I don’t mean to be too crass here, but what the actual fuck?
Listen I get it, the NBA season is 82 games long, losses happen, blah blah blah.
We all understand that.
But again I ask, what the actual fuck?
This time against a Thunder team who was missing their best player in SGA.
Fully healthy outside of Rob’s rest day.
On no planet should that result in one of the most embarrassing losses in franchise history.
My God have some goddamn pride for me one time.
When the Celts play like shit, they are no joke the worst team on the planet.
It’s both kind of funny and extremely fucking annoying.
I’ve seen many terrible losses over my 35 years on this planet.
I know dogshit when I see dogshit and I can’t ever remember seeing something like this.
This was far worse in my opinion.
Perhaps this will be a wakeup call, just like the Pacers blowout was.
Sure, that could happen.
At what point are the players going to take some responsibility and stop playing like assholes?
I’m not sure if they’ve noticed, but not stopping clearly isn’t working.
We have a lot to get to, let’s just dive right in.
The players don’t deserve it.
I’d love to, but my hands are tied.
The Bad
- Let’s start with everyone’s favorite topic.
As is the case people blindly point to timeouts and Joe apparently not calling any as a big issue.
Sorry, that’s wrong.
The problem wasn’t that Joe didn’t call timeouts, he did.
He didn’t even really wait too long on most of them when the game was in the balance.
I ask you, what is the coach supposed to do in any of these plays?
Here’s what the Celts did after each timeout
What the hell is Brogdon doing here?
Why is he telling Sam to go get the ball before the inbound?
Why is he not handling the ball since ya know, he’s the fucking point guard?
Then once it’s clear Sam is having trouble, where’s the help?
How about dribbling into a TO, which leads to a transition three.
That’s on the coach??
I mean what even is that Smart play?
As expected, this lead to more easy OKC points
Down 28, we had another timeout.
I’m sorry, but that’s on the players.
That’s an execution and mental focus issue, not a “Joe never calls timeouts” issue.
This is a team that’s been through hell together.
So when I saw Malcolm Brogdon give this quote, I legit gasped
Inexcusable.
For me, it starts at the top.
Where are your two best players to ensure everyone has the right mindset going into this game?
They set the tone.
It’s clear that didn’t happen, so let’s go down the list.
Marcus Smart, where are you in this?
You’re one of the leaders, the heart and soul.
Does that sound like leadership to anyone?
Sure doesn’t to me.
Al Horford, hello friend.
You’re the vet leader right?
The calming presence who likes to take pride in being that voice of reason.
And finally, Malcolm.
Wasn’t this the EXACT reason you were brought in?
Another vet leader who was supposed to prevent this shit from happening, so where was it?
Joe, don’t think you’re absolved of this either.
Could he not tell that the team was relaxed and not focused?
It’s very clear that did not happen either.
This is the NBA in 2023, any team can win on any given night, regardless of record.
This is not a team filled with rookies who haven’t gone through this shit before.
This core has been together for years.
Everyone’s a vet.
Grow the fuck up.
Go down the list
A combined 34 points from this group is nowhere near good enough.
It’s not just the percentages, it’s that they aren’t even making themselves threats.
The “others” on this team need to start pulling their weight.
Grant not taking open looks and also not playing defense has been a huge issue since his hot start.
Depth is awesome, you need it so you can win at a high level.
The Celtics have depth on paper, some of the best in the league.
But the thing about depth is it only matters if it actually does something.
That has to get figured out or else nothing is really going to change.
- When the Celts lose focus, they get careless.
When they get careless, they turn it over.
When they turn it over, they die.
It’s a simple formula really.
Last night was a game in which they turned it over 17 times which led to 27 OKC points.
like read those numbers again.
Add in another 16 in 2nd chance points and what does that bring you to?
43 points off self inflicted wounds/lack of energy.
How much did the Celts lose by?
Oh, 33 points?
In basketball, the ball finds energy.
When you set the tone and you play hard, good things follow.
We know this to be true because that is the foundation of the Celts success.
When you do the opposite, you get waxed.
They were 5-15 on “open” 3PA and 7-21 on “wide open” 3PA.
That’s 36 of the 40 were clean looks, and the Celts went 12-36.
The crazy part is someone like Smart only took 2 3PA in this game.
The Ugly
- Even with their offensive struggles the Celts still put up 117 points.
That has to be enough to win, it just does.
Which is why the real issue in this game has to be the defense.
Where the fuck was it?
This was different from the DEN game where it felt like the Nuggets were hitting unreal shots.
That is NOT what happened against the Thunder.
What happened against the Thunder is their players made your defenders look like children.
That’s the best way I think we can describe it.
The Celts were bullied.
They provided no resistance whatsoever and any Thunder player got to the rim with ease.
Just look at this shit
The numbers are staggering.
The Celts allowed 70 points in the paint last night.
Look at this goddamn shot chart
I get it, Rob didn’t play.
What does that have to do with horrendous perimeter defense from everyone on the roster.
Our 6'4 guards may as well have been 5'5.
Under no circumstances should a healthy Celtics defense give up 88 points in consecutive quarters.
How is that even possible?
A cool 40 points in the 2nd and 48 points in the 3rd.
The Celts had 54 in the entire first half and the Thunder are putting up 48 in 12 minutes.
Instead of getting pissed off and doing something about it, the Celt turtled.
There was no “enough is enough” from their best players.
When you do that shit, you deserve everything that comes with it.
That tells you it wasn’t just one guy or one position doing all the cooking.
Everyone was getting cooked.
Backcourt guys, frontcourt guys, all of em.
A collective team effort in futility.
- I don’t care if this was an extremely soft ejection
Marcus has to be better.
They were mentally weak.
They were more concerned with everything other than actually playing hard and executing.
When they play with focus, they are unstoppable.
When they don’t, last night happens.
The way they’ve played about 80% of their season told us that.
But now that they’ve hit a little bit of adversity, we’re seeing their bad habits resurface.
Not as a team with championship expectations.
Right now they’re struggling a little bit with the idea of being “the hunted”.
Yeah, teams are going to be coming at you every night.
This isn’t exactly a new concept.
If you want to be a contender, you have to learn to handle that every night.
There is no off night when you have a target on your back.
Do that shit tomorrow against Luka and you might lose by 50.
