This team is soft

[cman88]

I don't know if soft is the right word. IMO it's more like, not confident or unsure.

Brown began the game aggressively, he was getting into the paint, scoring and defending well, then he was taken out of the game, allowed to cool off on the bench. He never again looked like he did in that first quarter for whatever reason.

Tatum simply never really got going period. 

Hayward never looked comfortable the entire game. He does do other little things while he's cold offensively like he rebounds and facilitates well, but he definitely looks out of sorts in general. His confidence is also up and down.

With the number of talented players we have, nobody really has a chance to find an offensive rhythm. You're taken out of the game to be replaced with another player that also calls for minutes. It reminds me of a pitching staff that never get a chance to pitch out of any trouble...they never get a chance to stretch out or grow and find themselves.

Let's not get into Rozier. Terry has an agenda all of his own. He's certainly "scary" but not in a good way. It's more like wild.

I feel certain players have to be sacrificed, the rotation needs to be shortened. Either that or a trade has to be made. We have too many "still developing" players demanding minutes. I'm getting so I don't like Brown, Tatum, and Hayward on the floor at the same time. 

 

Certain players *cough cough* rozier are playing for their own and not buying in to the new role.

Jaylen brown finally seems to get it as he has put together a good string of games after struggling early on. But he also knows he is here long term. I think Terry is the odd man out as he is out gunning for a contract.

but, unlike Morris is not hitting his shots....and not providing other value (morris with his defense)

[KGBirdBias]

I don't think it's at all fair to blame Rozier for any of what's wrong. He doesn't appear to be gunning. He's an easy target because everyone knows he's a FA.

The problem is too many guys in the starting lineup want to lead the team in scoring. It will be interesting to see who the first one is to sacrifice numbers for wins. Two guys trying to prove they are back, two others trying to prove they belong and one guy playing his role...Horford.

Which guy will bring more intangibles to the game? Time will tell.

[Vermont Green]

I don't think the team is soft, they are just playing soft.  Tatum is our starting power forward.  I have been against this from the start.  How can we not play soft when our starting PF is a skinny wing.  So we start a wing dominant team that likes to just float around and shoot 3s and what do you know, we are sucked into playing soft.

Defense feeds offense and also offense feeds defense.  Right now we are playing soft offense and that is leading to overall soft play.  I have been saying it since day one.  Bring Hayward off the bench (or Brown or Hayward) and start another big.  The other big is probably Baynes but could be Morris or at some point even Williams.

Better yet (for the team), it would be nice to trade for a legitimate starting big to play alongside Horford.  Depending on the quality of the big we get back, we could trade Rozier plus some combination of picks.  If we are talking Towns or a real high quality big, even Brown would be on the table.  I don't think we "need" to make a trade but if we could trade a small/wing for a legitimate starting big, I am all for it.

We only have one true starting caliber big (Horford).  Depending on how you look at it, we have 3 starting caliber guards (Irving, Smart, Rozier) and 3 starting wings (Brown, Tatum, Hayward).  We are playing to the line up.  We are small and wing heavy.  Baynes and Morris are tough (not soft) but not that good (especially Baynes).

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Boston, like every other team in the league, is trying to be like Golden State. The Celtics should instead be their own team.

A big problem with the NBA is that it's a copycat league. Once Miami started winning with LeBron at the helm, other teams started trying to win with "small ball"—forgetting, of course, the small fact that Miami had LeBron.

The Warriors, of course, didn't (and still don't) have LeBron, but they had (and still have) the two best 3pt shooters in the league, so they tweaked the "small ball" approach in a very effective way—taking (and making) tons of threes. And then they added the league's second-best player to their roster, and he's a pretty good 3pt shooter too. Now everyone's trying to mimic the Warriors—forgetting, of course, the small fact that no other team has Curry, Thompson, and Durant.

The Celtics don't have LeBron. They also don't have Curry, Thompson, and Durant. The Celtics do have some very good players, but not those players. They need to find a way of playing that maximizes their players' strengths, as opposed to trying to make these players become the Warriors.

[RodyTur10]

TP rocknrollforyoursoul.

We had our own style. Defense, discipline, hustling, disrupting the opponent's offense and running the court.

I remember that in past years lots of times the Celtics were facing a deficit at half time, but they changed it around in the 3rd (sometimes 4th) quarter because their opponent's star players got tired and weren't able to keep up with the pace of the Celtics.

Some stats say that the Celtics are the best defensive team in the league, but it could be a whole lot better. The potential is still enormous. The coaching staff just has to figure it out.

[PhoSita]

This team has the best defense in the league.  They're anything but soft.

It is true that their offense is not very paint-focused, and they don't generate a lot of free throws.  That's not the same thing as soft.  They play with an edge, especially the bench guys.