Celtics (44-28) at Thunder (20-51) Game #73 3/21/22

[Surferdad]

Sorry, but this game was not fun to watch. I started watching mid-way through the 2nd quarter and did not enjoy myself, at all.

This is a perfect example of the untruth in “a win is a win”. That is not the case and I sure hope Ime agrees.  If this team plays defense like this, they aren’t going far in the playoffs. Smart and Rob can’t play 48 minutes. Other guys have to step up on defense. The 3-point line defense was absolutely non-existent tonight. When those shots stopped falling for OKC, they went to the drive and were not stopped.  C’s were like statues out there.

[SHAQATTACK]

Good win

Keep racking them up.

[trickybilly]

Strong win.

Just realized it's relatively rare to have two hit late first round picks in consecutive drafts, but it seems like Danny has achieved that with Rob and Payton.

edit: Romeo was wedged in between,  but he may still turn out to be a solid rotation player.

[gouki88]

Sorry, but this game was not fun to watch. I started watching mid-way through the 2nd quarter and did not enjoy myself, at all.

This is a perfect example of the untruth in “a win is a win”. That is not the case and I sure hope Ime agrees.  If this team plays defense like this, they aren’t going far in the playoffs. Smart and Rob can’t play 48 minutes. Other guys have to step up on defense. The 3-point line defense was absolutely non-existent tonight. When those shots stopped falling for OKC, they went to the drive and were not stopped.  C’s were like statues out there.

Sure, Smart and Rob can't play 48 minutes. But to expect the defence to be fine when the two best defensive players are gone, on the second night of a back-to-back, on a 4 game road trip, just seems silly. They were probably exhausted. It was our only non-20 point victory on this road trip - lighten up.

[Surferdad]

Sorry, but this game was not fun to watch. I started watching mid-way through the 2nd quarter and did not enjoy myself, at all.

This is a perfect example of the untruth in “a win is a win”. That is not the case and I sure hope Ime agrees.  If this team plays defense like this, they aren’t going far in the playoffs. Smart and Rob can’t play 48 minutes. Other guys have to step up on defense. The 3-point line defense was absolutely non-existent tonight. When those shots stopped falling for OKC, they went to the drive and were not stopped.  C’s were like statues out there.

Sure, Smart and Rob can't play 48 minutes. But to expect the defence to be fine when the two best defensive players are gone, on the second night of a back-to-back, on a 4 game road trip, just seems silly. They were probably exhausted. It was our only non-20 point victory on this road trip - lighten up.

Hey you are probably right about them being exhausted.

Still, I have every right as a fan to be critical.  “Lighten up” means you are blowing me off.  Thanks for that. Thanks a lot.

[gouki88]

Sorry, but this game was not fun to watch. I started watching mid-way through the 2nd quarter and did not enjoy myself, at all.

This is a perfect example of the untruth in “a win is a win”. That is not the case and I sure hope Ime agrees.  If this team plays defense like this, they aren’t going far in the playoffs. Smart and Rob can’t play 48 minutes. Other guys have to step up on defense. The 3-point line defense was absolutely non-existent tonight. When those shots stopped falling for OKC, they went to the drive and were not stopped.  C’s were like statues out there.

Sure, Smart and Rob can't play 48 minutes. But to expect the defence to be fine when the two best defensive players are gone, on the second night of a back-to-back, on a 4 game road trip, just seems silly. They were probably exhausted. It was our only non-20 point victory on this road trip - lighten up.

Hey you are probably right about them being exhausted.

Still, I have every right as a fan to be critical.  “Lighten up” means you are blowing me off.  Thanks for that. Thanks a lot.

You have every right to be critical, no doubt. I just think that your criticism is misplaced given how unbelievably good the team has been over the last 3 months.

[Roy H.]

Strong win.

Just realized it's relatively rare to have two hit late first round picks in consecutive drafts, but it seems like Danny has achieved that with Rob and Payton.

edit: Romeo was wedged in between,  but he may still turn out to be a solid rotation player.

Timelord -> Grant -> Pritchard

[Goldstar88]

Sorry, but this game was not fun to watch. I started watching mid-way through the 2nd quarter and did not enjoy myself, at all.

This is a perfect example of the untruth in “a win is a win”. That is not the case and I sure hope Ime agrees.  If this team plays defense like this, they aren’t going far in the playoffs. Smart and Rob can’t play 48 minutes. Other guys have to step up on defense. The 3-point line defense was absolutely non-existent tonight. When those shots stopped falling for OKC, they went to the drive and were not stopped.  C’s were like statues out there.

Sure, Smart and Rob can't play 48 minutes. But to expect the defence to be fine when the two best defensive players are gone, on the second night of a back-to-back, on a 4 game road trip, just seems silly. They were probably exhausted. It was our only non-20 point victory on this road trip - lighten up.

Defense was good in the first quarter, only gave up 21 pts. Got progressively worse each quarter, though.

[liam]

2.5 games out of first place. Can't believe MIA lost to PHL without Harden and Embiid.

I wouldn't be too mad if the C's end up with the 3rd seed. But then, you'd have to play either Milwaukee or Philly in the second round. Not sure who I'd want between Giannis and Embiid/Harden.

I'd take Embiid/Harden anytime over the Champs.

[nickagneta]

Sorry, but this game was not fun to watch. I started watching mid-way through the 2nd quarter and did not enjoy myself, at all.

This is a perfect example of the untruth in “a win is a win”. That is not the case and I sure hope Ime agrees.  If this team plays defense like this, they aren’t going far in the playoffs. Smart and Rob can’t play 48 minutes. Other guys have to step up on defense. The 3-point line defense was absolutely non-existent tonight. When those shots stopped falling for OKC, they went to the drive and were not stopped.  C’s were like statues out there.

Sure, Smart and Rob can't play 48 minutes. But to expect the defence to be fine when the two best defensive players are gone, on the second night of a back-to-back, on a 4 game road trip, just seems silly. They were probably exhausted. It was our only non-20 point victory on this road trip - lighten up.

Hey you are probably right about them being exhausted.

Still, I have every right as a fan to be critical.  “Lighten up” means you are blowing me off.  Thanks for that. Thanks a lot.

You should be blown off. The team sat two of the top 5-6 defenders in the entire league and replaced their minutes with Theis and Hauser.

Expecting the same defense, in this game on the last game of a four game west coast road trip, playing the 3rd game in 4 days on a second game of a back to back traveling on the road is unrealistic.

You're being critical about a nine point win where the team was winning by 15+ for 45 minutes is easy to be seen as borderline trolling on a team that has won 22 of their last 26 games.

This team is playing at a 2007-08 level. Pretty easy to mistake Uber critical as being a troll given everything this team has done since New Year's Eve. I mean, my God, there are sites now making them the favorites to win it all. But sure, this 9 point road win was awful to watch!!!!

[RPGenerate]

Sorry, but this game was not fun to watch. I started watching mid-way through the 2nd quarter and did not enjoy myself, at all.

This is a perfect example of the untruth in “a win is a win”. That is not the case and I sure hope Ime agrees.  If this team plays defense like this, they aren’t going far in the playoffs. Smart and Rob can’t play 48 minutes. Other guys have to step up on defense. The 3-point line defense was absolutely non-existent tonight. When those shots stopped falling for OKC, they went to the drive and were not stopped.  C’s were like statues out there.

Sure, Smart and Rob can't play 48 minutes. But to expect the defence to be fine when the two best defensive players are gone, on the second night of a back-to-back, on a 4 game road trip, just seems silly. They were probably exhausted. It was our only non-20 point victory on this road trip - lighten up.

Hey you are probably right about them being exhausted.

Still, I have every right as a fan to be critical.  “Lighten up” means you are blowing me off.  Thanks for that. Thanks a lot.

You should be blown off. The team sat two of the top 5-6 defenders in the entire league and replaced their minutes with Theis and Hauser.

Expecting the same defense, in this game on the last game of a four game west coast road trip, playing the 3rd game in 4 days on a second game of a back to back traveling on the road is unrealistic.

You're being critical about a nine point win where the team was winning by 15+ for 45 minutes is easy to be seen as borderline trolling on a team that has won 22 of their last 26 games.

This team is playing at a 2007-08 level. Pretty easy to mistake Uber critical as being a troll given everything this team has done since New Year's Eve. I mean, my God, there are sites now making them the favorites to win it all. But sure, this 9 point road win was awful to watch!!!!

Lol tell us how you really feel 

[ozgod]

Four-game west-conference road trip and we just served up wins of 22, 29, 20, and 9.  Be frustrated with the energy tonight if you want but keep perspective.

Happy with the win but I wish more than 8 guys played.

Happy with the win too  They faded towards the end but this is a game they would have lost early in the season, in fact we lost 4 or 5 of these types of games. Credit to them for not panicking and closing it out.

As for the rotation, I guess OKC ruined any chance of that with their fourth quarter run...also, I mentioned this right at the start of the thread, Ime doesn't appear to be the type where he will try and find 2 or 3 minutes here and there for players outside his rotation. I think he feels that the average NBA player should be able to play in the mid-30s in terms of minutes, whether they start or not, and if there are a couple of front line players missing, then the other rotation players will pick up the slack.

So minutes due to Smartacus's absence was picked up by White playing 34 and Payton playing 25, while Timelord's absence was picked up by GWill playing 38 and Theis playing 19 (probably would have been more if not for fouling out), and GWill's bench minutes were picked up by Hauser playing 12. Brad or another coach might have farmed those minutes out to 4 or 5 players playing 2-3 mins each. He's not worried about spelling starters 2-3 minutes here and there, he expects them to play 25-35 mins if they are part of his rotation.

I think Ime wants players to have enough time to make an impact, rather than tossing them a few minutes here and there. We're all nervous of what might happen if one of our starters get injured, but Ime appears to want to have a solid front 7 that are effectvely interchangeable like they were tonight, with GWill and White slotting right in. The 2nd wing (after GWill) will probably be shared by Nesmith and Hauser.

If Ime was playing NBA2k he would have his top 8 all playing 25-35 minutes and the rest of the team would be allocated zero 

[ozgod]

Sorry, but this game was not fun to watch. I started watching mid-way through the 2nd quarter and did not enjoy myself, at all.

This is a perfect example of the untruth in “a win is a win”. That is not the case and I sure hope Ime agrees.  If this team plays defense like this, they aren’t going far in the playoffs. Smart and Rob can’t play 48 minutes. Other guys have to step up on defense. The 3-point line defense was absolutely non-existent tonight. When those shots stopped falling for OKC, they went to the drive and were not stopped.  C’s were like statues out there.

Sure, Smart and Rob can't play 48 minutes. But to expect the defence to be fine when the two best defensive players are gone, on the second night of a back-to-back, on a 4 game road trip, just seems silly. They were probably exhausted. It was our only non-20 point victory on this road trip - lighten up.

Hey you are probably right about them being exhausted.

Still, I have every right as a fan to be critical.  “Lighten up” means you are blowing me off.  Thanks for that. Thanks a lot.

You should be blown off. The team sat two of the top 5-6 defenders in the entire league and replaced their minutes with Theis and Hauser.

Expecting the same defense, in this game on the last game of a four game west coast road trip, playing the 3rd game in 4 days on a second game of a back to back traveling on the road is unrealistic.

You're being critical about a nine point win where the team was winning by 15+ for 45 minutes is easy to be seen as borderline trolling on a team that has won 22 of their last 26 games.

This team is playing at a 2007-08 level. Pretty easy to mistake Uber critical as being a troll given everything this team has done since New Year's Eve. I mean, my God, there are sites now making them the favorites to win it all. But sure, this 9 point road win was awful to watch!!!!

These are actually the types of games I enjoy to watch more than the blowouts, because there's so much to work on for the team when they look at film. It keeps them grounded and stops them getting ahead of themselves and thinking they are better than they really are. And these are the types of games where a team isn't at its best but still wins that build mental strength and fortitude. We lost 4 or 5 games like this early in the season where we built a big lead and were reeled in to lose. I'm pleased to see that they didn't panic when OKC made a run, they managed the clock effectively, they were cognizant of the fact that a 9 point win is the same as a 20 point win in terms of the result, and they didn't try to do rash things to try and blow the margin out again. They knew they weren't going to lose the game as long as they played properly in the last couple of minutes, which was a sign of composure they didn't have early in the season.

Surferdad might just have been having flashbacks to those lost games early in the season where we led by 25 and lost  but I think this team has matured significantly since then. Plenty for them to work on to be sure but I'm pleased with how they maintained their poise at the end.

[mobilija]

We won this game largely bc of a favorable whistle. 34-14 edge at the free throw line. We were allowed to play physical defense and the thunder couldnt breath on us with out getting a whistle, esp in our dominant 1st qtr.

I'll take the win to go 4-0 on the west coast road trip but....just saying....we call out the refs when we feel wronged by the whistle, we are now on the other end of that.

[jambr380]

I like how people are being critical of those who don't think this was an awesome win. It wasn't. I'm glad to get the W, but this thing went downhill after a great 1st quarter. The team OKC fielded tonight is a borderline G-League team and our laziness and complacency definitely showed up.

It's great that our elite talent won out in the end, but I'm not going to jump and cheer about this win. The team certainly isn't. Nice way to finish off the 4-game road trip, though, and glad this was the team we were facing in the 4th game.