Celtics (5-0) at Timberwolves (3-2) Game #6 11/6/23

[SparzWizard]

Glad they finally got this out the way.

But now the C's could potentially drop two straight. Their next game is at Philly, who are playing hot!

[Muzzy66]

For those who do feel all "doomy and gloomy" I have to say, I don't think we have too much to hang our heads on. 

Every single team had at least one loss so far.  We were the last team to get into the L column, which is something to be positive about. 

Also take a look at some of the other teams in the league who have high expectations this year: 
* The Nuggets lost to this same Timberwolves team by 19 points. 
* The Bucks lost to Atlanta by 17 and to the Raptors by 19.
* The Suns lost to the lowly Spurs twice (one of those by 11 points) and the Sixers once (by 12) - granted they are very shorthanded.
* That Warriors lost to Cleveland by 11
* The Lakers suffered a 19 point blowout by the Magic

Every one of these teams has suffered from at least one pretty bad loss this year.  Our first loss came down to the last minute, in overtime, against a competitively talented Wolves team, while being down a key player.  I can live with that.

[scaryjerry]

For those who do feel all "doomy and gloomy" I have to say, I don't think we have too much to hang our heads on. 

Every single team had at least one loss so far.  We were the last team to get into the L column, which is something to be positive about. 

Also take a look at some of the other teams in the league who have high expectations this year: 
* The Nuggets lost to this same Timberwolves team by 19 points. 
* The Bucks lost to Atlanta by 17 and to the Raptors by 19.
* The Suns lost to the lowly Spurs twice (one of those by 11 points) and the Sixers once (by 12) - granted they are very shorthanded.
* That Warriors lost to Cleveland by 11
* The Lakers suffered a 19 point blowout by the Magic

Every one of these teams has suffered from at least one pretty bad loss this year.  Our first loss came down to the last minute, in overtime, against a competitively talented Wolves team, while being down a key player.  I can live with that.

Who cares what other teams are doing? We lose the first good team we play

[ozgod]

For those who do feel all "doomy and gloomy" I have to say, I don't think we have too much to hang our heads on. 

Every single team had at least one loss so far.  We were the last team to get into the L column, which is something to be positive about. 

Also take a look at some of the other teams in the league who have high expectations this year: 
* The Nuggets lost to this same Timberwolves team by 19 points. 
* The Bucks lost to Atlanta by 17 and to the Raptors by 19.
* The Suns lost to the lowly Spurs twice (one of those by 11 points) and the Sixers once (by 12) - granted they are very shorthanded.
* That Warriors lost to Cleveland by 11
* The Lakers suffered a 19 point blowout by the Magic

Every one of these teams has suffered from at least one pretty bad loss this year.  Our first loss came down to the last minute, in overtime, against a competitively talented Wolves team, while being down a key player.  I can live with that.

Who cares what other teams are doing? We lose the first good team we play

Yup, with a sample size of one we laid a big fat egg, that’s for sure.

[tenn_smoothie]

Joe continues to play the core guys way too many minutes - We cannot maintain these high 30's - low 40's every game.

[SparzWizard]

If Marcus Smart was still playing for this team, I think we lose this even more frustrating lol

[Muzzy66]

For those who do feel all "doomy and gloomy" I have to say, I don't think we have too much to hang our heads on. 

Every single team had at least one loss so far.  We were the last team to get into the L column, which is something to be positive about. 

Also take a look at some of the other teams in the league who have high expectations this year: 
* The Nuggets lost to this same Timberwolves team by 19 points. 
* The Bucks lost to Atlanta by 17 and to the Raptors by 19.
* The Suns lost to the lowly Spurs twice (one of those by 11 points) and the Sixers once (by 12) - granted they are very shorthanded.
* That Warriors lost to Cleveland by 11
* The Lakers suffered a 19 point blowout by the Magic

Every one of these teams has suffered from at least one pretty bad loss this year.  Our first loss came down to the last minute, in overtime, against a competitively talented Wolves team, while being down a key player.  I can live with that.

Who cares what other teams are doing? We lose the first good team we play

The point is that no team wins every game.  Even championship teams suffer some ugly losses along the way - and all of the top title favourites for this year have suffered from significantly uglier losses then the one we just endured. 

So far - even after this loss - the Celtics still look better than any other team in the league.

Also, this was not the first good team we played.  The Knicks, Heat, Pacers and Wolves are all competitive teams who either made the playoffs last year or have a pretty decent chance of making it this year.  None of those teams are a pushover.  The only genuinely BAD team we have played so far was Washington, and we blew them out by 20 as we should.

I mean sure, it would be lovely if we could go 82-0, but that's just not realistic.  There are going to be losses, and I'd much rather those losses be single digit overtime losses against competitive teams, rather than 20-point blowouts losses against lottery teams (as has often been the case in past seasons).   

[ozgod]

For those who do feel all "doomy and gloomy" I have to say, I don't think we have too much to hang our heads on. 

Every single team had at least one loss so far.  We were the last team to get into the L column, which is something to be positive about. 

Also take a look at some of the other teams in the league who have high expectations this year: 
* The Nuggets lost to this same Timberwolves team by 19 points. 
* The Bucks lost to Atlanta by 17 and to the Raptors by 19.
* The Suns lost to the lowly Spurs twice (one of those by 11 points) and the Sixers once (by 12) - granted they are very shorthanded.
* That Warriors lost to Cleveland by 11
* The Lakers suffered a 19 point blowout by the Magic

Every one of these teams has suffered from at least one pretty bad loss this year.  Our first loss came down to the last minute, in overtime, against a competitively talented Wolves team, while being down a key player.  I can live with that.

Who cares what other teams are doing? We lose the first good team we play

The point is that no team wins every game.  Even championship teams suffer some ugly losses along the way - and all of the top title favourites for this year have suffered from significantly uglier losses then the one we just endured. 

So far - even after this loss - the Celtics still look better than any other team in the league.

Also, this was not the first good team we played.  The Knicks, Heat, Pacers and Wolves are all competitive teams who either made the playoffs last year or have a pretty decent chance of making it this year.  None of those teams are a pushover.  The only genuinely BAD team we have played so far was Washington, and we blew them out by 20 as we should.

I mean sure, it would be lovely if we could go 82-0, but that's just not realistic.  There are going to be losses, and I'd much rather those losses be single digit overtime losses against competitive teams, rather than 20-point blowouts losses against lottery teams (as has often been the case in past seasons).

Some people just find it hard dealing with a loss 

[Kernewek]

A friend who still lives in Mass just told me Boston is in the process of banning nips - I can definitely see why some folks would be on edge after that announcement. Thoughts and Prayers to you all.

[Roy H.]

Joe continues to play the core guys way too many minutes - We cannot maintain these high 30's - low 40's every game.

In general, I agree.

At the same time, he's been handed a very poor bench, particularly with Pritchard looking like literally the worst rotation player in the NBA right now.  If he rests the starters more, we lose games.

[Kernewek]

Joe continues to play the core guys way too many minutes - We cannot maintain these high 30's - low 40's every game.

In general, I agree.

At the same time, he's been handed a very poor bench, particularly with Pritchard looking like literally the worst rotation player in the NBA right now.  If he rests the starters more, we lose games.

Not only that, we need to be careful of small sample sizes here - Tatum and Brown averaged 36.9 and 35.9, respectively, MPG last season. They're currently on pace for fewer than that (36.3 for Tatum and 34 for Brown) even with the overtime game.

[cman88]

To be fair we weren't going 82-0 so I'd expect some losses.

[scaryjerry]

For those who do feel all "doomy and gloomy" I have to say, I don't think we have too much to hang our heads on. 

Every single team had at least one loss so far.  We were the last team to get into the L column, which is something to be positive about. 

Also take a look at some of the other teams in the league who have high expectations this year: 
* The Nuggets lost to this same Timberwolves team by 19 points. 
* The Bucks lost to Atlanta by 17 and to the Raptors by 19.
* The Suns lost to the lowly Spurs twice (one of those by 11 points) and the Sixers once (by 12) - granted they are very shorthanded.
* That Warriors lost to Cleveland by 11
* The Lakers suffered a 19 point blowout by the Magic

Every one of these teams has suffered from at least one pretty bad loss this year.  Our first loss came down to the last minute, in overtime, against a competitively talented Wolves team, while being down a key player.  I can live with that.

Who cares what other teams are doing? We lose the first good team we play

The point is that no team wins every game.  Even championship teams suffer some ugly losses along the way - and all of the top title favourites for this year have suffered from significantly uglier losses then the one we just endured. 

So far - even after this loss - the Celtics still look better than any other team in the league.

Also, this was not the first good team we played.  The Knicks, Heat, Pacers and Wolves are all competitive teams who either made the playoffs last year or have a pretty decent chance of making it this year.  None of those teams are a pushover.  The only genuinely BAD team we have played so far was Washington, and we blew them out by 20 as we should.

I mean sure, it would be lovely if we could go 82-0, but that's just not realistic.  There are going to be losses, and I'd much rather those losses be single digit overtime losses against competitive teams, rather than 20-point blowouts losses against lottery teams (as has often been the case in past seasons).

Pacers were missing their best player, knicks and heat are mid tier teams but I’ll give you the heat since they own us.
We haven’t played a single contender and the best team we played was our first loss. No kidding we aren’t going to win 82 games and should be fine but the bottom line is we don’t really know how good we are yet, the 5 game overreaction has been legendary.

[Surferdad]

Nobody likes to lose, but I must that that that was a very enjoyable game. Both teams overcame deficits to stay in the game.  C's shots just didn't fall.

[Vermont Green]

Didn't see the games, listened to some on the radio, but it seems that Gobert had a good game.  He was the big +/- winner at +24.  Horford didn't produce much but his +/- was fine +7).  Holiday (-19) and Brown (-16) were the big +/- losers for Boston.  Our starters were -5 in 21 minutes.  That isn't supposed to happen.  Their starters were -4, which is strange.

All in all, I am not too worried.  I have been expecting MIN to be a good team for the last few seasons, maybe they will actually stay healthy and be good this season.