Celtics (13-11) at Spurs (19-5) Game #25 12/14/16

[SHAQATTACK]

All these injuries are going to T A N K us out whether we want o or not

[jpotter33]

This is the type of game that makes you think irrational thoughts about tanking because losing on purpose is preferable to trying to win only to have the other team keep you at arm's length the whole time with execution and pure talent that is so obviously superior that it's insulting.

That's not even the case here, though. Kawhi is obviously far, far superior to anyone on the Celtics. He's an elite, MVP-caliber guy, and that disparity should not be undersold. However, the Spurs only other elite talent was in street clothes. Who was the Spurs second most talented guy playing tonight, Danny Green? We're not getting out-talented; we're getting outplayed.

Last game against them, the Cs got burned by David Bertans. Tonight, the fossilized body of Pau Gasol nearly outrebounded the whole Boston team.

I mean, do people realize how bad Tony Parker is now? David Lee? These guys are destroying us, and they're genuinely not good.

You talk to Smart about that. Tony exposed him tonight

I honestly don't know what game you're watching. He scored some on Smart, but he absolutely dominated Rozier for like four possessions in a row in the early 4th.

Yeah completely neglect the end of the 4th and the rest of the game. Typical Smart homer

Yeah, the end of the game, huh?

http://www.espn.com/nba/playbyplay?gameId=400899825

Parker scored once on Smart with 4:31 left in the game. He had two other assists at the end of the game, which I'm assuming you're trying to blame on Smart somehow? Smart also stole the ball twice from Parker, forcing two turnovers.

Parker scored three times on Rozier in the 4th - at 8:48, 8:22, and 7:07. He also assisted once at 7:54, which if you're going to blame his assists on Smart above must also go on Rozier down here.

So, yeah, somehow it was "Smart" who Parker went off on at the end of the game... I'm just a typical Smart homer. 

One of those Parker assists was on Smart because he couldn't get around the pick and roll. And couldn't rotate quick enough to contain Parker well enough and let Amir rotate over back to his man.
Again you are neglecting the entire game. It's nice having a short term memory.

You're not even getting the facts right lol  It was Horford, not Amir, because it was the lob to Dedmond.

And you do realize that there are times when offense just beats defense, right? It was a pick and roll, and Dedmond set a good screen, meaning the ball-handler defender couldn't catch up to the ball-handler. This is where help defense comes in, because Horford had to commit and hedge out to make sure that Parker wouldn't shoot. Help defense never came over.

I just find it funny because there are numerous things you can legitimately complain about with Smart, yet you consistently try and criticize the one area that he is actually elite at and doesn't deserve criticism lol It's baffling.

EDIT: And if not getting around the screener in the pick and roll is your criteria for bad defense now, then IT shouldn't even be on the floor, and Crowder would be a below-average defender. That's non-sense. Smart and Bradley are about as good as they come with getting around screens, but even then there are times that you can't do anything about a pick and roll with a good screen set. That's just asinine.

[alewilliam789]

This is the type of game that makes you think irrational thoughts about tanking because losing on purpose is preferable to trying to win only to have the other team keep you at arm's length the whole time with execution and pure talent that is so obviously superior that it's insulting.

That's not even the case here, though. Kawhi is obviously far, far superior to anyone on the Celtics. He's an elite, MVP-caliber guy, and that disparity should not be undersold. However, the Spurs only other elite talent was in street clothes. Who was the Spurs second most talented guy playing tonight, Danny Green? We're not getting out-talented; we're getting outplayed.

Last game against them, the Cs got burned by David Bertans. Tonight, the fossilized body of Pau Gasol nearly outrebounded the whole Boston team.

I mean, do people realize how bad Tony Parker is now? David Lee? These guys are destroying us, and they're genuinely not good.

You talk to Smart about that. Tony exposed him tonight

I honestly don't know what game you're watching. He scored some on Smart, but he absolutely dominated Rozier for like four possessions in a row in the early 4th.

Yeah completely neglect the end of the 4th and the rest of the game. Typical Smart homer

Yeah, the end of the game, huh?

http://www.espn.com/nba/playbyplay?gameId=400899825

Parker scored once on Smart with 4:31 left in the game. He had two other assists at the end of the game, which I'm assuming you're trying to blame on Smart somehow? Smart also stole the ball twice from Parker, forcing two turnovers.

Parker scored three times on Rozier in the 4th - at 8:48, 8:22, and 7:07. He also assisted once at 7:54, which if you're going to blame his assists on Smart above must also go on Rozier down here.

So, yeah, somehow it was "Smart" who Parker went off on at the end of the game... I'm just a typical Smart homer. 

One of those Parker assists was on Smart because he couldn't get around the pick and roll. And couldn't rotate quick enough to contain Parker well enough and let Amir rotate over back to his man.
Again you are neglecting the entire game. It's nice having a short term memory.

You're not even getting the facts right lol  It was Horford, not Amir, because it was the lob to Dedmond.

And you do realize that there are times when offense just beats defense, right? It was a pick and roll, and Dedmond set a good screen, meaning the ball-handler defender couldn't catch up to the ball-handler. This is where help defense comes in, because Horford had to commit and hedge out to make sure that Parker wouldn't shoot. Help defense never came over.

I just find it funny because there are numerous things you can legitimately complain about with Smart, yet you consistently try and criticize the one area that he is actually elite at and doesn't deserve criticism lol It's baffling.

I'm talking about the play where Pau hit a jumpshot, not the play with Dedmond. Smart struggled to get around the screen and to contain Parker well enough to allow Amir rotate back over to Pau. Its clear Parker kept blowing by Smart and getting into the paint all game because Smart struggles against that type of quickness. Was it a good offensive play? Yes, but if Smart is elite as you people render him to be he gets around the screen which doesn't force the switch. Either that or he contains Parker so that Amir, the hedge man, gets back to Pau. These are little things, but these are what elite defenders do.

And let's not annoint him as elite just yet.

[jpotter33]

Bradley had 10 rebounds.

Al and Amir had 8 combined. All of our bigs combined had 12. Pitiful.

[liam]

All these injuries are going to T A N K us out whether we want o or not

We will be in the playoffs this year.

[CroCorvus]

I'm not mad that we lost against the Spurs away. They are the Spurs and we are at 3/4 way to be considered in teh same sentence as they. I'm mad at being punked again. Very often it seems that our team gets punked like some highschool team. Way in the world do you continue to go over the pick and roll against the guys like Tony Parker who is legendary knowned for his mid range game? Why don't let him shoot threes? We are getting punked on defense and this happens very often. You go under the screen and you waint your opponent. This way he can't go by you for the mid range jumpshot or create a missmatch with your big. Way do we always go over or trough the screen? Why don't we make adjustments? Sometimes it's good to go over but sometimes it's just not. Obviously we are very proud with our pick n roll defense theory but in reality we are making too many unnecessary missmatchs that ends up with an easy basket. 

Plus I must say Avery Bradley has a problem with passing. I am watching him since he came into the league and he just doesn't have it. You see it when hes trying to penetrate and trys to create form his teammates, hes lost. Every game he tosses up one or two ridiculous terrible pass. He's a marvelous defender, very good shooter and good rebounder (not so improved because the bigs are working for him this season) but I can't believe Doc tryed hit at point (yes I know he didn0t have much choice there but still, the guy is just not a point...).

[mr. dee]

This is bad. But I hope this is a wake up call for both the team and Danny. You can't compete with Amir, Zeller, Jerebko and KO as your best bigs next to Horford.

[jpotter33]

This is the type of game that makes you think irrational thoughts about tanking because losing on purpose is preferable to trying to win only to have the other team keep you at arm's length the whole time with execution and pure talent that is so obviously superior that it's insulting.

That's not even the case here, though. Kawhi is obviously far, far superior to anyone on the Celtics. He's an elite, MVP-caliber guy, and that disparity should not be undersold. However, the Spurs only other elite talent was in street clothes. Who was the Spurs second most talented guy playing tonight, Danny Green? We're not getting out-talented; we're getting outplayed.

Last game against them, the Cs got burned by David Bertans. Tonight, the fossilized body of Pau Gasol nearly outrebounded the whole Boston team.

I mean, do people realize how bad Tony Parker is now? David Lee? These guys are destroying us, and they're genuinely not good.

You talk to Smart about that. Tony exposed him tonight

I honestly don't know what game you're watching. He scored some on Smart, but he absolutely dominated Rozier for like four possessions in a row in the early 4th.

Yeah completely neglect the end of the 4th and the rest of the game. Typical Smart homer

Yeah, the end of the game, huh?

http://www.espn.com/nba/playbyplay?gameId=400899825

Parker scored once on Smart with 4:31 left in the game. He had two other assists at the end of the game, which I'm assuming you're trying to blame on Smart somehow? Smart also stole the ball twice from Parker, forcing two turnovers.

Parker scored three times on Rozier in the 4th - at 8:48, 8:22, and 7:07. He also assisted once at 7:54, which if you're going to blame his assists on Smart above must also go on Rozier down here.

So, yeah, somehow it was "Smart" who Parker went off on at the end of the game... I'm just a typical Smart homer. 

One of those Parker assists was on Smart because he couldn't get around the pick and roll. And couldn't rotate quick enough to contain Parker well enough and let Amir rotate over back to his man.
Again you are neglecting the entire game. It's nice having a short term memory.

You're not even getting the facts right lol  It was Horford, not Amir, because it was the lob to Dedmond.

And you do realize that there are times when offense just beats defense, right? It was a pick and roll, and Dedmond set a good screen, meaning the ball-handler defender couldn't catch up to the ball-handler. This is where help defense comes in, because Horford had to commit and hedge out to make sure that Parker wouldn't shoot. Help defense never came over.

I just find it funny because there are numerous things you can legitimately complain about with Smart, yet you consistently try and criticize the one area that he is actually elite at and doesn't deserve criticism lol It's baffling.

I'm talking about the play where Pau hit a jumpshot, not the play with Dedmond. Smart struggled to get around the screen and to contain Parker well enough to allow Amir rotate back over to Pau. Its clear Parker kept blowing by Smart and getting into the paint all game because Smart struggles against that type of quickness. Was it a good offensive play? Yes, but if Smart is elite as you people render him to be he gets around the screen which doesn't force the switch. Either that or he contains Parker so that Amir, the hedge man, gets back to Pau. These are little things, but these are what elite defenders do.

So I just went back and watched the ending again, and Parker never scored on Smart. He scored on a fastbreak at 5:39, and he scored on a mismatch drive on JJ at 4:31 left in the game that I earlier attributed to Smart. Smart also stole the ball from Parker at 6:00 and 4:01.

And your example that you're trying to use is really, really weak. It was a loose pick and pop where Gasol went out toward the three point line, and Amir hedged and stayed on Parker way too long trying to double-team him. That's not something that you can attribute to Smart. That's Amir's issue for not recognizing a shooting big. Smart did as much as you could in that scenario. The same thing happened on the other assist with Horford and Gasol, who basically just shot over Horford. Those are extremely weak, ridiculous examples to try and use to show Smart is "bad" at defense.

You want to know who Parker really went off on - Rozier. Here's the rundown of what happened.

Parker came in the game at 9:07 with Rozier guarding him. He scored on a jumpshot on that possession at 8:48. The very next possession he scored again on a jumpshot with Rozier trailing him at 8:48. The very next possession he got away from Rozier and assisted on a Bertrans three at 7:54. Then Smart took him for the next possession, and Green got his shot blocked by Brown on that possession at 7:28. Finally, the next possession after that Rozier took Parker back on defense, and Parker scored again on a layup at 7:07.

So Parker only scored twice on Smart in the first quarter for four points, and the second one was even a clear offensive foul that even Hubie Brown said was a bad no-call. He scored in third with a shot over AB at 8:27. And he scored 6 on Rozier, 2 on JJ, and 2 on a fastbreak.

So, again, I don't know what you're seeing here. Please tell me how Parker totally "exposed" Smart all game. Marcus stole the ball from Parker as many times as Parker made shots with Smart guarding him. There are plenty of things to criticize Smart about, but his defense is not one of them.

[trickybilly]

This is bad. But I hope this is a wake up call for both the team and Danny. You can't compete with Amir, Zeller, Jerebko and KO as your best bigs next to Horford.

You do realise that Danny never, not for one minute, seriously thought that that bigs lineup would compete?

You do understand why Zeller got his inflated deal, why Amir and Jonas were both guaranteed, why KOs option was picked up?

It is not a wakeup call because management is already awake. You might not be able to see them in the kitchen making breakfast...

[walker834]

We really do need to fix our big man situation.  How we utilize our big guys is  pitiful in general.  Stevens loves to spread the floor. There is something just flawed in our execution right now that is not  leading to wins which I talked ab out before.  We aren't using the 4 man correctly. And Crowder isn't that efficient from deep.  Everyone else is fine imo.  Horford disapears at times inside and becomes basically another guard which is kind of silly to me.

We  also are giving up a lot of points and aren't getting the physical defense from our wings we were last year.  Crowder is not playing D like he was last year.  Smart and Bradley are still pesky in crunch time.  I haven't seen Crowder make a play yet.

It also just seems to come in crunch time we decide to wake up a bit on defense, vs playing the whole game that way by then we are trying to make plays to win games but can't score because we dont look inside at all or we are bricking 3's.

I didn't even watch this game.  It's the first game I haven't watched because i fell asleep and it was late but didn't have a good feeling going in.  It's the same story every game.

[cltc5]

All these injuries are going to T A N K us out whether we want o or not

If we actually woulda tanked instead of building a "winning culture" we might be half decent now.  Danny has completely flubbed this team that we may be looking at a second rebuild ala the sixers

[Humble G]

All these injuries are going to T A N K us out whether we want o or not

If we actually woulda tanked instead of building a "winning culture" we might be half decent now.  Danny has completely flubbed this team that we may be looking at a second rebuild ala the sixers

I have to admit I am slightly worried bout the team but I still feel like we are one step away from contention. We really need a BIG and with crowders' less than stellar year I would think bout trading him while he has value.....Cousins and Gay or Cassipi would be great fit of course if we traded crowder

[Celtics4ever]

Amir was a no show tonight, again.  We should play hard the whole game because with our talent its the only way we can win. 

Still we lost by 7 without our best player, so all is not lost.   But Ainge needs to address the bigs at the trade deadline.

[SHAQATTACK]

We will still get beat ...they don't need him to win.

We shoot bricks out .  AB goes ice fold the last 5 minutes nd we loose.

geez, have fun watching the game. 

Was there really any question who would win.   Bench their best player and still cruise right though out worthless bigs like warm butter.

[cltc5]

This is bad. But I hope this is a wake up call for both the team and Danny. You can't compete with Amir, Zeller, Jerebko and KO as your best bigs next to Horford.

You do realise that Danny never, not for one minute, seriously thought that that bigs lineup would compete?

You do understand why Zeller got his inflated deal, why Amir and Jonas were both guaranteed, why KOs option was picked up?

It is not a wakeup call because management is already awake. You might not be able to see them in the kitchen making breakfast...

I think the breakfast is burnt