Post Game Thread - vs Charlotte Hornets, Away

[gyso]

Celtics beat Hornets, 98-93, after strong second half

http://www.csnne.com/boston-celtics/celtics-beat-hornets-98-93-after-strong-second-half


For the first half in Charlotte, the Celtics looked like an NBA team on the second night of a back-to-back.

Then the third quarter happened, and suddenly the Celtics looked like the Celtics on the second night of a back-to-back.

Boston escaped Charlotte with a second-half comeback win, 98-93, improving to 10-0 on the second night of a back-to-back on the road since last season’s All-Star break. They're now 4-1 on the second night of a back-to-back this season.

And they did it less than 24 hours after losing a double-overtime thriller against the NBA’s best team, the Golden State Warriors.

After struggling to get anything going offensively in the first half, Boston came alive in the third quarter, hitting seven of eight three-pointers in one stretch to turn a six-point halftime deficit into an 11-point lead.
Isaiah Thomas' eight-point second quarter carried over into the third quarter as he scored another nine points and dished out five assists. A 7-0 Hornets run to close the third quarter gave the Celtics a four-point lead going into the fourth quarter.

And for the next 12 minutes, both teams went back and forth.

The Hornets tied things at 81 with a Jeremy Lin three-pointer with 8:03 remaining.

Nic Batum then gave the Hornets a one-point lead after Thomas was issued a technical foul for complaining to an official about a no-call. The lead was three points when Bradley hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 86-86.

Charlotte’s Kemba Walker responded with a three-pointer for the Hornets, but Boston scored the next six points to take a three-point lead with 2:03 remaining that they wouldn’t look back from.

Both Lin and Walker would score again for the Hornets, but both baskets were countered by a pair of free throws from Thomas and Jae Crowder in the final minute.

It’s the fourth win in the Celtics’ last five road games.

Bradley led all scorers with 23 points and Thomas scored 21 while dishing out a career-high 13 assists.

It was an ugly start to this one as Charlotte lead 17-16 after the first quarter and 44-38 at halftime. The Hornets had hoisted 20 three-pointers (6-for-20) at half and finished 11-for-35 for the game. The Celtics hit seven of their nine three-pointers in the third quarter (9-for-25 for the game), but finished with a 42-28 edge in points in the paint.

Batum led the Hornets with 21 points but went just 2-for-10 from three-point range.



Celtics bounce back, snap Hornets' run

https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boston-celtics-charlotte-hornets-2015121230/


CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- The Boston Celtics easily could have mailed it in Saturday night after losing a grueling double-overtime game to Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors the night before.

But that's not Boston's style.

Instead, the Celtics gutted it out on the second night of a back-to-back - just as they've done most of this season under coach Brad Stevens.

Avery Bradley scored 23 points, Isaiah Thomas added 21 points and 13 assists, and the Celtics snapped the Charlotte Hornets' four-game winning streak with a 98-93 victory.

The Celtics improved to 4-1 on the second night of a back-to-back.

''It's our determination to come out every single night and play hard for each other,'' Bradley said. ''Mentally some guys could say we played a double-overtime game and we're tired and we're hurting, but we came out tonight and no matter what we wanted to get the win and that shows a lot about the team.''

Jae Crowder added 16 points and seven rebounds for the Celtics (14-10), who have won seven of their last 10 games.

Stevens called it a big win over a Hornets team that was 10-3 at home coming into the game.

''We have been awfully good on the second night of back-to-backs, for whatever reason, on the road,'' Stevens said. ''So we have a lot of confidence that we are going to, if we struggle early, we will find that second wind. We're not going to make any excuses.''

The Hornets had a chance to tie the game late but Nicolas Batum's 30-foot jumper off a side inbounds play with 6.6 seconds remaining missed everything. Evan Turner put away the game with a layup.

Batum led the Hornets with 21 points and eight rebounds, and Kemba Walker had 16 points. Charlotte shot just 11 of 35 from 3-point range and seemed to lack intensity.

''They played with more energy than us tonight,'' Batum said. ''They should be more tired than us. We played a different game than them Friday night (in a win over Memphis). They had double overtime but they had more energy and they came out to beat us.''

The Celtics trailed 42-38 at the half after shooting 35 percent from the field, including 1 of 10 on 3-pointers. But their fortunes changed in the second half as they knocked seven of their first eight shots from beyond the arc to build a 69-57 lead.

The Hornets battled back to take the lead in the fourth quarter, but the Celtics went ahead for good when Thomas scored on a 3-on-1 fast break after Walker missed a driving layup in the lane. Walker looked for a foul but didn't get the call.

Down three with 20 seconds left, the Hornets had a chance to tie but Batum and Marvin Williams both missed 3-pointers.

TIP-INS

Celtics: Boston is 12-1 when leading entering the fourth quarter. ... The Celtics have won three straight against the Hornets.

Hornets: Hornets coach Steven Clifford said he is pleased with rookie Frank Kaminsky's defense, saying it is ahead of where he thought it would be this early in the season. ... Batum has hit a 3-pointer in 18 straight games.

TAKING CARE

The Celtics helped themselves by only committing five turnovers against a team that has been decent at scoring off opponent's mistakes.

JORDAN IN THE HOUSE

Hornets owner Michael Jordan was seen before the game talking to a few players as they walked down the hall. Jordan jokingly grabbed center Cody Zeller on the shoulder and said, ''You aren't tired, are you?'' referring to their game the night before at Memphis.

THIRD QUARTER WOES:

Clifford was not happy with his team's defense in the third quarter after the Hornets allowed seven 3-pointers. Thomas, in particular, gave the Hornets fits. He was 8 of 16 from the field and when he wasn't scoring, he was making the right plays to get the ball into the hands of teammates who could.

''He got whatever he wanted. He's a handful,'' Clifford said. ''It wasn't the guys guarding him, it was the guys guarding the screener. We just didn't do a good job. He's going to be in the paint. Then you are forced to help and then they are going to get quality shots. That's it.''

IN THE CROWD

Rapper Nelly took in the game from a courtside seat.

Also, Mr. and Mrs. gyso took in the game from GREAT courtside seats.      

UP NEXT

Celtics: Host Cleveland on Tuesday night.

Hornets: Visit Orlando on Wednesday night.



Bradley: 'A great team win' for Celtics

http://www.csnne.com/boston-celtics/bradley-great-team-win-tonight-0


Kyle Draper talks with Avery Bradley on the court after the Celtics beat the Hornets, 98-93.

"The most important thing for us tonight was to come out with energy and come out playing team basketball," Bradley told Draper. "And that's what we did. It was a great team win tonight."

Watch the video for the full interview.

[gyso]

We was there!!  We had great seats, very close to the court and the Celtic bench.  And, oh, yeah, we won!!

In the pre-game warmups, Kelly took a shot from the right side, out near half court.  Nice spin on the shot and after it seem to be a minute, nothing but net.  The shot was entirely in my line of sight.  That was the highlight of the night. (LOL)

Other than that, it was a great 3rd quarter, except towards the tail end of the 3rd when we let them chip away most of our 12 point lead.   And then it was a good end to the 4th.

In the 1st half, most of our shots came up short.  The Hornets couldn't buy a bucket either.

Jae Crowder has a lower back issue.  Every time he came to the bench, he had his lower back all wrapped up, with a water bottle sized something in the wrap, near his right hip. He was getting special attention by one of the trainers before the pre-game warmups.  He was standing on a thick pad on one leg, leaning forward with both arms stretched in front of him, with his other leg stretched behind him.  I do not know why he played so many minutes, over 31.

No Abby, just Kyle Draper (sad face!)

Sully was a very active cheerleader on the bench in the fourth quarter.  He was up and down the sideline when we were on D (down the other end).  The rest of the bench mostly sat, except later on in the 4th, Kelly and Lee joined in with Sully.  Then, oddly enough, Sully just sat on the bench and kept giving Young the elbow to his ribs. When it looked like we were going to win, he got back up and started to wave his finger, like we were No. 1. Very odd.

In the end when IT almost got tied up, I couldn't see much of the details, as it was down the other end. Then Crowder got knocked to the floor, got the call and went to the line.  When the replay was shown on the Jumbotron, how the locals howled!!  After Crowder hit both fritos, the mass exodus began.  We just sat there, grinning!

[Berlin-T]

You go gyso!

Berlin-T

[beat]

GYSO

looking at the night before vs GS. and their game tonight vs the bucks, doesn't it feel a little like when your wife can't open the jar and asks you to loosen the lid. Seems we loosened it for the Bucks.

And some stats....10 straight road wins when they occur on the second night of back to backs. More specifically...
The Boston Celtics last...

last 19 road games: 14-5
last 12 second game away of back to back games: 11-1
last 10 second game away of back to back games: 10-0


Celtics had just five turnovers tonight. Have matched or surpassed that only 7 times in the last 20 years.

beat

[gyso]

Beat,

The trick with lids is for you to barely make it budge (just enough) and then hand it back to your wife and say, "I can't get it, I give up, you try again." Then she opens it with ease and laughs at your inability to open it.

Re: the GS loss.  Yes, that is what I was thinking as well.  We took the starch out of their drawers, so we at least can take some joy out of the 2OT loss. (unless of course, you wanted GS to break the Laker record).

Under Doc, we were horrible on the 2nd game of back to backs, yet they were the far superior talented team.  Now we don't have the same talent level, but we seem to be better coached and our team comes at them in waves.  We kind of do line changes, like hockey.  We don't sub out just one player at a time, but by pairs of players.

I watched Brad a little bit last night (he was right in front of me).  He would see that one of the players was sucking wind or getting down on themselves for making a bad play.  He would pick that player's sub and while the sub was going to check into the game, Brad would look back at the bench, point and say, "oh, and you too".

gyso

[bobheckler]

Great insights from our on-site reporter, GYSO!!  Nothing like being there and being able to hear the coaches and players to know what's really going on.  SO jealous!  Of course, you cannot buy tickets that close at Oracle Arena in Oakland anymore, against anyone.

I watched the 2nd half of the GSW-Bucks game last night.  The Dubs were definitely fatigued, definitely a bit slow and the Bucks were pumped up and their crowd ROCKIN'!!  Jason Kidd should buy Brad Stevens a nice fruit basket because we definitely took the starch out of the Dubs for him.  Congrats to the Champs on their historic run and congrats to the Bucks for ending it.  What is significant to me is not that GSW lost or the Bucks won, but that we went through the exact same 2OT game the Dubs went through.  They got on a plane and flew west 850 miles to Milwaukee, picking up an hour in doing so, and then played the next night.  We got on a plane, flew south 730 miles (just another 20 minutes or so less in the air), did not pick up an hour and played the next night and we won our game.  The Warriors were on game 7 of a 7 game road trip, so there was that too, but they had Klay Thompson back.  Our opponent was coming off a victory in Memphis and had a 4 game win streak going and was 10-3 at home.  My point?  We were tired too, we were obviously fatigued too but we gritted and grinded through it.  Congrats to us too.

Jeremy Lin, Jeremy Lamb.  I'd hate to be a Hornet play-by-play announcer.

The game started out really, really ugly and then proceeded to get uglier still until the final buzzer and we won and it suddenly became beautiful.  The score after one was 17-16 Charlotte.  Neither team had any legs and our, as in every player from both teams, shooting showed it except for

1.  Avery Bradley made this win happen.  He was a killer again.  Game high scorer with 23, 9-17 and 4-6 from 3.  Just a solid all round effort, showing no evidence of having to have guarded Steph Curry less than 24 hours earlier.  And he was assigned to guard Kemba Walker most of the time too.  Helluva night by Avery.  In the 1st period we shot 26%, 7-27, but Avery was 3-6 for 7 points.  That means everybody else combined was 4-20.  He was 0-2 in the 2nd and then went nuts in the 3rd.  4-5 for 11 points in the 3rd, just killing them from 3.  Rosalie, on the Game On thread, said "AB is slowly becoming an all star, doing it quietly but deadly".  Absolutely, Rosalie, absolutely.  Bradley has a warrior's heart.

2.  IT had a good game too, although we had to put up with a few of his usual "no, don't dribble in there!" dramatic moments too.  13 assists and only 2 TOs.  I think his 13 assists are a career high.  8-16 shooting and 2-5 from 3, so we didn't even have to put up with the type of fg% we've seen from him the last few games.  This was Isaiah's good twin.  Defensively, he kept getting caught in a mismatch where he'd be guarding Nicolas Batum or someone MUCH bigger than him.  He was 0-3 for zero points after one but got on track and was 4-9 for 9 points at the half (4-6 in the 2nd).

3.  Mr. Glue, Amir Johnson with an understated game, except for his 3 blocks.  As long as he doesn't have to guard Draymond Green, he's fine.

4.  Another bad game by Sully.  Cody Zeller repeatedly blew past him like he was standing still.  Every starter played 30+ minutes, except for Sully who played 17.  Not the swiftest thing on two legs to begin with he was definitely showing the effects of the previous night's game.  A step, or two, slow right from the tip off and all the way through the game.  He may be in better shape than last year, but he's still carrying too much weight for a lot of minutes like this.

5.  David Lee was 4-12 but he got a lot of good shots that just rolled off.  Good game for him nevertheless, he kept the defense on their toes with his cuts.  

6.  Turner had the back breaker on an inbounds.  Everybody thought he was going to get the ball and dribble out the clock but he cut to the hoop and Batum fouled him as he laid in a reverse layup.  5-10 makes Turner, along with Bradley and Thomas, the only Celtics shooting anywhere near 50%.  Last night, every bucket was precious.

7.  Crowder had 7 boards but was 5-15 from the floor, 3-10 from 3.  When you are taking that many fgas and 2/3 of them are 3s you need to do better than 30%.  He's very physical on defense, a linebacker, but he is not a good finisher and has terrible shot selection.

8.  Stat Roundup:  Lousy shooting by both teams.  A total of 20 ftas for the game left Celtic fans and Hornet announcers wondering who stole the whistles.  We didn't generate our usual number of opponent turnovers, our legs were gone, but we only had 5 TOs ourselves and that's really, really good especially considering fatigue must have been fogging our brains up a bit.  42 points in the paint for us vs 28 for them.  I guess that's what happens when Spencer Hawes is on the floor.  10 fast break points for us vs 9 for them.  That's impressive considering our legs should have been worse than theirs.





Our back court won this game for us.  This is starting to become the norm.  What's so odd about that is that our great team depth was supposed to be in the front court.  I'll take it from anywhere we can.

14-10.  6th place in the east, just 2 games back from Cleveland and only 1/2 game back from the two teams we beat this week, Chicago and Charlotte.  


bob


.

[cowens/oldschool]

Saw some parts of the game as was watching some of the fights last night too.

Just wanted to add how great Avery is playing, saw some great defense by him on Walker, even if he is not putting up stats like steals or blocks, just his on the ball defense takes so much away, he is just so disruptive and stops the offense from being initiated the way they want. Opposing points have so much trouble getting to their spot and their timing on the teams plays is all messed up as they can't get a clear anything with AB pressing and those long arms swiping and poking....another routine great defensive performance as Walkers FG% was terrible.

[dboss]

As you know GS lost last night to the Bucks.  The Celtics took a measure from them the night before.  We helped the Bucks beat the Warriors!

In the meantime the Celts refuse to dwell on the tough lose to GS and went on the road on back to back games and won again.

Pretty amazing!

The east is so close that each game brings about a change in the standings.  The Celts moved into 6th place after the win last night and are 2 games from the top.

This was no easy game against the Hornets.  They have been playing surprisingly well.

Both Johnson and Sullinger struggled but again Lee came off the bench and helped them fill the void.  Once again the combo of Avery Bradley and Isaiah Thomas provided the scoring bunch.  The Celtics put up 96 shots to 88 for Charlotte.  Pace and space as Boston has 10 fast break point to 0 for Charlotte and also outshot them for the field.  Charlotte won the battle of the glass 52-42.   The Celtics won both the 3rd and 4th quarters.

Another solid road win.

great job Celtics.

Dboss

[gyso]

Other tidbits:

Tyler Zeller did not play.  After the previous night's 2OT, maybe he should have.  During the halftime warmups, he came over by our the sideline and took some midrange jumpers.  They looked good coming out of his hand and got nothing but net.  I just don't get why he doesn't get any playing time.

Hunter, Mickey and Smart were not on the bench.  I wonder if Hunter is nursing an injury or is he playing in Maine?

There was some other very young, thin, shorter guy sitting on the bench, wearing a suit.  Too young to be a coach.  I don't think it was Hunter, but I cannot think of who else it could be.

I think there is some kind of reserved seating/pecking order in bench seats.  Terry Rozier was sitting on the bench, three seats from the end.  He noticed that the coach was subbing Sully out of the game, so he immediately moved over to the end seat.  When Sully came out, that is where he sat.  I believe that seat has extra padding, I don't know exactly, but that was Sully's seat whenever he wasn't playing.

Big Al was suspended, was nowhere to be seen. That certainly helped our cause.

gyso

[bobheckler]

Courtesy to redsarmy.com for these videos:



Sean Grande ✔ @SeanGrandePBP
Kids, your Boston Celtics, you figure them out.

Last...

19 road games: 14-5
12 back to back games: 11-1
10 back to back road games: 10-0
8:33 PM - 12 Dec 2015 · Rockville, MD, United States
 73 73 Retweets   92 92 likes











BONUS VIDEOS:  JORDAN MICKEY'S BIG GAME VS THE BAYHAWKS.  15 POINTS, 11 REBOUNDS, 5 BLOCKS.







Between Rozier, Hunter and Mickey we have a couple in the oven still cookin' too...


bob



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[dboss]

gyso

Zeller is out of the rotation and will remain there unless one of our centers (???) gets hurt.

Trends in December include:

Kelly averaging 16.5 PPG and shooting .435% from behind the arc

Sully rebounding at 11.2 Per game but slumping on offense averaging 7 PPG and shooting a dreadful 1-9 from behind the arc and .308% overall

Bradley blistering the nets at .462%

Crowder playing better on offense averaging 16 per game and shooting .432 on three's

Thomas maintains a 20.8 PPG average and shooting .411% from behind the arc.

ET playing amore minutes but still cannot make a 3 point shot at .167%

Amir up to 2 blocks per game

Lee misses too many bunnies but continues to play hard.

Jonas 7.3 wasted minutes per game

dboss

[bobheckler]

gyso

Zeller is out of the rotation and will remain there unless one of our centers (???) gets hurt.

Trends in December include:

Kelly averaging 16.5 PPG and shooting .435% from behind the arc

Sully rebounding at 11.2 Per game but slumping on offense averaging 7 PPG and shooting a dreadful 1-9 from behind the arc and .308% overall

Bradley blistering the nets at .462%

Crowder playing better on offense averaging 16 per game and shooting .432 on three's

Thomas maintains a 20.8 PPG average and shooting .411% from behind the arc.

ET playing amore minutes but still cannot make a 3 point shot at .167%

Amir up to 2 blocks per game

Lee misses too many bunnies but continues to play hard.

Jonas 7.3 wasted minutes per game

dboss

dboss,

Excellent summation.



bob


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