Did Bradley give Wall too much space?

[libermaniac]

Wall got a pretty uncontested 3 to win it.  Bradley was retreating to protect against the drive.  I get that Wall was 1-4 from 3, but the ONLY thing that beats you in that situation is a 3.  Why not get up in his grill?  Even if you foul, he needs to make 2 to tie and then you probably have a shot to win it or you go to OT.  I just don't get why Bradley backed off.

[saltlover]

Retrospectively, the answer is obviously yes.  That said, I don't think anyone on this board is qualified to judge Avery Bradley's decision-making on defense.  Wall made a good shot.  We move on.

[Rhyso]

I thought so, on any other play you let him take a 3 but that was too much of a gamble. If he missed you say it was great defense though because of Walls career 3pt percentage.

Also despite his great shooting he missed two layups by not using the backboard and trying to roll it in. Not sure why he does that.

[86MaxwellSmart]

Considering Bradley has played his butt off the last 2 games, I give him a break on this---woulda been nice for the bench to do SOMETHING in this game.

[tarheelsxxiii]

Retrospectively, the answer is obviously yes.  That said, I don't think anyone on this board is qualified to judge Avery Bradley's decision-making on defense.  Wall made a good shot.  We move on.

That's the bottom line, but we're still in good shape.

[libermaniac]

Retrospectively, the answer is obviously yes.  That said, I don't think anyone on this board is qualified to judge Avery Bradley's decision-making on defense.  Wall made a good shot.  We move on.

I don't know.  It's pretty obvious that the only way to lose is a 3.  Get up on him.  Way more to lose by backing off.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Yes he did. Though he was probably playing the percentages. It's sheer crap that Wall hit that shot like he's actually a good 3pt shooter.

[RockinRyA]

Retrospectively, the answer is obviously yes.  That said, I don't think anyone on this board is qualified to judge Avery Bradley's decision-making on defense.  Wall made a good shot.  We move on.

I don't know.  It's pretty obvious that the only way to lose is a 3.  Get up on him.  Way more to lose by backing off.

Exactly. Its not like he will easily be beat on the dribble anyway. There was no screener.

[Boris Badenov]

Retrospectively, the answer is obviously yes.  That said, I don't think anyone on this board is qualified to judge Avery Bradley's decision-making on defense.  Wall made a good shot.  We move on.

I don't know.  It's pretty obvious that the only way to lose is a 3.  Get up on him.  Way more to lose by backing off.

No, it's not obvious and it's not the only way. You can lose by fouling a 3 point shot. You can lose by giving up a 2 point shot and then losing in overtime. And you can lose by fouling on a 2 with the and-one.

Like RRFYS says above, it's about the percentages. And like SL says, we should be careful about second-guessing an All-NBA defender getting advice from a very good coach.

[Ogaju]

forget about the 3, how many layups did the Celtics miss?

[libermaniac]

Retrospectively, the answer is obviously yes.  That said, I don't think anyone on this board is qualified to judge Avery Bradley's decision-making on defense.  Wall made a good shot.  We move on.

I don't know.  It's pretty obvious that the only way to lose is a 3.  Get up on him.  Way more to lose by backing off.

No, it's not obvious and it's not the only way. You can lose by fouling a 3 point shot. You can lose by giving up a 2 point shot and then losing in overtime. And you can lose by fouling on a 2 with the and-one.

Like RRFYS says above, it's about the percentages. And like SL says, we should be careful about second-guessing an All-NBA defender getting advice from a very good coach.

I hear what you are saying - the C's probably have a 70% chance of winning if they give Wall a long 3, but I would bet you that Avery is PO'd at himself for giving him so much space. 

The good news about that is Avery and IT will have extra motivation for game 7 as they look at what they could've done better in the last 1:20 of game 6.  They will both come out laser focused.

[Boris Badenov]

Retrospectively, the answer is obviously yes.  That said, I don't think anyone on this board is qualified to judge Avery Bradley's decision-making on defense.  Wall made a good shot.  We move on.

I don't know.  It's pretty obvious that the only way to lose is a 3.  Get up on him.  Way more to lose by backing off.

No, it's not obvious and it's not the only way. You can lose by fouling a 3 point shot. You can lose by giving up a 2 point shot and then losing in overtime. And you can lose by fouling on a 2 with the and-one.

Like RRFYS says above, it's about the percentages. And like SL says, we should be careful about second-guessing an All-NBA defender getting advice from a very good coach.

I hear what you are saying - the C's probably have a 70% chance of winning if they give Wall a long 3, but I would bet you that Avery is PO'd at himself for giving him so much space. 

The good news about that is Avery and IT will have extra motivation for game 7 as they look at what they could've done better in the last 1:20 of game 6.  They will both come out laser focused.

I think so too. TP for the positive outlook.

[jambr380]

Yes, yes, and yes. Before the play even took place, I said to my friend that there was no way they would give up a 3, but that may give them a better chance at hitting a 2. It's like Bradley wasn't even ready for the play, which really isn't acceptable given the situation.

Extremely disappointing loss and really bad time for our All-NBA guard to totally lose focus.

[obnoxiousmime]

Retrospectively, the answer is obviously yes.  That said, I don't think anyone on this board is qualified to judge Avery Bradley's decision-making on defense.  Wall made a good shot.  We move on.

I don't know.  It's pretty obvious that the only way to lose is a 3.  Get up on him.  Way more to lose by backing off.

No, it's not obvious and it's not the only way. You can lose by fouling a 3 point shot. You can lose by giving up a 2 point shot and then losing in overtime. And you can lose by fouling on a 2 with the and-one.

Like RRFYS says above, it's about the percentages. And like SL says, we should be careful about second-guessing an All-NBA defender getting advice from a very good coach.

There's got to be an in-between where you can discourage a pull-up 3 pt shot but not be so close that he can draw a foul on you. Of course, Avery isn't the tallest defender, so he's always going to have a little disadvantage there. You have to take the good with the bad.

Anyway, I felt like our team was playing better at the time and would have been very comfortable with our odds in an overtime scenario, despite being on the road.

[libermaniac]

Especially with the way the inbounds pass went in, if Bradley was aggressive, they would've had Wall 35 feet from the basket near the out of bounds line.  Shoot, they might've been able to trap him in there.  Or, he might've then been FORCED to take a 3, but it would've been way more contested.  Oh well.  Enough.  Off to bed, and wait till Monday.