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

[lefty12]

Celts staff has allowed Teague to play/produce like an allstar

Oh wait - he was an allstar last year

Still remember the regular poster here that said smart was better than Teague

Celts D can't stop pick n roll. The same thing they struggled with all year

I blame that on coaching staff

[alldaboston]

Celts staff has allowed Teague to play/produce like an allstar

Oh wait - he was an allstar last year

Still remember the regular poster here that said smart was better than Teague

Celts D can't stop pick n roll. The same thing they struggled with all year

I blame that on coaching staff

Yep. For all the praise that Brad gets for instilling a great defense, it's very obvious that our PnR defense is trash.

[mmmmm]

I agree with some pts. But also his hands are tied.  We actually really need young and Mickey right about now. Even if they are not 100 percent ready

Throw off atl game plan.

Atl right now is just daring the Celts to shoot.  Defensively , without AB they are running circles around IT.  Smart should really be on their pgs bit then IT will be toast against Thebo

I agree that his hands are tied to a certain extent. As a coach, his job is to put his best players in position to get good looks at the basket on the offensive end. When we don't have anyone that can consistently hit an outside shot, there isn't much he can do when that's all Atlanta is giving us. As long as we're getting a decent look every time down, I don't have much of a problem with what's happening, as those shots will eventually start going down. But early in both games, we've gone long stretches where we couldn't even get a decent look. In those situations, our team looks unprepared, which is on Stevens. Atlanta is good defensively, but they aren't the '04 Pistons or the '08 Celtics.

Defensively, my issue early in these two games is that the Hawks are scoring at will, and many of those buckets are wide open dunks. No way that should be happening, especially early in a game when our players are prepared, focused and fresh. To me, that's an example of the Hawks outcoaching us.

But they aren't, really.   Atlanta's Offensive rating through these first two games is just 100.5 points per 100 possessions.  Their efficiency line is just:  39.9% FG%, 44.6% eFG% and 50.1% TS%.

Those are not good numbers.

If you didn't look at Boston's offensive numbers, that would look like we were beating them handily.

The problem is, our offensive numbers are atrocious.  Our own offensive rating is just 91.1 points per 100.  Our shooting efficiencies are ... so awful I can't post them for fear of offending the internet.

ATL is jumping out to these early leads, not on the strength of their offense, but rather on the miserable ineptitude of ours.

[mmmmm]

No, Stevens definitely does deserve some of the blame in game 2 for starting big again. I know that Bradley and KO being out complicates things, but he even admitted it himself that he shouldn't have went big to start the game. Many of us here were saying you must go small to matchup with them, and you have to start off the game that way. After the first six minutes or so once we went small and matched up with them, we played them even the rest of the way, even with as horrible as our offense was.

"Going small" when you don't have shooters is pretty much guaranteed to fail against Atlanta.

Millsap and Horford are far too mobile and perfectly capable of defending poor-jump-shooting smalls and they crush those smalls on the other end of the court.  This, indeed, is what we have seen so far when we have tried to go small.   Brad put Evan in for Amir very quickly in this last game (less than 4 minutes into the game) in order to 'go small' and it was like pouring gas on the fire.

I think Brad's going to have to do something to get a shooter into the starting rotation.  Assuming KO is still out, I would consider starting Jerebko in place of Sully right now.  That would give us at least one shooter in the starting 5 that might draw one of Millsap or Horford a few steps out of the paint.

[mmmmm]

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.

Boston has a lot of 'decent to good' players, but that doesn't mean they are deep everywhere.  In fact, they have been critically shallow in several key areas all year:

Point creation:  They have one elite ball handler (IT) who can create points and one mediocre one (ET).  Losing either kills either the starters or the bench.

'Big 3 / small 4' defensive wing:  They have Jae.

Shooters:  Outside of Isaiah, Avery, Kelly, Jae & Jonas, they have no 3PT shooters shooting above 30.2% (Rozier).   So when you loose AB & Kelly and Jae is hobbled ... you are down to just Isaiah and Jonas.

Off-ball scorers:  Isaiah is the only healthy player right now who has a point-per-play percentile ranking above 51st (Isaiah is 79th) on off-screen plays.   This means that if IT is on the ball, he's got no one who can do jack off the ball around him.

[the TRUTH]

I agree with some pts. But also his hands are tied.  We actually really need young and Mickey right about now. Even if they are not 100 percent ready

Throw off atl game plan.

Atl right now is just daring the Celts to shoot.  Defensively , without AB they are running circles around IT.  Smart should really be on their pgs bit then IT will be toast against Thebo

I agree that his hands are tied to a certain extent. As a coach, his job is to put his best players in position to get good looks at the basket on the offensive end. When we don't have anyone that can consistently hit an outside shot, there isn't much he can do when that's all Atlanta is giving us. As long as we're getting a decent look every time down, I don't have much of a problem with what's happening, as those shots will eventually start going down. But early in both games, we've gone long stretches where we couldn't even get a decent look. In those situations, our team looks unprepared, which is on Stevens. Atlanta is good defensively, but they aren't the '04 Pistons or the '08 Celtics.

Defensively, my issue early in these two games is that the Hawks are scoring at will, and many of those buckets are wide open dunks. No way that should be happening, especially early in a game when our players are prepared, focused and fresh. To me, that's an example of the Hawks outcoaching us.

But they aren't, really.   Atlanta's Offensive rating through these first two games is just 100.5 points per 100 possessions.  Their efficiency line is just:  39.9% FG%, 44.6% eFG% and 50.1% TS%.

Those are not good numbers.

If you didn't look at Boston's offensive numbers, that would look like we were beating them handily.

The problem is, our offensive numbers are atrocious.  Our own offensive rating is just 91.1 points per 100.  Our shooting efficiencies are ... so awful I can't post them for fear of offending the internet.

ATL is jumping out to these early leads, not on the strength of their offense, but rather on the miserable ineptitude of ours.

I agree that our defense over the course of 48 minutes hasn't been a major problem. What I was referring to was early in the game, when it seems like the Hawks have been getting easy basket after easy basket. That shouldn't happen in the playoffs, especially when the players are fresh and are implementing the game plan that the coaching staff went into the game with. The players obviously deserve a lot of the blame, but I don't think Stevens gets a pass.

[droopdog7]

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.

Boston has a lot of 'decent to good' players, but that doesn't mean they are deep everywhere.  In fact, they have been critically shallow in several key areas all year:

Point creation:  They have one elite ball handler (IT) who can create points and one mediocre one (ET).  Losing either kills either the starters or the bench.

'Big 3 / small 4' defensive wing:  They have Jae.

Shooters:  Outside of Isaiah, Avery, Kelly, Jae & Jonas, they have no 3PT shooters shooting above 30.2% (Rozier).   So when you loose AB & Kelly and Jae is hobbled ... you are down to just Isaiah and Jonas.

Off-ball scorers:  Isaiah is the only healthy player right now who has a point-per-play percentile ranking above 51st (Isaiah is 79th) on off-screen plays.   This means that if IT is on the ball, he's got no one who can do jack off the ball around him.

I always said that people don't understand the meaning of depth.  Having a bunch of players that might be able to play in a rotation is not depth.  The celtics are not deep.  We have a bunch of 8/9 types. 

[kraidstar]

we're in year 3 of a rebuild with some nice young prospects and a slew of upcoming picks. we're in the playoffs and lost the first two games on the road to the 2nd-best team in the conference.

and that's with two of our best perimeter shooters injured - an area that we were already weak in. what is stevens supposed to do without perimeter scoring?

the sky isn't falling. we're where we should be - scrappy and athletic, but raw - and thankfully we haven't thrown away assets for mediocre players who wouldn't have moved the needle anyways. we're saving up for a big purchase instead.

be patient and trust the process.

[hwangjini_1]

i was reading over on SoSH and they had an interesting idea on how to MAYBE offset the hawks' strategy of packing the middle and daring boston to shoot.

start both turner and IT, but let turner be the ball handler and IT plays the bradley role of coming off picks. ala bradley, he would get open shots, which might open up the floor. if the hawks cover IT, then turner can go to the basket.

the down side will be on defense as i dont think IT or turner can cover teague.

but it cant produce much worse results. 

[kozlodoev]

I agree with some pts. But also his hands are tied.  We actually really need young and Mickey right about now. Even if they are not 100 percent ready

Throw off atl game plan.

Atl right now is just daring the Celts to shoot.  Defensively , without AB they are running circles around IT.  Smart should really be on their pgs bit then IT will be toast against Thebo

I agree that his hands are tied to a certain extent. As a coach, his job is to put his best players in position to get good looks at the basket on the offensive end. When we don't have anyone that can consistently hit an outside shot, there isn't much he can do when that's all Atlanta is giving us. As long as we're getting a decent look every time down, I don't have much of a problem with what's happening, as those shots will eventually start going down. But early in both games, we've gone long stretches where we couldn't even get a decent look. In those situations, our team looks unprepared, which is on Stevens. Atlanta is good defensively, but they aren't the '04 Pistons or the '08 Celtics.

Defensively, my issue early in these two games is that the Hawks are scoring at will, and many of those buckets are wide open dunks. No way that should be happening, especially early in a game when our players are prepared, focused and fresh. To me, that's an example of the Hawks outcoaching us.

But they aren't, really.   Atlanta's Offensive rating through these first two games is just 100.5 points per 100 possessions.  Their efficiency line is just:  39.9% FG%, 44.6% eFG% and 50.1% TS%.

Those are not good numbers.

If you didn't look at Boston's offensive numbers, that would look like we were beating them handily.

The problem is, our offensive numbers are atrocious.  Our own offensive rating is just 91.1 points per 100.  Our shooting efficiencies are ... so awful I can't post them for fear of offending the internet.

ATL is jumping out to these early leads, not on the strength of their offense, but rather on the miserable ineptitude of ours.

Well, it certainly looks that Atlanta is scoring every time they need to, and we don't.

[hwangjini_1]

I agree with some pts. But also his hands are tied.  We actually really need young and Mickey right about now. Even if they are not 100 percent ready

Throw off atl game plan.

Atl right now is just daring the Celts to shoot.  Defensively , without AB they are running circles around IT.  Smart should really be on their pgs bit then IT will be toast against Thebo

I agree that his hands are tied to a certain extent. As a coach, his job is to put his best players in position to get good looks at the basket on the offensive end. When we don't have anyone that can consistently hit an outside shot, there isn't much he can do when that's all Atlanta is giving us. As long as we're getting a decent look every time down, I don't have much of a problem with what's happening, as those shots will eventually start going down. But early in both games, we've gone long stretches where we couldn't even get a decent look. In those situations, our team looks unprepared, which is on Stevens. Atlanta is good defensively, but they aren't the '04 Pistons or the '08 Celtics.

Defensively, my issue early in these two games is that the Hawks are scoring at will, and many of those buckets are wide open dunks. No way that should be happening, especially early in a game when our players are prepared, focused and fresh. To me, that's an example of the Hawks outcoaching us.

But they aren't, really.   Atlanta's Offensive rating through these first two games is just 100.5 points per 100 possessions.  Their efficiency line is just:  39.9% FG%, 44.6% eFG% and 50.1% TS%.

Those are not good numbers.

If you didn't look at Boston's offensive numbers, that would look like we were beating them handily.

The problem is, our offensive numbers are atrocious.  Our own offensive rating is just 91.1 points per 100.  Our shooting efficiencies are ... so awful I can't post them for fear of offending the internet.

ATL is jumping out to these early leads, not on the strength of their offense, but rather on the miserable ineptitude of ours.

Well, it certainly looks that Atlanta is scoring every time they need to, and we don't.

"scoring at will" =/= "scoring every time they need to." there is a difference even between these two. during the regular season the hawks averaged 102.8 pts/game. after two playoff games with boston they are averaging 95.5.

boston's defense is not really the problem here i think. the problem is the "we don't" part that you mentioned.

[D Dub]

Brad is still learning how to handle these 7 game series.   You can be the best at every level, but still that doesn't prepare you for the unique way the NBA Playofs work. 

Here's hoping he figures it out sooner than later...

[LGC88]

we're in year 3 of a rebuild with some nice young prospects and a slew of upcoming picks. we're in the playoffs and lost the first two games on the road to the 2nd-best team in the conference.

and that's with two of our best perimeter shooters injured - an area that we were already weak in. what is stevens supposed to do without perimeter scoring?

the sky isn't falling. we're where we should be - scrappy and athletic, but raw - and thankfully we haven't thrown away assets for mediocre players who wouldn't have moved the needle anyways. we're saving up for a big purchase instead.

be patient and trust the process.

TP
Here is our reality check.

[Chris22]

The refs beat us in the first game, and Bradley's injury beat us in the second.
The only mistake I see that Stevens made was not starting Rozier over Smart.
Starting Smart effects the entire rotation. Starting Rozier only effects the starters.

[GreenWarrior]

the whole team is shooting poorly but it's Smart's shooting that's making us lose....