Celtic Tidbits

Not non-Celtic talk from around the league, and not relevant to a specific game or specific Celtic related topic.


Sean Grande
@SeanGrandePBP
If the Celtics can win two of the homestand’s final three (Milwaukee, Houston, LA Clippers), they’ll win 60 games in the calendar year 2022.

It would be just the 3rd time since 1987 they’ve done that.

https://twitter.com/SeanGrandePBP/status/1606915145275416576



Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 2 hours ago
A little Christmas sidebar, Jaylen Brown is now just four 3's behind Ray Allen for 5th on the Celtics all-time 3-point list. Jayson Tatum should pass Antoine Walker for 2nd before the end of the homestand.

https://twitter.com/SeanGrandePBP/status/1606887544037298176



Bob


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Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 41 minutes ago
The Celtics play their final game of 2022 tonight against the Clippers. A Boston win gives them an NBA-best 60 in the calendar year. It would be just the 3rd time since 1987 they’ve done that. (They needed 87 games to win the 62 in 2017)


Bob


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We've played 41 games, we are at the halfway mark of the regular season, and our record is a league-leading 29-12.


STATE OF THE TEAM AT THE MIDWAY POINT


OFFENSE

#1 in MoV with +5.9.  #2 is Memphis @ 5.0.
#2 in Points/Game @ 118.5/game.  #1 is Sacto @ 118.8/game.
#11 in fg% @ 47.8%.  NOP is #10 @ 47.9%.
#8 in 3pt fg% @ 37.1%.  GSW is #7 @ 37.2%.
#2 in 3pt fgas @ 41.7/game.  GSW is #1 @ 43.3/game.
Tied with Miami for #1 in ft% @ 82.6%.
#22 in ftas/game @ 22.9/game.  GSW is dead last @ #30.
#6 in assists/game @ 26.7/game.
#6 in Turnovers/game @ 13.6/game.  Miami is #5 @ 13.5/game.
#1 in Assist:Turnover Ratio @ 1.97:1.  Sam would be ecstatic.
#4 in Assist % @ 63.5%.  We're moving the ball.  Not as much iso as we think.
#24 in Offensive Rebounding @ 9.2/game.  Yuck.
#18 in Personal Fouls Drawn @ 20.1/game.  All the 3s take us away from contact.
#1 in Opposition Blocks/game @ 3.7/game.  They don't block us.
#16 in Pace @ 100.3 possessions/game.  GSW is #1 @ 103.02
#1 in Offensive Rating @117.1 points/100 possessions.


DEFENSE

#29 in Steals.  Yuck.
#4 in Blocks @ 5.4/game.  And now RWill is back.  Block 5.4, get blocked 3.7
#4 in Defensive Rebounding @ 34.8/game.
#11 in Rebounding overall.  Our O-boarding pulls us down, obviously.
#3 in Personal Fouls Given @ 19.0/game.  So, we don't foul as much as we think we do.
#13 in Opposition fg% @ 46.9%.  
#28 in Opposition fgas/game @ 90.2/game.  We allow a lot of shots.
#13 in Opposition 3pt fg% @ 35.5%.  We shoot 37.1%, give up 35.5%.
#8 in Opposition 3pt fgas/game @ 32.7/game.  We take 41.7, give up 32.7.
#4 in Opposition Steals/game @ 6.4/game.  We're not as sloppy as we think.
#2 in Opposition Points of of Turnovers @ 15.3 ppg.
Tied with Charlotte at #6 in Opposition Points off of Fast Breaks @ 12.2 ppg
#7 in Defensive Rating @ 110.9 points/100 possessions.
#1 in Net Rating @ +6.2 (this is different from MoV because it is pace-adjusted)


Bob


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Very interesting, BobH. Thank you for putting that all together. Very telling. It is hard to believe we're halfway through the season already!! Man, it's going by fast!!

db

This tweet tells me that it doesn't matter if you're elite defensively or elite offensively, you just need to be elite in one to be an elite team.

https://twitter.com/SeanGrandePBP/status/1613787240488128512


Bob


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bobheckler wrote:This tweet tells me that it doesn't matter if you're elite defensively or elite offensively, you just need to be elite in one to be an elite team.

https://twitter.com/SeanGrandePBP/status/1613787240488128512


Bob


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Bob I cannot access the tweet

Real elite teams do both. Being elite on offense or being elite on defense does not make you an elite team. The Kings, Jazz and Nola are top 4 offensive teams. those are not elite teams.

On the other side of the tidbits related to some of the great statistics that you post, here is something of interest.

The Celtics scoring by QTR ranked against the NBA

#3 1st OTR points
#4 2nd QTR Points
#8 3rd QTR Points
#13 4th QTR Points

Also ranked #1 in first half points and 9th in 2nd half points.

These numbers reflect what we have been seeing. Great ball movement, playing with pace and spacing the floor in the 1st half followed by less pace and less spacing and less ball movement in the 2nd half. More slow half-court ISO ball in the 2nd half. However there is a caveat I should mention. When the game has been won with around 5 minutes left or so, the deep bench plays and stinks up the place on offense!

dboss wrote:

bobheckler wrote:This tweet tells me that it doesn't matter if you're elite defensively or elite offensively, you just need to be elite in one to be an elite team.

https://twitter.com/SeanGrandePBP/status/1613787240488128512


Bob


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Bob I cannot access the tweet

Real elite teams do both.  Being elite on offense or being elite on defense does not make you an elite team.  The Kings, Jazz and Nola are top 4 offensive teams.  those are not elite teams.

On the other side of the tidbits related to some of the great statistics that you post, here is something of interest.

The Celtics scoring by QTR ranked against the NBA

#3 1st OTR points
#4 2nd QTR Points
#8  3rd QTR Points
#13  4th QTR Points

Also ranked #1 in first half points and 9th in 2nd half points.

These numbers reflect what we have been seeing.  Great ball movement, playing with pace and spacing the floor in the 1st half followed by less pace and less spacing and less ball movement in the 2nd half.  More slow half-court ISO ball in the 2nd half.  However there is a caveat I should mention.  When the game has been won with around 5 minutes left or so, the deep bench plays and stinks up the place on offense!

dboss,

Grande must have deleted that tweet, because I can't access it anymore either and I could before.

Yeah, not crazy about that 4th quarter stat. In fact, not crazy about the entire 2nd half.


Bob


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Bobby Manning @RealBobManning
3 hours ago
Good news: Derrick White is probable tomorrow in Charlotte. Jaylen Brown remains out.



Bob


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bobheckler wrote:Bobby Manning @RealBobManning
3 hours ago
Good news: Derrick White is probable tomorrow in Charlotte. Jaylen Brown remains out.



Bob


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Very good news.

Best news of the week so far!! I still remember the first day we got DW. We all said, "Who the heck is Derrick White?!! Never heard of him!! What has Brad done now!!" Well, we know who he is now!! Can't live without him.

db

https://us.yahoo.com/sports/jayson-tatum-passes-larry-bird-212300842.html



Jayson Tatum passes Larry Bird for all-time Celtics record


Justin Leger
Tue, January 17, 2023 at 5:23 AM GMT+8


Jayson Tatum dropped 51 points in Monday night's win over the Charlotte Hornets and broke a Boston Celtics all-time record in the process.

It was Tatum's fifth career regular-season 50-point game. The 24-year-old passed the legendary Larry Bird for the most in C's history. No other Celtic has more than one such performance.


Tatum now has seven 50-point outings including postseason and play-in games. He has 18 games with at least 40 points.

The 130-118 victory over Charlotte also marked Tatum's most efficient shooting performance of the season. He was 15-of-23 on field goals, including 7-for-12 from 3-point range. He drilled all 14 of his free-throw attempts.

Tatum added nine rebounds and five assists in a game that furthered his case for his first MVP award. He'll be counted on to lead the way again when the Golden State Warriors visit TD Garden on Thursday.


Bob


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Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 3 hours ago
Starting to finally see some separation at the top of the league with Boston, Denver and Memphis. (Grizzlies in Boston Super Bowl Sunday by the way). The Celtics are not only on top of the NBA, they're 14-4 against the rest of the top 12. pic.twitter.com/0guAxqJQvP


Bob


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Bob


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I never want to hear one bad word about Danny!!!!! Just look what he put together......Marcus, Jaulen, Jayson, RWII, just for starters. I then want to say that they made the right decision on Brad.....White, Brogden.....who am I forgetting???? The sad thing is, look at what Romeo is doing down in SA, and Aaron in Indy. If we only had time to develop them and they stayed healthy???Someone had to go I know, but some real good decisions were made along the way, and I better not forget Pritchard or Cowens will kill me!! So there is a great system in here and we are lucky to be watching it play out

I never want to hear one bad word about Danny!!!!!  Just look what he put together......Marcus, Jaulen, Jayson, RWII, just for starters.  I then want to say that they made the right decision on Brad.....White, Brogden.....who am I forgetting????  The sad thing is, look at what Romeo is doing down in SA, and Aaron in Indy.  If we only had time to develop them and they stayed healthy???Someone had to go I know, but some real good decisions were made along the way, and I better not forget Pritchard or Cowens will kill me!!  So there is a great system in here and we are lucky to be watching it play out

My All-Time favorite Celtic still getting his flowers.
Continue to rest well sir……

A wonderful man, too bad they waited until he was gone to put up the statue. When he retired, I remember that the Celtics gave him a house down in North Carolina for a retirement present. I loved that guy, a true gentleman

Way overdue. Sam was Celtic Platinum..

Too Late!

Sean Grande
@SeanGrandePBP
Many, many things happened tonight that slipped through the cracks.  Here's one...

Jayson Tatum became the 10th in NBA history to reach 9,000 points before his 25th birthday.

https://twitter.com/SeanGrandePBP/status/1616293995042279425


1.  LeBron James - 13,927
2.  Kevin Durant - 12,258
3.  Carmelo Anthony - 10,768
4.  Kobe Bryant - 10,658
5.  Tracy McGrady - 10,420
6.  Devin Booker - 9481
7.  Giannis - 9427
8.  Shaquille O'Neal - 9208
9.  Anthony Davis - 9125
10.  Jayson Tatum - 9011

Jayson's 25th birthday is March 3rd.  We play 17 games between today and his birthday.  He is averaging 31.1ppg.  If he averages 30ppg for those 17 games that's 510 points, which would put him in 6th place, replacing Booker.


Bob


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Jay King @ByJayKing
about 3 hours ago
The Celtics have a 34.2% offensive rebound rate with Robert Williams on the court. That dips to 23.9% when he’s on the bench. Basically, they’ve been the equivalent of the league’s best offensive rebounding squad with him in the lineup and one of the very worst without him.


Bob


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Courtesy of Steve3344


For the first time in about 20 years the Celtics now own the NBA's best all-time team winning percentage. It took the last four or five years of San Antonio sucking and the Lakers sucking for the last ten years (except for 2019-2020 when they had their only real good year in the last decade), but the Celtics are now #1 all-time and looking like they will be putting some additional distance between them and the Lakers and Spurs in the near future.

After tonight:

Boston 3547-2449 .59156
Lakers 3480-2405 .59133
Spurs 2653-1839 .59061


Bob


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RWIII is a huge help. He's studied Russell's technique of tapping the ball out when not in the best rebounding position. Each OR is worth about 1+ pt. Easy money. Keep it up.

db

Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
yesterday
The Celtics will begin their road trip here in Toronto tomorrow with a 4 1/2 game lead in the East. Their largest in 15 years. CELTICS - LARGEST CONFERENCE LEAD (Last 35 years) 1. 7 - Apr. 13, 2008 2. 4 1/2 - Jan. 21, 2023 3. 4 - Nov. 21, 2017 4. 2 1/2 - Dec. 25, 2008


Bob
MY NOTE:  #1 was a Championship year.  #3 we lost in the Conference Finals in 7 games to LeBron.  So, a good year for a very young coach (Brad was in his 3rd year. This was the team with Amir Johnson. Avery Bradley was still with us as was IT, Jae, Jonas. Jaylen was a rookie, Tatum was still at Duke).  #4 we lost in the Conference Semi-Finals to Orlando.  This was the year KG had his knee problem and didn't play in the playoffs.  Doc played his 5 starters 251 minutes out of a total of 287 in the first series with Chicago and, by the time we got to Orlando, we were exhausted.  All in all I'd say we're in pretty fine company.

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RosalieTCeltics wrote:A wonderful man, too bad they waited until he was gone to put up the statue.  When he retired, I remember that the Celtics gave him a house down in North Carolina for a retirement present. I loved that guy, a true gentleman

It warmed my heart hearing that great story that he called you a few years ago, set up by our great founder Dick/Sam