Fans don't pay $ for tickets and NBA TV for Joe Mazulla to try to purposely lose games like this. Tatum and Holiday played 30+ minutes so he could just throw the game away like it was nothing more than a joke in the last 5 minutes?
The Celtics scored 3 points in the final 6:06.
Clearly I have a different opinion to other people here, I'm not expecting any Tommy Points for my opinon, maybe I'm the weird fan
I actually didn't mind that. I posted just before the Sac run that I was hoping that our next games we would get a close one, where we didn't shoot well, kind of like the 2nd Atlanta game where things went against us and we were put under real pressure. Not just the bench like tonight, but the starters. We've had too many games where we've blown teams away and it's been comfortable for everyone. 17 of our games have been won by 20+ points, another 15 by 10 to 20. We've cruised for the most part but for games decided by 1 possession our record is 5-7. (now 6-7). In my opinion this is our single biggest deficiency, our team is not tested under pressure. We win because we overwhelm other teams with a barrage of points and stop them from scoring.
Not that I don't want them to win, but I could see what Joe was trying to do. I'm as critical of him as the next person when it's deserved but I think he was trying to see if this bench group could hold the win and think for themselves. How would PP and Sam react as the No1 and 2 options? When Sacramento made that 16-1 run how would they respond under the pressure of a) winning the game and b) not looking bad to the starters that built the lead? Against a team that was desperate for a win, that needed a win? Could they do it by themselves, like kids thrown into the deep end of the pool and having to sink or swim? Would i rather find out now, in a game like this, or in a Game 7 against Atlanta or Miami, where more likely than not the coach will be doing everything humanly possible to win and take it out of the players' hands?
IMHO PP and Sam didn't respond too well, they showed a bit of panic as the primary options, they took bad shot options and ended up going iso to try to get buckets. But X showed some composure in grabbing that rebound and sinking the game winning floater. Keep in mind they were playing Sacramento's first team. These bench players will face pressure in the playoffs, they won't always come in when the team is leading by 20. I was totally prepared to lose the game for the chance to see how they would respond.
That said I also understand the angst and anger from fans...nobody wants to lose a game that was won when all Joe had to do was put the starters back in to win it. Blowout wins are always more fun for fans. But I think if he had done that we would have learned less about which players can be relied on under the cauldron of pressure. I'm always curious about human nature and how people respond to pressure situations, but I get how other people would feel differently when we were cruising in a game and looked like our bench were going to give it away with our coach sitting on his hands letting them play
Also, I'm sure the fans had their hearts in their mouths, but I'm sure most of them will leave TD Garden with a good feeling with a last second win
Topic: Kings (44-32) at Celtics (60-16) Game #77 4/5/24 (Read 17561 times)