The Celtics are going Nowhere...

[Celtics4ever]

I am with them up or down as I know many others here are...

[ozgod]

Celtics are defInitely going somewhere. Whether it’s where we want them to go depends on individuals and their expectations. Personally I think they will make a deep run. I wasn’t expecting them to beat Golden State in the Finals this year though.

[IDreamCeltics]

After 30 games I think we know who the Celtics are especially with a home loss to the lowly Suns....

Last year the Celtics were 1 game away from the NBA finals.

This year does anyone really expect the Celtics to improve on last year and make the NBA finals?

This team is not functioning like a playoff team that can make a long run.  IMO, there is no way this team improves to the point that it surpasses what the Celtics did last year.

Team management, the players and the fans should not be satisfied with the Celtics just making the playoffs like the 4th seed and going out after the 1st or 2nd round but that is what is going to happen.

I know, tell me that there are 52 games left and believe if you want to that the Celtics are going to get it together and beat Toronto (or Philly or Milwaukee) in the playoffs.

Baynes out with broken arm, not good so the short term situation doesn't look bright either.

MikeB  (Celtics fan for 50 years)

I think a couple things happened that make it hard for the Celtics to be successful this year.

1.  The Celtics overstocked the cupboards at 1 position...
Hayward, Tatum, Brown, and Morris are all the best basketball versions of themselves playing the same position.  All have played well enough at times to earn a starting spot and maybe that's a problem.

2.  The East Got better
While the Celtics thought they could stand pat, the Raptors, 76'ers, and Bucks all improved dramatically since last season (either internally, or through adding players).  The East now boasts several superteams to compete with.

3.  The Celtics don't have a shooting guard
It's sort of baffling that in the most guard heavy era in NBA history the Celtics don't have a reliable scoring guard outside Kyrie.

4.  Al Horford is getting older
The Celtics Jack-of-all-things-big-man isn't as resilient or durable as he once was.  His athleticism, consistancy, endurance are no longer a guarantee night in and night out.

5.  The Celtics were a little too happy to overachieve last year
In a single off-season the Celtics youth went from scrappy underdogs to overconfidant.  Who could forget Jaylen Brown declaring during the offseason it would be a "huge disapoinment" if the team doesn't make the finals.   

[Neurotic Guy]

I am not convinced that the C's are going nowhere.   Plenty of time.  The agonizing thing to me is the uncanny reversal of fortunes for the Lakers and C's to this point. At the end of last season there would not have been a person on Earth who thought the Lakers were closer to a title than the C's.  Now it looks like LAL can pick up a 2nd star in the off-season and they are championship-ready again.  Nothing sickens me more than that.

[mctyson]

I am not convinced that the C's are going nowhere.   Plenty of time.  The agonizing thing to me is the uncanny reversal of fortunes for the Lakers and C's to this point. At the end of last season there would not have been a person on Earth who thought the Lakers were closer to a title than the C's.  Now it looks like LAL can pick up a 2nd star in the off-season and they are championship-ready again.  Nothing sickens me more than that.

Sorry. They are going NO WHERE.

[CF033]

While it bothers me to see a team half-arse a quarter and a half like the Celts did tonight I think we still have a chance when everybody comes back healthy. We have to figure out how to put out an effort for the whole game.

[jambr380]

I am not convinced that the C's are going nowhere.   Plenty of time.  The agonizing thing to me is the uncanny reversal of fortunes for the Lakers and C's to this point. At the end of last season there would not have been a person on Earth who thought the Lakers were closer to a title than the C's.  Now it looks like LAL can pick up a 2nd star in the off-season and they are championship-ready again.  Nothing sickens me more than that.

I guess, but any team that adds Lebron and a 2nd max all-star is going to be championship-ready. Too bad they weren't the ones to sign Hayward.

[Spicoli]

Another badly coached game from Stevens. His obsession with small ball is killing this team. Starts the game with no big on the floor. Only plays Williams in garbage time while allowing Milwaukee no resistance at the rim. He sits Tatum until 6 minutes left in the 4th and plays Rozier and Hayward for far too long. This guy's coaching flat out stinks right now.

[PhoSita]

The "small ball is bad!" and "Hayward is overrated and we shouldn't have signed him" strains of toxic fandom evident on the forum right now are simultaneously amusing (in their bad-take silliness) and annoying (in their inane repetitive prevalence).

The Celts are a bit of a bummer right now. I too wanted and expected them to be a good regular season team. Looks like they're more of a "wait and see what happens in the playoffs" team. I guess that's to be expected when the leaders on the team (Kyrie, Horford, Smart) have played a lot of playoff games and don't really care about the regular season anymore (Smart always plays hard, obviously).

I am worried that the basic formula of the core group they've put together might not work as well as hoped. That will be a problem going forward as they can't afford to pay all these guys if they can't thrive together. But it's too soon to say for sure.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

While it bothers me to see a team half-arse a quarter and a half like the Celts did tonight I think we still have a chance when everybody comes back healthy. We have to figure out how to put out an effort for the whole game.

They weren't doing much when everyone was healthy; I don't see why that would change once they get healthy again.

I am not convinced that the C's are going nowhere.   Plenty of time.  The agonizing thing to me is the uncanny reversal of fortunes for the Lakers and C's to this point. At the end of last season there would not have been a person on Earth who thought the Lakers were closer to a title than the C's.  Now it looks like LAL can pick up a 2nd star in the off-season and they are championship-ready again.  Nothing sickens me more than that.

Seeing the Lakers be better makes me sick too, but we should probably expect by now that the Lakers will always turn things around pretty quickly, because so many top players want to play in L.A., so all the Lakers have to do is make sure they have cap space for when big free agents become available and *poof!* the Lakers are title contenders again. Meanwhile, Boston goes through a laborious, years-long process that actually goes really well, fleecing the Nets in the process, only to see it start falling apart with Hayward's injury first, then all the crap that this season has been.

I agree with you that there's still time to fix things, but I'm by no means confident that'll happen, because these guys really look, to me, like they just can't get their act together. It's gonna be a very difficult playoff road for them if they finish only, like, fourth or fifth in the conference.

[PhoSita]

While it bothers me to see a team half-arse a quarter and a half like the Celts did tonight I think we still have a chance when everybody comes back healthy. We have to figure out how to put out an effort for the whole game.

They weren't doing much when everyone was healthy; I don't see why that would change once they get healthy again.

I am not convinced that the C's are going nowhere.   Plenty of time.  The agonizing thing to me is the uncanny reversal of fortunes for the Lakers and C's to this point. At the end of last season there would not have been a person on Earth who thought the Lakers were closer to a title than the C's.  Now it looks like LAL can pick up a 2nd star in the off-season and they are championship-ready again.  Nothing sickens me more than that.

Seeing the Lakers be better makes me sick too, but we should probably expect by now that the Lakers will always turn things around pretty quickly, because so many top players want to play in L.A., so all the Lakers have to do is make sure they have cap space for when big free agents become available and *poof!* the Lakers are title contenders again. Meanwhile, Boston goes through a laborious, years-long process that actually goes really well, fleecing the Nets in the process, only to see it start falling apart with Hayward's injury first, then all the crap that this season has been.

I agree with you that there's still time to fix things, but I'm by no means confident that'll happen, because these guys really look, to me, like they just can't get their act together. It's gonna be a very difficult playoff road for them if they finish only, like, fourth or fifth in the conference.

It's worth pointing out here that Kyrie is 26, Gordon 28, Tatum 21, Jaylen 22, Smart 24.

They don't have to win, or even be one of the main contenders, this season. They have at least a few years to make a go of it with this group.

The warriors are winning it all this year anyway.


The Lakers aren't a contender this year, and they're not guaranteed to add another superstar this summer.  Even if they do, LeBron probably won't continue to be this good forever. Probably.

[RockinRyA]

Another badly coached game from Stevens. His obsession with small ball is killing this team. Starts the game with no big on the floor. Only plays Williams in garbage time while allowing Milwaukee no resistance at the rim. He sits Tatum until 6 minutes left in the 4th and plays Rozier and Hayward for far too long. This guy's coaching flat out stinks right now.

The same coach that started Horford+Baynes and Horford+Amir? Our bigs are injured, didnt you know that? Williams is a rookie, leaving Theis as our only reliable big. He tried going with Ojeleye since we cannot go big anyway. We had a good start despite that.

We need chemistry, but we cannot build that with so many guys on and off the lineup. Doesnt help that our bench guys have been terrible.

[ozgod]

While it bothers me to see a team half-arse a quarter and a half like the Celts did tonight I think we still have a chance when everybody comes back healthy. We have to figure out how to put out an effort for the whole game.

They weren't doing much when everyone was healthy; I don't see why that would change once they get healthy again.

I am not convinced that the C's are going nowhere.   Plenty of time.  The agonizing thing to me is the uncanny reversal of fortunes for the Lakers and C's to this point. At the end of last season there would not have been a person on Earth who thought the Lakers were closer to a title than the C's.  Now it looks like LAL can pick up a 2nd star in the off-season and they are championship-ready again.  Nothing sickens me more than that.

Seeing the Lakers be better makes me sick too, but we should probably expect by now that the Lakers will always turn things around pretty quickly, because so many top players want to play in L.A., so all the Lakers have to do is make sure they have cap space for when big free agents become available and *poof!* the Lakers are title contenders again. Meanwhile, Boston goes through a laborious, years-long process that actually goes really well, fleecing the Nets in the process, only to see it start falling apart with Hayward's injury first, then all the crap that this season has been.

I agree with you that there's still time to fix things, but I'm by no means confident that'll happen, because these guys really look, to me, like they just can't get their act together. It's gonna be a very difficult playoff road for them if they finish only, like, fourth or fifth in the conference.

It's worth pointing out here that Kyrie is 26, Gordon 28, Tatum 21, Jaylen 22, Smart 24.

They don't have to win, or even be one of the main contenders, this season. They have at least a few years to make a go of it with this group.

Agree - if you take a long term approach. Most fans don't  This year everyone had sky high expectations after the improbable run to the ECF. That's where all the angst is coming from - because those expectations aren't being met (or are only being met sporadically, which gives fans hope, but the consistency isn't there). Just goes to show how difficult it is to build a cohesive team that is championship caliber. Last year they kind of fell into it.

[PhoSita]

I've complained plenty, myself.

I expected them to be fun and exciting to watch on a nightly basis. I thought they'd be really good.

I'm disappointed that they are clearly much more of a work in progress than anticipated.

But the sky isn't falling, yet, in terms of the Celts being set up to contend for a title in the near future.

I am concerned that the core group of Kyrie, Jaylen, Tatum, and Hayward have not been good together.  Maybe when Hayward is healthy that will change.

[Chris22]

Another badly coached game from Stevens. His obsession with small ball is killing this team. Starts the game with no big on the floor. Only plays Williams in garbage time while allowing Milwaukee no resistance at the rim. He sits Tatum until 6 minutes left in the 4th and plays Rozier and Hayward for far too long. This guy's coaching flat out stinks right now.

This is true, plus we had a rotation that was working and he messed it up by starting Hayward.

Also, Williams is better than Theis, Ojeleye, or Yabu. He just needs playing time.