Nuggets (28-14) at Celtics (32-9) Game #42 1/19/24

[CelticSooner]

Any game where they shoot close to 40% from three is basically a win. Any game that doesn't happen becomes a toss up. That's basically what Mazzulla has done to this team. Love the defense from this team but they will continue to favor shooting over anything else. It doesn't matter who you go get it if the coach begs you to shoot 3's. Jokic being that solid go to bucket getter down the stretch makes them the West favorite again.

How is this team going to win a title if they keep handcuffing themselves in the process?

[celticinorlando]

Once again JB and JT making terrible decisions late. Still trying to play hero ball

[jpotter33]

Murray being RED hot tonight hurt as well.  No one did well trying to deal with the big body Joker screens and Murray knows how to come off that screen, he is better at it than anyone on the C's.

we also put Al on an island against Joker too much, but what can you do?  if you double joker he is going to find the open man for a wide open shot.

Joe stayed with Al wayyyyy too long when he wasn't really making a difference defensively, let alone offensively. We were killing with KP early in the game, as he was taking advantage of Jokic off the PnR. But then we just started going double big with Al to cover Jokic, and that took taht advantage away.

Frustrating lack of adjustment.

[jpotter33]

Clearly the Jays are very streaky. It's time forJoe to give the ball to KP and White during clutch time when the Jays' shots don't fall.

Joe just keeps repeating his mistakes over and over again by letting Tatum taking the last shots this season whilehe simply didnt deliver.

Yep, not learning from his mistakes per usual.

For whatever reason, Tatum has been downright awful in end-game shots this year after being literally one of the most efficient in NBA history up until this point. Yet, every single time we're going to him now and expecting him to iso a good shot for himself, regardless of how bad he's been shooting.

Just like his awful extreme three point shooting philosophy, Joe just doesn't learn when it comes to these end-game decisions and is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results.

[blink]

Murray being RED hot tonight hurt as well.  No one did well trying to deal with the big body Joker screens and Murray knows how to come off that screen, he is better at it than anyone on the C's.

we also put Al on an island against Joker too much, but what can you do?  if you double joker he is going to find the open man for a wide open shot.

Joe stayed with Al wayyyyy too long when he wasn't really making a difference defensively, let alone offensively. We were killing with KP early in the game, as he was taking advantage of Jokic off the PnR. But then we just started going double big with Al to cover Jokic, and that took taht advantage away.

Frustrating lack of adjustment.

Joker seems to be able body up Al and kind of abuse him a bit.  So I agree, next time not so much Al on Jokic.  I think we need to toss in some fast doubles at Jokic, but don't do it every time.  Somehow you need to get Jokic off of his rhythm, which is really hard to do because you can't make him play fast, he just doesn't do it.

[johnnygreen]

Am I the only person worried when Brown goes to the free throw line, especially late in games? When he went to the line with around 2 minutes left, I was wondering if he would miss the first or second. Answer...both.

[Mahk E Mahk]

tatum made up his mind in the huddle that he was shooting the final shot, regardless of the defense.

he had the mismatch we wanted and no one in the lane but jokic, with porzingis behind him on the baseline. if tatum takes advantage of the mismatch by driving to the hole, jokic is forced to step up to stop the ball, leaving porzingis open for the alley-oop or an easy layup.

super low bbiq and/or incredibly selfish basketball. not good either way.

[jpotter33]

Murray being RED hot tonight hurt as well.  No one did well trying to deal with the big body Joker screens and Murray knows how to come off that screen, he is better at it than anyone on the C's.

we also put Al on an island against Joker too much, but what can you do?  if you double joker he is going to find the open man for a wide open shot.

Joe stayed with Al wayyyyy too long when he wasn't really making a difference defensively, let alone offensively. We were killing with KP early in the game, as he was taking advantage of Jokic off the PnR. But then we just started going double big with Al to cover Jokic, and that took taht advantage away.

Frustrating lack of adjustment.

Joker seems to be able body up Al and kind of abuse him a bit.  So I agree, next time not so much Al on Jokic.  I think we need to toss in some fast doubles at Jokic, but don't do it every time.  Somehow you need to get Jokic off of his rhythm, which is really hard to do because you can't make him play fast, he just doesn't do it.

I mean - why not just keep KP on him? It's not like he was in foul trouble. Yes, he was scoring on him, but he was scoring on Al, too. At least KP is just as big of a mismatch on the other end as Jokic is defensively, as we saw in the first quarter.

[Roy H.]

Am I the only person worried when Brown goes to the free throw line, especially late in games? When he went to the line with around 2 minutes left, I was wondering if he would miss the first or second. Answer...both.

Equally as frustrating:  we got two offensive rebounds on that possession and we put up panic shots. 

We tend to lose composure down the stretch in big games. 

[Greenblood35]

If we win a chip it will be in spite of Tatum, not because of him. Didn’t you almost always feel like Pierce would rise up in the biggest of games? Do you ever feel that way with Tatum, outside of when he catches fire? Hate that he got the last shot. He already cost us one title. Hoping he doesn’t cost us a second.

[HankYee]

Too many 3s, when they arent droppin. Why do we always go iso on last shots? At least drive to the hoop.

[CelticSooner]

If they would have played smart ball they would have won this game by about 6 points. The way they lose these games is always the same. I feel like we are crying about the same thing over and over. What's the point anymore?

[jpotter33]

Am I the only person worried when Brown goes to the free throw line, especially late in games? When he went to the line with around 2 minutes left, I was wondering if he would miss the first or second. Answer...both.

Equally as frustrating:  we got two offensive rebounds on that possession and we put up panic shots. 

We tend to lose composure down the stretch in big games.

Yes, that was probably the most frustrating possession of the game, right up there with the five offensive rebound possession that we similarly just jacked up threes after every offensive rebound.

That's just lack of offensive discipline and a poor philosophy.

[ozgod]

If we win a chip it will be in spite of Tatum, not because of him. Didn’t you almost always feel like Pierce would rise up in the biggest of games? Do you ever feel that way with Tatum, outside of when he catches fire? Hate that he got the last shot. He already cost us one title. Hoping he doesn’t cost us a second.

Haven't seen the game but I guess Tatum is the pinata for the loss? Looking at the box score I would have nominated Jaylen 

Followed by Joe...having the Jays take 2-17 from 3 and failing to manage the game properly. They should have stopped when they were each 1-4 

[liam]

We still have a ways to go. Let's see how they respond to this.