Take care of your shit, do your best to stay healthy, and move on.
You know, shit like this
It’s an easy way to go viral and get some engagement.
It’s wild to watch in real time.
Those are true statements.
But I’m sorry, so what?
Do you get extra wins depending on who you play?
That’s kind of how the playoff seeding works.
Which brings us to Game 4.
But in the playoffs, it doesn’t really matter who it looks.
Win by 25, and it wasn’t good enough because the Celts weren’t being challenged.
Let people twist themselves into a pretzel, because there’s no pleasing them.
You know what matters?
Being the first to 4 and then ultimately the first to 16.
Just stack Ws and move on to the next.
Just like we saw against MIA, that’s exactly what they did.
The Good
- You know what?
It only feels right that we start today’s blog with a player who truly deserves it.
Who is that guy?
Not just in terms of the total production, but also the efficiency.
Another 6-11 (4-8) last night, these weren’t all wide open C&S jumpers either.
That is what he’s done.
Can he keep up this throw in of efficiency?
Who the hell knows.
All that matters at the moment is that when they needed Jrue to show up, he delivered.
Maybe Game 5 we get Derrick’s offense back and Holiday can slide back into this reserve scoring role.
The point is, all that matters is doing enough to win.
- Then of course we have the play of the two best players.
Jaylen shot 68.8/66% in Games 3 & 4, making HUGE shots late.
Tatum has done literally everything, as seen in the tweet above.
They not only showed up, they carried.
What we continue to see in this series is no different from what we’ve seen all year.
This is a matchup problem for CLE, with or without Donovan Mitchell or Jarrett Allen.
That’s the whole point of how Brad constructed this roster.
So when Jaylen says stuff like this
He’s simply telling the truth.
Just 45 points in the second half on 42/17% splits, the formula was pretty simple.
One part of their defense was I thought was great was the communication.
When they do that, they are tough as hell to score on.
- Another game where the Celts found a way to win despite shooting WELL below their average in 3PA.
It’s the only way they win"
The answer is obvious.
They adjust, and they execute.
They swap 3PA for aggressive Tatum/Brown drives.
They get to the FT line.
They feast on the boards against an undersized team (16 2nd chance points).
People I think confuse the end result of a play with whether or not it was good offense.
Said another way, it’s only good offense if you make the shot.
This pop in of two man action is exactly what the Celts should be doing in these close moments.
If it’s Jaylen on the roll, the midrange pullup is a great look.
If it’s Tatum, he can go strong to the rim.
When they can’t stand around and watch, things look a whole lot better.
- Joe’s timeout usage in this series has been A+++++++++++++++++++++++++.
When you’re careless with the ball, that leads to easy transition buckets, usually 3PM.
Once a team starts making those and the crowd gets into it, you find yourself in a battle.
It’s no different than what we saw against the Heat last year.
Letting an offensively challenged team feast off careless passes and transition 3s is exactly how you get upset.
Granted the Celts turned things around, but the way they started this game was pretty inexcusable.
Not guarding the line, not taking care of the basketball, it was gross.
You fix it by forgetting about the misses and continuing to shoot with confidence.
Water will find its level, but it certainly hasn’t been pretty these last two games.
- The same can be said about Al’s shooting.
On the one hand, I can’t blame him.
He has to be exhausted and certainly isn’t getting any younger.
But at the same time, he needs to make his wide open looks.
At this point you have to wonder what Xavier Tillman did to be in Joe’s doghouse like this.
Even if his minutes are a disaster, I still think the rest for Horford makes it worth it.
Isn’t this why you traded for him?
Everything about that picture is gross.
No ball movement, no forcing the defense to actually defend, just setting for jumpers.
If it were easy, everyone would do it.
Get Al his rest, let KP rehab and be prepared for another battle in the ECF.
