Post-Game Thread, Nets - Away

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Post-Game Thread, Nets - Away Empty Post-Game Thread, Nets - Away

Post by bobheckler Tue Mar 24, 2015 12:07 pm

Berlin-T was on the Game On thread until the end of the game.  Big deal?  Consider that the usual 7:30pm EDT tip off is 1:30am in Germany.  Now that's a Celtic fan.

Last night's game is evidence it's ALL a crap shoot.  Brooklyn went for broke, like we did in 2007, and are now on the outside looking in and without a future.  On the other hand, if the draft was the way to build a champion Cleveland and Charlotte would have replaced Boston and LA as the top franchises in the NBA.

Jim Spanarkel, the Nets color guy, said it well.  He said "the Celtics are playing hard and we're a step behind". I doubt he needed an unimpressive 5 year NBA career to figure that out.  We were winning the 50/50 balls, we were playing like our playoff lives depended on it, we played with pride.  The best day in the Nets' franchise history was the day the league ruled you couldn't trade away first round picks in consecutive years.  That change, imposed because of Donald "I love black people, but do you have to bring them to my games?!" Sterling, might be the only glimmer of hope Nets fans have.

1.  Speaking of 50/50 balls, Jonas Jerebko and Brandon Bass did yeoman work last night.  When Jerebko wasn't tapping rebounds out towards Celtics he was doing a pretty damn good job of shutting down Thaddeus Young.  He's an energy big.  Happily, after going 0-2 from 3, he stopped taking them and started scoring his points on his big, sweeping end runs across the lane for a hook shot from 4'.  Tommy, whom I hope truly is merely "under the weather", must be very happy with those since he did more than a few of those himself.  Bass chased down a loose rebound to the sidelines and saved the possession, it would have been out off of us otherwise.  Not huge numbers for either man, a combined 9-20 for 22 points, 11 rebounds but they really played a man's game out there.  We know that Bass is built like a brick shithouse, but Jerebko is a raw-boned kid too.  Thaddeus Young has a well-deserved history as a Celtic-killer, and he lit up Turner in the beginning, but Brad put Jerebko on him and that little run stopped.  One possession Young tried to get into the paint, but was blocked by the quick feet of Jerebko.  He picked up his dribble (mistake!) and tried to spin baseline but Jerebko stopped him there.  He tried to bump-and-grind a bit to get some separation for a turnaround, Jerebko didn't move.  Finally, Young took this wild, off-balance shot that hit the backboard 4' above the rim.  Jerebko gave him nothing, he got nothing.  Bass got no love from the refs under the basket.  As usual, though, that didn't stop him.  3 of his 4 fgm were still at the rim.  For some strange reason, ESPN isn't showing Jerebko's shot chart, but we know he was 0-2 from 3, so his shots were all closer in.

2.  When did Deron Williams become Amish?  A very strange look for him, and not a good looking game either.  He had a couple of killer-crossover moves late in the game, and he had 10 assists and only 3 TOs, but was 2-6 from the field.  He absolutely does not look like the Deron Williams who played for Jerry Sloan in Utah.  He did have 9 rebounds, so he was 1 rebound short of a minimalist triple-double, but that just goes to show how boxscores don't tell the tale.  He was non-impactful other than for a very short stretch with those crossovers.  Here's one of them.  It was against Bass, but it worked just as well on the other one against a guard.  Why he wasn't doing this all game I have no idea, they are ridiculously hard to stop.



3.  When Brook Lopez is healthy he is very tough offensively.  I wish I could blame Zeller for not being tough enough or not being smart enough or not being strong enough, but that wasn't the problem last night.  Lopez was just doing whatever he wanted no matter what.  A lot of Williams' 10 assists came from drawing enough attention away so that he could feed Lopez in the lane and take a one-handed floater (the ball floats, Lopez sure as hell can't float.  He is BIG.  He is listed as 275#, but he looks heavier.  That would explain his chronic Sully-like feet problems, huh?).  That floater is a very difficult shot, though, very hard.  He just makes it look easy.  Not surprisingly, only 2 of Lopez' fgm were from outside the paint, but at least 4 of them were those floaters from 10' or so.  He was credited with 2 blocks but at least one of them was a mugging of Bass.  31 points on 12-19.  Lopez is only 26.  He has been an all-star but has a checkered injury history.  Would you trade for him?  He's not great defensively, not a shot blocker, but he can score and he definitely has some beef to him.  I don't know, I just don't know.  Brad wants uptempo and that's not Lopez' game.  We need length for intimidation and, while he is 7'0", he isn't that great a defender especially on shots.  He is BIG and strong and can put points up on the board, his way, but is it Brad's way?  Part of me says "Brad will figure out how to make it use of him" but then what does that do to the identity of the team?   I ask this because of the rumors that Prokhorov wanted to gut his team and shed big contracts like Lopez'.

4.  Speaking of Zeller, another nice game by Tyler.  Did he match Lopez, no, but he was good and he beat out Brooklyn's Tybalt to Tyler's Mercutio, Mason Plumlee.  You have to know some Shakespeare to understand that reference.  Zeller is a backup center that can have some good games.  Last night was one.  He had 18 points on 9-13 and 7 boards.  He also had 3 assists.  Nobody was going to stop Lopez last night, his floater was going in over anybody, but Tyler played well.  4 of his fgm were from outside the paint.  He has gotten very comfortable with his mid-range jumper, it just flows out of his hands.  If I was worried he'd become a stretch 4 that'd be a problem but I know Tyler likes to do his little flip shots (ugh) in the paint too much to live very far from the rim for long.

5.  Not one of Crowder's better games.  3-13 for 8 points, 1-7 from 3 and otherwise unimpactful as well.  It's one thing to know Brad is giving you the freedom to take those shots, it's another not to have a conscience about when to stop taking them.  Oh well.  I'll take one bad game for all the good ones he has, it just has to be noted.

6.  Kelly with a bit of a breakout game.  7-12 for 18 points, 3-5 from 3 (including a very nice shooter's bounce on one to end the half).  He had another block!  Is it possible that...no, forget it.  Let's take a "wait and see" on this for another couple of games.  He had a couple of dunks!  He even dunked on Plumlee!  Is it possible that...He is SO confidence-driven.  Right now it's up but how do you keep it up?  When he's feeling his oats you think "he could work out and stick in green" and when he isn't he sure doesn't.  6 points at the half, 11 after 3.  He went 3-7 in the 4th, for 7 points, but one of those misses was a tip that didn't go in.  He did grab the miss off his own tip-miss and laid it in.  4 rebounds in the 4th.  7 points and 4 rebounds in a single quarter?  I'll take that Kelly and hope I can clone him into 3 more quarters.

7.  Pressey got some minutes but did some bad stuff.  Out of control dribbling into traffic.  He fouled Jarrett Jack out near half court for no reason and we were at the limit, so Jack got free throws.  I'm amazed Brad didn't pull him for that, Doc sure would have.  It was brain-dead, unaware of the penalty-status defense.  He did play good defense against another Celtic killer, and a player that is one of the better backup point guards in the NBA, Jarrett Jack.  Jack was 1-9 and that's good because when he is on a roll, he is on a roll.  Another game, maybe 2, and IT is back and we'll feel like we're kissing a light socket again.

8.  Bradley was a killer last night.  He hit his shots, he was all over Deron on defense.  When he catch-and-shoots he is at his best offensively, he really has that down.  Watch the difference in his shooting motion and Smart's.  Notice how little Bradley cocks his arm on his shot vs Marcus.

9.  Another poor shooting night for Smart, but Joe Johnson was a non-factor and that was due to Smart's defense.  He was glued to him all night.  Only 2 points on 1-3 for Smart but 3-11 for 6 points, 0-4 from 3, for Johnson.  I will definitely take that, I will definitely trade taking Johnson out of the Nets offense for a no-offense night from Smart.

10.   Bogdanovic was 3-14.  He is a 6'8" SG.  He is HUGE, for a SG.

11.  Evan Turner had his 2nd career triple-double last night.  19 points on a nice 9-13 shooting.  0-2 from 3, but that's why the overall stat is so good, he only took 2 3pt fgas.  In a league that is becoming all about 3ptrs and PnR dunks he is a throwback.  His game is snaky drives to the paint and mid-range.  He had 2 points after 1, 10 points at the half, 14 after 3.  I don't know why, the second he turns to his right, say, the defense doesn't come up on his blind side.  You know he's going to reverse and come back the other way and you know his dribble is going to come up at least 5' if not 6'.  "Son, you're gonna drive me to drinkin' if you don't stop doing that high, loose dribblin'" (credit to Commander Cody and The Lost Planet Airmen).  I'm giving him credit here, he had a very good night, it's just a jack-in-the-box game every time with him and it's frazzling my nerves a bit.

12.  We shot 51% for the game despite shooting 27% from 3.  We also only (only?) took 22 3pt fgas out of 92 total fgas.  Coincidence?  I think not.  Higher percentage shots generally produce higher percentage fg%.  How's that for "analytics"?  9 TOs is back to where Brad wants them too.  We played a good game and scored 110 points while giving up less than 91 to a team that is averaging over 97.  I didn't hear Brad's post-game interview but he must be feeling pretty good about this one.  They shot 36%, we scored 110 points on 51%.  We had 92fgas, for a very nice uptempo pace. Turner played 40 minutes, Zeller played 30 and Crowder 31. Those were the only Celtics over 30 minutes. Four of the Nets' starters played 34 minutes or more and our starters and bench still outplayed them. Usually our starters struggle while our bench, led by Crowder dominate. Last night our starters won and so did our bench. What's not to like?


This was a BIG game for Brooklyn, and for us.  Not only could they take the lead in the playoff race away from us but we own just about all the tie-breakers with them.  By losing this game it put them in a position where having the same record as us won't be enough for them, they have to pass us.  This win means we have control over our own destiny with Brooklyn.

Miami is at Milwaukee tonight.  Either way we win.  If Miami loses we gain a 1/2 game on them and if Milwaukee loses then we have a shot at catching them at #6.  They are 3 games ahead of us in the loss column, a loss to Miami would make it only 2.  Miami is 2 in the loss column ahead of us and we can put a hurt on that on Wednesday when we play the dirt bags on the second night of their back-to-back.  Brooklyn is in Charlotte on Wednesday.  I hope this loss hurts like hell and they take it out on the Pussycats.  This is a big week for us.  The standings are quite tight, we're running out of games.  We're in 8th but we could easily move up to 7th or even 6th but just as easily slip out of it.

Never bet against yourself, in anything.  Go Celtics!


bob


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bobheckler
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Post-Game Thread, Nets - Away Empty Re: Post-Game Thread, Nets - Away

Post by sinus007 Tue Mar 24, 2015 1:38 pm

Hi,
I think Celtics had much better execution (less turnovers and better defensive coverage) than in the games against SAS and OKC. With this level of play even DWill, making Bass and Crowder dizzy, and Lopez, eating Zeller alive, couldn't do much.
Have to commend Smart - even after the suspension and some talks (generated by the media, though) about being a dirty player, he played really tough.
Hope they keep this MO for the rest of the season.

AK
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