I’m all for preserving Brogdon as much as possible and unleashing him if possible come playoff time.
The bigger problem is a lot of the D is built around Marcus being a dynamo so if he is decidedly not that then they are just kinda fucked anyway.
3/13 Celtics @ Rockets
- Thread starter bigq
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The bigger problem is a lot of the D is built around Marcus being a dynamo so if he is decidedly not that then they are just kinda fucked anyway.
Bingo.
post will be something like “was that actually that bad of a game? Plus I saw Tatum wiggle his pinky finger a bunch, so he’s probably terribly injured. Really heroic for him to even be playing”
Others have said it but the biggest red flag right now is Smart. He’s been awful lately and he just has to be better for this team to have any chance of going far in the playoffs.
Smart and Tatum get the horns tonight but don’t forget about Sam Hauser’s nice 2-8 (1-6) line
Smart and Tatum get the horns tonight but don’t forget about Sam Hauser’s nice 2-8 (1-6) line
Brown carried the team tonight. Why not draw up the last play for Brown? The minute Tatum went backcourt everyone knew the play, and even though he beat the coverage, he’s been off all night. That play should have been to Brown or Brogdan.
They won Game 6 of the ECSF and Game 7 of the ECF on the road last year. They aren’t front runners, but since the ASB Smart has gone through one of his bad stretches, Tatum is wildly inconsistent, Rob is out, and Grant has completely shit down his leg and is now basically out of the rotation. So now all of a sudden they’re limping at the worst time.
Sam Hauser sucking up Grant's minutes is not good for our defense either.
Grant played 8 minutes and was a +4, never took a shot, had a block, couple rebounds. If Hauser isn't making shots, he doesn't bring anything to the table, IMO.
Hauser had 5 points and 1 rebound in 20 minutes, and he can't play defense. Grant can give you that on offense, and probably won't fire away like Hauser, and still give you more defensively.
Grant played 8 minutes and was a +4, never took a shot, had a block, couple rebounds. If Hauser isn't making shots, he doesn't bring anything to the table, IMO.
Hauser had 5 points and 1 rebound in 20 minutes, and he can't play defense. Grant can give you that on offense, and probably won't fire away like Hauser, and still give you more defensively.
Celts have a bad habit of no showing against teams they should easily beat. There is something missing in game prep.
Grant being an absolute non-factor after his hellacious two week stretch is making a thin team anorexic in terms of depth. You can only to Blake. And after a scorching couple games, Muscala is completely out of the rotation too. They are now suddenly, extremely vulnerable in a lot of ways.
Yeah.. I don’t think Smart coming back and the team playing like crap has been completely coincidental.. White and Brogdon also playing less has been another bad consequence… I understand loyalty to Smart to a point..but at some point White and Brogdon need to get more time.. maybe what this team needs is less chaos.
Yeah, this nails it. Also, the Muscala pick-up (which looked great the time) has been kind of a disaster. The options for the 4 and the 5 currently look pretty abysmal.
I think this is probably due to inexperience but Mazzulla’s biggest weakness is definitely in-game adjustments. It seems like he has an idea for how many minutes each player is going to play before the game and he won’t change it unless there’s an injury
Even 70% TL is better than Griffin and Muscala so hopefully he can at least play during the playoffs but for right now I want to see Kornet get most of his minutes like he was earlier in the year. At least he’s big and can offer some rebounding and rim protection and kind of act as a homeless man’s TL. I don’t understand why he has played so little outside of tonight.
It took way too long to get Luke into this game - it was a layup line from a Rockets team you know is going to iso and there was no rim protection until Luke came in already behind the 8 ball.
Man, this was ugly.
Man, this was ugly.
@Jed Zeppelin ’s post on Grant should be pinned in the Grant thread in the Port Cellar if he doesn’t unfuck himself before the season is over. He plays such a crucial role on this bench and had his $20m locked up if he could just not play like a complete dickhead yet here we are. God damn it I’m pissed tonight. They finally got to me.
Kornet should have been in earlier, but Mazzulla needs to recognize when the team is cold from three and drive the lane and focus on the midrange game. Brown, Tatum, Brogdan, and White all have legit midrange shooting. Get the points where you can and get your shooters into a rhythm. Many of those front and back rim 3s led to fast breaks for Houston and easy points.
I'm angry too. The shit effort in these games lately is unacceptable.
But I'm also starting to question Mazzulla's competence a bit (might be a good thing, last year when I questioned Ime the team went on a ridiculous run). Grant needs to play. He's not going to get his confidence back sitting on the bench and he's better than Hauser. We're going to need him. I don't mind not leaning on Brogdon more in order to keep him healthy.
But I'm also starting to question Mazzulla's competence a bit (might be a good thing, last year when I questioned Ime the team went on a ridiculous run). Grant needs to play. He's not going to get his confidence back sitting on the bench and he's better than Hauser. We're going to need him. I don't mind not leaning on Brogdon more in order to keep him healthy.
I mean, why would you go away from the barely contested layup play?
The counter to the Grant thing is.... he's been terrible, and how do you keep a lockerroom when guys who play hard and better (Hauser) get benched for a guy who has been straight garbage on both ends and won't play within the role. At least Hauser catches it open and shoots it.
The real issue is Smart. He's been nowhere near himself on defense, and he's gone from the early season strong offensive player looking to create for others to 2017 era Smart who is gonna take bad shots.... also.... I'm sorry, you are 6'4", you are strong as hell, you can jump... how are you so bad at rebounding? Derrick White weighs like 155 lbs, Payton Pritchard is 6'0, these guys out rebound you?
I mean, that's where being a coach comes in. Without Grant we're missing a crucial piece that propelled us to the Finals last year and got us off to such a great start this year. Hauser is what he is...when he hits shots he looks great, when he doesn't, he's useless. The team is going to need to defend better if they're going to do anything, Hauser isn't the answer there.
And I agree about Smart. By your logic, White should be playing over him (playing better), but he's not. So we need to hope that Marcus unfucks himself in short order or it's going to be a 2nd round exit if we're lucky.
We blew a golden chance with Milwaukee playing Sacramento tonight. Now it's going to be holding off the 76ers for #2.
I'm not so sure about Grant. I get the argument which is that he defends a few key matchups well, but.... Hauser has been the better player this year. He's a better shooter, he doesn't turn it over, they rebound and pass at similar success rates, and surprisingly, his ISO D isn't bad. Teams have attacked him, and it's honestly been good results for the Celtics on those possessions.
Grant has always sneakily not been that good, he's had some great games and a few key matchups, but I think Hauser can be just as effective most of the time, probably more so. I don't think Grant matter much. TL matters, Smart matters, Tatum matters, the team D of our top 6-7 guys matters. If those get fixed, Grant/Hauser is an afterthought.
Muscall and Griffin and Kornet could be used a little more for fresh legs an give a breather to Al and others---with the right match ups they are not terrible--you can't just run our starters down which I think is what we are seeing--and where is Pritchard?
I would make a snarky comment about not being able to comment on rotations if you don't even monitor the injury report, but, well, Perk couldn't manage it last night on the broadcast, so...
I'm just uneducated enough to qualify as an ESPN talking head.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjBvRURtc-Q
The other issue with playing Smart when he’s this bad on offense is that teams let him shoot from three.. and play 5 on 4 defense on everyone else. He’s a ball stopper when he’s at his worst.. always willing to take the open three.. and also often taking up space at the top of the key where others could get better shots.
if you play white or Brogdon more.. teams can’t leave them wide open so there’s more room for everyone.
if Smart isn’t playing other worldly D than he really shouldn’t be starting or playing starter’s minutes.
edit: the counter to not playing Grant is that he’s not being allowed to try and get back on track.. a lot of the bench guys are getting extremely short minutes to try and prove themselves before they’re yanked back to the bench ..often in favor of guys that aren’t currently playing all that much better.