Post-PHX slump: Is it the players, coaching, or random regression? (Blame Mazz)

[The Oracle]

In the 2 games verses Orlando the C's were 16-59 on wide open 3's which is 27.1%.  They also were 4-23 17.4% on open 3's.  So 20-82 on open and wide open 3's 24.4%.  The offense produced tremendously high value shots and the C's just missed them.  Changing anything would be foolish because any change would undoubtedly result in a lower expectation.  It is nothing more than a little variance hitting them and will likely right itself soon.

[Roy H.]

In the 2 games verses Orlando the C's were 16-59 on wide open 3's which is 27.1%.  They also were 4-23 17.4% on open 3's.  So 20-82 on open and wide open 3's 24.4%.  The offense produced tremendously high value shots and the C's just missed them.  Changing anything would be foolish because any change would undoubtedly result in a lower expectation.  It is nothing more than a little variance hitting them and will likely right itself soon.

An open three isn’t always the best shot, which is why we've been shooting them around 20%.

But, this isn't a two-game thing.  It's an 9-game sample of us being the worst offense in the NBA.  The plan obviously isn't working in the short-term.

[GreenlyGreeny]

If we lose four of the next five, Stevens should trade whomever will have a problem with Stevens becoming interim HC, fire Udoka on January 1, and make Stevens the new interim HC with Mazz as lead assistant HC, effective January 1 at midnight. We need to reverse this slide and it means moving whoever is primarily responsible for the stagnation (I’m almost certain it’s mostly JB with his change in play, possibly change in attitude behind the scenes —you all can continue to believe he’s more than a dude who affiliates with anti-semites like Kanye and Kyrie, but the rest of us know he’s got poor judgment). It also means finally ridding ourselves of the shadow of Udoka in case one or more player is intentionally doing things to try to cause us to bring back Udoka, who could be the Harvey Weinstein of the NBA for all we know, so we need to cut those ties ASAP too.

If the losing continues, we need a fresh start on January 1.

[Big333223]

I thought the losses to GS, LAC, and the first loss to Orlando were all explainable. But to lose that rematch to Orlando, even without Tatum, is inexcusable. You can't lose to a team that bad twice in a row on your own floor.

Hopefully Tatum shows up with some pride on Wednesday because it doesn't seem like anyone had it yesterday.

[slamtheking]

If we lose four of the next five, Stevens should trade whomever will have a problem with Stevens becoming interim HC, fire Udoka on January 1, and make Stevens the new interim HC with Mazz as lead assistant HC, effective January 1 at midnight. We need to reverse this slide and it means moving whoever is primarily responsible for the stagnation (I’m almost certain it’s mostly JB with his change in play, possibly change in attitude behind the scenes —you all can continue to believe he’s more than a dude who affiliates with anti-semites like Kanye and Kyrie, but the rest of us know he’s got poor judgment). It also means finally ridding ourselves of the shadow of Udoka in case one or more player is intentionally doing things to try to cause us to bring back Udoka, who could be the Harvey Weinstein of the NBA for all we know, so we need to cut those ties ASAP too.

If the losing continues, we need a fresh start on January 1.

yet more drivel to drive your insatiable desire to trade Jaylen for pennies on the dollar.  JB isn't the issue. 

"but the rest of us know he’s got poor judgment" --> translation -- "I don't like JB and will proclaim without evidence that others don't like him either so I don't look like I'm alone in my obsession"

[tenn_smoothie]

These 40+ three-point attempts per almost every game is another red flag to me.
That is not sound basketball. For Mazzulla to consider this as normal and as playing a good game is disconcerting.

He does look lost an awful lot standing on the sideline with his arms folded. It may well be that he doesn't have any idea what changes to make and doesn't know what to say to the team if he calls a timeout during an opponent's run. So he covers it up with these passive, meandering comments about playing well after losing two straight at home to a bad team.

[ozgod]

If we lose four of the next five, Stevens should trade whomever will have a problem with Stevens becoming interim HC, fire Udoka on January 1, and make Stevens the new interim HC with Mazz as lead assistant HC, effective January 1 at midnight. We need to reverse this slide and it means moving whoever is primarily responsible for the stagnation (I’m almost certain it’s mostly JB with his change in play, possibly change in attitude behind the scenes —you all can continue to believe he’s more than a dude who affiliates with anti-semites like Kanye and Kyrie, but the rest of us know he’s got poor judgment). It also means finally ridding ourselves of the shadow of Udoka in case one or more player is intentionally doing things to try to cause us to bring back Udoka, who could be the Harvey Weinstein of the NBA for all we know, so we need to cut those ties ASAP too.

If the losing continues, we need a fresh start on January 1.

You just never stop with this making Stevens the head coach. What makes you think Brad wants to go back to coaching?

I see this as an opportunity for Joe Mazz to grow as well. It's not always all wins in the NBA, otherwise more teams would go 82-0. Teams play poorly, players lose form. Sometimes they switch off mentally. Sometimes they have structural issues with team composition, sometimes with strategy, sometimes with effort. Part of Joe's challenge is to figure out what the issue is, he is privy to much more information than those of us who watch 2 hours of game time every few days. This is where it will be decided if he deserves to have the "interim" taken out of his name - by being able to identify what the issues are, and to make adjustments, both out of game and in game, to try to change the course of the team. He has been part of the team that took the Celtics to a 22-9 record, he deserves that opportunity to show if he can do that at least.

I will remind all the wrist-slitters that want to get rid of our 2nd best player, replace our coach with our GM who has made it clear he's not interested in the job and make all other kinds of NBA2k-style wholesale changes that this time last year the team was 15-17 and had just lost to Philly with Embiid scoring 41 points. Where did we end up? Not to say that will happen again but more that you guys are overreacting to a stretch of bad games with the usual. Yes the team's trajectory is not good. Yes there look like there are issues with shot selection and effort. Yes Tatum is a selfish @#$% for attending his kid's birthday party instead of soldiering on and saving our bacon against the 5th worst team in the league. But it's a 5 game, 2 week stretch coming off a long road trip heading into Christmas.

Greeny, the rest of your post is just total overreaction, as usual. Sometimes I wonder if you even watch the games. First sign of adversity in the season and the sky is falling, make drastic changes. Works in NBA2k but not here. If you look back at some of the suggestions you were making this time last year when we were 15-17, no disrespect but prescient is not what I would call them.   

[Yuckabuck33]

If we lose four of the next five, Stevens should trade whomever will have a problem with Stevens becoming interim HC, fire Udoka on January 1, and make Stevens the new interim HC with Mazz as lead assistant HC, effective January 1 at midnight. We need to reverse this slide and it means moving whoever is primarily responsible for the stagnation (I’m almost certain it’s mostly JB with his change in play, possibly change in attitude behind the scenes —you all can continue to believe he’s more than a dude who affiliates with anti-semites like Kanye and Kyrie, but the rest of us know he’s got poor judgment). It also means finally ridding ourselves of the shadow of Udoka in case one or more player is intentionally doing things to try to cause us to bring back Udoka, who could be the Harvey Weinstein of the NBA for all we know, so we need to cut those ties ASAP too.

If the losing continues, we need a fresh start on January 1.

"I'm almost certain that it's JB..."
Wow dude, you have an active imagination!

[angryguy77]

If we lose four of the next five, Stevens should trade whomever will have a problem with Stevens becoming interim HC, fire Udoka on January 1, and make Stevens the new interim HC with Mazz as lead assistant HC, effective January 1 at midnight. We need to reverse this slide and it means moving whoever is primarily responsible for the stagnation (I’m almost certain it’s mostly JB with his change in play, possibly change in attitude behind the scenes —you all can continue to believe he’s more than a dude who affiliates with anti-semites like Kanye and Kyrie, but the rest of us know he’s got poor judgment). It also means finally ridding ourselves of the shadow of Udoka in case one or more player is intentionally doing things to try to cause us to bring back Udoka, who could be the Harvey Weinstein of the NBA for all we know, so we need to cut those ties ASAP too.

If the losing continues, we need a fresh start on January 1.

We're back to living and dying by the 3, so he's already here in spirit.

[BASS_THUMPER]

*sippin*

[droopdog7]

I think it's two things; teams are playing us much tougher than they do other teams.  No one wants to become the next Phoenix.  Second thing is regression.  We were shooting way above the norm so it was bound to come down.

Not exciting answers, I know.

[Kernewek]

If we lose four of the next five, Stevens should trade whomever will have a problem with Stevens becoming interim HC, fire Udoka on January 1, and make Stevens the new interim HC with Mazz as lead assistant HC, effective January 1 at midnight. We need to reverse this slide and it means moving whoever is primarily responsible for the stagnation (I’m almost certain it’s mostly JB with his change in play, possibly change in attitude behind the scenes —you all can continue to believe he’s more than a dude who affiliates with anti-semites like Kanye and Kyrie, but the rest of us know he’s got poor judgment). It also means finally ridding ourselves of the shadow of Udoka in case one or more player is intentionally doing things to try to cause us to bring back Udoka, who could be the Harvey Weinstein of the NBA for all we know, so we need to cut those ties ASAP too.

If the losing continues, we need a fresh start on January 1.

We're back to living and dying by the 3, so he's already here in spirit.

Did this really change substantially between last season - when, at this point, the state of the team was much more deserving of lamentation - and the play so far?

I'm inclined to agree with Droops: we were incredibly hot as a team, and were bound to cool off sometime.

[Roy H.]

If we lose four of the next five, Stevens should trade whomever will have a problem with Stevens becoming interim HC, fire Udoka on January 1, and make Stevens the new interim HC with Mazz as lead assistant HC, effective January 1 at midnight. We need to reverse this slide and it means moving whoever is primarily responsible for the stagnation (I’m almost certain it’s mostly JB with his change in play, possibly change in attitude behind the scenes —you all can continue to believe he’s more than a dude who affiliates with anti-semites like Kanye and Kyrie, but the rest of us know he’s got poor judgment). It also means finally ridding ourselves of the shadow of Udoka in case one or more player is intentionally doing things to try to cause us to bring back Udoka, who could be the Harvey Weinstein of the NBA for all we know, so we need to cut those ties ASAP too.

If the losing continues, we need a fresh start on January 1.

We're back to living and dying by the 3, so he's already here in spirit.

Did this really change substantially between last season - when, at this point, the state of the team was much more deserving of lamentation - and the play so far?

I'm inclined to agree with Droops: we were incredibly hot as a team, and were bound to cool off sometime.

Is that how regression to the mean works?  Massive spikes in performance, from the best for a sustained period to the worst for a sustained period?

[Kernewek]

If we lose four of the next five, Stevens should trade whomever will have a problem with Stevens becoming interim HC, fire Udoka on January 1, and make Stevens the new interim HC with Mazz as lead assistant HC, effective January 1 at midnight. We need to reverse this slide and it means moving whoever is primarily responsible for the stagnation (I’m almost certain it’s mostly JB with his change in play, possibly change in attitude behind the scenes —you all can continue to believe he’s more than a dude who affiliates with anti-semites like Kanye and Kyrie, but the rest of us know he’s got poor judgment). It also means finally ridding ourselves of the shadow of Udoka in case one or more player is intentionally doing things to try to cause us to bring back Udoka, who could be the Harvey Weinstein of the NBA for all we know, so we need to cut those ties ASAP too.

If the losing continues, we need a fresh start on January 1.

We're back to living and dying by the 3, so he's already here in spirit.

Did this really change substantially between last season - when, at this point, the state of the team was much more deserving of lamentation - and the play so far?

I'm inclined to agree with Droops: we were incredibly hot as a team, and were bound to cool off sometime.

Is that how regression to the mean works?  Massive spikes in performance, from the best for a sustained period to the worst for a sustained period?

Considering we're looking at the sky falling down over a sample size of four bad games? Hard to say.

[Moranis]

If we lose four of the next five, Stevens should trade whomever will have a problem with Stevens becoming interim HC, fire Udoka on January 1, and make Stevens the new interim HC with Mazz as lead assistant HC, effective January 1 at midnight. We need to reverse this slide and it means moving whoever is primarily responsible for the stagnation (I’m almost certain it’s mostly JB with his change in play, possibly change in attitude behind the scenes —you all can continue to believe he’s more than a dude who affiliates with anti-semites like Kanye and Kyrie, but the rest of us know he’s got poor judgment). It also means finally ridding ourselves of the shadow of Udoka in case one or more player is intentionally doing things to try to cause us to bring back Udoka, who could be the Harvey Weinstein of the NBA for all we know, so we need to cut those ties ASAP too.

If the losing continues, we need a fresh start on January 1.

We're back to living and dying by the 3, so he's already here in spirit.

Did this really change substantially between last season - when, at this point, the state of the team was much more deserving of lamentation - and the play so far?

I'm inclined to agree with Droops: we were incredibly hot as a team, and were bound to cool off sometime.

Is that how regression to the mean works?  Massive spikes in performance, from the best for a sustained period to the worst for a sustained period?

Generally, yeah.  If a team goes a on a hot streak, it will go on a cold streak, and will ultimately end up where it should have been.  And it isn't like Boston was on fire every single game during the first 20 games or so.  Sure, overall the team played incredibly well, but it wasn't just awesome game after awesome game.