Post Game Thread - vs Charlotte Hornets, Away part deux

[gyso]

Link to box score:

https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boston-celtics-charlotte-hornets-2015122330/#

Stars, studs and duds: Crowder becoming a two-way threat

http://www.csnne.com/boston-celtics/stars-studs-and-duds-crowder-becoming-two-way-threat


The NBA is full of specialists.

For the bulk of Jae Crowder’s career, he was one of them.

But lately he has shown that he can do more than just defend at a high level. He can knock down shots whether it’s driving to the basket or pulling up for 3s. And he can rebound, a trait that has been on greater display of late for Boston with Crowder tallying his third straight double-double in Wednesday’s 102-89 win at Charlotte.

Crowder finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds, which is kind of becoming the norm for him.

“He’s just blocking out his position. He’s not getting a ton of offensive rebounds," said coach Brad Stevens. "He comes up with a couple of loose ones but not a ton. He does a good job of blocking out his position and he’s a strong guy. So he can drop and block out big guys and rebound.”

Crowder’s rebounding of late has certainly turned the heads of some.

But Celtics guard Avery Bradley said Crowder’s effort and work ethic have been constants all season, and his play of late is only a result of the time and work he has put in to get better.

“He’s been consistent all year on both ends of the floor,” Bradley told reporters after the win. “I’m happy for him because I know how hard he works. Jae has been playing very good and he’s been knocking down shots. Every single night he has to defend a great player and he’s doing a great job on both ends of the floor.”

Here are the Stars, Studs and Duds from Wednesday’s game.

STARS

Kelly Olynyk

Olynyk had yet another strong showing with the first unit, tallying a near double-double of 20 points on 7-for-10 shooting along with nine rebounds. Olynyk’s play will make it tough for Amir Johnson (plantar fasciitis, left foot) to regain his starting job.

Jae Crowder

For the third straight game, Crowder had a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Known primarily as a defensive player, Crowder is showing that he can be a two-way standout which makes the Celtics a much tougher team to beat.

STUDS

Frank Kaminsky

The Hornets rookie had a big game for Charlotte, scoring a career-high 23 points off the bench. And he did his damage both around the basket as well as from 3-point range.

DUDS

Kemba Walker

The Celtics made making Walker uncomfortable a point of emphasis all game. He had very little breathing room whether he was driving to the basket or pulling up for a jumper. He finished with 10 points with as many made field goals (4) as turnovers (4).


Strong defense carries Celtics to 102-89 win over Hornets

http://www.csnne.com/boston-celtics/strong-defense-carries-celtics-102-89-win-over-hornets


The Boston Celtics’ shot-making came and went on Wednesday, but their defense was a steady force.

And it was that defense that proved to be the difference in Boston’s 102-89 win over the Charlotte Hornets.

With the win, Boston (16-13) has now won two straight after a three-game slide.

Boston was able to pull ahead by as many as 20 points, only for the Hornets to chip away and get it down to the low-teens and on a couple occasions, single digits.

But the Hornets were unable to truly cut into Boston’s lead, in large part because of Boston’s defense which limited them to just 35.8 percent shooting from the field.

For the Celtics, it was the kind of balanced attack that makes them such a tough team to shut down.

Early on, Avery Bradley and Isaiah Thomas controlled the action.

Soon after Kelly Olynyk got going.

And in the fourth, it was Jae Crowder coming up with one big play after another as part of his third straight game with a double-double, finishing with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Boston had five double figure scorers, led by Olynyk with 20 points.

Charlotte (15-13) came in having lost four of its previous five games, was not going to bow out quietly. The ability to come back from huge deficits has been one of the Hornet’s strengths this season. They came into Wednesday’s game having won six games this season in which they trailed by double-digits.

And with an 11-4 record at home this season, only Cleveland and Indiana have played better at home.

But even as the Celtics saw its 20-point lead down to just six points with more than three minutes to play, Boston showed no signs of panic or concern.

Following a time-out, they got the ball inside to Jared Sullinger who came through with a put-back lay-up of his own miss.

Moments later, Kelly Olynyk had a lay-up and just like that Boston’s lead was back to double digits with less than two minutes to play.

One of the keys for Charlotte rallying to make it a game was rookie Frank Kaminsky who finished with a career-high 23 points. The Hornets also got a strong game from Nicolas Batum who had 17 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

Boston’s control of the game was never an issue afterwards.

[worcester]

Contrast this team to that of just a year ago. Tremendous development by most players. And we are just getting started!

[dboss]

Worcester

Total different team from Dec 23 2014. The Celts were sitting at 10 - 16. We lost to the Magic 100-95

Active Players in that game included

Jeff Green
Jameer Nelson
Brandon Wright
Brandon Bass
Phil Pressey
Gerald Wallace (DNP coaches decision)

dboss

[gyso]

Frank Kaminsky is the real deal.  He looks so comfortable out there.  A post player that can shoot the three ball.  2-7, but it seemed during the game to be more than that.  Every time he got the ball, I thought to myself, "Oh, shit!".

Nicolas Batum is a very physical player on defense.  He was upcloseandpersonal every time we came down the floor and the refs never seemed to call any fouls on him.  Three fouls called?  He should have fouled out by halftime, IMO.

Jared Sullinger sucks at defense.  I got the Celtics on the defensive end in the first half.  He seemed lost, halfway between his guy and no one.  I'll bet most of our defensive 3-second calls were due to him.  He hung around the paint at the frito line, hovering but not covering.  Not only that, but he was slow to get there as well.

I did not see all of the Kelly slam off the Sully miss because the stanchion mostly took the middle-left side of the court out of my view.  I did, however, hear it!!  It sort of took the air out of the arena, it was the kind of play that quieted the local fans.  I was glad to see the review on the Jumbotron and again in a video after I got home.

Crowder was the one who got extra attention by our trainers pre-game, but he did not get all wrapped up between stints on the floor, like last game.

R.J. Hunter is not afraid to shoot.  Hopefully that part of his game comes around.  He did get a couple of steals, he moves his feet well and uses his hands to his advantage.

Our three-point shooting did not show up, but neither did theirs.  Ours: 7-29 for 24% Theirs: 8-28 for 29%.  No advantage there.

gyso

[beat]

To think we went 8+ minutes without a field goal

and still got to 100 points, and won by double digits.

Not everyone had a good game but we don't need everyone every night. But would be nice. Can't wait till we get Smart back !!


beat

[bobheckler]

We have their number.  Fortunately one number we didn't need to worry about was #25, Big Al Jefferson's.  Last night was the last game of his 5 game suspension for violating the league's substance rules.  

NBA refs suck.  It's amazing how far the quality has fallen, across the board.  Simply awful.  I can't claim they just hate us or anything like that, they have sucked against both us and every team we have played against for most of this season-to-date.


1.  After a few weeks of outstanding play Kelly went into a slump.  The last two games, where he replaced Amir in the pivot, he has been quite good.  Celtics high scorer last night with 20 points on a VERY efficient 7-10.  He was 1-3 from 3, so he was 6-7 from 2.  I will take that all day, every day.  He was running the floor for fast break dunks.  The benefit of a 7'er who can run.  He'd challenge a shot, leak out and just go!  He was pick-and-rolling beautifully.  MOVEMENT!  

And then, there was this:



I'm not going to lie, I didn't think Kelly had this in him.  The parts, plural, I like the best are that he dunked it instead of bringing it down and trying to do a layup and his reaction afterwards.  Did you see him puff up?  Did you see him look at his bench and just exude ego?  THAT is what we need more from him.  Ego.  I am not a fan of ME-ballers, but a little more ME-ball from Kelly would be a good thing.  He needs to feel a little more like an Alpha Dog.  Did you see how good it felt to dunk the ball, Tyler?  Try it sometime.  It's transferable.  He also had 9 rebounds and 2 steals.  He has games like this one and the one against Minny and you think "ok, Danny, I'm starting to see it".  Then he disappears, Jeff Green-like.  I am trying to remind myself he is not even in the league for 2 1/2 years.  A lot of players, like Bradley, are 25 years old and have been in the league 5-6 years.  Kelly's 25 birthday is on April 19th (Patriot's Day!  Too bad he's Canadian and doesn't give a shit) and he will still be in the league less than 3 years.  Great game for him last night.  The difference between him hovering around the perimeter and doing dribble handoffs and setting picks, and him taking his man off the dribble and penetrating is like night-and-day.  When he attacks, good things usually happen.  How does Brad get him to keep attacking?  Showing him the above film clip might work.  For those of you who are interested in this, the delta between Kelly's offensive and defensive ratings (how many points we score/48mpg when he is on the floor vs how many points we give up/48mpg) is the biggest it has ever been.  Year 1 it was even, 107-107.  Year 2 it was +3, 105-102.  Year 3 to-date it is +6, 104-98.  Nice trend.

2.  Frank Kaminsky is starting to make MJ look smart.  Think of what a Herculean task that is.  He showed he can do it all last night.  He was an all-star last night.  He moved very well with and without the ball.

3.  Bradley didn't start off hot, offensively in the 1st quarter like he often does, but he came on strong in the 4th to close it out.  He had 10 points on 4-10 after 3 and scored 8 points on 3-4 in the 4th.  Defensively, he guarded Kemba Walker for most of the game and that is tough.  Kemba, with his speed, should have been guarded by IT but, well, you know...Kemba shot 4-12 on the night while Bradley heated up and ended up 7-14. Thomas was having his own problems, going 3-10 and having 5 TOs to go with his 7 assists.  The only thing he really did well last night was shoot 9-10 from the line.

4.  Turner was another one that I could have lived without last night.  Too much ME-ball, Evan.  He was only credited with 2 TOs, some of them must have been credited to Charlotte as 'steals' because he was a lot sloppier than that.  

5.  Jae Crowder is on a ROLL!  Everything he is touching is turning to gold right now.  His steals/game are down but everything else is UP.  8-16 last night and that's despite still having a lousy finish or two.  He's hitting his fgas, he just continues to struggle when he takes it into traffic.  19 points, including a very alert shot clock buzzer beater.  12 rebounds.  12.  He has really grown, in several areas, since the trade one year ago this week. He's our MVP...this week. Before that it was Bradley. Before that it was IT. Can you imagine if they all start playing well at the same time!?

6.  Sully rebounded like a bear but he is still in a shooting slump.  4-12 last night brings his season-to-date fg% down to 42% and his fg% in his last 10 games to 36%.  Still, credit to him for his 4 offensive boards.  We struggled a bit on offense for a while and offensive boards are very, very good things when other things aren't working.

7.  RJ Hunter cannot throw the ball in the ocean.  This is quite odd, of course, considering he is a shooter.  His defense, though, is really quite, quite good.  2 steals last night.  He should have been credited with a block but the refs suck, they just blow what they think MUST have happened and not what they actually saw, as the replay showed.  2-7 last night, 1-5 from 3.  A wide open 3 and a baseline drive dunk.  RJ's father was in the crowd last night, driving down from Georgia.  It seems to me that Brad plays players like that.  You go to OK State?  You get heavy minutes in OKC.  You played for Detroit for years?  Jerebko got heavy minutes in Detroit.  Played for GSW last year?  Lee played heavy minutes when they came to town.  He gave RJ minutes in Atlanta and gave him 18 minutes (zero for Young) with his father there.  Brad seems to place a lot of faith and weight on 'pride'.  Could do worse...

8.  Cody won the Zeller battle again.  Brad didn't play Tyler heavy minutes but he played him more than he played him a month ago.  Cody is quite active and aggressive, especially on the boards.  More athletic than his kid brother.

9.  David Lee with another veteran performance.  Just solid.  18 minutes, 10 points on 4-7 and 7 rebounds, 2 offensive.  3 assists, 0 TOs.  Compare that to Zeller's 2 points on 1-4 and 1 rebound in 12 minutes...

10.  Stat Roundup:  42% for us vs 35% for them.  Take away Kaminsky and that number drops to 35%.  49 boards vs 44.  We got solid, deep rebounding from Sully (10), Kelly (9), Jae (12) and Lee (7).  They got 10 from Cody Zeller, 7 from Kaminsky and then a guard, Jeremy Lin with 8.  When a frail guard is one of your top rebounders, you are not rebounding well.  40 points in the paint vs 34 for them.  16 fast break points for us is nice, not great but only 4 fast break points for them is great (for us).

We're 16-13, heading into the Christmas break.  I am good with that, given the tough November schedule.  We are growing as a team, you can see it collectively and individually.  Danny is trying to move Lee, to keep his young core intact.  We'll see.  

Merry Christmas, everybody.


bob


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