Welcome to 2023 everybody.
Last night was gross.
When you do, results like this happen.
In some ways the Celts began 2023 getting a taste of their own medicine.
Perhaps this is just all part of the championship journey like NBA history suggests.
We see them pretty much in every one of the Celts 11 losses.
This isn’t a one off throw in game for Jaylen either which is nice to see.
In a game you needed your franchise guys to look like franchise guys, Jaylen rose to the occasion.
Remember during his struggles how many layups/floaters he would miss?
That shit drove me mad.
That’s….pretty good.
Especially on a team that tends to miss a fuck ton of layups.
Once he sees a couple drop from that zone, his three point shoot looks so much better.
That’s the power of confidence.
My only real question is why only 23 minutes?
I’m just saying whatever the next level is in his recovery/activation plan, let’s go there.
This man is ready
Rob looks like Rob.
That’s what these 2ish weeks have told me.
I’d maybe have switched those two.
What I love about Rob is I never have to question his energy or effort.
Rob doesn’t give a shit, he’s willing to die for this team.
I know Rob cares, which is why he’s so awesome.
More often than not if the Celts hit that number, things are going to work out.
The ball WAS moving last night, guys just couldn’t stop chucking up bricks.
What happened as a result of that ball movement was.
That’s basically every single box they usually need to check to win a game.
That’s why this shit is so annoying.
I know he had 25/7/6, but I didn’t really think he was that great overall.
Definitely more mid than MVP.
Given that he’s the best player, that’s a bit of an issue.
I just didn’t like anything about Tatum’s start.
In the 3rd quarter, it was the same thing.
He was aggressive, got to the line, and again led the team with 11 points.
Unfortunately, he didn’t score a single point in his 5:39 in the fourth.
The standards are higher, that’s just how it goes.
Not just for Tatum, but for every MVP candidate.
- Which brings me to Jokic.
God is he terrifying.
I’m not sure how you stop him.
If you don’t double, good luck handling that size.
It just has to be.
What he does makes no fucking sense.
When he’s also knocking down threes I’m not sure what the answer is.
It didn’t matter who the Celts tried.
Of his 30, 17 of it came against Al/Grant on 6-9 shooting.
Jokic didn’t miss against any other Celtics defender.
As we know by watching this team, everything comes back to confidence.
When NBA players feel confident, they overachieve.
Why was he confident?
Because of lazy/poor rotations/defense.
Stuff like this needs to be corrected
Sorry, not good enough.
I guess maybe the only one that isn’t completely terrible is the White play?
Smart with the poor rotation/lazy contest, same thing with Jaylen.
He didn’t even put a hand up.
Those are little things that sway a game, especially on the road.
Now it’s a 2 possession game with a ton of time left.
Instead, a lazy closeout/challenge helped push it back to double digits and a confident player felt even better.
Over the course of this game, these mistakes were everywhere.
Al loses his man in the corner, is slow to recover and doesn’t really contest.
What that does is it allows KCP to reset and take a clean look three.
When Hauser runs over, he also doesn’t even put a hand up, just like Jaylen.
They contributed to the Nuggets shooting performance just as much as DEN did.
The Celts simply love having these single quarter where they turn the ball over 5+ times.
When you’re not making shots, it certainly doesn’t help to turn the ball over.
The guy gets fouled and dunks through contact, and it’s basket interference.
- Of course a big part of last night was the 40 minute stoppage due to the Rob dunk.
I’m sure people were maybe upset about the delay and all that, but not me.
That pressure would crush me no doubt about it.
Not my problem anymore.
I’m just happy nobody on either side got hurt, that would have been a disaster.
- You would think that the more rest the Celts get the better they look right?
I have no fucking idea
The Celts shoot something like 43/31% on 2 days rest.
2-7 while rested and you’re able to’t make a fucking shot?
How can anyone explain that.
On what planet does that make any sense?
We all want rest for the players, but why is it making them worse?
The Ugly
- This was easily the worst Marcus Smart game of the season.
Just really poor on either end.
Just like when Smart throws up a good performance they look unbeatable.
Last night, he was horrible and the result isn’t that surprising.
- The concerning part is Malcolm Brogdon also gave you nothing.
That’s the whole reason he’s here right?
Well, what do we do when he’s also playing some brutal basketball?
Or has it been the opposite?
I’m not just talking about the poor shooting slump he’s in.
I’m also talking about his decision making and how the offense seems stagnant.
These are things Smart and Brogdon need to thrive at, and last night they were both brutal.
- It goes without saying that the 9-33 (27%) from deep can live here.
The beauty of that number is 31 of that 33 were either open or wide open.
Truly impressive how such a good shooting team can be so bad with clean looks.
The issue isn’t an approach thing.
The Celts are generating clean looks for the most part.
It’s an execution problem.
Just be below average and these are wins!
That’s all I ask.
If you want to stink, fine!
It’s the sub-30%’s that absolutely kill you.
I want to see a pissed off team that’s annoyed with how they played last night.
You do that, SGA will end your life.
