Post Game Thread - vs Milwaukee Bucks, Home

Congratulations to the 2016-2017 Eastern Conference Leading Boston Celtics!  And we didn't just back into it with the Cleveland loss, we won it in stunning style in the 4th quarter.  Tyronn Lue rested his big 3 but how many games have their big 3 missed this year?  LBJ played 74 games, these last two being because he's resting, not injured.  Kyrie Irving played 72 games, the last two he rested.  Only Kevin Love missed a bunch of games, he played 60, and he rested too.  So, they've been healthy for most of the year.  Al Horford played 68, Jae Crowder played 72, Avery Bradley only played 55.  IT played 76 games.  It seemed like he never missed a game this year but he missed 6, only 2 more than LBJ and LBJ was resting for 2 games.  My point?  I saw on one of the Comments From The Other Side that the only reason why we are the EC leaders is because Cleveland didn't win 55 games this year.  However, we had more games lost to injuries than them (30 games lost for LBJ/KI/KL vs 41 games lost for AH/JC/AB) and Ball Don't Lie.  At the end of an 82 game season you are your record and we won more games than any other team in the east.  Did we do it in rollicking fun style, dominating teams like GSW?  No, most of our games were close.  Having a large MOV (Margin of Victory) is good and it shows how strong, how talented, you are as a team but does it develop character like winning with a much smaller MOV?  I don't know.  There something to be said for a team of underdogs fighting like junkyard dogs.  In the game vs Brooklyn Brad told the troops "Don't think there won't be games like this in the playoffs.  Figure out how to win".  Character building games like that add value that winning every game in a laugher doesn't.

A see-saw first half that had us see giving up 36 points in the 1st quarter but then saw us score 32 in the 2nd quarter while holding them to only 20.   We battled to a draw in the 3rd and then blew them out in the 4th with a 32-16 quarter.  We just can't have an easy one.  That's just not us.  Marcus Smart can't hit a bull in the ass with a bazooka for 3 quarters but starts canning 3s in crunch time.  Drives me crazy we are like this.

This was a game of player runs.  Jae carried us with 8 points on 3-3 in the 1st, IT had 10 in the 2nd quarter, Amir had 7 points and carried us with every intangible and Tommy Point play you could ask for in the 3rd.  Amir was 2-2 from 3.  He is shooting 40.9% from 3 on the season and this is the 10th straight year his overall fg% has been 55% or better.  This year it's 57.6%.  That's awesome.  I don't know if Amir will be with us next year, my gut says 'no', but unless the $ is significantly better elsewhere I'd beg, borrow, steal to stay on this team with Brad.  Brad knows how to use players so they look their best.  That's his gift.

Kelly with a thoroughly forgettable first half.  Zero points on 0-3, 1 rebound in 7 minutes and just looked off.  Again.  It was so bad that I was said "Halle-freaking-lujah" when Kelly finally scored in the 3rd, and he still ended the 3rd with only 3 points on 1-5 and only 2 boards and 2 assists in 11 minutes.  UNDERwhelming, to say the least.  He finished the game with 8 points on 3-9 (still crappy overall, but a 2-4 4th quarter), 4 boards and 6 assists and only 1 TO.  He made 3 beautiful assists in a row, 2 of them perfect pocket bounce passes to a back cutter.  Smart and IT both had 8 assists but 7'er Kelly Olynyk was 3rd with 6.  He had a GOOD 4th quarter, a quarter we won 32-16 (so very good offensively and excellent defensively) and he played every minute of the 4th.  11 minutes after 3, 23 minutes for the game is a 12 minute 4th quarter for him.  His inconsistency is, and will no doubt continue to be, his weakness.  That's why he comes off the bench but when he has these spurts he is valuable and we need these spurts, if not more consistency, in the playoffs.  We need opposing players and coaches forgetting about IT and Jae and AB and start thinking "what the hell are we going to do about Olynyk?".

Gerald Green is another.  He was an awful 3-11 sometime in the 4th quarter.  He ended up Celtic high scorer, breaking IT's streak, with 18 points on 6-14.  He had 6 points on 1-5 after 3, 0-4 from 3.  So that's a 12 point, 5-9, 2-4 from 3, 4th quarter.  If you only saw the first half you'd think he was killing us.  If fact, if you only watched the first 3 1/2 quarters you'd think he was killing us.  And then the switch flipped.  Him and Kelly.  Is it strange that two offensively-oriented players like them had good offensive quarters?  No, not really, but we only gave up 16 points in that quarter too.  Gerald Green, like Kelly Olynyk, also played all 12 minutes of the 4th quarter.  Think of that.  We won the 4th quarter 32-16 with those two on the floor the whole time.  We need more of this in the playoffs.  Crowder played 4 minutes in the 4th and Bradley played 9, but Horford, IT, Amir and Jerebko never got off the bench.  Brown played 4 minutes and Rozier and Young got 3 minutes each at the end, but the unit that can rightfully claim credit for that put-away quarter was Kelly, Gerald and Marcus (9 minutes), Avery and Jae/Jaylen.  

Credit to Zeller.  Monroe was playing bully boy with Al and Kelly and Zeller, of all people, came in a bodied up on him.  He also ran the floor and was tough under the boards.  An underwhelming season, no doubt to be replaced by Zizic next year, but he did stay ready.  

The reason why I copy-and-paste the quarter-end boxscore is so that I can sanity-check my eyeballs.  I thought Beasley was killing us in the 1st half.  He had 7 points after 1, 7 points at the half, 11 points after 3.  So, a very good first quarter but then not much.  If you asked me, though, I thought he was crushing us.  Monroe was another one.  The Moose was bulldozing people, especially Kelly.  But, in the end, he ended up with only 10 points on 3-7.  

Thon Maker with 3 blocks including 2 phenomenal chase-down blocks LBJ would be proud of.  He's raw, no doubt, but he has talent and you cannot teach that length.

Malcolm Brogdon is smooth as silk.  He is the most unhurried rookie I have seen in a very, very long time.


Some tidbits:

Isaiah has the highest career scoring average, as a Celtic, in Boston Celtic history.  24.7ppg.  Larry Legend averaged 24.3.  That's pretty frippin' amazing when you consider Larry got his points averaging 38mpg and IT is only averaging 32mpg.  Yeah, Larry did it over more years, but still...

Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 10 hours ago
BEST SCORING AVG - CELTICS HISTORY 29.9 - Larry Bird, 1988 28.93 - ISAIAH THOMAS, 2017 28.86 - John Havlicek, 1971 28.7 - Larry Bird, 1985
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MY NOTE:  This is for a single season.  The previous blurb was Celtic ppg average career.


Bill Doyle @BillDoyle15
yesterday
Isaiah Thomas on if before this season he expected Celtics to become the No. 1 seed: I did, but I mean I’m different than others.
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Scott Souza @Scott_Souza
yesterday
#Celtics Isaiah Thomas: We definitely weren't thinking No 1 seed when I got here. We were barely thinking playoffs.
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Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Al Horford on having homecourt advantage throughout East: "I know for many years I hated coming in here."
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Michael Pina @MichaelVPina
about 1 hour ago
Per @Synergy Sports Tech, the Celtics end the regular season owning the third most efficient offense after a time-out. (Last year, they ranked 27th.)
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Michael Pina @MichaelVPina
about 2 hours ago
The Celtics rank 13th in defensive rebound rate since the All-Star break. Quite the turnaround despite zero changes to their personnel.
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Brian Robb @CelticsHub
yesterday
Brad Stevens on winning No. 1 seed: "There is a pride in being consistent."
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Just 4 years ago we were 25 win roadkill and now we're on top of the pyramid in the east.  Wow.

Now for Chicago.  Let's hope Clutch Jimmy, Playoff Rondo and Classic Wade continue to struggle.  To me, for this to be considered a successful season, we have to win a playoff series.


http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400900597  








bob


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