Post-Game Thread - vs Real Madrid

[bobheckler]

Looking good.  We won the first 3 quarters, lost quarter 4 by 1 point but then it was WAY out of reach for Madrid.

1.  David Lee looking VERY good.  Point forward, indeed.  13 points on 5-12 and 11 rebounds in 21 very efficient minutes.  4 assists and 2 TOs.  Man, he looked GOOD.  Lee for Wallace straight up?  You should be in an orange jumpsuit, Danny.

2.  Rookie Roundup - Hunter looked ok.  Some good defense again, but he got blown past once too.  He has quick hands but you gotta move your feet too.  Not a good shooting night for Hunter, but that's the last part of his game I worry about.  Mickey played the entire 4th quarter and had 5 points and a block.  Not bad.  Not as good as against EA7, but Real Madrid is a better team.  Terry Rozier, however, showed up.  14 points on 6-8 including 2-3 from 3.  His defense was very good, he was all over the ball, right in their faces, very aggressive.  4 assists and zero TOs.  2 steals.  I saw no mental mistakes from our point guard of the future.

3.  Young made a good play, when he got back on defense and forced the VERY tough Sergio Rodriguez to pull out of a 2-on-1 break.  He hit a 3.  Then he missed 2 3s and didn't do anything else.  He got beat on defense and made a lazy cross-court pass that will make Brad's hair turn white, and he's only 38.  

4.  We had 17 fast break points and 56 points in the paint.  Only 2 games against some odd competition, but those are very, very good numbers.

5.  Bradley finally missed his first 3, but he ended up the Celtics high scorer with 17 on 7-14 and 3-4 from 3.  2 steals and a great court-feel pass to the streaking IT.  

6.  Another big rebounding game, 51 total and 14 offensive ones.  Jerebko had 6 rebounds and 3 of them offensive.  

7.  A 63% assist-to-fgm percentage is nice ball movement.

8.  96 fgas.  Love that, we're talking volume basketball.

Back to the USA and some games around here.  I'm not as up on Euro ball as I could or should be, that's international's area of expertise, but we looked good in both games.  Obviously, we blew EA7 out but we had a full squad.  We still beat Real Madrid by 15, and it wasn't that close for most of it since we were up by 20 for a while, but we were without Amir and PJ3 in addition to Turner who also sat out the game vs EA7.

Whether they were good teams or not, it gave Brad a chance to see what he has.  He had a chance to run plays.  And winning games puts a little bit of swagger into the players and a little bit ain't bad.

Next game is next Wednesday 10/14/15.


bob
P.S.  I'm listening to the post-game conference.  There was a Spanish reporter that asked a question of the Real Madrid coach and was called on as "the man in the Laker jersey".  Can you believe that?  He goes to a Boston Celtics vs Real Madrid game and he wears a Laker jersey.  Jerk.  If that was meant as an "in-your-face Celtics!" taunt he's laughing out of the other side of his mouth now.  I don't know, maybe if the Lakers came here to play he'd wear a Celtics jersey because jerks are color-blind and disloyal.

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[sinus007]

Hi,
I just finished watching the game (I recorded it).
On one hand a better team (Real Madrid vs EA7) on the other hand the same Celtics. By the same I mean the same intense defense that shut down the opposition; the same players - good, ok and bad, the same (almost) game plan.
So far, they look really good, especially considering it's just the second game of the pre-season. Hope they will progress from here on.
I can't wait to see Celtics play against a really good NBA team.

AK

[bobheckler]

bob


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[dboss]

One of the things that I saw was the mental toughness of the Boston Celtics.  Madrid played well through the 1st quarter and half-way through the 2nd quarter before Boston went on a run to give them some breathing room.  

From the opening jump it was Marcus Smart who set the tone for the defense in terms of providing a physical presence.

I was apparently wrong about Lee's ability to bring the ball up the court and make pinpoint passes.  I really did not recall him having that level of skill but I do not mind being wrong about that.  Lee really does handle the ball well and he gets the ball up the court quickly.  

Avery Bradley is amazingly quick on defense.  Avery Bradley can flat out shoot the rock from the corners.  Avery Bradley is a very mature 24 year old.

This team is collecting multiple defensive stoppers.  Crowder is a very physical defender and he is going to make some baskets.  I love how he stepped to the line and drained all 3 free throws after being fouled.

I'm not trading Thomas.  Yea I said I would make that trade in a NY minute but I am not in NY.  Thomas is the closest thing that we have to a go to scorer.  I know he wants to be a starter but the team really needs him to be that shot of adrenaline off the bench that can change the dynamics of a game.  

I like Kelly with the bun instead of the long droopy hair.  KO does not get enough looks.  He is unselfish almost to a fault.

Does Zeller look like he has a few more pounds?  

Other observations.  The Rookies played well especially Rozier.  He has a real knack for dribbling in traffic and making layups with a feathery touch.

The Celtics will still need a rim protector if they want to become an Elite defensive team.

If Brad is really a mad scientist he will try the following lineup during pre-season

Rozier PG
Bradley SG
Smart SF
Crowder PF
Johnson C

That would be a lineup of our best defenders that can also score some points particularly on the fast break.

dboss

[bobheckler]

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For those of you who did not watch the game, but would like to, here it is in its entirety:






bob



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