They may stink, but they have been playing well as of late.
I couldn’t disagree more.
No regular season game, regardless of opponent, will tell us that.
I look at a game like last night and I see growth.
They aren’t playing with their food.
They aren’t overlooking bad teams and assuming they just had to show up to win.
So what did they do?
They won by a billion.
Let’s talk about it.
As always, shoutout Isaiah.
Last night was an example of what things look like when Tatum’s three is dropping.
To put it simply, it means death.
Catch and shoot, pullup, side step, fadeaway, it was all working.
Would you say Tatum took a single shot that was forced last night?
It didn’t feel like it.
But this is the shit nobody really talks about when it comes to Tatum.
The fit is so seamless you could have told me Porzingis has been on this team for a decade.
Just like with Tatum we saw KP completely dominate while basically never shooting or even playing all that much.
He finished with 19/5/2 ib 4-7 (1-3) and was a +18 in his 26 minutes.
We went all of last year with Al Horford attempting like 10 FTs.
Think of what the options are for a defense.
Either you don’t guard KP at the 3pt line and he buries the three.
If you give it to him at the nail, he just turns and shoots over you.
So when people say KP is a cheat code, this is why.
Not only is he a 3 level scorer, he’s elite at getting to the line.
As a shooter, Jaylen didn’t start off all that great, just 2-8 in the first half.
The difference this time around was he led the team with 5 assists.
The fact that we’re nearly already half way through the season is very upsetting.
I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready tbh
I also love that Cousy calls him Michael.
- Quick update on Mazzulla Ball for all those who observe.
I’m sorry, scoreboard.
Are there going to be times when he makes mistakes?
But that makes him no different than any elite coach in the league.
It does appear that we’ve made it out of the Sam Hauser three point shooting slump.
As we know, when the Celts get good guard play it takes them up another level.
The way he tracks the ball is INSANE.
The Bad
- Poor Svi man.
Guy was playing/shooting for his roster spot life.
A brutal 1-7 (1-6) last night, Svi is shooting just 28/16% on the season.
I get it’s hard to get into rhythm when you barely play, but that’s the job.
His looks last night were mostly all open, and frankly, none of them were particularly close.
- He of course wasn’t alone.
Payton Pritchard had the same problem with his 3-10 (1-7).
The difference there was Pritchard still made an impact as a facilitator (4 AST).
It actually kind of stunk.
- 16 OREB for the Jazz which is way too high of a number.
Grow up and defend him without pulling that shit.
The Ugly
- I’ll admit, I don’t really have anything for this section.
When that happens, there’s usually not too much for this section.
We’ll check back after tonight.
Thety had 150 last night with 50 AST.
That is an insane number.
He has owned them pretty much every time he’s played.
If the Celts play like they did last night, they should pass with flying colors.
