Take it up with Adam Silver for all I care.
The point is, multiple Raptors did a little crying about it.
Their broadcast did some crying about it.
Unfortunately for the Raptors, this is sort of turning into a one sided affair ever since the Bubble.
It’s just a matchup nightmare for them at the end of the day.
I can be annoyed with how they played and happy they won all at the same time.
Usually, if you play poorly on the road it’s a loss in this league.
Hell, the Nuggets just lost to the Pelicans on the road because they had a stinker.
It happens to everyone.
Instead, the Celtics executed down the stretch and rose to the occasion in the biggest moments.
The Good
- 10 days ago, we witnessed Jaylen Brown’s worst performance of the season.
See for yourself
Since that PHI disasterclass, the Celtics are 4-0.
He has to be efficient.
That is exactly what we saw last night.
The Celtics have both!
Having both fucking rules!
Having both guys is a blessing, simple as that.
The same way it’s on Tatum to do the same for Jaylen.
Sure it’s great when you also get balance, but it starts with the Jays carrying.
What the Celtics did to end the first half last night was something religious.
Calling it Celtics porn doesn’t really do it justice.
This was something biblical.
It was like Walter White’s Blue Sky in basketball form.
I’m probably at a comfortable 17.
Basically any time he touches the basketball or really generally does anything.
His defense is incredible.
The way he impacts shots while also mixing in disrupting passing lanes is getting a little out of hand.
The Tatum/Brown era Celtics have never had anything like this.
There’s a good reason for that.
In Post Ups, Porzingis currently ranks in the 100th percentile in post up offense.
60% score frequency / 10% FTA frequency
Welcome to your new end of game weapon folks.
No longer do the Celtics need to rely on Tatum to do everything at the end of games.
No longer do we have to worry about Jaylen maybe forcing something into traffic late trying to create offense.
Just give the ball to KP and let him put it in the basket.
The whole point is finding easy baskets late in games.
The more you stand around and dribble, the worse things get.
Suddenly things are more open for Tatum and Brown.
Suddenly Derrick White is open in the corner.
This is Brad’s vision, and KP has done nothing but validate it since the second he arrived.
Then there’s the Derrick part.
Beautiful basketball, better execution.
- If I were to show you this picture, what would be your favorite part?
Sometimes it was a nice lob out of the P&R.
Sometimes it was shit like this
(yes this was an excuse to watch that play again.
I mean look at it!)
Make the defense actually have to try.
Outside of Tatum/Pritchard, the rest of the Celts were 14-30 (46.6%) from three.
Because they were all great looks coming off great ball movement.
- Sam Hauser is just flat out good.
He is a good defender.
Go argue a wall.
- Hard to have too many quarters than what we saw in the 2nd.
Not often you win a frame 39-17 with 62/50% splits.
- Is Al Horford finding his jumper again?
His 7 3PM over his last two games are more than he had made the entire season.
Another game where the Celts needed him to make crucial big time open threes, and he delivered.
That’s not even debatable.
The Celts currently own the 26th best offense in the 3rd quarter to start the season.
Defensively they’re solid, coming in with the 2nd best 3rd quarter defense, but offensively?
It’s almost more likely they fail to break 20 points than not.
They do deserve credit for coming out firing, making their first 4 3PA in 90 seconds.
The Celts had an 8 point lead heading into that timeout, so they effectively did stop the bleeding.
This issue is what came following the timeout.
Immediately the Raptors went on an 8-0 run before Jaylen punched back with a three.
The point is, that focusing on the lack of a timeout call during that stretch is misguided.
The Celts locked in after the early barrage of threes, they simply fell apart immediately after the timeout.
Those things aren’t always the cure-all that people sometimes think.
Not only did it feel like he had no interest in being aggressive, he finished with 0 FTA.
That’s not it.
Tatum finished 8-22 (1-11), yet the Celtics still won.
The Celtics went 9-5 in those games.
We’ve been here before.
I think he’ll be OK, but man was it frustrating.
It felt like he was coasting right from the start.
On the other hand, nobody is playing crazy minutes so maybe it’s no big deal.
- I am terrified about Jaylen’s groin injury.
Fucking Adam Silver and these goddamn courts.
I want to like them, I do think some look cool, but what the hell.
How can I support things that are injuring players?
Groin injuries are no joke either, this is serious business.
All because Adam Silver’s new courts are bullshit?
Between that and the parquet denial, Silver is really getting on my nerves with this.
- Who had Porzingis leading the NBA in techs?
Officials are weird with him this year.
The Ugly
- The rule is pretty simple.
The Celts win 5 in a row, we skip this section until they lose again.
They’ve earned it.
Vibes are great right now, at 10-2 the Celts own the best record in the NBA.
With MEM and CHA up next, now is the time to keep this train moving forward.
Take those games seriously and you’ll be able to sit everyone in the the 4th quarter.
That’s what I can’t wait to see.
Is this team going to be mature and not overlook opponents just because they stink?
