Celtics vs. Nets, Round 1 Discussion
- Thread starter tims4wins
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KD had a lot of Marcus on him as well. In every case, Boston was very physical with him, even through a tightly called game. That will have to eb physically taxing and wearing over a multi-game series. Kyrie and Curry also both must be going to bed tonight with a need for a hefty dose of Ibuprofen; they each took a lot of banging.
117.3 officially, actually just better than the Celtics' 117.5 (the Celtics had 1 more possession than the Nets, hence how they could win with a lower ORtg.)
https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/advanced/?sort=DEF_RATING&dir=1&Season=2021-22&SeasonType=Playoffs
Cool. Thanks for the correction. I just did the math by the box score but I guess the official numbers are more precise, esp. wrt free throws.
View: https://twitter.com/mzavagno11/status/1515819128258711553?s=21&t=QxphZMeWr4s1e2KDfh1teQ
View: https://twitter.com/reedwallach/status/1515818785164378121?s=21&t=QxphZMeWr4s1e2KDfh1teQ
View: https://twitter.com/henrysanchez/status/1515851424944603139?s=21&t=QxphZMeWr4s1e2KDfh1teQ
They’re not awful but they’re pretty bad. Everyone is focused on Durant’s bad shooting which obviously will not continue but the macro view is that this is the first game all year the Nets lost while shooting >65% true shooting. They shot very well, often on tough looks (lots of long 2’s) and the Celtics shot just okay given the quality of shots they earned. I think the Celtics are going to continue to earn more true shooting attempts with the rebounding and perhaps a turnover edge. If the Celtics can finish better at the rim and hit their open threes going forward they will win 3 more games before they lose 4.
Another factor is JB couldn’t hit a jumper for 3.5 quarters and he was still a Celtics high plus 10 on 9/19 because of his ability to just blow by all the Nets and get to the rim. As soon as they key in on Tatum they have no answer for JB. If his shots start falling it’ll make a difference too.
My enthusiasm is somewhat offset by Al needing to play 40 minutes due to ineffective play from Theis/Grant and the Celtics still allowing 114 points and winning by only 1.
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Rob Williams would massively tilt the TS%.
Nets better win Game 2 or this isn't going past 5 games
Timelord will abuse the hell out of them on offense. It'll be lob city, with how small that team is.
The Celtics missed a number of easy layups and an uncharacteristic number of free throws given the guys taking them. I still feel like we take this in 5.
This did seem like something significant; especially late in the game when it looked like a lot of Celtics were running out of gas; Brown really exploded to the basket on a series of drives and plays in transition; Brooklyn really lacks the athletes to keep up with him on the defensive end.
Tatum after the game said he was actually going to the rim for a rebound.. he probably expected Marcus to shoot too.
My takeaway from that game is that the Celtics should have an exploitable margin in this series, but they're going to have to really, really optimize in order to squeak it out.
On defense, they are probably better equipped than any team in the league to make Durant work, which is a big deal.
On offense, as @Cellar-Door said, they need to gameplan better to exploit the size mismatches that will be there in every BKN lineup. Hopefully this game gives them some film to have a better plan to attack that more consistently.
Finally, it was worth experimenting with 45 minutes for Tatum, but it was clearly too much. If they could keep him and Brown around 41 minutes each, that's only 7 non-Tatum minutes a game, which is better than having gassed Tatum out there.
On defense, they are probably better equipped than any team in the league to make Durant work, which is a big deal.
On offense, as @Cellar-Door said, they need to gameplan better to exploit the size mismatches that will be there in every BKN lineup. Hopefully this game gives them some film to have a better plan to attack that more consistently.
Finally, it was worth experimenting with 45 minutes for Tatum, but it was clearly too much. If they could keep him and Brown around 41 minutes each, that's only 7 non-Tatum minutes a game, which is better than having gassed Tatum out there.
This can quickly get into "if the Queen had balls, she'd be the King" territory... but I thought a big moment was the the bad blocking foul called on Smart against Kyrie with a few minutes left in the third. It was clearly a charge, as confirmed by Jackson and Van Gundy but led to him coming out of the game for White right when the team was rolling. In fact, I think it was one of two bad calls on Smart that should have gone the other way. The offense seemed to sputter after that with Smart out and White as PG. Now, maybe Kyrie winds up going bananas either way, but it felt like a small thing that could have kept the C's lead from totally eroding as it did.
With the exception of a several games in the bubble playoffs, Tatum had never gone above 42 minutes in a regulation game, regular season or playoffs, until yesterday.
Wasn’t just the 45 minutes either, was extremely high effort on both ends the entire time he was out there. Same for Jaylen, just in 5 less minutes.
With the workload Tatum has, trying to keep him around 40-41 minutes is for the best.
He's done it 8x out of his last 18 playoff games.
He did it a handful of times in the regular season. He could use 3 minutes off at the ends of Q1/Q3 and be fine (obviously more rest is optimal)
Please no +/- over the course of 1 game
My guess is the plan was for Tatum to come out for a minute or 2 at the 10 minute mark of the 4th, but the big Nets run made that difficult as they needed Tatum in the game to settle things down.
I would guess next game Ime will stick to his rest plan more carefully after seeing how gassed Tatum looked the last couple minutes.
The C's need to pick up Kyrie on-ball pressure much higher. Letting Ky bounce the ball up and step into a 3 (on PP & DW to start Q4) is inexcusable. Having Tatum guard him up high was the right play, JT just needs rotational help at the rim when Kyrie gears up to get downhill. AND by all means foul him hard at the hoop.... Irving Rules please
I think the minutes played situation will resolve itself as the series goes on. Clearly there are extra days built in for games 1, 2, and 3 and we should be reasonably optimistic TL comes back after that to help settle things (Al in particular). Ideally they can steal an extra few minutes when the bench players aren’t so nervous/tight/rusty from a week off too.
edit -just realized there is an entire thread dedicated to this discussion and someone already shared this view. Oops.
edit -just realized there is an entire thread dedicated to this discussion and someone already shared this view. Oops.
Yeah I saw a poster describe Tatum as a turnstile on defense in the 4th, I think he gave up two field goals, maybe three if you count the Claxton put back? Kyrie drove past him for two, but as Jackson pointed out in real time, those were on Theis for not rotating over. You’re not going to keep Kyrie infront if you 1 on 1, he’s just too creative.
Yeah I wish Tatum wasn’t too gassed to do much offensively in the 4th, but just his presence on the court is a big reason why Jaylen had clear driving lanes. The fact that Tatum only attempted 4 shots in the quarter was a pretty clear indicator dude was on fumes.
Game 2 I want to see less Jaylen PnR, and more of him off ball. He killed it when moving off ball yesterday, and it makes the offense much more unpredictable. He’s so much better getting to the rim off the catch, as opposed to against a set defense.
Things the Celtics need to do for game 2:
1. Tighten up a lot of mistakes borne of excitement/inaction.
2. Cut Tatum's minutes a bit; 45 and the whole second half may be too much.
3. Keep up the max effort style of play, which favors the younger Celtics.
4. Recognize that in the 4th quarter, the Nets aren't stopping Jaylen. In comparison to Tatum's 4th (12 minutes, 1-4, 2-2 at the line, 4 points, 1 turnover), Jaylen was much better after sitting the first 2 minutes. They need to go to him more late.
6. More minutes for Derrick White. White's numbers weren't great, but he was part of the closing lineup that won it. 28 minutes, 3 of 8 from the field, 1 of 4 from 3, 7 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 2 turnovers.
It might be too soon for this change, but maybe Ime needs to think about a less Big-centric offense than while KD is out. As a second big, Theis struggled some with his defensive rotations. And 41 minutes is too many for Al to do each and every game. With the emegence of Rob and the strong play from Al and Grant, the Celtics have not used a lot of the Smart-White-Brown-Tatum-Big lineup that we all expected when White arrived, but that is the lineup Ime used to close out game 1, and White is clearly a better player than Grant and Theis.
So, one thing Ime could do is this: start Grant at the 4, and make Theis Al's backup. When Grant is not on the floor, play smaller with Tatum at the 4, Brown at 3, White in the lineup.
1. Tighten up a lot of mistakes borne of excitement/inaction.
2. Cut Tatum's minutes a bit; 45 and the whole second half may be too much.
3. Keep up the max effort style of play, which favors the younger Celtics.
4. Recognize that in the 4th quarter, the Nets aren't stopping Jaylen. In comparison to Tatum's 4th (12 minutes, 1-4, 2-2 at the line, 4 points, 1 turnover), Jaylen was much better after sitting the first 2 minutes. They need to go to him more late.
9:51: enters game
8:45: bad pass turnover
8:43: steal
8:37: missed jumper
8:13: missed jumper
6:31: driving dunk
6:08: defensive rebound
5:56: defensive rebound
5:48: 2-point basket
4:18: defensive rebound
4:05: 3-point basket
3:46: foul
0:38.9: driving layup
Overall in 10 minutes: 9 points on 4-6 shooting (1-1 from three), 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 1 foul
5. Better work from Theis and Grant. Theis shot 1-6 in 20 minutes, scoring 4 point, getting 6 rebounds, and picking up 4 fouls. His defensive rotations were not great. Grant had 7 points on 3-7 shooting, 2 rebounds, an assist, and a block in 21 minutes, but he missed all four of his threes. On the theory that Al is not going to be the same level of beast he was in game 1, the Celtics need more here, from one or both of Theis and Grant.6. More minutes for Derrick White. White's numbers weren't great, but he was part of the closing lineup that won it. 28 minutes, 3 of 8 from the field, 1 of 4 from 3, 7 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 2 turnovers.
It might be too soon for this change, but maybe Ime needs to think about a less Big-centric offense than while KD is out. As a second big, Theis struggled some with his defensive rotations. And 41 minutes is too many for Al to do each and every game. With the emegence of Rob and the strong play from Al and Grant, the Celtics have not used a lot of the Smart-White-Brown-Tatum-Big lineup that we all expected when White arrived, but that is the lineup Ime used to close out game 1, and White is clearly a better player than Grant and Theis.
So, one thing Ime could do is this: start Grant at the 4, and make Theis Al's backup. When Grant is not on the floor, play smaller with Tatum at the 4, Brown at 3, White in the lineup.
Minor nitpick, but he was 4-7, missed another jumper at the 4:49 mark.
Need him to come out and have a much better first 3 quarters on Wednesday, but he was brilliant in the 4th, on both ends.
My wording was bad. By 'regulation game', I meant non-OT game. Tatum goes up over 42 routinely in OT games, rarely otherwise. With one exception: the bubble playoffs. He went over 42 in regulation 2 or 3 times in the Raptors series alone and against other opponents as well. Never before or since, until yesterday. I think the bubble was a weird enough situation that I don;t know as it applies. That said, Tatum's 4th quarter issue yesterday was not necessarily too many minutes - it could have simply been poor play.
As to whether Tatum should have had help vs Kyrie, maybe. But was really his job to stand still as a statue as Kyrie went by him? I'm... skeptical.
Yeah, Tatum got pretty gassed in some of those bubble games as a result of those minutes, and then clearly had issues down the stretch of some games against Miami.
Every time I watch that spin move it gets better and better. What a move.
Lost among every other thing that makes Kyrie an obnoxious jerk was his glacial pace in taking free throws. Was he always this slow?
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/u5xnta/highlight_kyrie_commuting_a_free_throw_violation/?ref=share&ref_source=link
This is what I see as well. Nets are a bad defensive team because they have few good defensive players - KD is good, but he has to conserve energy some. Brown is solid, but can only defend so much size. Kyrie is mediocre and regularly lazy. Drummond is useful in the paint but awful if you stretch him out at all. Claxton is a baby TL---he's effective in the paint and reasonably quick, but bites on upfakes, is not all that strong, and is out of position regularly. They tried VERY hard--- to HRB's point----but they are pretty limited as score/stats show.
Also, they are bad on the boards and really bad on transition D.....so the more those matter the worse Nets will look.
JT mentioned on Reddick's podcast that he was gassed in MIA because the TOR series was the "hardest" series he ever had to play. He didn't come out and say this but to me, he intimated that the Cs would have beat MIA if TOR hadn't hit that last second 3P to make it 2-1 instead of 3-0.
All the takes on Tatum being gassed and the call backs to the bubble Tor/Mia series are correct. This is why I didn’t want the Celtics to get the Nets in round 1 (not that they really had a choice). If this goes 7 and takes everything they have then they might not have enough for Milwaukee in round 2, who is likely coming off a 4-5 game series.
View: https://twitter.com/StoolGreenie/status/1516037452871348226?s=20&t=DLB_OwobDl48Mf8VVbudKw
Tatum defended Durant for 38 possessions (Jaylen, Al, and Smart combined for 27 possessions on KD). In those 38 possessions, Durant had 4 points on 2-6 shooting, with 4 turnovers and a blocked shot. No assists for KD either, since Tatum was able to check him without much help. Obviously KD was just missing shots he usually hits, too.
Kyrie went 3-4 against Tatum, 3-3 against Jaylen, and 3-5 against Theis.
Tatum defended Durant for 38 possessions (Jaylen, Al, and Smart combined for 27 possessions on KD). In those 38 possessions, Durant had 4 points on 2-6 shooting, with 4 turnovers and a blocked shot. No assists for KD either, since Tatum was able to check him without much help. Obviously KD was just missing shots he usually hits, too.
Kyrie went 3-4 against Tatum, 3-3 against Jaylen, and 3-5 against Theis.
Tatum was trying his best to funnel Kyrie to his help-side defender. If TL was there those shots probably get challenged.
IME is aggressive with player minutes, we saw it all season. Plus Tatum is a more important cog to this team. He'll play a lot, especially in games 1-4 with the amount of rest they are getting. We'd all like to see ~40mpg with regular breaks BUT as we saw yesterday if it's a close game his Peloton is getting as much use as my neighbors' wives.
Nice list---a few additional thoughts, some around the impact of size on rotations and plan:
1. Enourage ball handlers to ALL push the pace as Nets transition D was terrible. Smart did this pretty consistently but others less so. It's a real gap for Nets, and also pressures their weak depth to have to run more. White can do this more, as can Jaylen. Tatum some and Grant some. Horford probably shouldn't regularly---he had at least one turnover trying to push against a lot of smaller, slappy defenders.
2. While i agree on Theis' role being more limited in some ways, his size and rebounding hustle mattered and that is a big gap for Nets, especially when Drummond is out...Claxton is ok, Durant is ok, the rest of that roster is thin size-wise and not good on the boards. So figuring out the balance between stronger rebounding and better rotations on both ends as to Theis is likely to be a game-by-game thing
3. Smart and Jaylen were best on Irving; Tatum was just not able to stay with him quickness-wise when that switch happened and it looked a couple times like Celts sought that matchup out. Can only do so much with Kyrie, but focusing on the matchup late makes sense.
4. Punishing Nets size at other end should a theme---Smart posted up/drove a couple times and we should get more of that from him and also see more of that from Brown (who should be able to take anyone on him) and Tatum (unless matched up with KD). We likely won't get as much effective bullyball from Horford but we should keep trying that until it stops working.
5. All of above largely aggregates to "Nets need size" and even believing that overall, I do wonder if Nets will use less Drummond, who helps them on boards and some as a finisher but is SO bad when he has to switch. Even corpse of Blake Griffin might fit better for them in the rotation. But they simply don't have good choices---Drummond is also the only good rebounder on their team.
I still fear the Nets a great deal---they have two guys who you can't really defend and just have to hope don't kill you together. But I can't shake feeling Celtics just took their best shot and still pulled out a win. Nets aren't getting that same production from Dragic each night, and I suspect they won't get as much from Claxton either. Those in my mind likely make up for KD's off night. We'll see---Nets are very tough but also pretty limited in their current incarnation (no Harris/no Simmons) and so they have to outscore you and that has to come from just two guys, with a half-assist from Curry (who had a good first quarter and then disappeared)
By remaining absolutely still, both feet planted firmly on the court, in a manner that, oh, Guershon Yabuslele could have done just as well? I don’t buy it. I’ll certainly buy that he was supposed to have help there, but not that he was supposed to impersonate a traffic cone.
The issue here is not some theoretical ideal minute count. It is that 2 things happened: One, Ime’s use of Tatum was not merely “aggressive” but unprecedentedly so; two, for most of that quarter Tatum played poorly.
Nothing about Tatum being the Celtics best player means that it’s a good idea to use him in ways that undermine his value.
That said, it is only speculation that he was gassed. Maybe he was fine and his poor play had other root causes.
Tatum picked up his 7th assist midway through the second quarter and finished with only 8. He had 27 points after three and finished with only 31. He was a nonentity for most of the 4th quarter. If that becomes a trend, rather than a one-off, that’s a problem.
- Agree with others that the Nets defense is what we thought it was. They are small and not cohesive as a team. I haven't rewatched the 4th but it seemed like KI gave back a number of easy looks down the stretch which took away a lot of what he added, and obviously on the last play Durant was watching the ball instead of seeing what Tatum was doing.
- When your closing lineup has Brown, Dragic/Curry and Claxton...I don't know. That's exploitable even if the other two players are great (and KI's not great on the defensive end).
- I hope the refs are more consistent in the rest of the series. I don't think they were one-sided but there were just so many fouls called which favored the Nets (and then a lot of those calls went away in the 4th when the Cs were driving into the lane).
- Others have pointed out and I'm biased, but it feels like Brooklyn played one of their best games and still lost. If I'm the Boston coaches looking at tape there are a lot of things I can focus on to improve (nerves, pushing the ball in transition, attacking with Jaylen, using the size advantage) and not so much for the Nets unless they can suddenly start playing better team defense.
Agreed he did look traffic cone-ish, I'd still go with JT as the initial defender instead of PP or White.
Not to nitpick But it wasn't "unprecedented". You keep saying that, then adding caveats and it's just not true.
Tatum played over 42-minutes in two playoff games (they weren't OT) before the bubble. AND he would have played 42+ last season if they weren't busy getting blown out by Brooklyn.
I'm not sure it's a good or bad idea to play him more (probably bad) but IME's not calling the Hogan's or the Jurack's to check.
ALSO saying what Tatum did in the past has less bearing on what's happening now or in the future since he's bigger/stronger/more impt. than his 19-year-old self.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/t/tatumja01/gamelog-playoffs/
On the negative side, the Nets very nearly won despite KD having a subpar game, and while getting absolutely owned on the glass. It's not hard to imagine a scenario where Brooklyn wins some games here.
On the positive side, the Celtics won a game that it looked like the Nets were going to steal, while allowing Kyrie to go off for 39, and while allowing the Nets to shoot 53.8% from the field and 45.8% from three. It's not hard to imagine the Nets' shooting numbers going down and if they do, how in the world will they keep up with Boston?
On the positive side, the Celtics won a game that it looked like the Nets were going to steal, while allowing Kyrie to go off for 39, and while allowing the Nets to shoot 53.8% from the field and 45.8% from three. It's not hard to imagine the Nets' shooting numbers going down and if they do, how in the world will they keep up with Boston?
You guys are all excellent at evaluating the technical game - just watching the game (and staying away from the game thread because I know I can think some of the darker thoughts at times) I felt like there was a moment where the Nets relative experience was taking control of the game in the 4th and whether it was Ime taking that timeout or Horford or Smart or whomever, they weathered it and were able to stabilize the game late 4th. You can't practice that or simulate it in a regular season game. You've got a seasoned opponent throwing the kitchen sink at you in a game that if you lose makes the series look VERY different, and a relatively young team handled the onslaught.
One of the most helpful things this board highlights is basketball is really a game of runs and no lead is safe until very late - the biggest question this team was going to face in this series and all playoffs was how it would react to getting punched hard in the face by a veteran team that knows what it's doing. We took the punch. That we won the game is even better, but on a macro level a lot was shown yesterday in terms of composure in a big game setting.
I grew up on 80's Celtics and watching that 84 Lakers team (that had already won 2 titles together) unable to handle the big moments of the finals, when the Celtics hit them in game 2 and game 4 and 5 and then 7, they couldn't stand up to the moment whether home or road, and that experience steeled them to be able to do in in 1985 and then game 4 1987, its a process, there will be failure along the way, and hopefully yesterday was a step towards this group knowing they can hold up to real adversity in a playoff setting.
Not to overstate game 1 of a first round playoff series of course.
One of the most helpful things this board highlights is basketball is really a game of runs and no lead is safe until very late - the biggest question this team was going to face in this series and all playoffs was how it would react to getting punched hard in the face by a veteran team that knows what it's doing. We took the punch. That we won the game is even better, but on a macro level a lot was shown yesterday in terms of composure in a big game setting.
I grew up on 80's Celtics and watching that 84 Lakers team (that had already won 2 titles together) unable to handle the big moments of the finals, when the Celtics hit them in game 2 and game 4 and 5 and then 7, they couldn't stand up to the moment whether home or road, and that experience steeled them to be able to do in in 1985 and then game 4 1987, its a process, there will be failure along the way, and hopefully yesterday was a step towards this group knowing they can hold up to real adversity in a playoff setting.
Not to overstate game 1 of a first round playoff series of course.
KD may not be that bad again, but I highly doubt Kyrie's 18-30 is going to be oft-repeated in this series. They scored 62 collectively, which I think should be the expectation/average for them (though of course they may explode for more in a single game).
The rebounding piece the Nets won't be able to counter for reasons mentioned above. They don't have the size to match up with Boston on the glass and their best rebounder (Drummond) is awful at defending in space.
The Nets will win some games, but if these are the negatives from a BOS perspective, I'm happy because they should be the norm for the series.
It's a "next year" thing because even if he returns it's going to be limited in minutes/conditioning/integration but Simmons is a huge addition to the Nets roster---adding a shut-down wing defender with some size and adding another credible ballhandler (and one who can help Kyrie be an off the ball scorer and creator) is gigantic. He's nto a great rebounder, but he's better than what they have for sure. We'll see what he is next year, and how quickly KD declines (or doesn't) but it'll be a fun matchup for a couple years here...
Steve Jones Jr (worth a follow btw for general NBA) is breaking down some of what both teams are doing on this thread:
View: https://twitter.com/stevejones20/status/1516046019418546177
Jones was a video guy w/ the Grizz, then player development and an assistant coach for a couple years with the Nets in the Hollins era.
Two takeaways for me. The Nets are going to let Grant take 3s, especially at the top of the key. The Celtics don't care about Brown's 40% this year from 3 either, they are putting Horford on him and hedging way off the handoffs/picks, if he wants to take 3s up the arc, they'll let him.
Very much both teams saying "if this guy his 4+ threes on us so be it"
View: https://twitter.com/stevejones20/status/1516046019418546177
Jones was a video guy w/ the Grizz, then player development and an assistant coach for a couple years with the Nets in the Hollins era.
Two takeaways for me. The Nets are going to let Grant take 3s, especially at the top of the key. The Celtics don't care about Brown's 40% this year from 3 either, they are putting Horford on him and hedging way off the handoffs/picks, if he wants to take 3s up the arc, they'll let him.
Very much both teams saying "if this guy his 4+ threes on us so be it"
Everyone seems to be predicting that Simmons is going to go back to being the player he was.. until I see it on the court I’m not buying it. I don’t fully understand why he’s been out for so long.. if it’s a back injury.. why will it suddenly go away and not limit him the rest of his career? If it’s mental.. why would he suddenly be ok? Why would those issues not pop back up again?
what has people absolutely convinced that Ben Simmons is still ‘Ben Simmons’?
was It just Philly? Then why hasn’t he played in Bklyn? What am I missing?
Exactly right on Kyrie/KD. KD was below his norm, Kyrie was above his norm. You expect Kyrie to go off and get 35-40 in one of the games, and you expect the Nets to win that game. It's obviously huge that the Celtics withstood that barrage and shut him down when it most mattered. But between the two of them this is what we should expect every game; usually it will be KD taking over.
I assume Drummond will not see the floor again this series but I'm not Steve Nash.
Nets might rebound better, Celtics might make a few more layups, who the hell knows?
I'm making a lot of suppositions and am taking Ime's "we are prepared to play a series without (TL) but it would be great if he came back for this one" to mean that his ETA is Game 5 April 27.
Nobody here knows what sort of run Simmons can give Brooklyn if he even comes back. However he doesn't have to do anything but defend to be effective in these games. Imagine Sunday's game but with the Nets having another long player who can - in theory given his layoff- slow down one or both Tatum or Brown.
Frankly, if Simmons is at all ready, the Nets almost have to try him for a few minutes just to see if it will work.
Honestly his rebounding might help as much as his defense if he came back, those Brown/KD/Kyrie/Dragic and Brown/Kyrie/Mills/Dragic lineups got obliterated
As others noted, I definitely have ZERO idea what he is today or will be next year. But even a materially worse version of Simmons is an upgrade for this roster, and in ways that they need help. Your question---what is his deal now? is of course a reasonable one we all need to keep in mind
Some more information in what I hope to be a table below. White did about the same job as JB when one factors in time of possession. interesting that GW had the 5th most time guarding KI and held him to 0 points and 7 team points in the time GW was guarding KI. I'm sure the Cs has this filed for the coming games.
MIN |
PARTIAL |
PTS |
TEAM |
FGM |
FGA |
FG% |
3PM |
3PA | |
JB |
4:00 |
20.10 |
6 |
24 |
3 |
3 |
100 |
0 |
0 |
Al |
0:53 |
6.50 |
2 |
14 |
1 |
2 |
50.0 |
0 |
0 |
PP |
0:08 |
0.60 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
100 |
1 |
1 |
Smart |
5:48 |
26.50 |
10 |
24 |
2 |
5 |
40.0 |
2 |
4 |
JT |
1:56 |
10.20 |
6 |
23 |
3 |
4 |
75.0 |
0 |
1 |
DT |
0:44 |
4.30 |
11 |
11 |
3 |
5 |
60.0 |
2 |
3 |
White |
2:01 |
9.30 |
3 |
12 |
1 |
2 |
50.0 |
1 |
1 |
GW |
1:22 |
6.40 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
1 |
0.0 |
0 |
1 |
An example of things the C's need to clean up:
View: https://twitter.com/John_Karalis/status/1516082424207323136?s=20&t=b2LySw14qirGZxteQrs3kg
John Karalis: Horford switched on to Kyrie, forced him out to the 3pt line, then switched onto Curry and had him mostly smothered & was in a position to challenge when Theis stepped up & gave Curry the passing lane to Drummond. Al is pissed, yells "DON'T HELP" twice while wagging his finger
View: https://twitter.com/John_Karalis/status/1516082424207323136?s=20&t=b2LySw14qirGZxteQrs3kg
John Karalis: Horford switched on to Kyrie, forced him out to the 3pt line, then switched onto Curry and had him mostly smothered & was in a position to challenge when Theis stepped up & gave Curry the passing lane to Drummond. Al is pissed, yells "DON'T HELP" twice while wagging his finger
Great line (and point).
We were talking last night in the jimbo house about guys conserving energy on defense and that Durant, for his defensive awesomeness, does conserve on that end while Giannis doesn't really. That's a generalization of course, but it was more of an observation of Giannis and his unbelievable and unique motor.
Tatum was immense on both ends yesterday but clearly was gassed at the end. You don't want him conserving energy imo. Keeping him to 40 will be pretty damn important.