He has shown an ability to drive to the basket sometimes. So, it's like the scouting reports were of a completely different guy.
Celtics vs. Heat, Round 3 Discussion
- Thread starter tims4wins
- Start date
Ha, this has been HRB's stance since AN's first season.
Deer in headlights is not the look you want from a 3pt shooter
I thought he'd work through it by now but here we are. Aaron gets one more (maybe half a season) to stop looking like he has drunk a pot of Dunkins' before tip
Im picturing him hooked to to a "viral load detector" like Gary Sinise trying to get the restart sequnce right for Apollo 13.
So the regular starting lineup tonight in Smart-Brown-Tatum-Horford-Rob. A bench of Grant/Pritchard/Theis/Nesmith.
Smart is still just probable right now, no? Are the probable/questionable/doubtful odds of playing similar to what they used to be in the NFL, when it was 75/50/25 percent likely to play?
If true, might be a blessing in disguise. Smart & Horford getting a few extra days off could mean better performance the rest of the series.
I think it would have been a blessing if we won game 1. Losing that game might negate the extra rest as the series will end up going longer now.
Let's call it a silver lining. It's never worth sitting key players out, but better that it was game 1 (we were underdogs in game 1 despite being series favorites, which seems rare) than any other game.
I joke about him being in Turkey or Italy next year but even though I feel that is where he’ll end up soon I think someone will give him a min-deal look as an intriguing lottery pick with the length to matchup with wings at this level.
I was going to respond pointing out...well, what others have pointed out -- but Pablo's TB Lover brought me to my senses.Stop bringing your facts, we're trying to have a pity party over here!
Chris Haynes
@ChrisBHaynes
Miami Heat forward P.J. Tucker will undergo an MRI on his left knee tomorrow morning, league sources tell @YahooSports.
@ChrisBHaynes
Miami Heat forward P.J. Tucker will undergo an MRI on his left knee tomorrow morning, league sources tell @YahooSports.
Bob Cousy was trending on Twitter, but thankfully it was because he had to yell at something JJ Redick must have said. Cooz is 93, by the way.
View: https://twitter.com/SiriusXMNBA/status/1527355910519083034?s=20&t=Lkp3AheqYKJgPXmfEHVwPA
View: https://twitter.com/SiriusXMNBA/status/1527355910519083034?s=20&t=Lkp3AheqYKJgPXmfEHVwPA
View: https://twitter.com/bostonsportsinf/status/1527492203790090256
Marcus Smart Is only the 2nd player, in NBA playoff history, over a 3-game span with… PTS ≥ 46 TRB ≥ 21 AST ≥ 29 TO ≤ 3 BLK ≥ 1 The other - Magic Johnson
Marcus Smart Is only the 2nd player, in NBA playoff history, over a 3-game span with… PTS ≥ 46 TRB ≥ 21 AST ≥ 29 TO ≤ 3 BLK ≥ 1 The other - Magic Johnson
As I expected before the series started; Miami on offense is a real struggle. They simply don't have that many creative options outside of Butler, and lot of their offense is reliant on Herro taking a ton of shots and making a below-average amount of them. Role players like Vincent and Strus can be good in the regular season, but against locked in, elite defenses those guys are going to struggle to make an impact. Miami really needs to force a lot of turnovers and get a lot of free throws to even things out. The Celtics as a whole tonight took much better care of the ball, and Smart and Horford back on the floor is a huge difference defensively, particularly because both guys are elite at playing locked-down defense without fouling; really Horford is as good as anybody in the league at that.
Celtics have been in control for every quarter of the series minus the third quarter in Game 1. Even coming out of the disaster of Game 1, I still liked a lot of what the Celtics did; they have shown the ability to bottle up Miami on defense and exploit their switching and double-teams with good ball movement on offense. The hot three point shooting of the first quarter tonight was not fully sustainable, but they were getting great shots so it wasn't crazy to think they could keep splashing threes throughout the game.
In the third quarter of G2, things got a little dicey; it felt like Tatum fell into some old bad habits of holding the ball and not making the right pass as soon as the double comes and it led to some sloppiness; but they were able to get things back on track.
The whole team deserves a ton of credit for ballooning the lead when Tatum picked up the second foul half-way through the first quarter. Jaylen Brown and Co. made some great shots and played tremendous defense and really turned that early Tatum foul trouble into a non-issue. Great win tonight all around.
Celtics have been in control for every quarter of the series minus the third quarter in Game 1. Even coming out of the disaster of Game 1, I still liked a lot of what the Celtics did; they have shown the ability to bottle up Miami on defense and exploit their switching and double-teams with good ball movement on offense. The hot three point shooting of the first quarter tonight was not fully sustainable, but they were getting great shots so it wasn't crazy to think they could keep splashing threes throughout the game.
In the third quarter of G2, things got a little dicey; it felt like Tatum fell into some old bad habits of holding the ball and not making the right pass as soon as the double comes and it led to some sloppiness; but they were able to get things back on track.
The whole team deserves a ton of credit for ballooning the lead when Tatum picked up the second foul half-way through the first quarter. Jaylen Brown and Co. made some great shots and played tremendous defense and really turned that early Tatum foul trouble into a non-issue. Great win tonight all around.
View: https://twitter.com/statmuse/status/1527483304957583379
Highest playoff +/- off the bench in the play-by-play era:
+42 — Shane Battier in 2013
+41 — Payton Pritchard tonight
Highest playoff +/- off the bench in the play-by-play era:
+42 — Shane Battier in 2013
+41 — Payton Pritchard tonight
The only thing preventing this team from hanging a banner in the Garden on opening night next year is their health. Game 5 will be a close out game in Miami unless we collectively lose our heads in these next two.
As good as they are on defense, they are also critical to keeping the offense greased.
Especially after it looked like the calf injury might be the one to start slowing him a bit.
So does this mean that Marcus Smart's will to win is greater than that of James Buckets?
I have to agree with HRB. If tonight was anything, its confirmation that this team is a legitimate contender. I don't even hesitate to type that. It would have been unthinkable just a few months ago.
I have to agree with HRB. If tonight was anything, its confirmation that this team is a legitimate contender. I don't even hesitate to type that. It would have been unthinkable just a few months ago.
Same
The trade was a miracle. The D is very good, and suddenly if they get hot they crush people. Miami is a lot better than the Bucks, so they have to deal with adjustments.
Now have to deal withthe same media that was calling the Cs ppretenders tout them as champions.
I feel the Heat are the MUCH better matchup for us though. Despite the schedule spotting the Heat a game I have this series being over earlier than most expect.
Joking aside, having Smart (and Horford) back made such a difference defensively. Jimmy B is a good player, but he's not a force of nature like Giannis and KD. Marcus on him is advantage Celtics, and it's not super close.
A team like the Celtics is a horrible matchup for the cutsie stuff the Heat run. They just don't have that dominant offensive player, Butler's game 1 against a tired team without 2 of its best defenders aside.
Hopefully the people who were freaking out about Bam pre-series see what a bad matchup the Celtics are for him now, and that it's not 2020 anymore.
Jimmy still had a pretty great game, 29 points on 18 shots in 33 minutes. He's obviously not Giannis or Durant, but playoff Butler is just a short level below them. If Smart can just slow him down that will be more than enough. The Heat likely need at least one of the following to have a shot:
-Red hot 3 point shooting from their role players
-Herro scoring an efficient 20+
-Bam scoring an efficient 20+
The role player thing could happen, but here's where Smart is a huge help - just being able to cover Butler 1v1 really makes it harder for their role players to get open shots. Herro could pick it up, although he's had a pretty lousy postseason so far (and Boston's perimeter defenders won't make it easy). When he's matched up with Horford/Grant/TL on the perimeter he'll be able to get decent outside looks, he'll have to start hitting those.
It's impossible to overstate how weak our big man rotation was in 2020 (and how important Hayward was to let us play small). The only Celtic big to play more than 10 mpg in the 2020 series was Theis, and in just two games this year, Timelord and Grant have already played more minutes than they played in 2020 series. And of course, there is Horford. Bam going off I think is the least likely thing to happen, he's just not that guy without a huge advantage (and absent more injuries and/or covid, it ain't happening).
Hard not to feel pretty good at this point. This game followed the same pattern as countless others the second half of the year - when the Celtics are hot from 3, they blow out the other team.
Hmm, I disagree pretty strongly wrt comparing him to Durant/Giannis. There's a difference between efficiency and offensive creation, and Butler was getting his points off of single coverage, as well as a lot of runouts and putbacks.
That doesn't compromise the Celtics' halfcourt defense, or even wear them down. Compare that to Tatum, who was drawing constant blitzes, doubles, traps, and initiating the offense from there. He doesn't get shots off that, but it puts the Heat constantly in rotation, which leads to great 3 point and rim looks.
The reason that Butler's teammates didn't have a great game around his good efficiency was that he wasn't really creating, and that's how you end up with 102 points and tons of bad-looking possessions. If Tatum has a 29 points on 18 shots game, the Celtics offense usually puts up huge numbers, because of how much that forces a defense to react. Butler isn't that guy.
I'm in Palm Springs this weekend, and had to be out for the larger chunk of the game. But I watched most of the first half by the pool, and a lot of the 3rd surreptitiously at a dingy bar, and... Jesus but this team is so good. They deserve so the best to come to them.
Feels like the rest/fatigue factor has reset, now that Al took a game off, and the Celtics were able to play the final quarter of the game at 3/4 speed (with Tatum not playing at all). Smart looks fine/great after the foot injury, and White will be back too.
Now it's the Heat who have injury issues: if Tucker's MRI shows bad things, they are going to run out of guys to guard Tatum quickly.
I won't put it past the Heat to take a game (even two, although that's unlikely imo), just because shit happens. But I don't see where offense is going to come from consistently now that Al, Smart, and Rob are all back. On defense, they just don't have rim protection -- Bam is sneakily not great here, as good as he is defensively overall.
This feels like Celtics in 5 or 6, depending on whether the Heat get some hot 3-point shooting or big nights from Butler/Herro.
Celts seemed to do a much better job not fouling Butler last night. When he’s getting to the line he just sucks the air out of the game. Obviously Smart being back is huge. And Al is such a competitor on D. What’s Butler’s counter? Get more aggressive and play less efficiently? The drive and kick out actions to Strus, Vincent, Herro would have a much better chance of success at home where those guys can ride the crowd. If the Celts keep moving the ball and Jayson and Jaylen avoid driving into traffic and turnovers, their chances are really good to end this in 5 or 6.
Marcus Smart had one of the best games of his life. Here's our third star.
Breaking Straus's ankles
Trae Young showed Marcus some love - "Marcus Smart makes a huge difference for them! He Hoopin"
View: https://twitter.com/StoolGreenie/status/1527490120881868800?s=20&t=r3mk-EK8rwcAI_8YvAXNuQ
Per @StoolGreenie
- Led the team in MIN
- Led the team in FGA
- Led the team in 3PM
- Led the team in REB
- Led the team in AST
- Led the team in STL
He was one rebound away from a triple-double
View: https://twitter.com/taylorcsnow/status/1527488497153613830?s=20&t=r3mk-EK8rwcAI_8YvAXNuQ
Per @taylorcsnow
Marcus Smart is just the 6th player in NBA playoff history to log at least 24 points, 12 assists, 9 rebounds, and 3 steals in a game. The others: Larry Bird LeBron James Rod Strickland Isiah Thomas Russell Westbrook
Edit: Tried to follow protocol on posting Twitter links. If I'm missing something, please DM me.
Breaking Straus's ankles
Trae Young showed Marcus some love - "Marcus Smart makes a huge difference for them! He Hoopin"
View: https://twitter.com/StoolGreenie/status/1527490120881868800?s=20&t=r3mk-EK8rwcAI_8YvAXNuQ
Per @StoolGreenie
- Led the team in MIN
- Led the team in FGA
- Led the team in 3PM
- Led the team in REB
- Led the team in AST
- Led the team in STL
He was one rebound away from a triple-double
View: https://twitter.com/taylorcsnow/status/1527488497153613830?s=20&t=r3mk-EK8rwcAI_8YvAXNuQ
Per @taylorcsnow
Marcus Smart is just the 6th player in NBA playoff history to log at least 24 points, 12 assists, 9 rebounds, and 3 steals in a game. The others: Larry Bird LeBron James Rod Strickland Isiah Thomas Russell Westbrook
Edit: Tried to follow protocol on posting Twitter links. If I'm missing something, please DM me.
Well, for a frustrating a loss as game 1 was, the Celtics didn't come to Miami needing a sweep. Strictly speaking, they did not even come to Miami needing a win (although dropping both would have ramped up the pressure on them to take care of business at home), but they got one in impressive fashion.
The Celtics were without Derrick White, who left the team for personal reasons (birth of his son Hendrix James White), but they got Marcus Smart AND, in a late day surprise, Al Horford back. For only the third time in the playoffs, the Celtics rolled out their preferred starting lineup: SMart-Brown-Tatum-Horford-Rob for this one.
The game did not get off to a great start for the Celtics. They were making some poor decisions at the offensive end and, simultaneously, Miami was killing them on the glass. At one point in the game Miami had 5 offensive rebounds to the Celtics' 7 defensive boards, which explains how Miami was able to build a lead that eventually got up to 10 points (18-8). The Celtics defense looked kind of shaky in the early going, but 90% of that was not controlling their defensive glass.
Ime called a timeout with the Celtics down 15-8, and the team did respond. After giving up a 3 to give Miami it's biggest lead of the game, they ran off 5 straight points and looked to be getting into a groove, when Jayson Tatum drove and picked up an offensive foul, his second foul of the game, and was taken out with 4:14 left in the first.
The score was 18-15 Miami when Tatum went out, but the Celtics closed out the qyarter with a 20-6 run behind a barrage of threes - at the end of the first, the Celtics were 9-11 from three and led 35-24.
Obviously the Celtics were not going to shoot 82% from three for a whole game, so they neede to find other ways to win. At the beginning of the second quarter, they mostly did it with defense. Rob was back in at the start of the quarter, and this part of this game was the best the Celtics defense has looked since before Rob hurt his meniscus. The stats only credit Rob with one steal and one block in 7 minutes in this quarter, but it felt like much more than that. He was a real factor changing the way Miami players felt about the paint. I think his steal was credited on a play where Miami tried to lob it over him and he went up and got it and started the Celtics transition.
The Celtics' 3-point shooting did cool (only 3 from 8 in the second), but Tatum put together astrong offensive quarter, leading the team with 17. Combined with the defensive dominance, that was more than enough to take them into halftime with a 25 point lead.
Of note, before the game Jalen Rose did a little segment on prop bets, and he took the under on Marcus Smart getting at least 6 assists. Smart had 7 in the first half.
Marcus Smart was a key player for the Celtics at both ends of the floor in the first half. However, his shot was not falling. At halftime, his line was 2 for 11 from the field, 1 of 5 from three, for 7 points. But he also added 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and a steal, and did not turn the ball over. At one point he was 1 for 10, including,with under a minute to go, a sequence where he missed a 2-foot bunny, got his rebound, missed the layup, and then Miami coming back with a Butler 3-point play at the other end, cutting the Celtics lead to 23. A 5-point swing bcause Smart missed 2 close in shots. But Smart ended the half by hitting a 15 foot jumper with 2 seconds left.
In the third quarter, Miami did do a Jimmy Butler-fueled run that cut the Celtic lead to 17, but that was as close as they got. One thing that helped the Celtics in this quarter was Marcus Smart's shooting came back. While he only had one assists for the quarter, he led the team in scoring with 11 points on 4 for 8 shooting, 2 of 4 from 3, and added an assist, two steals, a block, and one turnover. The block was more of a steal, as a Miami player had gathered and started to go up for a shot when Smart removed the ball from his hands. The turnover was a dead ball one where a losse ball fight went out off of him.
The other notable thing in Q3: Coming off Jayson Tatum's 17 point second quarter, Miami decided to blitz him and Tatum made them pay. He scored 7 points on 1 for 3 shooting (plus 4 for 4 at the line), but led the team with 4 assists in the quarter. Miami blitzed him, he found the open man, over and over again. By the end of the third, the Celtics still had their 25 point lead.
Tatum and Rob did not play in the 4th, while Smart, Horford, and Brown played about half the quarter. While he was out there, Smart had 6 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, giving him an impressive 24 point/9 rebound/12 assist line for the game in 40 minutes. I would have liked to have seen a few fewer minutes on him in this much of a blowout and coming back from injury, but whatever - they will have White back for game 3 and won't have to lean so hard on him. I think he stayed out a little longer than the other starters to try to get him his triple double, but eventually they took him out.
Lots of garbage minutes. The only notable things to happen were Malik Fitts not getting to play for some reason and Nik Stauskas, apparently our 4th string PG, getting hurt and having to be replaced by Pritchard.
The Celtics were without Derrick White, who left the team for personal reasons (birth of his son Hendrix James White), but they got Marcus Smart AND, in a late day surprise, Al Horford back. For only the third time in the playoffs, the Celtics rolled out their preferred starting lineup: SMart-Brown-Tatum-Horford-Rob for this one.
The game did not get off to a great start for the Celtics. They were making some poor decisions at the offensive end and, simultaneously, Miami was killing them on the glass. At one point in the game Miami had 5 offensive rebounds to the Celtics' 7 defensive boards, which explains how Miami was able to build a lead that eventually got up to 10 points (18-8). The Celtics defense looked kind of shaky in the early going, but 90% of that was not controlling their defensive glass.
Ime called a timeout with the Celtics down 15-8, and the team did respond. After giving up a 3 to give Miami it's biggest lead of the game, they ran off 5 straight points and looked to be getting into a groove, when Jayson Tatum drove and picked up an offensive foul, his second foul of the game, and was taken out with 4:14 left in the first.
The score was 18-15 Miami when Tatum went out, but the Celtics closed out the qyarter with a 20-6 run behind a barrage of threes - at the end of the first, the Celtics were 9-11 from three and led 35-24.
Obviously the Celtics were not going to shoot 82% from three for a whole game, so they neede to find other ways to win. At the beginning of the second quarter, they mostly did it with defense. Rob was back in at the start of the quarter, and this part of this game was the best the Celtics defense has looked since before Rob hurt his meniscus. The stats only credit Rob with one steal and one block in 7 minutes in this quarter, but it felt like much more than that. He was a real factor changing the way Miami players felt about the paint. I think his steal was credited on a play where Miami tried to lob it over him and he went up and got it and started the Celtics transition.
The Celtics' 3-point shooting did cool (only 3 from 8 in the second), but Tatum put together astrong offensive quarter, leading the team with 17. Combined with the defensive dominance, that was more than enough to take them into halftime with a 25 point lead.
Of note, before the game Jalen Rose did a little segment on prop bets, and he took the under on Marcus Smart getting at least 6 assists. Smart had 7 in the first half.
Marcus Smart was a key player for the Celtics at both ends of the floor in the first half. However, his shot was not falling. At halftime, his line was 2 for 11 from the field, 1 of 5 from three, for 7 points. But he also added 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and a steal, and did not turn the ball over. At one point he was 1 for 10, including,with under a minute to go, a sequence where he missed a 2-foot bunny, got his rebound, missed the layup, and then Miami coming back with a Butler 3-point play at the other end, cutting the Celtics lead to 23. A 5-point swing bcause Smart missed 2 close in shots. But Smart ended the half by hitting a 15 foot jumper with 2 seconds left.
In the third quarter, Miami did do a Jimmy Butler-fueled run that cut the Celtic lead to 17, but that was as close as they got. One thing that helped the Celtics in this quarter was Marcus Smart's shooting came back. While he only had one assists for the quarter, he led the team in scoring with 11 points on 4 for 8 shooting, 2 of 4 from 3, and added an assist, two steals, a block, and one turnover. The block was more of a steal, as a Miami player had gathered and started to go up for a shot when Smart removed the ball from his hands. The turnover was a dead ball one where a losse ball fight went out off of him.
The other notable thing in Q3: Coming off Jayson Tatum's 17 point second quarter, Miami decided to blitz him and Tatum made them pay. He scored 7 points on 1 for 3 shooting (plus 4 for 4 at the line), but led the team with 4 assists in the quarter. Miami blitzed him, he found the open man, over and over again. By the end of the third, the Celtics still had their 25 point lead.
Tatum and Rob did not play in the 4th, while Smart, Horford, and Brown played about half the quarter. While he was out there, Smart had 6 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, giving him an impressive 24 point/9 rebound/12 assist line for the game in 40 minutes. I would have liked to have seen a few fewer minutes on him in this much of a blowout and coming back from injury, but whatever - they will have White back for game 3 and won't have to lean so hard on him. I think he stayed out a little longer than the other starters to try to get him his triple double, but eventually they took him out.
Lots of garbage minutes. The only notable things to happen were Malik Fitts not getting to play for some reason and Nik Stauskas, apparently our 4th string PG, getting hurt and having to be replaced by Pritchard.
My son said to me after last night's game that he didn't see any way Miami beats the Celtics in the series. I was like, are you kidding me? There's a million ways (exaggeration, obviously) that Miami can win this. Injury, COVID protocol, Tatum throwing up a real stinker, Herro going off, Bam having a monster game, Boston going ice cold from three, Butler having another crazy night, hell, even Duncan Robinson showing up and hitting a ton of threes. Miami is an excellent team and for people to think this is over is to just ignore that. Plus, Lowry might yet be available to them. I am not sure the opinion here is very high on Lowry, but I think he's an impact player who has in the past given the Celts all kinds of fits.
I do think the Celtics, when both teams are at full strength, are better than Miami. In fact, I think that if all the four remaining teams are at full capacity, Boston's the best team of the group. But this is in no way a done deal. Not even remotely close.
That said, I like their chances.
Celtics likely won't shoot 50% from three each game (not impossible, but unlikely). Then again, they had some room to spare last night.
The big thing for me that changed outside of shooting was turnovers----16 in game 1, 9 in game 2. If they protect the ball like that and force Miami to earn points in half-court (not easy fast break) they are really in control of things. So while I continue to believe htey will win most every game they shoot 40%+ from 3, if they keep turnovers single-digit or so they are also going to be very, very tough to beat.
If I were Miami I'd think about more pure shooting out there---can you abandon Tucker (which may be out of their control) and reduce Vincent's minutes to get more Oladipo and Robinson out there to give you some additional offensive punch? Can you use Bam more as a point-center to initiate inside-out stuff? They desparately need scoring punch, and they may need to gamble on traps or zones defensively to get away with putting that additional scoring punch on the court. Spo is an excellent coach and I have to think he realizes Celtics have been stronger 7 of the 8 quarters and he needs to change some things ASAP.
The big thing for me that changed outside of shooting was turnovers----16 in game 1, 9 in game 2. If they protect the ball like that and force Miami to earn points in half-court (not easy fast break) they are really in control of things. So while I continue to believe htey will win most every game they shoot 40%+ from 3, if they keep turnovers single-digit or so they are also going to be very, very tough to beat.
If I were Miami I'd think about more pure shooting out there---can you abandon Tucker (which may be out of their control) and reduce Vincent's minutes to get more Oladipo and Robinson out there to give you some additional offensive punch? Can you use Bam more as a point-center to initiate inside-out stuff? They desparately need scoring punch, and they may need to gamble on traps or zones defensively to get away with putting that additional scoring punch on the court. Spo is an excellent coach and I have to think he realizes Celtics have been stronger 7 of the 8 quarters and he needs to change some things ASAP.
Agree they'll need to get creative if Tucker is out. Zone is tough--they did it a bit last night, and the Celtics carved it up, with Tatum and Horford getting middle easily.
The tough part about playing Robinson is that Butler and Herro aren't drawing enough help to force rotations and get him shots. He also doesn't seem to have that 2020 magic where he creates offense on his own via movement.
I won't rule out his having a big game or two, but the defensive end is going to get brutal against this Celtics team if the Heat have to play him big minutes.
I don't think Vincent lacks offensive punch. He's scored 17 and 14 points in the two games, on 10-20 shooting (5-10 each game). He's scored those 31 points in just 58 minutes, so pretty efficient. He's not a take-the-game-over kind of guy, and I guess guys like Robinson and the artist formerly known as Oladipo are capable of going nuclear, but Vincent certainly hasn't been holding them back.
Right, Vincent is fine. The Heat's problem is that they have a roster full of guys who don't hold you back, but don't have any guys who really warp defenses. Butler is miscast as a 1A imo, and would be amazing in the Jaylen 1B/2 role.
Obviously huge credit to Miami putting this team together on the fly without rebuilding, but they haven't been able to get the 1A scorer you need. They can sort of simulate it when Herro and Butler are both on, and when the shooting is lighting it up, but that's a tough way to win 4 games against the best teams.