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Celtics steal a win from 76ers

BOSTON HERALD

Mark Murphy Wednesday, February 15, 2017

The Celtics are no longer a team that wonders where its next basket will come from. But for all their recent scoring — all of those 3-pointers — there has been an undercurrent of improvement down the other end.

Marcus Smart, who not long ago lamented that the Celtics weren’t living up to last year’s tough guy reputation, literally ripped Wednesday night’s game out of Philadelphia’s hands in the Celtics’ 116-108 win.

The Celtics guard stole the ball a career-high eight times, including three in the fourth quarter, to help shut down a Sixers team that had won its previous three games.

Smart also had 21 points, five assists and five rebounds, to go along with 33 from Isaiah Thomas — the latter tying John Havlicek for the franchise record in consecutive 20-point games with 40.

Overall the Celtics have now won four straight games, and 11 of their last 12.

Thomas’ drive, off a Smart steal, was good for a 101-99 Celtics lead with 5:43 left.

The Sixers received a boost when Al Horford was whistled for a Flagrant 1 foul after the Celtics center elbowed Nerlens Noel while setting a pick. Noel hit twice from the line for the tie, but on the ensuing possession Thomas poked the ball away from Robert Covington and finished off the break for a 103-101 lead with 4:38 left.

hough Horford, hearing the steps of Noel, air-balled a layup attempt, he foiled an attempted lob to Noel down the other end, with Smart hitting his third 3-pointer of the night.

The next time down Smart dove to the floor to literally wrestle the ball away from Nik Stauskas, leading to Crowder’s fast break drive for a 108-101 Celtics lead with 2:56 left.

Crowder picked up his eighth steal of the night on Philly’ next possession, and two possessions later, after Thomas nearly lost his dribble twice, the guard found Horford in the corner for a 3-pointer and a 111-101 Celtics lead.
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Celtics Wrap: Boston Earns Hard-Fought 116-108 Win Over Philadelphia

NESN by Adam London on Wed, Feb 15, 2017  

The Boston Celtics extended their winning streak to four games with a gritty 116-108 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night. Boston struggled to maintain possession, as it committed a whopping 22 turnovers. However, strong offensive nights from Isaiah Thomas (33 points) and Marcus Smart (21 points) helped the Celtics overcome their mistakes. Smart also registered eight steals in the game, one shy of a Celtics’ record.

Jae Crowder (18 points) and Kelly Olynyk (16 points, 8 rebounds) also had solid nights for the C’s. Dario Saric posted a double-double for the 76ers with 20 points and 11 rebounds. With the win, Boston improves to 37-19, while Philadelphia drops to 21-35. Here’s how it all went down.

STARTING FIVE PG: Isaiah Thomas SG: Marcus Smart SF: Jae Crowder PF: Amir Johnson C: Al Horford KEY PLAYERS SIDELINED Both squads were without regular starters Wednesday night. Avery Bradley was sidelined yet again with an Achilles injury, while rookie sensation Joel Embiid’s knee injury kept him out of the 76ers’ lineup.

THOMAS GETS JERSEY The Celtics will be well represented at the NBA All-Star game in New Orleans this weekend, as Brad Stevens will coach the Eastern Conference and Thomas will come off the bench. Prior to tip-off, IT received his All-Star jersey at mid-court. Prior to tonight's game @Isaiah_Thomas was given his All-Star Game jersey. #Celtics pic.twitter.com/JMlefMl4ai — CSN New England (@CSNNE) February 16, 2017 C’s

REBOUND FROM ROUGH START The Celtics came out rather flat. The 76ers got out to a quick 6-0 lead after Boston turned the ball over three times in the first two minutes of action. The Celtics recovered, though, as the score was locked at 29-29 after one quarter. The C’s relied on their primary scorers in the opening frame. Thomas posted 11 points in the first 12 minutes, nine of which coming from beyond the arc, while Jae Crowder contributed 10 points. Robert Covington was the main source of offense for Philadelphia to start the game, scoring 11 points in the first quarter. The Celtics were lucky to have the score tied after the first stanza, though, as they surrendered seven turnovers in the quarter.

TIED AT THE BREAK The back-and-forth action in the first half translated into a tie score at the break, as the teams were locked at 61-61 after two quarters. The Celtics received quality halves from their role players, namely Olynyk and Smart. Olynyk contributed 13 points, as well as four rebounds and an assist. Smart arguably had the most well-rounded stat line of any Celtics player at the break, with nine points, four assists and three rebounds. Despite the absence of Embiid, Philadelphia still held the rebounding advantage over Boston after one half, 23-19. Thomas and Covington were tied for the halftime scoring lead with 18 points apiece.

BOSTON CAN’T PULL AWAY Boston came out strong in the second half, going on a 12-2 run to take a 73-63 lead just 3:30 into the third quarter. The Celtics would extend their lead to as large as 14 points, but the 76ers chipped away to cut the deficit to 87-79 heading into the fourth quarter. The C’s posted a respectable 47.5 shooting percentage through three quarters, but turnovers continued to plague the green. Going into the final quarter, Boston gave the ball away an alarming 17 times. A lackluster free-throw shooting performance prevented the Celtics from pulling away as well. Through three quarters, Boston only converted on 18 of 25 attempts from the charity strip.

CELTICS SHUT THE DOOR The 76ers rallied to open the fourth quarter, taking a 94-93 lead with eight minutes remaining in the contest. The teams would go back-and-forth for much of the quarter, but Smart hit a clutch 3-pointer with just under four minutes remaining to extend the Celtics’ lead to five. .@Al_Horford with some great defense and @Smart_MS3 knocks down a three at the other end! #Celtics pic.twitter.com/enV1dKGyL4 — CSN New England (@CSNNE) February 16, 2017 Boston wouldn’t look back from there, holding Philadelphia to just seven points in the final five minutes of the game.

PLAY OF THE GAME Rozier rises up. Terry Rozier turns on the jets and rises up for the emphatic dunk! pic.twitter.com/3uwZnuBcmh — Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 16, 2017

UP NEXT The C’s will travel to Chicago for a Thursday night matchup with the Bulls in their last game before the NBA All-Star break. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. ET.
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Marcus Smart's defense helps Celtics close out 76ers in 116-108 win

CSNNE

By A. Sherrod Blakely February 15, 2017 10:03 PM

BOSTON – With the first and second quarters between Boston and Philadelphia each ending in a tie, you figure the game would probably come down to who played better defense down the stretch.

And we all know how Boston’s defense has been most of this season – not great.

Well, they rose to the occasion when they needed to on Wednesday, limiting the Sixers to just two field goals (both in the final 51.8 seconds of play) over the final 7:01 to defeat the Sixers, 116-108.

Leading 103-101, Al Horford deflected a lob attempt by the Sixers that wound up in the hands of Marcus Smart who had 21 points, five rebounds and five assists. Smart, who also had a career-high eight steals, quickly passed the ball upcourt to Jae Crowder, who then gave it back to a trailing Smart whose 3-pointer put Boston ahead, 106-101.

Moments later, a hustling James Young prevented the Sixers from retrieving a Philly miss that sailed out of bounds. And that was followed by a Marcus Smart and T.J. McConnell on-the-floor scrap for a loose ball. You already know who came up with it.

Crowder then drove in for a lay-up to put Boston ahead, 108-101, with 2:54 to play, which led to a Sixers time-out. Boston continued to lock down the Sixers whose three-game winning streak came to an end at the hands of the Celtics who with the win, extended their winning streak to four in a row and 11 wins in their last 12 games.

Despite records that are miles apart, no one should have been surprised at how close Wednesday’s game between Boston and Philadelphia was. The Celtics were home for the first time in more than a week, well aware that the first game back home after a long road trip is usually a tough game. The Sixers played Boston toe-to-toe most of the game, with contributions coming from many.

Everett native Nerlens Noel, who had 16 points and six rebounds, had a put-back jam that put Philly ahead 97-96 with less than eight minutes to play.

Boston’s Isaiah Thomas came back with a pair of free throws that put Boston back on top by a point, only for Dario Saric to put the Sixers back up by one point. And there was Thomas once again leading the Celtics' charge with a driving lay-up attempt in which he was fouled on the shot. Thomas, who finished with 33 points, made the first of two free throws to tie the game at 99.

It was his 40th straight game with at least 20 points scored which tied the franchise record set by John Havlicek.


112288

Wow. Marcus and Kelly starting to shine. Two keeper draftees. 11-1. Not too shabby Brad.

If Kelly can keep this up on a more consistent basis - yes we have a keeper, but tomorrow he just might be a bust. Hope I am wrong.

Smart is starting to find a pace to his offensive game so if he continues he will be for sure an All Star soon. His defense is out of sight.

Good win and I hope we bury Chicago tomorrow and shut down Butler. It will send a message that we don't need your stinking Butler for the price your asking!

112288

Philly owns the Lakers' pick if it falls outside of the top 3.  The Lakers are currently 3rd from the bottom.  We should all be rooting for the Lakers to lose, not because they are the Lakers, but because we don't want them to win and get a lower (as in #4, #5, #6) pick because I do NOT want these Sixers with any more talent.  We beat them last night, but not without a struggle, and they were without Joel Embiid.  

EXTREMELY SLOPPY first half.  7 TOs in the 1st quarter, 12 at the half.  Improvement!  We only had 5 TOs in the 2nd quarter!  Time to wake up and smell the sarcasm.  In the end, we had 22 TOs and they had 16 steals.  There have been times I've seen something and thought it was a steal and they called it a TO and other times I thought it was a TO and they called it a steal, and I thought it should go to the passer and they gave it to the receiver, etc, so I don't know how to assign them to individual players but I do know that giving the ball to another team 38 times without them taking it out from the bottom of the net or a defensive rebound is WAY too many.

So, why can't Smart shoot like this regularly?  He has had two very good shooting games out of the past 6 or so, nothing to get too worked up about, but if he can do it, then why doesn't he do it?  Oh well, I guess we can ask that about Kelly too, huh?  As good as his offense was last night (21 on 7-11) his defense was better.  8 steals, defending 3 or 4 positions.  One steal was unreal.  Stauskas was on the floor and Smart DOVE on the ball and got it to a Celtic.  If I can find that on youtube later I will post it but here is a still of it.  

https://twitter.com/Tom_NBA/status/832071963468259328/photo/1

I know all about his shooting, nobody talks about it more than me (although Swish is giving me a run for my money) but when his shooting is ON, like it was last night, he is un-freaking-real.  Ganas by the bucketful.  I never thought I would see someone with KG's ganas in green so soon again.  Check out Smart's response below.  It reminds me of a Richard Pryor routine.  Pryor was quoting a homicidal maniac who was asked "why did you kill all the people in the house?"  The killer replied "because they was home".  That's Marcus Smart's attitude about getting the ball.  He's going to get it and God Help You if you get in the way.

What I'm talking about is at the 1:12 mark or so.  The rest is funny too (it's Richard Pryor):




Scott Souza @Scott_Souza
yesterday
#Celtics Marcus Smart on his mugging of Nik Stauskas on 4th quarter steal: "I saw the ball and went after it. He happened to be in the way."
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Bill Doyle @BillDoyle15
yesterday
Marcus Smart after 21-point, 8-steal, plus-22 game: I can honestly say this is the most comfortable I have been in a Celtics uniform.
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Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Brown: "When the draft was going on we paid a lot of attention to Marcus Smart. There’s a toughness in him that you can’t help but respect.”
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Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Marcus Smart said he used to try proving people wrong when they said he couldn't score. "Now it’s just kind of like I know what I can do."
reply retweet like

Good.  That's good, Marcus.




Isaiah Thomas passed John "Hondo" Havlicek for for most consecutive 20+ games.  Wow.  That is elite.

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Thomas fell 4 points short of eclipsing the 30.0 ppg mark tonight, which would be a #Celtics record.
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When you think of some of the scorers we have had:  Bird, Jones, Hondo, McHale it is amazing that The Little Guy could be the one...

Kelly with another good game.  Is the bounce finally, finally!, real?  16 points on 6-8, 2-2 from 3 and, once again, the Celtic high rebounder with 7.  

Celtic fans, our newest closer, JAMES YOUNG!  Yet ANOTHER good game!  Showcasing him, or just a breakthrough?  11 minutes through 3, ended with 22.  That means he played 11 out of the 12 minutes of the 4th quarter.  Brad, you and your coaching staff are a GENIUSES!  He had 5 points in that 4th quarter but most importantly, he was in the right place on his defensive assignments every time.  Brad put him on Gerald Henderson and frustrated Henderson so much he got himself 2 Ts and got tossed 5 minutes into that 4th quarter.  Man, are we hot or are we hot!?

Rozier with another 1-6 night.  He may have learned toughness from Smart but he has also learned how to throw bricks.  Smart might be coming around, so too must Rozier.

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400900242





Brooklyn lost and Phoenix whupped the Lakers.  This was the best scenario for us.  Phoenix still has the #2 worst record in the league but it is 8 1/2 games better than Brooklyn.  


bob


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We have won 10 out of 11 and played through injuries. Best game I ever saw from Marcus Smart, IT was the high scorer for us, but best player on the floor was Marcus Smart. Imagine if he could play like this ever night? He'd be a first team all defense and an all star, as it is, he should be first team all defensive this year. Easily best 6'4" defender in the league, actually can defend better than any 6'5" defender in the L and the only 6'6" defender that defends better is Kawhi Leonard. So other than Kawhi, hes the best 6'4"- 6'6" defender in the league and hes 6'4".

KO is really playing good, he plays at his own kind of awkward slow pace, but in that space, he has skill and can do it against the more athletic players- at least on offense and in the structure of our offense....keep it up man bun. Now Jaylen Brown has to learn to slow it down a little. James Young's defense has really improved, he finally may be getting it. Team is jelling without a rugged rebounding big, when AB and Jaylen come back we will have even more depth and firepower.....we could catch Cavs, but can we hold off Washington? Wiz gave great starting 5, but our depth could give them problems....gonna be some great basketball coming up and we still have 2 lottery picks !!!!

Cow, I know you've always been a big Kelly Olynyk fan, and now I'm glad you finally came around to start appreciating Marcus Smart.

It is amazing how Danny has crafted this team. We have one of the best coaches in basketball, the fifth best record in the league, significant cap space ($44M max), draft picks up the wazoo, and two very high lotto picks from the Nets. Keep it up Danny!

The way this team is playing is going to make Danny think harder about any trade for sure.

I still think we need a consistent go-to guy to go along wth IT come playoff time,. but the way they are playing now, standing pat looks mighty good also.

cowens/oldschool wrote:KO is really playing good

poor cow, I hope he never saw whatever it was coming..

cowens/oldschool wrote:We have won 10 out of 11 and played through injuries. Best game I ever saw from Marcus Smart, IT was the high scorer for us, but best player on the floor was Marcus Smart. Imagine if he could play like this ever night? He'd be a first team all defense and an all star, as it is, he should be first team all defensive this year. Easily best 6'4" defender in the league, actually can defend better than any 6'5" defender in the L and the only 6'6" defender that defends better is Kawhi Leonard. So other than Kawhi, hes the best 6'4"- 6'6" defender in the league and hes 6'4".

KO is really playing good, he plays at his own kind of awkward slow pace, but in that space, he has skill and can do it against the more athletic players- at least on offense and in the structure of our offense....keep it up man bun. Now Jaylen Brown has to learn to slow it down a little. James Young's defense has really improved, he finally may be getting it. Team is jelling without a rugged rebounding big, when AB and Jaylen come back we will have even more depth and firepower.....we could catch Cavs, but can we hold off Washington? Wiz gave great starting 5, but our depth could give them problems....gonna be some great basketball coming up and we still have 2 lottery picks !!!!

Cow,

Brown is a rookie.  You have to be Magic or Bird or someone of that caliber for the game NOT to be too fast for you in your rookie year.  Even then, Bird played 4 years at Indiana State and was 23 years old in his rookie year.  Magic was 20 and MJ was 21.  So, they all had more years of college prep and development than Jaylen Brown.  Personally, I'd like to see the NBA raise the minimum age to 20 but, right now, we've got kids coming into the league who really aren't ready for it and, in my opinion, it is diluting the talent.  6'5"+ teenagers can dunk the ball and shoot the 3 and that's what today's fans want to see.  Appreciating seeing the game played at a sophisticated, high level is beyond many of their towel-waving drunken ass sensibilities.  I like Jaylen Brown.  I have liked his calm, intellectual demeanor and focus since the first interview I heard from him on draft day.  I am NOT worried, in the least, about him becoming a real eye-opener in a few years.  And if he hangs with Marcus Smart he will get a little junkyard dawg in him too and I'm just fine with that too!

I'm referring to Kelly as The Tommy John of the NBA.  After his shoulder surgery, Tommy John never threw a fast ball over 80-85mph.  That is a minimum of 6-7mph slower than any other pitcher.  It completely discombobulated batters, year after year, because they were used to 92-94mph fast balls from everybody else and it was hard for them to slow down enough to wait for Tommy John's pitch without unhinging themselves.  And then, when they adjusted and started waiting on his slower pitches, he started throwing 65mph breaking balls.  "Oh, so you figured out I throw slow pitches?  Well, here's one even slower!"  That's Kelly.  He is SO slow, SO deliberate you see players just don't know what to do with him.  But he keeps moving.  Not fast, although he seems to motor north-south pretty well, but he is active on both offense and defense.  Broaden your eyeballs a bit to watch him on defense and you see him shifting as the ball rotates side-to-side. Is he a rim protector like Noel? Hell freaking NO! But he moves his feet and gets where he needs to be when he needs to be there more often than not (MUCH better than Zeller despite Zeller having 25# on him and a better wingspan). One doesn't understand why a slug like him can get his shoulders past a much faster player on a drive, but he keeps doing it.  One doesn't understand how a slug like him can outrace his man down court for a fast break, but he keeps doing it.  He is playing with confidence now, and I have said all along that confidence (or lack of it) will be his making or unmaking and not his athleticism (or lack of that too).  He is a coach's son, his court vision is excellent for a big man.  I think his problem, overall, has been that he has been overintellectualizing the game and not just attacking and let his instincts take over.  He was trying to "see" the game first before he shoots, passes, etc.  He may, MAY!, be getting past that.  Finally.

And what flipped the switch, after all these years, in James Young's head?


bob


.

And what flipped the switch, after all these years, in James Young's head?

THE TRADE DEADLINE

worcester wrote:And what flipped the switch, after all these years, in James Young's head?

THE TRADE DEADLINE

Possibly just the opportunity to play. They've kept him on the roster over other options, so the coaching staff obviously sees something there, and we've heard various coaches say that he's doing a great job in practice. When he's come in before, it's either been in garbage time, or in brief spurts where he may have been trying to do too much to impress the coaches and his teammates, rather than just going out and playing. For the last few games, it seems like Brad has told him that he's going to get extended opportunities to play, so he's not worried about being taken out if he makes a mistake. He hasn't looked amazing, but at least he looks like an NBA player, and one with the potential to improve if he gets time on the floor.

He's responding to the opportunity, which is really good news. My son saw him live at the Final Four in Dallas and thought he was the best player in the tourney. Since then I've been sorely disappointed, even though he had such a quick fluid release to his shooting stroke. I hope he blossoms further, although in August I was sure he had nothing to offer. Great to see him develop.

worcester wrote:Cow, I know you've always been a big Kelly Olynyk fan, and now I'm glad you finally came around to start appreciating Marcus Smart.

It is amazing how Danny has crafted this team. We have one of the best coaches in basketball, the fifth best record in the league, significant cap space ($44M max), draft picks up the wazoo, and two very high lotto picks from the Nets. Keep it up Danny!

worse I call it the way I see it, KO is learning to use his skills to go around or over certain players at his own pace, he looked awkward when he failed, now he seems to be savvy enough to succeed more out there. When he couldn't get it going, we all saw that, hope he can succeed further. What more can you say about Marcus Smart? He played a great game in his own unique style that no one, well maybe Kawhi or Tony Allen only on the defensive side, can duplicate cause no one plays with that kind of ferocity and ganas on defense and his offensive IQ, the way he sets up the offense and gets the ball to his teammates in great positions is just great for such a young player. He helps in so many ways and has a grinders Paul Silas mentality/intensity that he will outwork and outphysical you all over the floor. Theres plenty of players with a better fg%, but don't have a third of the impact that he has.