Stevens deserves some of the blame for how we've started in the first two games

[flybono]

You need talent..

[alldaboston]

You need talent..

Also true. We love our team bc they give it their all, they're gritty, scrappy, whatever you wanna call it. And it makes for great journalism.

But the reality is (as I've pointed out quite a few times) that grit only goes so far. For us, it seems like grit only went until the regular season. Now, in the playoffs we need talent. And we don't have enough of it.

[PhoSita]

If Stevens goes 0-8 or 1-8 in his first two playoff appearances, all excuses aside, I think that has to temper some of the high praise he's been getting for what the team has done the last couple of years.

He's still young and improving, much like the Celts' roster.

[slamtheking]

Take away two critical players from any team and see what happens.

If the Celts were totally healthy right now and ATL lost D Schroeder and Kyle Korver what do you suppose would happen?

The thing is, the C's have one of the deepest rosters in the league and it was mentioned here repeatedly by a number of posters that the C's depth would help them should an injury occur more than other teams could handle.

as for them losing Schroeder and Korver, they have Hinrich off the bench who's still capable as a back up PG, particularly against us and they'd have more shots going to Teague, Horford and Milsap who have been doing just fine against us.

[Vox_Populi]

Last season Atlanta was better than this year's Atlanta. They sustained an injury to their starting shooting guard, like the Celtics, they didn't have one of their best bench players, like the Celtics, and their starting small forward was playing hurt, like the Celtics. Consequently, they lost to Cleveland without Love, or even Irving for a game, in as many games as last year's 40-42 Celtics did.

Bradley, Crowder and Olynyk finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th for made threes on the team. All three are hobbled or out. For an already poor shooting team, that's basically death. I don't think anything that's going on is particularly surprising or reveals a flaw about this team that we didn't already know.

[jambr380]

Take away two critical players from any team and see what happens.

If the Celts were totally healthy right now and ATL lost D Schroeder and Kyle Korver what do you suppose would happen?

The thing is, the C's have one of the deepest rosters in the league and it was mentioned here repeatedly by a number of posters that the C's depth would help them should an injury occur more than other teams could handle.

as for them losing Schroeder and Korver, they have Hinrich off the bench who's still capable as a back up PG, particularly against us and they'd have more shots going to Teague, Horford and Milsap who have been doing just fine against us.

Eh, I don't buy it. Also include an ankle surgery to Horford or Millsap which would make one of them totally (and inexplicably) unable to score or play effective defense.

When healthy, our team was firing on all cylinders. It really is a bummer that now is the time we can barely field an NBA worthy rotation.

Lowe's piece today shed a lot of light on why having a lot of depth doesn't mean you can deal better with injuries (everybody is a cog in the machine, etc). Losing our two best shooters (AB/Oly) and essentially defenders (AB/Crowder) while the Hawks are prancing in a field of health hurts...especially since both teams had the same record and are essentially even (all being equal).

[RockinRyA]

As much as i like Coach BS he has done a terrible job in the playoffs so far (and for preparing for it,too)
We are supposed to be a deep team but he played the young guys too little which in a degree caused our current short-handed situation
He should learn NBA is different from colleage and you have to rest your guys and develope your youngsters, not only try to win as more as possible in the regular season

If he played the young guys more in the regular season, we might not be facing the Hawks right now. Could be the Raptors or worse, Cleveland. People assume its easy to give time to the rookies and expect to have the same results. Plus, guys like Mickey improved a whole lot of their game by playing without much pressure in the D league. He wont get the same minutes with the whole team.

[Kuberski33]

The only thing you maybe could call CBS on is not shutting down Sully for a week or so with the season winding down because he has nothing left in the tank.  That's on Sully vs the coach but given Sully's performance at the end of last season there were certainly some hints that he'd once again be useless come playoff time.

You can win with IT, you just need some offensive help to prevent teams from doing what ATL is doing which is leaving everyone else open to miss their shots and taking away IT's penetration.  Unfortunately its a bit of a perfect storm with AB and KO both going down.  Those are your two most consistent 3pt shooters.

Team needs upgrades at the 4 and 5 plus a veteran shooter who won't kill them on the defensive end.  They're not that far away but no one should be shocked with what's going on right now.  Its talent not the coach.

[loco_91]

Take away two critical players from any team and see what happens.

If the Celts were totally healthy right now and ATL lost D Schroeder and Kyle Korver what do you suppose would happen?

The thing is, the C's have one of the deepest rosters in the league and it was mentioned here repeatedly by a number of posters that the C's depth would help them should an injury occur more than other teams could handle.

as for them losing Schroeder and Korver, they have Hinrich off the bench who's still capable as a back up PG, particularly against us and they'd have more shots going to Teague, Horford and Milsap who have been doing just fine against us.

That narrative was overstated. Like other teams, there are some guys the C's can afford to have out, and some they can't. AB is one they can't. Another is Crowder, who is severely limited, and in light of that situation KO's absence becomes a much bigger deal. When Jerebko is getting significant minutes at the 5, something is seriously, seriously wrong.

I'm actually amazed last night's game was so close. C's showed a lot of fight on the defensive end after the opening minutes.

[Drucci]

Stevens is a great coach, but he gets so hyped up that people expect miracles. If we'd won that game, what with all of our injuries and the way the Hawks were playing D, it would have been a miracle. I have some minor quarrels with some of the adjustments Brad made, but I'm also modest enough to know that he probably knows better than I do, and I'm realistic enough to know that no coach is going to win playoff games without help from their players.

Exactly, he can't miraculously help his players make some (open!) shots.

Altough I think he made a mistake at the end of the 2nd quarter, when we were on a mini-run with Amir Johnson and ET scoring on their own : he went back to his starters who were still unable to score.

[GreenWarrior]

stevens definitely deserves blame. what's happening right now is nothing new.

all season when this team didn't get shots to fall early on it usually meant we didn't play any D. sure Stevens can't make shots, but encouraging guys to take bad shots is something he should have addressed 2 seasons ago, continuing to allow it to happen is even worse.

Stevens also did nothing to prepare for the match up that really mattered in this series and that's the Teague/Schroeder match up. it's been a problem in every game against Atl. but we were focused on milsap, when most of his success was a result of Teague and Schroeder abusing IT. we needed to decide before the series started if we were going to make those 2 scorers or passers. we weren't going to win this series if those guys score 20 and have double-digit assists.

it's too late now, both of those guys have it goin now. the series is over because of this imo. and so far Stevens doesn't seem to have a clue on how to handle playoff basketball in the NBA. 

[alldaboston]

I feel that something Brad doesn't do as well is rotations. Im not talking general rotations (which is something he could use help on as well), but, say for example we have a 5 man group in the game who is doing really well. They're making shots, they're getting stops, all in clutch time, everything is working well. Then Brad decides to remove some of them and reinsert starters, or go by whoever is next in the rotation.

That doesn't make sense to me. If the guys out there are working, don't risk ruining it. Keep them in there as long as they can keep up their excellent play. When the opponent figures it out, or when our group isn't executing as well, then bring in new guys. But don't yank them just to follow with your rotation. It ruins the momentum they had

[Csfan1984]

I think BS deserves some blame not all of it. The blame is on the whole team. BS has failed in rostered players, player development, game plans, and not setting up proper roles for guys. He isn't a bad coach but it's looking like he was over rated.

[Celtics4ever]

CBS can't make shots for these guys.  We lack talent, CBS had these guys playing above their talent level most of the season but teams play harder in the playoffs, not sure we can.

He deserves some blame, so does Ainge, so do the players who are not performing which is almost our whole team.

[mctyson]

I think BS deserves some blame not all of it. The blame is on the whole team. BS has failed in rostered players, player development, game plans, and not setting up proper roles for guys. He isn't a bad coach but it's looking like he was over rated.

Read the Steve Clifford quote.  People like us, and especially the NBA media, obsess about coaching and roster and matchup adjustments and minutiae like it ultimately is the #1 reason teams win/lose. 

Coaches will tell you it's actually the simple basics.  Like making shots.  THE CELTICS NEED TO PUT THE BALL IN THE BASKET THEY WILL BE OK IF THEY DO THAT.