And you know what?
I apologize for nothing.
Last night was only the Celts' 28th game of the season against a team under .500.
I know I’m not a math guy, but they’ve played 70 games.
Well one area I can’t ignore is games exactly like last night.
What did you see when you watched that performance?
Over the previous two seasons, the Celts ended the year with double digit losses against teams under .500.
In both seasons that was the 2nd highest loss total of any top 6 seed.
It was very clear that they had a focus problem.
To put it clearly, they fucked around.
As I said, they are 29-13 this year and were 33-15 last year against good teams.
Their issue would be losing games they shouldn’t.
Taking an opponent lightly, thinking you could win just by showing up.
All the things a team does that ultimately isn’t ready to win a championship.
You know what a championship caliber wagon does?
You maintain a level of focus that I think really only comes from prior heartbreak.
With that comes consistent play, and with consistent play comes wins, and with wins comes titles.
What did we see last playoff run?
The Celtics fucked around.
They lost games they shouldn’t through bad basketball and self inflicted wounds.
They took their opponents lightly and paid the price.
The same sort of trend we saw during the year.
The Celtics have become a machine.
THAT is what is different about the 2023-24 Celtics.
Now, let us begin.
He’s legitimately turning into the exact player we all pretty much dreamed he’d be.
Every night he’s taking the best offensive player on the other side and giving them absolute hell.
A complete two way monster in every sense.
Oh, and the Celts have gone 11-2 over that stretch.
In other words, an NBA prime.
And the best part?
Even while on the biggest heater of his life, look where his mindset is at.
He comes in and plays 25-30 minutes and you’re going to get a show.
His development into a legitimate back up point guard has changed everything about his ceiling as a player.
No longer is he just some sort of all ball undersized two guard.
He’s a complete point guard now and to me that’s all due to hard work and opportunity.
18.8/4.2/10.5 on 51/43.9%
Pritchard is also averaging about 3.3 3PM as a starter.
You know what that’s close to?
Steph Curry’s career average as a starter in 3PM a game (3.9).
To me, this tells me they played Celtics basketball.
There was no playing with their food and they executed at a high level.
If you could hit that 30/10 mark, it puts the Celts in a tremendous position to win.
The data doesn’t lie.
When the Celts finish with at least 30+ AST in a game, they are 20-2 on the season.
When the Celts finish with under 10 TO in a game, they are 19-3.
When the Celtics have more than 30 AST and under 10 TOs in a game, they are 9-0.
It’s not overly complicated.
Ball security and ball movement are the foundation of any successful offense.
We all know what happens when they make their 3s above a 33% clip correct?
So yeah, this is what I want to bring with me into battle next month.
The way to the top of the mountain is through 30/10s.
If you were curious how the Celts got to that 30 AST number, the answer was the backcourt.
When the Celtics get good to great guard play, that’s how they win by a billion.
It’s March 23nd, we’re so fucking close.
Let’s see what they can do because the flashes in those 2:48 had my brain going places.
Watching Queta catch lobs and drop dimes like Rob used to do?
Seeing Jordan Walsh be the only Celtic on the roster willing to make an off ball cut?
JD knocking down catch and shoot 3s?
Jesus Christ when Brad cooks does that man cook.
The Bad
- Of course it can’t all be good.
Yes, there’s plenty of time for Jrue to rest.
I want to see how he navigates screens and if he protects that shoulder and maybe holds back.
Is that maybe some spinzone mixed copium?
But what other choice do I have other than to pray?
This is honestly one of the more fascinating parts of his season.
There are moments like the Nuggets loss where he’ll miss 7 in a game.
Last night, even in a game that didn’t matter, he was 4-7.
The point is this.
I think a fair compromise is 75%.
Leaving points on the board in a playoff game is the kiss of death.
They always come back to bite you.
And while I would never expect him to be perfect, that’s why 75% works.
Cut these games out where you’re having 3-4 missed FTs and keep it to 1-2.
- I don’t think Joe loved the Tillman/KP pairing, and we only saw Tillman play 19 minutes.
That’s not great, even if this is all with an EXTREMELY small sample.
The good news is this is exactly what the rest of the schedule is for.
- Pretty embarrassing to let James Wiseman actually look like an NBA player against you.
Watching him get whatever he wanted I thought for a second it was actually someone else.
Maybe I’m just not watching enough James Wiseman or something?
24/9 on 11-13??
The Ugly
- Rules are rules.
Up to 8 in a row no so who knows when we’ll be back.
