5-0 and cruising

[BitterJim]

I'm just a bit worried the C's may be peaking early, and, as their attitudes are, start cooling down and start losing games on purpose or play down to their competition.

This team has a lot of room to grow.  Their chemistry will improve.  Their talent is winning them games.  When the chemistry sets in they will reach another level.  When the warriors had those super teams no one worries about them peaking.  This team is to hungry to get lax.

Not to mention that they have Jrue in their ear to stop them from getting complacent. He knows what it takes to win and seems like a pretty vocal leader.

[Vermont Green]

You hear the "peaking too early" concern with many teams in many sports.  I am not sure there is much you can do about it.  When you peak it probably most dependent on overall team health.  Is everyone 100% and playing their best.  You can manage health and minutes to some degree but you can only do so much.

The only thing a team can do is play hard and try to win every game while being reasonable or practical about managing players health.  In the end, it is better to be playing well and to have momentum.  You can't tamp that down and then expect to pick it up just before the playoffs.

[Silas]

A reminder for those with a short memory: This time last season after 12 games the Cs were 9-3 and were in the middle of a 9 game winning streak that took them to 13-3.  They then went 8-2 to get to Dec. 7 at 21-5.  Then went on to lose the next 5 of 6 and you know the rest.  This year's team is much stronger with KP and Jrue and I don't expect long losing streaks or inconsistent play.  If these guys stay relatively healthy they are best team in the NBA and will probably play Denver for all the marbles.  Go Cs!

[BitterJim]

Tonight feels like a bit of a trap game. On the road against a physical team that has struggled all year but is starting to figure it out, but is missing a few of their best guys...

This is the type of game that we frustratingly kept losing last year, if we can keep up the intensity then I'll feel really good about this team's attitude. I think Jrue will change/has changed the culture here but we'll see.

[tenn_smoothie]

You hear the "peaking too early" concern with many teams in many sports.  I am not sure there is much you can do about it.  When you peak it probably most dependent on overall team health.  Is everyone 100% and playing their best.  You can manage health and minutes to some degree but you can only do so much.

The only thing a team can do is play hard and try to win every game while being reasonable or practical about managing players health.  In the end, it is better to be playing well and to have momentum.  You can't tamp that down and then expect to pick it up just before the playoffs.

Most of the Celtics title teams started strong, back to the 60's.

My concern is too many minutes for our starters. I would accept an occasional loss while keeping the first 5 at around 30 minutes per.
It will pay off come playoff time, but Joe seems oblivious and given his insecure thin skin, I don't expect much change unless somebody gets in his ear about it.
Celts have made deep playoff runs every season and it takes a toll on the legs, we saw it with Tatum two years ago.

[Moranis]

You hear the "peaking too early" concern with many teams in many sports.  I am not sure there is much you can do about it.  When you peak it probably most dependent on overall team health.  Is everyone 100% and playing their best.  You can manage health and minutes to some degree but you can only do so much.

The only thing a team can do is play hard and try to win every game while being reasonable or practical about managing players health.  In the end, it is better to be playing well and to have momentum.  You can't tamp that down and then expect to pick it up just before the playoffs.

Most of the Celtics title teams started strong, back to the 60's.

My concern is too many minutes for our starters. I would accept an occasional loss while keeping the first 5 at around 30 minutes per.
It will pay off come playoff time, but Joe seems oblivious and given his insecure thin skin, I don't expect much change unless somebody gets in his ear about it.
Celts have made deep playoff runs every season and it takes a toll on the legs, we saw it with Tatum two years ago.

Will it.  I remember the seasons before Milwaukee won the title when they had a lot of blow outs.  Giannis had that one year at under 31 mpg and he just couldn't ramp up in the playoffs and wore down when they tried to up his minutes because he just didn't have the stamina.  There is a balance of course, but guys should generally play normal minutes when they are healthy.  It is very difficult to do something in the playoffs you haven't done all season

[Kernewek]

Well if it’s not too many threes it has to be too many minutes.

[ozgod]

I missed the moral loss (since it was only 2 points and they had a chance to win in the final seconds) to Memphis...are we wrist slitting yet?

Looks like Jaylen had a shocker...is he our pinata for the night or did someone else play even worse?

[cman88]

Hauser up to 10ppg on 47.5% 3 point shooting

Now we have 6 players averaging double figures

[Kernewek]

Hauser up to 10ppg on 47.5% 3 point shooting

Now we have 6 players averaging double figures

This won't include last night's game, but I thought this Goldsberry chart from a few days ago was great:

https://twitter.com/kirkgoldsberry/status/1725528246375084477?s=46&t=BPOCzlMnie9QX3i9mnMaQw

[Celtics2021]

I missed the moral loss (since it was only 2 points and they had a chance to win in the final seconds) to Memphis...are we wrist slitting yet?

Looks like Jaylen had a shocker...is he our pinata for the night or did someone else play even worse?

The loss should have gone on Jrue had it occurred, but I don’t venture into game threads enough to know where the blame was actually being spread.  My guess is Joe or Jaylen, the two usual punching bags.

All wins are good wins in my book, tho.

[mobilija]

I missed the moral loss (since it was only 2 points and they had a chance to win in the final seconds) to Memphis...are we wrist slitting yet?

Looks like Jaylen had a shocker...is he our pinata for the night or did someone else play even worse?

The loss should have gone on Jrue had it occurred, but I don’t venture into game threads enough to know where the blame was actually being spread.  My guess is Joe or Jaylen, the two usual punching bags.

All wins are good wins in my book, tho.

Honestly not a ton of bashing going on. Blame mildly put on Tatum, deservedly so for his 8 turnovers. Jaylen lumped in with him as both had sorta lazy games.

[Surferdad]

I still want a 3rd big, but I have to say, the bench has started to really find it's groove and they are not just keeping things stable but they are also starting to affect games and help us actually win with some of their performances (Horford, Hauser, Pritchard).

We have a lethal Starting-5 but I think we also have a great 8-man rotation with not too many flaws. Obviously there could be times they are cold shooting but what team is that not true of?

This. The 8-man rotation is fine and as Horford/Hauser/Pritchard continue to find their groove, the starter minutes should come down a bit.

My concern is too many minutes for our starters. I would accept an occasional loss while keeping the first 5 at around 30 minutes per.

I wouldn't. HCA is too important and there's a roster move that would be the way to solve that problem. Frankly, I would rather just play eight than have Joe insert Kornet who is a 4th big, at best. Need a true 3rd big vet on this team.

[ozgod]

I missed the moral loss (since it was only 2 points and they had a chance to win in the final seconds) to Memphis...are we wrist slitting yet?

Looks like Jaylen had a shocker...is he our pinata for the night or did someone else play even worse?

The loss should have gone on Jrue had it occurred, but I don’t venture into game threads enough to know where the blame was actually being spread.  My guess is Joe or Jaylen, the two usual punching bags.

All wins are good wins in my book, tho.

Honestly not a ton of bashing going on. Blame mildly put on Tatum, deservedly so for his 8 turnovers. Jaylen lumped in with him as both had sorta lazy games.

That's because we won...I'm sure there would be plenty of bashing had we lost. Amazing what 3 extra points can do 

Internally, I'm sure JT will be having a more uncomfortable film session than Jaylen...Jaylen looks like he just missed shots, Jayson turned the ball over 8 times.

[Surferdad]

I missed the moral loss (since it was only 2 points and they had a chance to win in the final seconds) to Memphis...are we wrist slitting yet?

Looks like Jaylen had a shocker...is he our pinata for the night or did someone else play even worse?

The loss should have gone on Jrue had it occurred, but I don’t venture into game threads enough to know where the blame was actually being spread.  My guess is Joe or Jaylen, the two usual punching bags.

All wins are good wins in my book, tho.

Honestly not a ton of bashing going on. Blame mildly put on Tatum, deservedly so for his 8 turnovers. Jaylen lumped in with him as both had sorta lazy games.

That's because we won...I'm sure there would be plenty of bashing had we lost. Amazing what 3 extra points can do 

Internally, I'm sure JT will be having a more uncomfortable film session than Jaylen...Jaylen looks like he just missed shots, Jayson turned the ball over 8 times.

Give Memphis some credit for their defensive strategy which was to collapse on JT. They almost pulled off a short-handed win.