Spurs (37-14) at Celtics (30-22) 4/4

[celtic -_- pride]

people under estimate the psychology of the game. AB starts and puts pressure on the team raising our teams energy and focus, and for god sakes no more effing small ball ! duncans rebound dish to neal for 3 was a dagger. we need rebounds !!!! or run a 8 hour boxing out drill gah. my philosophy is if its a close loss like this its the coaches fault. if its a blow out its the players

[Chief]

If Doc's rotation solution is small ball, I think we are going to lose a lot of games. Yes, it worked ok tonight, but the Celtics did not win. You knew Duncan was getting that offensive rebound.

Poor Steamer. Another River's rookie casualty. Sorry big guy, rebounds and great defense are not needed in the NBA.

Steimsma was terrible tonigh.

Terrible. The guy played 8 minutes and had two rebounds and an assist. Not great but not terrible. He lost Bonner on a transition 3 and got benched. Bonner has made a career doing that.

If Doc's rotation solution is small ball, I think we are going to lose a lot of games. Yes, it worked ok tonight, but the Celtics did not win. You knew Duncan was getting that offensive rebound.

Poor Steamer. Another River's rookie casualty. Sorry big guy, rebounds and great defense are not needed in the NBA.

Spurs play small a ton especially with bonner. This was a good game to try it some. I doubt you'll see it against the bulls

I hope you are right. But I knowing Doc, I bet he get less than 12 minutes tomorrow.

[hpantazo]

We lost.  That always sucks.  With that said, let's take some positives out of the game.

• Absolutely entertaining to watch.  You aren't a basketball fan if you didn't enjoy this one.
• We can hang with the best.  I know it was a home game but still, we can hang with them.
• Confidence booster for the players, especially AB.  What a game he had.
• Don't heap the blame on Paul.  Plenty opportunities to go on a run in the 3rd and 4th quarter and Celtics didn't capitalize.
• Philadelphia lost.

We're angry for tomorrow night.


we're dead tired for tomorrow night

there, fixed it for you[/list]

[European NBA fan]

If Doc's rotation solution is small ball, I think we are going to lose a lot of games. Yes, it worked ok tonight, but the Celtics did not win. You knew Duncan was getting that offensive rebound.

Poor Steamer. Another River's rookie casualty. Sorry big guy, rebounds and great defense are not needed in the NBA.

Spurs play small a ton especially with bonner. This was a good game to try it some. I doubt you'll see it against the bulls

Stiemsma didn't have any good matchups with Blair and Splitter riding the bench for the Spurs. He looked terrible guarding  Bonner, and I understand why Doc wouldn't put him on Duncan (even though that would probably be the best matchup for Stiemsma).

[Chief]

people under estimate the psychology of the game. AB starts and puts pressure on the team raising our teams energy and focus, and for god sakes no more effing small ball ! duncans rebound dish to neal for 3 was a dagger. we need rebounds !!!! or run a 8 hour boxing out drill gah. my philosophy is if its a close loss like this its the coaches fault. if its a blow out its the players

TP. This is intelligent.

[JoT]

While a lot of the chat is focusing on the closing minutes, Id like to go back to the 1st Qtr, where the Celtics fell behind early. A return to the script of the early season, unlike the recent string of wins, which ABs speed and D proved so valuable. Just sayin'

The bold is what's annoying to me and why they at times cost themselves wins. Stop falling behind in the first half and try to claw your way back up in the second half only to lose.

[RockinRyA]

well at least the sixers lost and it was the spurs so it wasnt that bad. Plus bradley played awesome 

This is what I was going to ask right now, good thing takes the stinging away a bit.

Never thought theyd get blown out by the Raptors so its all good

[tenn_smoothie]

No team that we meet in the playoffs will have to scout our final shot strategies.

Doc only has one play.

[Chief]

small ball again Doc? SMH apparently no one in his coaching staff has balls to tell him that it doesnt work. ugly defense

Doc apparently wants AB in there but doesn't want to bench RA, so BB goes up against BB?

Doc is trying to go small to take away the speed advantages that were hurting us in the pick and roll (with Stiemsma) and he can't play KG the whole half.

OK, just re-watched Bonner's three point shot on the pick and roll (DVR). Not Steamer at all. KG got caught on the pick and roll. Steamer got blamed.

[5.9.20.34.43]

We lost.  That always sucks.  With that said, let's take some positives out of the game.

• Absolutely entertaining to watch.  You aren't a basketball fan if you didn't enjoy this one.
• We can hang with the best.  I know it was a home game but still, we can hang with them.
• Confidence booster for the players, especially AB.  What a game he had.
• Don't heap the blame on Paul.  Plenty opportunities to go on a run in the 3rd and 4th quarter and Celtics didn't capitalize.
• Philadelphia lost.

Hahahahahahaha. TP.


We're angry for tomorrow night.


we're dead tired for tomorrow night

there, fixed it for you[/list]

[j804]

The KG poor pass turnover in the final seconds killed us as well don't see that mentioned, seemed to take away our momentum we had going.

[j804]

well at least the sixers lost and it was the spurs so it wasnt that bad. Plus bradley played awesome 

This is what I was going to ask right now, good thing takes the stinging away a bit.

Never thought theyd get blown out by the Raptors so its all good

Couldn't see that one coming anybody behind Philly creeping up on us?

[azzenfrost]

We'll just take this hit and try again next game.

[RockinRyA]

No team that we meet in the playoffs will have to scout our final shot strategies.

Doc only has one play.

Yeah according to one Spurs fan on their blog I was talking to

"Yeah honestly I would have been more afraid of a set up multi-screen play for a Ray Allen jumper."

[Senninsage]

I must say, Bradley is really proving himself. This guy is the real deal. He has definitely blossomed into the player the Celtics wanted, and he's only going to get better.

Ray really didn't have a great night tonight, but, as expected, when the team needed him to hit a big shot, he hit it for us late in the game to give us a chance to win it all. I'm not going to lie, the Celtics are definitely back. They are most definitely back.

The way the Celtics are playing right now, they can beat any team in this league in a 7 game series. Anybody blaming Doc for this loss is just plain wrong. The players collectively lost this game, not the coach. They had their chances, and it's the little things that ended up costing them this game. I mean, some Spurs players hit some wide open shots, they grabbed offensive rebounds that we should have got and gave themselves another chance to score. That's all it really is, guys.

Our guys had a number of makeable shots that just didn't drop. Our defense was tight as hell, even with Ray in there. It wasn't Ray who often times failed his defensive assignment. However, I wouldn't dare say any player in particular failed tonight. This was a fantastic game by both teams, the Spurs just had enough to pull it out in the end. I'm not at all bothered by this loss to such a fantastic team, possibly the best in the West.