POST GAME BUCKS

Rapid Reaction: Bucks 105, Celtics 98

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

BOSTON -- Rapid reaction after the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Boston Celtics 105-98 on Friday night at TD Garden:

THE NITTY GRITTY
Despite leading by as much as 22, the Celtics appeared to run out of gas and -- with Boston leaning heavy on their out-of-fuel starters late in the fourth quarter -- the Bucks surged ahead in the final minute. Zaza Pachulia scored a game-high 20 points off the bench for Milwaukee, which saw four reserves land in double figures. Brandon Bass scored a team-high 17 points for Boston, while Gerald Wallace added 14. Even in defeat, this night belonged to Vitor Faverani. The Brazilian rookie finished with 12 points, 18 rebounds, and 6 blocks
over 37 minutes.

TURNING POINT
The Celtics were up 22 with 19 minutes to play, but the Bucks surged back to tie the game at 93 with four minutes to go. Wallace, who took only one shot last game, made an open 3-pointer to push Boston back out front, but it was his loose-ball foul chasing an offensive rebound a little after that allowed Milwaukee to push ahead 99-98 on two free throws from Pachulia. John Henson blocked a Courtney Lee 3-pointer with 24 seconds to go and Pachulia made a layup at the other end to put the Bucks up 5.

C'S WATCH RUSSELL TRIBUTE
Coach Brad Stevens had his team stand and watch the JumboTron as the Celtics honored Bill Russell during the first timeout. Players joined in the long standing ovation that followed before huddling up. Stevens gushed about getting to hear Russell talk after his statue unveiling on Friday at City Hall Plaza.

SULLINGER'S RETURN
The Celtics still treat Jared Sullinger like a rookie (he only played in 45 games last season) and he jokes the nanny of Boston's three other rookies (while waiting to reach 82 career games before being elevated to a true sophomore). Refs treated him like a rookie Friday, whistling him for four fouls over 10:23. Sullinger utilized some relentless work on the offensive glass to help him score 10 points (he was 6 of 7 at the free-throw line).

LOOSE BALLS
Lee gave Boston's bench its only real spark, scoring 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting with three rebounds and two steals (but even he was an impossible minus-20 in plus/minus)... Avery Bradley fouled out with 31.4 seconds remaining (the second time he's fouled out in the final minute in two games)... Stevens leaned hard on a nine-man rotation with Keith Bogans, MarShon Brooks, Phil Pressey, and Kris Humphries all earning DNPs.

WHAT IT MEANS
The Celtics should have got Brad Stevens his first NBA win in this one, but the rally put a lot of pressure on a taxed group of starters down the stretch. Boston falls to 0-2 on the young season. The Celtics practice Saturday before flying to Detroit for the first night of a road back-to-back that closes Monday in Memphis.

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TALE OF 2 HALFS.

FIRST HALF RUN AND GUN TOMMY HEINSOHN COACHING STYLE....... YOUR UP 20 PTS!

SECOND HALF HALF COURT OFFENSE DOC STYLE......YOU LOOSE THE GAME!

Stevens is good in that he likes an uptempo attack game.......and if you are not executing.........you sit.......a la....Humphries.

It's weeding out time...and the executor's of Stevens game shall survive!

No surprises here......typical new team.......blues! I love Vidor...he could be rookie of the year if he keeps the numbers up!

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Now I know Vitor was playing his heart out last night, but where the heck was Humphries? A guy of his ability certainly did not belong on the bench in the second half. There seems to be a log jam at power forward and someone has to go. Not playing cannot be sitting well with a guy like Humphries. I know Sully needs some time on the floor, but, with the way he was being called for fouls everytime he was under the boards it was time to put Hump in. As far as Brooks is concerned, he must not be showing it in practice because, if he was, he would get in there in place of Crawford, who is nothing but a liability on the court.

Vitor is showing that he belongs in the league, lets see how he handles himself against the big boys when he has to play them. No matter what, he is a pleasant surprise.

As far as I am concerned, Wallace plays hard, no doubt about it. However, just the look on his face during and after a game, shows that he does NOT want to be here.

Rosalie

I think Humphries was injured, otherwise I can't see Stevens holding him out of the game.



KJ

The Celtics only scored 11 points on fast breaks however their pace in the first half was much faster than in the second half and that is what allowed them to build the lead.  As players rotated in the game things slowed down considerably and then down the stretch the halfcourt offense was dreadful.  This was a very winnable game.

The comments from Wallace were strange.  He said that guys were playing hero ball and they were more interested in padding their stats.  Who was he referring to?  

I did not see that from anyone.  What I did see is two major turnovers from Wallace at critical stages of the game.  One being the over the back foul he committed on a rebounding attempt which led to 2 free throws by Zaza and  and the strip and steal  where he lost the ball.  And before these two game changing events he took and missed a 26 foot three point shot.  All of this occurred after the Celtics took a timeout at 1:43

I like the energy that Wallace puts out but he carries a lot of negative energy with him as well.  Hero ball is not what lost us the game.  What lost us the game was him taking an ill advised 3 point shot, an over aggressive rebounding attempt and a careless possession during the most critical stage of the game.

Let's mention the positives.

Courtney Lee shot 6 for 11 and scored 13 points off the bench

Bass had another strong game shooting 6-11 scoring 17 points and pulling down 9 rebounds.

Green shot poorly but he also had 9 rebounds.

As a matter of fact the Celtics won the rebounding battle and points in the paint.

Kelly had a nice offensive rebound on the weak side and made a layup.

And our Star of the game Vitor had 12 points, 18 rebounds (6 offensive) and 6 block shots.  He only attempted 6 shots and I would like to see him get more looks in the post.  Talk about exceeding expectations, Vitor is proving to be a sold addition to the team.

Go Celts!

dboss

Hi,
I think there's hope for this team.
A few notes on the game.
Squandering 20 points lead: I'd say there're several reasons - inexperience of many players and the coach, lack of chemistry, they've got tired to play high intensity defense.
The ball goes to Vitor, hands down. Second game in a row he shows up. Sure he was't playing against top centers. But if he continues on this path - Danny won Mega Millions.
Also, have to note Sully. He was pumped - 10 points in 10 minutes.
On the "debit" side KO didn't show up again. I know he can. Or, maybe it's too much expectation...
Interestingly, second game Celtics start with such intense defense that feeds very fast offense that the opponents don't know what to do. Granted they played weak teams, so far.
Re PG: I'd say AB is better than JC. I don't understand why BrSt didn't play PP? Speaking of point guard - GW is not it, neither is CL. Why were they allowed to play it, especially in the last 12-15 minutes?
On the brights side Celtics are only 1 game behind Mia.

AK

The Celts were up by 22 with 19 minutes to play and lost by 7, in front of Bill Russell on Bill Russell Day.  Man, does this hurt.

The Milwaukee color guy was Jon McGlocklin, who played for the Bucks for the last 8 of his 11 year career.  He was pretty fair and pretty knowledgeable.  This is really nice when you're listening to the game, unless they're playing your team, then you want Tommy.  Regardless, after hearing losers like Matt Guokas doing the Orlando Magic broadcasts, Jon McGlocklin is not bad.  Guokas is a fool.  McGlocklin made it very, very clear that he considered Bill Russell, sitting courtside, to be the greatest defensive player in history.  He also talked about playing against Tommy, about how Tommy was a tornado and would bruise the crap out of you.

1.  Game ball to Vitor.  After hearing all about how we got killed on the boards, especially the O-boards, in Toronto he goes out and gets 18 boards, 6 of them offensive.  They didn't run the offense through him, like in the first quarter in Toronto, but he still scored 12 on an efficient 4-6.  His 6 blocks were Russell-worthy too.  Have you noticed how rarely his blocks end up getting blasted out of bounds?  What a steal by Danny.  So much for our pre-season depth chart that had Vitor as the 2nd or even 3rd center.  Jon McGlocklin oohed and ahhhed quite a bit over Vitor.

2.  Kelly had a slightly better game, but only slightly.  One very nice interior pass, one nice offensive rebound and putback does not a good game make.  John Henson abused him.  Brad Stevens was yelling from the sidelines "No Left Hand!  No Left Hand!", because Henson is very left-handed, and KO still kept getting beat to his Henson's left.  Another 2 rebound game from the 7'er.  We gotta keep working him, keep throwing him into the fire, but it's painful to watch.  The game is still too fast and physical for him.

3.  I believe a lot of this loss should be laid at the feet of Brad Stevens.  He coached a 40 minute game and, in the end, his starters had no gas left.  With a minute or so left, Gerald Wallace hit a 3 ptr.  Stevens called a 20 second timeout.  The Celtics came out of the timeout, needing a score, and they ran a play for another Wallace 3 from straightaway.  Not a good play after timeout.  Some of that will be the whole newness of it, but some of it is just the whole not goodness of it.  You need points? Dump it inside and force them to play defense. And why no Hump?  And why no Pressey?  Why did he stick with

4.  Jordan Crawford?  His defense sucked and his contributions to the offense, both direct and indirect, were almost non-existent.  After holding out hope I was watching a  player reborn, Mr. Herky-Jerky is back.  Our offense stagnated, our pace dropped to a crawl and some of that was his fault.

5.  Jeff Green and Avery Bradley, together, were 8-27.  We took a total of 76fgas, so they took almost 36% of the team's total fgas and shot an hideous 30%.  More up-and-down shooting from Green, although he did get 9 boards, 4 of them offensive.  The message about rebounding definitely got received.  Bradley, himself, is now 8-27 after two games.  He is looking more and more like a defensive specialist, but not a starting SHOOTING guard.  Lord knows he's not a point guard either.  At the risk of incurring the ire of some members here, I'm going to point out that Avery Bradley has good trade value.  It's worth waiting until Rondo comes back to see how things change, but he is a very complementary player on offense and not an initiator.  He committed some really dumb turnovers, just running into a pack of Bucks and hoping for a whistle.  That's why he had only 2 assists but 4 TOs.

6.  Courtney Lee had a pretty good game.  Not just solid stats, 13 points on 6-11, 3 rebounds and assist and no turnovers, but he played good harrassing D.  He looked better than Bradley.

7.  One of the reasons why the Bucks won, is because Zaza Pachulia got inside Sully's head.  Zaza is the reincarnated love-child of Bill Laimbeer and Dennis Rodman.  He's a pest, a nuisance, a flopper (that's the Laimbeer part) and is great at getting inside players' heads (that's the Rodman part).  Zaza had 20 points in 30 minutes off the bench, 10 of them on free throws, free throws courtesy of Jared Sullinger's immaturity (and some bad calls by the refs.  One flop, in particular, is worthy of a league fine).  Zaza also had 6 offensive rebounds.  Six.  I hope Sully took a shower after the game, because he got used.

8.  Nate Wolters had a great rookie game.  He tormented Bradley and Crawford.  I can't help but wonder if he could have done it against the quicker Pressey.

9.  Bass had another yeoman-like night.  Him and Crash are working hard.  They're not delivering the W's, but it's not because of them.

10.  We have a point guard to fill in for Rondo.  His name is Gerald Wallace.  The offense looks more coherent with the ball in his hands.

We were absolutely kicking their ass in the first half.  We were running, they were not.  We were scoring in the paint.  We had 11 fast break points at the half, but according to McGlocklin, we had 20 points "in transition", in which "in transition" is a coach's term to separate points that may not be fast breaks but are still scored with 6 or less seconds off the clock, before the defense has a chance to get back and get set.  And then we stopped running.

An ugly loss, truly ugly, especially considering the Bucks (who are not supposed to be a good team this year, ranked as being #26 of 30, as opposed the Celtics being #25 of 30) were playing without Luke Ridnour and Brandon Knight.  We just fell apart.

My fears about our 5-spot were overblown, thanks to the emergence of Vitor, but we are still paper-thin there.  If Stevens doesn't play Pressey then our point guard position is as bad or worse than we feared.  We need an absolute knock-down shooter at SG.  Bradley is a liability there and Lee, while playing well last night, isn't likely to drop 25 on anybody.  We need a legit threat from there, someone who will force the defense to stay put on the perimeter so Vitor, Hump (if he plays), Bass and Sully can have some room to work with.


bob


.

dboss wrote:The Celtics only scored 11 points on fast breaks however their pace in the first half was much faster than in the second half and that is what allowed them to build the lead.  As players rotated in the game things slowed down considerably and then down the stretch the halfcourt offense was dreadful.  This was a very winnable game.

The comments from Wallace were strange.  He said that guys were playing hero ball and they were more interested in padding their stats.  Who was he referring to?  

I did not see that from anyone.  What I did see is two major turnovers from Wallace at critical stages of the game.  One being the over the back foul he committed on a rebounding attempt which led to 2 free throws by Zaza and  and the strip and steal  where he lost the ball.  And before these two game changing events he took and missed a 26 foot three point shot.  All of this occurred after the Celtics took a timeout at 1:43

I like the energy that Wallace puts out but he carries a lot of negative energy with him as well.  Hero ball is not what lost us the game.  What lost us the game was him taking an ill advised 3 point shot, an over aggressive rebounding attempt and a careless possession during the most critical stage of the game.

Let's mention the positives.

Courtney Lee shot 6 for 11 and scored 13 points off the bench

Bass had another strong game shooting 6-11 scoring 17 points and pulling down 9 rebounds.

Green shot poorly but he also had 9 rebounds.

As a matter of fact the Celtics won the rebounding battle and points in the paint.

Kelly had a nice offensive rebound on the weak side and made a layup.

And our Star of the game Vitor had 12 points, 18 rebounds (6 offensive) and 6 block shots.  He only attempted 6 shots and I would like to see him get more looks in the post.  Talk about exceeding expectations, Vitor is proving to be a sold addition to the team.

Go Celts!

dboss

dboss,


I could see the 4-14 Avery Bradley being one culprit of Hero Ball. He was doing a lot of one-on-one stuff that did not pan out. Are you the point guard, or the shooting guard? Look at his turnovers, the 4 of them, and you'll see at least two of them came from him making a bad offensive decision, trying to do it by himself.


bob

.

dboss wrote:The Celtics only scored 11 points on fast breaks however their pace in the first half was much faster than in the second half and that is what allowed them to build the lead.  As players rotated in the game things slowed down considerably and then down the stretch the halfcourt offense was dreadful.  This was a very winnable game.

The comments from Wallace were strange.  He said that guys were playing hero ball and they were more interested in padding their stats.  Who was he referring to?  

I did not see that from anyone.  What I did see is two major turnovers from Wallace at critical stages of the game.  One being the over the back foul he committed on a rebounding attempt which led to 2 free throws by Zaza and  and the strip and steal  where he lost the ball.  And before these two game changing events he took and missed a 26 foot three point shot.  All of this occurred after the Celtics took a timeout at 1:43

I like the energy that Wallace puts out but he carries a lot of negative energy with him as well.  Hero ball is not what lost us the game.  What lost us the game was him taking an ill advised 3 point shot, an over aggressive rebounding attempt and a careless possession during the most critical stage of the game.

Let's mention the positives.

Courtney Lee shot 6 for 11 and scored 13 points off the bench

Bass had another strong game shooting 6-11 scoring 17 points and pulling down 9 rebounds.

Green shot poorly but he also had 9 rebounds.

As a matter of fact the Celtics won the rebounding battle and points in the paint.

Kelly had a nice offensive rebound on the weak side and made a layup.

And our Star of the game Vitor had 12 points, 18 rebounds (6 offensive) and 6 block shots.  He only attempted 6 shots and I would like to see him get more looks in the post.  Talk about exceeding expectations, Vitor is proving to be a sold addition to the team.

Go Celts!

dboss

dboss,

Here's an excerpt from an ESPN link.  It starts with Wallace's "Hero Ball" comment, but is echoed by Green.  Apparently, Crash isn't alone in his perceptions.

Inside the Boston locker room, 13-year veteran Gerald Wallace, who has already called out his teammates for a lack of effort in the preseason, sounded off on hero ball.

"We got selfish as a team," said Wallace. "Instead of worrying about winning the ball game, we were more worried about stats and getting points. It showed. We went from a team that was together and moving and playing together in the first half to a team that was five individuals out on the court, everybody’s playing for themselves. And it showed on the defensive end."

Why did that happen?

"I don’t have a clue. You gotta ask everybody in here," said Wallace. "I don’t know. I really don’t even understand it. I’m trying to figure out what’s more important, winning or padding your stats? Because this is a game that we were supposed to win easy, without even the starters playing in the fourth quarter. Instead, we got selfish as a team, we didn’t move the ball, we let the ball stick, we stopped pushing the ball. And their second unit came in and manhandled us, and did whatever they wanted to do."

Echoed Green: "[Ignoring personal stats is] the biggest thing right now. That’s what we have to do. In order for us to take the next step to getting better, we’ve got to figure out ways to put egos aside, put your pride aside and just buy into what Coach Stevens wants. That’s the only way we can win."



bob



.

So, who exactly are they pointing the finger at without saying? Bradley? Lee? Olynick?
Green played hard every time he was on the floor, but I do have to agree with dboss, Wallace did take some ill advised shots(i.e.: that three pointer) Pointing fingers this early in the season is a bad sign. If they go on a losing streak, I can imagine what is going to be said. We have not
got "pure shooters" on this team. Scary, huh?

I am sorry, I said it before, I will say it again, Wallace HATES being on this team.

Rosalie

They really miss Rondo. They miss his direction and control over the game. They can't succeed in a half court game without him because they don't move around enough on their own. Crawford and Bradley aren't and never will be PGs. It's just not possible.

I want to see more Pressey at the point. He will make mistakes, but he is a rookie. I'd rather have him go through bumps in the road as opposed to veteran players that just can't get the job done.

As for Wallace, I can understand his frustration, but as a leader, he'll have to hone whatever statements he makes to not make it seem like any one person is to blame. You win as a team and you lose as a team.

Stevens is sure going to have quite a few of these losses because the team hasn't gelled just yet. And they lack Rondo. They're going to lose many winnable games and it will suck majorly to endure it, but that is the learning process.

It's obvious that this team can't win in half court. So perhaps Stevens will have to dig deeper into his bench. It's hard to play at a fast pace for 48 minutes. That requires fresh bodies. In that situation, guys that tend to play the most minutes may play a few minutes less, to bring in guys off the bench more to keep the hustling play going. It's perhaps unconventional to do that, but I think a struggling team needs to be willing to try something different.


KJ

Bob

I have never had the feeling that Bradley plays hero ball or is concerned about padding his stats.  The ball nor the players moved well during the 2nd half.  The defense was poor and as a result, the Celts gave up 34 points in the 4th QTR.

How many shots did Bradley put up in the 4th QTR?  NONE.  If you focus on his turnovers please also mention that both Green and Wallace had 4 turnovers each.

Wallace brings a lot of energy but he also has some negative energy that seems to creep in.  I thought that his comments were not helpful because he is talking about one of his teammates to the media about padding stats.  It creates an unnecessary conflict that he has made public.  If he has a problem with the way someone is playing he should discuss that with them instead of spouting off to the media.

Selfishness is not a word that I would use to describe Avery Bradley.

The Celtics still had a chance to win this game if not for several really bad plays by Wallace himself.  Perhaps it will serve him well to take a long hard look in the mirror at a guy with an angry face.  I did not hear him take any responsibility for his mistakes that he made when the game was really on the line.

dboss

I agreed boss.  Wallace is a very unhappy player and he carries that onto the floor.

Rosalie

Rosalie

He does seem to have a chip on his shoulders.

Dboss

All good notes above

only 2 things to add

to damn many missed free throws !! Wallace missed 5 !! They are FREE THROWS

also the mindfart that KO fell into with under 1 tick on the clock before half and the ball at half court... does he not have the presence of place and time? How many years has he played hoops? Cost us 3 points right there. Stevens is concerned about the little things well this was one of those.

Take away those three and make a couple more freebees at the line and we keep them at arms length a bit more and perhaps pull out the win.

beat

Wallace's comments further reinforce why I don't think he should be the main 3 on this team. He's too negative, and a developing team doesn't need that animosity, in fact, no team needs it.


KJ

Beat

The ko foul at the end of the half was real dumb..

Ko will get better and hopefully his decision making will improve.

Good point about the missed free throws.

Dboss

I just do not get how guys who have played ball their whole life can be so terrible at the FREE throw line.  If I were Stevens I would make them all practice an hour a day.  Just making the missed free throw would have won the game!

I know some guys are better than others, but other than Bass, no one steps up there with confidence. I am shocked at a whole team being lousy.  Jeff Green surprises me, I thought he was much better at the line than he has been. Lack of attention, some get up and just toss it up fast, no calming down first, they just chuck it up there!

Gee, maybe Brad should have US come in and talk to these guys!

Rosalie

RosalieTCeltics wrote:I just do not get how guys who have played ball their whole life can be so terrible at the FREE throw line.  If I were Stevens I would make them all practice an hour a day.  Just making the missed free throw would have won the game!

I know some guys are better than others, but other than Bass, no one steps up there with confidence. I am shocked at a whole team being lousy.  Jeff Green surprises me, I thought he was much better at the line than he has been. Lack of attention, some get up and just toss it up fast, no calming down first, they just chuck it up there!

Gee, maybe Brad should have US come in and talk to these guys!

Rosalie

It's a skill that is lost among too many "elite" players. They'd rather be jukin and jamin.

Heck couple years ago Marcus and I would go out in the driveway and shoot them by the 100's. He'd go to practice and routinely make 23 give or take 1 of the 25 they shot at the end of the practice. Think I could make 75% with a little warm up time.

But shooting fouls requires patience and repetitive muscle memory and isn't a rim rocking, eye popping, arena shaking, event. Does the NBA ALL-Star skill evening have a foul shooting contest? NOPE. I'd rather watch a skilled shooter drainf 25 straight free throws than watch the dunk contest any day.

beat

My tho my thoughts exactly.  My son was the same was, shooting for hours at the playground, and he was not a dunker, usher was a shooter. Oh well, I can only hope that these guys improve as the season goes onl.  That is the one thing you could always count on Ray Allen for, he was automatic,mand took pride in it.

RosalieTCeltics wrote:My tho my thoughts exactly.  My son was the same was, shooting for hours at the playground, and he was not a dunker, usher was a shooter. Oh well, I can only hope that these guys improve as the season goes onl.  That is the one thing you could always count on Ray Allen for, he was automatic,mand took pride in it.

Someone, no idea who told me, that a good foul shooter is also a good pool player and a good putter in golf. All require basically the SAME stroke time after time after time. All require a "touch" or a feel.

Perhaps Stevens needs to bring in a few pool tables to the practice facility.

beat