POST GAME CHICAGO - AWAY

Celtics Wrap: Zach LaVine Nets 42, Boston Bullied In Loss Vs. Bulls

NESN by Michael McMahon on Sat, Feb 23, 2019 at 10:17PM

After going down to the wire against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night, the Boston Celtics looked utterly lifeless at times Saturday night against the lowly Chicago Bulls, falling 126-116.

Despite a hot start in the first quarter, the Celtics were completely outplayed for long stretches, and dug themselves a massive hole they could not erase in the fourth quarter.

Zach LaVine was monstrous for the Bulls, dousing the Celtics for 42 points. Lauri Markkanen also was nearly unstoppable, finishing with 35. Kyrie Irving led the chase in the second half, and topped the Celtics with 37 points. Al Horford had 19 points.

With the loss, the Celtics fall to 37-23, while the Bulls fall to 16-44 with the win.

Here’s how it all went down.

STARTING FIVE
PG: Kyrie Irving
SG: Marcus Smart
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Marcus Morris Sr.
C: Al Horford

CELTICS START HOT
Boston shot 60 percent from the field in taking a 33-28 lead after 12 minutes.

The Celtics took a 7-0 lead right out of the gate, which caused Chicago to take a timeout just 1:17 into the game. Chicago gained consciousness after the timeout, but the Celtics were able to separate again with another 7-0 run to make it 22-15 with 5:23 to play in the first.

Boston was able to stay an arm’s length from the Bulls thanks to Horford and Tatum, who were a combined 9-for-10 from the floor in the quarter.

But LaVine kept the Bulls on the Celtics’ heels, scoring 12 points in the opening quarter, and kept it a two-possession game in the last minutes of the first.

BULLS ON PARADE
Chicago’s bench gave the Bulls a massive push in the second, which led to the hosts taking a 64-51 lead into halftime. Chicago outscored Boston 36-18 in the second.

It was the Bulls taking their first lead of the game with a Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot 3-pointer 1:32 in the second. Ryan Arcidiacono hit another trey to push the hosts run against Boston’s bench to 10-0 and gave Chicago a 38-33 lead.

Treys from LaVine and Arcidiacono brought the Bulls’ lead to 58-43 with 3:55 to play in the half.

The Celtics were unable to chip away at the deficit in the late stages of the half, with LaVine (19 first half points) and Markkanen (15 first half points) continuing to drive the Bulls’ bus.

C’s CLOSE MASSIVE GAP
LaVine picked up where he left off in the first half, setting the world on fire in the third quarter as the Bulls led by as much as 25, and took a 94-81 lead into the fourth.

The third quarter started exactly how the first ended for the Celtics, with the Bulls taken advantage of an utterly flat C’s squad and pushing the advantage to 20 points with a triple from LaVine to make it 75-55 with 9:24 to play in the third. LaVine continue to hit shots at will, hitting another trey to make it 82-60 with 8:05 left in the third.

Jaylen Brown gave the C’s a spark, with back-to-back transition buckets, then hitting a three to make it 91-76 with 2:38 to go in the third. Boston continued its surge back with Gordon Hayward adding a trey to close the gap to 13 heading into the fourth quarter.

BULLS RIDE IT OUT
Despite an early push, the Celtics did not have enough to come all the way back.

Irving closed the gap to single digits with a trey, but Markkanen answered back to make it 97-86 with 10:01 to play. He followed that up with an and-1 to make it 100-86. And LaVine continued to torch the C’s, hitting the 40-point mark with a stepback jumper to make it 109-93 with 5:47 to play.

Markkanen’s three with 3:23 made it 116-102.

Irving got the Celtics back within nine at the charity stripe with 1:12 to play, but that is as close the Celtics would come in the closing moments.

PLAY OF THE GAME
Yikes.

UP NEXT
The Celtics will conclude their three-game road trip with a tilt against the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday. Tip off from Scotiabank Arena is slated for 8 p.m.

112288

WOW

112288

I was beginning to think we were going to watch another Devon Booker display with LaVine scoring at will from wherever .

This was disappointing. Something is wrong here, no matter what lineup Brad tried, Irving and Al were the only ones scoring. Jaylen and Jason chipped in a little, Jaylen was more active than Jason. The rest? They took the night off. Rozier absolutely is a head trip

Al dropped 19 points which is great but his 2 rebounds tells a big story. We got blasted on the glass again.

The Celtics are proving to be a mentally soft team.

Little by little I am losing confidence in Brad's ability to get this team to play the right way. I think his rotation minutes are all screwed up.

The Celtics look like a first round exit from the playoffs.

Come the fall, you will not recognize the 2019-2020 Celtics.

I am still of the belief that Boogie Cousins and strategic draft picks with some trades for top notch wings /PF is the answer, not trading everything for Davis. Keep Tatem and Brown in your fold Danny.

112288

The whole is less than the sum of the parts.

I’m not giving up, as I know you all aren’t either. I’m just worried that this team of talented players doesn’t enjoy playing together nor respect each other.

I was at the game, Levine actually was defended pretty well, he was just unconscious, in a zone that I’ve never seen before, oh it was a career high. Morris and Al got killed by a guy named Lauri. Al’s defense was okay at times, you all know I think Morris’s defense sucks, well it did, plus the rotations. All game Brad went with his set rotation, which does not get the best out of this team. Then finally early 4th, the line up I have been pining for got in the same time: Kyrie Smart Jaylen Tatum Al, problem was Brad didn’t play them together for more than 5 minutes, then with 5 minutes left in 4th he put back in Morris for Jaylen, sealing the loss, leading to defensive breakdown after defensive breakdown, because Morris is too slow and can’t jump to save his life. Another player who killed us was Rozier, who my youngest son loves, he absolutely has sucked pretty much this whole year. He shows up for a half every 5 games. Those 2 guys killed us....not the outcome I was hoping for. A lot of times Al was defending far out on perimeter, would be nice if the PF could handle some rebounding when Al is extended out of position, but with Morris that’s not going to happen. Al and Morris must be the weakest 4-5 rebounding combo out there. I saw numerous times Morris was on back end of defense and guys were scoring with ease at the rim.

Well on the bright side GS lost 2 out of 3 and Boogie doesn’t seem to be jelling with them either....

I think I'm sticking with my term for the team this year....Confounding. Next.

db

112288 wrote:Come the fall, you will not recognize the 2019-2020 Celtics.

I am still of the belief that Boogie Cousins and strategic draft picks with some trades for top notch wings /PF is the answer, not trading everything for Davis. Keep Tatem and Brown in your fold Danny.

112288

how do we sign any top level FA's next year?

we are over the cap and likely over the tax line next year as well ( assuming we sing either Irving OR Rozier and Morris back).

No money for any high end Free agents here in a while now my friends. That shipped sailed with the signing of Horford and Hayward to max deals.

trades , draft picks and the MLE are the only way Danny can change the team right now. With our draft picks now looking at being outside the lottery, we are not likely to get a player that helps right away on this years draft (THANKS A LOT KINGS!)

That means trades is the only way Danny can upgrade this current team.

I for one am all for letting Irving walk now. I think much of our "chemistry" Issues derive from the flat earth diva and I think we can let him walk. Danny can resign Rozier, Morris and Theis for the same money he will have to pay Irving next season.


do that and draft two more young guns and let "the Process" play out.

Horford will be on his last year of his max deal after next season ( he actually has an player option next year, but he will take the max money).

I never mentioned signing free agents, however since you brought it up, perhaps Irving goes. I rather spend money on a center then on a point guard any day of the week.

It seems that the attitude of the team has changed since Irving came along.

112288

Bouncing.  That's what this team is doing, it's bouncing.  They're up, then they fall off their barstools and hit their asses on rock bottom, then they bounce up again only to fall back onto their backsides again.

I think Brad has lost a lot of the team.  

Not Lost
Horford, Irving, Brown, Smart, Theis

Lost
Morris, Hayward, Rozier, Tatum

The "Not Lost" are out there, playing hard, playing with pride and executing.  The "Lost" aren't playing with heart and fire or they mentally check out for long stretches of the game.

Horford and Jaylen Brown are now both healthy and rested and they are playing hard.  They don't always hit their shots but they are out there busting their butts.  Smart is our living, beating heart.  Theis, in very German-like manner, goes out and does his job in an almost machine-like precision.  Everybody has bad games but it is rare indeed to see any of these players go out and la di dah a game.  They are always trying their best, some days their best just isn't working.

The "Lost" are players with their own agendas and/or issues.  

Morris has been quite mouthy, as we all know, but after his latest pop off he hasn't been backing his words up with game.  In his last 5 games he has shot 42% and 32% from 3.  His season-to-date numbers still look good but that's because of the strength of the first half of the season.  Now, he's a liability on offense and defense.  We were all thinking "it's a shame he's going to be leaving after this season because someone is going to throw money at him".  Now?  Sure, someone will bid him up, but will Danny lift a finger to keep him if it's not part of a sign-and-trade?    

Gordon Hayward has shown he can play again.  He has shown he can score and do other things.  He has even shown he can defend well.  He is just completely unreliable.  We have no idea which G will show up.  He was 2-6 last night but what really bothered me is that one time he came off a curl and had a chance to get into the paint, if not all the way to the rim, and he pulled up for a 16'er.  His body is there, or at least close enough, it's his head that's holding him back and it isn't a “I'm afraid of getting hurt again” issue because we've seen him take falls, get up and keep going like nothing happened.  It's something else.

Rozier is a head case.  He had a stellar playoff run last year and that has made him think that makes him “all that”.  He wants to be a starter.  That's fine, bench players should want to be starters and starters should want to be All-Stars and All-Stars should want to be in the HOF, but you have to back that belief up with performance and he is having the worst contract year season I think I may have ever seen.  He is trying to resurrect  himself with Hero-Ball and it's not working.  His Offensive/Defensive Net Rating this year is 0.  The team scores 107 points/100 possessions when he's on the floor and gives up 107 points/100 possessions when he's on the floor too.  He's a zero.

Jayson Tatum started off the game red hot and, just as we've seen many, many times this season he just disappears after that.  Speaking of Net Rating/100 possessions, he was a +8 last season but is only a +3 this season, with both the offense and defense giving up some to dilute the net.  He was late numerous times on defensive rotations last night.  He should have been a perfect defender for Lauri Markannen, but nope.   It seems to me his play started suffering during the whole Anthony Davis pre-trade crap.  Remember the Laker game?  Even though there was talk the entire Laker roster except for 2-3 players were available it was Tatum and our guys who looked spooked.  Tatum said "it'd be cool to be the face of a franchise", an apparent reference to him going to NOP in a Davis deal, but then says he loves it in Boston and would love to spend his entire career here.  It's easy to forget he's only a week away from his 21st birthday, but his brain isn't veteran even if some of his moves are.

Tatum and Horford, combined, 3 rebounds.  It's easy to point to how badly we got outrebounded as an explanation to why we got beat but there just aren't as many rebounds available when you are letting the 28th offense in the league, one that is averaging 103.7ppg on 45.2% shooting, score 126 points on 53.4% shooting.  Defensive rebounds, which make up the majority, are there for the grabbing only when you make the other team miss.

As Worcester pointed out on the Game On! thread last night "this cake is not baking".  All the ingredients are in it, it's just not rising.  This team is a classic example of the whole being less than the sum of the parts.  Now Smart is calling us out, saying we're not fighters.  Morris says it and we say "Shut up Marcus".  When Smart says it do we still say "Shut up Marcus", or do we say "Oh shit, we got a big problem"?  Look at this team.  Ask yourself "when they're on a run and kicking our ass, who responds with some fire of our own"?  The "Not Lost".  Who plays well when things are going well but disappear or make plays that you know Brad would never call and would never approve of?  The Lost.

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401071562



bob


.

112288 wrote:I never mentioned signing free agents, however since you brought it up, perhaps Irving goes.  I rather spend money on a center then on a point guard any day of the week.

It seems that the attitude of the team has changed since Irving came along.

112288

you noted Cousins in your post, he will be an UFA next season. That's why I said what I did about FA's.

even if Irving signs elsewhere early, if Horford  and Baynes opt in we would be OVER the $109M cap still with our two draft picks and cap holds on Rozier, Morris and Theis alone.

we would have over $101M in active contract  player contracts without Irving . The rookie depending on exactly drafted will have a cap hold in the $4-7M range for two.

to sign a UFA form another team we have to have the cap space to do it. the ONLY way to do that is IF Irving and Horford opt of their deals, we renounce both of them along with Rozier and Morris.

EVEN that would only put us about $21M UNDER the cap!! . so lets be real there is no way Danny would tear down the team in that way.

here is a website that breaks down our salary cap info for next year

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/boston-celtics/cap/2019/


IF the 2019-2020 Boston Celtics' are a much different team than this year, if will be through trades not Free agents.
Frankly they will not be much different, IMO.

I agree addition by subtraction of the Diva from the team is the way to go, however I  only see that allowing Danny to resign Rozier, Morris and Theis instead of Irving. Not bringing in a savior big man (though I agree we need one).

KDP

What about sign and trade.

112288

112288 wrote:KDP

What about sign and trade.

112288

Gyso would be the one to ask about all the in depth cap stuff. I honestly don't know the rules on any sign and trades for UFA's, but I don't think they happen too much in today's NBA.

I'm not trying to be argumentative and hope I am not coming across that way here. I just think there will not be any easy fix with where we stand now, THIS is the team Danny build to win a championship, now maybe he can swing a trade (perhaps even for AD) but I don't see how there will be any big time Free agent help coming our way for a while.

again, Danny used up his Free agency juice with Horford and Hayward which one can argue was great moves or not. But its done for this time frame anyway.

kdp59

No just was not clear on what Danny's options are if they go after him. Trading Hayward could be good for everyone. He would fit in at GS especially if they lose their shooter. Hayward's salary would help off-set a good chunk on Boston's side.

I am just worried that without a big man the Celtics will never make it to the finals. Philly is only going to get better and attract more talent with Embett, and the rest of the East seems to be catching up and passing us.

I WILL GO ON RECORD WITH THE FOLLOWING COMMENT- CURRENTLY...............

THE CELTICS ARE A TEAM OF INDIVIDUALS AND NOT A TEAM OF ONE!

112288

Great post Bobby H, hopefully by playoff time we will have gotten our shit together. I’m hoping, on GH, there was a play he went all the way to the rim, he tried to lay it in, it bounced out. How the fuck he didn’t dunk that is beyond me? There has to be a fear factor in his head, he’s afraid to get hit and too many times and is playing scared, a 6’8” guy not dunking an easy wide open opportunity just doesn’t make sense. We will see how he and this team responds, at least Rozier and Morris’s contracts will be over and they will be free agents, wish they were already gone....

112288 wrote:kdp59

No just was not clear on what Danny's options are if they go after him.   Trading Hayward could be good for everyone.  He would fit in at GS especially if they lose their shooter.  Hayward's salary would help off-set  a good chunk on Boston's side.

I am just worried that without a big man the Celtics will never make it to the finals.  Philly is only going to get better and attract more talent with Embett, and the rest of the East seems to be catching up and passing us.

I WILL GO ON RECORD WITH THE FOLLOWING COMMENT- CURRENTLY...............

THE CELTICS ARE A TEAM OF INDIVIDUALS AND NOT A TEAM OF ONE!

112288

Bro nobody is gonna take GH’s contract off our hands, I wish it were that simple and it could be done, but just don’t see any team wanting that little production for that price....

100% agree Bob and Cow...

FYI, the human brain does not fully develop until age 25. Smart has just about reached his full level of smart. Theis is there. Al is there. Kyrie is there. Jaylen and Jayson have a ways to go. I don't think Terry will ever be that smart.

maybe we should cut Rozier a little slack here. I mean he was a #16 pick in the draft If I remember right.

compared to yabusele (another #16 pick) he's given us a whole lot already.

Tatum, and Brown were 33 picks, a lot IS expected of them.


guys taken in the middle of the draft or later shouldn't be expected be much more than rotational players IMO.

HOPE they are, sure...but I never expect it.

NBA is a very strange league, players can look so good one night and off the next. Zach Levine went 4-13 fg for 11 points tonight in a loss, why couldn’t he do that against us? We would have won....