What’s eerie is how similar this game was to that first meeting.
The Celts magic number to secure the 1 seed is just 3 with 13 to play.
All that matters now is seeing how they react to certain in game situations and health.
That’s the benefit of being locked in from Game 1 through Game 69 (nice).
With that said, let’s dive in.
Just like we saw in that Game 7 back in 2022.
Payton Pritchard wants ALL THE SMOKE and that’s why we love him.
He’s a dawg.
It’s like a way better version of Joe Mazzulla the player.
Oh, and he’s played in every game this season.
They do not have the wing defense to handle the Celtics' two best players.
They are too old, too slow, and not long enough.
Jae Crowder and Khris Middleton aren’t getting younger or quicker.
Malik Beasley isn’t going to morph into some sort of lock down defender.
Dame is a disaster on that end.
To ignore that reality is simply living in denial.
Just look at how Tatum played in this game.
Early, he got whatever he wanted and barely missed, finishing the first half 8-11.
- When I say Al Horford is perfect I mean it.
while ending the night a team best +15.
- One fun part of this current 7 game winning streak has been the play of Aggressive Derrick White.
The Bucks do not have the point of attack defense to limit the bigger Celts guards.
- I loved how Jaylen once again took the toughest defensive assignment.
It’s part of what makes him so awesome.
When the best players step up and do shit like that, everyone else falls in line.
Also, talk about redemption.
Those two missed FTs in the 4th quarter were a disaster.
Something that absolutely cannot happen in that moment in a close game.
So what does Jaylen do?
- That’s where I’d like to go next.
It’s hard to keep track really.
The point is, at this point of the season these games mean nothing.
The standings are locked.
Getting those reps in now can only help, regardless of the result.
If they fail, it gives them things to work on.
So while the collapse was bad, very bad actually, there’s value in how the Celtics responded.
Since the CLE/DEN losses, the Celts have basically had nothing but blowouts.
While those are fun, we know the Celts can blow teams out.
The Celtics will be tested in a playoff series.
I’d say there are two ways to look at the Porzingis showing.
The first is this is basically what the playoff fear looks like.
That doesn’t mean he’s no show, it just means we haven’t seen it yet.
In fact, it’s been awful.
That is objectively terrible.
When you do that you see the Celtics have a 118.7 DRTG.
In the 3 games, Dame is putting up 26.7 a night on 49/42% splits.
In the 4th quarter alone, he’s averaging 11.0 points on 66/71% splits.
- I’m starting to think maybe Rudy Gobert had a point.
I just found it interesting that this game was a blowout and suddenly the whistle changes for one side.
Next thing you know, the game is close.
I’m sure it’s all just a coincidence that it came in a Scott Foster game.
Nothing to see here!
- It goes without saying everything minus the clutch time execution was pretty gross in that 4th quarter.
You know when clutch play doesn’t matter?
If you simply maintain your big leads.
The Ugly
- Nope, not until they lose again, rules are rules!
I think we’ve seen enough at this point.
That’s really all that’s left for them to do.
