Celtics (26-9) at Thunder (29-5) Game #36 1/5/25

[jpotter33]

We?ve now had 2 convincing losses against the 2 teams who are the most likely threats to keep us from repeating - Cleveland and OKC. We?re not dominating teams the way we did last season. We?re still right up there, but we?re not clear cut favorites as of now. Should Brad make a move? I?m hoping it?ll be different in the playoffs but it sure looks like Big Al and Jrue have regressed from last season.

A four point loss (where we led most of the game) vs a largely healthy Cavs team in Cleveland when we were missing Brown and White is a ?convincing? win?

[Goldstar88]

Pure emasculation by OKC. On the only game of the road trip that mattered, the Cs were absolutely destroyed by OKC without Chet and Caruso. Just a pathetic 2nd half performance.

They weren?t destroyed. The Celtics were handling them in the first half, but couldn?t make a shot in the 2nd half. Boston isn?t beating anyone shooting 36% from the field and 19% from 3pt. They were missing wide open shots.

Lost by double digits. Blew 10 point lead. Scored like 27 points in the entire half. Literally the definition of getting destroyed/emasculated in a half.

Well, I guess the Celtics destroyed OKC in the first half then. Like I said, C?s aren?t going to beat any teams shooting 19% from 3pt and 36% from the field.

[tenn_smoothie]

9 for 46 from 3 and just keep jacking them up 'til you lose the entire 13-point lead.
THIS is my problem with Joe - his awful offensive scheme and bizarre stubbornness to install options to diversify the attack.
Yes, we won last year, against an admittedly weakened group of injured playoff opponents.
But I want more than just the one title, but continuing to rigidly stay with the current offensive philosophy, I believe will lead to failure in that regard.

[Goldstar88]

9 for 46 from 3 and just keep jacking them up 'til you lose the entire 13-point lead.
THIS is my problem with Joe - his awful offensive scheme and bizarre stubbornness to install options to diversify the attack.
Yes, we won last year, against an admittedly weakened group of injured playoff opponents.
But I want more than just the one title, but continuing to rigidly stay with the current offensive philosophy, I believe will lead to failure in that regard.

Who was injured in the Finals for Dallas? 

[radiohead]

We?ve now had 2 convincing losses against the 2 teams who are the most likely threats to keep us from repeating - Cleveland and OKC. We?re not dominating teams the way we did last season. We?re still right up there, but we?re not clear cut favorites as of now. Should Brad make a move? I?m hoping it?ll be different in the playoffs but it sure looks like Big Al and Jrue have regressed from last season.

A four point loss (where we led most of the game) vs a largely healthy Cavs team in Cleveland when we were missing Brown and White is a ?convincing? win?

Ok, my bad for the wrong choice of words. But the truth is, Cleveland and OKC are steamrolling through their opponents. Cleveland is now what, 5-6 games ahead of us? OKC is a game behind Cleveland? Clearly we?re on the same tier at the moment. That?s why I asked if Brad should make some moves (limited as he is) to improve the team. It won?t be a cakewalk going against them in the playoffs.

[blink]

I think what we are seeing is the typical year after a team wins the title.  They become hunted every single game.  Opponents focus on film review and preparation for that game more than others, and every team we play is bringing their A+ game literally almost every game.

To respond to that I think we need to develop some new lineups and offensive sets that other teams haven't been able to study for 2 years plus.  Being deep into the playoffs for 3 years straight just exposes our plays and tendencies so much to the whole league.   We need to add some new approaches on offense to stay ahead of the curve on the games where we can't hit 3s.   This might require bringing in someone new at the trade deadline.  That would probably help.  But we need to evolve and become better in the 2nd half of the year.  Teams around us have improved and if we want to win the title we will need to evolve as well.

I am not sure exactly what these other sets are, or how we need to evolve our offense, but I would imagine that it would require some even stronger focus on moving the ball and involving everyone on offense so if Tatum or Brown gets doubled we use ball movement to generate open looks, and players moving to the basket.  Coaching staff needs to earn their money in the 2nd half of the season and find some unique ways to expand the palate on offense and allow us to win games where we can't make 25 3's.

[Roy H.]

I just realized:  there are a significant number of fans who have never witnessed this franchise play such a poor offensive half.  It hasn't happened since 2012 or something like that.

27 points in a half?  12 points in a quarter?  I don't know if professional players feel embarrassment, but they should after this one.  They played like a poorly coached and overmatched AAU team.

[jambr380]

9 for 46 from 3 and just keep jacking them up 'til you lose the entire 13-point lead.
THIS is my problem with Joe - his awful offensive scheme and bizarre stubbornness to install options to diversify the attack.
Yes, we won last year, against an admittedly weakened group of injured playoff opponents.
But I want more than just the one title, but continuing to rigidly stay with the current offensive philosophy, I believe will lead to failure in that regard.

Who was injured in the Finals for Dallas? 

DAL wasn't injured per se, but they looked more like us in the 2022 Finals where they just didn't have enough left to compete after going through several difficult playoff series'. Also, Luka looked totally beat down, not like his normal self.

I am not downplaying our Title - we earned it by getting the best record and allowing guys to rest properly. We also were dealing with a major injury of our own - but we shouldn't pretend that last year was the toughest path or anything. You give yourself enough chances year in and year out and eventually it works out for you...unless you are the early 90s Buffalo Bills.

[bello_man09]

we got beat by a better team yall- this stuff they did to us in the second half was ridiculous. it wasnt a punch in the mouth it was a slap in the face, 3s are not falling what did we counter with..nothing..no mid-range nothing. This OKC is very well coached and everyone plays their role. SGA that block on tatum, what else can i say...lol on to the next game.

The problem is that the Celtics were shooting 20% from three on some stupid number of attempts by the time they started the 4th and yet they didn't even try to change things up, except for Tatum who at least made some attempts to attack the basket. 

What bothers me is that Jayson Tatum consistently gets to the free throw line at a higher rate than Jaylen Brown.  To me that is just unacceptable.
 A guy with Jaylen's length, strength and explosive athleticism he should be getting to the line pretty much at will - certainly more often than a guy liek Tatum, who is much more of a finesse guy and has always been more of a jumpshooter.

I see your point but browns free throw shooting is soo suspect. hes good to miss at least 2 free throws per game.

[Silas]

we got beat by a better team yall- this stuff they did to us in the second half was ridiculous. it wasnt a punch in the mouth it was a slap in the face, 3s are not falling what did we counter with..nothing..no mid-range nothing. This OKC is very well coached and everyone plays their role. SGA that block on tatum, what else can i say...lol on to the next game.

The problem is that the Celtics were shooting 20% from three on some stupid number of attempts by the time they started the 4th and yet they didn't even try to change things up, except for Tatum who at least made some attempts to attack the basket. 

What bothers me is that Jayson Tatum consistently gets to the free throw line at a higher rate than Jaylen Brown.  To me that is just unacceptable.
 A guy with Jaylen's length, strength and explosive athleticism he should be getting to the line pretty much at will - certainly more often than a guy liek Tatum, who is much more of a finesse guy and has always been more of a jumpshooter.

I see your point but browns free throw shooting is soo suspect. hes good to miss at least 2 free throws per game.

Looked at their foul shooting to compare:

JT  FTA - 7.1   FT% - 79.8%
JB  FTA - 5.6   FT% - 74.1%

They are the two worst foul shooters of our top 8 players.

[Phantom255x]

I just realized:  there are a significant number of fans who have never witnessed this franchise play such a poor offensive half.  It hasn't happened since 2012 or something like that.

27 points in a half?  12 points in a quarter?  I don't know if professional players feel embarrassment, but they should after this one.  They played like a poorly coached and overmatched AAU team.

2012. I think I was like 13 years old at that time LOL. Fun times

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

9 for 46 from 3 and just keep jacking them up 'til you lose the entire 13-point lead.
THIS is my problem with Joe - his awful offensive scheme and bizarre stubbornness to install options to diversify the attack.
Yes, we won last year, against an admittedly weakened group of injured playoff opponents.
But I want more than just the one title, but continuing to rigidly stay with the current offensive philosophy, I believe will lead to failure in that regard.

i will never apologize for a NBA title because some other players were hurt. nobody would ever apologize to us if we had hurt players. did the heat apologize when JT was out game 7 two years back in ECF? Did the lakers apologize when we did not have perk in game 7 of 2010 finals? enough of that silliness. this team earned it last year.

They suffered long enough and deserved it. They beat who they had to beat. we actually destroyed all teams. nobody could take us past 5 games. thats a record i believe.

anyway i thought we had shrugged off the stigma last year of when outside shots are not falling we learned to drive to the hoop for easy shots and draw fouls. i saw that all last playoffs. it was great and propelled us to a title. whereas we hardly did that in those past years playoff exits.

So was that the problem last night? we refused to go inside? i only saw part of the game. Yes those second half stats were abysmal.

[jpotter33]

9 for 46 from 3 and just keep jacking them up 'til you lose the entire 13-point lead.
THIS is my problem with Joe - his awful offensive scheme and bizarre stubbornness to install options to diversify the attack.
Yes, we won last year, against an admittedly weakened group of injured playoff opponents.
But I want more than just the one title, but continuing to rigidly stay with the current offensive philosophy, I believe will lead to failure in that regard.

Who was injured in the Finals for Dallas? 

DAL wasn't injured per se, but they looked more like us in the 2022 Finals where they just didn't have enough left to compete after going through several difficult playoff series'. Also, Luka looked totally beat down, not like his normal self.

I am not downplaying our Title - we earned it by getting the best record and allowing guys to rest properly. We also were dealing with a major injury of our own - but we shouldn't pretend that last year was the toughest path or anything. You give yourself enough chances year in and year out and eventually it works out for you...unless you are the early 90s Buffalo Bills.

I?ve always felt that the ?easy path? critiques are bunk.

It?s one thing if we were competitive against other teams all season and we were challenged in the conference by legitimate contenders. However, that simply isn?t the case. We were dominant all year, so much so that we were 14 games better than anyone in the East and 5-6 games better than anyone else in the rest of the league. The cakewalk through the playoffs was always the most likely outcome regardless of health, and honestly I?m not sure if anything changes if any of the people who were injured actually played.

[Donoghus]

There's no asterisk on the 2024 banner for "cakewalk"

Celtics were a historically dominant team who won the title last year. 

[Roy H.]

There's no asterisk on the 2024 banner for "cakewalk"

Celtics were a historically dominant team who won the title last year.

Yep.  Plenty of teams have faced weak opponents, and you know what?  Nobody remembers those easy paths, only the banners.

Plus, obligatory "we were missing our starting near All-Star center" reminder.