Warriors (45-11) at Boston Celtics (23-33) Game #57 3/1/15

[positivitize]

Brad Stevens faced a conundrum today.

He absolutely needed Smart out there to guard Thompson. Thompson chewed through everyone else on our team like a hot poop through wet toilet paper. As soon as Smart sat, Thompson sparked a run.

He absolutely needed IT4 out there tonight to fuel Boston's offensive efforts. With the exception of the first 10 minutes when Turner was hitting all his midrange shots, our offense was Night while IT4 was sitting and Day when IT4 was in the game.

He absolutely needed Bradley in the game to stop (slow) Curry. Smart could only stop either Thompson OR Curry, and the minute he switched, the other would score.

These three players had to be in at the same time, but Golden State is one of the few teams that can match up with us when we play small ball and make us regret it. Green killed us. Livingston killed us--Especially when he was able to nullify IT4. Bass was good on the offensive end, but he was exposed on defense. Same with Crowder. Golden State just had huge advantages at the 4 and 5, and we couldn't answer with Smart, IT4, and Bradley all in at the same time.

This game was extremely close. The refs kinda mucked it up in the 3rd and 4th, and James Young missed a few wide open shots/foul shots.

For what we have, we did very well to give ourselves a chance to win this game. It is like what Brad Stevens said at halftime: Being up by 16 might mean something against some teams, but being up 16 against Golden State is like being up 3.

We played the best team in the NBA to the wire and gave them a scare. We are a young team that let a win get away from us. We are getting better, but we still need one or two more parts. I don't fault Stevens for this loss. I fault it not being 2016 yet. We are in the 2nd year of a rebuild. Lets get some perspective.

[inverselock]

Not many Fta.   Lots of jumpshots today?

[kozlodoev]

He absolutely needed Smart out there to guard Thompson. Thompson chewed through everyone else on our team like a hot poop through wet toilet paper. As soon as Smart sat, Thompson sparked a run.

Thompson was 9 for 20 with zero free throws... And Bradley wasn't exactly slowing down Curry.

[SHAQATTACK]

theres no perfect coach. Ask me, I wouldn't think kerr would be doing a whole lot better than Brad with our team

Kerr won the game from 26 down. With actual adjustments. And by playing Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry 39 minutes. Brad S lost by playing Isaiah Thomas 28 minutes and Jae Crowder 26 minutes.

How many adjustment do you really need to make when your players are Klay Thompson and Steph friggen Curry??!!! Hell, CBS could make the "adjustment" and play them 39 minutes too... wow, huge adjustment. The only adjustment Kerr made was taking Curry off of Isaiah and putting  longer guards on him. So, he took a sieve off of Thomas and hid him on others.

If we hit some of those wide open shots, you wouldn't be talking right now. That's not an adjustment, that's just not hitting shots! If they were contested shots, you would have a point but a lot of them were wide open.

Yep. Right again. Basketball is game played by the players. They have better players. We lost. Could have win if we made more shots. Move on

I agree.....if Curry has a Kobe like game.....he goes off ......he gets 40 on you.......what are you going to do?....that's what made the Lakers unbeatable ....they had a guy that could put up 35 -40 on anybody .....same with Pierce ......same with LeBron...who's skunked Curry the other night.

If your going to win a game like this ...with a 40 point scoring machine ......you have to shut him down ....like the Cavs did the other night ....hold him to less than 20 .......and you have a chance .

He does the same thing Kobe use to all those years .

You have to make him play D and ride him hard the whole game

Kerr is no genius ......Curry was the difference , with his shooting.  .......

[Ilikesports17]

People need to stop blaming Brad. Yes a more veteran coach probably would have countered faster. Once Isaiah, got bottled up we seemed lost, but how about you give the dude some credit, Golden State has lost 11 games all year they have an MVP candidate and three stars in Bogut, Green, and Thompson. After that they are still loaded with Holliday, Iguodala, Barnes, Lee.

Sure you can say Brad got outcoached but he is coaching a team which came into the season with its 4 best players arguably being Rondo, Green, Sullinger, KO and that team was even predicted to win like 30 games. All of those guys have either been injured or traded since then, and he has had like 1 practice with Isaiah so I dont blame him for blowing a lead to the best defensive and most explosive team in basketball.

Why do we need to jump all over people after these games. They just gave the best team in basketball all they could handle. I cant wait until we have a rim protector who can maybe make Steph think twice about some of those crazy floaters and another scorer to look to when Isaiah gets contained.

[jpotter33]

Brad Stevens faced a conundrum today.

He absolutely needed Smart out there to guard Thompson. Thompson chewed through everyone else on our team like a hot poop through wet toilet paper. As soon as Smart sat, Thompson sparked a run.

He absolutely needed IT4 out there tonight to fuel Boston's offensive efforts. With the exception of the first 10 minutes when Turner was hitting all his midrange shots, our offense was Night while IT4 was sitting and Day when IT4 was in the game.

He absolutely needed Bradley in the game to stop (slow) Curry. Smart could only stop either Thompson OR Curry, and the minute he switched, the other would score.

These three players had to be in at the same time, but Golden State is one of the few teams that can match up with us when we play small ball and make us regret it. Green killed us. Livingston killed us--Especially when he was able to nullify IT4. Bass was good on the offensive end, but he was exposed on defense. Same with Crowder. Golden State just had huge advantages at the 4 and 5, and we couldn't answer with Smart, IT4, and Bradley all in at the same time.

This game was extremely close. The refs kinda mucked it up in the 3rd and 4th, and James Young missed a few wide open shots/foul shots.

For what we have, we did very well to give ourselves a chance to win this game. It is like what Brad Stevens said at halftime: Being up by 16 might mean something against some teams, but being up 16 against Golden State is like being up 3.

We played the best team in the NBA to the wire and gave them a scare. We are a young team that let a win get away from us. We are getting better, but we still need one or two more parts. I don't fault Stevens for this loss. I fault it not being 2016 yet. We are in the 2nd year of a rebuild. Lets get some perspective.

Spot on. I bet he ends up ending most games with the IT, Bradley, Smart lineup, but tonight he just couldn't swing it.  Smart did one hell of a job on Thompson tonight. Stevens relies a little too much on AB, too, even when he's not having a great game.

[Dino Pitino]

Someone tells you a few weeks ago that a Celtics' three game win streak would only be stopped by the league's best team via a nailbiter in a playoff atmosphere at home. "That's great!" But everyone is disappointed. "Wait, why?" Because we felt they should have won. "Wait, what?" Well, you see, the Celtics had a 26-point lead and...

[kozlodoev]

The reason why this team needs to have good structure on offense is because they have Crowder and Bradley. Those two guys can shoot you out of any game if you let them -- and Brad S certainly did tonight.

[jpotter33]

He absolutely needed Smart out there to guard Thompson. Thompson chewed through everyone else on our team like a hot poop through wet toilet paper. As soon as Smart sat, Thompson sparked a run.

Thompson was 9 for 20 with zero free throws... And Bradley wasn't exactly slowing down Curry.

He was 9-23 tonight, and a lot of those were when Smart was on the bench or not guarding him. He did about as good of a job as you can on Thompson.

[Ilikesports17]

Someone tells you a few weeks ago that a Celtics' three game win streak would only be stopped by the league's best team via a nailbiter in a playoff atmosphere at home. "That's great!" But everyone is disappointed. "Wait, why?" Because we felt they should have won. "Wait, what?" Well, you see, the Celtics had a 26-point lead and...

Im not dissapointed, I think there is a lot to be excited about with this team.

[Sketch5]

It's Stevens second year, he has not seen everything teams can throw at him, so maybe he didn't know how to adjust correctly, but I bet he watches the tape and figures it out tonight.

He hasn't seen box zones in college? Really...

Which comes to the second part of my arguement of the players not being able to pull of the adjustment. If GSW were packing the paint up you need out side shooting and quick passing and cuts. I'm pretty sure we've heard Stevens say over and over again to move the ball through out the season, did he tell them to let it stick today?

[kozlodoev]

It's Stevens second year, he has not seen everything teams can throw at him, so maybe he didn't know how to adjust correctly, but I bet he watches the tape and figures it out tonight.

He hasn't seen box zones in college? Really...

Which comes to the second part of my arguement of the players not being able to pull of the adjustment. If GSW were packing the paint up you need out side shooting and quick passing and cuts. I'm pretty sure we've heard Stevens say over and over again to move the ball through out the season, did he tell them to let it stick today?

I can't tell you whether they were failing to execute because, once again, there were no recognizable plays being run.

[SHAQATTACK]

GS..is fragile .....they rely on a frail shooting specialist to score nearly half their points in every hard fought contest.

Curry has an off night ..which is like Dirk ...almost never .......any team can have a decent shot at beating them.

We need better shooting to beat this team.....it's a scoring shoot out .....that's what GS wants ..they have the gun slingers to put up more points than you.

Just put Thompson and Curry out there and let them go.

We need a player who like LeBron can put 40 or 50 points too to offset Curry.

[hwangjini_1]

If we had someone that could score, when IT was on the bench, we would have had a better chance of winning.

That would be... Isaiah Thomas, who has no business spending 20 minutes of the game  on the pine.

(thanks, Brad S)

IT was gassed, was playing too much hero ball, and not passing the ball for too much of his time in the third quarter and early fourth, though he played better team ball at the end. IT cant be relied upon to score all the time. the celtics became predictable, IT handles the ball. IT looks to penetrate. IT shoots a 3. GS adjusted and could do so since the celtics dont have enough talent to counter such adjustments.

GS is the better team. there are only so many combinations the celtics can play with the talent available.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

I think some people believe they are God's gift to fantasy coaching. Oh, I could make adjustments to beat GSW with Klay and Curry, even when they have only lost 11 games all season. They have embarrassed teams with far more experienced coaches and better coaches but somehow YOU could have done better. 

AB took like 8 shots in the 3rd and GSW only took 5 points off of our halftime lead in that Q, where AB played the entire Q.

We went into the 4th with an 11pt lead, AB came back into the game with 6mins to go and that lead had been cut to 4pts. He took ONE SHOT that entire 6 minutes!! So yes, he shot poorly but his shooting wasn't what shot us out of the game. He wasn't just shooting bad shots either, a lot of them were wide open, today he just couldn't hit air.

I get that you don't like AB but it's pretty sad when you wait to jump down his throat when he has a bad game (being guarded by an excellent defender in Klay). Its funny how quiet you have been on the subject for a while now.


I never want a player on the Celtics to play bad but with you, you get so excited to see people on the team not play well (especially the ones you don't like). It's like you are waiting with bated breath.