Post-game Thread: Celtics-Bucks in Milwaukee

[Sam]

There are a couple of ways to look at this game, won by the Bucks 96-93.   The more positive perspective is that the Celtics as a team kept the game close, for the most part, against a pretty good team and made it a one possession game at the end.   They were tied after one period, behind by 7 at the half, and behind by 5 entering the last quarter (after battling back from being 14 down during the third quarter.  So they showed a lot of fight against a young bunch of studs who really impressed me, especially since the Bucks were playing without the injured Jabari Parker.

A more negative viewpoint would critique the Celtics for their mediocre shooting once again (41.9% amd 24.1% from the arc); the fact that 29 of the Celtis’ 86 shots (34%) were three point attempts, and failure to push the ball on practically every possession.  While pushing the ball is not synonymous with fast breaking, it’s no coincidence that the Celts wound up with only 3 fast break points.  Despite the desire of many of us that the Celtics become a strong transitional team, that’s obviously not in the cards with Turner and Smart running the team.

The Bucks are known as a good three-point team, and they shot 40% from three-point land last night.  But they took only 20 three point shots.  Why would a poorer three-point shooting team take 29 threes?  There’s something wrong with that picture.  Heck, the Celtics shot 51% on twos.  But Sully (0-3), Bradley (2-9), and Crowder (0-3) combined for 2-15 three-point shooting, and that’s an awful lot of possessions to squander.

Marcus Smart was unable to keep speedy Brandon Knight (26) in check, and Brad had to switch Avery Bradley onto Knight, with only marginally better results.  In fact, it was Knight who hit a difficult skyscraper of a two (against a switching Bass) to force the Celtics to attempt a no-chance three as time expired.  But the revelation of the evening was The Greek Freak, Giannis Antetokoummpo, who parlays speed, jumping ability, and ballhandling skills in a package that’s difficult to stop.  He only had 14 last night—kind of a moral victory for the Celtics since he had scored 27 and 29 in his two previous games; and he also had 11 rebounds and 5 assists playing the small forward position.

The Celtics were essentially defeated by superior speed, length, athleticism and shooting.  I mean, I can understand Knight going off; he’s just very good.  But guys like Mayo (10), Bayless (9), Dudley (8 ), Middleton (11), and Ilyasova (9) hit jumper after jumper

Once again, the Celtics bench (+5) was more competitive than the starters (-8 ), following a pattern that has been the case more often than not since Rondo left.  The bench has the advantage of including a real center in Zeller.  He only went for 10 and 4 last night, but he does make some defensive difference.

Although Crowder came off the bench, his defense earned him 30 minutes, during which he also chipped in with 10 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists.  The odd man out among the starters was Bass, who played only 16.  Brandon was 1-4 and had one of his poorer games.

There’s not a lot more to say about this one.  The Celtics showed up; they kept it close; but they didn’t have enough at the end.

Individual players:

Bass: His defense wasn’t really a factor against the jump-shooting Bucks; went 1-4 offensively
Sully: Shot 8-14 with 7 boards, but I find it increasingly difficult to forgive those threes (0-3)
Bradley: Off his feed for most of the game; wound up 4-15
Smart: Transition defense needs work, especially against speedy opponents
Turner: His 7 rebounds and 7 assists meant more than his 3-8 shooting
Crowder: Offset mediocre shooting with his rebounding, assisting, and very alert defense; singled out by Scal numerous times
Prince: He was back and was 3-4 at one point but finished 4-9 with 5 boards
Zeller: Started slowly (0-3) but hit his other three shots; only played 17 minutes
Thornton: Productive as usual:  5-11, including 3-7 threes and 4 rebounds

Sam

[bobheckler]

Sam,

The Greek Freak is the next LeBron.  You heard it here first.

3 game winning streak and a loss.   Do that all year and you're a World Champion.

What happens next is significant.  They have off all the way to Wednesday to prepare for Atlanta, who are tied with GSW for the best record in the league, at home.  That's a lot of time for Brad to practice.  Here is where we'll see a test.

Go Celtics.



bob



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[cowens/oldschool]

Lebron? Bob don't see it as hes more like Durant in stature.

Sam great analysis, we should have given more PT to Zeller and pounded the ball down low to Z and Sully much more. Sully was killing Henson who has the height, but not the girth to effect Sully. If you have favorable match ups you have to exploit them....surprised Stevens couldn't change/adapt the game plan on the fly.

Zeller has an evolving offensive game, he can hit shots with either hand, his defense is the bigger concern going forward, as is Sully. But all that said we really should have been feeding the bigs on the block old school style, making them adjust and giving open looks to the perimeter. As it was alot of our perimeter shots were challenged too.

[bobheckler]

Lebron? Bob don't see it as hes more like Durant in stature.

Sam great analysis, we should have given more PT to Zeller and pounded the ball down low to Z and Sully much more. Sully was killing Henson who has the height, but not the girth to effect Sully. If you have favorable match ups you have to exploit them....surprised Stevens couldn't change/adapt the game plan on the fly.

Zeller has an evolving offensive game, he can hit shots with either hand, his defense is the bigger concern going forward, as is Sully. But all that said we really should have been feeding the bigs on the block old school style, making them adjust and giving open looks to the perimeter. As it was alot of our perimeter shots were challenged too.

Cow,

He's only a, what, sophomore? Give him a few more years to grow into his game. LeBron was an awesome athlete but needed a lot of work on his game when he was a sophomore too.



bob



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[cowens/oldschool]

Bob Lebron was dominating as soon as he hit the floor. He was the best SF in the East in his first year, just look at his numbers....Gian has potential and has a few highlight reel plays every game, but his overall game is nothing close to Lebron's skill level his first year.

[bobheckler]

Bob Lebron was dominating as soon as he hit the floor. He was the best SF in the East in his first year, just look at his numbers....Gian has potential and has a few highlight reel plays every game, but his overall game is nothing close to Lebron's skill level his first year.

Cow,

True, but LBJ didn't have to share the ball with scorers like Jabari Parker or Jerry Bayless or Brandon Knight either.



bob


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