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POST GAME TORONTO - AWAY
by 112288 Fri Mar 28, 2014 9:45 pm
NEXT GAME SUNDAY - HOME - CHICAGO - 7:00PM
Rapid Reaction: Raptors 105, C's 103
By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com
Rapid Reaction after the Toronto Raptors defeated the Boston Celtics 105-103 on Friday night at the Air Canada Centre:
THE NITTY GRITTY
DeMar DeRozan went off for 30 points, but it was Amir Johnson with the late game putback that helped the Raptors clinch their first playoff berth in six years. Jerryd Bayless scored 14 of his team-high 20 points in the fourth quarter sparking Boston's rally and the Celtics put six players in double figures overall. Jeff Green had 16 points, four rebounds, two assists, and one emphatic chasedown block in the final minute. Rajon Rondo finished with 11 points, eight assists, and five rebounds over 33 minutes.
TURNING POINT
The Celtics were down as much as 12 early in the fourth quarter, but Bayless caught fire and his mid-range jumper with 4:52 to go pushed Boston out front 96-95. DeRozan and Rondo both hit tough shots in the final minute, leaving the game tied at 103 and Johnson followed a Lowry missed layup with a put back that provided the winning points with 7.1 seconds to go. A Jared Sullinger runner from the top of the key slammed hard off the glass on Boston's last gasp.
LOOSE BALLS
The Raptors put up 52 points in the paint and 12 offensive rebounds led to 15 second-chance points (none bigge than Johnson's final bucket). ... Phil Pressey played 13 ½ solid minutes, handing out five assists while helping to facilitate that fourth-quarter surge. ... The Celtics shot 52.6 percent overall, but were hurt by 16 turnovers (leading to 21 points). The Raptors shot 46.5 percent, but limited their giveaways (11 turnovers for 14 points).
WHAT IT MEANS
The Celtics (23-49) lost their third straight and eighth in last nine tries. Boston is tied with Utah for the fourth-worst record in basketball. The Celtics lost both ends of this home-and-home with Toronto and return to TD Garden to start another home-and-home with the Chicago Bulls on Sunday night.
112288
Rapid Reaction: Raptors 105, C's 103
By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com
Rapid Reaction after the Toronto Raptors defeated the Boston Celtics 105-103 on Friday night at the Air Canada Centre:
THE NITTY GRITTY
DeMar DeRozan went off for 30 points, but it was Amir Johnson with the late game putback that helped the Raptors clinch their first playoff berth in six years. Jerryd Bayless scored 14 of his team-high 20 points in the fourth quarter sparking Boston's rally and the Celtics put six players in double figures overall. Jeff Green had 16 points, four rebounds, two assists, and one emphatic chasedown block in the final minute. Rajon Rondo finished with 11 points, eight assists, and five rebounds over 33 minutes.
TURNING POINT
The Celtics were down as much as 12 early in the fourth quarter, but Bayless caught fire and his mid-range jumper with 4:52 to go pushed Boston out front 96-95. DeRozan and Rondo both hit tough shots in the final minute, leaving the game tied at 103 and Johnson followed a Lowry missed layup with a put back that provided the winning points with 7.1 seconds to go. A Jared Sullinger runner from the top of the key slammed hard off the glass on Boston's last gasp.
LOOSE BALLS
The Raptors put up 52 points in the paint and 12 offensive rebounds led to 15 second-chance points (none bigge than Johnson's final bucket). ... Phil Pressey played 13 ½ solid minutes, handing out five assists while helping to facilitate that fourth-quarter surge. ... The Celtics shot 52.6 percent overall, but were hurt by 16 turnovers (leading to 21 points). The Raptors shot 46.5 percent, but limited their giveaways (11 turnovers for 14 points).
WHAT IT MEANS
The Celtics (23-49) lost their third straight and eighth in last nine tries. Boston is tied with Utah for the fourth-worst record in basketball. The Celtics lost both ends of this home-and-home with Toronto and return to TD Garden to start another home-and-home with the Chicago Bulls on Sunday night.
112288
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Re: POST GAME TORONTO - AWAY
by Sam Sat Mar 29, 2014 11:44 am
Oh boy, finally a game in which the Celtics had a significant advantage in field goal percentage (53%-47%), three-point field goal percentage (33%-25%), better scoring distribution (six players in double figures vs. four for the Raptors)—in all of which the Celtics have recently been lacking. Finally, a victory away from home over a playoff team. The future looks rosy. Warm up the Duck Boats. Right?
The problem is that no one remembered to tell the Toronto Raptors, who scratched out a two-point win on the strength of some late great shooting by DeMar DeRozan (better known as “Deliver da dagga da sooner da better”) and a clutch putback by Amir Johnson (better known as “Who?”).
Actually, for once, the Celtics blocked out pretty well on Lowry’s last layup miss. Look at the replay, and you’ll see Brandon Bass knock Amir away from the basket on a play that, earlier in the game, might well have been called a foul. But the ball also bounced away from the basket and right into Johnson’s hands.
But, when Jared Sullinger launched a no-chance, line drive bomb at the basket at the final buzzer, the Celtics had lost, 105-103.
Just a few random “big picture” observations because I’m sure Bob Heckler will provide all the details:
• Jerryd Bayless continues to score in bunches, strengthening his potential for what I believe could be a valuable sixth-man role on a good team. He can catch and shoot. He can create his only shot. He’s shooting 37% as a Celtic. He has no hesitation in taking the clutch shot, and he takes good shots in such circumstances.
• Sully’s late line drive was a desperation shot. But, lately, he has developed a bad habit—with plenty of time on the clock—of shooting line-drive hooks from about four feet away when what is required is a soft touch giving the ball a chance to bounce around and in. Sully, when the ball can’t catch a glimpse of the opening in the rim, the only way it could possibly drop through is if it took a fortuitous Don Nelsonian 100-1 bounce; and that only happens when there are lots of celebratory balloons hanging flacidly around.
• Phil Pressey’s best qualification for remaining in the league is that he protects the ball fairly well, maintaining a ratio of 2.7-to-1 in assists to turnovers this season. But this ratio could be even higher if Phil didn’t have the unfortunate tendency to try to thread passes through traffic—especially within the foul line extended. Pros have quick hands, Phil.
• Despite the fact that most of us occasionally get on Rondo for the number of turnovers he commits, his career assist-to-turnover ratio is a very good 3.0; and, so far this abbreviated season with a team that’s a far cry from his previous Celtics teams, he has a 3.3 ratio. To me, that indicates that he is playing smarter than in the past. Let’s hope it continues.
• If you have the feeling that Brandon Bass’ productivity has fallen off a bit lately, you’re correct.
Pre-All Star:: 27.3 MPG / 47.8% FG% / 5.8 RPG / 1.2 TO / 8.7 AFG / 10.8 PPG
Post-All Star: 27.1 MPG / 45.7% FG% / 5.2 RPG / 1.6 TO / 9.1 AFG / 10.6 PPG
Not startling declines, and quite possibly due to the normal wear-and-tear of someone who has appeared in every game this season. Brandon’s scoring average hasn’t changed much since the All Star break because he’s averaging slightly more FGA per game than before the break.
• But look at the comparable stats for Kelly Olynyk, and you’ll see the definition of “improvement”—again, not immense, but directionally positive.
Pre-All Star:: 18.5 MPG / 42.8% FG% / 4.7-RPG / 1.5 TO / 6.2 AFG / 6.9 PPG
Post-All Star: 21.4 MPG / 47.6% FG%/ 5.8 RPG / 1.4 TO / 7.9-AFG / 9.8 PPG
Sam
The problem is that no one remembered to tell the Toronto Raptors, who scratched out a two-point win on the strength of some late great shooting by DeMar DeRozan (better known as “Deliver da dagga da sooner da better”) and a clutch putback by Amir Johnson (better known as “Who?”).
Actually, for once, the Celtics blocked out pretty well on Lowry’s last layup miss. Look at the replay, and you’ll see Brandon Bass knock Amir away from the basket on a play that, earlier in the game, might well have been called a foul. But the ball also bounced away from the basket and right into Johnson’s hands.
But, when Jared Sullinger launched a no-chance, line drive bomb at the basket at the final buzzer, the Celtics had lost, 105-103.
Just a few random “big picture” observations because I’m sure Bob Heckler will provide all the details:
• Jerryd Bayless continues to score in bunches, strengthening his potential for what I believe could be a valuable sixth-man role on a good team. He can catch and shoot. He can create his only shot. He’s shooting 37% as a Celtic. He has no hesitation in taking the clutch shot, and he takes good shots in such circumstances.
• Sully’s late line drive was a desperation shot. But, lately, he has developed a bad habit—with plenty of time on the clock—of shooting line-drive hooks from about four feet away when what is required is a soft touch giving the ball a chance to bounce around and in. Sully, when the ball can’t catch a glimpse of the opening in the rim, the only way it could possibly drop through is if it took a fortuitous Don Nelsonian 100-1 bounce; and that only happens when there are lots of celebratory balloons hanging flacidly around.
• Phil Pressey’s best qualification for remaining in the league is that he protects the ball fairly well, maintaining a ratio of 2.7-to-1 in assists to turnovers this season. But this ratio could be even higher if Phil didn’t have the unfortunate tendency to try to thread passes through traffic—especially within the foul line extended. Pros have quick hands, Phil.
• Despite the fact that most of us occasionally get on Rondo for the number of turnovers he commits, his career assist-to-turnover ratio is a very good 3.0; and, so far this abbreviated season with a team that’s a far cry from his previous Celtics teams, he has a 3.3 ratio. To me, that indicates that he is playing smarter than in the past. Let’s hope it continues.
• If you have the feeling that Brandon Bass’ productivity has fallen off a bit lately, you’re correct.
Pre-All Star:: 27.3 MPG / 47.8% FG% / 5.8 RPG / 1.2 TO / 8.7 AFG / 10.8 PPG
Post-All Star: 27.1 MPG / 45.7% FG% / 5.2 RPG / 1.6 TO / 9.1 AFG / 10.6 PPG
Not startling declines, and quite possibly due to the normal wear-and-tear of someone who has appeared in every game this season. Brandon’s scoring average hasn’t changed much since the All Star break because he’s averaging slightly more FGA per game than before the break.
• But look at the comparable stats for Kelly Olynyk, and you’ll see the definition of “improvement”—again, not immense, but directionally positive.
Pre-All Star:: 18.5 MPG / 42.8% FG% / 4.7-RPG / 1.5 TO / 6.2 AFG / 6.9 PPG
Post-All Star: 21.4 MPG / 47.6% FG%/ 5.8 RPG / 1.4 TO / 7.9-AFG / 9.8 PPG
Sam
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Re: POST GAME TORONTO - AWAY
by bobheckler Sat Mar 29, 2014 1:58 pm
Wasn't able to find a "Mike" feed last night, so I listened to the Toronto announcers. As you might expect from Canadians (or, at least, broadcasting to Canadians) they were always polite, respectful of all the players. Even when discussing mistakes you could almost feel them having a "this hurts me more than it hurts you" way of saying it. Leo Rautins is their color guy. Born in Toronto, a #17 pick by Philly and the first Canadian first round pick ever, he played one year for them and then part of a year for Atlanta and then spent the rest of his career overseas except for one year in the D-League. Somehow, with this sketchy resume, he became the head coach of the Canadian National Basketball Team for 6 years. So, this is a good gig for him. He can claim to have "been there, done that" and the truth is he probably has. He has been everywhere, done everything but never stayed anywhere very long. In fact, he never was with any team for more than one year. 10 teams, 10 years. That's not a journeyman, that's a traveling salesman.
With 2:21 left, the Celtics had a 4 point lead. This was after storming back from a 10-point deficit to start the 4th. In fact, we went on a 26-12 in those 9:39. Once again, the scrappers didn't give up and fought back and, once again, their inability to execute in crunch time cost them the game. That and some superlative acting jobs by Lowry and Vasquez to draw fouls on rookie Kelly Olynyk. Even Leo Rautins said that both of those two Raptor players "did an excellent job of exaggerating the contact to sell it to the refs". That's french-canadian for "acting" or "flopping". Only 10 more games of Kelly having to swallow rookie calls like those.
Brad Stevens was caught in a bit of a matchup dilemma at the end of the game. His lineup on the floor was Rondo, Bayless, Green, Sully and Bass. Green had played very well all game but struggled on defense against both DeRozan and Ross because of their speed. The problem is that the only other players that could handle DeRozan and Ross defensively, maybe, were Johnson and maybe Babb. I think Bradley is too short for the 6'7" DeRozan. But, if you do that, then does Bayless sit? Couldn't do that, he was smoking hot. Could Stevens have gone super-small and let Bayless replace Green and guarded Ross? That's a nightmare scenario on defense too. When both DeRozan and Ross are on, and that's happening more and more as both those young men grow into themselves, it's a nightmare matchup for the league.
1. Jeff Green came out aggressive. No, he didn't have a 39 point game, he only had 16, but he wanted the ball right from the opening jump and went north-south with it. He left some short on the rim, beginning 1-4, but I like that he was assertive. In the end it worked out for him with a solid 7-14 (meaning he went a solid 6-10 the rest of the game) and an outstanding block on a DeRozan layup late to keep the game within reach, a real hardworking hustle play by Jeff. He had a ton of problems guarding Terrence Ross, again, but it wasn't from lack of effort, Ross was just coming off of picks and hitting everything, again. I'm satisfied with what I saw from Jeff Green last night. I'll take the solid 16 point games and hard work 8 out of 10 times and then exalt in the occasional 25+ game over the usual 8 point game and then 39 point explosion. The 16 point game keeps it close enough for someone else's big game to put us over the top.
2. This time, that big game came from Bay Leaves. 14 points in the 4th, replacing Sully as the designated 4th quarter Raptor-killer. It was shoot out at the Bayless-DeRozan corral last night. Back and forth, both men guarding each other, but not really. The last time I saw something like this was Bird-'Nique (except they did it for 4 quarters). DeRozan is an all-star now and Bayless hung in there, and kept us in there, with him. Bayless started talking to himself in the 4th quarter. When a shooter starts talking to themselves that's either really good or really bad. He's either overthinking and that will screw him up or he's having an out-of-body experience where he's not completely aware of where he is and has forgotten there are cameras on him and people around him seeing him do it. Last night, Bayless was in the zone. Man, when he's on, he is on. 3s, mid-range jumpers, floaters, they were all dropping for him. 6-8 in the 4th with a 3 and a ft. He couldn't stop DeRozan but DeRozan couldn't stop him either. DeRozan is John Starks 2.0. He'll shoot you into a game or he'll shoot you into it. Last night he shot them into it. What a great mano-a-mano battle by those two. If I had to make an observation about degree of difficulty I'd say that Bayless's were harder because our porous defense was letting DeRozan get closer, but DeRozan made some "if that's going to go in there's nothing you can do about it" shots too. Jerryd "Microwave" Bayless, making the argument he belongs here.
3. Sully worked hard, had 5 offensive rebounds out of his 9 total, but isn't being the monster he was earlier this year. As Sam pointed out he's throwing more line drives, he's doing more lean-away flip shots in the lane rather than lean-in. This might just be fatigue. Remember, he only played 45 games last year before going down with his back issue. That's a college season, not an NBA one. So far, this year, he has played in 67 games, against bigger players, so he's probably hitting "the rookie wall" one season late. Also, he's on the heavy side, due to his having to play out of position, and the extra weight is probably wearing him down too. I truly doubt that running 20' buzzer beater is what Brad called in the huddle. He was 4-12 last night, 1-4 from 3. The downside of him having a great night shooting 3s on Wednesday. It reminds me of a quote by German composer Richard Wagner, "Never look at the trombones, it only encourages them". That's how I feel about Sully having a big night shooting 3s.
4. Pressey did well, with 5 assists and only 1 TO (and, as usual, when he makes a TO it is a real ugly one), running the team pretty well. I don't know what off-season homework assignments Brad has given Phil, but I'll bet the word "shooting" appears once or twice. He has to learn to move into the open space and take a quick shot, like Bayless does. Bayless is 6'3". Pressey is 5'11". That 4" difference shouldn't make that much of a difference because Phil's speed will get him more open than Bayless' will. 6" more of separation and a quick release should be all Phil needs to get a good shot off. Rondo, who had a butt-ugly shooting technique a few years ago, has transformed himself into a decent shooter. That's what Phil has to do, he has to practice coming off a screen and, if the defender doesn't jump at him off the pick, take the quick shot. Your NBA career depends on it, Phil.
5. Glimmers? Well, I suppose Bayless' demonstration of his ability to be an assassin could be one. There's definitely a job opening there. Another? I'd say the nice chemistry developing between Sully, Kelly and Pressey. Last night, both Sully and Pressey fed Kelly for layups. Sully's shooting has brought his man out (especially after his shooting display against this same team on Wednesday) and that opened up the middle for a high post entry pass and Phil and Kelly did their usual nice two-man game. Credit to Kelly for repeatedly going to the front of the rim. Alligator arms and no athleticism or no alligator arms and great athleticism, the front of the rim is where I want my 7'ers. It's where I want my 4s too. Oh hell, I'd love all my players taking shots at the rim. There's just something about 2'ers that I like better than 22'ers. Call me crazy. If the guards have to run their fannies off to get those 2'ers, so much the better.
6. Rautins talked about how the Toronto bench was playing better last night. Just goes to show how all things are relative. Sure, the starters didn't score 92 out of 99 points like they did on Wednesday but they still only scored 27 points with Vasquez responsible more than 50% of them with 15. Our bench scored 49 with 3 bench players in double-digits (Bayless with 20 in 26 minutes, Sully with 11 in 34 minutes and Kelly with 10 in 20). Once again, a mixed bag here. Should we be happy our bench is being so productive or upset our starters, who would be carrying us through the playoffs (someday) are getting beaten by a mediocre team? Well, I guess we have to first question the assumption that this will be our starting lineup next year. If it's not, then all we're seeing now is that our kindergarten is better than other teams' bench. It does not tell us if they could do it against another team's "A" team. We're not throwing them to the wolves but we're not seeing if they're capable of starting either. I know, I'm impatient.
7. Valanciunas is soft. Tyler Hansbrough most decidedly is not.
8. That's the number of turnovers the Celtics had in the 3rd quarter. We scored 20 points in the 3rd quarter. If we had taken better care of the rock we would have had more fgas and more points and we would have won this game. I made a point about our matchup problems before, and our pick-and-roll defense is still very weak (and will continue to be weak until we get a rim defender) but, if Brad is going to show film from this game to show where we went wrong, this would be it. Half of our 16 turnovers occurred in just one quarter.
Better shooting % is a wonderful thing to see from us. Let's hope it's not just a fluke. 76fgas, though, are not enough. Even if we knocked 4 TOs off the total by being more careful in the 3rd quarter that still wouldn't get us up much over 80fgas, if that, and that's still not enough.
As Brad likes to say, there is still a lot of work to do. With only 10 games left does Brad start "throwing in the towel" and let Sully and Kelly start and bring Hump and Bass off the bench soon or does he keep looking for marginal improvements in the roles he has established for each player and not start a new experiment this late in the season? I can see both arguments.
10 more games, that's all, and then we wait to see all the work Danny has to do.
I probably won't be able to catch the game against Chicago on Sunday, so I'm counting on the rest of you to root the Celtics on for a win!
bob
.
With 2:21 left, the Celtics had a 4 point lead. This was after storming back from a 10-point deficit to start the 4th. In fact, we went on a 26-12 in those 9:39. Once again, the scrappers didn't give up and fought back and, once again, their inability to execute in crunch time cost them the game. That and some superlative acting jobs by Lowry and Vasquez to draw fouls on rookie Kelly Olynyk. Even Leo Rautins said that both of those two Raptor players "did an excellent job of exaggerating the contact to sell it to the refs". That's french-canadian for "acting" or "flopping". Only 10 more games of Kelly having to swallow rookie calls like those.
Brad Stevens was caught in a bit of a matchup dilemma at the end of the game. His lineup on the floor was Rondo, Bayless, Green, Sully and Bass. Green had played very well all game but struggled on defense against both DeRozan and Ross because of their speed. The problem is that the only other players that could handle DeRozan and Ross defensively, maybe, were Johnson and maybe Babb. I think Bradley is too short for the 6'7" DeRozan. But, if you do that, then does Bayless sit? Couldn't do that, he was smoking hot. Could Stevens have gone super-small and let Bayless replace Green and guarded Ross? That's a nightmare scenario on defense too. When both DeRozan and Ross are on, and that's happening more and more as both those young men grow into themselves, it's a nightmare matchup for the league.
1. Jeff Green came out aggressive. No, he didn't have a 39 point game, he only had 16, but he wanted the ball right from the opening jump and went north-south with it. He left some short on the rim, beginning 1-4, but I like that he was assertive. In the end it worked out for him with a solid 7-14 (meaning he went a solid 6-10 the rest of the game) and an outstanding block on a DeRozan layup late to keep the game within reach, a real hardworking hustle play by Jeff. He had a ton of problems guarding Terrence Ross, again, but it wasn't from lack of effort, Ross was just coming off of picks and hitting everything, again. I'm satisfied with what I saw from Jeff Green last night. I'll take the solid 16 point games and hard work 8 out of 10 times and then exalt in the occasional 25+ game over the usual 8 point game and then 39 point explosion. The 16 point game keeps it close enough for someone else's big game to put us over the top.
2. This time, that big game came from Bay Leaves. 14 points in the 4th, replacing Sully as the designated 4th quarter Raptor-killer. It was shoot out at the Bayless-DeRozan corral last night. Back and forth, both men guarding each other, but not really. The last time I saw something like this was Bird-'Nique (except they did it for 4 quarters). DeRozan is an all-star now and Bayless hung in there, and kept us in there, with him. Bayless started talking to himself in the 4th quarter. When a shooter starts talking to themselves that's either really good or really bad. He's either overthinking and that will screw him up or he's having an out-of-body experience where he's not completely aware of where he is and has forgotten there are cameras on him and people around him seeing him do it. Last night, Bayless was in the zone. Man, when he's on, he is on. 3s, mid-range jumpers, floaters, they were all dropping for him. 6-8 in the 4th with a 3 and a ft. He couldn't stop DeRozan but DeRozan couldn't stop him either. DeRozan is John Starks 2.0. He'll shoot you into a game or he'll shoot you into it. Last night he shot them into it. What a great mano-a-mano battle by those two. If I had to make an observation about degree of difficulty I'd say that Bayless's were harder because our porous defense was letting DeRozan get closer, but DeRozan made some "if that's going to go in there's nothing you can do about it" shots too. Jerryd "Microwave" Bayless, making the argument he belongs here.
3. Sully worked hard, had 5 offensive rebounds out of his 9 total, but isn't being the monster he was earlier this year. As Sam pointed out he's throwing more line drives, he's doing more lean-away flip shots in the lane rather than lean-in. This might just be fatigue. Remember, he only played 45 games last year before going down with his back issue. That's a college season, not an NBA one. So far, this year, he has played in 67 games, against bigger players, so he's probably hitting "the rookie wall" one season late. Also, he's on the heavy side, due to his having to play out of position, and the extra weight is probably wearing him down too. I truly doubt that running 20' buzzer beater is what Brad called in the huddle. He was 4-12 last night, 1-4 from 3. The downside of him having a great night shooting 3s on Wednesday. It reminds me of a quote by German composer Richard Wagner, "Never look at the trombones, it only encourages them". That's how I feel about Sully having a big night shooting 3s.
4. Pressey did well, with 5 assists and only 1 TO (and, as usual, when he makes a TO it is a real ugly one), running the team pretty well. I don't know what off-season homework assignments Brad has given Phil, but I'll bet the word "shooting" appears once or twice. He has to learn to move into the open space and take a quick shot, like Bayless does. Bayless is 6'3". Pressey is 5'11". That 4" difference shouldn't make that much of a difference because Phil's speed will get him more open than Bayless' will. 6" more of separation and a quick release should be all Phil needs to get a good shot off. Rondo, who had a butt-ugly shooting technique a few years ago, has transformed himself into a decent shooter. That's what Phil has to do, he has to practice coming off a screen and, if the defender doesn't jump at him off the pick, take the quick shot. Your NBA career depends on it, Phil.
5. Glimmers? Well, I suppose Bayless' demonstration of his ability to be an assassin could be one. There's definitely a job opening there. Another? I'd say the nice chemistry developing between Sully, Kelly and Pressey. Last night, both Sully and Pressey fed Kelly for layups. Sully's shooting has brought his man out (especially after his shooting display against this same team on Wednesday) and that opened up the middle for a high post entry pass and Phil and Kelly did their usual nice two-man game. Credit to Kelly for repeatedly going to the front of the rim. Alligator arms and no athleticism or no alligator arms and great athleticism, the front of the rim is where I want my 7'ers. It's where I want my 4s too. Oh hell, I'd love all my players taking shots at the rim. There's just something about 2'ers that I like better than 22'ers. Call me crazy. If the guards have to run their fannies off to get those 2'ers, so much the better.
6. Rautins talked about how the Toronto bench was playing better last night. Just goes to show how all things are relative. Sure, the starters didn't score 92 out of 99 points like they did on Wednesday but they still only scored 27 points with Vasquez responsible more than 50% of them with 15. Our bench scored 49 with 3 bench players in double-digits (Bayless with 20 in 26 minutes, Sully with 11 in 34 minutes and Kelly with 10 in 20). Once again, a mixed bag here. Should we be happy our bench is being so productive or upset our starters, who would be carrying us through the playoffs (someday) are getting beaten by a mediocre team? Well, I guess we have to first question the assumption that this will be our starting lineup next year. If it's not, then all we're seeing now is that our kindergarten is better than other teams' bench. It does not tell us if they could do it against another team's "A" team. We're not throwing them to the wolves but we're not seeing if they're capable of starting either. I know, I'm impatient.
7. Valanciunas is soft. Tyler Hansbrough most decidedly is not.
8. That's the number of turnovers the Celtics had in the 3rd quarter. We scored 20 points in the 3rd quarter. If we had taken better care of the rock we would have had more fgas and more points and we would have won this game. I made a point about our matchup problems before, and our pick-and-roll defense is still very weak (and will continue to be weak until we get a rim defender) but, if Brad is going to show film from this game to show where we went wrong, this would be it. Half of our 16 turnovers occurred in just one quarter.
Better shooting % is a wonderful thing to see from us. Let's hope it's not just a fluke. 76fgas, though, are not enough. Even if we knocked 4 TOs off the total by being more careful in the 3rd quarter that still wouldn't get us up much over 80fgas, if that, and that's still not enough.
As Brad likes to say, there is still a lot of work to do. With only 10 games left does Brad start "throwing in the towel" and let Sully and Kelly start and bring Hump and Bass off the bench soon or does he keep looking for marginal improvements in the roles he has established for each player and not start a new experiment this late in the season? I can see both arguments.
10 more games, that's all, and then we wait to see all the work Danny has to do.
I probably won't be able to catch the game against Chicago on Sunday, so I'm counting on the rest of you to root the Celtics on for a win!
bob
.
Last edited by bobheckler on Sat Mar 29, 2014 2:30 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Re: POST GAME TORONTO - AWAY
by beat Sat Mar 29, 2014 2:13 pm
Rautins had a nice career at Syracuse had a nagging knee injury though and in the end he just another good player but not good enough to stick. First Canadian taken in the first round of the NBA draft eh !!
Watched him at SU back in the day. Had a nice team around him then but the Big East then was LOADED.
beat
Watched him at SU back in the day. Had a nice team around him then but the Big East then was LOADED.
beat
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Re: POST GAME TORONTO - AWAY
by k_j_88 Sat Mar 29, 2014 10:21 pm
I thought this was a really good game. The Raptors are not a bum team anymore, with a 41-31 record. Even still, the Celtics second unit went toe-to-toe with their starters.
The 4th was pretty exciting throughout. However, I was bothered though that the final play was designed to run through Sullinger. Bayless had the hot hand, and I'd rather have him taking that shot, or Bradley or Green.
KJ
The 4th was pretty exciting throughout. However, I was bothered though that the final play was designed to run through Sullinger. Bayless had the hot hand, and I'd rather have him taking that shot, or Bradley or Green.
KJ
k_j_88- Posts : 4747
Join date : 2013-01-06
Age : 35
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