For some, like Smart and Jaylen, they’re clearly hurt and not ready to be back yet.
Instead, what we got was one of the most thrilling performances of the year.
Giannis had to play 45 minutes in this game and played the final 19:55 straight.
Jrue had to play 43 minutes.
I’d be pretty embarrassed frankly.
In the end, they ran out of gas which was disappointing, but who could blame them.
Their 3rd game in 5 nights.
While the focus will be on a moral victory of sorts, we do also have to keep perspective.
Instead, things are tied 1-1 and the lead is down to 0.5.
I won’t disagree if you tell me this was a missed opportunity, because it technically was.
That matters on some level.
Something tells me you add the talent that was missing, and things probably look even better.
With all that said, let’s dive in.
The Good
- I am quickly running out of things to say about Derrick White.
What a fucking luxury that is.
I dunnno, maybe Brad knows what he’s doing.
This was a big time performance from a big time player, even in the loss.
With no starter talent around him, he still found ways to be effective.
There was no hesitation on his jumper or his offensive approach.
What a player, what a Celtic.
- Speaking of Brad Stevens additions, how does everyone feel about Mike Muscala?
Still think he won’t even be able to see the court in a playoff series against MIL?
In his first test against MIL, I’d say he passed with flying colors.
It’s true that he too ran out of gas late, but who could blame him?
Muscala played 43 minutes in this game, which is the most he’s played IN HIS ENTIRE CAREER.
Before last night, his previous high was 38 minutes, and that came in 2019.
So yeah, was his airball 3PA down the stretch tough to stomach?
Let’s check in on the defensive end when it came to Moose’s night
Pretty good!
In their playoff series, he shot under 45% in 4 of the 7 games.
In their game on Christmas, he shot 40%.
Last night, just 46%.
Look at that frontcourt production guarding Giannis.
What other teams' reserves bigs are having that throw in of individual success against such a dominant force?
My guess is not many, if any.
This is why I also don’t really get the Grant hate last night.
Yes, he had a very very bad moment in a very very big spot.
That means the Celts were outscored by 17 points in the 6 minutes he sat.
They have multiple guys on the roster willing to die to make it take a charge.
And they do a great job at contesting at the rim without fouling.
- That first quarter might have been the most intoxicating display of Celtics basketball I’d ever seen.
A 35-27 start, I loved how they came out.
Do people buy into his shot being back yet?
You want to talk about a legit run, how about Starter Sam Hauser????
He’s one of the few that we see really move without the ball and get the defense moving.
With his defense also being more than passable, Hauser should absolutely be in the playoff rotation.
I’m not sure what else people need to see.
- 15/6/6 for Blake in his 24 minutes.
The Bad
- Unfortunately, the shorthanded Celts weren’t able to overcome their problem areas.
We know that when this team struggles on the glass, bad things tend to happen.
In this game, MIL won the rebounding battle 52-44 and had 10 OREB for 15 2nd chance points.
Up 4 with 5:19 left, Middleton grabbed an OREB and scored, to make it 107-105.
At the 1:56 mark, the Bucks secured 2 more OREBs.
At the 0:35 second mark, Joe Ingles grabbed another one.
The Celts late game rebounding has to get better, especially against big teams like MIL.
- Then of course, there were the TOs.
Then the 3rd quarter happened and the turned it over 5 times.
In the 4th, there were 3 more TOs.
In OT, you’ve got the option to add 3 more.
Seems pretty important in a game you lost by 6.
- I honestly don’t really know where to put the game of Malcolm Brogdon.
He was both really good and really bad all at once at various times in this game.
- I can say with certainty that Payton was not good.
it’s possible for you to hunt him defensively.
If he’s also then not going to really make his threes, you could’t play him.
That’s sadly his reality at the moment.
I think a lot of the uproar is over Joe’s presser
but he’s very clearly trolling here.
He’s not going to say “Rob isn’t a good matchup” out loud.
He’s not going to say they were doing it for health reasons out loud.
I wouldn’t worry too much about last night.
- Listen, credit to Jrue Holiday.
But the 50 footer was bullshit.
It doesn’t matter who they play or who takes it, every single time it goes in.
I don’t understand it, they even go in when contested!
There has to be a way to track this information so I want to raw numbers.
The Celts have to lead the league in this bullshit.
Maybe you thik Grant should have never even touched the ball in that situation.
I don’t really have a problem with that, I just have a problem with his decision.
But in that moment, with that little time left, you’re free to’t hesitate.
You have to just take that shit with confidence and live with the result.
As we saw, the alternative wasn’t much better than a potential Giannis block.
Of course, it’s also true that Joe could have stopped this from even happening.
As soon as he saw the play he could have called timeout.
In that game, the defense wasn’t really set, he just made a bad decision/TO.
In that instance, I think most should be OK with trusting Tatum to make the right play.
In this situation, the defense was set.
It was wipe the Celts were getting stonewalled.
Hey, shit happens.
I would argue don’t give up a 13-2 run to end OT, but that’s me.
This is a moment Joe will learn from and that can only help.
It’s just not an effective offensive strategy.
We saw it in the playoffs and we saw it again last night.
If that means someone else has to step up and create, then so be it.
That’s the beauty of having both Brogdon and White on the floor right?
In the end, a loss is still a loss.
You don’t get 0.5 wins for a moral victory.
So for that, the result stings a little bit.
If anything, I feel even better than I did before the game even happened.
