POST GAME CLIPPERS - AWAY

They started out slow but rallied back, only to be thwarted by a better team executing more effectively.  This is what we expect and should expect.  The Denver game pissed me off because we gave up but this one I'm fine with because we played with pride.  We're just not good enough.  Yet.

We started the game off being down 26-10.  For us to take the lead in the 4th, more than once, works for me even if we did eventually lose.  Sometimes, in order to put some polish on something, a necessary ingredient is some grit.  I saw us having some ganas last night and, Lord Knows, we didn't any the previous night.  

I had the Clipper feed too.  Too be honest, I didn't hear the same thing 112288 heard.  I heard, and I heard this during the game in Boston, former Celtic #1 pick Michael Smith extol the Celtics.  I heard him talk about how much better Bradley's shooting was (as opposed to the Denver idiot who was still living in yesteryear).  I heard them fear Jordan Crawford's scoring ability and marvel at how they had no idea he could also play point (neither could anybody else including me).  I did not hear them go nuts over the Sully flagrant.  I heard them repeat a comment they made in Boston, about how Bass is one of the top 5 mid-range shooters in the league.  Sure, they oohed and ahhed over their team, that's their job, but they also were quite concerned when the Celtics rallied.  Fear is expressed in many different ways (e.g. anger, awe, resentment, bitterness, obedience, submission, violence), but all of them reflect some form of respect.  Personally, I love it when announcers talk smack about us.  I take it as motivation,  like 112288 says Stevens should do by marking this game, and I take it as respect.  If you've noticed, I have not been shy about calling the local announcers "idiots" when I think it is warranted.  I usually get the local feed, so I hear their announcers more often than I hear Mike and Tommy, so maybe I'm just more used to them.

Thanks Rosalie, die-hardest Celtic fan, for hanging  with me on the Game On Thread.  Nothing hurts my ears more than an echo chamber.

1.  Hump started in place of Sully.  Was that an attempt to protect Sully from another flagrant?  If so, you need Sully (and the refs) to cooperate and they didn't.  Sully only played 12 minutes.  In those 12 minutes he scored 2 points on 1-6, grabbed 3 rebounds and committed 4 fouls including another flagrant.  I believe some of this is him being marked by the refs (don't you think they know who are leading the league in flagrants?) and that Sully's in a bit of a mental meltdown.  I love Sully, just about everything about him, but he's hurting the team right now.  Unless his hand is really, really bad this is just mental and short of completely benching him so he can clear his head I'm not sure how to fix this.  I don't think the Sully-Griffin matchup did much to stabilize his psyche either.

2.  Against Denver the previous night our starting back court stunk a mile-high.  Last night, they were killers.  The inconsistency is enough to turn Stevens gray.  Bradley and Crawford were in full-blown scoring mode last night, scoring 48 of the Celtics' total 105 points (46%) on 17-35 shooting.  Throw in Bayless' 11 and it's even more guard-heavy.  Bradley was 10-18 and took turns tormenting Clip PG Darren Collison and Jamal Crawford (there ought to be an NBA rule that limits the number of players with the same last names).  The Clip announcers were talking Bradley up.

3.  Bayless is impressing me.  I haven't focused much on his defense (it appears adequate, but integrating into a team defense concept takes more time than showing offense flash) but he has come in and has played hard and sure isn't afraid to shoot.  Another lousy shooting night for him, 3-9, but he also has had 5 assists and only 2 TOs (as opposed to Crawford's 8 assists and 5 TOs) but he drives to the basket, is good at 3s (2-4 last night) and has a good energy level.  Contract issues aside it's looking, initially, like we got good value for Courtney Lee (whom I like and admire, so that's a compliment).  Obviously, we'll know much more 3 months from now, but first impressions are positive.

4.  Kelly looked active out there.  He made a nice interior pass, has good vision.  He is, I think, clearly intimdated trying to score inside.  Stevens matched him up against DeAndre Jordan.  NOT a good idea.  Jordan had 8 boards at the half, 3 offensive and all the offensive ones were against Kelly.  I don't know why Stevens didn't put Vitor on him.  After 10 years of Doc, we all pretty much knew (or, at least, think we know) how he thought, how he coached, how he liked to matchup.  We haven't known Brad Stevens long enough to learn that, but I don't see his matching Kelly up against Mozgov on Tuesday and Jordan on Wednesday as something I understand (unless he wanted Kelly to run more on Mozgov and shoot from outside more on Jordan; and Kelly just didn't do what he was told?).

5.  If there was a knock by the Clip announcers it was on Jeff Green.  They thought his intentional foul on Jordan, which gave him his 5th with a few minutes left in the 3rd, was dumb (Green dumb, or Stevens dumb for not yelling WHO should foul Jordan?  Later in the game I was able to hear Stevens yell "foul him, AVERY, foul him now!", so maybe Stevens learned his lesson).  They said "if Jeff Green is your best player, you're not very good.  He'd be a good role player on a lot of teams but..."  Green had an ok game, not great, but Blake Griffin owned him.  He did grab 11 rebounds.  That's a TON for Green.  Green tried, he really did, but Griffin's success derailed him a bit.

6.  Griffin is maturing.  He hit some nice mid-range shots and one buzzer-beating turn around baseline jumper almost from 3 with Green draped on him you won't see again for a while.  If only he could hit free throws.  11-17, 64%, last night.  We've seen nights when the entire Celtics squad didn't get 17ftas.

7.  Every time Jordan Crawford takes a shot in traffic, which seems to be most of the time, he yells "AND ONE!".  Every time, even if there is no foul.  The refs aren't listening to you, Jordan, especially after the 10th fga.  Another "maybe this will get on Sportcenter, oops, maybe not" pass by Crawford.  I realize he has to "Steez" a bit, but sometimes he creates a turnover instead of an assist because he just has to get cute and we're not good enough to waste possessions.

8.  Jared Dudley hit three 3s in a row.  Not good recognition of who the hot shooter was.  We were collapsing too much and so were late on closing out their shooters.  That's why I don't understand why Stevens didn't put Sully and Vitor on Jordan, instead of putting Sully on Griffin and DNPing Vitor, and let the more mobile Hump and Bass defend Griffin.  It would have allowed our guards to stay closer to the perimeter and their shooters.  Well, I guess this is why I'm not a coach.

They took 9 more ftas than us and sank 6 more.  This ended up being a 6 point loss.  Crawford with a technical and that blown fast break because of his attempted Steez pass.  A stupid foul by Kelly with only a few seconds left in the 2nd half on a 3pt fga (Crawford, theirs, hit all 3 ftas).  Green committing his 5th foul and sitting for 10 minutes because he fouled Jordan and not someone more expendable or with fewer fouls.  That's how close this game was.  A few brain farts away from an upset of a pretty good WC team.  That's why I'm not that upset.

Brooklyn ended GSW's 10 game winning streak (if GSW had won this would be the first time in NBA history a team went 7-0 on a road trip).  Some pretty poor coaching by the Nets in the final 4 minutes made it closer than it should have been (some great defense by KG in the final minute too).  We are now 1 1/2 behind them.  After a horrendous start, the Nets are now in the #8 slot.  The surprising Horford-less Hawks beat the Pacers. Damn. I guess I gotta put a contract out on Jeff Teague too.

We are in the #10 slot, 1 game behind Detroit (which lost last night) and percentage points ahead of NYK.

And the pissed off GSW are up next.  I can't believe I spaced out and didn't get tickets, I'm going to a concert instead.  I'm going to Boston to see the Celtics play, but I don't go to see them when they're in the bay area.  Stupid is as stupid does.


bob


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112288 wrote:Bob,

I guess my frustration with the LAC announcers stemmed not from their negative remarks about the Celtics...they did say that the Celtics were rebuilding and Stevens was the best basketball mind to come out of college and Bradley was a great defender............no my rub came from their style of announcing and the way they described the play of the LAC's by PUFFING WAY OUT OF PROPORTIONS the Clippers accomplishments on the court against an inferior team that is in the first year of rebuilding and A TEAM WITH NO TRUE CENTER, NO ALL STAR POINT GUARD .........AND A TEAM WITH A LACK OF REAL TALENT DEPTH ON THE BENCH.

You know, there is away to show some class by not bragging about how they are shoving things down our throat....... I mean ya, they shoved things down our throat by some of their play........but you would expect that against a rebuilding team........but try attempting the same kind of execution and play against......Ah....Miami......SA......Golden State......Indy......not happening my friend!

I guess Mike and Tommy are head and shoulders above most if not all announcing teams in professional basketball and I am spoiled!

112288

112288,


Yeah, they do "up-sell" their team a bit much, but considering how many decades they have wandered through the Donald Sterling Wilderness in search of The Promised Land (ANY promised land), can you really blame them for being excited when they actually finally have the better team, with the better coach, in LA?


bob


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