Celtics (21-7) at Lakers (11-15) Game #29 12/13/22

[Ed Monix]

Speaking to NBC Sports Boston after the game, Smart revealed that he had come out of the game in order to throw up without ruining the arena floor.

"I'm a little under the weather. I actually had to vomit," Smart said. "I didn't want to ruin the floor (at Crypto.com Arena), so I got my butt in the back. It's a lot of traveling, we're playing these games back-to-back, a day in-between, your body takes a toll.

"And it's around that time -- flu (season), it's December, it's cold. So for us, we're just trying to do everything we can to stay as healthy as we can. But tonight I'm a little under the weather."

[liam]

Speaking to NBC Sports Boston after the game, Smart revealed that he had come out of the game in order to throw up without ruining the arena floor.

"I'm a little under the weather. I actually had to vomit," Smart said. "I didn't want to ruin the floor (at Crypto.com Arena), so I got my butt in the back. It's a lot of traveling, we're playing these games back-to-back, a day in-between, your body takes a toll.

"And it's around that time -- flu (season), it's December, it's cold. So for us, we're just trying to do everything we can to stay as healthy as we can. But tonight I'm a little under the weather."

Just read that:

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-star-power-index-jayson-tatum-lights-up-lakers-zion-williamson-ticks-off-touchy-suns/

[Neurotic Guy]

Speaking to NBC Sports Boston after the game, Smart revealed that he had come out of the game in order to throw up without ruining the arena floor.

"I'm a little under the weather. I actually had to vomit," Smart said. "I didn't want to ruin the floor (at Crypto.com Arena), so I got my butt in the back. It's a lot of traveling, we're playing these games back-to-back, a day in-between, your body takes a toll.

"And it's around that time -- flu (season), it's December, it's cold. So for us, we're just trying to do everything we can to stay as healthy as we can. But tonight I'm a little under the weather."

This makes me laugh at myself. Vomiting to me is near death. To think about leaving a game, puking, and then returning (he returned right?)… man, I’d sooner get back on the court with a torn ACL than sick to my stomach.  That’s impressive. We’ll see how many Lakers and Celtics caught the Smart bug over the next couple days.

[ozgod]

Gary Washburn asked Joe Mazz about the fact that he just "watched everything go down in the 4th like it was going to be sink or swim...you were going to let your guys implode or respond. You didn't call timeout..." at this point Joe responded saying "I called two" and Gary continued saying "ok you did call one or two...how did you deal with that stretch where you guys didn't score for 6 minutes?"

Joe responded saying "I just thought it was a great opportunity for our guys to grow, as long as we remain poised...we're going to be in that situation and we're going to just have to learn to get through it...our guys did a great job of building an awareness of why we ended up in that stretch and most of the time in those situations it's self-inflicted...and if we can clean those things up and execute in the future we will be able to handle being down 5 with 45 seconds left and know exactly what we have to do to get through it."

Gary then asked "is this the most important win of the year, given you were 13 down with 3 minutes left" and Joe responded "No...I just think we get so used to winning one way at the beginning of the year, we have to get used to winning different ways...every win is important, every game is important, you have to figure out different ways to win...we've won by blowing teams out, we've won by now coming back, we've won by executing in late game and so we can't get used to, there's only one way to win. This trip has taught us a lot about what we need to do to win games in different ways."

Abby then asked "what did you say going into overtime" and Joe responded "I didn't say anything...the guys, it's their team, they did a great job taking ownership, they did a great job embracing the moment, they communicated...the way we managed the game in the last minute, and a half, was what gave our guys life to work together and execute...it was all them."

I linked to that part of the interview below.

https://youtu.be/uiDTU519O6E?t=33

He's definitely not a "my way or the highway, I'm going to tell you what to do and you're going to do it" type coach. He empowers his players to take charge and to learn even if it means putting them in difficult moments, like that fourth quarter stretch where we the fans were probably throwing things at the TV as they turned the ball over and made bad decisions and the Fakers roared back. Time will tell if that approach will work. It brings to mind the old question of how important is a coach to the actual game - is he more of a guy that provides the infrastructure and guidance for the players and gets them all pointing in the same direction, or is he someone who actively tries to influence a game. Kind of like an NFL coach vs a soccer coach in terms of influence over the players once they are playing. An NFL coach is actively involved in the game, calling plays, subbing players in and out, while a soccer coach is basically a cheerleader once the team starts playing because it's all so adlib.

Joe's prepared to stick to his coaching philosophy and convictions despite pressure from the media and fans, that's for sure. Gotta give him credit for that 

Sounds like Mourinho! You might be shaking your head, but the way they coach an attack are quite similar: less automatisms and rigid structures in favour of players figuring things out themselves (obviously with guidance from the coaches, they're not going to tell the players to go out there and hoop).

In all seriousness, I'm glad that we have him as our coach - our chances of winning an NBA title have increased with our coaching change this summer.

Just needs to learn to put all 5 players around the ring to stop anyone getting close and he can be mentioned in the same breath as The Special One 

In seriousness too, once Joe can figure out the defensive side to go with the offense this team will be really hard to beat.

[ozgod]

Gary Washburn asked Joe Mazz about the fact that he just "watched everything go down in the 4th like it was going to be sink or swim...you were going to let your guys implode or respond. You didn't call timeout..." at this point Joe responded saying "I called two" and Gary continued saying "ok you did call one or two...how did you deal with that stretch where you guys didn't score for 6 minutes?"

Joe responded saying "I just thought it was a great opportunity for our guys to grow, as long as we remain poised...we're going to be in that situation and we're going to just have to learn to get through it...our guys did a great job of building an awareness of why we ended up in that stretch and most of the time in those situations it's self-inflicted...and if we can clean those things up and execute in the future we will be able to handle being down 5 with 45 seconds left and know exactly what we have to do to get through it."

Gary then asked "is this the most important win of the year, given you were 13 down with 3 minutes left" and Joe responded "No...I just think we get so used to winning one way at the beginning of the year, we have to get used to winning different ways...every win is important, every game is important, you have to figure out different ways to win...we've won by blowing teams out, we've won by now coming back, we've won by executing in late game and so we can't get used to, there's only one way to win. This trip has taught us a lot about what we need to do to win games in different ways."

Abby then asked "what did you say going into overtime" and Joe responded "I didn't say anything...the guys, it's their team, they did a great job taking ownership, they did a great job embracing the moment, they communicated...the way we managed the game in the last minute, and a half, was what gave our guys life to work together and execute...it was all them."

I linked to that part of the interview below.

https://youtu.be/uiDTU519O6E?t=33

He's definitely not a "my way or the highway, I'm going to tell you what to do and you're going to do it" type coach. He empowers his players to take charge and to learn even if it means putting them in difficult moments, like that fourth quarter stretch where we the fans were probably throwing things at the TV as they turned the ball over and made bad decisions and the Fakers roared back. Time will tell if that approach will work. It brings to mind the old question of how important is a coach to the actual game - is he more of a guy that provides the infrastructure and guidance for the players and gets them all pointing in the same direction, or is he someone who actively tries to influence a game. Kind of like an NFL coach vs a soccer coach in terms of influence over the players once they are playing. An NFL coach is actively involved in the game, calling plays, subbing players in and out, while a soccer coach is basically a cheerleader once the team starts playing because it's all so adlib.

Joe's prepared to stick to his coaching philosophy and convictions despite pressure from the media and fans, that's for sure. Gotta give him credit for that 

I don’t think you can coach every team that way, but do think it’s the right way to coach this Celtics squad. Feel like his players respect him for taking that approach. It shows that he trusts them and they’ve responded by winning a lot of basketball games. Mazzula is not a coach that is stuck in his ways. He will adjust the starting lineup based on matchups and seems to be better at making in game adjustments than Udoka was. Will be interesting to see what he does with the starting lineup when both Horford and Timelord are able to play.

The thing is, he's 34 right - he's also learning. As long as he can show an adaptability and learn and grow over the course of the season that's all we can ask for. And you're right - I feel that this type of team is mature enough to not need a micromanaging coach the way a rebuilding team might. If we were a rebuilding team I feel Joe would coach the team a little differently.

[ozgod]

Kerr calls a TO to halt runs for a team that is full of championship winning vets. Joe's philosophy on TO's is just sucks. It's counter productive and has cost us this season, and almost again last night.

The team won despite his coaching.

Yep. If it wasn’t for coach average Joe, the Celtics would probably have the best record in basketball by now! I mean, 7-3 over the last 10 games…What is this, amateur hour?? Pathetic! 

Yeah, Kerr is calling timeouts because the Warriors were spiraling, not just in a single game, but in the season. He was desperate to try to stop the bad momentum.

Doing this builds functional basketball IQ, especially when players are under duress. I like doing it for the regular season, but then being willing to take timeouts in the playoffs.

Kerr really, really wanted to win that game against us so he coached it like a playoff game. Joe Mazz has been on record as saying that he would handle timeouts differently in the playoffs and manage the game differently to the regular season, which is where he is trying to build functional BBIQ and get players exposed to pressure so they can learn how to react so that by playoff time they're not as reliant on the coach calling timeouts.

He really sees the regular season as a way to build habits, and is willing to lose games if needed to learn to build those habits. Obviously, this runs counter to fans because we want them to win every game 

[Birdman]

Always feels great to beat Lakers no matter what year it is but especially great with LeBron on it

[RockinRyA]

Kerr calls a TO to halt runs for a team that is full of championship winning vets. Joe's philosophy on TO's is just sucks. It's counter productive and has cost us this season, and almost again last night.

The team won despite his coaching.

Yep. If it wasn’t for coach average Joe, the Celtics would probably have the best record in basketball by now! I mean, 7-3 over the last 10 games…What is this, amateur hour?? Pathetic! 

Yeah, Kerr is calling timeouts because the Warriors were spiraling, not just in a single game, but in the season. He was desperate to try to stop the bad momentum.

Doing this builds functional basketball IQ, especially when players are under duress. I like doing it for the regular season, but then being willing to take timeouts in the playoffs.

Kerr really, really wanted to win that game against us so he coached it like a playoff game. Joe Mazz has been on record as saying that he would handle timeouts differently in the playoffs and manage the game differently to the regular season, which is where he is trying to build functional BBIQ and get players exposed to pressure so they can learn how to react so that by playoff time they're not as reliant on the coach calling timeouts.

He really sees the regular season as a way to build habits, and is willing to lose games if needed to learn to build those habits. Obviously, this runs counter to fans because we want them to win every game 

Rotations are more critique worthy this game than timeouts. But given they are tired and are down 2 bigs, Id give Joe leeway. But it was clear last night that Brogdon and Grant are costing us the game, while Luke with Brown and no Tatum isnt so effective as well.

Not too concerned coz we won and it worked. Grant stopped complaining and its not a coincidence he suddenly played better during that final stretch. Complaining during dead ball is acceptable to a point. But complaining while the ball is live is a habit they need to get out of.

[Vermont Green]

Rotations are more critique worthy this game than timeouts. But given they are tired and are down 2 bigs, Id give Joe leeway. But it was clear last night that Brogdon and Grant are costing us the game, while Luke with Brown and no Tatum isnt so effective as well.

Not too concerned coz we won and it worked. Grant stopped complaining and its not a coincidence he suddenly played better during that final stretch. Complaining during dead ball is acceptable to a point. But complaining while the ball is live is a habit they need to get out of.

Actually, we are down 3 bigs, arguably our top 3 bigs.  We don't have Gallinari either.  I know he is kind of different than Horford and RWill but we have not replaced him on the roster yet so right now, he is on the roster and he is out, a player not available for the coach to use.  Take the top 3 or even 3 of top 4 bigs off any team and that team is going to have difficulties.

We have been pretty deep into the bench for much of the season with Griffin, Kornet, Hauser all playing a lot of minutes.  Hauser in particular was a nice surprise for a bit but he is coming back down to earth.  I certainly don't think you can criticize Coach Joe given how well the team has done.

I put this in a category of a MLB manager deciding between leaving the starter in or going to the bullpen.  Everyone always second guesses it no matter what the manager does.  If the reliever comes in a gives up a walk, bad manager.  If you leave the starter in and he gives up a hit, bad manager.  Unless it is a Grady Little level obvious botched decision, most of this level of second guessing is not fair.

[hwangjini_1]

Kerr calls a TO to halt runs for a team that is full of championship winning vets. Joe's philosophy on TO's is just sucks. It's counter productive and has cost us this season, and almost again last night.

The team won despite his coaching.

I love statements like this. How would you know?

don't fret. he is just working hard to earn his name. 

[RockinRyA]

Rotations are more critique worthy this game than timeouts. But given they are tired and are down 2 bigs, Id give Joe leeway. But it was clear last night that Brogdon and Grant are costing us the game, while Luke with Brown and no Tatum isnt so effective as well.

Not too concerned coz we won and it worked. Grant stopped complaining and its not a coincidence he suddenly played better during that final stretch. Complaining during dead ball is acceptable to a point. But complaining while the ball is live is a habit they need to get out of.

Actually, we are down 3 bigs, arguably our top 3 bigs.  We don't have Gallinari either.  I know he is kind of different than Horford and RWill but we have not replaced him on the roster yet so right now, he is on the roster and he is out, a player not available for the coach to use.  Take the top 3 or even 3 of top 4 bigs off any team and that team is going to have difficulties.

We have been pretty deep into the bench for much of the season with Griffin, Kornet, Hauser all playing a lot of minutes.  Hauser in particular was a nice surprise for a bit but he is coming back down to earth.  I certainly don't think you can criticize Coach Joe given how well the team has done.

I put this in a category of a MLB manager deciding between leaving the starter in or going to the bullpen.  Everyone always second guesses it no matter what the manager does.  If the reliever comes in a gives up a walk, bad manager.  If you leave the starter in and he gives up a hit, bad manager.  Unless it is a Grady Little level obvious botched decision, most of this level of second guessing is not fair.

I agree but I just simplified it coz it might spark another debate on what position Gallo plays. Also yeah I also understand the circumstances so I said Id give him leeway. Hes actually done a good job, just that I think there's room for improvements and he isnt at the Stevens level yet when it comes to managing roster with injuries.