From the box score, not an impressive game

[manl_lui]

so many nay-sayers

[BudweiserCeltic]

It happened twice, rewatch the game if you don't believe, both after missed threes.   You think that happened twice by coincidence?  The odds of that are really small.  Maybe less Budweiser during the game and you would notice?

Bradley sat for a while too, after shooting 0-7.

I think Stevens expects more this year.   Now Sully has one thing going for him in that we do not have a lot of bigs behind him.  I thought Sully was the best rebounder on the floor but Bass was definitely better at putting the ball in the hole.  In fact, when we got our lead it was BB on the floor.

Yes, I love Brad Steven's thinking... let's yank Sully after he shot a 3. You know, the shot he's actually encouraging his bigs to take?

Sorry, but you're quite off base here.

Yes Bradley sat for a while. It's also true that we have a lot of guards on our roster. It's also true that Bradley wasn't yanked from the game after taking bad shots after bad shot. So... with that in mind, Sully takes ONE three an suddenly Stevens has to "yank" him out of the game. Please.

And the whole "less Budweiser" shtick is getting old. You already tried it once and failed.

[biggs]

Leave us alone.

We're undefeated.

  + 1 tp

[MBunge]

It happened twice, rewatch the game if you don't believe, both after missed threes.   You think that happened twice by coincidence?  The odds of that are really small.  Maybe less Budweiser during the game and you would notice?

Bradley sat for a while too, after shooting 0-7.

I think Stevens expects more this year.   Now Sully has one thing going for him in that we do not have a lot of bigs behind him.  I thought Sully was the best rebounder on the floor but Bass was definitely better at putting the ball in the hole.  In fact, when we got our lead it was BB on the floor.

Yes, I love Brad Steven's thinking... let's yank Sully after he shot a 3. You know, the shot he's actually encouraging his bigs to take?

Sorry, but you're quite off base here.

Nah.  There's no way Sully is going to have the green light to shoot 3s this season unless he proves he can make more of them.

Mike

[Dennis_D]

Sooo..you didn't watch the game. Nice.

I didn't. And I wonder if the front pagers watched the game that I am looking at the box score for:
Marcus Smart, Evan Turner Make Big Debuts for Boston Celtics: Garden Report
Celtics new players were head Turners, Boston beats Sixers 98-78
Everything is awesome for the Celtics right now!
Marcus Smart excels on the defensive end in his Boston Celtics preseason debut
In the middle of everything: where Marcus Smart is making a difference

I see a ton of red flags, they see only awesomeness. Philly was the better team by 7 points in the first quarter when each team's best players were out there. The C's took control late in the third when each team cleared their bench. If the C's are going to rely on their deep bench to win games, they aren't going to win many.

When I look at the shot chart at ESPN, two things stand out - the C's took a huge number of 3's and only one shot was made that wasn't at the three point line or in the paint (Bass made it).

It's only one game and a preseason one at that. As fans, it was our first opportunity to see the new players, the new read-and-react offense and the new aggressive defense. This game should have been a showcase for all of those and it wasn't. The games are only to get harder from here.

I took away that this was the first preseason game of the year with two starters not playing and two other starters not playing the 4th quarter.

Relax.

Philly was missing their best player and their other starters are awful. Nerlens Noel was playing his first NBA game after missing all of last season and stank.

[vjcsmoke]

LOL, if you judge a game from just the box score, I'm sorry but you really don't come off as very knowledgeable.

The reason the Celtics won the game so convincingly is stifling defense.  They denied the Sixers whatever they tried to do.  Marcus Smart was the key instigator on defense.  He has an almost Garnett-like impact on the game but from the perimeter.

The Celtics were not efficient offensively, let's be honest.  But their total game basically dominated the Sixers in a 20 point win.  Honestly I don't care if we win ugly as long as we win.  The Celtics won't get any style points for how they won but they did so in a game that was decidedly in their favor.

Instead of worrying about box scores and fantasy points let's focus on the actual baskeball team.  This team has a ways to go offensively, however Evan Turner's emergence as a playmaker is only going to help us.  Defensively I believe we are already in great shape on the perimeter.  We still need help inside but maybe we can trade for it later or maybe Zeller can step up.

There's a lot of positive things to take from the first preseason game.  Don't dwell on boxscores, use the eye test.  This team is doing work.  On to the Knicks, and hopefully this Celtics squad continues to grow and improve from game to game.

PS Please watch the whole game first before making threads like this.  That would give your opinion a little more credibility.

[manl_lui]

Sooo..you didn't watch the game. Nice.

I didn't. And I wonder if the front pagers watched the game that I am looking at the box score for:
Marcus Smart, Evan Turner Make Big Debuts for Boston Celtics: Garden Report
Celtics new players were head Turners, Boston beats Sixers 98-78
Everything is awesome for the Celtics right now!
Marcus Smart excels on the defensive end in his Boston Celtics preseason debut
In the middle of everything: where Marcus Smart is making a difference

I see a ton of red flags, they see only awesomeness. Philly was the better team by 7 points in the first quarter when each team's best players were out there. The C's took control late in the third when each team cleared their bench. If the C's are going to rely on their deep bench to win games, they aren't going to win many.

When I look at the shot chart at ESPN, two things stand out - the C's took a huge number of 3's and only one shot was made that wasn't at the three point line or in the paint (Bass made it).

It's only one game and a preseason one at that. As fans, it was our first opportunity to see the new players, the new read-and-react offense and the new aggressive defense. This game should have been a showcase for all of those and it wasn't. The games are only to get harder from here.

I took away that this was the first preseason game of the year with two starters not playing and two other starters not playing the 4th quarter.

Relax.

Philly was missing their best player and their other starters are awful. Nerlens Noel was playing his first NBA game after missing all of last season and stank.

it's really not a big deal in my opinion. It's the very first game of the preseason/season. Also, in my opinion, preseason is when you kinda let your players run some plays, experiment with lineups, and let your rookies and new players play and see where they fit in the rotation once the real season starts. We shouldn't get too excited if we blow out another team, nor should we get pessimistic if we do get blown out by another team.

I see this purely as experimenting plays and lineups.  Most of these players who are playing might not even play in the real season starts, like Young will probably spend a lot of time in the D-League. But he did well in game 1 of the preseason, as fans, that is something good to see. We establish hopes for our players and hope they can continue growing.

Smart and Turner played great, and it doesn't matter if it is against their 2nd or 3rd string. Are they OUR starters? no, but we know if anything, they can help carry our 2nd unit and step into the starting lineup say an injury or trade were to occur.

[MBunge]

I see a ton of red flags, they see only awesomeness. Philly was the better team by 7 points in the first quarter when each team's best players were out there. The C's took control late in the third when each team cleared their bench. If the C's are going to rely on their deep bench to win games, they aren't going to win many.

When I look at the shot chart at ESPN, two things stand out - the C's took a huge number of 3's and only one shot was made that wasn't at the three point line or in the paint (Bass made it).

It's only one game and a preseason one at that. As fans, it was our first opportunity to see the new players, the new read-and-react offense and the new aggressive defense. This game should have been a showcase for all of those and it wasn't. The games are only to get harder from here.

1.  I don't understand how you can watch a game without killing yourself if you can't accept a team having a slow start or a poor quarter.

2.  Isn't the latest theory that the shots you should take are 3s or in the paint, no mid-range jumpers?

Mike

[mmmmm]

I watched the game and a lot of red flags went up for me as well.

Yes, I'm glad we won and I enjoyed watching the 'positives'.  But I also remind myself that this was against possibly the worst team in the NBA.

The shot selection for the team as a whole was concerning.

We took 88 FGA.

If my interpretation of the shot charts is correct, about 25 of those were within 8 feet of the basket.  Of those, only about half were the result of a pass into the paint (the others were driven into the paint, such as with fast breaks or else were put-backs from missed shots from outside.

Considering that the Sixers gifted us with 27 turnovers, it is sinful that we didn't have more shots 'at rim' than we did.

Basically, imho, that was just ugly, ugly execution of the offense.   "Execution" may be a poor choice of words other than that watching it was killing me.

[BudweiserCeltic]

It happened twice, rewatch the game if you don't believe, both after missed threes.   You think that happened twice by coincidence?  The odds of that are really small.  Maybe less Budweiser during the game and you would notice?

Bradley sat for a while too, after shooting 0-7.

I think Stevens expects more this year.   Now Sully has one thing going for him in that we do not have a lot of bigs behind him.  I thought Sully was the best rebounder on the floor but Bass was definitely better at putting the ball in the hole.  In fact, when we got our lead it was BB on the floor.

Yes, I love Brad Steven's thinking... let's yank Sully after he shot a 3. You know, the shot he's actually encouraging his bigs to take?

Sorry, but you're quite off base here.

Nah.  There's no way Sully is going to have the green light to shoot 3s this season unless he proves he can make more of them.

Mike

Brad Stevens, even recently, has been well documented of wanting his bigs to be 3-point threats and encourages them to shoot them.

We just came off a scrimmage in which Sully dominated, making 4 three-pointers (I don't think he missed one), so your interpretation off that is that in the first preseason game, right after this scrimmage, Stevens is going to yank Sullinger from the game because he missed a 3?

Come on now.

[Asher77]

We lack a big who truly wants the ball down low and can excel at it. We need that to be efficient on offense. ( this does not make Sully or KO bad players or fits on our team )
This is something I think we all agree on so we will have to temper expectation until Danny finds one.
The game is one of checks and balances, your team must be a threat from down low or 3 to take advantage of match ups and keep a game plan honest against you.

We can take positives and enjoy the individual play we see if we keep it in context of a long term build.

[manl_lui]

We lack a big who truly wants the ball down low and can excel at it. We need that to be efficient on offense. ( this does not make Sully or KO bad players or fits on our team )
This is something I think we all agree on so we will have to temper expectation until Danny finds one.
The game is one of checks and balances, your team must be a threat from down low or 3 to take advantage of match ups and keep a game plan honest against you.

We can take positives and enjoy the individual play we see if we keep it in context of a long term build.

actually, I think Sully is GREAT down low up until last season when Stevens want him to take 3s. I wonder how different our team will be if Sully is strictly used down low

[Donoghus]

This Sixers game might end up going down as the most over-analyzed preseason game in the history of Celticsblog. 

[Asher77]

I think Sully is a low post player and a needed space eater. He is a good offensive rebounder and excels at put backs.  I have not seen enough there to say he can be the player other teams game plan for. Will he draw a double team. Will he excel 1 vs 1 against the majority of defenders he will face.

He is a developing player and I like him on our team. Yet to prove to me he would be the low post offensive threat that drives a championship banner.

[barefacedmonk]

This Sixers game might end up going down as the most over-analyzed preseason game in the history of Celticsblog. 

This made me chuckle.