This loss is on Wonder Boy Stevens

[ChainSmokingLikeDino]

Did I hear Abby Chin say that Stevens let the team take off the shoot around before the game today?

Smooth move.

The 4th place coach failed to help teach his guys to make the adjustments from game 1 to win game 2.

They couldn't hit the side of a barn in the 2nd half. Good thing Stevens gave the team the shoot around off though. Must be part of the famous Stevens system.

God forbid we should win a game vs Cleveland.

And Tyler Zeller..wow!

Anyone see him jog up the court when Lebron (or was it Kyrie?) passed the ball to Love in the fast break?

Embarrassing.

Cleveland must be heartbroken they don't have him anymore.

This assessment is absurdity upon absurdity. If you honestly think the only window for coaching and adjustments is in shootaround (as you put forth) you know less about the NBA than you pretend to in your post. Give me a break. I've been reading this blog pre-SB Nation, by awhile. and this is one of the dumbest things I've seen posted here. I'm only embarassed for the board because outsiders come here and read things like this and use it to slander us all.

Edited to add: Like, do you have zero idea of the difference in talent level between these two teams? The fact that these games were close is almost entirely atributable to the fact that The Celtics are an exceptionally well coached team. But, be a whiny child and throw your tantrum. Keep on ranting and proudly showing the blog and forums you know very little about basketball.

[tarheelsxxiii]

I understand your frustration. It sucks when you can see with your own eyes that your team is so close... and against all odds, right? From what little I saw tonight, they looked so engaged though... as if they truly believed they could win game 2 in CLE. That's pretty impressive, man, and I would give the credit to Stevens for that. This team has bought in to his system, and as a result, they have really beaten expectations. Not his fault, man... just a lack of talent. On the upside, looks like we have a good system in place, a lot of young guys bought in, and the potential to become very good if we can land the right prospects/players.

[jeezem]

I think they did their job in this game.  The kept it close, and what was it a 4 point game with 3 minutes left in the 4th.  That's what you want to do - keep it close and try to steal one on the road, but hey - they just didn't get it together and score well at the end of the game.  So, now they get to try to hold home court.  I did see some adjustments, most notably IT getting up and jumping to contest Irving, he just sort of put his arms up in the last game, so there were better contests there.  I'd like to see them foul James much harder sometimes when he drives to the basket.  He deserves it for just running over Crowder and throwing him to the floor.

One thing I think that got away from them was in the 1st half, we started right off going at the basket, getting some blocked, but getting fouls and playing inside driving and post.  We built a lead doing this and then, when we stopped doing this in the 2nd half, it slipped away.  So, that could be a coaching decision, I'd always rather see a player drive at the basket and try to dunk it and get it blocked, than hail up a 3 or force a bad shot.  I don't think I've ever seen a team make a comeback shooting fade away jumpers.  Possibly that is on the Coach, but heck - just that they are here and we get to watch these games, and there are a couple home games in our future, hats off. 

[MSceltic]

Did I hear Abby Chin say that Stevens let the team take off the shoot around before the game today?

Smooth move.

The 4th place coach failed to help teach his guys to make the adjustments from game 1 to win game 2.

They couldn't hit the side of a barn in the 2nd half. Good thing Stevens gave the team the shoot around off though. Must be part of the famous Stevens system.

God forbid we should win a game vs Cleveland.

And Tyler Zeller..wow!

Anyone see him jog up the court when Lebron (or was it Kyrie?) passed the ball to Love in the fast break?

Embarrassing.

Cleveland must be heartbroken they don't have him anymore.

I incredibly disagree with you, Stevens had his players work they're tail off. At the end of the game, Lebron and Kyrie hit all of Cleveland's 4th quarter points. That's talent at its finest, nothing Stevens can do when two of the best players in the game do their things.

[jeezem]

Did I hear Abby Chin say that Stevens let the team take off the shoot around before the game today?

Smooth move.

The 4th place coach failed to help teach his guys to make the adjustments from game 1 to win game 2.

They couldn't hit the side of a barn in the 2nd half. Good thing Stevens gave the team the shoot around off though. Must be part of the famous Stevens system.

God forbid we should win a game vs Cleveland.

And Tyler Zeller..wow!

Anyone see him jog up the court when Lebron (or was it Kyrie?) passed the ball to Love in the fast break?

Embarrassing.

Cleveland must be heartbroken they don't have him anymore.

I incredibly disagree with you, Stevens had his players work they're tail off. At the end of the game, Lebron and Kyrie hit all of Cleveland's 4th quarter points. That's talent at its finest, nothing Stevens can do when two of the best players in the game do their things.

The Cavs scored 4 points in the last 2.5 minutes of this game.  The Celtics scored 2 points; there was no talent at its finest at the end of this game for either team.  It was like brick city going both ways.  Hopefully, this is all fatigue related for both teams.  The Celtics being younger, and playing a deeper rotation, this could be very much to their advantage if they can win a few home games and lengthen the series out, possibly fatigue takes its toll on Cleveland's older veteran super star roster.  Possibly some internal strife will have time creep back in as well.

[kg4president]

People must have seen a different game then me. We were competitive in the entire game, but every time we got close an offensive rebound by Tristan Tompson led to a three by Irving. This must have happened 4 times when the game was within 5 and we needed a stop. He had 5 O rebounds for the game. We know Irving and Lebron are going to make shots...its what they do, but when they miss you can't give them a second opportunity. I would like to see their points of of his rebounds alone, I'd imagine it's around 12 because they always led to threes.

[rollie mass]

jerebko should be used when teams have tired legs,all season he has been effective tracking rebounds-

[Drucci]

Nope, this loss is on Tristan Thompson killing us with his offensive rebounds (the last minute and a half of the game sums it up perfectly), Evan Turner taking bad midrange shots when we were attacking the rim to get back at the end (and it was working).

And, also, on a terribly frustrating officiating : Cleveland got all "the benefit of the doubt" calls (see the ridiculous foul against Bradley with 3 minutes to go in the 4th when it was obvious he didn't foul Kyrie) and Boston didn't get enough calls when there was obvious contact.

Frustrating loss, because we showed once again that we can compete with them and even lead the game but we fell short even though we were closer than in game 1. Hopefully the home support will help us win the next two.

[makaveli]

i tought he really missed out on some of our rotations.

1. begining of the 2nd half, we were dead in the water for the first 5 minutes, no timeouts, no substitutions
2. thomas must play more, he in a p'n'r is buckets waiting to happen
3. he has to be better at recongnizing goo turner/bad turner game, he really hurt us today.
4. tristan killed us

[cb8883]

Did I hear Abby Chin say that Stevens let the team take off the shoot around before the game today?

Smooth move.

The 4th place coach failed to help teach his guys to make the adjustments from game 1 to win game 2.

They couldn't hit the side of a barn in the 2nd half. Good thing Stevens gave the team the shoot around off though. Must be part of the famous Stevens system.

God forbid we should win a game vs Cleveland.

And Tyler Zeller..wow!

Anyone see him jog up the court when Lebron (or was it Kyrie?) passed the ball to Love in the fast break?

Embarrassing.

Cleveland must be heartbroken they don't have him anymore.

Stevens wasn't the reason they lost. I mean he is facing a superior coach in Blatt who has a lot more experience but the Cavs are going to win the NBA title. It's embarrassing to watch this team get dismantled. Kyrie and LeBron can take over the game and blow this team out whenever they want. I'm shocked that the green teamers can't open their eyes and see what a catastrophic thing making the playoffs was. Missed on Okafor Towns Russell etc...and instead you have a sweep that will be completed in Boston and the 16th pick. I highly doubt a Greek Freak like prospect falls again to that spot after seeing what he's done in the NBA and the super star potential.

This organization screwed up and the punishment will be watching the teams that finished behind them get better while they stay stagnant. They only made the playoffs because everyone else wanted to tank. This is not a real 40 win team. They roster a few decent rotation players but that's it.

[GreenWarrior]

start of the 2nd half killed this team. came out playing dumb and shooting 3's and taking jump shots. and we actually fouled them and were in foul trouble for the entire 3rd qrtr.

[SHAQATTACK]

Celtics including coach played pretty well .  Nobody is perfect , it's always easy to look back and see things that could have made a diff here or there.  Same for Cavs , there game wasn't a Rembrandt either.

I think it was more just a case that C's best effort just ran into a unclimbable wall of talent .

Irving and James played a basic two man game .

[elcotte]

Biggest issue I  saw was that the Cavs have successfully shut down Bradley. He had no room to make his shots. He needs to make some adjustments.

[twistedrico]

I am not blaming anyone. I am just happy that the Celtics are playing on national TV in the playoffs and are relevant.  The heck with tanking. This team is getting experience and they have a LOT of talent.  As for the coach, I don't have to defend him. He is already one of the best in the league in only his second year.

[Granath]

You gotta be kidding me..the loss is on the fact that they have freaking LEBRON JAMES and KYRIE IRVING that took over in the 4th. How did you feel about Doc doing the same thing for the players to keep them fresh? Our guys go balls to the walls almost the entire game to give themselves a chance...this is just ridiculous!

Nothing ridiculous about it! This game was very winnable. The Celts were within 2 points in the 4th quarter.

And it's Stevens' fault that the Celtics couldn't hit a shot in the last 4 minutes? Seriously, do you read the crap you write before you hit post or do you just ragepost everything?