The closest might be Kobe, but this Steph shit is another level.
I just can’t escape him.
Prior to last night’s game I put out this tweet
Because I could feel it in my bones.
Ever Since that Game 4, it’s been nothing but pain, all via that man.
If the Celts had this punch in of success against someone, what would we say?
We would say they own that ass.
Well, Steph Curry owns that ass.
What else do you want me to say about it?
If he has a chance to bury the Celts, he does it.
Down double digits in the 4th quarter?
Down 7 with 4 minutes to go?
33 for Curry with 6 3PM and 24 for Klay with 6 3PM.
With that said, let’s dive in.
The Good
- Few things in life annoy me more than wasting awesome Derrick White performances.
Big picture, that’s exactly how they need him to play.
This doesn’t just mean 3PA either.
- Hard to not love everything we saw from Neemias Queta.
I sort of joke that Queta is Rob-Lite, but watching him……..he’s kind of Rob-Lite.
That’s really all I’m looking for in Queta minutes.
I also don’t think this means Luke Kornet should never play.
He’s been fine, and is a much better defender.
- In terms of the stars, Jaylen pulled his weight.
For whatever reason, he was sadly iced out int he fourth quarter (2 FGA).
That’s…not great.
I’ll take 28/8/7 on 10-22 (1-4) with good defense from the #2 option.
- Really strong minutes from both Oshae Brissett (3-3) and Payton Pritchard (4-6, 3-5).
Mind you, those 28 assists came even with the team shooting 41/29%.
Give me that throw in of passing/ball security every day of the week.
The Bad
- Alright, now to the real stuff.
Let’s start with the first issue, which for me is defense.
Holding the Warriors to just 1 quarter under 30 points is just asking for Steph to bury you late.
The worst part is these fuck ups come in the biggest moments.
Let me ask you, have you seen a play like this before?
You know he’s looking for that pullup 3, and Al is way too far back.
Letting him walk into an uncontested 27fter is asking for death.
That shot is a layup for him.
That seems like a bad idea to me, but what do I know?
That shouldn’t surprise anyone.
Because this is not a last night thing.
For whatever reason, Tatum has a mental block against GS.
With Tatum, it will always come down to his decision making.
Not just as a playmaker, but when it comes to his shot selection.
Settling and taking that many a night despite being so inefficient with them is not maximizing his skillset.
Especially when he’s also so effective in drives.
Shooting a lot of 3s isn’t a problem.
The types of 3s the Celtics/Tatum take are the issue.
Again, everyone knows he sprained his ankle.
But he also played 40 minutes.
The issue was there was more settling than not.
A perfect example of this is the final shot.
Instead, he didn’t.
This is entirely too predictable and something we’ve seen Tatum do a thousand times before.
If you’re looking at things that might concern you for the future, this is one of them.
Until he realizes that, you’re going to see a whole lot more of these types of possesions.
For example, in the 4th quarter, 12 of their 22 FGA were 3PA.
I’m sure some would deem that too many.
Hauser hits 1 or 2 of those, the entire 4th is different.
They did do other things, they just missed those shots too.
There will be more games this season that the Celtics lose.
Chances are, in those games they will shoot poorly from 3.
That makes them….just like every other team in the NBA.
That makes little sense to me.
Getting a good clean look is getting a good clean look.
That process is fine.
You just don’t like that the open shot didn’t go in.
They just couldn’t buy a bucket.
Look, if the Celts respond tonight on their B2B in SAC, last night is pretty much whatever.
The Clippers are the hottest team in the NBA and the Lakers on Christmas certainly won’t be easy.
If they do, things are going to get out of hand rather quickly.
