum could hit ... anything.

This team really takes the cake when it comes to finding creative ways to lose.

But I'm sure they'll flip the switch any day now.

[86MaxwellSmart]

Grant Williams lost us this game.

[jpotter33]

Just saw the up close replay of the last play on the ESPN halftime show, and that goal is definitely moving after the player hit it with his arm.

Given how close that ball was to falling, should be a clear goaltending violation per the rules. Will be interesting to see what happens with that in the two minute report. There’s a strong argument that the final seconds/OT should be replayed if that is deemed a missed call.

[Ogaju]

Just saw the up close replay of the last play on the ESPN halftime show, and that goal is definitely moving after the player hit it with his arm.

Given how close that ball was to falling, should be a clear goaltending violation per the rules. Will be interesting to see what happens with that in the two minute report. There’s a strong argument that the final seconds/OT should be replayed if that is deemed a missed call.

You may have an argument but is there a precedence for that?

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Just saw the up close replay of the last play on the ESPN halftime show, and that goal is definitely moving after the player hit it with his arm.

Given how close that ball was to falling, should be a clear goaltending violation per the rules. Will be interesting to see what happens with that in the two minute report. There’s a strong argument that the final seconds/OT should be replayed if that is deemed a missed call.

Seems like a missed call. But again, why were the Celtics in such a desperate situation, at home, after two days off, against a relatively poor team that played last night? That was the real problem with this game.

[Adelaide Celt]

Wait, isn't that a goaltend with the center hitting the rim on the shot??

It should have been.  Looked like Landale touched the rim as Jaylen put up the ball.

He did...

Not to worry.  It will show up in the NBA's two minute report.  That will fix everything *cough*

My understanding of the rules is that's absolutely considered basket interference and goaltending.

If they actually admit that it was a missed call, the final seconds/OT should absolutely be replayed and made up after the basket went in. That's a go-ahead bucket that the refs missed that was blatant.

Does anyone have a video of that last shot? I would love to rewatch that and see if the Spurs touched the rim.

https://twitter.com/NBCSCeltics/status/1478922003650420736

Not up close view, but even from this far you can tell he definitely forearms the rim pretty hard as the ball is shot by Brown.

For flip's sake, after the steal/gift Tatum's just gotta stay a couple of metres to the right of Brown and go straight to the basket. He's already running in the right direction just before the terrible inbound pass. Would've been a simple bounce pass and layup once Brown's defender is drawn.

Instead he almost trips Brown over by nearly running into the back of him then heads out to the bloody 3 point line!? Good lord that is pathetic and infuriating.

[csfansince60s]

Just saw the up close replay of the last play on the ESPN halftime show, and that goal is definitely moving after the player hit it with his arm.

Given how close that ball was to falling, should be a clear goaltending violation per the rules. Will be interesting to see what happens with that in the two minute report. There’s a strong argument that the final seconds/OT should be replayed if that is deemed a missed call.

Seems like a missed call. But again, why were the Celtics in such a desperate situation, at home, after two days off, against a relatively poor team that played last night? That was the real problem with this game.

TP for the great question, rock!

Answer: Ime

Ever since I started the Ime’s got to go thread a few games ago, I haven’t watched. Too disgusted at the way he runs the team.

Turned the game on tonight around the 5:30 to go mark in the 4th. They were down (as they have been far too often this year at home especially) and Smart drives into 2-3 guys in the paint and front rims a hero fade-away that clanks. Immediately next time down, Smart pulls up for a ****’ three…..not a prayer. I turned it off right away because I knew they were going to lose again.

Ime  needs to slap his boy Marcus down EVERY time he plays hero ball like this. No accountability>>>>>no success. And while you’re at it, Ime, why don’t you hold Jason and Jaylen accountable too. Oh, that’s right they hired you… Maybe that’s why

[tenn_smoothie]

Sucks to lose, but I think the C’s played well for the most part. Got unlucky at the end.

We've definitely seen worse. I like how we took it inside the entire game. That was the right move.

Just need JT to get it on a lil more. But he's just back outta covid so fair enough.

These two quotes are from the calmest, most reasonable pair of fans in the league. Not sure how you do it.

No excuse here as far as I see it. Playing a mediocre team who is on a 4-game losing streak playing their 2nd of a back-to-back and Celtics are at home with almost a full roster. Just this weekend, the Celts played one of their best games of the year beating the Suns. I remember a lot of folks getting all fired up, here comes a win streak, Ime may be finding his way, team may have turned the corner, on and on. That game followed by a flat win vs Orlando, who is tanking and now this loss to the Spurs.

Our team has fundamental flaws that go much deeper than any single game. And, my gawd, they are painful to watch.

[Kiorrik]

Sucks to lose, but I think the C’s played well for the most part. Got unlucky at the end.

We've definitely seen worse. I like how we took it inside the entire game. That was the right move.

Just need JT to get it on a lil more. But he's just back outta covid so fair enough.

These two quotes are from the calmest, most reasonable pair of fans in the league. Not sure how you do it.

No excuse here as far as I see it. Playing a mediocre team who is on a 4-game losing streak playing their 2nd of a back-to-back and Celtics are at home with almost a full roster. Just this weekend, the Celts played one of their best games of the year beating the Suns. I remember a lot of folks getting all fired up, here comes a win streak, Ime may be finding his way, team may have turned the corner, on and on. That game followed by a flat win vs Orlando, who is tanking and now this loss to the Spurs.

Our team has fundamental flaws that go much deeper than any single game. And, my gawd, they are painful to watch.

Not get upset at a bunch of dudes throwing a leather ball through a ring?

Right right :]

[Who]

Quick recap of Jaylen's assists for possessions used for the last 3 games since that disaster of a game against the Clippers.

(1) PHO = 24pts on 20 FGAs 6 FTAs 6 TOs = 29 possessions vs 3 assists
(2) ORL = 50pts on 29 FGAs 8 FTAs 7 TOs = 40 possessions vs 4ast
(3) SAS = 30pts on 25 FGAs 3 FTAs 3 TOs = 30 possessions vs 1ast

Total 99 possessions vs 8 assists

In fairness to him, his teammates have shot the ball terribly the last two games.

[Silas]

Scoring appears to be much more important to JB.  Last night it seemed there were many opportunities for him on fast breaks to simply drop the ball off to an open man a few feet away.  Instead he would drive to the basket covered by one or more defenders and then miss a contested layup.  He was not alone last night with missed layups.  I can't remember when a team missed so many bunnies. 

[Surferdad]

Run an offense play!

I put this loss on the coach. Pop beat Ime, simple as that.  During this part of the game, Spurs were running standard pick-n-rolls to free up shooters while the C's on offense were passing around the perimeter, and more importantly it was pretty obvious so Spurs knew exactly how to defend.

Murray did a decent job on Tatum, but Tatum is longer so should have taken it to the hole more.  It's the coach's job to tell him to do this.

Sorry, but this game highlights what happens when a rookie coach goes against the GOAT coach.

[Birdman]

Finally got everyone back and still lost..to the spurs..at home..ugh