New roster, new coaching staff, same old heart attacks.
I mean you almost have to respect it at this point.
There was still a meltdown, but it wasn’t fatal.
It’s hard to say right now.
Instead, the Celts locked in over the final 4ish minutes and closed this game out on the road.
That’s a positive.
But as I always say, perspective is important.
Having said that, a win is a win and that is all I care about.
Win ugly, win by a blowout, I don’t give a shit.
Just find a way to win.
For the Celtics, that means doing it in excruciating fashion.
Let’s dive in.
Basically, the Celts didn’t even utilize one of his greatest offensive strengths and hestillwent nuts.
That feels like cheating.
It’s just something we’ve never seen the Jays have at any point in their tenure.
Then there’s the new reality that you could’t really double Tatum late in games anymore.
The Knicks tried it with 1:30 left and KP casually hit the biggest bucket of the night.
Those two areas show you exactly what problem Brad was trying to fix with this move.
It’s a little wild it played out this way immediately, but the vision is clear.
Then you add in everything he did defensively and holy shit.
I think what stood out most to me is defensively KP almost never gets baited with fakes.
He just stands there with his arms up and waits for you to shit your pants.
He finished with 4 blocks, but his impact at the rim was more than that.
Oh, and let’s not overlook the team leading 10 FTA.
That’s going to be a very big deal for this offense all year long.
They got maybe 10 FTA from Al Horford all year last year.
Porzingis did it in his first game.
- On almost any other night, we’d be starting the blog with the performance of Jayson Tatum.
The second he found a guard on him, it was time to go to the rim.
He and Porzingis were absolute forces on both ends to help the Celts build their early cushion.
Overall though, this was the MVP throw in of performance we have grown to expect from Tatum.
This is just who he is.
What stood out obviously was his impact on the defensive end.
So, even if you think you beat him, he has a knack for still finding the ball.
Then there was his matchup with Julius Randle.
- I’m happy to report that Bald Derrick is just as awesome as we hoped.
Like Jrue, it wasn’t flashy but man was it impactful.
Let’s just see what it looks like.
- No real complaints for Joe, which is a win.
The Bad
- Alright, not the meat of the game.
The Celtics inability to limit offensive rebounds.
I mean, this was a disaster.
It wasn’t just Mitchell Robinson either (he had 3).
That shit is losing basketball, we know this.
How many playoff games did this team lose because of offensive rebounding and 2nd chance points?
That has to be cleaned up.
The one on KP was terrible and the one on Jalen Brunson 30 seconds after was terrible.
The games do NOT need the officials inserting themselves in the big moments late in a close game.
They didn’t call that shit all night only to go nuts with it in the 4th.
I didn’t get that same feeling last night.
That was very 2022-23 of them and it was everything you hate to see.
Cold shooting, turnovers, no energy, it was the classic Celtics 4th quarter collapse.
Little did we know things would get a whole lost worse starting around the 7 minute mark.
The Ugly
- Let’s talk about the Jaylen CTE stretch.
Jaylen doesn’t have a left hand issue, he has a decision making issue.
WAY too nonchalant both making the pass and receiving the pass.
A mental mistake by both of the two franchise guys immediately after one had just made a careless mistake.
This stuff cannot happen.
A clear lack of mental focus for everyone involved.
That three play sequence all happening within seconds of each other nearly cost the Celts this game.
I don’t care that Jaylen signed for $300M.
These plays are inexcusable for a guy on a veteran minimum deal.
It wouldn’t be acceptable no matter what his contract was.
He did some good things in this game, but overall it wasn’t anywhere close to good enough.
I did not see that version of Jaylen last night.
- The bench is a concern.
We know what burnout looks like when the team has to rely on the starters for all the production.
During the regular season, you need depth.
You need guys to be able to carry the load while the stars sit.
All I know is 10 points from your bench isn’t going to cut it.
Not having consistent bench production is playing with fire in my opinion.
But at the end of the day, a win is a win.
c’mon just do not do this shit against MIA on Friday.
