Celtics in 18-19

joe dokes said:

No I'm not making that argument. You are humping the strawman that EVERYTHING the coach does on January 28 is somehow indicative of what will happen on April 16.
The "logic" goes like this: in the regular season there are multiple things a coach probably "worries about." Winning tonight's game is one of those things. Players' overall health is another. Seeing what certain players can offer in certain situations is another. Giving players enough playing time to return to form after a full season away due to injury is another. Smart people who are good at their jobs are capable of "worrying about" multiple things at the same time.

In the playoffs the list shrinks to wining tonight's game.
Also, since the playoffs don't start for 10 weeks, its impossible to know whether January Hayward is April Hayward.

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No, I'm not humping any strawmen. I'm actually taking a damn position, something you don't seem capable of doing. Instead, you state the obvious over and over again, when in reality, your posts are nothing more than "Stop being mean to Brad, he knows what he's doing. In Brad I trust." If you have a position, then fucking take it. Here, let's try it this way:

Do you believe that this Celtics team can go deep into the playoffs as a #3 seed or lower? Do you believe this Celtics team can continue doing what they are doing and giving 48+ minutes a night to Terry and GH and still overtake either Milwaukee or Toronto? Do you believe that cutting GH or Terry's minutes during the remaining regular season games will give them a better chance of overtaking Milwaukee or Toronto for the #2 seed? Or do you believe that resting 21 year old Jaylen Brown and 24 year old Marcus Smart an extra 5 minutes a night is more important than getting to that #2 seed?

Because in case it's not clear, here's my position. If Brad continues to play Gordon Hayward and Terry 48+ minutes a night, they will not win enough regular season games to make up ground and overtake either Milwaukee or Toronto for the #2 seed. AND if they do not get the #2 seed, I do not believe this Celtics team can win back to back playoff series on the road against those two teams.

The one thing we do agree on is that in the playoffs, the list does shrink to winning tonight's game. But, the regular season determines which court that game is played upon, so please stop acting like there is no connection between the regular season and the playoffs when there most certainly is.

And I will ask you one more time. When has Brad ever benched his regular season 6th man come playoff time? It's not like we don't have a sample size. You seem convinced that if Gordon is playing like crap, Brad will make a move he's never made before come playoff time. Does Amir Johnson ring any bells?

Deathofthebambino said:

No, I'm not humping any strawmen. I'm actually taking a damn position, something you don't seem capable of doing. Instead, you state the obvious over and over again, when in reality, your posts are nothing more than "Stop being mean to Brad, he knows what he's doing. In Brad I trust." If you have a position, then fucking take it. Here, let's try it this way:

Do you believe that this Celtics team can go deep into the playoffs as a #3 seed or lower? Do you believe this Celtics team can continue doing what they are doing and giving 48+ minutes a night to Terry and GH and still overtake either Milwaukee or Toronto? Do you believe that cutting GH or Terry's minutes during the remaining regular season games will give them a better chance of overtaking Milwaukee or Toronto for the #2 seed? Or do you believe that resting 21 year old Jaylen Brown and 24 year old Marcus Smart an extra 5 minutes a night is more important than getting to that #2 seed?

Because in case it's not clear, here's my position. If Brad continues to play Gordon Hayward and Terry 48+ minutes a night, they will not win enough regular season games to make up ground and overtake either Milwaukee or Toronto for the #2 seed. AND if they do not get the #2 seed, I do not believe this Celtics team can win back to back playoff series on the road against those two teams.

The one thing we do agree on is that in the playoffs, the list does shrink to winning tonight's game. But, the regular season determines which court that game is played upon, so please stop acting like there is no connection between the regular season and the playoffs when there most certainly is.

And I will ask you one more time. When has Brad ever benched his regular season 6th man come playoff time? It's not like we don't have a sample size. You seem convinced that if Gordon is playing like crap, Brad will make a move he's never made before come playoff time. Does Amir Johnson ring any bells?

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Here's my position. Nothing the Celtics do will give them a chance to overtake Milwaukee or Toronto and I have a hard time seeing them making it do the finals regardless of if they are a 1 or 3 seed. The Bucks and Raptors are better than the Celtics.

Deathofthebambino said:

If Brad continues to play Gordon Hayward and Terry 48+ minutes a night, they will not win enough regular season games to make up ground and overtake either Milwaukee or Toronto for the #2 seed.

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Except he's not playing them 48 minutes a night.

In Rozier's last 7 games that Kyrie has played, he's averaging less than 20 minutes a game. The last time Rozier played more than 20 minutes in a game Kyrie played in (outside of the ATL game where Hayward didn't play) was 12/31, where he played 20 minutes and 5 seconds. Since Xmas Rozier has played fewer than 20 minutes 61% of the time (11 of 18 games). Before that it was only 31% of the time (10 of 32 games). Said another way, more than HALF the time he's played fewer than 20 minutes have been in the last 18 games--and he started 5 of those games.

To get more granular, when NOT starting, times under 20 minutes:
Game 1 through 12/23: 10/30 (33.3%)
12/25 through current: 11/13 (84.6%). And one of those was only 5 seconds more than 20 minutes.

In the last 6 games that Rozier and Hayward played with Kyrie available they averaged a total of 40 minutes combined.

Since the new year Hayward is averaging 22.7 minutes a game, down from 26.5 before that.


tl;dr--Stevens HAS adjusted the playing time, and Rozier and Hayward are playing less.

bosox79 said:

Here's my position. Nothing the Celtics do will give them a chance to overtake Milwaukee or Toronto and I have a hard time seeing them making it do the finals regardless of if they are a 1 or 3 seed. The Bucks and Raptors are better than the Celtics.

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And that's a fair position to take. If Brad or Danny really feel that way, then fine, play Gordon 35 minutes a night if it helps get him back to where he was in time for next season, and start Rozier as much as possible and try to move him by next week, so we at least get something in return.

bosox79 said:

Here's my position. Nothing the Celtics do will give them a chance to overtake Milwaukee or Toronto and I have a hard time seeing them making it do the finals regardless of if they are a 1 or 3 seed. The Bucks and Raptors are better than the Celtics.

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If the Celtics ascend to the #1 seed then they are playing so out of their minds that they should no longer be looked at as not better than the Bucks or Raptors.

Looking at schedules and stuff going forward:

Boston: 32 games remaining (15 home, 17 away)
a.) vs Philly: 2 away (currently 2-0)
b.) vs Indiana: 1 home, 1 away (1-1)
c.) vs Toronto: 1 away (2-1)
d.) vs Bucks: 1 away (1-1)
Other notables: GSW (away), Houston, Thunder, Portland, Spurs (only because they never beat the Spurs),

Philly: 31 games remaining (15 home, 16 away)
a.) vs Indy: 1 home (currently 2-1)
b.) vs Toronto: 1 home (1-2)
c.) vs Bucks: 1 home, 1 away (0-1)
Other notables: GSW (1 h, 1 a), Denver, OKC (away), Portland, Houston (away)

Indiana: 33 games remaining (16 home, 17 away)
a.) vs Toronto: None (finished 1-2)
b.) vs Bucks: 1 home, 1 away (currently 1-1)
c.) vs. Philly: 1 away (1-2)
Other notables: Denver (both games), Portland (away), GSW (away), OKC (away)

Toronto: 30 games remaining (16 home, 14 away)
a.) vs Bucks: 1 home (1-2)
b.) vs Philly: 1 away (2-1)
Other notables: Spurs, Portland, Houston, OKC (both)

Milwaukee: 33 games remaining (15 home, 18 away)
a.) vs Philly: 1 home, 1 away (1-0)
b.) vs Indy: 1 home, 1 away (1-1)
c.) vs Toronto: 1 away (2-1)
Other notables: Spurs (away), Houston, OKC. Finished 1-1 against GSW, 2-0 vs Denver, 1-1 vs Portland.

Thoughts on the above:

1.) I don't really count on the Pacers to finish in the Top 4 anymore, other than the fact the Celtics still have to catch them. Indy has a number of difficult road games against good Western Conference teams, and the Celtics will have 2 more bites at the apple to beat the Pacers head to head. And they really blew that one game they lost to them.

2.) The Celtics should catch Philly, as the Sixers have a more difficult schedule. Still, they do need to win one of those 2 in Philly to give me confidence that they can win something on the road.

3.) Catching Milwaukee is going to be almost impossible, no matter how many minutes Jaylen Brown plays vs Gordon Hayward. They also have the easiest schedule remaining.

4.) Catching Toronto will be almost as difficult, given that Toronto has 2 fewer chances to lose that 5 game lead against Boston. Their schedule is also favorable the rest of the way.

With Oladipo out, the Pacers are done. No one expects them to finish in the top 4 anymore, if they ever did.

RedOctober3829 said:

Brad has had issues this year with riding the hot hand for sure. But the problem with Terry/Hayward/Smart/Brown is this: none of them have shown that they have consistent levels of play this season. All of them have had pretty significant ups and downs so it's a difficult situation to manage. You can plan out usage, but if you don't know what you're getting from game to game then you're having to adjust on the fly every night. Every coach has to make that judgment to let a player play more or less if they're going well or not but again it's a very difficult call. However, you also don't want to get into a situation where after a couple mistakes you are benching players and reducing their minutes on a whim. It can affect how a player's psyche. Some can go into a shell and play afraid to make mistakes instead of playing instinctively with a free mind. He showed he can make changes in the starting lineup earlier with Smart and Morris in, but now even Morris is starting to dip. Do you go back to Jaylen Brown in the starting lineup and Morris on the bench? There's a lot to balance and manage. They need contributions from all these players in order to win games.

There are more factors that will go into whether they can catch Philly/MIL/TOR not just these we are discussing. Is Kyrie's injury serious? Will Morris regain his shot? Will Brad play Baynes more to help the rebounding issues? Can Tatum be more consistent and stop taking bad shots?

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Since Jaylen came back from his short injury stint (after falling on his tailbone following a dunk), on December 6th, over the last 26 games, he's shooting .487/.398/.709. But he's averaging only 24.5 minutes a game, which is actually less than his season average. If you shorten it to since January 1st, in the last 10 games, he's shooting .456/.457/.714, and his minutes have gone DOWN to 24.1mpg.

I just don't know how much more we need to see from him to recognize that he's playing really, really good basketball right now, and deserves to be playing more than 50% of the minutes.

I don't even think we need to talk about Marcus Smart's defense, because we know how good that is, but since December 1st (29 games), he's shooting .424/.390/.800. And he's only playing 29.0mpg over that span.

Morris is a weird case study. He seems to be a guy who just gets really, really hot, and then really, really cold. For example, since January 1st (10 games), he's shooting .391/.320/.769. But in the 8 games prior to that, he shot a ridiculous .529/.524/.897. And if you go back even further, in the last 17 games in 2018, he shot .518/.459/.906.

I don't have an issue with leaving Morris in the starting lineup. I think Brad actually does a decent job of managing his minutes on his off nights, or adding to them when he's playing well. I also believe, and I've said this before, that Morris is a big personality in that locker room, and if Brad pulls him out of the starting lineup, in his contract year, and Morris doesn't take it well, it could snowball throughout the roster. We've already seen him go after Jaylen, and seen him blow up on the court more than once. Right now, I'm still confident that he's just in one of his cold stretches, and he'll snap out of it. Although I've been trying to find a stat for a week now. Does anyone know how to find statistics on number of shots a player has gotten blocked? I'm convinced that Morris has to lead the league in having his shots blocked, particularly near the hoop. It seems like he's so bad at reading when the help defense is coming over.

I think almost all of the issues as it relates to usage right now is Gordon's playing time, and the lack thereof for Smart and Brown. I would like to see GH playing 10-15mpg, and those extra 10+ minutes split between Jaylen and Smart. I think that alone gives this team a chance to go on a significant run and potentially get themselves into contention for a 2 seed, particularly when they are on the road. Gordon Hayward has struggled this year, but when you look at his road/home splits, it's mind-numbing. At home, he's a passable .450/.355/864 and a net rating of +7.8. On the road, he's .369/.253/.821 and his net rating is -7.2. That right there is a significant reason why the C's have been below .500 on the road this year, IMO.

It feels as if the fans at the games are close to turning on Hayward too. There were a few times the last weeks I thought I heard the start of some boo birds but it was drowned out very quickly.

Deathofthebambino said:

Although I've been trying to find a stat for a week now. Does anyone know how to find statistics on number of shots a player has gotten blocked?

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Basketball-Reference has it on the far right of the play-by-play section of player pages. Morris has had 24 shots blocked so far this year on 507 attempts.

bosox79 said:

It feels as if the fans at the games are close to turning on Hayward too. There were a few times the last weeks I thought I heard the start of some boo birds but it was drowned out very quickly.

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Fuck those fans. It's not like the guy is dogging it, this all stems from a horrible injury.

DrewDawg said:

Except he's not playing them 48 minutes a night.

In Rozier's last 7 games that Kyrie has played, he's averaging less than 20 minutes a game. The last time Rozier played more than 20 minutes in a game Kyrie played in (outside of the ATL game where Hayward didn't play) was 12/31, where he played 20 minutes and 5 seconds. Since Xmas Rozier has played fewer than 20 minutes 61% of the time (11 of 18 games). Before that it was only 31% of the time (10 of 32 games). Said another way, more than HALF the time he's played fewer than 20 minutes have been in the last 18 games--and he started 5 of those games.

To get more granular, when NOT starting, times under 20 minutes:
Game 1 through 12/23: 10/30 (33.3%)
12/25 through current: 11/13 (84.6%). And one of those was only 5 seconds more than 20 minutes.

In the last 6 games that Rozier and Hayward played with Kyrie available they averaged a total of 40 minutes combined.

Since the new year Hayward is averaging 22.7 minutes a game, down from 26.5 before that.


tl;dr--Stevens HAS adjusted the playing time, and Rozier and Hayward are playing less.

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Like I said yesterday, I'm less worried about Rozier's playing time than I am Haywards, but I'm glad to see that Terry's playing time has been shrinking. Although, if it means they are trying to move him before the deadline, I'd be fine with a major increase over the next week. I know Gordon's time has gone down slightly (although it's not quite as low as you suggest because he had to leave the Nets game the other night to have stitches in the 1st half), but it's still not nearly enough, IMO. Thankfully, the one good game he's played in the new year happened to be the Toronto game, but even in his reduced minutes, he's still playing plenty of time to hurt the team.

These are his games, besides the Toronto game since January 1st:

Miami: 20:07 minutes, -20
Orlando: 25:12, -11
Brooklyn: 24:55, -22
Memphis: 23:58, -7
Miami: 19:04, -12
Cavs: 25:21, +3
Golden State: 22:07, -8
Brooklyn: 20:31, +11

So, through wins/losses/close games/blowouts, one thing is for certain, when GH is on the floor, the other team is pulling away. Those 3 road losses to start the year were glaring, and like I said, his road numbers all year have been putrid. The only two games (other than his really good game against Toronto) he's had a positive +/- even in reduced minutes was in a 20 point win against the Cavs, and the other night against Brooklyn when his minutes were cut short due to injury. He's hurting this team right now. I don't know how anyone can really dispute this, and the worst part is those minutes are being taken from guys like Brown and Smart, who are playing fantastic basketball.

I think the C's should win their next 6 games, 4 of which are at home, and the 2 on the road are against the Knicks and Cavs. After that, they play 4 out of 5 on the road against Philly/Milwaukee/Chicago/Toronto. If Gordon is still getting 20+ minutes a night during that road trip, and Jaylen/Smart are still getting 24-29, we'll know for sure if Brad is really looking to maximize the team's chances of getting a #2 seed or better.

Deathofthebambino said:

No, I'm not humping any strawmen. I'm actually taking a damn position, something you don't seem capable of doing. Instead, you state the obvious over and over again, when in reality, your posts are nothing more than "Stop being mean to Brad, he knows what he's doing. In Brad I trust." If you have a position, then fucking take it. Here, let's try it this way:

Do you believe that this Celtics team can go deep into the playoffs as a #3 seed or lower? Do you believe this Celtics team can continue doing what they are doing and giving 48+ minutes a night to Terry and GH and still overtake either Milwaukee or Toronto? Do you believe that cutting GH or Terry's minutes during the remaining regular season games will give them a better chance of overtaking Milwaukee or Toronto for the #2 seed? Or do you believe that resting 21 year old Jaylen Brown and 24 year old Marcus Smart an extra 5 minutes a night is more important than getting to that #2 seed?

Because in case it's not clear, here's my position. If Brad continues to play Gordon Hayward and Terry 48+ minutes a night, they will not win enough regular season games to make up ground and overtake either Milwaukee or Toronto for the #2 seed. AND if they do not get the #2 seed, I do not believe this Celtics team can win back to back playoff series on the road against those two teams.

The one thing we do agree on is that in the playoffs, the list does shrink to winning tonight's game. But, the regular season determines which court that game is played upon, so please stop acting like there is no connection between the regular season and the playoffs when there most certainly is.

And I will ask you one more time. When has Brad ever benched his regular season 6th man come playoff time? It's not like we don't have a sample size. You seem convinced that if Gordon is playing like crap, Brad will make a move he's never made before come playoff time. Does Amir Johnson ring any bells?

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1. Those two aren't playing 48 minutes a game.

If you literally mean benching, like playing zero minutes, that's unlikely. It's also not something many (any?) coaches have ever done. If you mean reduce playing time, this has happened:

--In 2016-17 Amir, who was 7th in mpg in the regular season went from 20.1mpg to 10.1 in the playoffs.
--In 2014-15 Sullinger (5/6 with Smart) went from 27 mpg in the regular season to 20 in the playoffs; Smart went from 27 to 22.
--In 2015-16, Sullinger, #6 in regular season mpg, got his minutes cut from 23 to 13 in the playoffs.

Take a position? You mean just make a wild-ass guess about how things will go in the playoffs? My only prediction is that if Hayward is playing in April like he's playing now, he wont see more than 10-12 minutes a game.

If the season ended today, they'd have a tough time beating Toronto or Milwaukee in a 7-game series. It doesn't.

Deathofthebambino said:

Since Jaylen came back from his short injury stint (after falling on his tailbone following a dunk), on December 6th, over the last 26 games, he's shooting .487/.398/.709. But he's averaging only 24.5 minutes a game, which is actually less than his season average. If you shorten it to since January 1st, in the last 10 games, he's shooting .456/.457/.714, and his minutes have gone DOWN to 24.1mpg. .

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I'd like to see JB's minutes increase too. They are up in January versus December though, but just slightly (up to 25.0 from 23.9). However, remember that game in Miami where Jaylen and Marcus got into it a bit? He only played like 13 minutes. You take that out of the equation, because it's a clear outlier, he's up nearly 2 minutes/game since December.

It's hard--seems his move to the bench has helped him, but that knocks his minutes down.

DrewDawg said:

It's hard--seems his move to the bench has helped him, but that knocks his minutes down.

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There isn't any real reason why he can't get more minutes off the bench and that's what I'd prefer. I'd like to see him around 30 a game. Cutting Rozier and Hayward's time by 2-3 minutes a game is enough to accomplish that.

Cut both of their playing time by 5 minutes and you can play Smart for 30 minutes a night too (Or Tatum for 35, but I think 31 is fine). Even if you do that, Rozier is still getting 16 minutes and Hayward 21.

It doesn't take much of an adjustment to get some players more minutes and others less and it doesn't sacrifice Hayward. He'd still be getting reps to improve.

bosox79 said:

There isn't any real reason why he can't get more minutes off the bench and that's what I'd prefer. I'd like to see him around 30 a game. Cutting Rozier and Hayward's time by 2-3 minutes a game is enough to accomplish that.

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Sure...I'm just saying that at first he was moved to bench because he was struggling, so it's obvious his minutes would drop. Now, they seem to be moving back up.

I know Stevens isn't where everyone wants him to be with minutes, but there have been some changes, so he's not stagnant.

Horford over the last 7 games since his minutes restriction has been lifted (since he’s been ruled 100% healthy):

52-79 FG (65.8%)
8-18 3-pt FG (44.4%)
9-9 FT (100%)

17.3 PPG
9.0 RPG
2.8 APG
2.4 BPG
30 MPG

5 of Horford’s top 7 “Game Scores” of the season have occurred in this recent 7-game stretch. He is en fuego!

Someone is going to be paying a lot of money for this mans services this summer.

Thanks for pointing that out HRB. He was the key cog in the deep playoff run last season. Add a healthy Kyrie or Gordon back and remove Al and I don't think they sniff the ECF.

In hindsight, it seems clear that Horford was less than 100% physically from opening night. Combining actual time off and minutes restriction, he got over a month to get right, and it seems to have worked. I agree with Montana, Horford is the variable with the biggest impact.

RedOctober3829 said:

Any interest in signing DeAndre Jordan after he gets bought out from the Knicks? Would be a very nice frontcourt tandem defensively with him and Horford and would not be a plodding center offensively.

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Lobb City was a long time ago. Sadly, his legs are shot and he's just not the same rim protector he once was. Even for 8-10 minutes a game he'd be ineffective.

RedOctober3829 said:

Any interest in signing DeAndre Jordan after he gets bought out from the Knicks? Would be a very nice frontcourt tandem defensively with him and Horford and would not be a plodding center offensively.

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Jordan makes way more sense on a fringe contender where he can play 10 or so minutes a game and catch a few lobs, like Houston.

ifmanis5 said:

Lobb City was a long time ago. Sadly, his legs are shot and he's just not the same rim protector he once was. Even for 8-10 minutes a game he'd be ineffective.

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Maybe, but his numbers don't look all that bad---121 ORTG, 104 DRTG in 30 minutes/game. Gotta think he has something to offer.

DrewDawg said:

Maybe, but his numbers don't look all that bad---121 ORTG, 104 DRTG in 30 minutes/game. Gotta think he has something to offer.

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They can do better, at least on the court. He is a great clubhouse guy so maybe they think that brings value, too.

ifmanis5 said:

They can do better, at least on the court. He is a great clubhouse guy so maybe they think that brings value, too.

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A Greg Monroe for the defense.

joe dokes said:

A Greg Monroe for the defense.

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Eric Gagne, Jaromir Jagr, Chad Johnson...

RedOctober3829 said:

Any interest in signing DeAndre Jordan after he gets bought out from the Knicks? Would be a very nice frontcourt tandem defensively with him and Horford and would not be a plodding center offensively.

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Wouldn't the question be is he better than Baynes? Better defensively but worse offensively by RPM. Still elite defensively, 2nd among all centers in DRPM

chilidawg said:

Wouldn't the question be is he better than Baynes?

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DeBendre Hogan just doesn't have the same ring to it.

DeJesus Built My Hotrod said:

DeBendre Hogan just doesn't have the same ring to it.

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I'm surprised that Ben's ears have been ringing for four hours, but he hasn't come here to react to chilidawg's post.

I'd love to have DeAndre for the minimum (and lose Yabu), just so we could have 1 more guy to beat on Embiid/other BIGs. That would free up Horford to play some minutes at the 4. Brad promised more of that ~2 weeks ago but we have barely seen it. He just refuses to match up Baynes with the other teams BIG and play him alongside Al. Baynes is one of our more efficient players and gets ~16mpg, so DeAndre would barely get any play here. Jordan will have choices to play minutes elsewhere.

benhogan said:

I'd love to have DeAndre for the minimum (and lose Yabu), just so we could have 1 more guy to beat on Embiid/other BIGs. That would free up Horford to play some minutes at the 4. Brad promised more of that ~2 weeks ago but we have barely seen it. He just refuses to match up Baynes with the other teams BIG and play him alongside Al. Baynes is one of our more efficient players and gets ~16mpg, so DeAndre would barely get any play here. Jordan will have choices to play minutes elsewhere.

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You do get that:

• Horford has been nothing short of spectacular in those 2 weeks, in all phases of the game
• When the Celtics are on offense, Al is a much tougher matchup for a traditional C than Baynes (example: Golden State, where Cousins v Horford was a liability for the Warriors)
• Charlotte played most of the game without even 1 traditional C in the lineup, even going so far as to give MKG run at C, and the Celtics really broke things open in the second half when Stevens went to the smaller Theis over Baynes

Just checking.

Eddie Jurak said:

You do get that:

• Horford has been nothing short of spectacular in those 2 weeks, in all phases of the game
• When the Celtics are on offense, Al is a much tougher matchup for a traditional C than Baynes (example: Golden State, where Cousins v Horford was a liability for the Warriors)
• Charlotte played most of the game without even 1 traditional C in the lineup, even going so far as to give MKG run at C, and the Celtics really broke things open in the second half when Stevens went to the smaller Theis over Baynes

Just checking.

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Sounds like someone is obsessed with small ball! /s

Not sure if this should go here or in the AD group:

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/25894543/kyrie-irving-free-agency-influencing-deadline-moves

Eddie Jurak said:

You do get that:

• Horford has been nothing short of spectacular in those 2 weeks, in all phases of the game
• When the Celtics are on offense, Al is a much tougher matchup for a traditional C than Baynes (example: Golden State, where Cousins v Horford was a liability for the Warriors)
• Charlotte played most of the game without even 1 traditional C in the lineup, even going so far as to give MKG run at C, and the Celtics really broke things open in the second half when Stevens went to the smaller Theis over Baynes

Just checking.

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1. Al is great and I've never said anything other. In fact, I think he is capable of continuing to be a great, All-Star level 4/big wing, like he was last season. Using him strictly at the 5 is not fully utilizing all of Al's skills.
2. Baynes should have played when Biyombo was on the floor. Playing Aron against Charlotte's smaller unit was stupid and corrected in the 2nd half.
3. When GS went with 2 BIGs they should have answered with Baynes/Horford.

BUT back to the original point, would I like the Celts to add DeAndre Jordan on a minimum deal (post buyout)? Yes, I would like to have him. BUT don't think there is much of a chance of DeAndre getting minutes, thus leading him to look for better opportunities.

benhogan said:

3. When GS went with 2 BIGs they should have answered with Baynes/Horford.

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Brad's best defense decision in this game was out put Kyrie on Draymond.

Here's some good news: GH feeling like his athleticism is coming back. https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2019/02/boston-celtics-gordon-hayward-is-feeling-his-athleticism-slowly-starting-to-come-back.html

The best part if last night I thought was his block on Kanter. He seemed springy on that play.

The kids are alright

What is strength of schedule since Nov 26th? I know they have had a couple of soft stretches.

Also weird is that since Nov 26th, they are 24-9, but had a 1-month stretch where they were 7-8 including some bad losses. Their season:

10-10 (though Nov 24)
8-0 (Nov 26-Dec 14)
7-8 (Dec 15-Jan 14)
9-1 (Jan 16-Feb 3)

It's been kind of a weird season. I feel like they have played really well against good teams with some big wins. I actually feel like they really should have beaten GS the other night, and kind of just threw it away in the final minute.

On the flip side, they have had a few losses to BAD teams, and also seemed to make games against bad teams closer than they should have been. There have been a few blowouts, but not as many as I sort of think there should be (maybe that's just my bias of thinking the Celtics are better than they really are)

Their margin of victory is 3rd in the league, despite being essentially in 3 way tie for 5th in record. Wouldn't that suggest they're getting more blowouts than expected, rather than less?

chilidawg said:

Their margin of victory is 3rd in the league, despite being essentially in 3 way tie for 5th in record. Wouldn't that suggest they're getting more blowouts than expected, rather than less?

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Yup, there have been more blowouts, especially relative to the last 2 years, when it felt like every game was IT or Kyrie doing a 4th quarter rescue. The OKC game yesterday felt anomalous when they didn't blow it out after being up 119-107. By nearly any metric, this is the best team of the Stevens era by a lot.

A lot of their losses to bad teams have been close, which is why the record isn't there.

NomarsFool said:

It's been kind of a weird season. I feel like they have played really well against good teams with some big wins. I actually feel like they really should have beaten GS the other night, and kind of just threw it away in the final minute.

On the flip side, they have had a few losses to BAD teams, and also seemed to make games against bad teams closer than they should have been. There have been a few blowouts, but not as many as I sort of think there should be (maybe that's just my bias of thinking the Celtics are better than they really are)

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The Celtics style of play, on both ends, requires a lot of energy, focus, and purpose. They scored a ton at the rim against OKC, and a lot of that was cuts, smart passes, etc, rather than just bulldozing to the rim on drives.

The energy difference when they play a good team is really noticeable. Watch the GSW/OKC games, and then go watch the Knicks game from Friday night. Looks like two different teams, energy-wise.

This is something that makes me optimistic for the playoffs, regardless of home-court. They're going to get at least 1 night off between every game, the travel is normalized, and they'll be playing against competition that seems to bring out the best.

The East playoffs, after the 1st round, are going to be a bloodbath. However, I'm excited: I think we'll do well, and it's going to be some amazing basketball.

lovegtm said:

The Celtics style of play, on both ends, requires a lot of energy, focus, and purpose. They scored a ton at the rim against OKC, and a lot of that was cuts, smart passes, etc, rather than just bulldozing to the rim on drives.

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I assume this is a concentrated effort, but Cs have been scoring much more at the rim over the last three games. Here is one statistic from this article:

wade boggs chicken dinner said:

I assume this is a concentrated effort, but Cs have been scoring much more at the rim over the last three games. Here is one statistic from this article:

Against the Thunder, the Celtics were able to amass 134 points, and of those, 56 of them were in the paint. For reference, the Milwaukee Bucks who are ranked 2nd in both rim attempt frequency and percentage via Cleaning the Glass average 54 points in the paint per game. Overall, in the past three games the Celtics have really made an effort to finish in the paint and have averaged a whopping 58 paint points per game in that stretch.​

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2 of those games were against bad teams, but it's definitely better than earlier in the year when they were losing to those same teams without getting to the rim.

Also, Kyrie out against Cleveland with a "hip injury."

wade boggs chicken dinner said:

I assume this is a concentrated effort, but Cs have been scoring much more at the rim over the last three games. Here is one statistic from this article:

Against the Thunder, the Celtics were able to amass 134 points, and of those, 56 of them were in the paint. For reference, the Milwaukee Bucks who are ranked 2nd in both rim attempt frequency and percentage via Cleaning the Glass average 54 points in the paint per game. Overall, in the past three games the Celtics have really made an effort to finish in the paint and have averaged a whopping 58 paint points per game in that stretch.​

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If you look back on OKC’s last month I think you’ll find most everyone scoring more at the rim against them as they have been providing opponents with a 48-minute layup line. Yesterday effort especially in that 2nd quarter resembled an ASG defense.

Out of curiosity, I looked a bit into the Celtics results this season.

They are 16-14 in games decided by 10 points or fewer. Those include some narrow victories over teams they really could have done better against (Atlanta and New York) and a loss against Charlotte and Phoenix. Not sure how to categorize the loss to Brooklyn. By record, they shouldn't have lost that game, but BKN has been on an absolute tear.

They haven't been blown out this season, with only 5 losses by more than 10 points. Their worst loss coming against Miami - which is a fairly middle of the road team, interestingly.

On the positive side, their point differential is significantly impacted by the 56 point drubbing they gave Chicago. That's a huge point differential, and really helps their average numbers. They have had 8 other blowout wins (>20 points)