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

[jpotter33]

At least they got embarrassed on national TV.  Humility.

You really think it'll humble them? I'm not sure they care or have enough pride for it to humble them.

[kraidstar]

The TNT crew is eviscerating the Celtics. Sayi g they are mentally weak and not ready to compete for a title.

[tenn_smoothie]

Pretty bad that you have to rely on 3's to beat a team like this.

Jay's should be barking and leading this team right now, instead we have JT not getting back on d because he rather whine to the ref.

It's becoming harder and harder to believe they have what it takes.

Yep. The Jays just too often disappear or play clueless, bad basketball. Our coach is clearly incompetent and dedicated to a philosophy that is just proven to not be a championship-level philosophy. And there's just no consistent accountability or character across the team.

We're just the same exact team as last year. This year we just have some shiny new toys, which we don't even utilize well because we're too focused on the three. Not sure how anyone can really be confident in our team's championship capabilities at this point.

I love JT and JB, but I don't think they're good enough to also have a soft handicap like Joe at the helm, too. It's not a coincidence that we made it further with much less talent under Ime, who held these guys accountable and was an actual leader.

Time to dump Joe and put Lee or preferably Cassell at the head coach.

Joe should have never been given the job after that disastrous Heat series. He was awful and literally gave them at least two games with non timeouts and horrible rotations. Yet we award him the Job. So pathetic.

That's a Brad problem. And if Brad don't fix this weak-mentality culture issue, then he gotta go too.

Yep. Ultimately this falls on him. What the hell was he thinking bringing Joe back ?

Brad has done a great job with the roster, definitely.
But maybe, in terms of competitive fire and just his general feel for the game, he is a little soft himself.
Ever consider that ?

[Atzar]

At least they got embarrassed on national TV.  Humility.

You really think it'll humble them? I'm not sure they care or have enough pride for it to humble them.

They've had enough of this type of loss over the years that they should be plenty humble by this point, lol.

[0003323344]

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.

[SparzWizard]

The TNT crew is eviscerating the Celtics. Sayi g they are mentally weak and not ready to compete for a title.

Hah, hate to say it but I agree with the TNT crew. Soft and mentally weak for multiple years. Nothing's changed

[Surferdad]

Pretty bad that you have to rely on 3's to beat a team like this.

Jay's should be barking and leading this team right now, instead we have JT not getting back on d because he rather whine to the ref.

It's becoming harder and harder to believe they have what it takes.

Yep. The Jays just too often disappear or play clueless, bad basketball. Our coach is clearly incompetent and dedicated to a philosophy that is just proven to not be a championship-level philosophy. And there's just no consistent accountability or character across the team.

We're just the same exact team as last year. This year we just have some shiny new toys, which we don't even utilize well because we're too focused on the three. Not sure how anyone can really be confident in our team's championship capabilities at this point.

I love JT and JB, but I don't think they're good enough to also have a soft handicap like Joe at the helm, too. It's not a coincidence that we made it further with much less talent under Ime, who held these guys accountable and was an actual leader.

Time to dump Joe and put Lee or preferably Cassell at the head coach.

Joe should have never been given the job after that disastrous Heat series. He was awful and literally gave them at least two games with non timeouts and horrible rotations. Yet we award him the Job. So pathetic.

That's a Brad problem. And if Brad don't fix this weak-mentality culture issue, then he gotta go too.

Yep. Ultimately this falls on him. What the hell was he thinking bringing Joe back ?

Brad has done a great job with the roster, definitely.
But maybe, in terms of competitive fire and just his general feel for the game, he is a little soft himself.
Ever consider that ?

The players missed shots, the players didn’t play defense, the players didn’t get rebounds…there’s no getting away from those FACTS, no matter how bad you may think Brad and Joe have performed in their jobs.

[tenn_smoothie]

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.

[0003323344]

At least they got embarrassed on national TV.  Humility.

You really think it'll humble them? I'm not sure they care or have enough pride for it to humble them.

They've had enough of this type of loss over the years that they should be plenty humble by this point, lol.

The problem is Joe probably went into the locker room after the game and said just keep shooting the 3s. We've won more than we've lost doing that.

[tenn_smoothie]

Pretty bad that you have to rely on 3's to beat a team like this.

Jay's should be barking and leading this team right now, instead we have JT not getting back on d because he rather whine to the ref.

It's becoming harder and harder to believe they have what it takes.

Yep. The Jays just too often disappear or play clueless, bad basketball. Our coach is clearly incompetent and dedicated to a philosophy that is just proven to not be a championship-level philosophy. And there's just no consistent accountability or character across the team.

We're just the same exact team as last year. This year we just have some shiny new toys, which we don't even utilize well because we're too focused on the three. Not sure how anyone can really be confident in our team's championship capabilities at this point.

I love JT and JB, but I don't think they're good enough to also have a soft handicap like Joe at the helm, too. It's not a coincidence that we made it further with much less talent under Ime, who held these guys accountable and was an actual leader.

Time to dump Joe and put Lee or preferably Cassell at the head coach.

Joe should have never been given the job after that disastrous Heat series. He was awful and literally gave them at least two games with non timeouts and horrible rotations. Yet we award him the Job. So pathetic.

That's a Brad problem. And if Brad don't fix this weak-mentality culture issue, then he gotta go too.

Yep. Ultimately this falls on him. What the hell was he thinking bringing Joe back ?

Brad has done a great job with the roster, definitely.
But maybe, in terms of competitive fire and just his general feel for the game, he is a little soft himself.
Ever consider that ?

The players missed shots, the players didn’t play defense, the players didn’t get rebounds…there’s no getting away from those FACTS, no matter how bad you may think Brad and Joe have performed in their jobs.

You put some hard-nose basketball people in the GM office and on the bench coaching these same players and you would see a different team.

[celticinorlando]

Cavs and Knicks picked up a game on the Celtics tonight. Those 2 teams don't play like spoiled kids.

[jpotter33]

been saying it on this forum for years, and many here resent me for it. regardless, i’ll keep saying it: the C’s don’t win a chip with the jays as the “leaders” of this franchise. they are too soft, zero killer instinct, low bbiq, and they think they’re entitled to a championship.

tonight proved nothing has changed and the jays reminded us they have no heart or fight. russell, havlicek, heinsohn, bird, pierce, garnett, et al. would be ashamed.

it’s likely brad is wrestling with this sentiment lately.

I'm not quite as far down this road as you, but the evidence is there that there is absolutely something amiss about that pairing. As much as I love JT, he's not currently at that tier-1 level that can win you a title on his own, which I think is primarily because of a lack of that killer instinct combined with just poor overall shot selection. He gets lazy and doesn't do what it takes to win, always falling back on the bad jumpers and lazy isos. As for JB, I think he has more of a killer instinct, but his raw overall talent and BBIQ just limit him too much.

The other aspect is that they're not very complementary to each other. There's a lot of overlapping skillset and ability there, unlike a Lebron/AD, Jokic/Murray, Kobe/Shaq, etc., and that absolutely limits their impact and effectiveness.

All that said, I still think they can win it all as the two best players, and even with this group. But I think that requires better leadership from the top, which I just don't think Joe has in him. You need a coach who is going to hold these guys accountable for their play, as well as be more impactful and direct them more in games since they're just not good enough to do it themselves. Joe simply doesn't seem capable of doing that in the way that Ime did, or even someone like Nurse, Pop, Spo can. In fact, it feels like his "loosey-goosey" style and extreme three point philosophy just exacerbates their deficiencies.

So, I do think you're right in some sense about this pairing, but I don't think all hope is lost with them - they just need the right leadership and roster around them to do it.

[Surferdad]

At least they got embarrassed on national TV.  Humility.

You really think it'll humble them? I'm not sure they care or have enough pride for it to humble them.

They've had enough of this type of loss over the years that they should be plenty humble by this point, lol.

The problem is Joe probably went into the locker room after the game and said just keep shooting the 3s. We've won more than we've lost doing that.

That ignores the very poor performance on defense and on the boards.

[SparzWizard]

Yeah, forget home-court and #1 seed and having home-court advantage in the NBA Finals.

If this team can't get its head together, they gonna look like the Bucks of last year. Just because you are the #1 seed don't mean you are invincible...they are also vulnerable to getting ousted in the first-round ya know. And this team has played like garbage at the Garden after that Nuggets game. Doesn't matter if they won against the Pels and Pacers, they had trouble with them. This is where we need to analyze more on these "an ugly win is a win" and find some patterns.

[angryguy77]

I’m actually glad they lost. In the overall scheme of things it’s clear they have an issue with the mental side of the game, not taking their opponent serious, being careless with the ball. A loss to a depleted Faker team on national TV is what they need for a dose of humility because they’re not as good as they think they are

If they haven't learned by now, I doubt they ever will