Celtics News

[Roy H.]

This isn't Celtics news, but I think this is the thread we were discussing JB's podcast comments:

One day after his playoff run was cut shorter than anticipated, league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander called his season a failure due to the lack of a second consecutive championship.

"I failed at my goal," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "I didn't achieve what I wanted to achieve. But I learn the most about myself and make the greatest amount of increases in my career when I fail and don't get what I want. I look at this no different. I didn't get where I wanted to go this season. There's a reason for that. Now I have to look at that reason and try to make sure it never happens again."

What a contrast.

No question that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gets it.  That has been clear all along.  He is all business on and off the court.  No complaining about the refs or any unnecessary narratives.  I do think that Brown's comments got overblown (comes with the territory), but SGA gave the textbook way to handle this.

A solid answer from the MVP playing on the team expected to win back-to-back titles vs the top player who was in the MVP discussion discussing a team many people expected to miss the playoffs completely or at best make the play-in.  night and day scenarios.  I will say the complaining about the officiating wasn't a good look but it's not like he didn't have a point with the disparity in the officiating


I think the JB comments have been ridiculously overblown and twisted to mean the most negative thing they could possibly be passed off as.

I think JB's comments were given their fair and plain meaning.  When a player blames everybody but himself, plays the victim, *and* says that the favorite season of his career was the one where he personally got a lot of hype but which resulted in unexpected and unnecessary failure, he's going to be questioned about it.

SGA took accountability.  JB blamed the refs and celebrated himself.

[Goldstar88]

This isn't Celtics news, but I think this is the thread we were discussing JB's podcast comments:

One day after his playoff run was cut shorter than anticipated, league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander called his season a failure due to the lack of a second consecutive championship.

"I failed at my goal," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "I didn't achieve what I wanted to achieve. But I learn the most about myself and make the greatest amount of increases in my career when I fail and don't get what I want. I look at this no different. I didn't get where I wanted to go this season. There's a reason for that. Now I have to look at that reason and try to make sure it never happens again."

What a contrast.

No question that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gets it.  That has been clear all along.  He is all business on and off the court.  No complaining about the refs or any unnecessary narratives.  I do think that Brown's comments got overblown (comes with the territory), but SGA gave the textbook way to handle this.

A solid answer from the MVP playing on the team expected to win back-to-back titles vs the top player who was in the MVP discussion discussing a team many people expected to miss the playoffs completely or at best make the play-in.  night and day scenarios.  I will say the complaining about the officiating wasn't a good look but it's not like he didn't have a point with the disparity in the officiating


I think the JB comments have been ridiculously overblown and twisted to mean the most negative thing they could possibly be passed off as.

I don?t see what the above has to do with their comments. Both guys failed to take their teams to the Finals. Both were favored to make it there going into the playoffs. SGA views the season as a failure as his team fell short. JB doesn?t seem to mind much and said that this was his favorite season.

[slamtheking]

This isn't Celtics news, but I think this is the thread we were discussing JB's podcast comments:

One day after his playoff run was cut shorter than anticipated, league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander called his season a failure due to the lack of a second consecutive championship.

"I failed at my goal," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "I didn't achieve what I wanted to achieve. But I learn the most about myself and make the greatest amount of increases in my career when I fail and don't get what I want. I look at this no different. I didn't get where I wanted to go this season. There's a reason for that. Now I have to look at that reason and try to make sure it never happens again."

What a contrast.

No question that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gets it.  That has been clear all along.  He is all business on and off the court.  No complaining about the refs or any unnecessary narratives.  I do think that Brown's comments got overblown (comes with the territory), but SGA gave the textbook way to handle this.

A solid answer from the MVP playing on the team expected to win back-to-back titles vs the top player who was in the MVP discussion discussing a team many people expected to miss the playoffs completely or at best make the play-in.  night and day scenarios.  I will say the complaining about the officiating wasn't a good look but it's not like he didn't have a point with the disparity in the officiating


I think the JB comments have been ridiculously overblown and twisted to mean the most negative thing they could possibly be passed off as.

I don?t see what the above has to do with their comments. Both guys failed to take their teams to the Finals. Both were favored to make it there going into the playoffs. SGA views the season as a failure as his team fell short. JB doesn?t seem to mind much and said that this was his favorite season.

it has a lot to do with their comments.  context is a lot. 
- SGA was expected to carry his team to a title and he didn't.  he spoke to that very point and said all the right things.   
- JB was expected to flounder as the top banana on the C's this year and as a result the team was also expected to flounder.  JB and the team exceeded all expectations and he spoke to that point (not as eloquently as some require in order not to crucify him) and in that regard it was most satisfying in shutting up the naysayers.  Of course there's so many people looking to knock JB if given the slightest opening, there's basically nothing he can say or do that he won't get needlessly hammered for.  Apparently being proud of himself and the team overcoming low expectations this year is nothing to be proud of according to his detractors.   

to put it in another context that might make the point -- picture the top player on a different team saying he was proud of what the team accomplished and it was his favorite season because they overachieved even though it wasn't a title.  would you still be all up in arms over that player saying it?  I highly doubt it.

[slamtheking]

This isn't Celtics news, but I think this is the thread we were discussing JB's podcast comments:

One day after his playoff run was cut shorter than anticipated, league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander called his season a failure due to the lack of a second consecutive championship.

"I failed at my goal," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "I didn't achieve what I wanted to achieve. But I learn the most about myself and make the greatest amount of increases in my career when I fail and don't get what I want. I look at this no different. I didn't get where I wanted to go this season. There's a reason for that. Now I have to look at that reason and try to make sure it never happens again."

What a contrast.

No question that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gets it.  That has been clear all along.  He is all business on and off the court.  No complaining about the refs or any unnecessary narratives.  I do think that Brown's comments got overblown (comes with the territory), but SGA gave the textbook way to handle this.

A solid answer from the MVP playing on the team expected to win back-to-back titles vs the top player who was in the MVP discussion discussing a team many people expected to miss the playoffs completely or at best make the play-in.  night and day scenarios.  I will say the complaining about the officiating wasn't a good look but it's not like he didn't have a point with the disparity in the officiating


I think the JB comments have been ridiculously overblown and twisted to mean the most negative thing they could possibly be passed off as.

I think JB's comments were given their fair and plain meaning.  When a player blames everybody but himself, plays the victim, *and* says that the favorite season of his career was the one where he personally got a lot of hype but which resulted in unexpected and unnecessary failure, he's going to be questioned about it.

SGA took accountability.  JB blamed the refs and celebrated himself.

you've long established a dislike for JB for what he says off the court.  I'm not going to bother wasting my time trying to get you take a more impartial interpretation.  you hear what you want to hear Roy

[Roy H.]

This isn't Celtics news, but I think this is the thread we were discussing JB's podcast comments:

One day after his playoff run was cut shorter than anticipated, league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander called his season a failure due to the lack of a second consecutive championship.

"I failed at my goal," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "I didn't achieve what I wanted to achieve. But I learn the most about myself and make the greatest amount of increases in my career when I fail and don't get what I want. I look at this no different. I didn't get where I wanted to go this season. There's a reason for that. Now I have to look at that reason and try to make sure it never happens again."

What a contrast.

No question that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gets it.  That has been clear all along.  He is all business on and off the court.  No complaining about the refs or any unnecessary narratives.  I do think that Brown's comments got overblown (comes with the territory), but SGA gave the textbook way to handle this.

A solid answer from the MVP playing on the team expected to win back-to-back titles vs the top player who was in the MVP discussion discussing a team many people expected to miss the playoffs completely or at best make the play-in.  night and day scenarios.  I will say the complaining about the officiating wasn't a good look but it's not like he didn't have a point with the disparity in the officiating


I think the JB comments have been ridiculously overblown and twisted to mean the most negative thing they could possibly be passed off as.

I think JB's comments were given their fair and plain meaning.  When a player blames everybody but himself, plays the victim, *and* says that the favorite season of his career was the one where he personally got a lot of hype but which resulted in unexpected and unnecessary failure, he's going to be questioned about it.

SGA took accountability.  JB blamed the refs and celebrated himself.

you've long established a dislike for JB for what he says off the court.  I'm not going to bother wasting my time trying to get you take a more impartial interpretation.  you hear what you want to hear Roy

Sorry that me previously objecting to his anti-Semitic support offended you and made you question my impartiality.

[Goldstar88]

This isn't Celtics news, but I think this is the thread we were discussing JB's podcast comments:

One day after his playoff run was cut shorter than anticipated, league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander called his season a failure due to the lack of a second consecutive championship.

"I failed at my goal," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "I didn't achieve what I wanted to achieve. But I learn the most about myself and make the greatest amount of increases in my career when I fail and don't get what I want. I look at this no different. I didn't get where I wanted to go this season. There's a reason for that. Now I have to look at that reason and try to make sure it never happens again."

What a contrast.

No question that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gets it.  That has been clear all along.  He is all business on and off the court.  No complaining about the refs or any unnecessary narratives.  I do think that Brown's comments got overblown (comes with the territory), but SGA gave the textbook way to handle this.

A solid answer from the MVP playing on the team expected to win back-to-back titles vs the top player who was in the MVP discussion discussing a team many people expected to miss the playoffs completely or at best make the play-in.  night and day scenarios.  I will say the complaining about the officiating wasn't a good look but it's not like he didn't have a point with the disparity in the officiating


I think the JB comments have been ridiculously overblown and twisted to mean the most negative thing they could possibly be passed off as.

I don?t see what the above has to do with their comments. Both guys failed to take their teams to the Finals. Both were favored to make it there going into the playoffs. SGA views the season as a failure as his team fell short. JB doesn?t seem to mind much and said that this was his favorite season.

it has a lot to do with their comments.  context is a lot. 
- SGA was expected to carry his team to a title and he didn't.  he spoke to that very point and said all the right things.   
- JB was expected to flounder as the top banana on the C's this year and as a result the team was also expected to flounder.  JB and the team exceeded all expectations and he spoke to that point (not as eloquently as some require in order not to crucify him) and in that regard it was most satisfying in shutting up the naysayers.  Of course there's so many people looking to knock JB if given the slightest opening, there's basically nothing he can say or do that he won't get needlessly hammered for.  Apparently being proud of himself and the team overcoming low expectations this year is nothing to be proud of according to his detractors.   

to put it in another context that might make the point -- picture the top player on a different team saying he was proud of what the team accomplished and it was his favorite season because they overachieved even though it wasn't a title.  would you still be all up in arms over that player saying it?  I highly doubt it.

The Celtics were expected to make it to the Finals after the regular season ended, though. Boston was looking dominant. Expectations changed once Tatum came back and the preseason predictions were irrelevant at that point.

Can you imagine Pierce or KG saying their favorite season was one that they lost in the first round, choking away a 3-1 lead? It seems like the team winning is not the most important thing to JB and that rubs people the wrong way.

[Moranis]

I get there are bad calls in every gane both ways, but I have really hard time citing the refs when in the series one team committed 136 fouls and shot 140 FT's and the other team commited 132 fouls and shot 139 FT's.  You aren't going to find many series more even than that.  The team that won the series had a better FG%, 3PT%, and FT% and commited 8 less turnivers. They also scored less total points so didn't waste the good shooting games in blowouts. 

Boaton lost because the Sixers played cleaner and better basketball especially the last 3 games.

[Roy H.]

I get there are bad calls in every gane both ways, but I have really hard time citing the refs when in the series one team committed 136 fouls and shot 140 FT's and the other team commited 132 fouls and shot 139 FT's.  You aren't going to find many series more even than that.  The team that won the series had a better FG%, 3PT%, and FT% and commited 8 less turnivers. They also scored less total points so didn't waste the good shooting games in blowouts. 

Boaton lost because the Sixers played cleaner and better basketball especially the last 3 games.

The thing I still don't understand about JB whining about the refs is that the offensive foul calls were good calls.  He was constantly pushing off.  And, there were several that the refs didn't call, despite it being an illegal move.

It's not like the refs were letting Philly get away with it constantly.  It's just a stupid thing to complain about.  The refs enforced the rule the entire series.

I think JB got into his own head, and forgot how to play basketball without physically clearing space.

And yes, you usually see fewer calls in the postseason, not more.  But, that's the way the series was called, so it's incumbent upon the players to stop fouling.  To me, there's a big difference about complaining when you're constantly getting fouled, versus complaining when you're the one constantly fouling and want a softer whistle.

[Celtics2021]

I get there are bad calls in every gane both ways, but I have really hard time citing the refs when in the series one team committed 136 fouls and shot 140 FT's and the other team commited 132 fouls and shot 139 FT's.  You aren't going to find many series more even than that.  The team that won the series had a better FG%, 3PT%, and FT% and commited 8 less turnivers. They also scored less total points so didn't waste the good shooting games in blowouts. 

Boaton lost because the Sixers played cleaner and better basketball especially the last 3 games.

The thing I still don't understand about JB whining about the refs is that the offensive foul calls were good calls.  He was constantly pushing off.  And, there were several that the refs didn't call, despite it being an illegal move.

It's not like the refs were letting Philly get away with it constantly.  It's just a stupid thing to complain about.  The refs enforced the rule the entire series.

I think JB got into his own head, and forgot how to play basketball without physically clearing space.

And yes, you usually see fewer calls in the postseason, not more.  But, that's the way the series was called, so it's incumbent upon the players to stop fouling.  To me, there's a big difference about complaining when you're constantly getting fouled, versus complaining when you're the one constantly fouling and want a softer whistle.

I think JB was frustrated with the contact on the defense that was not getting called, which led him to push off more, especially with all the marginal crap they call in favor of Embiid all the time.  Jaylen absorbed a lot of contact, and that increased the closer he got to the paint.  He averaged only 3 fouls drawn per game in the series.  It is not that the offensive fouls were not fouls (they generally were, and they probably could have called a couple more), but the definition of marginal contact was different for Jaylen compared to Embiid.

Also, there is a fair bit of evidence that a way to get calls is to complain about not getting them.  Jaylen complaining now, while maybe sounding like sour grapes, may plant seeds for the future.  Maybe not, of course, but refs are human.  The Celtics have rarely complained about the whistle dating back to Brad being hired, and they also for years have one of the lowest free throw rates.  I for one do not mind the complaints, and would prefer it if the organization was more verbal about it.