2016 NBA PLAYOFFS > POST GAME ATLANTA - AWAY GAME #2

STUDS AND DUDS: HISTORICALLY BAD START SETS TABLE FOR ANOTHER CELTICS PLAYOFF LOSS, 0-2 HOLE

WEEI

By Mike Petraglia

Hawks center Al Horford grabs a pass over Marcus Smart in the first quarter Tuesday at Philips Arena. (Jason Getz/USA Today Sports)

Talk about adding insult to injury.

The Celtics were embarrassed Tuesday night in epic fashion, falling behind by 21 points in the first six minutes and never fully recovering in an 89-72 loss to the Hawks in Game 2 at Philips Arena. Atlanta leads the best-of-seven series 2-0 as it shifts to Boston for Game 3 on Friday night at TD Garden.

Isaiah Thomas was ice cold at the start but finished strong and led Boston with 16 points while Amir Johnson added 14. The trio of Thomas (4-for-15), Marcus Smart (1-for-11) and Jae Crowder (1-for- combined to shoot just 6-for-34.

The Celtics were down by double digits for the final 44 minutes, 57 seconds, and finished just 5-for-28 from 3-point range as they desperately tried to get back in the game.

Al Horford and Kyle Korver each scored 17 for the Hawks, who are two wins away from their first playoff series win over the Celtics since the 1958 NBA Finals, when the franchise was still in St. Louis.

Already down Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynyk, the Celtics lost Smart briefly in the first 15 seconds when Kent Bazemore went up for a layup and kneed Smart in the right hip.

Smart, who started in place of Bradley, would play just six minutes in the opening quarter before leaving with Dr. Brian McKeon. He was evaluated with a hip contusion and cleared to return. In his place, Terry Rozier and R.J. Hunter struggled to help Thomas get the offense going.


Korver, who was just 1-for-10 in Game 1, knocked down three 3-pointers. The last of the three treys helped Atlanta explode to a 24-3 with 5:28 left in the first quarter. But fortunately for the Celtics, the Hawks were scoreless for the final 5 1/2 minutes of the first quarter.

Still, the Celtics managed just seven points themselves, trailing 24-7 after the first. It marked the lowest offensive output in any quarter in Celtics playoff history. The Celtics shot 3-for-23 from the field in the opening 12 minutes, including missing all six shots from long range. The seven points also set a dubious new NBA record for the fewest points ever scored in the opening quarter of any playoff game.

The two teams combined to miss 16 consecutive shots before Evan Turner connected for a reverse layup at the start of the second quarter.

The Celtics made their first run to get back in the game in the second quarter, using a 23-12 spurt to get back within 10 points, 36-26, on an Amir Johnson hook shot with 6:08 to go before halftime. But the Celtics went ice cold again while the Hawks found some easy offense.

The Celtics missed their last eight shots of the first half and trailed 43-28 at the break. The first half continuing a troubling trend for Boston, which trailed Charlotte 63-41, Miami 62-38 and Atlanta 51-34 in the previous three games at halftime. Atlanta’s 11 turnovers combined with 15-of-40 (37.5 percent) shooting gave Boston life heading into the second half.

Jared Sullinger suffered through his second straight first half struggle, scoring just four points and grabbing only three rebounds in ten minutes of play. As a result, Evan Turner replaced him in the starting lineup to open the second half, joining Amir Johnson, Smart, Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder on the floor.

With a reverse layup with 10:01 left in the third, Turner converted a pretty reverse layup to draw Boston to within 11, 45-34. The Hawks kept missing open looks, allowing the Celtics to hang around. But the Celtics again chose a horrid time to go into an extended drought. Between that Turner layup and Isaiah Thomas’ layup with 4:08 left, the Celtics were held without a field goal. In that five minute, 53-second span, the Hawks were able to add only a single point to their lead.

The Celtics had the ball to end the third quarter. But a missed three from Marcus Smart led to a transition three from Al Horford with 0.4 left in the quarter, as Atlanta took a 61-45 lead to the fourth. Thabo Sefalosha hit back-to-back baskets, putting the Hawks up 18, 69-51, with 8:30 left. Sefalosha drilled a corner three with 7:48 left to put Atlanta ahead, 72-53.

Isaiah Thomas helped the Celtics go on an 8-0 run to draw within 15, 76-61, with over five minutes left but Al Horford delivered a layup and a set-shot three to bump the lead back to 18 with four minutes left.

The Celtics have lost their last seven playoff games dating back to a Game 5 win over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden in the Eastern Conference first round series in 2013.

The Celtics will try to somehow regroup and find a way not to embarrass themselves in the first half in Game 3, set for Friday night at 8 p.m. at TD Garden.

STUD OF THE NIGHT: Amir Johnson

He was the only trustworthy offensive option in the first half. While that might be damning by faint praise, he did lead the team with eight points at the half. His block of Paul Millsap with eight minutes left in the third was a monstrous one.

DUD OF THE NIGHT: Marcus Smart

Asked to fill in for Avery Bradley, he was 1-for-11 from the field. While he’s not an offensive wizard, he’s got to be better than that. Runner-up No. 1: Jared Sullinger. Things got so bad that he was benched to start the second half on a night when the Celtics were without two key offensive players in Bradley and Olynyk. Inserted in the game midway through the third, he committed two fouls and turned the ball over while backing into the paint. Runner-up No. 2: Jae Crowder. He again missed open look after open look as it’s becoming obvious he hasn’t recovered fully from his high ankle sprain.
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CELTICS FALL TO 0-2 IN SERIES VS. HAWKS AFTER 89-72 LOSS

CSNNE

By A. Sherrod Blakely April 19, 2016 9:30 PM

ATLANTA – It would be easy to point to Avery Bradley (right hamstring) not playing, or the less-than-stellar health most of Boston’s starters are playing with now.

But none of that mattered in Boston’s 89-72 Game 2 loss to Atlanta.

Sometimes the final score isn’t indicative of how the game was played.

This was not one of those games, as the Hawks dominated throughout the entire game, leading wire-to-wire as they move on to Boston with a commanding series lead.

The Hawks were faster, stronger, more aggressive, more assertive, more … just better in every sense of the word.

And Atlanta proved that in emphatic fashion with a win that has put the Celtics in the kind of hole that few teams ever fully climb their way out of in the playoffs.

Boston now finds itself trailing 2-0 in the best-of-seven series which shifts back to Boston with Game 3 being an absolute must-win matchup if the Celtics are to have any shot at winning this series.

Moving on to the next round is the furthest thing from the Celtics’ mind right now after Atlanta once again came out and delivered a hard, decisive punch to start the game that left the Celtics woozy afterwards.

Forget about winning the series.

How about a game?

Atlanta’s defense was so dominant, Boston only scored seven points in the first quarter which was the fewest points scored in the first quarter of a playoff game in NBA history.

The Celtics managed to get back into it and made it relatively competitive, but the Hawks made sure to not allow Boston to get any hopes of making a legit comeback as their lead remained in double digits most of the night.

While the absence of Bradley (right hamstring) was indeed a factor, Boston has bigger problems than not having their best on-the-ball defender available.

Boston’s offensive problems in large part stem from their inability to get into any kind of flow.

Celtics players are either looking to shoot too quickly, or not being assertive enough when the opportunity to score is there.

Time and time again, they passed up short, mid-range shots to attack the rim where Atlanta’s bigs were waiting.

And you have to figure that Kyle Korver, who was 1-for-10 in Game 1, was going to be a much bigger factor in Game 2.

That he was, finishing with 17 points which included a 5-for-6 3-point shooting display in the first half.

Korver’s shots could not have come at a better time with shooters for both teams struggling most of the night.

As for the Celtics, their best source of offense for most of the night was Amir Johnson who was making his presence felt at both ends of the floor with points at one end and blocked or altered shots at the other.

But just like there are nights when Isaiah Thomas could use some support offensively, that was true on Tuesday night with Johnson who finished with 14 points on 6-for-11 shooting to go with eight rebounds.

After Boston got down big, they just had too many stretches where they were just trading stops and shots.

In the third quarter, Celtics rookie Terry Rozier hit a 3-pointer which made it an 11-point game (55-44).

Moments later, the man Rozier was supposed to be guarding, Tim Hardaway Jr., did what his daddy did for years in NBA – drain big shots – as he hit a jumper that put the Hawks back up by 13 points.

It was that kind of game for Boston.

When they couldn’t make shots, neither could the Hawks.

And when shots started falling for the Green, they did so for Atlanta as well.

And by exchanging makes and misses, Boston was never able to make up any significant ground and thus found themselves right where they were after Game 1 – shaking their heads after another tough loss to Atlanta.
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BRAD STEVENS ON GAME 2 HUMILIATION: ‘THEY WAY OUTPLAYED US IN EVERY CATEGORY IN THAT FIRST QUARTER’

WEEI

By Mike Petraglia

Celtics head coach Brad Stevens was busy trying to point out Kyle Korver Tuesday night. (John David Mercer-USA Today Sports)

If Tuesday night showed anything to the Celtics it’s that it only takes about six minutes to get blown out of a playoff game and never have a chance to recover.

It just so happened those six minutes came at the very start of an 89-72 loss in Game 2 to the Hawks. How bad were the opening six minutes?

The Celtics were outscored 24-3. They allowed Kyle Korver to triple their point total with three 3-pointers. They were down double digits for the final 45 minutes of the game. They made just 3-of-23 shots from the field and missed all six 3-point attempts. They committed five turnovers. They wound up with seven points for the quarter, the fewest ever by an NBA team in the first quarter of any playoff game and the fewest in any quarter by any Celtics team in the illustrious history of the franchise.

“They way outplayed us in every category in that first quarter,” Stevens said matter-of-factly after. “That wasn’t just about shots by any means. I thought that was one team playing and one team not, to be quite candid. We’ll look at it, make the necessary changes and we’ll move forward.

“As I told the team, we can’t get off to starts like that. The only part of the defensive effort that I was upset by was losing Korver a few times and then the transition defense. But other than that, we really guard. We just put too much pressure on ourselves to make shots later because every one of them mattered so much just to have a chance to get back in the game. You can’t start like that. Again, we’ll look at it, figure out what the right changes are to make and make them.”

Stevens, who rarely shows emotion, was screaming at R.J. Hunter for losing Korver on a back screen when Hunter came in for Smart, who left briefly with a hip bruise. Korver drilled one of his three first-quarter treys as Atlanta got rolling.

This did not come as a surprise to Stevens, who knew Korver, after going 1-for-10 in Game 1 (0-for-7 from deep) would be on a mission Tuesday.

“Korver is like one of the main things we talk about every time we walk in this building, every time we walk into the hotel, every time we land in Atlanta, we know that we have to be in his airspace or else we’re toast,” Stevens said. “And you knew coming off a 1-for-10 game, he was going to have the hunger to make shots and take shots early on so we talked about that.

“But it was just a matter of we lost him a few times and our transition D was bad, especially in that first quarter. We had some moments throughout the game where our transition D was bad, but that first quarter, they moving at one speed we weren’t at.”

112288

Glad to see Isaiah Thomas is consistent.

Last year's playoffs: 33% (18 for 54)
This year's playoffs: 33% (12 for 36)

So now we know we can count on him to shoot 33% in playoff games. Nice to know.

Ya, That's one position taken care of. Now we need a center and a shooting guard and a power forward!

112288

Defense Wins Championships, but you still need to score more points than the other guy.  32% is loser-ball.  5-28, 18%, from 3 is loser-ball.  I don't care how phenomenal your defense is.  I don't care if you have the greatest shot blocker/intimidator of all time, how can you expect to win if you're shooting that poorly?  I don't know what Brad does or does not do to get their heads ready for tip-off but it needs to change.  It has been weeks since we've started off a game strong.  Barry pointed out last night that, while the Celtics have a history of coming back from deep deficits, they have only successfully come back to win once against Miami.  So, while it is a "playing with Pride" type of story, it is not a success story and I will take an uninspiring win over an impressive, but short, comeback for a loss.

Got a glimpse of our pre-game shoot around.  Jae Crowder was smiling and trying trick shots.  I knew then there would be trouble.

20 fast breaks for Atlanta vs 8 for us.  36 points in the paint for us vs 32 for them.  Huh?  Weren't we supposed to be the team with the better back court, the team that loves to break out and run and they were the team with the better front court?  That presupposes that our point guard plays like he normally does and that their front court doesn't take it outside.  Horford was 3-4 from 3 because fatso didn't want to go out to him and Korver was 3-6 before Brad had a conniption fit.  Whiteside is an excellent rim protector, one of the best in the league, but he hates leaving the paint and wouldn't have gone out to contest Horford's shot either.  Horford, on the other hand, got one of his 4 blocks on a RJ Hunter 3pt fga.

We're averaging 15.5 ftas/game through 2 games.  We averaged 23.5 ftas in the regular season.  That's 8 ftas less.  At a regular season rate of 78.8% that's 6.3 ppg we're not getting.  That's why executing and making your shots is so much more important in the playoffs.  The refs are much less benevolent.  "Creating contact" isn't enough.  We had several possessions last night that would definitely have gotten calls in the regular season but were just "play on" last night.  Whiners like Isaiah Thomas and Marcus Smart can't understand it.  That's because the two of them have exactly the same amount of playoff experience, now a total of 6 games each.


This is what I wrote after Game 1:

"Crowder 5-16
Sullinger 4-14
Thomas 8-21

There's 3 of your starters shooting 17-51, 33%.  Only Bradley put up both numbers and efficiency."

This is what we got, last night, after that Game 1 "Wake Up Call":

Crowder 1-9
Sullinger 2-5
Thomas 4-15

7-29.  24%.

I love defense but you have to be effective on both sides of the ball and we, in one word, suck.  We were able to drag their fg% down to 39% and still got blown out because of our total, utter incompetence on offense.



Absolute Keepers (Game 2 ONLY)

Amir Johnson - He worked like a sled dog out there, doing what he does.  A truly great block at the rim on an attempted two-handed dunk by Millsap.  He played both sides of the ball last night.  What's ironic, and sad, about that is that he is the one player on the starting unit that is not expected to be a two-way player but last night he was the only one who was.  Paul Millsap, who has killed us in every game we have played him this year, was 1-12.  Amir was his defender for most of the game.

Terry Rozier - A mini-coming out party for the rook.  10 points on 4-7, 2-3 from 3 and 4 rebounds in a career-high 24 minutes.  He needs to work on his penetration and on his using picks to get open mid-range looks (or drives) but his defense is active and his rebounding is excellent for a guard.  He gives up the ball on rebounds too quickly, let's others (e.g. Smart) bring the ball up, when he is a very good ball handler (better than Smart) and is an absolute rocket up court.  He is where Bradley was in his first year.  Quality defense but hesitant with his own offense.  Unlike Bradley, who has developed a 3pt shot, it appears that Rozier already has one.  I'm ok with this.  He's a rookie, his head is exploding as it is, and this series is an invaluable learning experience for him.


Good, but not locks

Evan Turner - Turner upped his game and turned this from a 21-point blowout, heading to a 31-point blowout, and got it down to low double-digits.   Not awesome, not irreplaceable, but very solid and, perhaps most importantly, he stepped up in the big game.

Jae Crowder - I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt here despite another AWFUL 1-9 offensive outing because Kent Bazemore, who had a very good game 1 against us, was 2-14.  His non-existent offense helped kill us but his defense on Bazemore gets him a stay of execution.

Jonas Jerebko - An underspoken game, but he was active and efficient and last night anything that even smacked of efficiency was welcome.

 
NOT BIG game players

Isaiah Thomas - Another lousy shooting game.  He isn't finishing well.  He relies on getting the whistle but refs swallow their whistles in the playoffs.  
Tyler Zeller - Bleh.  Got beat off the dribble a lot.  Missed assignments.

RJ Hunter - When the normally completely unflappable Brad Stevens is screaming at you on the bench because you blew a couple of defensive assignments on Korver you know there's something wrong.  If last night was Rozier's moment in the spotlight, last night was RJ's trip to the doghouse (or another team in a package).  Remember when Kobe gave Mike Brown "the death stare" and soon afterwards Brown was gone?  That's the look Brad gave Hunter when he was walking back to the bench at a time out.  Just before he tore him a new one.


Absolute Keepers (Series-to-date)

Terry Rozier - he only played in 1 game, so last night was his "series-to-date" but he showed something and he's a rookie.


Good but not locks

Marcus Smart - His usual good defense but his offense went back to being, well, Smart's offense, which is to say sucks.  If you are a starter you have to be able to contribute points to the effort unless you have multiple scoring machines like Curry/Thompson, Jordan/Pippen, Bird/McHale.  If you have a couple of unstoppables like those pairs then you can afford a non-scoring starter.  We don't.  I still don't see where he has a shooter's touch on his shots.  He was 1-11 last night, which makes him 6-21 on the series.  29%.  He's 4-12 from 3.  Once again, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt, because of his defense, but he is not an NBA starting guard.  There's a reason why Thabo Sefelosha isn't starting on OKC anymore and is now coming off the bench behind undrafted and former D-Leaguer Kent Bazemore.  Bazemore plays both sides of the ball and Sefelosha is 80+% defense.  Specialists are bench role players.  That's why Bradley took over from Ray Allen.  It wasn't because Bradley's offense was better than Ray's, it was because he became a two-way player and Ray, what with ankle injuries and age, was becoming more and more one-way.  It's embarrassing to hear the TNT commentators repeatedly talk about his acting abilities.  Stop playing the refs and start playing ball.  Do your job and let everybody else do theirs.

Amir Johnson - an excellent game by Amir last night, and he had a good Game 1 to pump up his grade, but overall it's hard to have a player who is not a legitimate offensive threat as a starter unless you have lots of other offensive weapons.  Right now it looks like our other offensive weapons are spitballs and that diminishes Amir's contributions.  Not fair, perhaps, but there it is.  It's about team balance and without a lot more offensive players (effective offensive players!) Amir's offensive limitations stand out.


NOT BIG game players

Isaiah Thomas - He's 12-36.  If he isn't an offensive dynamo, he's a liability especially since players are allowed to play rougher against him.  He may be a starter during the season, but he's a 6th man in the playoffs.  Would his ego allow that to happen?  We may (may!) find out in Game 3.  Brad is HOT!!

Jared "Fatso" Sullinger - It was only 2 years ago that I was thinking that Sully was the new Beast in the East.  Now he's Oliver Miller with bad hair.  Another short, 14 minute, appearance by our starting "center".  He has done very, very little right this series.  In fact, he has done very little right for the past few weeks.  Horford abused him on both ends.

Jae Crowder - Scoring becomes more difficult in the playoffs as the pressure and swallowed whistles take their toll.  Jae is not showing up as a two-way player this series.  In essence, playing defense becomes easier as players are allowed to get away with more.  It's players that can continue to score despite the stickier, more physical and active defenses that become household names.



bob


.

bobheckler wrote:Defense Wins Championships, but you still need to score more points than the other guy.  32% is loser-ball.  5-28, 18%, from 3 is loser-ball.  I don't care how phenomenal your defense is.  I don't care if you have the greatest shot blocker/intimidator of all time, how can you expect to win if you're shooting that poorly?  I don't know what Brad does or does not do to get their heads ready for tip-off but it needs to change.  It has been weeks since we've started off a game strong.  Barry pointed out last night that, while the Celtics have a history of coming back from deep deficits, they have only successfully come back to win once against Miami.  So, while it is a "playing with Pride" type of story, it is not a success story and I will take an uninspiring win over an impressive, but short, comeback for a loss.

Got a glimpse of our pre-game shoot around.  Jae Crowder was smiling and trying trick shots.  I knew then there would be trouble.

20 fast breaks for Atlanta vs 8 for us.  36 points in the paint for us vs 32 for them.  Huh?  Weren't we supposed to be the team with the better back court, the team that loves to break out and run and they were the team with the better front court?  That presupposes that our point guard plays like he normally does and that their front court doesn't take it outside.  Horford was 3-4 from 3 because fatso didn't want to go out to him and Korver was 3-6 before Brad had a conniption fit.  Whiteside is an excellent rim protector, one of the best in the league, but he hates leaving the paint and wouldn't have gone out to contest Horford's shot either.  Horford, on the other hand, got one of his 4 blocks on a RJ Hunter 3pt fga.

We're averaging 15.5 ftas/game through 2 games.  We averaged 23.5 ftas in the regular season.  That's 8 ftas less.  At a regular season rate of 78.8% that's 6.3 ppg we're not getting.  That's why executing and making your shots is so much more important in the playoffs.  The refs are much less benevolent.  "Creating contact" isn't enough.  We had several possessions last night that would definitely have gotten calls in the regular season but were just "play on" last night.  Whiners like Isaiah Thomas and Marcus Smart can't understand it.  That's because the two of them have exactly the same amount of playoff experience, now a total of 6 games each.


This is what I wrote after Game 1:

"Crowder 5-16
Sullinger 4-14
Thomas 8-21

There's 3 of your starters shooting 17-51, 33%.  Only Bradley put up both numbers and efficiency."

This is what we got, last night, after that Game 1 "Wake Up Call":

Crowder 1-9
Sullinger 2-5
Thomas 4-15

7-29.  24%.

I love defense but you have to be effective on both sides of the ball and we, in one word, suck.  We were able to drag their fg% down to 39% and still got blown out because of our total, utter incompetence on offense.



Absolute Keepers (Game 2 ONLY)

Amir Johnson - He worked like a sled dog out there, doing what he does.  A truly great block at the rim on an attempted two-handed dunk by Millsap.  He played both sides of the ball last night.  What's ironic, and sad, about that is that he is the one player on the starting unit that is not expected to be a two-way player but last night he was the only one who was.  Paul Millsap, who has killed us in every game we have played him this year, was 1-12.  Amir was his defender for most of the game.

Terry Rozier - A mini-coming out party for the rook.  10 points on 4-7, 2-3 from 3 and 4 rebounds in a career-high 24 minutes.  He needs to work on his penetration and on his using picks to get open mid-range looks (or drives) but his defense is active and his rebounding is excellent for a guard.  He gives up the ball on rebounds too quickly, let's others (e.g. Smart) bring the ball up, when he is a very good ball handler (better than Smart) and is an absolute rocket up court.  He is where Bradley was in his first year.  Quality defense but hesitant with his own offense.  Unlike Bradley, who has developed a 3pt shot, it appears that Rozier already has one.  I'm ok with this.  He's a rookie, his head is exploding as it is, and this series is an invaluable learning experience for him.


Good, but not locks

Evan Turner - Turner upped his game and turned this from a 21-point blowout, heading to a 31-point blowout, and got it down to low double-digits.   Not awesome, not irreplaceable, but very solid and, perhaps most importantly, he stepped up in the big game.

Jae Crowder - I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt here despite another AWFUL 1-9 offensive outing because Kent Bazemore, who had a very good game 1 against us, was 2-14.  His non-existent offense helped kill us but his defense on Bazemore gets him a stay of execution.

Jonas Jerebko - An underspoken game, but he was active and efficient and last night anything that even smacked of efficiency was welcome.

 
NOT BIG game players

Isaiah Thomas - Another lousy shooting game.  He isn't finishing well.  He relies on getting the whistle but refs swallow their whistles in the playoffs.  
Tyler Zeller - Bleh.  Got beat off the dribble a lot.  Missed assignments.

RJ Hunter - When the normally completely unflappable Brad Stevens is screaming at you on the bench because you blew a couple of defensive assignments on Korver you know there's something wrong.  If last night was Rozier's moment in the spotlight, last night was RJ's trip to the doghouse (or another team in a package).  Remember when Kobe gave Mike Brown "the death stare" and soon afterwards Brown was gone?  That's the look Brad gave Hunter when he was walking back to the bench at a time out.  Just before he tore him a new one.


Absolute Keepers (Series-to-date)

Terry Rozier - he only played in 1 game, so last night was his "series-to-date" but he showed something and he's a rookie.


Good but not locks

Marcus Smart - His usual good defense but his offense went back to being, well, Smart's offense, which is to say sucks.  If you are a starter you have to be able to contribute points to the effort unless you have multiple scoring machines like Curry/Thompson, Jordan/Pippen, Bird/McHale.  If you have a couple of unstoppables like those pairs then you can afford a non-scoring starter.  We don't.  I still don't see where he has a shooter's touch on his shots.  He was 1-11 last night, which makes him 6-21 on the series.  29%.  He's 4-12 from 3.  Once again, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt, because of his defense, but he is not an NBA starting guard.  There's a reason why Thabo Sefelosha isn't starting on OKC anymore and is now coming off the bench behind undrafted and former D-Leaguer Kent Bazemore.  Bazemore plays both sides of the ball and Sefelosha is 80+% defense.  Specialists are bench role players.  That's why Bradley took over from Ray Allen.  It wasn't because Bradley's offense was better than Ray's, it was because he became a two-way player and Ray, what with ankle injuries and age, was becoming more and more one-way.  It's embarrassing to hear the TNT commentators repeatedly talk about his acting abilities.  Stop playing the refs and start playing ball.  Do your job and let everybody else do theirs.

Amir Johnson - an excellent game by Amir last night, and he had a good Game 1 to pump up his grade, but overall it's hard to have a player who is not a legitimate offensive threat as a starter unless you have lots of other offensive weapons.  Right now it looks like our other offensive weapons are spitballs and that diminishes Amir's contributions.  Not fair, perhaps, but there it is.  It's about team balance and without a lot more offensive players (effective offensive players!) Amir's offensive limitations stand out.


NOT BIG game players

Isaiah Thomas - He's 12-26.  If he isn't an offensive dynamo, he's a liability especially since players are allowed to play rougher against him.  He may be a starter during the season, but he's a 6th man in the playoffs.  Would his ego allow that to happen?  We may (may!) find out in Game 3.  Brad is HOT!!

Jared "Fatso" Sullinger - It was only 2 years ago that I was thinking that Sully was the new Beast in the East.  Now he's Oliver Miller with bad hair.  Another short, 14 minute, appearance by our starting "center".  He has done very, very little right this series.  In fact, he has done very little right for the past few weeks.  Horford abused him on both ends.

Jae Crowder - Scoring becomes more difficult in the playoffs as the pressure and swallowed whistles take their toll.  Jae is not showing up as a two-way player this series.  In essence, playing defense becomes easier as players are allowed to get away with more.  It's players that can continue to score despite the stickier, more physical and active defenses that become household names.



bob


.

Tell us how you reaally feel Bob. By the way, IT is 12 for 36, not 12 for 26.

steve3344 wrote:

bobheckler wrote:Defense Wins Championships, but you still need to score more points than the other guy.  32% is loser-ball.  5-28, 18%, from 3 is loser-ball.  I don't care how phenomenal your defense is.  I don't care if you have the greatest shot blocker/intimidator of all time, how can you expect to win if you're shooting that poorly?  I don't know what Brad does or does not do to get their heads ready for tip-off but it needs to change.  It has been weeks since we've started off a game strong.  Barry pointed out last night that, while the Celtics have a history of coming back from deep deficits, they have only successfully come back to win once against Miami.  So, while it is a "playing with Pride" type of story, it is not a success story and I will take an uninspiring win over an impressive, but short, comeback for a loss.

Got a glimpse of our pre-game shoot around.  Jae Crowder was smiling and trying trick shots.  I knew then there would be trouble.

20 fast breaks for Atlanta vs 8 for us.  36 points in the paint for us vs 32 for them.  Huh?  Weren't we supposed to be the team with the better back court, the team that loves to break out and run and they were the team with the better front court?  That presupposes that our point guard plays like he normally does and that their front court doesn't take it outside.  Horford was 3-4 from 3 because fatso didn't want to go out to him and Korver was 3-6 before Brad had a conniption fit.  Whiteside is an excellent rim protector, one of the best in the league, but he hates leaving the paint and wouldn't have gone out to contest Horford's shot either.  Horford, on the other hand, got one of his 4 blocks on a RJ Hunter 3pt fga.

We're averaging 15.5 ftas/game through 2 games.  We averaged 23.5 ftas in the regular season.  That's 8 ftas less.  At a regular season rate of 78.8% that's 6.3 ppg we're not getting.  That's why executing and making your shots is so much more important in the playoffs.  The refs are much less benevolent.  "Creating contact" isn't enough.  We had several possessions last night that would definitely have gotten calls in the regular season but were just "play on" last night.  Whiners like Isaiah Thomas and Marcus Smart can't understand it.  That's because the two of them have exactly the same amount of playoff experience, now a total of 6 games each.


This is what I wrote after Game 1:

"Crowder 5-16
Sullinger 4-14
Thomas 8-21

There's 3 of your starters shooting 17-51, 33%.  Only Bradley put up both numbers and efficiency."

This is what we got, last night, after that Game 1 "Wake Up Call":

Crowder 1-9
Sullinger 2-5
Thomas 4-15

7-29.  24%.

I love defense but you have to be effective on both sides of the ball and we, in one word, suck.  We were able to drag their fg% down to 39% and still got blown out because of our total, utter incompetence on offense.



Absolute Keepers (Game 2 ONLY)

Amir Johnson - He worked like a sled dog out there, doing what he does.  A truly great block at the rim on an attempted two-handed dunk by Millsap.  He played both sides of the ball last night.  What's ironic, and sad, about that is that he is the one player on the starting unit that is not expected to be a two-way player but last night he was the only one who was.  Paul Millsap, who has killed us in every game we have played him this year, was 1-12.  Amir was his defender for most of the game.

Terry Rozier - A mini-coming out party for the rook.  10 points on 4-7, 2-3 from 3 and 4 rebounds in a career-high 24 minutes.  He needs to work on his penetration and on his using picks to get open mid-range looks (or drives) but his defense is active and his rebounding is excellent for a guard.  He gives up the ball on rebounds too quickly, let's others (e.g. Smart) bring the ball up, when he is a very good ball handler (better than Smart) and is an absolute rocket up court.  He is where Bradley was in his first year.  Quality defense but hesitant with his own offense.  Unlike Bradley, who has developed a 3pt shot, it appears that Rozier already has one.  I'm ok with this.  He's a rookie, his head is exploding as it is, and this series is an invaluable learning experience for him.


Good, but not locks

Evan Turner - Turner upped his game and turned this from a 21-point blowout, heading to a 31-point blowout, and got it down to low double-digits.   Not awesome, not irreplaceable, but very solid and, perhaps most importantly, he stepped up in the big game.

Jae Crowder - I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt here despite another AWFUL 1-9 offensive outing because Kent Bazemore, who had a very good game 1 against us, was 2-14.  His non-existent offense helped kill us but his defense on Bazemore gets him a stay of execution.

Jonas Jerebko - An underspoken game, but he was active and efficient and last night anything that even smacked of efficiency was welcome.

 
NOT BIG game players

Isaiah Thomas - Another lousy shooting game.  He isn't finishing well.  He relies on getting the whistle but refs swallow their whistles in the playoffs.  
Tyler Zeller - Bleh.  Got beat off the dribble a lot.  Missed assignments.

RJ Hunter - When the normally completely unflappable Brad Stevens is screaming at you on the bench because you blew a couple of defensive assignments on Korver you know there's something wrong.  If last night was Rozier's moment in the spotlight, last night was RJ's trip to the doghouse (or another team in a package).  Remember when Kobe gave Mike Brown "the death stare" and soon afterwards Brown was gone?  That's the look Brad gave Hunter when he was walking back to the bench at a time out.  Just before he tore him a new one.


Absolute Keepers (Series-to-date)

Terry Rozier - he only played in 1 game, so last night was his "series-to-date" but he showed something and he's a rookie.


Good but not locks

Marcus Smart - His usual good defense but his offense went back to being, well, Smart's offense, which is to say sucks.  If you are a starter you have to be able to contribute points to the effort unless you have multiple scoring machines like Curry/Thompson, Jordan/Pippen, Bird/McHale.  If you have a couple of unstoppables like those pairs then you can afford a non-scoring starter.  We don't.  I still don't see where he has a shooter's touch on his shots.  He was 1-11 last night, which makes him 6-21 on the series.  29%.  He's 4-12 from 3.  Once again, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt, because of his defense, but he is not an NBA starting guard.  There's a reason why Thabo Sefelosha isn't starting on OKC anymore and is now coming off the bench behind undrafted and former D-Leaguer Kent Bazemore.  Bazemore plays both sides of the ball and Sefelosha is 80+% defense.  Specialists are bench role players.  That's why Bradley took over from Ray Allen.  It wasn't because Bradley's offense was better than Ray's, it was because he became a two-way player and Ray, what with ankle injuries and age, was becoming more and more one-way.  It's embarrassing to hear the TNT commentators repeatedly talk about his acting abilities.  Stop playing the refs and start playing ball.  Do your job and let everybody else do theirs.

Amir Johnson - an excellent game by Amir last night, and he had a good Game 1 to pump up his grade, but overall it's hard to have a player who is not a legitimate offensive threat as a starter unless you have lots of other offensive weapons.  Right now it looks like our other offensive weapons are spitballs and that diminishes Amir's contributions.  Not fair, perhaps, but there it is.  It's about team balance and without a lot more offensive players (effective offensive players!) Amir's offensive limitations stand out.


NOT BIG game players

Isaiah Thomas - He's 12-26.  If he isn't an offensive dynamo, he's a liability especially since players are allowed to play rougher against him.  He may be a starter during the season, but he's a 6th man in the playoffs.  Would his ego allow that to happen?  We may (may!) find out in Game 3.  Brad is HOT!!

Jared "Fatso" Sullinger - It was only 2 years ago that I was thinking that Sully was the new Beast in the East.  Now he's Oliver Miller with bad hair.  Another short, 14 minute, appearance by our starting "center".  He has done very, very little right this series.  In fact, he has done very little right for the past few weeks.  Horford abused him on both ends.

Jae Crowder - Scoring becomes more difficult in the playoffs as the pressure and swallowed whistles take their toll.  Jae is not showing up as a two-way player this series.  In essence, playing defense becomes easier as players are allowed to get away with more.  It's players that can continue to score despite the stickier, more physical and active defenses that become household names.



bob


.

Tell us how you reaally feel Bob.  By the way, IT is 12 for 36, not 12 for 26.

Steve,

Thanks, I meant to type 36 but did a poor job of editing.

Yeah, I'm a real wallflower...


bob


.

This game as well as the previous playoff run and countless regular season games serve to verify that this team is very deficient when it comes to putting the ball in the basket.

As Bill Russell said it is all about making buckets.

This is the reason why I have repeated suggested that the Celtics must address their shooting in the draft as well as free agency and trades. We need guys that can consistently knock down wide open shots.

It has been a tremendous season for our team and the fight is not over but clearly the Celtics are far from being an elite level team.

My message to Danny. Stop drafting players out of college that have not established themselves as reliable scorers, ball handlers and passers. Stop drafting bigs that are physically deficient.

dboss

The 2 biggest disappointments for me are Sully and IT, how did IT make the all star team? Where is any semblance of that player? Sully's game has fallen apart, he can't do anything. I understand were not playing with AB, but 7 points in the first quarter.....looks like our record was fools gold and were no where near as decent as our record. What I thought all year was this is a weak era with alot of bad bad teams, so you can get some victories with so many troubled franchises and we have a great coach.....but now with teams really analyzing all strengths and weaknesses to attack another team, we suddenly have alot of faults/weaknesses that are fully being exposed. I knew we weren't ready last year, we had some good moments this year. Next years team is gonna have to look ALOT different, maybe 4 players I want back right now, we sure don't look like a REAL playoff team.

steve your ON him LOL

We drafted Hunter because he was supposed to be a phenomenal shooter. Since Nov. 24th he shooting 31% (22-70) and 28% (that's Sully territory) on threes (13-46).

He teased us in the first couple of weeks when he started his pro career shooting 45% (14-31) and showed a nice, smooth touch on threes, starting his career 6 for 19 (which is still even a little below pro average but better than how he's done since then).

What happened to him? Is he a great shooter or not? The jury's still out. But his shooting was supposed to be a given. He's been shooting poorly since Thanksgiving. I thought the one thing we could count on was his shooting. Now he doesn't even look like a keeper. He needs to deliver when called on.

As many have said on this site, the playoffs expose EVERY crappy thing you do. And when you go up against a superior team, you almost look embarrassingly childish.

That was real hard to watch last night. I've seen better high school teams. I'm not sure what tier they are in but upper is nowhere in my description.

Now the good news is, they still have the regular season script somewhere in their heads. I texted my oldest son last night that either the Celtics will lose the next two games, or they will win the next 4. We have yet to see the "other" side of the Celtics we thought we would see last night. The ones that can light it up and get the job done. Home cookin' is what they need. It's all they have left.

I just don't see us going down in 4 again. It would be very uncharacteristic of the season we just had.

db

I agree with Bobh.

The refs call it differently in the regular season. They let a lot go in the playoffs. This may be the biggest reason IT comes up short in the playoffs. He can't just throw his body into the defender and expect to go to the line.

He is supposed to be our best player, but he looked lost out there.

gyso

steve3344 wrote:We drafted Hunter because he was supposed to be a phenomenal shooter.  Since Nov. 24th he shooting 31% (22-70) and 28% (that's Sully territory) on threes (13-46).

He teased us in the first couple of weeks when he started his pro career shooting 45% (14-31) and showed a nice, smooth touch on threes, starting his career 6 for 19 (which is still even a little below pro average but better than how he's done since then).

What happened to him?  Is he a great shooter or not?  The jury's still out.  But his shooting was supposed to be a given.  He's been shooting poorly since Thanksgiving.  I thought the one thing we could count on was his shooting.  Now he doesn't even look like a keeper.  He needs to deliver when called on.

There is no evidence that hunter was a good shooter his last year at GSU

He made "the Shot" in the tourney so many fans assumed that he was freaking Steph Curry.  In our post draft discussions i questioned why DA drafted him.  last year in college he was not a great 3 point shooter.

dboss

When an NBA team has less than 50 points in the third quarter of any game it is a total team effort.

Not sure that we should place the blame for such a bad game on one or two or even three players, and I am not deciding who to keep or get rid of off just the second game of the first round playoff series even if last night was a total team stinker.

Lack of shooting and lack of a shot blocker were once again exposed as team weaknesses, but neither of these are "new" news.

A few good moves this summer and we will be even better next year.

Wide

Agree 100%  it was a team effort.

Dboss

Sefelosha was on the Hawks last year

dboss wrote:This game as well as the previous playoff run and countless regular season games serve to verify that this team is very deficient when it comes to putting the ball in the basket.

As Bill Russell said it is all about making buckets.

This is the reason why I have repeated suggested that the Celtics must address their shooting in the draft as well as free agency and trades.  We need guys that can consistently knock down wide open shots.  

It has been a tremendous season for our team and the fight is not over but clearly the Celtics   are far from being an elite level team.

My message to Danny.  Stop drafting players out of college that have not established themselves as reliable scorers, ball handlers and passers.  Stop drafting bigs  that are physically deficient.  

dboss

so then one question becomes where does Danny spend that new cap space next year?

resign Sully and Turner to over priced deals just because money is there?

Might be hard to convince an elite NBA star in his prime that this team is ready to take the next step

does he just draft the best shooters (Hield) and hope for improvement from the youngsters?

I've hawked the idea of signing Gasol to a TWO YEAR deal this off-season as a possible option. Danny could probably offer him more than most will. he has size and has averaged about 2 block a game since he joined the Bulls. Savvy vet who has seen it all and can still be a go to scorer and is one the top rebounders still.

he's a taller though older Al Horford.

renounce all of Zeller, Sully and Turner and clear up about $30M in cap space.

then offer Gasol 2yr at $20M per year and J. Dudley 2 yr at $8m per. Dudley is one of the top 3 point shooters in the NBA.

draft Poeitl with the first draft pick ( he gets two years behind Gasol)

then trade both later firsts to move up to get Korkmaz the shooter and ball handler from Turkey.

starters
Gasol
Amir
Crowder
Bradley
Thomas

next five
Smart
Kelly
Dudley
Poeitl
Rozier

deep bench
Jerebko
Korkmaz
Mickey
Hunter
Thon Maker- early second round pick.

very possible option to get the team in contention next year and keep our future bright as well.