Post Game Thread - vs Jazz, Away 2/26/20

[bobheckler]

I was having bad feelings about this game in the beginning.  We had no legs, almost from the start, every 3 was front-rimming.  We shot 38% in the 1st quarter.  Fortunately our newest superstar kept attacking the rim at close range and not from howitzer range.

One advantage to being a regular is that they won't just throw you out when the clock strikes closing time. Ozumas let me stay and watch the game even after all the waitresses had left, they swept up the floor and were done. No wonder I love that place (the fish is excellent too).

This is the 11th time this season Jayson Tatum has scored 30 points or more.  Last year he did it once.  Considering how many games The Little Prince missed we can't credit it all to the glorious vacuum created by his departure.  This is just Jayson Tatum coming into his own.  It's amazing to see how much confidence plays a role in the performance of professional athletes (and people in general too, I guess).  Three of those 30+ games took place after the All-Star game, he scored 28 in Minny and was over 30 in the Clippers game just before the ASG.  So that's 4 30+ games, and one just shy of it, in the last 5 games since he heard he was an All-Star.  Last night he had 25 points in the first half.  Good thing too, nobody else could do anything right.  

Jay King @ByJayKing
about 1 hour ago
Jayson Tatum averages over 11 games in February so far: 30.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 51.4% FG, 50% 3PT (almost nine attempts per game), 65.7% TS Jaylen Brown averages during the month: 21.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, 49.4% FG, 35.1% 3PT, 57.2% TS

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
about 7 hours ago
Jayson Tatum has become the first player in NBA history to shoot 60% from the field on at least 20 field goal attempts and 5 three-point attempts in 3 straight games.


In the 3rd quarter it was Jaylen Brown who stepped up, n the 4th it was Smart with 3 straight 3s but there's a part of me that wants to give the Game Ball to Daniel Theis.  He has had an outstanding road trip, overall, and last night he battled the MUCH bigger Rudy Gobert.  The final box score shows undersized, underappreciated (especially by the refs) 6'8" Theis with 16 points and 7 rebounds, 4 offensive and 7'1" 2X DPOY and 3X NBA All-Defense First Teamer Rudy Gobert with 9 points and 9 rebounds.  He gave up 5" and still outplayed him.

Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
1 hour ago
Unsung hero from West Coast trip: Daniel Theis, who averaged 16.8 ppg and 10.3 rpg with 64% FG in the 3-1 stretch.

Wanny with another Wanny game.  It appears the Laker game was a blip.

Grant Williams with another recent Grant Williams game.  Not good.  He's making a lot of dumb mistakes which, as I have said before, is weird given he is not a dumb player.

Kanter doing some damage, 7 rebounds and 8 points.  Just enough.  But Kanter had 2 blocks.  It's hard to say "Kanter" and "blocks" in the same sentence but there it is.  He must be healthy again.

Donovan Mitchell is nice to watch.  Very smooth.  Wanny played some good defense on him last night, Smart and Jaylen took their shots too, but he was all but unguardable last night.

A 3-1 road trip that could easily have been 4-0 and we did it without Kemba.  This team really is good.

Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 6 hours ago
The bad news? The Celtics' schedule remains tough...5 of the next 7 against playoff teams. The good news? The Celtics last 11 games vs. playoff teams... 9-2, +10.1 scoring differential, 117.6 points per game.


https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401161514




bob



.

[cowens/oldschool]

Great win in b2b, as I was watching this game, was thinking the Jazz are not that good, they have no wing talent/stars at all. As the game wore on and Tatum put on another all around clinic, so great to see, and then later Jaylen stepped up, they had no shot vs us, just a terrible match up for them. Donavan Mitchell was great, but he didn’t have enough help. Actually I shouldn’t get so down on them, most teams cannot match up with our wings both ends and they knew it, but couldn’t do anything about it, too big a talent gap, where we are strongest, they are weakest. Bogdanvic and Ingles just bad match ups for them vs 2 J’s both ends, they couldn’t score and sure couldn’t deter our guys either.

Great game by Theis and Kantor with some timely scores, the one area they needed to win in the match ups was center and Gobert is an all star, but he was actually outplayed by Theis, who is fearless and just makes timely big plays it seems more and more, great work by our undersized center. Outplaying a giant, by mostly playing off his teammates and getting to key spots on the floor first was great. With all the attention 2 J’s can get, glad we can get easy baskets with Theis, who had some nice dunks!!  Smart is really showing me something, always makes key defensive plays and key shots and assists, it looks like he’s having an off game and he’ll come back and make winning plays, the team feeds off him.

[gyso]

cow,

BobH already started the postgame thread.  He beat you by mere seconds.  

Do you want me to merge the two threads?

[cowens/oldschool]

cow,

BobH already started the postgame thread.  He beat you by mere seconds.  

Do you want me to merge the two threads?

Wow didn’t even know, please do gyso....

[gyso]

cow,

BobH already started the postgame thread.  He beat you by mere seconds.  

Do you want me to merge the two threads?

Wow didn’t even know, please do gyso....

Done

[cowens/oldschool]

Bob is a great writer, much better than me, but other than Kelly O, we see the game very similar....

[cowens/oldschool]

Thanks gyso

[dboss]

This game scared the bejesus out of me.

Remember they won both home and away games against us last year and they were coming off of 3 straight home losses.  The betting line had them winning by around 5 points.  Boston was playing the 2nd game of B2B on the road and their 4th straight without starting PG Walker.  Everything pointed to a loss and a respectable 2-2 road trip.

But hold on a minute.  There was a point in this game when I came to realize that Utah was not as good as we were and that we were going to win this game.

It was one of those games that gives this team added confidence that they can beat anyone on the road.

Now reaching 41 wins we will have another winning season.  Jayson carried us in the first Half, Jaylen carried us in the 3rd quarter and the amazing Marcus Smart drilled them in the 4th.  We have multiple guys who can step up and carry the offensive load for the team.

Daniel Theis with yet another outstanding game.  Wanny doing Wanny things and Kanter combined with Theis for 7 offensive rebounds.

GH remains in a slump but you can bet that will not last much longer.

The Raptors went on a scorching 15 game streak and Boston has stayed right with them.  It is really pretty remarkable.  They can run but they cannot hide.  

This is year 7 for coach Stevens and this may be the best team that he has had.  Our previous high win total of 55 may be eclipsed this year.  (A 15-9 record the rest of the way gets us to 56 wins.  I think we may do even better than that.

[Shamrock1000]

Damn BobH...."the Little Prince"???? Perfect. That is how I will be referring to him henceforth. I hope it spreads and sticks. You get an A+.

[dboss]

The Little Prince was a pimple on the ass of progress.  Neither Jayson nor Jaylen would have had the freedom to do what we see they are doing this year.

Both these young guys are up +7 in scoring.  That is a significant improvement in scoring.

The playoffs are coming.  Our top 7 guys have some playoff experience

Daniel Theis 7 games
Kemba Walker 11 games
Gordon Hayward 24 games
Jayson Tatum 24 games
Enes Kanter 43 games
Jaylen Brown 44 games
Marcus Smart 45 games

Playoff experience is important.  The competition is better, games plans change and all the intangibles become more prominent.

This team will be ready for a deep run.  Rotations will be shortened to 8 or 9 guys.  Starters will log more minutes and a few  new wrinkles will find their way onto the court.

[dboss]

Last night Brad  had his team play zone in the 4th QTR.  It looked like a 3/2 zone and it befuddled the Jazz completely.  Normally you cannot stay in a zone that long as teams identify what you are doing and are able to get a guy in the middle to create diagonal passing lanes.

Either the Jazz players and coaches are stupid or the execution of the zone was perfect.  Maybe a little of both.

[dbrown4]

The phrase from here to the end of the regular season and playoffs is "Show Me Something". These guys are doing just that and going beyond the call of duty.

ESPN and Friends are all over JT as the second coming of Kobe/LeBron, etc. But...and this is a BIG BUT...they all are guarded in their speech by, "let's see what he does in the playoffs before we take LeBron's crown and pass it to JT." That's cool. But the conversation has started. Yes, we are the 4th place team, or in NCAA speak, the last team in, to the Final 4. We have a date with Houston this weekend. MIL on 3/12. With all this hype, those now become must wins and everything assumed in between.

This may be our weekend to tie up TOR. They play @ DEN on Sunday. If things turn in our favor and TOR wobbles Sunday, we can be tied with them in the loss column come Sunday night. All eyes are now on BOS.

db

[dboss]

The phrase from here to the end of the regular season and playoffs is "Show Me Something".  These guys are doing just that and going beyond the call of duty.  

ESPN and Friends are all over JT as the second coming of Kobe/LeBron, etc.  But...and this is a BIG BUT...they all are guarded in their speech by, "let's see what he does in the playoffs before we take LeBron's crown and pass it to JT."  That's cool.  But the conversation has started.  Yes, we are the 4th place team, or in NCAA speak, the last team in, to the Final 4.  We have a date with Houston this weekend.  MIL on 3/12.  With all this hype, those now become must wins and everything assumed in between.  

This may be our weekend to tie up TOR.  They play @ DEN on Sunday.  If things turn in our favor and TOR wobbles Sunday, we can be tied with them in the loss column come Sunday night.  All eyes are now on BOS.  

db    

Now comes the learning curve for JT

As more teams throw double teams at him he will need to become a improved play maker.

Last night on a play they doubled him and he just dribbled around and was forced into a poor three point attempt.

Next time they tried the same thing and he found Wanny at the corner for a drive that became an And 1.  He can make the right play but it means not trying to score himself .  When he becomes an efficient play maker he will be an elite player.  So what comes after elite for him?  Super elite!  Break out the check book Danny.

You have to pick your poison with this team because we have multiple guys who can take over a game.  That is the beauty of this team.

[RosalieTCeltics]

You have to take ESPN with a grain of salt, they seem to swing with the hot player. They started the season all over Philly, when they started to struggle, they turned their attention to Milwaukee (I can see why the Bucks feel they are not getting the respect they deserve), then they went right after Toronto with their winning streak.

Jason Tatum, I believe, has turned the corner. There are very few times in the past six or eight games (or more) that I can say he blew a play. His shooting has been a sight to behold. Jaylen right behind him. The next guy I give the biggest credit to is Theis. Has has put it all out there. Sooner or later, these referees are going to have to start respecting him and give up on those ticky tacky fouls he has been called for.
I heard tonight that Kemba is going to be out against the Rockets. As far as I am concerned, he should have been home here instead of traveling with the team and getting treatments here where he would get more rest. I am a little worried about him, but this could really be the Celtics playing it real safe, especially since the team is playing well.
I just wish he was back on the floor.

[worcester]

We need Kemba healthy for the playoffs. He should rest as long as his knee kneeds it.

[dbrown4]

Agreed, Rosalie.  We know for whatever reason(s), the Celtics get the shaft in the media.  Maybe we won too many titles, etc.  So for us to get any traction, we have to overachieve.  Things have been changing there recently in our favor.    

So for Jayson and Boston to establish themselves as legitimate, we will have to overachieve quite possibly in this year's playoffs.  We all know what that will be...knocking off the Bucks.  And that's counting the chickens from the first two rounds.

We finally will have to answer the question are we 3 games better than the Bucks this year than we were last year.  Well, the likelihood of that happening has taken some giant steps forward over the last month or so. March 12 is coming.  

The team has for sure.  They've solved the injury problem, established an emerging superstar with or without a full cast, etc.  That leaves one last unknown...Is Brad 3 games better than Coach Bud?  A lot of hot lights on Brad now.  He will get what he wants with the underdog mentality as we are now being dubbed the last one in to the Final Four.  But if we were to knock off the Bucks and make it to the Finals, will his old Butler Finals mentality take over and have us come up there short?  The underdog mentality only works up to a point.  Then you become the favorite and everyone guns for you.

Everything seems to be coming together REGARDLESS of the circumstances.  That's going to blow most if not all opposing team's game plans right out of the water, regular season or playoffs.  You can't cheat on any of our players except maybe Theis and now he's cranking it up to where he's enough of a problem that you can't leave him alone because he camps out under the basket at just the right time for an uncontested slam dunk.

The great news?!!  We still have several more weeks of games to fine tune things.  Practically a full season at the college level.  As those around us appear to be caving to the pressure or injuries...PHI, MIA, hopefully TOR this weekend, BOS is putting the pedal to the metal.  HOU game tomorrow will be a big test.  Again, in my book, this is a 50/50 game @ home with a splash of revenge.  I would give us the edge.  But we need to take care of business.

db

P.S. With Kemba, he needs to be on the road with this team. In Charlotte he was it. As he went, so went the Hornets. He was the MAN with a bunch of wannabes. Now he's on a team. Can't put a price on that and his contributions during these down times for him. Management probably told him he needed to stay at home. Then he presented a very compelling argument for why he should stay with the team on this West Coast trip. Looks like it paid off.

[dboss]

We need Kemba healthy for the playoffs. He should rest as long as his knee kneeds it.

Kemba will be ready and getting the knee stronger is part of the process.

Worcester the amazing thing is how valuable Marcus Smart has been for this team.  The other night I was watching him and he seemed to have a slight limp.  He plays through pain.  I actually think he needs to get a few games off to heal up properly so the sooner Kemba can get back the better.

Marcus in my opinion is the MVP on this team.  He can replace other guys but no one can replace him.  He has been injured going into the playoffs.  The year we beat the Bucks it was not until he came back that we were able to win.   Last year he only played in 2 playoff games.

We will need him if we are able to get a series with the Bucks.  Some recent history:  Jaylen Brown has missed both games against the Bucks

We beat them 116-105 with Marcus starting.  He scored 19 with 6 assists, 4 rebounds and a steal

They edged us 128-123 and Marcus shot poorly from the field but went 5-10 from deep, 7-7 from the line and had 4 assists 2 rebounds 2 steals and a block he scored 24 points.

The Celtics can beat the Bucks but they just need to play quality basketball AND have a healthy team and a healthy Marcus Smart

[worcester]

Yes, Smart is our MVP, but JT is vying for that title now.

[Shamrock1000]

Now comes the learning curve for JT

As more teams throw double teams at him he will need to become a improved play maker.

Last night on a play they doubled him and he just dribbled around and was forced into a poor three point attempt.

Next time they tried the same thing and he found Wanny at the corner for a drive that became an And 1.  He can make the right play but it means not trying to score himself .  When he becomes an efficient play maker he will be an elite player.  So what comes after elite for him?  Super elite!  Break out the check book Danny.

You have to pick your poison with this team because we have multiple guys who can take over a game.  That is the beauty of this team.

For sure that is the next step in JT's evolution. I really feel like this kid is a student of the game, and he realizes this as well. I would bet he figures it out.

[RosalieTCeltics]

There are still so many anti Smart people out there. If you know or follow basketball and this team, you will realize how important he is to the development of our young players on top of improving his game ever single year he has been here. What he does on defense is amazing, and he is rubbing off on the other players. I laughed the other night when Hayward, who was having a rough shooting night, blocked a shot, and then on the other end, stole the ball right out of the Lakers pocket. That is not his game usually, but I believe Smart has them all believing they can do it if he can

[cowens/oldschool]

There are still so many anti Smart people out there.  If you know or follow basketball and this team, you will realize how important he is to the development of our young players on top of improving his game ever single year he has been here.  What he does on defense is amazing, and he is rubbing off on the other players.  I laughed the other night when Hayward, who was having a rough shooting night, blocked a shot, and then on the other end, stole the ball right out of the Lakers pocket.  That is not his game usually, but I believe Smart has them all believing they can do it if he can

He plays like a 6’4” clone of Paul Silas

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