Post Game Thread - vs Utah Jazz, Away

[bobheckler]

Signature win?  It was against the #6 team in the NBA (we're #5), starting the game only .5 games behind us, on the road, without 2 starters and we beat them convincingly.  Don't be fooled by the final score, we were up by 20 with 9 minutes left.  In fact, if we just shot our usual, league-leading 81.6% from the line (yes, we are #1 in ft%) then we would have had at least another 9 points and this would have been a complete blow out.

Not only are they the #6 team in the league, they have the #1 defense with the #1 interior defense, and we shot 60% for the game and outscored them in the paint 48-40!  48 points in the paint is A LOT, and against that defense?  How?  42% of our fgas were 3s and we hit 43% of them.  We also held them to under 40% shooting.  Sounds like role reversals.  They say that defense wins championships and offense fills seats.  We just swept the 2-game season against the #1 defense and we are not a good defensive team this year, especially with two of our top defenders out.  Jaylen Brown also left the game after 12 minutes with a hip strain.

Kelly, the #2 scorer behind Thomas (of course!), 19 points on 8-11 and 7 boards.  When we get the "good Kelly" we are kryptonite to paint-centric defenses like Utah's because of our two-headed monster, Kelly Horford.  If Kelly is hitting outside someone MUST go out to him.  If they go out to him then Al can take a PF in the block, or Kelly has a mismatch on a smaller player.  If Al is outside Kelly is inside.  A pnr with Kelly sees him posting up SFs down low.  We have seen this happen numerous times this year and, to his credit, Kelly sticks his butt out into his man and calls for the ball.  Welcome to the new NBA, where bigs clear out the paint with long range shooting.  Last night Al was 2-4 from 3 and Kelly was 3-5.  If you're Jazz coach Quin Snyder, what do you do about that?  You have to have a big somewhere near them, don't you?  And there's your driving/slashing/backcutting space...  There was a comment on the Game On thread about Kelly "throwing up bricks".  He was 8-11.  Did he miss some towards the end, yeah, but the reason why we were up 20 in the 4th was, in part, because he wasn't throwing up bricks for most of the game.  Stats are dangerous, but they help you NOT over focus on one specific play in a 27 minute outing.  The trick now is to convince the good Kelly to stick around.  Jeff Green did that and it drove us crazy.  A difference between them is that Kelly isn't a starter and Jeff Green was.  Wild inconsistency in a starter is completely unacceptable.  I have no problem trading Kelly for a player that can help us, but I don't see that happening until the summer because he cannot sign an extension at this time, so his contract situation is unsettled from a GM's perspective.

Speaking of Greens, Gerald lit them up.  When he gets into a zone he is a true asset.

Gobert got blocked at the rim by Horford.  He also got blocked by Kelly Olynyk.  That's embarrassing.  The key to Gobert's offense is a good passing point guard.  Take that away and he is a liability on the offensive end.  In other words, he's another DeAndre Jordan, a specialist.  Still, pretty amazing he was drafted #27 (ergo his uniform #) by Denver and then traded to the Jazz.  The story I heard from Scal last night is that, at the NBA Combine, Gobert got on the treadmill for 4 minutes and jumped off.  They expect prospects to go at least 10 minutes, so there were concerns about his motor.  They might want to rethink that particular metric, since there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with his motor or stamina.  People ask how can players like Gobert and Jordan and Green drop down so far in the draft.  Well, it's because teams use tests to determine strengths and weaknesses and if the player doesn't do well in a test they consider valuable, they're toast.  It isn't until it's too late that they realize the problem was the test and not the player.

Yeah, what is it with all the James Young sightings?  Fortunately, with only 11 days until the trade deadline, he had a good game last night.

Adam Himmelsbach ✔ @AdamHimmelsbach
Isaiah was rattling off bench contributors. Rozier, Green, James Young.
His little son standing next to him, confused: "Who's James Young?"
10:09 PM - 11 Feb 2017
138 138 Retweets 340 340 likes

From out of the mouth of babes...


Dante Exum, #5.  Marcus Smart, #6.  We beat Utah again there too.  Smart is an impact player (even if he did shoot his usual, shitty 4-11 last night and is shooting 36.7% on the season).  Dante Exum played 6 minutes last night and is not having a good career, so far.

We went into Sacto and embarrassed ourselves.  After that, we came back from 17 down in Portland to win and beat Utah in Utah despite us being depleted.  If we end up in 2nd place in the EC, could we look back at these two games as being pivotal?

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400900220















bob


.

[jrleftfoot]

Nice commentary. Olynyk is a completely different, and in my opinion, better player than Jeff Green. He is inconsistent , but not indifferent, which Jeff sometimes appears to be, and despite his " cupcake" reputation , Kelly will mix it up. I think he is a much better competitor than JG.

[cowens/oldschool]

Best game I ever saw from KO, when he first came in, he missed his first 2 wide open looks, that was me who said hes throwing up bricks, but then got in a zone we'd all like to see more of. His positional defense was good, still got beat a few times, but for such a weak defensive player he played a whale of a game. Good to see us win with KO and James Young having good games when we needed them with 2 starters out and Jaylon limited too. IT his usual clever self giving us big shots and drives when we needed it. Smart was Smart, showed his usual toughness coming back from those cramps and Green was unreal for a stretch too, hitting everything. Maybe playing and being coached by Brad and his staff is good for Green as hes playing very well lately.

I remember reading up alot on Exum and Smart before the draft, that Exum dominated in some U 18 national competition, even saw some highlights. I remember thinking I'd be happy with either pick, well was I wrong. Smart obviously can play and Exum looks lost. Gordon Haywood showed up for them, that team needs a dynamic wing opposite Haywood and Joe Ingles, whoever he is, is also not that player. Except Haywood, Jazz were bricking so many shots, midrange, 3's you name it. There offense really looked pathetic and Exum looks lost as a combo guard who can't do either. Was our defense that good? I don't know, but Exum looks more lost than James Young, nuff said.

[jrleftfoot]

Best game I ever saw from KO, when he first came in, he missed his first 2 wide open looks, that was me who said hes throwing up bricks, but then got in a zone we'd all like to see more of. His positional defense was good, still got beat a few times, but for such a weak defensive player he played a whale of a game. Good to see us win with KO and James Young having good games when we needed them with 2 starters out and Jaylon limited too. IT his usual clever self giving us big shots and drives when we needed it. Smart was Smart, showed his usual toughness coming back from those cramps and Green was unreal for a stretch too, hitting everything. Maybe playing and being coached by Brad and his staff is good for Green as hes playing very well lately.

I remember reading up alot on Exum and Smart before the draft, that Exum dominated in some U 18 national competition, even saw some highlights. I remember thinking I'd be happy with either pick, well was I wrong. Smart obviously can play and Exum looks lost. Gordon Haywood showed up for them, that team needs a dynamic wing opposite Haywood and Joe Ingles, whoever he is, is also not that player. Except Haywood, Jazz were bricking so many shots, midrange, 3's you name it. There offense really looked pathetic and Exum looks lost as a combo guard who can't do either. Was our defense that good? I don't know, but Exum looks more lost than James Young, nuff said.

Gerald can still hop. I`d like to see a dunk competition between him and Jaylen Brown. Actually, I`d like to see JB go for the hammer more often in games. He doesn`t seem to have the finesse layup touch just yet. I`ve been all over the map on KO, but I am starting to see him as a useful player with a ceiling higher than that. Sometimes, methinks, we fanatics have a tendency to lack patience.

[bobheckler]

I just watched the highlight film for Kelly.  Man, when he looks good he looks good.  I love it when he pnrs and realizes he got the smaller defender on him.

I can't believe the way he raced down the court to beat that buzzer.  He might not be real quick laterally but north-south?  He's fine.  Notice the way Kelly flared out a bit on the run to create a better passing angle, instead of just running directly to the rim.  Btw, that was great positional defense by Smart that put him in a position to strip the ball and then immediately take off with it.  The driver had to bring the ball up in front of him where Smart was and Smart was ready.

And he blocked Gobert on a drive.  Did he jump?  A little, but more importantly he was there and Gobert threw himself into a stationary, albeit going vertically, Olynyk.  If it wasn't a block it was going to be a charge, and Kelly leads the team in charges taken.

On Kelly's 3s, especially his 3rd one, you can see how Gobert was late because he just doesn't want to leave the paint.  It's great that he wants to protect the rim, but if you aren't comfortable leaving the paint you are weakening your perimeter defense.  This is why Al Horford is such a nice addition.  Al has the mobility and the mindset that will have him closing out perimeter shooters.

Kelly got a 2nd block, on Trey Lyles, at about the 2:20 mark.  Unfortunately nobody collapsed so Lyles was able to get the ball after the block and put it in but Kelly with the initial block.  And, if you look at the film, Lyles wasn't his man.  He was boxing out Gobert down low.  Lyles was Jerebko's man.  When he blew past Jonas Kelly stepped out to stop the ball.  If this wasn't a block Kelly might have been whistled for a foul but, if you watch the film, you see he would have gotten that foul picking up Jonas' man, and that's what good baseline defenders do.

It's all about confidence for Kelly. His position defense has come a LONG way, but his shooting is up-and-down. Brad should do more pnrs for him. A good shooter, someone that forces Kelly's man to switch to not give him any daylight, will get Kelly that mismatch down low like we see in one of the earliest sequences on the film.






bob


.

[jrleftfoot]

Whiteside has gotten better at switching out of the paint to give help. That was something KG was great at-duh. Maybe Gobert will learn . I loved it when IT drove left on him , switched hands, reached around and layed it in with his right

[bobheckler]

Jay KingVerified account
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So the Jazz TV broadcast showed this graphic last night...




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BOSTONCELTICS27Patrick McAvoyInternational TMO_BUCKET$_Szechuan HowardJoe PachecoMike SoaresCeltic PrideShawn M. Johnson™
12:38 PM - 12 Feb 2017
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bob


.

[wideclyde]

Olynyk played very well last night and such fine performances by this guy make him a very difficult guy to sign for next year as a RFA.

Games like last night should get him a real decent salary raise, but as long as he remains so very, very inconsistent it could be a huge gamble to sign him for $10-12 M for three or four years.

I have been impressed by this young guy's improvements since his arrival, but I have been just as frustrated with his ever present inconsistency. It seems when he scores a bunch, he can follow such a game with a three or four point game in the very next game. Unfortunately, for him, his team and all of us fans, he has been doing this yo-yo performance thing for his time in Boston.

The up and down stuff has been OK so far as he has never been paid a ton of money (and, has been a very young player), but he will be gamble on his next salary. Each time he has such a fine game, I always find myself hoping that "this" game will be the first of many succeeding good games. Again, I am hoping again and would love to see him get 16 or so against Dallas.

[jrleftfoot]

Jay KingVerified account
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So the Jazz TV broadcast showed this graphic last night...




RETWEETS
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LIKES
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BOSTONCELTICS27Patrick McAvoyInternational TMO_BUCKET$_Szechuan HowardJoe PachecoMike SoaresCeltic PrideShawn M. Johnson™
12:38 PM - 12 Feb 2017
1 reply 16 retweets 32 likes
Reply  1   Retweet  16  
Like 32


bob


.

Adjusting for minutes and pace makes the comparison pretty meaningless, doesn`t it? If you played more minutes , could you do so with the same amount of energy? If you played at a faster pace, how would that affect your efficiency? These sorts of comparisons are fun , but , to  paraphrase the  bard , they end up signifying nothing , in my opinion.I`d like to hear from swish. He and I are great admirers of Tiny, and I suspect he shares my ( most of our) enthusiasm for IT. Who was better, using the eye test, ladies and guys?

[wideclyde]

Right now off IT4's season you would likely have to say that IT is better, but Archibald performed very consistently over far more seasons.

[worcester]

IT for MVP?

[beat]

Still put Tiny above IT. I Saw him play years ago and he was at least as quick.  And with no 3 then there was no point in shooting from deep but he still shot very well.  Remember Tiny was the only player to lead the league in scoring and assists in the same season.  

Perhaps IT had better players around him than Tiny did at KC-Omaha.
But to me Tiny is the better player at this stage in their careers.  Plus Timy was part of a championship as the starting PG.  Hopefully we can say that about IT within a couple years.

beat

[worcester]

Really hopefully we can say that about IT this year.

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