The top end talent is ridiculous.
Not perfect of course, but ridiculous.
Remember, this is the worst the Celts are going to look.
Considering how it looks right now, that’s pretty damn exciting.
While the blowout was fun, try not to focus so much on the score.
None of that shit matters in these games.
What matters is what you see.
How do certain combinations look together?
How are Joe’s adjustments?
How’s the spacing?
How quickly does it look like the new guys are picking things up?
How’s the fit?
To all of it.
When you talk about two way performances, Tatum’s night last night is exactly what that looks like.
He was elite on both ends all while never forcing anything offensively.
Tatum’s post up frequency last year was the second lowest of his career since his rookie year.
It took a pretty substantial dip compared to the Finals run year.
What we’ve seen this preseason in that regard from Tatum isn’t just the scoring from the post.
That’s the good shit right there.
Even more encouraging than Tatum’s post game is of course his pull up 3.
Uhhhhhhh it looked great.
Tatum is shooting 41% from deep this preseason on 6 3PA a game.
I’ll take those numbers every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
I can’t help it.
What do you want me to do when this is what he’s doing on the court?
I also have to confess something.
I am nervous every second KP is on the floor.
Every screen he sets, I’m only looking at his knees.
Anytime he jumps or falls or basically anything freaks me the hell out.
But the basketball stuff?
Brad Stevens you fucking basketball savant.
Again I ask, what the hell is the defense supposed to do?
If you don’t over help on the Jays, that’s an easy two.
If you do, it’s a KP 3.
There’s also this.
This is the punch in of offensive versatility Brad was talking about.
Think of who was setting this screen before.
This is an entirely different safety valve that has me extremely excited.
- Can you feel it?
Can you hear it?
Mazzulla Ball is so goddamn back.
Nothing felt forced or that the team was settling.
That is Mazzulla Ball.
Play within the offense, move the ball, and if you’re open you better fucking shoot it.
Again, that doesn’t seem fair.
They had 15 3PM before they even broke a sweat.
- While Tatum and KP did most of the damage, I also thought Jaylen played pretty well too.
Jaylen just looks extremely locked in to me right now.
But in terms of a hierarchy or shit like that?
We have no evidence that suggests the Jays aren’t ready to embrace their new added firepower.
- Holiday had a little bit of a turnover problem, but I’m not sweating that too much.
He’s been on the team for like a week.
I do continue to laugh that this is basically just Marcus Smart performances with better efficiency.
They basically kept the status quo and then added a 7'3 offensive wizard.
It’s pretty clear that Sam Hauser has won the backup wing spot.
The same is true for Pritchard.
Sort of like this
3 more 3PM off the bench, Payton Pritchard’s tremendous preseason continues.
They are giving up wayyyyyy too many points.
Just go back to last November.
He’s shooting just 30/12% this preseason which….is not good.
I expected the struggle from deep, but around the rim I need those to be buckets.
- DNP-CD for Queta was disappointing.
Feels like he’s going to stay on his Two Way, otherwise why not play him?
- What the hell was that whistle in the 3rd quarter?
In the bonus in 4 minutes?
A 7-1 foul difference?
These are the exact turnovers Jaylen needs to eliminate from his game.
This is doing WAYYYY too much.
People joke about Jaylen’s left hand turnovers, but it’s not a dribbling thing.
It’s a decision making thing.
Driving into traffic is when he gets into trouble and turns it over.
Now, everyone else just standing around watching also isn’t great.
Notice your teammate is fucked and stuck and then move without the ball as a release or something.
- Classic Celtics taking a 27 point lead and letting it get down to 8.
That’s what told me they were truly back and ready for the regular season.
Overall, it’s hard to be anything other than extremely excited based on what we saw last night.
Again, forget the score.
One more fake game to go, and then the pursuit of Banner 18 is officially underway.
I cannot fucking wait.
