POST GAME - HOUSTON - AWAY

UP NEXT

Celtics: Visit Dallas on Wednesday.


Celtics limit Harden in dominant win over Rockets, 111-95

CSNE

A. SHERROD BLAKLEY

We all knew the Houston Rockets were struggling this season, but damn … they can’t be this bad can they?

The Boston Celtics, fueled by a third quarter incident involving Amir Johnson and Houston’s Terrence Jones, put together a dominant performance on their way towards a 111-95 thumping of the Rockets.

Isaiah Thomas led all scorers with 23 points while Avery Bradley came off the bench for the second straight game and had 21 points.

Jae Crowder had a strong game as well, scoring a season-high 16 points.

The game was relatively close most of the first half, but took a sharp turn in Boston’s direction at the 6:45 mark of the third quarter.

Johnson, running the floor hard as always, wound up out of bounds on a play with the ball underneath his left arm.

Jones tried to grab it while towering over Johnson who appeared to be trying to get to his feet.

Other players got involved, technicals were handed out and from there … Boston absolutely crushed Houston.

The Celtics went on to close out the third with a blistering 26-8 run.

From there, the game was never really a game as Boston pushed its lead to as many as 29 points before the game clock thankfully ended.

Boston emptied the bench which led to the Rockets making the final score a lot closer than the final score indicated.

The Rockets continued to surge back into the game and were down by 16 points with 3:02 to play.

Brad Stevens had seen enough and called a time-out, clearly not happy with the way his end-of-the-bench players were handling this opportunity to some extended minutes on a night when the team’s rotation players absolutely thrashed a Houston team which has now lost four straight.

Even the Rockets’ James Harden, who usually puts up big numbers regardless of what the Rockets do as a team, was limited most of the night.

He finished with 16 points on 4-for-10 shooting which was one of his worst scoring performances this season.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

STUDS AND DUDS: CELTICS BOTTLE UP LETHARGIC ROCKETS

By WEEI

Brad Stevens has entered unfamiliar territory, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

With their 111-95 victory Monday over the Houston Rockets, the Celtics are now two games over .500 for the first time in the coach’s tenure. After struggling in the first quarter, the Celtics finished outscored the Rockets 87-67 to finish the game. Isaiah Thomas led the way for the C’s with 23 points, while Avery Bradley (21) and Jae Crowder (16) were also in double figures.

The two teams played with polar opposite energy levels. The C’s played with their normal aggression/desperation, while the Rockets looked as disinterested as a prepubescent boy at a middle school dance. The Celtics were extreme active in the passing lanes, which led to a season-high 16 steals. MVP runner-up James Harden was held to only 16 points on 4-of-10 shooting.

For a complete box score, click here. To go beyond the box, read on.

STUDS OF THE NIGHT: Avery Bradley and Isaiah Thomas.

The pair spread their 44 points across all four quarters. In the first, Thomas carried the C’s, starting the game 4-for-5 from the field with 10 points and three assists. In the second half, it was Bradley’s turn, as he scored 13 points while sitting out the final eight minutes. Both finished 4-for-7 from beyond the arc. Thomas actually started over Bradley, who was able to score 21 points in only 20 minutes. Thomas scored a similarly efficient 23 points in 24 minutes.

DUD OF THE NIGHT: The entire Houston Rockets staff, basketball and crew.

It really didn’t seem like the Rockets ever wanted to win this game. A number of times they neglected to run back on defense. Mike Gorman was personally disgusted and offered his public condolences to Rockets head coach Kevin McHale, who I imagined just shrugged his shoulders and sighed the whole night. The Celtics seemed to win every 50-50 ball and on numerous occasions just ripped the ball out of the hands of Rockets players.

VINES OF THE NIGHT: Bae Crowder up and under …

and Bradley dominates Harden …

WHINE OF THE NIGHT: End of bench in garbage time.

With Terry Rozier, R.J. Hunter, and Tyler Zeller in the game during garbage time, the Celtics stopped moving the ball and started giving up easy transition baskets. The Rockets even went on a a 15-2 run, cutting the C’s lead to 14.

STAT OF THE NIGHT: 16 team steals.

I know the Celtics have the fourth-best defensive rating in the league, but 16 steals is an absurd number.

112288

Just saw the game on tape. Can we all agree now that we have a damn good team? Atlanta, OK and Houston (back-to-back) went down before the grim reaper of the mean-green Celtic death machine.

I don't know if we have yet reached the elite level of the Warriors or Cavs, we'll have to wait until we play them, but we are very, very good.

Kudos to all the players and Brad Stevens. I might have to raise my 51 win forecast for this season.

Go Celtics!

Berlin-T

that's two teams who are considered at least playoff teams out west, who withered under our BULLDOG defense and they were both playing at HOME.

our overall smothering team defense (lead by Smart, IMO) just took the heart out of both Houston and OKC in the last 15 min of each game.

If we can keep this up and teams lose their will at the ends of games, due to our defense and depth........we certainly will scare a lot of teams, even as this team is build today.

I can't remember the last time I've seen a coach on the bench look as melancholy as Kevin McHale did last night.  He was just sitting there, shaking his head back and forth.  Not big shakes, like he was trying to tell his players something, just a slow, little back and forth like he was just buffaloed.  The Rockets players had some of the worst body language I've seen in a very long time, if ever.  McHale called a time out and they slowly walked back to the bench with their heads down and shoulders slumped.  It was pretty ugly.

On our end of the sideline it was a completely different story, of course.  The bench was on its feet for almost the entire 2nd half cheering.  They had a lot to cheer about but that's not what I liked.  Of course they cheered a 32-13 quarter, what I am liking is that they are now, absolutely positively, True Believers in the Stevens Way.  Compare the results of a team with lesser talent playing together as a team, no All-Stars, being there for each other and trusting each other, having excellent chemistry and a team that has two players who are perennially on Swish's All-League Team that are just going through the motions and have quit on themselves and their coach.  I opined, on the Game On thread, that if we just made a good run on those guys they'd do us a favor and quit and that's what happened.  After the last loss, they were on a 3 game losing streak heading into last night, McHale told reporters that "The players were talking too much and off-court talking has never won a game.  You have to go out there and ball".  That was a paraphrasing of what he said but accurate, I believe.  Kevin McHale is probably going to lose his job, and that's a damn shame, because coaches don't lace'em up and ball, the players do, and his players don't give a shit anymore.

1.  If you look at the box score you'd think "Marcus Smart had a shitty game".  He was 1-11, 0-6 from 3 for 4 points, 6 assists but 5 TOs.  Awful, right?  He also had 9 rebounds and 5 steals.  He was blowing Rockets up on the launching pad all night.  In OKC he ripped a ball right out of big Enes Kanter's hands.  Last night he did the same thing with Rockets PF  Terrence Jones, just ripped it out of his hands, doing it so quickly in both cases there was no chance the home team might beg for a jump ball.  He kept "The Beard" well trimmed.  Harden was 4 for only 10fgas and only 4 ftas.  We have been giving up a ton of fritos, admittedly an area we need to work on, and Harden is the #1 ft attempter in the league and he only got to the stripe 4x.  And he was pulling every trick in his book.  He was hooking, flailing with his off hand to gain that edge to drive to the paint, all those sneaky little things.  Harden had 3 assists and 4 TOs.  He was just having trouble all night and that was Marcus Smart's efforts.  34 minutes in OKC and 30 minutes last night.  It's good to be young and built like a middle linebacker.  He is one feisty little SOB.  Amir went down out of bounds with the ball.  Terrence Jones went for the ball, stood over Amir and then tried to walk over him.  That is a definite no-no in the NBA.  Unless you want to start a fight you do not step over a down player.  What Jones did was totally provocative and he got T'd up for it.  Smart was right in there, like a shot trying to help Amir up and then keeping Jones off him.  Thomas and Harden got T'd up too when they stepped in.  I love our attitude.  Completely together and for each other.  An excellent, excellent, road trip for Smart even if last night's box score doesn't show it.

2.  Amir was another one whose box score doesn't tell the tale.  3-5 for 6 points, 6 rebounds in 22 minutes.  What's the big deal, right?  We've all seen Dwight Howard go off when he's having fun.  When he's getting his lob dunks and can clown about with his big horse smile he often has big nights.  When he's getting frustrated and isn't smiling and laughing his tiny walnut-sized brain develops vapor-lock when his mouth closes.  6'9" Amir Johnson blocked D12's little short shot, maybe a bit far for a dunk but not much, point blank.  Amir was in the middle of a lot of stuff.  He also had 3 steals to go with that block.  He was just everywhere on defense.  When Danny signed him many of us looked at his stats and wondered why Danny was paying $12M to a guy with those numbers.  Last night showed why.  His numbers don't tell the tale.

3.  Most of the game, though, Sully was guarding Howard and he did a great job of bodying him a little bit off his spot.  Howard does not like being muscled around, he wants to be the muscler, and Sully wasn't letting him have his way.  Cowens (Dave, that is, not Cowens/Old School) used to do that with Kareem.  Just move him a little bit off where he wants to start and the sky hook loses a lot of its effectiveness.  Well, Howard is pretty rudimentary on offense.  A little bit better than DeAndre Jordan, but that's not saying much since Jordan can't hit anything that isn't a dunk.  Sully made him uncomfortable and, with some help from Amir, Howard didn't smile much last night.  5 points on 2-4, 12 rebounds was Howard's effort last night but you didn't feel his presence inside.  Usually, you have to have your head on a swivel when you come into the paint, but not last night.  In fact, we outscored them 58-38 in the paint.  How many games have we outscored teams in the paint this year.  Brad is getting the job done without the big center to dominate the box, he's doing with a motion offense and bigs who can spread the floor with their shooting.

4.  Isaiah had a good scoring night.  23 points but on an efficient 9-12 instead of his usual 5-19 or whatever.  Here's a great example of how clever Brad is.  Isaiah comes baseline and sets a back pick on Howard.  The smallest guy on the floor sets a pick on the biggest.  Howard's man (can't remember who) spins to the other side of the floor and Howard is stuck there with this midget in his way, but just for a second, just long enough to freeze Howard (because Thomas' man was now stuck guarding Howard's and Howard doesn't want to leave the paint and stay with Thomas) and for Thomas to quickly run out to 17' and receive the pass from the weakside and hit the wide open jumper.  Thomas' defense has not made me particularly happy, but he played good defense last night and had two steals.  He had 6 assists and only 1 TO, that one was where he tried to dribble through a few players (what else is new?) and I thought he got tripped without a call.

5.  Bradley came off the bench for the 2nd game and either really wants his starting job back or is very happy coming off the bench but he did well.  21 points on 8-14, 4-7 from 3.  He hit some key clutch shots.  All in 20 minutes.  I wonder what Brad will do.

6.   Not a good night for Kelly, 3-11 but but 6 rebounds, 3 offensive.  He did get T'd up for flipping his elbow at Montrezl Harris, who talked a little smack to him.  Wasn't a very aggressive elbow but it wasn't misconstrued by either the ref nor, more importantly, Harris.  Good.  Take the T.  Let him know you're not a punching bag.  I'm liking this meaner, angrier Kelly even if he didn't have a good game last night. Smart and Jae are rubbing off on him and that's a very, very good thing.

7.  After a few games where Jae Crowder's offense was cringe-worthy he finally had a good night shooting.  16 points on 7-10, 1-3 from 3 (so not TOO 3-happy, which makes me happy too) and his usual disruptive defense.  He made a really nice under-and-up reverse layup for the +1.

8.  Last year the draft boards were saying we were going to use our #17 pick on Frenchman Clint Capela.  Instead we went with James Young and Capela dropped to #25, where he was snagged by Houston.  SO FAR, it looks like we blew it.  Capela showed a lively body last night.  I'm not going to let myself get too crazy over it, Danny seems to have fixed that one year later somewhat with Mickey, but Capela was everywhere last night and is worth citing.

9.  Stat Roundup:  We shot 47% vs their 42%.  That's what happens when you get 58 points in the paint, your fg% usually goes up.  We both had 12 ftm, but they took 23 ftas for a miserable 52%.  Wouldn't have mattered if they hit them all, but it sure does change the game by not letting you get within striking distance.  Once again, we outrebounded our opponents 49-46.  How did we get to be such a good rebounding team?  Overall we're mediocre, 12th out of 30, but we outrebounded #1 OKC and now a team with Howard and Jones on it.  27 assists on 44 fgm is a healthy 61%.  Our 19 TOs is bearable only because they had 22.  I've said we had 58 points in the paint vs 38 for them but we also out ran them 22-19.  They like running forwards, not so much backwards.  They are a horrible transition defense team and we proved it with 22 fast break points.  22 is a very nice number.  93 fgas is also very nice.  16 steals, with Smart's 5 leading the way vs 10 for them.  We shot 13-25, 52%, in that 32 point 3rd quarter.  They shot 4-17, 23.5%, in the 3rd.  Ergo, their 13 point quarter.  Their 7 TOs didn't help neither.


This game, in the 2nd half, was not as close as the final score suggests.  At one point we were up 29 and the boos were raining down on the hapless Houston Rockets.  It was only final garbage time that made it the 16 point beat down instead of the easily 20+ point dismantling that it really was.  We had 20 fgas in the first quarter (vs 25 by them), 45 fgas at the half (vs 44 for them), 69 fgas after 3 (vs 61 for them).  So, simple math here, we took 24 fgas in the 4 quarter vs 24 for them but a lot of their 4th quarter fgas were in garbage time when after McHale had thrown in the towel and their scrubs were playing hard and well to cut the lead to the final 16.  

On one hand, we beat an OKC team without Durant and a Houston Rocket team that is coming apart like a cheap suit.  On the other hand, we beat two teams, on their home court in back-to-backs, one whom had an All-League player (Russell Westbrook) and a player who is 3x All-Defense and 2x NBA shot blocking leader (Serge Ibaka) and the other who has two All-League players on the floor for them.  OKC has a winning record this year so far.  Houston does not but they were coming off a 3 game losing streak (now a 4 game losing streak) and who had something to prove.  They did, but it wasn't what they wanted to prove.

We are now a gaudy 6-4.  Gaudy?  6-4?  Yeah, when you consider we have one of the hardest schedules through the end of November, based upon factors such as miles traveled, number of back-to-backs and quality of opponents.  I predicted 5 victories through 11/30, maybe 6.  I would have been very happy with going 7-12, ecstatic going 8-11 and positively giddy ending up at almost .500, 9-10.  With 13 days and 9 games to go (still a VERY busy schedule, that's a game every day and a half) and 2 games against Brooklyn and 1 more against Philly a 9-10 record is not inconceivable.

The one-time inconceivable is now believable.  If you still harbor any doubts, then you weren't watching the Celtic bench last night.  They are now True Believers.


bob


.

I think this team is starting to establish an identity....on the defensive end. That appears to be a common thread that binds the Atl/OKC/Hou games.

The defensive intensity is unreal.. Plus/Minus stats should be banned from publication

Smarts was a +30 and Thomas was 0

I do not want to become overly giddy about these wins. I will repeat what Westbrook said. " Don't get it Twisted"

We have 2 back to back solid road victories and that is no small potatoes however the Thunder played without Durant and Houston has been riding an extended losing streak.

Brad's comments after the game really reflect my sentiment as he qualified how these games should be viewed. He basically said that if we are playing like this 65-70 games in then it is something to talk about.

The Defense is top of the line even without that elusive center. The offense is still suspect. The 3 point shooting percentages are really horrible. Only Bradley and Sullinger are shooting the ball well from behind the arc.

It will be interesting to see if AB becomes the 6th man on the team. You know you are not supposed to lose your starting job due to injury.AB has been back for 2 games and has shot the ball really well in both of them and his defense has been exceptional. AB is the best 3 point shooter on the club to date. While I do like IT's game I think he shoots the 3 ball a bit too much given his historical inability to make those shots.

At present I think the Celtics are already the 2nd best team in the conference.

dboss

bob great write up as usual, you are the best in the business at these after game threads. I was watching the Rockets broadcast and Clyde the Glide was complimenting our defense, especially Smart's ability to steal balls after the opposing teams rebound and AB's defense on Ty Lawson, which completely discombobulated the Rockets offense in the 3rd quarter. This was the best defensive performance I've ever seen in the Stevens era, Sully was great as you noted in using that big body to push and lean on Howard. The great Dwight Howard might be done, he looks kinda like Perk now, where is the offense? I sure don't see the player that was putting up 40 in the playoffs 2 years ago.

Smart is an intangibles player, like Sully battling in the paint, on an off shooting night, he can still help in so many ways with his defense. Jae Crowder was also great on Harden at times and great at doubling down on the bigs. I must admit KO looked really good on defense, he is so much quicker and positions and reacts better, he is no longer such a liability as seasons past, great job of transforming into a quicker headier player. Amir does alot of the little things on defense that we need and like you said don't show up in the boxscore, a glue guy to compliment Sully's force with his length and help defense.

I think I like AB coming off the bench, he can be a terror defensively against anybody, especially 2nd string PG's and with Smart and AB hounding/tag teaming the same guy, we can make life very difficult for star points or SG's. Clyde Drexler said the key to our dominant defense in the 3rd quarter was AB completely taking out Ty Lawson, shutting him down and stopping him from executing any set offense.

This team is really growing on me, oh one more thing. LOVE this offense too, was a clinic in backdoor cuts and getting wide open looks....this guy Stevens is really GOOD.

cow

dboss wrote:We have 2 back to back solid road victories and that is no small potatoes however the Thunder played without Durant and Houston has been riding an extended losing streak.

I sounded that note of caution after the OKC game, and Houston is a mess, so it's not a bad idea to keep from going overboard, but it's still two road wins on a back-to-back, and five out of six against solid competition (the Rockets notwithstanding). They're on a really nice run at the moment.

dboss wrote:I think this team is starting to establish an identity....on the defensive end.  That appears to be a common thread that binds the Atl/OKC/Hou games.

The defensive intensity is unreal..  Plus/Minus stats should be banned from publication

Smarts was a +30 and Thomas was 0  

I do not want to become overly giddy about these wins.  I will repeat what Westbrook said.  " Don't get it Twisted"

We have 2 back to back solid road victories and that is no small potatoes however the Thunder played without Durant and Houston has been riding an extended losing streak.

Brad's comments after the game really reflect my sentiment as he qualified how these games should be viewed.  He basically said that if we are playing like this 65-70 games in then it is something to talk about.

The Defense is top of the line even without that elusive center.  The offense is still suspect.  The 3 point shooting percentages are really horrible.  Only Bradley and Sullinger are shooting the ball well from behind the arc.

It will be interesting to see if AB becomes the 6th man on the team.  You know you are not supposed to lose your starting job due to injury.AB has been back for 2 games and has shot the ball really well in both of them and his defense has been exceptional.  AB is the best 3 point shooter on the club to date.  While I do like IT's game I think he shoots the 3 ball a bit too much given his historical inability to make those shots.

At present I think the Celtics are already the 2nd best team in the conference.  

dboss

on your comment about us doing it without a legit center, well we do have a Wes Unseld/Paul Silas type manning the middle, Sully is wide and strong, LOVING him right now, and Amir is the same height as the Big E, Elvin Hayes....so far its working better than I thought it would.....

cowens/oldschool wrote:bob great write up as usual, you are the best in the business at these after game threads. I was watching the Rockets broadcast and Clyde the Glide was complimenting our defense, especially Smart's ability to steal balls after the opposing teams rebound and AB's defense on Ty Lawson, which completely discombobulated the Rockets offense in the 3rd quarter. This was the best defensive performance I've ever seen in the Stevens era, Sully was great as you noted in using that big body to push and lean on Howard. The great Dwight Howard might be done, he looks kinda like Perk now, where is the offense? I sure don't see the player that was putting up 40 in the playoffs 2 years ago.

Smart is an intangibles player, like Sully battling in the paint, on an off shooting night, he can still help in so many ways with his defense. Jae Crowder was also great on Harden at times and great at doubling down on the bigs. I must admit KO looked really good on defense, he is so much quicker and positions and reacts better, he is no longer such a liability as seasons past, great job of transforming into a quicker headier player. Amir does alot of the little things on defense that we need and like you said don't show up in the boxscore, a glue guy to compliment Sully's force with his length and help defense.

I think I like AB coming off the bench, he can be a terror defensively against anybody, especially 2nd string PG's and with Smart and AB hounding/tag teaming the same guy, we can make life very difficult for star points or SG's. Clyde Drexler said the key to our dominant defense in the 3rd quarter was AB completely taking out Ty Lawson, shutting him down and stopping him from executing any set offense.

This team is really growing on me, oh one more thing. LOVE this offense too, was a clinic in backdoor cuts and getting wide open looks....this guy Stevens is really GOOD.

cow

cow,

Very few players come into the NBA with complete games.  Magic, Bird, MJ, it's a short list.  The overwhelming number of players come in with a strength, a forte, they hang their hats on and try to minimize their weaknesses with continuous efforts at improvement over time.

Smart came in with defense as a strength.  His offense is improving, but his defense was, and is, NBA-ready.  Same with Bradley, whose offense has improved year-by-year until he's pretty dangerous now.

Kelly's calling card, when he was drafted, was offense.  He's a shooter, a passer who can see over the top of defenses, a big who can put the ball on the floor.  His weakness was defense.  We assumed, certainly you and I did, that a combination of limited athleticism and alligator arms would doom him forever to the cellar of defensive bigs.  He are now in his 3rd year and the light bulb, and continuous efforts to improve too no doubt, is starting to look like it has come on.  He doesn't look as lost on rotations anymore.  That doesn't mean he doesn't miss any, everybody misses some, but the game, on defense, is starting to slow down a bit for him so he's moving to the spot a split second sooner and that's getting him where he needs to be to play good defense.  He made a straight up block on Terrence Jones last night from 7'.  7'.  You cannot give someone any daylight from 7' if you hope to block him, the ball is almost on its downward trajectory a foot out of their hands, and Kelly didn't.  The night before, in OKC, he had another straight up block from point blank.  These were good, good man-to-man blocks, NOT help defense blocks, from point blank range and without any help from other defenders.  They tried to iso on Kelly and got stuffed for their efforts.  Another point I want to make:  His block last night was against 6'9" PF Terrence Jones and his block the night before was against earth-bound, but 6'11" C Enes Kanter.  Good blocks against an NBA starting PF and against an offensively clever (and strong!) but unathletic NBA center.  Put him up against an athletic center, like Gorgui Dieng or Nerlens Noel, and maybe he doesn't do that well but, as I have been saying for 3 years now, he was drafted to play PF and not center.  He, like Sully, are playing out of position when they play 5.  Personally, I think that when Danny finally gets us a legit starting center we'll see both of those players take a big step up in their games (assuming either one of them is still here after the trade, which I consider unlikely.  I think one of those two bigs will have to be included) since they will be playing more minutes at their correct positions except for when Brad wants to go small ball.



bob


.

bob as you know I used to rave a few years ago, yes we have known each other that long, that KG and Perk are/were the best defensive 4-5 tandem in the league, well Smart and Bradley may be the best defensive backcourt in the game. Whos our defensive coordinator, do we have a Thibs? Stevens can really coach defense!!!! you and I love watching smothering tenacious defense....never saw this coming!!!

One thing Olynyk had from the get-go was a pretty good basketball IQ, and that, plus I'm sure a ton of effort at drills and watching video, has led to his improvement on the defensive end. I always thought he could become a capable team defender.

As far as individual defense goes, while we tend to focus on his alligator arms and relatively slow feet, the guy is 6'11" (7'0" in shoes). So even though a guy like Terrence Jones has a bigger wingspan, his standing reach is 1" less than Olynyk's, so the advantage there goes to Olynyk.

Likewise, Kanter is one inch shorter and has only a 0.5" better wingspan. Even Anthony Davis, with a 7' 5.5" wingspan, has the same standing reach as Olynyk.

All is not lost because of those alligator arms. He can make up for a lot by being legitimately tall, smart, and willing to improve.

cowens/oldschool wrote:bob as you know I used to rave a few years ago, yes we have known each other that long, that KG and Perk are/were the best defensive 4-5 tandem in the league, well Smart and Bradley may be the best defensive backcourt in the game. Whos our defensive coordinator, do we have a Thibs? Stevens can really coach defense!!!! you and I love watching smothering tenacious defense....never saw this coming!!!

cow,

Yep, we've known each other for quite a few years, actually, and we'll be hanging out whenever I get to NY again.

I think (think!) that Jay Larranagga is that guy, but he isn't named as such.  Darren Erman was our defensive coach, but he got hired away by Alvin Gentry in the Big Easy.  Waltah is the bigs coach, so he deserves some of the credit for Sully and Kelly's development too.

Yep again, you and I LOVE smothering defenses.  I LOVE watching opposing players' heads explode as they find themselves unable to execute an offensive set well, unable to get off a good shot possession after possession after possession.  I think I first fell in love with Bradley when I saw him blow up Jameer Nelson that game in Orlando, where he was pressing full court all game and Nelson was telling him "you can back off a bit".  When I saw the Master of Disaster, SVG, stand there with his arms crossed, as he always does, but with his eyes wide open instead of squinting, my heart took the leap.  There is no doubt in my mind it was SVG who gave Bradley his single vote for DPOY that year, based upon that game vs his guy.

The Avery Bradley and Courtney Lee back court were called "The Pitbulls" because of their tenacious defense.  Their offense wasn't that great but their defense was killer.  I think this one is even better.  Smart is a brute.  You and I prefer physically punishing players over finesse players, so Mahcus Smaht is right up our alley.  When was the last time you saw a 6'4" guard rip balls right out of PF and C hands?  Not just tie them up for a jump ball, but take it away from them like they were children?

Are you ready for a shocker?  Check this out:

The Celtics have the 11th best fg% defense from inside 5'!  I'll bet you never, ever thought we'd have that with this team.

Now, are you ready for an even bigger shocker?

The Celtics have the 3rd best fg% defense from 5-9'.  Only Utah (the Gobert-effect) and Indy are better.  Think of all the teams with, what you would consider top interior defensive frontcourts, who are worse than us!  Philly with Oakie and Noel.  OKC with Adams and Ibaka.  Cleveland with Mozgov, LeBron and Thompson.  San Antonio.  Sacto with Cousins and WCS.  The Clips with Jordan and Griffin.  Nwalins with Asik and Davis.  All of them, every single one of them, are worse than us from 5'-9'.

Now, here's the final shocker:

Our defensive ranking for fg% as we move further and further from the rim is not as good as these two.


House Rules are you have to keep at least one foot on the floor when you take your shot, so let's keep one foot on the floor and remember this is only after a half dozen games or so, but still...still...I'm still trying to wrap my mind around our defense in general and these numbers about our interior and at-the-rim defense.  Brad Stevens is a genius and a miracle worker.

http://stats.nba.com/league/team/#!/oppshooting/?sort=5-9%20ft.%20FG%20PCT&dir=-1



bob


.

Cow

I agree that Sully has been playing really well and his pairing with Amir Johnson has been very effective.

However I still think we need another center.

dboss

I think it is important to understand that some teams match up with one another better than other teams. So while Boston's defense does look good we may still struggle against a team like The Pacers or Toronto because of matchup issues.

It is a very long season

dboss

dboss wrote:Cow

I agree that Sully has been playing really well and his pairing with Amir Johnson has been very effective.

However I still think we need another center.

dboss

as shocked as I am with how good our defense is, I agree whole heartedly that we still need Mr Intimadator. If we had Gobert with the wrecking ball Sully is growing into and our pitbulls in the backcourt and Crowder, a very physical swingman, we would be contending RIGHT NOW with a young team with a historic defense.

cowens/oldschool wrote:

dboss wrote:Cow

I agree that Sully has been playing really well and his pairing with Amir Johnson has been very effective.

However I still think we need another center.

dboss

as shocked as I am with how good our defense is, I agree whole heartedly that we still need Mr Intimadator. If we had Gobert with the wrecking ball Sully is growing into and our pitbulls in the backcourt and Crowder, a very physical swingman, we would be contending RIGHT NOW with a young team with a historic defense.

Cow,

You should see someone about your Gobert obsession.


bob

.

Ha

The Celts are killing it in the 3rd QTR. Very significant sign of a team that can win a lot of games.

Dboss

For all of you who aren't familiar with the more arcane aspects of psychic history and phenomena, Nostradamus also made this prediction:

The Celts will be better defensively as the season wears on.

Some may think him a genius, but any seer worth his salt and amber could see this coming. The Celts are a young team with significant depth that can run, run, run and press, press, press. This will wear down other teams within games and as the season rolls on. They Celts will be able to maintain this speed and pressure, especially because they can and do spread minutes out among players. We don't have any superstars who must spend 40+ minutes on the court every single game. BTW, that's nearly what Rajon is doing in Sacto this season (35.4 mpg).

Red used to say that the most important minutes in a game are the first few of the third quarter. That's when a coach has had a chance to size up his opponents tendencies at half-time and make adjustments. All year Brad has been masterful in the 3rd Q.

Funniest part of this season to me is that we get to play as well as we possibly can, trade as well as we can by February, post as good a record as we can - and still be able to make a lottery pick (Brooklyn's) - or two (if Dallas finishes between 8-10th worst). Then there's also Minny's pick.

I remember not very long ago the villagers were calling for Danny's head on a pike. How soon we forgive and forget.

Adam Himmelsbach: James Harden on Celtics: “It’s draining. You know, it’s draining when you fight, and then a crazy run happens.” 1 day ago – via Twitter AdamHimmelsbach



Mark Murphy: More Smart: “We want teams to feel defeated.” 1 day ago – via Twitter Murf56



Adam Himmelsbach: Crowder on Amir/Jones incident: “A little sign of disrespect, you know? And we just came over to his rescue. And we just weren’t having it” 1 day ago – via Twitter AdamHimmelsbach



bob
MY NOTE:  Smart has a feisty attitude, has from Day 1, but he was a rookie and I think he was looking for a running mate.  Jae Crowder is the one.  Put those two out there and you've got some no holds barred caged fighters.  Sully was fiesty too, but mostly only on offense and kinda lazy on defense.  Kelly was a marshmallow.  Both of these guys have more of an edge on them on defense and I say that's due to Marcus and Jae instilling the spirit of KG into them.



.