POST GAME - PHILLY - HOME - PRESEASON

Rapid reaction: Celtics 98, 76ers 78

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.

BOSTON -- Rapid reaction after the Boston Celtics defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 98-78 in their exhibition opener on Monday night at TD Garden:

• Nitty gritty: Making his Boston debut against the team that drafted him, Evan Turner registered a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds over 31 minutes. Turner started in place of Jeff Green (calf), but also spent time handling the ball while showcasing his versatility (he added six assists and finished a team-best plus-19 overall). Brandon Bass added 15 points and nine rebounds over 19 minutes off the bench, while Kelly Olynyk finished with 17 points and nine rebounds in a starting role. The Celtics shot just 34.1 percent from the floor overall and trailed by as much as 10 in the early going before rallying.Tony Wroten scored a team-high 19 points, while fellow backcourt starter Hollis Thompson added 15 points to help pace the 76ers.

• Tough debut for Smart: Marcus Smart, the sixth overall pick in June's draft, drew the start at point guard, but struggled. Smart missed all eight shots he took (including five 3-pointers), while finishing with two points, six assists, three steals, and three rebounds over 27:20. Boston's other rookie, James Young, the 17th overall pick, finished with 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting, but is already proving to be an early fan favorite with his sweet shooting stroke.

• Loose balls: Playing his first non-summer league NBA game, Nerlens Noel struggled. The Everett, Massachusetts native registered four points and six rebounds, but missed seven of the nine shots he took, committed five fouls, and got tagged with a technical. ... Marcus Thornton provided a nice bench spark with 14 points off the bench for Boston (hitting four 3-pointers). ... The 76ers turned the ball over 28 times, while Boston took better care in the second half and finished with 18 giveaways.

• What it means: The Celtics start the preseason off on the right foot. There's still plenty to work on and the team will be back on the practice floor Tuesday. Boston plays the New York Knicks on Wednesday night in Hartford. 

112288

Most impressive player I saw was Kelly O.  He really is playing with confidence, mixing it up under the basket, fighting for rebounds, cutting to the basket for scoring chances.   He has to be the most improved player in the NBA.

Turner could be the steal signing of the year.....way to go Danny.

If you thought Ray Allen was a good shooter........check out this kid Young.......and he is only 19 years old!

Next game 7:00pm Wednesday - Knicks

112288

Way early and against a team that is pretty bad, but I liked what I saw.

-Kelly O and Sully both looked good and improved.
-Smart reminds me of Chauncey Billups. He needs to work on his shot, but his strength, toughness and court awareness are there.
-Thornton can shoot, not sure he is the defender that Chris Johnson was - but a better, more consistent shooter.
-Turner is going to be a good addition. Strong, hard to cover, mean streak - nice pick up.
-Young hit a few shots and shows good promise for sure.
-Bass steady as usual.
-AB didnt do much, but he didnt play much. Same with Zeller.

It was a fun game and glad to see the Green on and to hear Tommy and Mike again.

Good game, but against a doormat. It took forever to get a decent computer feed, but finally tried wiziwig.eu and that worked well (with Tommy and Mike). When I first saw Zeller, he seemed considerably smaller and weaker than I had imagined. Off to the weight room with him (and keep looking for a center, Danny). Smart is a beast on D, out of his element right now as PG. I think Bradley is feeling pressure from the new guys, particularly Smart. As for the rest: Thornton! Young!! Olynyk-Sully!! Turner!!! Go Celtics!!! Hawk

Hawk,

did you have to download any software for wizwig to work?

I didn;t try it last night, but have seen the site before.

Few thoughts

Seemed to rush too many shots...(many of these were treys and 33 is just too many attempts although the 33 shots ended up with 33 points)

Defensive pressure was good and perhaps will get better. Philly had 27 TO's( but then they are Philly)

Rebounded OK also of note our defensive transition was good Philly had few fast breaks and easy hoops

Would have loved to see a bit more transition for layups but give that a little time, we did seem to push the ball up the court via the pass better.

Guess the former mates from Syracuse enjoyed the pine MWC and J Grant watched. Would have loved to see Smart get up and in on MCW.

it's a win and even though it's Philly we walked away pretty well in the second half and closed it out. On to game 2.

beat

Beat,

That is what Stevens wants. He is trying to get over 100 shots a game and he wants a lot of 3 pointers.

When was the last time an NBA team averaged 100 FG attempts per game? The Denver team of Paul Westhead?

KDP59, I didn't download anything, but like most of these sites, it keeps trying to tell you you need to. On wiziwig, itself, there are several options, some better than others. If you don't hear the game or likely commercial after a minute (you'll hear before seeing anything), try another one. I've found that if you wait these sites out, say 3 minutes, some of the pop-ups go away. After that, you have to look for the little x's (not the bigger X's) to get rid of the others.
Once it was on, it was good for the rest of the game and the video was pretty good quality.
If League Pass offered a one-team option; I'd jump on it. But I hate to pay to watch teams I don't care about, which is all of them, minus 1. Hawk

112288 wrote:Beat,

That is what Stevens wants. He is trying to get over 100 shots a game and he wants a lot of 3 pointers.

There is no way Stevens wants 100 shots per game.
Only one time in the last 15 years has a team attempted 90 shots per game and that was Golden State in the 2007-08 season when they averaged 90.3 shots per game.
Rondo's propensity to dribble down the shot clock will only make this worse.

thanks hawk, I'll try that site next game to see if I have any luck.

I used sportstream.tv.  It had Mike & Tommy doing the game.  I'm hoping they are able to keep doing that doing the year.  It's weird hearing games being called in a strange language, like Arabic.  The things we put up with to get our Celtics fix, huh?

At one point they were on target to take 106 fgas for the game, then they stopped running.  They also stopped playing well.  The moral?  Run, baby, run.

At one point in the 1st quarter we were 2-15 and 3-20 from the field.  We were only down by 8 at the end of 1 because Philly turned the ball over 7 times in that quarter and we were able drag our wretched fg% up to 21.7%.  The first quarter was a nightmare for us.  Pretty much the only thing we did right was we didn't have any TOs.

1.  It was the Evan Turner show last night.  We was doing it all last night.  Well, he was doing it  all except move WITHOUT the ball.  I don't see how he could co-exist on the floor with Rondo.  That might not be a bad thing, Evan Turner being the 6th man sounds kind of appealing, but there's only one ball and they both want it in their hands.  Tommy said that the tempo picked up with Pressey was in there.  I don't see how he could have had anything to do with that since he never touched the ball full court, it was Turner.  He was 1-4 from outside the paint, a corner 3.  His strength was his half court penetrations.  He has a high dribble (shades of Tony Allen!), quite frankly, I don't think he has such a great handle (I think Jeff Green's dribble is more confident) but he still kept getting his man off balance just enough to get his shoulders past him and into the lane.  He has excellent court vision and knew where to pass to.  He played a team high 31 minutes and had a very nice 15 point, 10 rebound, 6 assist boxscore.  He's not a ME-baller, the 6 assists (there would have been more but for our crappy shooting) say he isn't, but he was definitely an "on-the-ball" player.  He is an excellent rebounder for his size but will he give the rock up after he gets it?

2.  Kelly's man-to-man is still deficient, but his team rotations are quicker, more instinctive.  His offense, however, is glue.  He was in the middle of most things.  If he wasn't setting picks for someone he was putting a move on someone.  He didn't always touch the ball, but he always seemed to be near it.  Just to show how deceptive summer league is both Kelly and Zeller looked much bigger in summer league than last night.  That's because last night they were standing next to the real deals.  You can tell that Kelly has been playing all summer, he looked like he was in rhythm.

3.  As opposed to the player we all swore would be starting at center, Tyler Zeller.  He did NOT look good last night.  Very stiff.  Did little on defense and not much more on offense.  Executed a nice PnR with Turner getting the assist and that's about it.  Did not run the floor as advertised.  Just one game, the first one too, but not a good one.

4.  Thornton and Young are the designated shooters on this team.  Neither impressed with their defense but they can and do shoot.  Every.  Single.  Chance.  They.  Get.  Thornton had 14 point in 14 minutes off the bench, shooting 4-8 from 3 and Young had 10 points in 20 minutes.  If I had to pick one, I'd say Brad is going to be giving the lion's share of those minutes to Thornton.  He's a little more reliable shooter, at this point in his career, although he did have 2 TOs (one of which was just a brain dead "why did you try that?").  Besides, Danny wants to showcase Thornton.

5.  Crash was Crash.  Very unimpressive boxscore but throwing his body all over the place while shutting down Russian sharpshooter Alexey Shved.  He had knee surgery late in the season?

6.  Nerlens Noel will be interesting to watch.  Talented, but he jumps a lot trying to block shots and, as a result, he fouled out.  He's going to have to overcome that natural tendency and stay down more.  4 TOs and 2-9 shooting.  Ok, it's his first NBA game and he was excited.  We'll see.  Him and Embiid together?  Your outside shots better be dropping or it's going to be a long night.

7.  Arnett Moultrie's boxscore was garbage time stuffing.  He did not look good.  He was a player some thought Danny was going to draft instead of Sully.

8.  Sully was a pathetic 4-15 but he got 13 boards.  His usual monster-on-the-boards game.  Between his strength and Kelly's mobility we're going to see another season of poorly controlled defensive rebounds by our opponents as those two get fingernails, tips and hands on them.

9.  Steady Eddy showed up ready for work, as usual.  Hasn't played since early April and he steps out onto the court in mid-season form.

10.  Mahcus Smaht had an offensive night from Hell, going 0-8, but he did take a charge and had 6 assists.  Like Noel, a first-gamer trying too hard.  The cosmoline will wear off soon enough.

They had 19 fast break points vs only 9 for us.  NOT what Brad wanted, I'm sure.  Giving up 19 points in transition out of a total of only 77 for the game is not good.
They had 27 turnovers.  I wouldn't count on that again.
We had 88 fgas.  Not bad overall, but our pace was uneven.  Turner is a half court point forward.  When we can break he needs to run and the rebounder should look for Rondo or Pressey or even Smart before Turner.

Tomorrow we play the better-but-still-not-good NYK.  A slightly tougher test, but not MUCH harder.  We don't want to start off ice cold again, that's for sure.  Will Green be ready to play?  If not, will Turner play defense on Melo?  Will Brad put Crash on Melo and play Turner at SG?  Inquiring minds want to know and, in just a day and a half, we'll know.

Celtics basketball.  The world is spinning correctly again.  


bob



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Quick take...

Very intelligent pre-season experiments by Brad.

Kelly needs work at the 5, Sully 4 (not the other way around a la last year), and that's where they were.

I thought Turner could be the steal of the year if he keeps the attitude where it needs to be; promising start on the floor last night anyway.

Smart starting at point in place of Rondo seems like a no-brainer to me.  Kudos to Brad again here.  You don't take a player like him in the draft to bring along slowly.  On a rebuilding team like this, get the ones that look ready into the fire.  His shooting will improve, the rest looks great.

Thornton might be valuable to provide a little instant offense off the bench.

I'm sure we'll see more of players like Zeller and Green (if his leg is OK) tonight and going forward.

I wouldn't be suprised to see Pressey start or get bigger minutes at point tonight.  I still think he's an end-of-bench emergency type this year, especially if they keep playing Bradley for big minutes with Thornton going to 2 off the bench.  That would probably put Smart behind Rondo.  Personally, my crystal ball has Smart taking over for Bradley...nothing to do with last night, I've been forcasting that since the draft.  Swami says Bradley and others like Bass might make great winter trade material.

I hope there aren't many Monday night games in the pre-season.  Hard to watch the recording that late after the football game ends!

Two adjustments to my post-game post:  Marcus Smart credited with 3 steals.  I knew he was playing good defense but I lost track of that.  Also, it was Smart who delivered a beautiful bounce pass to a slashing Wallace for a layup.  I hope Turner noticed that, not just from the Smart perspective but from the Wallace one.


bob



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Garden Report - CLNS Radio







bob



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Bob,

Actually, Turner had two beautiful interior bounce passes of his own for baskets. I think the main reason they had 88 shots was because they shot a very low percentage and had 16 offensive rebounds. It certainly wasn't because he had any kind of consistent pace.

I thought Thornton showed flashes of good defensive instincts. Especially when he times his dash, jumped in front of a 76er who was not his man, stole the ball cleanly, and made an uncontested bunny at the other end. One good thing is that I believe, as a team, their collective defense is ahead of their collective offense; and good defense can become both contagious and a matter of pride.

Sam

sam wrote:Bob,

Actually, Turner had two beautiful interior bounce passes of his own for baskets.  I think the main reason they had 88 shots was because they shot a very low percentage and had 16 offensive rebounds.  It certainly wasn't because he had any kind of consistent pace.

I thought Thornton showed flashes of good defensive instincts.  Especially when he times his dash, jumped in front of a 76er who was not his man, stole the ball cleanly, and made an uncontested bunny at the other end.  One good thing is that I believe, as a team, their collective defense is ahead of their collective offense; and good defense can become both contagious and a matter of pride.

Sam

sam,


The good news is that between Bradley, Smart, Bass and Stevens I think we can pretty much count on defense being a point of pride and focus.

Their defense was quite active, I really liked that, but their offense was choppy and inconsistent.

That's ok, that's what camp and pre-season are for. Work.


bob


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Bob,

And we can't leave Crash out of that equation.

Sam

I'm going to repost the summary I tacked on at the end of my delayed, personal game-on thread. It really belongs in this thread.

• The Celtics' defense is ahead of the offense. On defense, they're very aggressive....doubling, recovering, and forcing turnovers and rushed shots. As the game progressed, they became increasingly adept at challenging mid-range jumpers, which was the weak spot in the going. They seemed to be using a flex defense that collapses on opponents who are under the hoop; and, without a so-called rim protector, they did a pretty good job of collectively protecting the rim. They're developing a knack for crowding their defensive assignments without fouling—not a bad substitute for lack of a shot blocking threat.

• On offense, they're pretty much in free lance mode. The pick and roll is their current go to play, and they're often a bit slow in executing it, which places more pressure on the roll player than is desirable.

• I was hopeful of up-tempo basketball by the Celtics. But it was the exception rather than the rule. Tommy and Mike were excited about the 88 shots taken by the Celtics, and Tommy felt (perhaps wishfully) that the 6ers were exhausted by the pace set by the Celtics. But I believe the shot total wasn't a function of an up-tempo game as much as of their many missed shots and the 16 offensive rebounds they registered. And it didn't seem to me that the 6ers were particularly fatigued. The 76ers scored 19 fast break points to 9 by the Celtics. And it wasn't because of lack of defensive rebounds (the Celts had 36).

• High impact players included Brandon Bass (still Steady Eddie with the jumper and continuing last year's efforts at taking it strong to the hoop); Even Turner (the MVP of this one with his court awareness, clever passing, relentless slashing, and sneaky rebounds); Kelly Olynyk (whose high post play against a tentative, foul-prone Nerlins Noel really picked up in the second half); Crash Wallace (whose dynamic, floor-burn-punctuated play was complemented by a high energy performance out of the low post); and Sully, who was up to his usual tricks under the offensive board as he submitted a ho hm double double).

• Despite missing a lot of shots, James Young displayed a smooth stroke from outside and a knack for getting down the floor and finishing well on the break.

• I was underwhelmed by Tyler Zeller, who appears to prefer reaching in over moving his feet on defense. He didn't show much of an ability to run the floor; but neither did the team as a whole until late in the game. To his credit, Zeller did start a couple of breaks with his defensive rebounding, but his impact on the game was minimal.

• Maxwell Smart showed occasional flashes of being a pretty accomplished passer, and I'll attribute his horrendous shooting performance to first game nerves. But, if he continues to stink it up from the field and exhibit only mediocre floor management skills, we'll be welcoming back Rondo not only for his playmaking ability but for his relative shooting prowess. At present, Turner is a phenomenal upgrade over Maxwell at the "1" position. However, Smart not only played extraordinary defense; he also was calling out defensive signals like a veteran.

• For some time, I've been worried about Avery Bradley's game. Okay, his miserable three point shooting in this game could have been an aberration. And he was 50% in terms of finishing rather botching fast breaks. But I noticed nothing remarkable in his defense, and I'm seriously concerned that—for one reason or another—he cannot or will not be the disruptive defensive force for which he has a well-earned reputation.

•Marcus Thornton had 14 points in 14 minutes. In this game, his contribution was pretty much an individual achievement. But, given the typical ebbs and flow of a highly competitive game, I continue to believe he could contribute more flow than ebb as a sixth man point machine.

• Pressey played only token minutes. I had the feeling that, if he had been the primary floor general (freeing Turner up to do wing duties), the offense would have had a much better flow than was actually the case.

• It was a first game, and the game plan emphasized looking at different players in different situations; so it's impossible and ill-advised to draw any major conclusions at this point.

Go Celtics

SHOTS PER GAME

THEN TELL MIKE AND TOMMY THEY WERE WRONG ON WHAT THEY COMMENTED ON LAST NIGHT.   I THINK THEY HAVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT STEVENS TOLD THEM.

112288

112288 wrote:SHOTS PER GAME

THEN TELL MIKE AND TOMMY THEY WERE WRONG ON WHAT THEY COMMENTED ON LAST NIGHT.   I THINK THEY HAVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT STEVENS TOLD THEM.

112288

Why type in all caps?

In the 1980's the Denver Nuggets teams averaged between 114 to 127 ppg every year in the decade.
Not one time did they average 100 shots per game. That was run and gun basketball.

IF Stevens said that, he had to be joking...

In current day basketball, there just aren't enough possessions to come close to 100 shot attempts.

Last year Boston averaged less than 96 possessions per game.
If you subtract out turnovers with no shot attempts, fouls and then add in offensive rebound shot attempts, you have a team that averaged 83.9 shot attempts per game last season.

Boston has a lot of good players but they aren't equipped with great outside shooters compared to other teams.
Boston was 28th in 3 point shooting percentage last year. Smart, Turner and Thornton aren't going to help that number.

Everyone can have their opinion, but I don't see the Celtics leading the league in shot attempts per game and even getting to 90 per game.

TJ

It is not intended to be shouting, if my glasses are not handy it helps me see what I am writing.

As far as shooting, I am just repeating something Tommy and Mike said on TV last night. As I was doing some business on my computer it may have been said in fun, so perhaps I did not get the subtle humor...but it was said.

I am not debating the issue as I have no feelings either way if they shoot 30 shots for the game or 200.  Just win baby!

112288

112288

112288, tjmakz,

The Celtics should get up a lot of shot attempts with their quicker pace. A team with this level of athleticism only taking 70-75 shots per game is unacceptable (unless they make a very high percentage, which would reduce the need for offensive rebounds). However, the shots need to be good ones, and not too often contested by a defender. If the Celtics were taking 90-100 shots per game, I don't necessarily see it as a bad thing, provided they weren't just random, bad shots.


KJ

112288 wrote:TJ

It is not intended to be shouting, if my glasses are not handy it helps me see what I am writing.

As far as shooting, I am just repeating something Tommy and Mike said on TV last night. As I was doing some business on my computer it may have been said in fun, so perhaps I did not get the subtle humor...but it was said.

I am not debating the issue as I have no feelings either way if they shoot 30 shots for the game or 200.  Just win baby!

112288

112288

I did watch about 1/2 of last night's Celtics game.
I do remember them saying that Boston was on pace for 100 shot attempts but that slowed in the middle of the 2nd quarter.
Yes, Tommy and Mike could have said what you say they said, I just didn't hear it.

tjmakz wrote:

112288 wrote:TJ

It is not intended to be shouting, if my glasses are not handy it helps me see what I am writing.

As far as shooting, I am just repeating something Tommy and Mike said on TV last night. As I was doing some business on my computer it may have been said in fun, so perhaps I did not get the subtle humor...but it was said.

I am not debating the issue as I have no feelings either way if they shoot 30 shots for the game or 200.  Just win baby!

112288

112288

I did watch about 1/2 of last night's Celtics game.
I do remember them saying that Boston was on pace for 100 shot attempts but that slowed in the middle of the 2nd quarter.
Yes, Tommy and Mike could have said what you say they said, I just didn't hear it.

112288 and TJ,

To be precise they said they were on track to take 106 fgas. Just one more reason to avoid premature ejaculations.



bob



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