eight steals

[MBunge]

James Young all of a sudden looks like a real pro. How the heck did that happen? He's never shown much, if anything.

I've been one to criticize Stevens for his "nice guy" coaching and blame it for some of the defensive collapse this season, and I don't think I'm entirely wrong.  Saying that, Stevens deserves an enormous amount of praise for what he's been able to do with guys like Crawford, Turner and now Young.

Young was clearly unprepared for the NBA when he came into the league, both as a player and a man, and he could have turned into another "bounce around the basketball world" guy like Gerald Green or much worse.  That he is able to step in and meaningfully contribute on a team that's fixing to win 50+ games is a remarkable tribute to Young's character and Stevens' coaching.

Mike

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

James Young all of a sudden looks like a real pro. How the heck did that happen?

Pretty much my thoughts, and my biggest takeaway from tonight's game. 10 points on good shooting in 22 (!) minutes?!? I never thought I'd see that from James Young. Never. And this makes three consecutive solid games for him. As you said, how the heck did that happen?

[Somebody]

James Young all of a sudden looks like a real pro. How the heck did that happen?

Pretty much my thoughts, and my biggest takeaway from tonight's game. 10 points on good shooting in 22 (!) minutes?!? I never thought I'd see that from James Young. Never. And this makes three consecutive solid games for him. As you said, how the heck did that happen?

Iirc he always had flashes as long as he got the minutes, the "bad" games from him were all in 10 minutes or less aka garbage time, but he still made a leap

[Clench123]

People are getting carried away here with Young.  He's still as terrible as he's ever being and should be DNP when we are healthy.  We played one of the worst teams in the league and he did some stuff.  Even a broken clock is right twice a day. 

Young still sucks and Stevens has been right to not play him and should continue to not play him.

As for my man, Marcus "The Pitbull" Smart, he should have "No Trade" stamped on his jersey.  I've been saying it forever now, you don't trade a player like Smart.  He was simply sensational tonight.  He is to fun to watch.  The intensity and tenaciousness he brings to games single-handedly changes the tempo of games and would undoubtedly put you in a W column more often than not.  He was great. 

[kraidstar]

James Young all of a sudden looks like a real pro. How the heck did that happen?

Pretty much my thoughts, and my biggest takeaway from tonight's game. 10 points on good shooting in 22 (!) minutes?!? I never thought I'd see that from James Young. Never. And this makes three consecutive solid games for him. As you said, how the heck did that happen?

He's always played this way in the D-league. Though he's gotten more physical the last year or two.

Is it really a shocker that one of the youngest players in the draft struggled on the big stage and subsequently got better?

He's only 21. He's not physically mature yet, let alone emotionally mature. We all knew he was a project when we drafted him.

[CelticPride2016]

Ilikesports17 -

You have mixed up my words and thoughts. You have made writing work for me.

"I don't see how any team is better than us at guards."

is not the same as, "when you say we have the best backcourt."

As for the Golden State part, it is not my job to show up here and have you dissect my writing. Your bolding, chopping up the body, etc. has nothing to do with the post as a whole.

"I said the other day Marcus could become our best player. I was mocked."

is not the same as, "2nd Smart isnt our best player."

"3rd, best defensive gaurd of all time?"

Is the 17 in your username your age?

What Smart is doing as a defensive player is unprecedented, at least from my eye test. I have been following the team for decades.

"also why the hell would you own the blog if the Cs won 60 games? you predicted theyd win at least 65 at the beginning of the season."

You spelled guard as gaurd twice. I don't have time for this and we're not friends as you claim.

We'd have to go 23-3 to win 60 games. 65 wins was out of the question once we got hit by injuries. I was being facetious that I'd own the blog. It's like the people who supported James Young the whole time have some bragging rights.

Not that it matters, but the Celtics winning a lot of games has made me look good.

My past attacking James Young makes me look like an idiot. So, it works both ways.

[CelticPride2016]

James Young all of a sudden looks like a real pro. How the heck did that happen? He's never shown much, if anything.

I've been one to criticize Stevens for his "nice guy" coaching and blame it for some of the defensive collapse this season, and I don't think I'm entirely wrong.  Saying that, Stevens deserves an enormous amount of praise for what he's been able to do with guys like Crawford, Turner and now Young.

Young was clearly unprepared for the NBA when he came into the league, both as a player and a man, and he could have turned into another "bounce around the basketball world" guy like Gerald Green or much worse.  That he is able to step in and meaningfully contribute on a team that's fixing to win 50+ games is a remarkable tribute to Young's character and Stevens' coaching.

Mike

It seems like something shifted psychologically for him. And maybe for Smart and Olynyk. Bradley as greatness emerged under Stevens.

I think it's okay to critique him. But at this point, you're right, player after player including early rebuild guys such as Crawford and Turner took leaps within a team concept.

I had given up on Young. He looked in over his head, another Fab Melo or perhaps a young Gerald Green.

RJ Hunter had form. He was skinny and lousy at shooting, but he always seemed a natural at getting to the right spots. He went nuts in preseason for one game. I thought that was that, Hunter beat Young. I was wrong. Then I rationalized it based on a bit of what you said, the guy was raw and a kid. Guys like RJ and Olynyk came into the league more formed as adults.

I just never thought Young showed anything this year like RJ did, that he had a clue.

Now I am watching him in game after game in the right spots. He looks big and strong. His shot looks smooth.

I almost gave up on us during the last three game losing streak, but wins are wins.

I think Tommy and Mike were talking about that last night. Nothing comes easy whether we win or lose, but thankfully we are piling up wins.

I think this was psychological for Young, Smart, Brown and Olynyk. They come to realize they're needed. Maybe it is easier to succeed when you are next man up rather than getting tossed into garbage time or into rough games as last ditch efforts.

I think that's something Brad tightened as the year progressed. I don't like it when he experiments too much. Although I realize that is my personal preference and Stevens can get stubborn. I like how he rewards players. I don't think any of them are walking on eggshells. Sending Bogans home might have been the biggest move made the last three years.

---

He is a great coach. That was a big move by Ainge, the most crucial.

I don't think we needed Isaiah to make this happen. There is a proven system firmly in place. Guys like Zeller, Young and Green are in good spots.

Other teams have gimmicks, like let's run everything through Harden.

Jaylen would be rookie of the year if he was on a bad team.

We are starting to have a lot of borderline all-stars.

If we could base it on recent games, there is Smart. Horford and Isaiah are top-notch talent.

Crowder is so underrated. Are people watching the same games? Sure, it's right for people to gush on Smart and Young, but Jae Crowder is so good. It's shameful someone put up yet another Gordon Hayward thread.

Amir if healthy gets close to that level. He is technically in his pure prime.

Olynyk. Haters need to let it go. I did with Young.

Bradley is great.

Bradley and Smart might create a future redundancy, but that doesn't matter this year. If Young and some of the deep bench start taking leaps, then watch out. We'll take the #1 seed soon if that happens.

[Ilikesports17]

Ilikesports17 -

You have mixed up my words and thoughts. You have made writing work for me.

"I don't see how any team is better than us at guards."

is not the same as, "when you say we have the best backcourt."

As for the Golden State part, it is not my job to show up here and have you dissect my writing. Your bolding, chopping up the body, etc. has nothing to do with the post as a whole.

"I said the other day Marcus could become our best player. I was mocked."

is not the same as, "2nd Smart isnt our best player."

"3rd, best defensive gaurd of all time?"

Is the 17 in your username your age?

What Smart is doing as a defensive player is unprecedented, at least from my eye test. I have been following the team for decades.

"also why the hell would you own the blog if the Cs won 60 games? you predicted theyd win at least 65 at the beginning of the season."

You spelled guard as gaurd twice. I don't have time for this and we're not friends as you claim.

We'd have to go 23-3 to win 60 games. 65 wins was out of the question once we got hit by injuries. I was being facetious that I'd own the blog. It's like the people who supported James Young the whole time have some bragging rights.

Not that it matters, but the Celtics winning a lot of games has made me look good.

My past attacking James Young makes me look like an idiot. So, it works both ways.

OK, I am 19 years old, so you were pretty close on the 17. I picked 17 based on our banner count, but sick burn nonetheless. Furthermore, my misspelling of the word "guard" does not surprise me. I am terrible at writing, reading, and if we toss it way back to the 2nd and 3rd grade days, spelling. Although I have been told that in order to be great in a STEM field you must suck at spelling and simple arithmetic. I take some solace in that.

Moving on, I dont see the difference between "being the best at guards" and "having the best backcourt" I would genuinely appreciate it if you explained that to me. They seem synonymous to me.

On the second point, sorry about that. There is a difference. Obviously I felt the implication was that Marcus is our best player today.

I have only watched basketball consistently for around 10 years. My very first favorite player was Gerald Green. In that time, I have never seen a guard nearly as good as Marcus at this age on the defensive end. My eye test agrees with yours. That said, Ive only been watching for a decade, so I am overly skeptical of associating current players with all time greats unless they have the resume to back it up. Right now, Smart is near the top of the league in offensive fouls drawn and just outside the top 10 in steals per game. Compound that with the fact that he has never made and all-defense team(not a criticism its basically impossible to make as a second year player coming off the bench) and I am very skeptical to claim he "must" be greater than guys like Gary Payton, Tony Allen, prime DWade, Michael Jordan, Joe Dumars, etc etc.

On the 60 games thing, you would certainly deserve some props, but I though it was worth mentioning your preseason prediction was impossible by the 44th game of the season.

Now that that is done, it should be noted that we have the easiest schedule remaining of any NBA team. Even if Danny doesnt make a move, we have a really good shot at a high 50s win total and the 1 seed.

Right now, we are playing terrific basketball and weve been without AB the whole time and weve also missed Horford, Brown and Crowder for a few games.

When these guys come back it will make our bench much stronger.

If Young/Green can continue to play well, a Smart-Brown-Young/Green/Terry-Jerebko-Olynyk bench has got to be one of the best in the NBA. Meanwhile our starting lineup is obviously terrific. Lots of reasons to be positive as a Celtics fan right now.