Lakers (24-25) at Celtics (37-11) Game #49 2/1/24

[SparzWizard]

The Jays are the worst Celtics leaders i've ever seen.  Soft and fragile. Yikes.

They're a joke. Just whiny young boys. As usual a team led by a Man will whip them when it counts in the playoffs.

Jalen Brunson? Donovan Mitchell? Or Giannis? All three of them can whip this team when it counts in the playoffs, if all the C's only do is shoot 3's in a 7-game series.

You forgot Jimmy Butler.

This summer, after we melt down in the playoffs again, trade Brown for a real leader and hire a coach.

Totally forgot about him too, yes, Jimmy Butler! Man, would it be a dream to have killer-instinct, high BBIQ Butler over Jaylen Brown.

[liam]

Horford, White, Holiday, Zinger, and Brown 4-23 from 3...

Tatum, PP, and Hauser 12-24 from 3

[tenn_smoothie]

Celtics shoot 7 free throws while jacking up 48 3-point attempts.
If that doesn't sum up Joe's offense, I don't know what does.

[celticinorlando]

Few issues that are now apparent:

1. This team is having poor starts constantly.
2. If the 3s don't fall they have nothing to go to...they don't play defense. They don't vary the offense to stay above water. 48 three pointers tonight vs a small team playing back ups. Read the room Boston.
3. Tonight was embarrassing. Blown out at home to a team playing two g leaguers.
4. I need more from Jrue Holiday. Don't know if he is still feeling things out but he does not look confident.
5. The rebounding is an issue. Teams are getting two three shots per possession.

And the worst thing is they are still mentally soft. They lack the toughness they had under Ime. Joe just doesn't hold anyone accountable and does not preach the importance of defense.

[Billz401]

JB and PP not worth those contracts right now. Sad when Hauser outplays one of our all stars and our 6th/7th man looks lost out there.

[celticinorlando]

Brian Robb
@BrianTRobb
·
11m
Joe Mazzulla: "We didn't play as hard as they did."


How in the world can you let this happen at home vs your rivals? I do not care if they have fans playing for them. You get up to play the Lakers. What a mentally soft team.

[hpantazo]

The solution from tonight's game clearly is that Lebron and AD were holding the Lakers back 

[SparzWizard]

Brian Robb
@BrianTRobb
·
11m
Joe Mazzulla: "We didn't play as hard as they did."


How in the world can you let this happen at home vs your rivals? I do not care if they have fans playing for them. You get up to play the Lakers. What a mentally soft team.

That's a Joe problem for not preparing them or getting into their faces. I want a coach who will scream at them, so loud on those Inside/On-Court scoops that I can hear it from my living room TV while I'm in the bedroom. Someone like a Stan Van Gundy coach. And even SVG > Joe. He'll drill defense into this team.

[celticinorlando]

Celtics next 6 games need to be wins. Stop playing down to bad teams.

2 days off then Memphis
2 more days off then Atlanta

Get this stuff fixed

[radiohead]

Brian Robb
@BrianTRobb
·
11m
Joe Mazzulla: "We didn't play as hard as they did."


How in the world can you let this happen at home vs your rivals? I do not care if they have fans playing for them. You get up to play the Lakers. What a mentally soft team.

That's a Joe problem for not preparing them or getting into their faces. I want a coach who will scream at them, so loud on those Inside/On-Court scoops that I can hear it from my living room TV while I'm in the bedroom. Someone like a Stan Van Gundy coach. And even SVG > Joe. He'll drill defense into this team.

For me this is more on the players. You’re professionals and are highly paid. Do you really need someone to tell you to play hard? It’s their job to put in the effort every game. I was really disappointed with the defensive effort this game. I’ve learned to accept Mazzulla ball and the reliance on threes. But the D shouldn’t let up if the threes aren’t falling.

[ozgod]

Joe's presser tonight will be required viewing once it gets posted up on Youtube 

Couple of things:

Washburn tried to ask him about the effort, and about how he's sure that Joe would have told them before the game "listen guys, they have 2 stars out, don't let up" and Joe says "Gary do your kids listen to you all the time" and Gary goes "but these are grown men" and Joe responds "Gary do you listen to what your wife tells you all the time" 

Then someone else asks him if he told his team they were an embarrassment and he said "I would never say that, I think that's very disrespectful and harsh...We have accountability, I tell them we didn't play well, we didn't put in enough effort, but I would never tell anyone they're an embarrassment".

He also said when asked for his reaction to the game, he said "well I'm p---ed but what good is p---ed going to do? It's not going to help us get ready for Saturday training and the game against Memphis...this is a stretch where we're not playing well and we need to embrace it and understand that if we don't play well and put in the effort this will be the result"

I guess the fact that he didn't give them a spray and told them they fail at life and throw a few chairs at people's heads might be a disappointment to some 

[celticinorlando]

After that presser I see why the Celtics are soft. Joe simply is afraid to coach this team hard.

They bucked Ime but got in line eventually. Parents can’t be their kids friends.

He spoke of accountability but I don’t see any. Just a mentality of everyone is a winner and gets a ribbon crap from him.

A team reflects their coach.

[Muzzy66]

The game threat for the losses is always so much longer than for the wins. On to the next one!

And with good reason. This one in particular was a disgrace. Tatum and Brown have 4 ECF losses and 1 finals loss to their name. I don't see that record getting any better.

They are also two of the only players in the league who have actually made 4 ECF and 1 Finals in the past decade.

This was obviously a really crappy loss and the team deserves to be flamed for it, but it's also a massive (and hardly unexpected) overreaction from the fans. 

Every great team (including the 08 Celtics and 73 win Warriors) had embarrassing regular season losses to bad teams.  That didn't stop them from going on to win titles.  It's a longgg season, and this is a team pretty much built for the playoffs.  They have been a good 3+ wins above every other team in the league pretty much all season long.  At the end of the day these guys aren't perfect - they are still human.  I can imagine as the season goes on it probably gets extremely hard to keep yourself motivated to play with 110% effort when you are well above everybody else in the league and you're playing against d-league calibre talent in a game that's ultimately meaningless (because win or loss it will have no impact on your standings).

I'm not saying it isn't disappointing, or that it's not a sign of weakness...but everybody has weakness.  Jimmy Butler choked in critical games (4, 5, 6) against Boston in the playoffs last year.  Lebron choked bad in the finals against the Mavs.  Steph has choked in some playoff series.  Every player - even the true greats - have moments of weakness. 

I think this Celtics squad has done pretty much as good as any other in the league when it comes to maintaining their composure and playing with consistency.  We just look at every bad game under a microscope if its a Celtics game. 

[Mahk E Mahk]

• 12 first half turnovers
• gave up 32 points to austin reeves
• hauser and queta played only 22 and 12 mins respectively
• 7 total free throws vs. 48 threes
• lack of defensive effort: 53% 3p% by the fakers
• did i mention the C’s gave up 32 points to austin reeves

after a low effort 1H, what did joe say at halftime to ensure zero improvement in the 2H? joe clearly doesn’t have control of the locker room.

when this team doesn’t make it out of the second round, what does brad do?

[celticinorlando]

How many shots does this team miss around the rim? Seems to be a lot. They never get 50-50 balls. They have stopped rebounding