Yes CP3, Ayton, and Mikal Bridges played, but let’s not sugarcoat this performance.
Quite frankly, we’re at the point in the season where things like this can’t really happen.
It wasn’t there.
I talk a lot about keeping things in perspective, so let’s do that.
Games where the Celts are going to have to win ugly.
I’ll never be upset over shots not falling, that’s basketball.
Some games you get the BKN performance and sometimes you get the PHX one.
What should never change is your energy and effort.
That’s something you control, and it starts at the top.
We’re not in December anymore.
The trade deadline is next week, the All Star Break soon after.
With that said, let’s dive in.
Whatever slump he was experiencing in December is clearly over, and that’s a big deal.
White has given this roster more than enough to win.
Robert Williams is perfect
Sure that line doesn’t seem all that crazy, but watch him.
That’s the Rob of old.
I really only care about 2 things when it comes to Rob this season.
Does he look like himself while he’s on the floor
2.
Does his body hold up and respond well to playing basketball
That’s it.
That’s all that matters with Rob.
The good news is the answer is very clearly “yes” to both of those things.
That’s a GREAT sign for when the games truly matter.
Another game with 30 minutes, we’re officially back to normal Rob usage/rotations.
- Annnnnnd we’re done here.
We can move on to the meat of this blog.
Well, the Suns started this game missing their first 9 SHOTS.
They did not score a point until the 7:35 mark.
You would think the Celts took advantage of that right?
They choked away that moment.
Over that same period, the Celts only managed to score 7 points.
That’s….very bad.
Of course, you know what happened next.
The Suns saw one drop and immediately went on a run.
Before you knew it, it was 8-7 (and Joe called a timeout!
That came at the 5:45 mark of the first quarter.
The Celtics never even tied it again for the rest of the game.
No ties, and no lead changes in the ensuing 42 minutes.
If that’s not embarrassing, what is?
- It’s hard for me to really be upset with Al.
He’s a gift from God.
Whether it’s Tatum, Al, Grant etc, when they are bad they are BAD.
Now let’s be clear about something with this.
In these 6 games, the Celts have failed to break 100 in 3 of them.
Their offense ranks 21st in the league with an AST% of 22nd.
As you’re free to imagine, their 111 points a game are also 22nd.
That’s been fine.
But Smart’s value to this team is just as crucial on the offensive end.
How many times did you see the Celts just standing around last night/in all these losses?
The Celts finished with just 18 assists in this game.
That is not a coincidence.
The issue we’re currently experiencing is with Smart out, nobody is really commanding that facilitator role.
The starters were actually pretty damn good.
Those two actually have a negative point differential while sharing the floor together.
Last night as it’s possible for you to see by the graphic above, those lineups really struggled.
- Usually, when the Celts play like shit, we can guess where they fucked up.
Another 14 last night that led to 16 points.
Getting killed on the boards?
That’s losing basketball.
Missing all their 3PA?
I’d say 10-38 (26%) fits the bill.
No energy, careless with the basketball, miss all their 3s, miss FTs.
We got all 4 in this game and wouldn’t you know, they lost.
They never found a way to get that big momentum stop and bucket to swing the game.
Instead, they turned it over or gave up an AND1, shit like that.
The Ugly
- Depth in theory is great.
Every title team needs quality depth.
OK, I made up that word but you know what I mean.
Depth is only valuable if it actually shows up and helps.
When it does nothing but hurt?
What good is it really?
We all want rest for the Jays right?
What do we think happened in this game?
It starts of course with Grant, who has been going through it for some time now.
Honestly, the reaction is a little much if we’re being honest.
It feels a lot like Year 2 Grant reactions and those were clearly overreactions.
He just needs to wake the fuck up and stop being a negative on the court.
That’s an issue.
My question is why?
He was a -28 to Grant’s -24.
That shit cannot happen on a night when they desperately needed their bench to be productive.
- But of course, the biggest issue in this game was Jayson Tatum.
They are completely different players.
This is what I mean when I say it starts at the top.
Tatum cannot no show like this.
He didn’t take a FTA in the entire first half!
He was reactionary, which tends to end with these types of performances.
When you are in the MVP conversation, the expectations are different.
When you’re on a title contending team, the expectations are different.
They took two steps backward.
They just need to actually play like that and not a Lottery team and things will be fine.
