So, on the one hand, this was another embarassing loss, dropping them under .500 again. After pulling themselves above .500 with a 5-1 strecth of games, they went immediately back to the old form, with, first, a lethargic loss to Charlotte that wasn't as close a game as the score would suggest, and then a game where they pull their 4th quarter late choke act, this time in spectacular fashion. With 7:19 to go, the Celtics led 100-89. They ultimately lost 109-105 - Portland ended the game with a 20-5 run in which the Celtics only scored free throws and went about 5 minutes without scoring at all.
On the other hand, there were a few notable things from this game:
- Ime rode Tatum really hard, 41 minutes. Too much in an non-OT game, IMO. Other guys were roughly in the acceptable range: Brown 35, Rob and Grant 33, no one else above 30.
- Tatum was 0 for 6 from three, and his streak of misses is up to 20. Clearly in his head at this point. Halfway through the fourth, it was looking like this was going to be a great Tatum game anyway, but the team didn't score fro the field the rest of the way. Tatum shot 8-19 overall, 8 of 13 from 2, and got to the line a ton, where he shot 11-14 including an intentional miss. 27 points overall. To that, he added 10 rebounds and 7 assists to lead the team. I wondered if he would go for a triple double, but that became impossible when the Celtic failed to score from the floor over the final 7:19.
- Bad shooting night for Jaylen, 2-7 from three and 5-13 from 2. Did hit 6-6 from the line and add 5 rebounds, 5 assists.
- Rob had 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks. Wasn't really involved in the offense (2-4, 5 points) except for one little stretch in the second quarter when he converted a lob and then got an offensive rebound, missed the putback, battled to grab his miss, and tossed up a little 2 foot shot in traffic (which he rarely does) for an and-1.
- Grant had his best game in a while. 13 points on 4-7 shooting, 3-5 from three, 2-2 from the line. Added 8 rebounds and 3 assists, including a nice lob to Jaylen in transition.
- Romeo led the team with a +17 in 23 minutes; the only other positives were Pritchard (+5 in 12 minutes), Grant (+5 in 33 minutes), Horford (+5 in 26 minutes), and Tatum (+2 in his 41). On the other side of the ledger, Richardson and Schroder were -12, Rob -11, Jaylen -10, and Freedom was -9 in under 3 minutes.
- Romeo's +17 was earned. His entry in to the game in Q2 sparked a decisive run (at the time). He shot 5-7, including 2-4 from three, and added a pair of blocks, including a key late transition block that delayed the collpase a bit. 3-3 from the 2, on a couple of drives and a difficult transition finish at the rim. His shots were ones that usually seem to settle on the rim and then roll off, but today they rolled in.
- Pritchard was in early in Q2, with Freedom, and was part of a group of Celtics that were run off the court in 3 minutes. Later in the game, he got another shot and hit a couple of big threes while the Celtics built up the 4th quarter they went on to blow.
- Langford's minutes cam at the expense of Richardson, who only got 12 minutes.
One guy I didn't mention because I wanted to break him out separately was Dennis Schroeder. The other day, last time the Celtics won, we saw Dennis at his Celtic best. Today, we saw Dennis at his most out of sync with the team. He did some good things (4 assists and 4 steals in 22 minutes), but he shot poorly from three (4-9 overall, 1-5 from three, 9 points) and the Celtics as a team looked lifeless and uninspired while he as in the game. The best that can be said of him today is that he did not play at all* during the 4th quarter, so none of the collapse could be attributed to him. (*Actually, he played a few seconds in the final minute when Ime started doing offense/defense with him and Romeo).
But his play aside, the usage of Schroder in this game was just weird. He started the game and played the full first quarter, during which the Celtics were outscored by 5. He
did not play at all in the second quarter. He was not in foul trouble (1 foul in the first Q), so I figured he might of been hurt. But he started the third quarter and played the first 10 minutes, during which time the Celtics managed to turn a 4 point lead into a 4 point deficit. Then he left the game, not to be seen again until offense/defense substitutions with Romeo in the final 30 seconds. Really weird.
The second quarter was interesting. The quarter began with the Celtics down by 5 and trying out a lineup with Pritchard, Freedom, Richardson, Tatum, and Grant. This lineup gave up a 8-0 run in 1:30 and Rob came back. With about 9 minutes to go, and the Celtics trailing by 12 (40-28), Ime goes to a no-PG look, bringing in Jaylen and Romeo for Richardson and Pritchard. (Rob, Tatum, and Grant were the others on the floor). This group played most of the rest of the quarter (Al came in for Rob during the final minutes or two) and they dominated. Romeo provided immediate energy, and the Celtics outscored the Blazers 30-14 over the final 9 minutes of the quarter, to turn a 12-point deficit into a 4 point lead.
Down by 4 late in the third, Ime tried something similar, but this time had Pritchard in the game. (Though Pritchard was played more like a shooting guard, wasn't handling the ball a ton). With 2:15 to go, down by 4, Ime went Pritchard-Romeo-Tatum-Grant-Rob, then Al came in for Rob with a minute left. This group ended the quarter on a 5-2 run and eventually took the lead, ran it up to 11 with 7:19 to go, and was still on the floor for the early part of the collpase.
With 7:19 to go, the Celtics were on a 23-8 run and up by 11, and that is where the wheels fell off. At the 5 minute mark, the Celtics have gone 2:19 without scoring, and after a Portland three, Jaylen comes in for Pritchard with the Celtics protecting an 8 point lead. Jaylen-Jayson-Romeo-Grant-Al. Same no-PG look that worked in Q2. Portland gets another basket, and Rob comes in for Al with a 6 point lead and 4 minutes to go. Celtics give up 6 unanswered points to tie the game before Brown is fouled with under a minute left and hits his free throws. Brown does something stupid on the defensive end (leaves Covington in the corner to help on a McCollum drive that appears well-defended without Jaylen's help) and Covington sticks a corner 3 to give Portland the lead. Tatum is fouled and hits both to put Celtics ahead with 26 seconds left. A Nurkic putback with 13 seconds left gives Portland a lead they would not surrender.
The weird usage of Schroder and the success and then failre of the no-PG look are a couple of interesting take homes from this game.
I also wonder how much Tatum was just gassed from playing 41 minutes. On one of Tatum's missed late threes he had a good opportunity to drive but passed it up.
Scal was calling at the end for the Celtics to run pick and rolls to get Nurkic out of the paint ("GET NURKIC IN THE ACTION!!!") he screamed over and over again as the Celtics went away from this almost completely after having success with it earlier.
The Ime minutes thing is a real problem, and today's game shows that injuries aren't fully the issue.
Of course, Smart was out and it would be fair to point to that as a reason why he's riding other starters harder. On top of that, Nesmith made a major positive impact in the last win, but he too was out. Romeo played today and for a while had a similar positive impact on today's game. But Romeo getting more minutes meant that Josh Richardson - who has generally been a good player of the bench for the C's - got less while Tatum still got 41 and passed up drives at the end of a collapse. The strong odds are that when Smart and Nesmith are back, Tatum will still play in the high 30s while Richardson, Nesmith, Langford, and Pritchard share about 35 minutes between them, with or two of the latter three usually getting a DNP.
What could be a team strength (bench wings) is not being exploited at all because Ime is too heavily focused on riding Tatum and Brown. Even when it means losing a game because Tatum - arguably driving more often and better than at any time in his career - won't drive at the end.