POST GAME - OKC - HOME

by **112288** Wed Nov 12, 2014 10:03 pm

NEXT GAME - HOME - CLEVELAND - 7:30PM

Thunder 109, C's 94: To-Morrow, to-Morrow

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

BOSTON -- Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens spent the 72 hours before Wednesday's tilt with the Oklahoma City Thunder reminding his players that (1) The Thunder were playing without stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook when they won by 18 here last year and (2) There was plenty of depth remaining on OKC's roster, particularly if someone like Anthony Morrow was able to suit up.

Morrow, playing just his second game of the season, erupted for 19 of his team-high 28 points in the fourth quarter as the Thunder surged for an early double-digit deficit for a 109-94 triumph at TD Garden.

Reggie Jackson, who played his college ball at nearby Boston College and torched Boston twice last season, finished with 28 points and eight assists.

The Celtics led by as much as 19. That included an 18-3 run to start the game, but Oklahoma City flustered Boston by going to a zone defense and forcing low-percentage jump shots. The Thunder outscored the Celtics 106-76 over the final 42 minutes of play.

Playing against his old team, Jeff Green had maybe his quietest game of the season, putting up 14 points on 4-of-14 shooting. Old friend Kendrick Perkins had six points and four rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench.

• Mr. (Almost) Triple-Double: Rondo started fast, but never finished off what would have been his 31st career triple-double. He finished with 20 points, 12 assists, and nine rebounds over 36 minutes.

• Loose balls: The Celtics were without reserve shooting guard Marcus Thornton (sprained right ankle). ... Boston stuck initially with a 10-man rotation, but rookie James Young got some fourth-quarter time (making his only shot -- a 3-pointer -- over 3:31). ... Rookie Dwight Powell was the only healthy DNP for Boston.

• What it means: Boston misses a chance to slide over .500, falling to 3-4. The Celtics have Thursday off before hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night.

112288

by **bobheckler** Thu Nov 13, 2014 6:14 am

I didn't watch the game, obviously, but it must be hard finding positives after losing to a team at home without Durant AND Westbrook.

by **sinus007** Thu Nov 13, 2014 9:42 am

Hi,
I did watch the game and in 3rd and 4th quarters was just wondering if Stevens had any countermeasures against zone defense. It appeared - he had none.
Also, he has to make the bigs to watch film and practice p-n-r defense 8 hours a day. Last night OKC's guards were hot and were killing Celtics off p-n-r's.
Now we have to face Lebron. I hope he sticks to his MO of playing only 3 quarters.

AK

by **beat** Thu Nov 13, 2014 9:52 am

Bob

too many times we slowed up and that allowed the defense to set up. When we did push the ball and move it we got better looks and some inside shots.

They killed up bad in the paint, real bad. Thing that really might hurt is this appears to be a blueprint as to how to play us. We had some open looks but if we are not shooting well with the zone packing in virtually eliminated any inside game.

beat

by **cowens/oldschool** Thu Nov 13, 2014 10:34 am

Anyone who thinks Perk is shot, ask Sully about his defense, how'd that basketball taste Sully? Thunder shutdown the paint, our paint was wide open, our bigs are generally weak and our guards didn't help any. Rondo's defense was swiss cheese and now Avery Bradley is catching whatever Rondo's got.

by **kdp59** Thu Nov 13, 2014 11:25 am

on a plus Rondo was shooting the ball much better last night.

but how many 3's did we take?

wow...I know Stevens loves the 3 ball, but last night it seemed that all we did. Gotta get that corrected, especially when the shot is NOT falling. For godsake, quit shooting the 3 if no one can make them Brad.

nope, we had nothing against that zone at all and if I am cleveland (and every other team) I play it all game long against us, until stevens can prove he can counter it.

BAD game....no excuses for this loss or the Tornoto loss the other night. When you are a middle of the road team, you HAVE to win against teams that are injuried in your HOUSE. the whole team should be ashame inscluding the coaching staff after last night.

its all good that stevens is a players coach and alwasy positive, but some times you have to kick some ass in life to get things done too.....or at least CHEW some.

by **wide clyde** Thu Nov 13, 2014 12:19 pm

Definitely not a good game last night for the Celtics.

But, relax a little bit. Although we all want the team to win every night, this team is not going to achieve such results.
Inconsistent teams lose games for various reasons and this is still a very inconsistent team. Growing yes, but still very inconsistent.

by **kdp59** Thu Nov 13, 2014 12:35 pm

cowens/oldschool wrote:Anyone who thinks Perk is shot, ask Sully about his defense, how'd that basketball taste Sully? Thunder shutdown the paint, our paint was wide open, our bigs are generally weak and our guards didn't help any. Rondo's defense was swiss cheese and now Avery Bradley is catching whatever Rondo's got.

I couldn't agree more about Perks play last night at least. and thena fter hearing bits of his intereview about Rondo staying here and how good a place to play it is. Then being told that he left...he said it wasn't my choice....I say how can Ainge get him back!

give em Thornton and his expriiing deal and maybe a future pick.

If Perk can play defense like last night for 24-26Min a game, he'd be a very nice fit on this team....and it might make Rondo even more happy to stay.

by **RosalieTCeltics** Thu Nov 13, 2014 12:56 pm

These are the growing pains this team will go through. We want them to win, but it is not going to happen fast. Even the loss of Smart shows. It is funny how a rookie can make you realize alot of our frailties.

I am going to take a deep breath, just as I am sure Brad did last night, and hope that they respond as they did against Chicago.

Yes Cowens, Perk did a job on Sully. He was almost invisible especially on the offensive end. Look how many second chance rebounds OKC got last night. Not just Perk, everyone.

Rosalie

by **gyso** Thu Nov 13, 2014 1:09 pm

wide clyde wrote:Definitely not a good game last night for the Celtics.

But, relax a little bit. Although we all want the team to win every night, this team is not going to achieve such results.
Inconsistent teams lose games for various reasons and this is still a very inconsistent team. Growing yes, but still very inconsistent.

I agree. I remember back in 2008, we lost two games in a row to the Bobcats (home and away). That was our championship year!

We also had a hard time getting past the 8th seed in the first round.

Sometimes your are the bug, sometimes you are the windowshield!!

gyso

by **Outside** Thu Nov 13, 2014 1:17 pm

I agree with Wide Clyde and Rosalie -- they'll get better with time. In the meantime, there will be games like this.

I didn't watch the game, but Stevens does need a counter for a zone defense. Normally, the principles of motion offense, ball and player movement plus spacing, should be effective against a zone, but going 9-33 from three will hurt spacing. On the other hand, Houston beat the Celtics shooting 12-34 on threes, so it's not a killer in and of itself.

On the season, Houston leads the league with 32.3 threes per game. Boston is third with 26.1.

http://bkref.com/tiny/Iajjm

by **dboss** Thu Nov 13, 2014 2:43 pm

This game reflects poor coaching as the team was ill prepared to play against a zone defense.

Once the Thunder went to a zone it took the Celtics a long time to figure out what to do. Once they realized that a big needed to park himself above the foul line they were able to generate open shots. The problem is that most of those shots were three point attempts and very few were from cuts to the hoop.

This team lacks discipline which is surprising because there are certainly enough veterans to set the tone for how they play.

Brad needs to take some responsibility for this since it is he that encourages the team to fire away from deep. He needs to be quicker to call a time out instead of just letting the guys screw up the game. This team has not shown the ability for self-correction and is prone to continue down the same path they are on in a given game.

On defense we could not check Jackson. The local BC product had a very good college career and displayed Rondo like skills at BC. But this is one I count as a missed opportunity for Danny Ainge. He could have drafted him instead of Brooks.

The other bench player Morrow also lit the team up.

We can talk all day long about the motion offense and pace and shot selection but the bottom line is that this team looks worse defensively than it did last year. That is as much of a coaching issue as it is a roster issue. WHO is our defensive coach??

dboss

by **beat** Thu Nov 13, 2014 2:52 pm

dboss

agree and to add

The relatively few times we got the ball in the frontcourt quickly and attacked before the zone was set we had relative success but far too often the ball was walked up the floor. Even though we did move some just not enough cutters and KO did not touch the ball enough on the high post. Seems we passed on some layups and kicked the ball out for an uncontested 3 that missed far too often and a few of these never even caught the rim. Heck a few times we did take the ball to the rim we got to the line but again it was too few times we even did that.

Defensively we did not get back well and were always a step late in picking up the open man. We got toasted for the final 40 minutes.

beat

by **Sam** Thu Nov 13, 2014 3:30 pm

Different teams develop in different ways. The 2009 champs had three dominant players and a fourth who was content with enabling those three, and the team sort of took off an never looked back. Other teams sputter along and then suddenly seem to "get it" as they take a quantum leap.

I am becoming convinced that this Celtics team is ahybrid of players who are new to the team, players who don't have much or any NBA experience, and the installation of new systems. Yet they nonetheless have talent on the team This combination of ingredients means that the way these Celtics (pending player injuries or moves) will develop could be very cyclical:

Back to: 1. Lose badly enough to reveal additional key flaws.

2. Work on correcting those flaws (which often occurs more rapidly than I'd normally expect, thanks largely to Brad).

3. Win based on the improved "product."

4. Face adjustments by other teams.
.
.
.
.
1. Lose badly to reveal new key flaws.

2. Work on correcting those flaws (which often occurs more rapidly than I'd normally expect, thanks largely to Brad).

3. Win based on the improved "product."

4. Face adjustments by other teams.
.
.
.
.
Etc., etc., etc.
In other words, this season (at the very least the early portion against some of the "iron" of the league) will probably be an iterative process of success and failure, adding up to what I hope will be a fantastic, long-term learning experience that will be a foundation for additional development and improvement next season.

In the meantime, our job as fans will be to learn how to cope with the bad times and rejoice in the glimmers—all the while learning a lot about the game of basketball and enjoying the Celtics "product" as it matures.

Sam

by **dboss** Thu Nov 13, 2014 3:52 pm

It is still not a habit for this team to play with pace. The first qtr they were really moving man and ball.

So if you are the coach what do you do?

Do you want to be mr nice guy? I say this because players need to sit if they are not fit. Anybody including best players can be disciplined.

Before each game the last thing that the coach needs to tell the team before they hit the court. "No pace No minutes" after practice, on the bus in the locker room, down the hall, posted on the bulletin board, everywhere every place every time...implant it into the minds of these players.

dboss

by **steve3344** Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:19 pm

Bench was phenomenally unproductive: 67 combined minutes for Zeller, Bass, Turner, Pressey, Wallace and Young and only 15 points, 3 assists and 4 rebounds. That's only average for 35 minutes. Awful for 67.

by **cowens/oldschool** Thu Nov 13, 2014 5:51 pm

kdp59 wrote:
cowens/oldschool wrote:Anyone who thinks Perk is shot, ask Sully about his defense, how'd that basketball taste Sully? Thunder shutdown the paint, our paint was wide open, our bigs are generally weak and our guards didn't help any. Rondo's defense was swiss cheese and now Avery Bradley is catching whatever Rondo's got.

I couldn't agree more about Perks play last night at least. and thena fter hearing bits of his intereview about Rondo staying here and how good a place to play it is. Then being told that he left...he said it wasn't my choice....I say how can Ainge get him back!

give em Thornton and his expriiing deal and maybe a future pick.

If Perk can play defense like last night for 24-26Min a game, he'd be a very nice fit on this team....and it might make Rondo even more happy to stay.

we need an enforcer like really bad, Perk was bred for that role. I would love to get him back, even without KG he can still make any defense better in alot of ways on any team.

by **cowens/oldschool** Thu Nov 13, 2014 6:06 pm

RosalieTCeltics wrote:These are the growing pains this team will go through. We want them to win, but it is not going to happen fast. Even the loss of Smart shows. It is funny how a rookie can make you realize alot of our frailties.

I am going to take a deep breath, just as I am sure Brad did last night, and hope that they respond as they did against Chicago.

Yes Cowens, Perk did a job on Sully. He was almost invisible especially on the offensive end. Look how many second chance rebounds OKC got last night. Not just Perk, everyone.

Rosalie

thats true Rosalie, I love Sully and always root for him, I really didn't think Perk would shut him down that bad. Butt a non athletic power player like Sully is made to order for Perk, the guy made his money on his post defense.

by **cowens/oldschool** Thu Nov 13, 2014 6:25 pm

isn't it obvious how much we missed Perk in game 7 vs LA in 10, just his presence enables KG and everyone defensively, tell me that type of defensive play and a few hard picks wouldn't have made a difference in that game.

tell me he wouldn't have helped in 11 when Lebron hadn't grown his balls yet and would have 4 fourth quarter collapses in the Finals that year....for a BU SF are you kidding me?

Ainge gave away the championship in 11, with just alittle damn luck, health, we had the Lakers on the brink and would have finished them off that year in 10 too.

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