Bulls (5-13) at Celtics (13-4) Game #18 11/28/23

[Redz]

If this was MLB they’d be having a champagne party in the locker room

[jpotter33]

Pacers it is

Hopefully we take the game serious. Similar to Orlando, the Pacers have played us tough in recent years despite being lottery-level teams. Have to control Haliburton, but we probably have the best shot at doing that with Jrue and White than any other team.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

D WHITE AT THE PODIUM

[Celtics2021]

Pacers it is

Hopefully we take the game serious. Similar to Orlando, the Pacers have played us tough in recent years despite being lottery-level teams. Have to control Haliburton, but we probably have the best shot at doing that with Jrue and White than any other team.

Didn’t we beat them by 40 a few weeks ago?  They’ll be wanting revenge for that game, nevermind the tournament.

[Muzzy66]

Biggest thing I'm liking as of late (despite some ugly losses) is that we are finally starting to see some more consistent production from our bench players from game to game. 

Early this season our bench looked like an absolute nightmare...it seemed like outside of Horford, we would be lucky to get one person having a useful game on any given night. 

Lately though Hauser has been relatively consistent, Pritchard has had some nice performances, Kornet has surprised me with a few good games and Querta looked very nice the other night.  Despite Horford starting tonight (in KP's place) we still managed to get 29 points, 18 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks from our bench along with only 3 turnovers.  I know it was against a poor team, but that's still very promising to me considering how bad this bench looked to start the season.

I was horribly concerned early on that if we lost one or two of our top 6 guys to injury we would be absolutely screwed.  What I'm seeing lately is making me feel much better. Our team is so talented up top that we don't need out bench to be spectacular, we don't even really need them to be above average.  If our second unit can at least be competitive and hold their own (and not get steamrolled every night) then this team is going to be very, very hard to beat over a 7 game series. 

Hauser especially has been very nice - he's currently averaging 15.3 points and 5.4 reb per 36 minutes on 46.5% / 42.5% / 83.3% shooting splits.  I feel we really needed that second bench guy who can produce consistently (in addition to Horford) and looks like Hauser will be that guy.

[hpantazo]

Pacers it is

Hopefully we take the game serious. Similar to Orlando, the Pacers have played us tough in recent years despite being lottery-level teams. Have to control Haliburton, but we probably have the best shot at doing that with Jrue and White than any other team.

Didn’t we beat them by 40 a few weeks ago?  They’ll be wanting revenge for that game, nevermind the tournament.

They didn't have Haliburton for that game either.

[ozgod]

Joe Mazz explained how he directed the team to pile on the points, and do the Hack-A-Drummond, when it became obvious that was their best chance to qualify.

Mazzulla had told one of his assistants to keep tabs on the Brooklyn game and alert him only if it became relevant. That second-half score was also flashed on the TD Garden video board, and guard Jrue Holiday said some of the players noticed. Brooklyn was winning, and it was close.

The Celtics were certainly doing their part, too, as they stretched their third-quarter lead to as many as 32 points.

“So when Mazzulla asked his players if they were ready to go for the win, and they said yes. Of course, the win was well in hand. The insinuation was whether they were ready to continue their demolition.

With 7 minutes, 34 seconds left and Boston leading by 28, Mazzulla put three of his starters back in, a rare and even risky choice. In just over a minute, the lead swelled to 35, and the stars remained on the floor.

This stretch became even more uncomfortable when Mazzulla twice instructed his players to foul Bulls big man Andre Drummond, a notoriously poor free-throw shooter. Drummond missed all four of his attempts, but this tactic in this spot agitated Bulls coach Billy Donovan.

“Andre is a veteran guy,” Donovan said, “and I told [Mazzulla], ‘What are we doing here?’”

In an unusual sight, after Donovan made his frustrations known, Mazzulla walked toward Chicago’s bench and explained his thought process. He said later that Donovan did not realize that the Celtics might need to win by more than 23 in order to secure a wild-card entry.

Mazzulla did not feel good about it, but he pushed forward anyway and apologized to Donovan and Drummond after the game.

“But it gave us the best chance, considering the circumstances we were in,” Mazzulla said.

Donovan, for his part, said he understood that the Celtics were simply trying to follow the scoring system that the league installed, and do what they could to advance in this tournament that is new for everyone.

“There’s no hard feelings,” he said.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/11/28/sports/celtics-blow-out-bulls-during-in-season-tournament/

[ozgod]

Personally, I have zero problem with piling it on in an NBA game where players are making millions. If you stop trying, why should the other team do the same?

It's different in high school or college sports, because you can have huge imbalances and you're trying to teach kids to win with humility or lose with pride, but to me respecting your opponent means not letting up. Remember a game we lost to Chicago that we led by 20+ points because we took our foot off the gas? To me playing hard shouldn't stop when you have a big lead, especially not in this era of three point shooting. Pile it on by all means 

[johnnygreen]

I hated the Hack-a-Drummond calls. It's simply a bush league idea, and totally disrespects the game. I couldn't help but think if the Celtics didn't shrivel up and lose in Orlando then tonight's scoreboard watching wouldn't have been necessary. I like the in season tournament, but the league has to get rid of the point differential tie breaker.

Speaking of the point differential tie breaker, I wonder if teams will take the first and second games of the in season tournament more seriously next season, as far as running up scores.

[obnoxiousmime]

Personally, I have zero problem with piling it on in an NBA game where players are making millions. If you stop trying, why should the other team do the same?

It's different in high school or college sports, because you can have huge imbalances and you're trying to teach kids to win with humility or lose with pride, but to me respecting your opponent means not letting up. Remember a game we lost to Chicago that we led by 20+ points because we took our foot off the gas? To me playing hard shouldn't stop when you have a big lead, especially not in this era of three point shooting. Pile it on by all means 

How would piling up every happen though, outside of these weird tournament games? Once the outcome of the game is pretty much determined, teams put in the bench players and they continue to play normally until the clock gets to sub-1 minute. If teams ran up the score, it would mean they're keeping their starters in EVEN THOUGH the outcome has already been determined, risking injury for no benefit other than putting up meaningless stats.

It's not that teams expect you to stop trying, sometimes the lead grows during garbage time. It just grows while you're playing your subs as opposed to your starters.

[ozgod]

Personally, I have zero problem with piling it on in an NBA game where players are making millions. If you stop trying, why should the other team do the same?

It's different in high school or college sports, because you can have huge imbalances and you're trying to teach kids to win with humility or lose with pride, but to me respecting your opponent means not letting up. Remember a game we lost to Chicago that we led by 20+ points because we took our foot off the gas? To me playing hard shouldn't stop when you have a big lead, especially not in this era of three point shooting. Pile it on by all means 

How would piling up every happen though, outside of these weird tournament games? Once the outcome of the game is pretty much determined, teams put in the bench players and they continue to play normally until the clock gets to sub-1 minute. If teams ran up the score, it would mean they're keeping their starters in EVEN THOUGH the outcome has already been determined, risking injury for no benefit other than putting up meaningless stats.

It's not that teams expect you to stop trying, sometimes the lead grows during garbage time. It just grows while you're playing your subs as opposed to your starters.

I'm talking about where teams clearly give up and treat the last 10 mins as a shootaround even with their bench and then get upset when the leading team, subs or otherwise, does not. There are coaches and players of losing teams who get upset because the other team keeps trying to score when the outcome has already been decided, because the winning team should be taking it easy, not working for the best shot, just hoist up threes, etc. Deciding who to play in a game that you're likely going to win is obviously a balance between making sure the other team definitely can't come back, and giving valuable minutes to bench players, regardless of the score.

[SparzWizard]

The only thing at risk with the whole point-differential is keeping your starters in despite a 25+ point lead. Risk an injury.

[Birdman]

Bulls are bad..be interesting to see who is traded at deadline

[trickybilly]

Not sure Celtics want anyone on the Bulls.

Re the point differential thing.... it's silly. Just doing whoever won the tiebreaker teams' game is way better (so, Orlando go through on that scenario)... If three teams tied, and they have triangle wins, then fine point differential in those games only. Simple

[Surferdad]

...

Re the point differential thing.... it's silly. Just doing whoever won the tiebreaker teams' game is way better (so, Orlando go through on that scenario)... If three teams tied, and they have triangle wins, then fine point differential in those games only. Simple

In spite of his criticism of the IST rules as they stand, Jrue made the point post-game that if there's another way to determine tiebreakers, he would be in favor of that.