Celtics (0-0) at Knicks (0-0) Game #1 10/25/23

[knuckleballer]

Not a lot of cohesion on offense.  It looks a bit like every man for himself.  Hopefully, it’s just first game-itis.

[Surferdad]

That whole pattern of substitution has taken the Celtics out of all whack

Bad substitution moves by Joe, hope he adjusts in 2nd half. Give Q some minutes

[Atzar]

Eight offensive boards for the Knicks is too much.  We're defending the first shot very well but they're burning us on the second shot. 

I think Tatum and KP seem to know what they want to do on this team.  Brown, White, and Holiday are still feeling out their roles though.  Brown in particular had a few sequences where it was Jaylen Time and he was forcing his own shot even if Tatum was wide open one pass away.  This team has too much talent to be selfish. 

[Neurotic Guy]

Should be a lot more than 5. Bench as we all were worried about is not good.

Jury very much still out on the bench. Horford played well. PP and Sam both missed open looks. When they come in and hit the bench is going to feel much better.

[jpotter33]

I think I'm going to like Bob Myers on the Countdown show.

[RJ87]

In a year, what can we get for JB? Maybe a starting big next to Zinger and a legit bench piece.

I just don't have confidence that he's going to 1.) figure out how to fit in 2.) actually try to fit in.

And that's just not based on tonight. I'm basing that on 7 years of watching him play.

[jambr380]

Worst thing that could happen to Jaylen was KP coming out on fire. He feels he should at least be the #2 on this team, so once KP went off, Jaylen felt like he needed to keep up and stopped playing within the flow of the game.

The bench was useless, but Joe was quick to pull guys...except Luke. And let's be real, Luke should just not be playing at all. I get that Oshae and Stevens aren't the greatest offensive players, but they play tough and are mobile and strong. Luke just seemingly doesn't do anything well.

[Who]

Randle 1-10 FGA
Brunson 2-9 FGA

[Muzzy66]

In a year, what can we get for JB? Maybe a starting big next to Zinger and a legit bench piece.

I just don't have confidence that he's going to 1.) figure out how to fit in 2.) actually try to fit in.

And that's just not based on tonight. I'm basing that on 7 years of watching him play.

I agree and have felt this way for a while now. 

I'm not sure we're going to have much choice - he really seems like he wants to be the #1 guy somewhere.  I don't think he'll ever be truly willing to accept that he's the #2 guy...and the way Porzingis is playing, JB may well get downgraded to the #3 guy.  If that happens then I wouldn't be at all shocked if JB requests a trade at some point. 

[tenn_smoothie]

Should be a lot more than 5. Bench as we all were worried about is not good.

Neither is an offense consisting of jacking 3's and going dribble-iso with no off-ball movement.

[jambr380]

In a year, what can we get for JB? Maybe a starting big next to Zinger and a legit bench piece.

I just don't have confidence that he's going to 1.) figure out how to fit in 2.) actually try to fit in.

And that's just not based on tonight. I'm basing that on 7 years of watching him play.

Based on Wyc's recent comments about making major changes two days after the ECF, I think management won't hesitate to have a quick trigger with Jaylen if necessary. We made some major changes this past offseason, and it's worth seeing how everybody jells; but if we come up short and Jaylen isn't pulling his weight, then I don't think they'll mind trading that $300M contract for a couple of pieces that fit better.

That being said, we can't judge Jaylen on one bad half of basketball. I imagine he'll be an all-star level player this season (but maybe not actually an all-star with the way KP is playing).

[liam]

It doesn't help that we only shot 4 freethrows...

[knuckleballer]

In a year, what can we get for JB? Maybe a starting big next to Zinger and a legit bench piece.

I just don't have confidence that he's going to 1.) figure out how to fit in 2.) actually try to fit in.

And that's just not based on tonight. I'm basing that on 7 years of watching him play.

I agree and have felt this way for a while now. 

I'm not sure we're going to have much choice - he really seems like he wants to be the #1 guy somewhere.  I don't think he'll ever be truly willing to accept that he's the #2 guy...and the way Porzingis is playing, JB may well get downgraded to the #3 guy.  If that happens then I wouldn't be at all shocked if JB requests a trade at some point.

I also agree.  He doesn’t see the court and pass well enough.  He only seems to know how to find his own shot.  He looks like a guy that would score 30 points a game on a mediocre team.

[Atzar]

What the hell, Tatum.  That's just silly.

[jpotter33]

Crazy finish by JT.