Fire Joe! ... or critique Joe ... or defend Joe... or worry about Joe's coaching

[libermaniac]

I don’t have a problem with him just calling a play out of a side out with ample time. I do have a problem with Smart getting the final shot both at the end of regulation and in OT. I hope someone asks him about that postgame. Better not have been the plan.

The problem with the last play wasn't Marcus' wide open shot (that he made).  It was starting the play with two seconds left, despite Philly being out of timeouts.

Yep. Exactly.

[Goldstar88]

I don’t have a problem with him just calling a play out of a side out with ample time. I do have a problem with Smart getting the final shot both at the end of regulation and in OT. I hope someone asks him about that postgame. Better not have been the plan.

The problem with the last play wasn't Marcus' wide open shot (that he made).  It was starting the play with two seconds left, despite Philly being out of timeouts.

The Celtics got the ball side out with 18 seconds to go in OT. Per postgame interview, Joe called a play for Tatum to attack the basket and it didn’t work out.

[greg683x]

I don’t have a problem with him just calling a play out of a side out with ample time. I do have a problem with Smart getting the final shot both at the end of regulation and in OT. I hope someone asks him about that postgame. Better not have been the plan.

The problem with the last play wasn't Marcus' wide open shot (that he made).  It was starting the play with two seconds left, despite Philly being out of timeouts.

There’s a good chance that if a timeout was made and the ball was advanced to half court, we get into the play sooner and Marcus’s shot might have counted

[Phantom255x]

If Joe isn’t going to call timeout and draw up plays at the end then why the hell do we even have a coach?? Just let the players call one out or just frantically run around in the final seconds (which is what happened).

Also, most teams will live with Smart taking the last shots, as long as it’s not the Jays or the others getting the open looks

[blink]

If Joe isn’t going to call timeout and draw up plays at the end then why the hell do we even have a coach?? Just let the players call one out or just frantically run around in the final seconds (which is what happened).

Also, most teams will live with Smart taking the last shots, as long as it’s not the Jays or the others getting the open looks

At this point Smart, Tatum or JB needs to call the time out themselves.  If Joe can’t make a simple obvious TO call when needed, he needs to go.

[Goldstar88]

If Joe isn’t going to call timeout and draw up plays at the end then why the hell do we even have a coach?? Just let the players call one out or just frantically run around in the final seconds (which is what happened).

Also, most teams will live with Smart taking the last shots, as long as it’s not the Jays or the others getting the open looks

Ball was side out with 18 seconds to go. He called a play. It didn’t work. Sometimes that happens.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7qO1OLFNx4M&pp=ygUTY2VsdGljcyBmaW5hbCBzaG90IA%3D%3D

[Banner18now!]

Joe doesn’t give this team an edge. He just doesn’t have the experience it’s not his fault. He should have never been handed a championship roster because the only thing he can do is hurt it when you’re 34 years old no experience. This is on Brad and Wyc. Never should have given Joe the keys to this team unless you believe coaching doesn’t matter that much.

[SparzWizard]

Joe doesn’t give this team an edge. He just doesn’t have the experience it’s not his fault. He should have never been handed a championship roster because the only thing he can do is hurt it when you’re 34 years old no experience. This is on Brad and Wyc. Never should have given Joe the keys to this team unless you believe coaching doesn’t matter that much.

He was an assistant coach so he should have some coaching experience. But yes, this is also Brad and Wyc's fault as well.

[ozgod]

Some of you guys don’t know how basketball works. You know Joe, in all likelihood didnt call a double on Joel on that last possession? It was literally an idiotic high school basketball play from Jaylen?

JAylen said in his post game presser that it was a bad read on his part.

[Ed Monix]

I don’t blame Joe for any of these issues, you simply don’t put a rookie head coach in this situation.

I blame either Brad Stevens or Wyc Grousbeck.

If Stevens had complete autonomy in his coaching selections, these issues are his fault. Perhaps if Wyc limited his spending power because Udoka was still on the books then I can understand giving the reigns to Mazzulla.

For an organization that prides itself on its analytical decisions…when has a rookie NBA coach in his 30’s succeeded? Not to mention Mazzulla’s only HC experience is for a College Div II team (for two seasons). When you factor in that the team is in win now mode, it’s actually crazy they would put him in this situation.

Frank Vogel should have been the Celtics head coach, with the stipulation that Mazzulla stays on as his head assistant.

Vogel has over 20 years of NBA coaching experience & 10 plus as a head coach. He achieved amazing results with the Indiana Pacers and only struggled when they had long term injuries to Paul George & George Hill. His defensive schemes are exactly what this team needed. Just look what he did for the Lakers.

[Indocelts]

Some of you guys don’t know how basketball works. You know Joe, in all likelihood didnt call a double on Joel on that last possession? It was literally an idiotic high school basketball play from Jaylen?

JAylen said in his post game presser that it was a bad read on his part.

A good coach would remind his players that this is a 2 point game, 2 point would draw even, do not leave a 3 point shot open, we still have time for a last shot.

A time out on that situation is not a bad thing either.

[ozgod]

I don’t have a problem with him just calling a play out of a side out with ample time. I do have a problem with Smart getting the final shot both at the end of regulation and in OT. I hope someone asks him about that postgame. Better not have been the plan.

The problem with the last play wasn't Marcus' wide open shot (that he made).  It was starting the play with two seconds left, despite Philly being out of timeouts.

There’s a good chance that if a timeout was made and the ball was advanced to half court, we get into the play sooner and Marcus’s shot might have counted

Yup, the only reason you wouldn’t call a timeout, other than not wanting the other team to sub, is if you want to go quickly and keep them backpedaling rather than setting their defense. You would assume they practice end of game scenarios all the time so they should have any number of plays to run based on how the defense is set up. But you have to go quick to keep the defense off balance and scrambling. Which they didn’t.

The reason you WOULD call a timeout is if you weren’t organized or if your team looked like it had lost composure and needed to be settled down. Which it looked like it did, they took 15 sec just to start the play and there was 6 sec left. Maybe they didn’t want Philly to have time but it’s cutting it really fine.

Personally, I can live with them not calling a timeout. I’m also ok with Smart taking the last shot, he actually made it. Philly would have been sweating on the Jays. What I’m not ok with is them taking so long to get going, they let Philly get set anyway and they didn’t leave themselves enough time to shoot, let alone get a second shot in the event of a miss. These are the “learning opportunities “ that are fine in the regular season but in the playoffs we can I’ll afford.

But it’s easy to second guess the last plays because they turned the game…JB made a bad read, he admitted it, and they took to long to get their poop together on the last play. Thereality is that if we had played the first half the same way we played the 2nd this probably isn’t a close game. We let Harden get too comfortable and he scored 42. That can’t happen in Game 5 and I suspect it won’t.

[gouki88]

Some of you guys don’t know how basketball works. You know Joe, in all likelihood didnt call a double on Joel on that last possession? It was literally an idiotic high school basketball play from Jaylen?

JAylen said in his post game presser that it was a bad read on his part.

A good coach would remind his players that this is a 2 point game, 2 point would draw even, do not leave a 3 point shot open, we still have time for a last shot.

A time out on that situation is not a bad thing either.

Marcus Morris was the king of over-helping on a two point shot which gave up an open three. Drove me insane, as did Jaylen’s mistake.

[CelticsWhat35]

This is all so ridiculous.  If Harden misses the 3 or if Tatum scores at the end, it’s all about how gritty of a win it was when they weren’t at their best and how they fought back and weathered monster performances by Embiid and Harden. 

Aside from Jaylen, the Celtics played like garbage in the first half and Harden was lights out.  They still were in position to win on multiple occasions, but they couldn’t close it out.

I hate the fact that Joe harps on three point shooting, but when the Celtics are playing to their potential, they play great basketball on both sides of the floor.  Some of it is coaching, but the majority is the talent on the floor.  But we can’t have it both ways; if the talent doesn’t perform, it’s not always the fault of the coaching.

[Roy H.]

This is all so ridiculous.  If Harden misses the 3 or if Tatum scores at the end, it’s all about how gritty of a win it was when they weren’t at their best and how they fought back and weathered monster performances by Embiid and Harden. 

Aside from Jaylen, the Celtics played like garbage in the first half and Harden was lights out.  They still were in position to win on multiple occasions, but they couldn’t close it out.

I hate the fact that Joe harps on three point shooting, but when the Celtics are playing to their potential, they play great basketball on both sides of the floor.  Some of it is coaching, but the majority is the talent on the floor.  But we can’t have it both ways; if the talent doesn’t perform, it’s not always the fault of the coaching.

I would put it like this:  the players' job is to play.  Joe's job is to put them in the best position to succeed.  Neither did a great job today.