Hard times reading the ol' Cblog

[walker834]

LEbron also doesn't care about Marcus Smart when he should because Marcus shut him down pretty good for a stretch there.  The way the celtics do things, having Bradley, Crowder, Smart, Jaylen, Jerebko, Green, etc give the celtics a lot more options.

Lebron got p---ed and pushed him

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOVwbMFYSEA

Should have been a foul on Lebron.

[celtics2030]

LEbron also doesn't care about Marcus Smart when he should because Marcus shut him down pretty good for a stretch there.  The way the celtics do things, having Bradley, Crowder, Smart, Jaylen, Jerebko, Green, etc give the celtics a lot more options.

Lebron got p---ed and pushed him

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOVwbMFYSEA

Should have been a foul on Lebron.

I don't know what highlight your watching. It's a clear foul on Smart.

But I love Smart's tenacity. He aint backing down whoever you are. That is what is needed on this team to win big games vs great teams.

[kozlodoev]

Yeah, our issue is talent.  It's pretty impressive what the team has done with the talent they have but we're not close to the top teams like Cle, whose top three players are probably better than our best player.  Nevermind that they also have the best player on the planet, who could likely beat us in a series if he was playing with the Washington Generals.

So yeah, we need a tier 1 star.  Someone who is top ten, not top 25.  Until that happens we'll continue to be try hard team and that's about it.  Frankly, we are closer to the bottom teams than we are to the top 2 right now.

The more disheartening part is that we're not close to a team like Toronto who pretty much has no-one outside of DeRozan and Lowry.

[kozlodoev]

LEbron also doesn't care about Marcus Smart when he should because Marcus shut him down pretty good for a stretch there.  The way the celtics do things, having Bradley, Crowder, Smart, Jaylen, Jerebko, Green, etc give the celtics a lot more options.

Lebron got p---ed and pushed him

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOVwbMFYSEA

Should have been a foul on Lebron.

Really? 

[CelticGuardian]

Undersized with streaky shooters. AND a coach that's been really earning my ire lately. But whatever, we would've never beaten the Cavs in an OT game. LeBron was toying with the C's, as usual.

[Moranis]

I loved the Boston come back, but it appeared more to me the Cavs just got lazy when they went up big.  I think the first 3 quarters are much better gauge of the two teams.  Cleveland is just better and it isn't like James even had a great game.  He was good, but he was from the James we've all seen.  Cleveland quite simply has the 3 best players on the two teams.  Boston just can't compete with that.

[hpantazo]

As a long time lurker then member of this community I tend to agree. The thread about toughness and us being soft is a perfect example - like, did you not even watch the game? One of the reasons why we were in down the stretch is because we went back to being physical and aggressive on the defensive end.

If one thing has gone soft, its this forum - at one point this blog was easily the best in the portal for smart, intelligent basketball talk has grown into the same over-reacted, less thoughtful, and lower BBall drivel that other websites provide.

I agree with this sentiment. Another thing that has grown on the blog that drags down the quality big time is the number of posts from people who want to say they were right after anything that happens. Its like some people think they are getting paid or getting scouted by NBA front office teams or something, when its usually people spouting off garbage who get something right 1 out of 50 times and ignore all their wrong predictions. Its childish behavior that has really lowered the quality of posts on here.

[Celtics4ever]

None of this is new news folks, if you take off your green tinted glasses.   The Cavs are a top two team in the NBA.   They have two stars and a superstar.   We have maybe one and a half stars.  We are a work in progress.

We play hard most nights and are competitive.   I will take that after the Pitino Era.   I get a sense we are building something but we have a ways to go.

The thread about toughness and us being soft is a perfect example - like, did you not even watch the game? One of the reasons why we were in down the stretch is because we went back to being physical and aggressive on the defensive end.

Hard to escape "the sky is falling crowd."  There have been a part of the blog for years, the names sometimes change but there will always be folks of that mindset.  It is part of humanity.

I think we gave a decent account of ourself.   We fought back from a big deficit and almost won against one of the better teams.   We are in their league, in terms of the NBA, but we are not a top two team, yet.

[mctyson]

TP. No need to freak out about tonight's loss. Cleveland is a special team, defending champs, truly next level. We are not. That is not a slight; it is plain truth.

I thought Isaiah's quote after the game about 'not being there yet' was revealing.  He clearly was lobbying for more help.

[mctyson]

None of this is new news folks, if you take off your green tinted glasses.   The Cavs are a top two team in the NBA.   They have two stars and a superstar.

They have Lebron.  That is all any team needs to be a Finals contender.

[spikelovetheCelts]

TP. No need to freak out about tonight's loss. Cleveland is a special team, defending champs, truly next level. We are not. That is not a slight; it is plain truth.

I thought Isaiah's quote after the game about 'not being there yet' was revealing.  He clearly was lobbying for more help.

My question about all this do we get boogie and compete the next three years or so. Or use are picks and build and have a  7-10 run when Lebron is gone? I wrestle with this thought a great deal. I don't see Danny Getting Boogie until after this Draft, IMO.

[mctyson]

TP. No need to freak out about tonight's loss. Cleveland is a special team, defending champs, truly next level. We are not. That is not a slight; it is plain truth.

I thought Isaiah's quote after the game about 'not being there yet' was revealing.  He clearly was lobbying for more help.

My question about all this do we get boogie and compete the next three years or so. Or use are picks and build and have a  7-10 run when Lebron is gone? I wrestle with this thought a great deal. I don't see Danny Getting Boogie until after this Draft, IMO.

I can say with almost complete certainty that Danny would rather build for a decade-long period of contention than unload all of his young talent and draft picks for a super talent with a major question mark to try and create a couple years of contending with GSW and CLE. 

[manl_lui]

i don't think yesterday's loss is worth an overreaction, we were facing a very good and elite team. Defending champions with 3 superstars who can score at will and that exactly happened yesterday night. Started with Love hitting all his 3s and 2 posts, then Kyrie took over, then LeBron just had an amazing all around game throughout all 4 quarters. Kyrie was limping and both him and LeBron HAVE to play 40+ minutes in order to get this win. This Celtics team is all heart and grit, and we are just missing talent. I still do not think we are an elite team compare to CLE and GSW. Though I do wish Stevens did something similar like his first year when Rondo was still here. I am talking about the Dallas game where we were down 20 points and stormed back with Rondo still on the bench. I personally felt that Stevens should've done that yesterday with Smart/Zeller/Green/Brown playing so well that made the comeback happen.

[CoachBo]

Decent comeback, made necessary by some sloppy third quarter shot selection and our general inability to defend.

Bottom line: We are not on the Cavs level. One shooter, one rebounder and a commitment to defend away. Game was no surprise.

[CelticGuardian]

i don't think yesterday's loss is worth an overreaction, we were facing a very good and elite team. Defending champions with 3 superstars who can score at will and that exactly happened yesterday night. Started with Love hitting all his 3s and 2 posts, then Kyrie took over, then LeBron just had an amazing all around game throughout all 4 quarters. Kyrie was limping and both him and LeBron HAVE to play 40+ minutes in order to get this win. This Celtics team is all heart and grit, and we are just missing talent. I still do not think we are an elite team compare to CLE and GSW. Though I do wish Stevens did something similar like his first year when Rondo was still here. I am talking about the Dallas game where we were down 20 points and stormed back with Rondo still on the bench. I personally felt that Stevens should've done that yesterday with Smart/Zeller/Green/Brown playing so well that made the comeback happen.

I'm just asking myself... Why are people quick to play the 'haters get out' card after valid criticisms are made. You would think Stevens won a championship, or developed a prospect into a star, or anything that entitles him to never be questioned.