Udoka is going to have to look at pace, lineups, and actions. Maybe the C’s push the ball more to beat their bigs down the floor before they get set up in their half court defense. Perhaps he goes small to play Milwaukee’s size off the court. But it’s possible that in a league analytically driven to take shots at the rim and beyond the arc, the coaching staff is going to have to find ways to get its shotmaking wings better looks in the midrange.
You and I seem to be talking past one another. I understand math. I just don’t accept that our two options are to shoot more twos at 33% or more threes at 36%. The Bucks made two-pointers so unappetizing that the C’s settled for three-pointers, which is not their strength. They have to find ways to score more efficiently inside the arc.
The Celtics hit 36% of their threes. If the numbers I’m seeing are correct, they’re at 35.6% for both the season and the postseason. This team is too good at too many aspects of the game to let this series come down to a relative team weakness which an opponent is encouraging.
Thanks for all of these.
Yeah, what struck me was how many times JB and JT handed the ball to MIL for transition baskets. Clean up those and the game is much different. Of course, Giannis might figure out the Cs defense and go supernova but that, to me, was one of the worse games the Cs have played this year (even including the 2021 portion).
The Celtics were a 3pt shooting team all year, 11th in percentage of points from 3.
I agree with you across the board here. But one point that you left out, is that Jaylen is the best mid-range jump shooter on the Celtics. Getting him open at the elbow or thereabouts is a great shot for him.
I think JT showed Giannis, Lopez and to a lesser extent Portis, too much respect in not going harder to the basket and forcing the officials to either swallow their whistles or make a call. Tatum has the skill and the strength to challenge Lopez at the rim, and can give Giannis some trouble too. Regardless, I agree that he has to go inside harder, and if that results in fouls, non-calls or assists/potential assists, we need to live with that.
I agree with this and it’s compounded by the fact that he’s just not a fundamentally good passer. It was mentioned often in game threads this year - he just misses a lot.
I'd be complaining, he played bad defense and his shots came at times/places where the misses lead to runouts. Some of his shots were fine, but some I thought were very bad decisions not to run real offense.
There's no real need to double click on this topic too much, because Ramadan is now certainly over and IF there was any impact, we shouldn't have it going forward.
And if he goes 4 for 8, which is entirely possible given how he typically shoots, we're raving about his offensive contribution.
I've made it a point, particularly in the series against the Nets to watch for Jaylen (and Kyrie) in between timeouts, etc. and I've never seen Jaylen drink water during April until after halftime of the night games. Of course, tough to know for sure, but I was looking as much as possible.
He's also a player who relies a ton on his athleticism and more often than not, that pays great dividends for the Celtics. But when he's having an off game for whatever reason, there's not much he can do in terms of adjustment and the downside in that case is huge. Big highs when things are going, big lows the few times they aren't (like yesterday).
This is half right - the Grant part.
Strong disagree.
when you have Theis, White, Grant, Pritchard and a doubled Tatum on the floor at once...getting open 3s from Pritchard and Grant is a terrific outcome. PP was much better the last few months of the season so I'm playing that hand as much as possible
But the corner 3 is usually effective when someone else draws the defense to create the open look. I'm all for Granite taking more, but it's not just up to him. I don't recall him turning shots down the other night.
absolutely, White/Tatum will initiate and draw... it's up to them to kick instead of going to the rim, attempting floaters, or challenged pull up mid-range jumpers.
Not sure what the record is exactly, but my first guess is Kobe, who played 98 games under the age of 25. Tatum currently has 55.
Thanks. I figured Tatum would be on the list somewhere. I thought he'd be a bit higher though.
Hopefully he'll jump a lot of people over the next several weeks.
If he passs Brown, we are at least in the ECF. He can tie Brown with a 7 game loss to the Bucks.
I think you are forgetting one important fact here - JB should be playing in all of these games.
JB isn't under 25. They don't all stay 19 forever.I think you are forgetting one important fact here - JB should be playing in all of these games.
Most playoff games before age 25 season, entering today:
Yeah I've used statmuse before. They are great. I thought Tatum would have been higher up on the CF one too. Though a 6 game ECF would put him 4th, which is pretty high.
Awful development for sure but this is asinine. They’re not going to just throw their hands up and pack it in down 0-1 because Smart is out for a game.
Clearly, they are better with Smart, but this is a matchup they can survive without Smart.
I don't know man. JT might want to get back to his offseason lifting regimen ASAP. /sarcasm
Has Ime lost his fastball?
