Celtics lose to heat by 3

Okay, so no one wants to get this one started.  I'll do it.  First you should know that I have a new nickname for CJ.

The Celtics lost by 3 points 98-95 against the heat last night.  For 3 QTRS of the game the Celtics play very well.  At one point in the game the Celtics built a 14 point lead.

Then in the 4th QTR, they crapped their pants and still they had opportunities to stink their way into a win.

We have seen this movie too many times.

You may have hoped for an alternative plot like finding a way to score against their zone.  It is hard to believe that Boston still cannot figure that out and once again looked totally mesmerized.  It should not be too difficult for a guy like Tatum to look and see 2 guys ready to pounce and a 3rd positioned to help out.  I love Tatum but he can be maddening with his ball hogging, ISO playing and hero ball shooting mentality.
 
You know when your team cannot seem to run their offense you may not want to wait until the other team has caught up to call a timeout.    The sequence was a roller coaster.  After Grant tied it at 95 on a 3 pointer, Bam came right back and put them up by 2 (97-95).  There were approximated 16.5 seconds remaining in the game.  No timeout by our interim head coach Joe.  Say it ain't so, Joe.  And then we have our MVP candidate fiddle and diddle with the GD ball until there was only 6 seconds and some change left in the game and he makes the brain fart pass of the night to a Heat player and it was not even close.  To put this into perspective, Jayson already turned the ball over 6 times.  This was THE most critical possession of the night for us, yet Say it ain't so, Joe did not call a timeout.  Yeah, just let the players figure it out.

Are you serious.  How many times now?

Tatum had a non Kobe Pierce Bird moment not taking that 3, and throwing it away. He’s got to say “I got em right where I want them, it’s on me” and bury it or you miss and it’s okay. That’s what an MVP does. For the next franchise superstar of our historic franchise, he’s got some warts, like his performance in his first Finals. I know he’s a great young player, wish he was a lot more consistent; not so much his ability, more his decision making. Has a ton of Jekyl-Hyde games, as does Jaylen, as does the team.

Considering we were without Jaylen, Al, Smart and Brogdon we played very well and good enough to win. The effort/spirit was there, execution was lacking at end and Joe should have helped his players more. Piss poor job coaching IMHO, you have to give the players more direction. They need it and it’s your job.

Yeah as much as I want the coach to look and act like a Phil Jackson (CHI or LAL) or a Pat Riley or a Red Auerbach and already have the championships behind them to prove it, SIAS Joe (thanks, dboss) still needs to work on getting that balance straightened out between letting the players play and coaching via calling critical TO's at the right times.  He ain't gotten it figured out just yet.  Not getting that right could cost us a championship this year.  I'm just sayin'. There's a time and place for everything SIASJ has in mind. The puzzle is not complete nor fully assembled.

Still, we have the best record in the league. Not by much thanks to MIL puttin' it to DEN (a.k.a. Still Not Ready For Prime Time Players And Will Always Be Old DEN Until Further Notice, IMHBAO) last night.  So he's doing something right. We just need to continue to fine tune at this stage.  We'll be fine.  

db

Jokic didn’t play….

Our record in games decided by 3 points or less is 3 - 3.  

That is an area where improvement is needed especially going into the playoffs where grind it out teams will be waiting.

The Celtics can beat zone defenses as long as the stay out of ISO basketball.

In the Heat game and any other games you want your primary scorer to get the shot but sometimes you have to first have him off the ball.  

Say it ain't so, Joe, should have taken a timeout

There was plenty of time to run a play along with options off that play.

With this season flying by CJ needs to be coached up in the art of game management.

dboss wrote:Our record in games decided by 3 points or less is 3 - 3.  

That is an area where improvement is needed especially going into the playoffs where grind it out teams will be waiting.

The Celtics can beat zone defenses as long as the stay out of ISO basketball.

In the Heat game and any other games you want your primary scorer to get the shot but sometimes you have to first have him off the ball.  

Say it ain't so, Joe, should have taken a timeout

There was plenty of time to run a play along with options off that play.

With this season flying by CJ needs to be coached up in the art of game management.

No question he’s a good coach, but we need a great coach and he lacks head coaching experience. How many coaches would look pretty good with this roster? Brad better be fine tuning him a lot more

Can someone tell me why Robert Williams was not primarily guarding Bam for the greater part of this game?
I don’t understand. We had Pritchard on him on that last Miami possession.

Look, I get the switching. I don't like it but that’s what’s being done but hell, either Rob was half stepping it, which I find hard to believe or they game planned this defense which was appalling.

Bam is very good at what he does but he ain’t THAT good. He had open shots practically the entire night. As the kids use to say, “What’s up like that”??

Our final possession was also appalling. No time out when if nothing else gives you the opportunity to take the ball out at half court. Jo hasn't factored that into the equation yet. More time to run your stuff….or ISO Pfft.

Finally..
I got on dboss for giving Joe a nickname that is shorter than the shorter version of his real name Joseph, the name his mommy gave him.

This time round Dboss has come up with a longer nickname than even the longer version of Joe >> Joseph.

I do like it but it’s too long to be classified as a real nickname.

“Say it ain’t so Joe” or Dbrown’s abbreviated version “SIASJ”.

My Aren’t we the prolific ones…


How bout “Let em go Joe” isn’t that what he says he’s doing anyway? Naww, too long. Scratch that.

Back in the 80’s the Lakers had “Showtime” so How bout “No time for Joe Time”?

Naw..scratch that. Too long and anything remotely related to those Lame Ass Lakers is out of the question.

We could drop his first name all together and just call him…
“Daylight Savings Time”
Cuz dats what Joe do. Right?
Okay, we can just refer to him as “Daylight” its shorter. The trolls won’t get it but we’ll all know who we’re talking about.



43 years ago, 1980 to be exact, Boz Scaggs released a song called JoJo.

Here’s a quick refrain:

“JoJo dig those spinning lights
Way out games and Dizzy heights”.

Kinda fitting in a remotely small way…

Aww I just drained all of my creative juices so i give up

JUST CALL A DAMN TIME OUT JOE!!!

Very funny, Ktron. dboss and I will come up with something!! Just give us some more time!! Hey we can take some of SAISJ's TO's!!! He's always got plenty!!

db

dbrown4 wrote:Very funny, Ktron.  dboss and I will come up with something!!  Just give us some more time!!  Hey we can take some of SAISJ's TO's!!!  He's always got plenty!!

db

His cup runneth over…LOL

My DA can't even spell his initials correctly!!

db

The more I think about this, the current balance between our coach and players coupled with game play execution, history may have some answers to how we will fair come playoff time.

Red was a very strong, no holes barred in-your-face coach throughout the season and the playoffs. His teams were loaded as well. Result? Multiple B2B2B2B2B....Championships. Communication was constant. Nothing probably ever misunderstood.

The Phil Jackson coached Bulls and Lakers? I'd call Phil a somewhat strong personality but not in-your-face except on certain occasions. Zen-like, above the fray kind of guy. Clearly his teams were loaded. No argument there. Communication not as noticeable but a lot was understood and conveyed, roles were clear, everyone did their jobs.

Steve Kerr coached teams? He's watched a lot of Phil Jackson tape. Master of the mind games. Words carefully chosen, calculated, weighted. Doesn't say a lot but does fly off the handle occasionally and says some dumb $*^&. But he does this more to get in your head, not in your face.

Our coach? First year as head coach. Watched his team as an assistant make it within two games of championship with another 1st year coach. Has a pretty darn good record as a first year head coach. Won't call time outs. No argument there. Let's players figure things out more and more. We have two growing superstars. Both not quite there yet but each year they're are moving in the positive direction in leaps and bounds. The rest of the starting team around them and the bench is very good, but not all the cylinders are all firing all at the same time due to the laundry list of reasons we put forth ad nauseum. But looking around the league, no one else is either.

We've come a long way, but still have a ways to go. Come playoff time, we're going to have to take a long, hard look in the mirror and see how we stack up against other championship teams and coaches that have gone before us if a championship or bust is indeed going to be our goal. SIASJ appears to rely more on the team picking up the slack on court regarding the coach/player balance. We have the horses, but maybe not the overall team maturity to play consistently night-in and night-out and fill the perceived gap with some of the shortcomings of our coach in his first year being thrown into the head coach mix on the fly.

Maybe SIASJ makes up for things with the intangibles, in his meetings with the players, private conversations, etc. You can't argue with his first year record. Boston is its record. He's in their heads in a good, calming, trusting way.

Given all the circumstances, SIASJ is doing very well IMHBAO. No one is perfect. Neither is he. He will be the first to tell you that.

Let the games play out.

db

It is always a good thing to have some fun.  It feels good.  I  love the abbreviated version SIASJ.

I fully support Coach Mazzulla.  I want him to do great things and I understand that his maturation to becoming a championship level coach is very much a possibility.