Trade Crowder and Thomas as soon as possible/ The recent big 3

[Hemingway]

with some people it's really all or nothing. Either will 75% of the games of just say F it and blow it up. I wish there was some kind of tracking system on here because I bet some of the same people say blow it up every year.

[Tr1boy]

Look people are tired of losing. I get it.

But also you need to stay calm.

IT rep is coming alive these days.  Trying to shoot his way out of slumps, spazzing out and being a so so teammate, complaining about not starting (not recently)

He prob feels the team needs to win with him starting. And is desperate right now

Reality is , IT should be coming off the bench.

This issue in the end is on CBS. 

Bc smart goes down in injury does not mean he should have to prove himself again to gain his starting spot.

Everything is out of sync right now. Especially we lack a strong 2nd unit

[howl1309]

I just watched the reply of the drive and the block on smart.  One major issue on this play was that none of the rest of the players moved into a position to help with a bailout pass.  Crowder was in the corner which Marcus could have looked for but why didn't Thomas bolt to the open space where Marcus could have found him for uncontested three? Everybody just watched.  This could have been the play drawn up by BS but doesn't the team need to react to the situation? Also if Crowder had moved to the left he defender would have to follow allowing more space for Marcus. 

The end result was frustration by Marcus. He shouldn't have tried to go and get the ball like that after getting stuffed.  Thomas and Crowder just wanted to win especially after the slump the team has been in.  Was their reaction justified? Of course not, but this type of thing happens all the time when the players care. 

Smart wasn't going to pass that ball. His frustration was for the lack of foul being called not because he didn't have a bailout pass. Smart's decision to try and score was made as soon as he left his man behind. It was a great defensive play with the Memphis players converging very quickly and timely.


This whole situation is on Smart. I mean, they just came out of a time-out and considering how everyone on the floor reacted I'm sure one point that was driven into the players of the floor is to NOT foul.

I think some fans around here have made deities of former star players for this team. All of them got on their teammates (and yes in the playing floor) at one point or another. All of them.

Smart screwed up, big time. Take ownership and move on.

I am in 100% agreement he wasn't going to pass the ball mainly because he didn't really have an option to do so.  His frustration was because he got stuffed by three guys and wanted a foul call. Agreed there.  His fouling was a direct response to the last play. It was his fault for fouling. He needs to learn to maintain his head during the game. Now the situations and be mindful of what needs to happen. That's what good players do. 

As for the other two, I always said it was because they wanted to win.  They are sick of losing.  I get that.  Responding like that to one of their teammates doesn't show a ton of support.

If we expect Marcus to do the right thing and make the right decision. Can't we expect the same from the others as well?

[manl_lui]

Look people are tired of losing. I get it.

But also you need to stay calm.

IT rep is coming alive these days.  Trying to shoot his way out of slumps, spazzing out and being a so so teammate, complaining about not starting (not recently)

He prob feels the team needs to win with him starting. And is desperate right now

Reality is , IT should be coming off the bench.

This issue in the end is on CBS. 

Bc smart goes down in injury does not mean he should have to prove himself again to gain his starting spot.

Everything is out of sync right now. Especially we lack a strong 2nd unit

I agree with this statement also...what I do find odd is, Bradley was out for like a week? two weeks? I forgot but he seems to be inserted back to the starting lineup immediately. Smart should and definitely should be playing 30 minutes a game and starting.

But whoever is starting isn't really the problem imo. Towards the end of the game, we always start to lack aggressiveness and stopped rebounding. We NEED to rebound, crash the defensive boards. The last 3 games we lost had us up about 10 pts at least towards the end, but the other team seems to always play harder. What is starting to bother me is, we're the team who are the gritty team that plays hard. especially towards the end...did that somehow get reversed? play hard first half, die down second half?

[celts55]

I'm sorry, but I don't get the anger here. I would think anyone who has ever played would understand, after blowing a 21 point lead, players are p---ed. Than someone makes a dumb play like that, and you blow up. I think it's pretty understandable. They're working really hard not to blow another game, and he makes a bonehead play.
Sounds like they all hugged it out latter. Really no big deal, just competitive momentary anger.

[pearljammer10]

If Smart didnt make a stupid play Crowder and IT (and Sully and Bradley who were also upset) wouldn't have had a "stupid" reaction.

This is on Smart. Listen to your coach. Plain and simple, end of story.

Nobody cares about your opinion. YOUR opinion does ont matter, im talking in the generality of the team. You feel that they should be upset. OK.

My point is the reaction they gave. Pure childish. Any vet would have destroyed them after the game.

Right. I won't even address what's wrong here but if you want to play that game YOUR opinion is that the reaction was childish. YOUR opinion is wrong. Smart screwed up, the vets let him have it, he owned up to it.

End of story.

[CapnDunks]

I think this is a non-story. Marcus did make a dumb move out of frustration, that's the flip side of a player with his intensity.

For what it's worth I was watching the Memphis broadcast, they pointed out that if Marcus had tried to draw the foul, rather than protecting the ball and contorting so hard, he almost certainly would have gotten hit on the arm.

The worst thing about this game for me was David Lee, hands down. If he says one more thing about playing time this year, I will lose my ****.

[Denis998]

If Smart didnt make a stupid play Crowder and IT (and Sully and Bradley who were also upset) wouldn't have had a "stupid" reaction.

This is on Smart. Listen to your coach. Plain and simple, end of story.

Nobody cares about your opinion. YOUR opinion does ont matter, im talking in the generality of the team. You feel that they should be upset. OK.

My point is the reaction they gave. Pure childish. Any vet would have destroyed them after the game.

Right. I won't even address what's wrong here but if you want to play that game YOUR opinion is that the reaction was childish. YOUR opinion is wrong. Smart screwed up, the vets let him have it, he owned up to it.

End of story.

this. discounting others opinions as wrong, and assuming personal opinions as purely factual. TP

[Tr1boy]

Listen folks let's chill

Smart made the mistake but you can't react that way. 

If you start reacting that way, it will be a long season and there will be chaos in the dressing room. 

Again it's up to the coach to react or next time bench you in that situation etc.

[ThePoeticWolf]

Here's the play I think he's referencing:

https://twitter.com/ByJayKing/status/686379373088247809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Apparently most of us missed that play. I know I did. Smart apologized in the locker room for it. Stevens didn't call for a foul, which is why they were all mad. It looks like it was a stupid play by Smart, but none of them (especially IT and Crowder) can say anything about bad plays or turnovers at the end of games.

EDIT: Watching that again, I get the OP's frustration with Thomas. That's immature and not characteristic behavior of a leader. How many times has he lost games for us by turnovers or stupid shots when the time is running down. This is a really bad loss for the team.

You don't do that. Period. I don't them doing that to my young players.

Paul Piece Ray Ray and Garnett would never do that, they might pull him a side and give them a little , hey man dont do that,

but never would they jump around like little babies

or come at him like crowder did,

you also probably missed Smart's reaction. He started cussing them out as well.

Did you really just say KG wouldn't have done what Crowder did?  You're right he would have gotten into his face for making a dumb play.  Then after he did it pat his head and tell him how to fix it.  Crowder did what a good teammate should do.  You call out players, holds them responsible and teach.  So what IT had a moment like that, he's frustrated because we go from winning good games, to not closing.  You're making it sound like you're not suppose to show emotion on the court.  KG was one of thee if not thee most emotional player on a basketball court o play. 

So tell me again seriously why you would trade our best scorer, and one of our best player.  Oh yeah by the way both on great contracts, that are leaders of the team.  You want more draft picks so we can have a younger team that will do the same thing. 

[CelticPride2016]

The Celtics are not bad and this is definitely just a slump. This story is interesting, but it also seems to be getting blown out of proportion.

You don't want that happening too often, though, because like many point out, IT and Crowder might want to be careful embarrassing a teammate for any brain cramps.

I agree with the blogger in regards to Sullinger's weight. He should not get to play until he makes a better effort. You can't have separate rules for players.

The op seems to be overreacting to what happened. Every other player had the same reaction. Isaiah may have looked like a cry baby. I guess sure, it's no lie he was jumping up and down very similar to a stereotypical child's rant.

What happened will help the team. They weren't mad at Marcus Smart in general, but as a team they were angry he was immature because of the play at the other end or that he should have known it wasn't the time to foul.

It really was similar to the DeAndre Jordan video linked to. Yes, the reactions were different in regards to the clock, but Chris Paul was no different than Isaiah, Jae, and Sully confronting a teammate with a wake up call to stick to the game plan. The DeAndre Jordan-Chris Paul exchange is wicked bizarre. Jordan needed a bit of time to get control of the board and before he knew it Paul was yelling at him to shoot.

Everyone is human.

Unfortunately, this could turn into a slippery slope. IT has become almost as nerve wracking to watch as Evan Turner. Jae sometimes makes stupid drives. Sully is the king for hoisting and missing three's at the wrong time.

It's easy for me to yell at these guys like they did to Smart. Kelly, shoot it! Avery Bradley has arguably been our team MVP, but Tommy noticed he is a space cadet for passing and I wish I could yell at him, "Why can't you make better passes?"

I can't tell what Marcus Smart did wrong, whether it was a brain cramp, some form of retaliation, or if he defied what the coach told the team to do.

[droopdog7]

Listen folks let's chill

Smart made the mistake but you can't react that way. 

If you start reacting that way, it will be a long season and there will be chaos in the dressing room. 

Again it's up to the coach to react or next time bench you in that situation etc.

I have no problem whatsoever with the reaction.  That's how dumb Smart's play was right there.  There is nothing wrong with reacting in an emotional way when an NBA players makes an elementary school mistake. 

Frankly, smart sit even more the next game because of it.  Instead, the OP wants to trade his competition so smart can play more.  Bizarro world.

[Tr1boy]

Listen folks let's chill

Smart made the mistake but you can't react that way. 

If you start reacting that way, it will be a long season and there will be chaos in the dressing room. 

Again it's up to the coach to react or next time bench you in that situation etc.

I have no problem whatsoever with the reaction.  That's how dumb Smart's play was right there.  There is nothing wrong with reacting in an emotional way when an NBA players makes an elementary school mistake. 

Frankly, smart sit even more the next game because of it.  Instead, the OP wants to trade his competition so smart can play more.  Bizarro world.

It's one mistake big or small.  How good has smart been otherwise?

The team is gripping too tight right now. All these endless set plays, starting IT is killing the teams ability to win games.

I ask again as I did before, should smart have the right to spazz out on IT when he went 5-17 or 6 for 20?

[Csfan1984]

I agree the team should have backed Smart in a positive way tell him to relax and they still got it. Instead they acted like it was over and it was his fault. They blame one another too quickly. They call people unprofessional when they don't follow the team strategy themselves and do what they want. It's ridiculous. DA needs to step in and be the bad guy. Because BS clearly not ready to be a Pop level leader. BS wants to be their friend.

[Geo123]

You build around players like IT and Crowder not make a knee jerk reaction and trade them.  They aren't stars but provide you building blocks.  Now add a star, get a stud in the draft and you've got something