Thunder (53-12) at Celtics (47-18) Game #66 3/12/25

[SparzWizard]

Daignault showed his hand a little bit with how he defended us. Forced us to bomb away from 3 even though that's what we do, and made sure his team protected the rim and blocked off all driving lanes, even if it meant open perimeter shots. And Jaylen had a horrible game, struggled to adapt to their physicality and scheme all night. He kept trying to drive into a wall of defenders. And

Not too worried though end of day. Maybe I'm just an optimist but I think they played pretty well, took 35 free throws, shot 77% from inside the perimeter and we kept it close, though to be fair we didn't really seem to have a chance at winning. But I think the film should give Joe plenty of food for thought because it was a similar strategy to what Memphis employed against us last December where they dared us to shoot from 3 (mainly Jrue who they left open all night). We took 60 3s and made 18 of them for 30% and Jrue was 4/17, Tatum 1/10, KP 3/10...similar gameplan and similar result.

Yup they were playing zone to make us take 3s. Think that's how other teams are gonna try to beat us. Hope we can exploit that should we meet again later this season. Though we should also expand our offense and not be too 3pt centric either. Draw some fouls and sell. Also be nice to have some big bodies to bang on the offensive end. And ofc, the bench play needs vast improvement. Not sure what PBS is seeing that we aren't that he's content with a bench of just Hauser, Luke, and Pritchard being our regulars (I'm gonna assume Porzingis won't be available in the postseason as that's the more likelihood)

[Kuberski33]

Something that is concerning me besides Porzingis' durability and Jrue's age is, it feels like our bench production just plummets against great teams. Hauser, PP suddenly have trouble making shots and sometimes they just can't make up for it in other ways (playmaking, defense, etc.). Not to say they are terrible at that but if they aren't making shots it puts us in a pickle.

It hurts now because we also typically have 1 or 2 starters missing, but come playoffs if our Top-6 isn't healthy that could be bad. It's fine if PP and Hauser are 7th and 8th guys in a playoff rotation eating up about 8-18 minutes a game due to circumstances, but not much more than that.

I wish we got a little more from Craig but idk, like I know he picked up 3 fouls in 4 mins last night but it just feels like they never play him against we decide to sit half the team (or it's truly garbage time). I want to see a little more of him in these games. We're locked into the 2 seed anyways, lets experiment a bit.

Craig didn't play again after the dumb -ss foul he committed on that 3 pt attempt at the end of the first quarter. I thought he might get used in the 4th or earlier in the game when Joe went small and the deficit mushroomed from 2 to I think 9 points in about a minute. He may have played himself out of Joe's plans.

Personally, I wouldn't give up on him just yet. But if you're not going to play him - use Walsh more. He's young still but he can defend.

The bench has become a problem, especially defensively when PP and Houser are in the top 7. Luke is fine vs most teams but he struggles against teams like OKC. There's a huge defensive dropoff when those 3 are on the court at the same time.  If Joe can't trust his bench, it means a short rotation and asking Tatum/Jaylen/White/Horford to play too many minutes which will cost them games.

I also think Holiday is showing signs of aging - i.e. he's not as consistent as in the past. He's still got some gas in the tank but I think his minutes need to be managed in manner similar to Al's.

[86MaxwellSmart]

Something that is concerning me besides Porzingis' durability and Jrue's age is, it feels like our bench production just plummets against great teams. Hauser, PP suddenly have trouble making shots and sometimes they just can't make up for it in other ways (playmaking, defense, etc.). Not to say they are terrible at that but if they aren't making shots it puts us in a pickle.

It hurts now because we also typically have 1 or 2 starters missing, but come playoffs if our Top-6 isn't healthy that could be bad. It's fine if PP and Hauser are 7th and 8th guys in a playoff rotation eating up about 8-18 minutes a game due to circumstances, but not much more than that.

I wish we got a little more from Craig but idk, like I know he picked up 3 fouls in 4 mins last night but it just feels like they never play him against we decide to sit half the team (or it's truly garbage time). I want to see a little more of him in these games. We're locked into the 2 seed anyways, lets experiment a bit.

Craig didn't play again after the dumb -ss foul he committed on that 3 pt attempt at the end of the first quarter. I thought he might get used in the 4th or earlier in the game when Joe went small and the deficit mushroomed from 2 to I think 9 points in about a minute. He may have played himself out of Joe's plans.

Personally, I wouldn't give up on him just yet. But if you're not going to play him - use Walsh more. He's young still but he can defend.

The bench has become a problem, especially defensively when PP and Houser are in the top 7. Luke is fine vs most teams but he struggles against teams like OKC. There's a huge defensive dropoff when those 3 are on the court at the same time.  If Joe can't trust his bench, it means a short rotation and asking Tatum/Jaylen/White/Horford to play too many minutes which will cost them games.

I also think Holiday is showing signs of aging - i.e. he's not as consistent as in the past. He's still got some gas in the tank but I think his minutes need to be managed in manner similar to Al's.

He got ALL Ball on that play, the Ref blew the call of course.

[86MaxwellSmart]

Torrey Craig got all ball on that "Foul"

See what I mean?

[ozgod]

Why do the Celtics usually avoid physicality? Why aren't they willing to mix it up?

It might just be that most of them are finesse players. Some players like the contact, others like shooting fadeaways. It's probably got something to do with how they were brought up playing ball and how they found success at an early age, etc.

[RMO]

Torrey Craig got all ball on that "Foul"

See what I mean?

Maybe a bad call but why even put the ref in a situation to make the call?  That's the bad play in my mind.  It's a fading away three point shot with less than a second left.  No need to go for the block.  Get a hand in the face, jump straight up and don't give the ref a chance to make a bad call.

[celts55]

I don?t really understand the debate about this game. The answer is simple. Live by the 3, die by the 3. When this team isn?t hitting their 3?s they are going to lose. It?s that simple. It was only a 6 point game and they shot terribly. Brown, Pritchard, Holiday, Houser, all terrible. White was hot early, when they were in the game, than went cold.
Until this team decides to add some inside game, it?s just the way it?s going to be.
When Brown and Tatum went to the basket, they were fairly successful, but then back to the 3. Holiday had a number of layups but instead kicked it out for a 3 point attempt.
Used to make me crazy, but apparently it works more often than not, so that is just the way it is.

[Phantom255x]

My worry is that they'll look at a game like this and think, "well despite all that, we only lost by 6 because we took so many 3s to keep it close, lets jack up 70+ next time" lol

I mean White/Horford went nuclear in the 1st quarter and that was a big reason it was tied at the end of the quarter despite us playing mostly bad. Not justifying their strategy but that's how the analytics will look at it.

Also I know we look at the players but idk, maybe Mazzulla and the analytics force them to take these shots. I remember last year there was an instance where Hauser passed up an open 3 to make a pass inside for an easy JB bucket, and then during the timeout right after Mazzulla seemed to scold him about passing up the 3 (I remember NBC Sports Boston talking about it after that game too)

[Neurotic Guy]

My worry is that they'll look at a game like this and think, "well despite all that, we only lost by 6 because we took so many 3s to keep it close, lets jack up 70+ next time" lol

I mean White/Horford went nuclear in the 1st quarter and that was a big reason it was tied at the end of the quarter despite us playing mostly bad. Not justifying their strategy but that's how the analytics will look at it.

Also I know we look at the players but idk, maybe Mazzulla and the analytics force them to take these shots. I remember last year there was an instance where Hauser passed up an open 3 to make a pass inside for an easy JB bucket, and then during the timeout right after Mazzulla seemed to scold him about passing up the 3 (I remember NBC Sports Boston talking about it after that game too)

The problem with being so three-centric is passing up fairly easy twos in favor of a kick out. Last night Jrue passed up what appeared to be a very easy two at the hoop for a three attempt.  That is really frustrating to see and speaks to a mentality that seems drilled into this team. I don?t think it?s a winning mindset. 

[SparzWizard]

My worry is that they'll look at a game like this and think, "well despite all that, we only lost by 6 because we took so many 3s to keep it close, lets jack up 70+ next time" lol

I mean White/Horford went nuclear in the 1st quarter and that was a big reason it was tied at the end of the quarter despite us playing mostly bad. Not justifying their strategy but that's how the analytics will look at it.

Also I know we look at the players but idk, maybe Mazzulla and the analytics force them to take these shots. I remember last year there was an instance where Hauser passed up an open 3 to make a pass inside for an easy JB bucket, and then during the timeout right after Mazzulla seemed to scold him about passing up the 3 (I remember NBC Sports Boston talking about it after that game too)

And if we lose in the playoffs this season because of this 3-ball philosophy, pitchforks to his head.

[Redz]

My worry is that they'll look at a game like this and think, "well despite all that, we only lost by 6 because we took so many 3s to keep it close, lets jack up 70+ next time" lol

I mean White/Horford went nuclear in the 1st quarter and that was a big reason it was tied at the end of the quarter despite us playing mostly bad. Not justifying their strategy but that's how the analytics will look at it.

Also I know we look at the players but idk, maybe Mazzulla and the analytics force them to take these shots. I remember last year there was an instance where Hauser passed up an open 3 to make a pass inside for an easy JB bucket, and then during the timeout right after Mazzulla seemed to scold him about passing up the 3 (I remember NBC Sports Boston talking about it after that game too)

And if we lose in the playoffs this season because of this 3-ball philosophy, pitchforks to his head.

Holiday passed up at last two layups to kick it out for a 3. I?ll never get used to that philosophy.

[SparzWizard]

My worry is that they'll look at a game like this and think, "well despite all that, we only lost by 6 because we took so many 3s to keep it close, lets jack up 70+ next time" lol

I mean White/Horford went nuclear in the 1st quarter and that was a big reason it was tied at the end of the quarter despite us playing mostly bad. Not justifying their strategy but that's how the analytics will look at it.

Also I know we look at the players but idk, maybe Mazzulla and the analytics force them to take these shots. I remember last year there was an instance where Hauser passed up an open 3 to make a pass inside for an easy JB bucket, and then during the timeout right after Mazzulla seemed to scold him about passing up the 3 (I remember NBC Sports Boston talking about it after that game too)

And if we lose in the playoffs this season because of this 3-ball philosophy, pitchforks to his head.

Holiday passed up at last two layups to kick it out for a 3. I?ll never get used to that philosophy.

I don't recall if they went in or not, but that was a 4-point swing. Would've been a 2-point loss. But highsight 20/20 sigh

[tenn_smoothie]

I remember last year there was an instance where Hauser passed up an open 3 to make a pass inside for an easy JB bucket,
then during the timeout right after Mazzulla seemed to scold him about passing up the 3.

This is why I hate Joe Mazzulla. That is idiotic coaching.