Post Game Thread - vs Washington Wizards, Home

[bobheckler]

Too bad there isn't anybody on that team we could use, that wouldn't come with an attitude about their minutes, because it is ripe to blow up.  They were largely healthy last night, while we only had 10 active players due to various impediments (Bradley, Achilles strain; Zeller, illness; Amir, sprained ankle; James Young, who gives a shit; Jaylen Brown, ankle sprain).  Both teams were on the second game of a back-to-back, so no fatigue edge either way.  Despite this, we won going away.  They aren't that good a team but they aren't that bad a team neither, their record this morning is 19-19, and are currently in the #8 spot in the EC.  So we beat a playoff team despite being seriously depleted.  Not bad.  Not a signature win, but a good sign that we have enough talent and chemistry that we should be able to make it through the first round of the playoffs.  Too bad the playoffs don't start today.  As Sam used to say "See me in April".

There was, apparently, some post-game drama as John Wall told Marcus Smart to "meet him outside", and Jae Crowder got into it a bit.  The Wizard players are saying we are a "dirty team".  

Michael Pina
@MichaelVPina about 10 hours ago
Otto Porter on the Celtics: "They're a physical team. They try to play dirty, and they try to take you out your game."

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Brian Robb
@CelticsHub yesterday
Al Horford on physical play: "We have a group that's going to fight. Our guys aren't going to back down from anyone and that's what it is."

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Chris Forsberg
Chris Forsberg
@ESPNForsberg yesterday
Five Boston police officers standing between Celtics and Wizards locker room after teams were barking at each other after buzzer.

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gary washburnVerified account
‏@GwashburnGlobe
Marcus Smart in a post-game scrum with about half the #Wizards players. He gets pulled away by team security. #Celtics


Funny, I've been thinking of us as a finesse team, not a raw brute one.  I saw them throw a few elbows, mostly Gortat and Smith, but I didn't see any bad takedowns or anything like that by us.  I think it's just frustration by them.  Personally, I'd love to work the video camera on anything between Wall and Smart and/or Crowder.  It would be like taking that classic shot of Mohammed Ali standing over Sonny Liston.  "What's my name!  What's my name!" Marcus Smart screams at John Wall.  Gotta love that Marcus Smart was ready to take on the entire Wizards platoon single-handedly.  Nobody has bitched about his shooting more than me, but you gotta love his ganas.  He is an absolute 1980s Detroit Piston bullyboys throwback.  




Here is Jay King's write up on what happened:

http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2017/01/jae_crowder_john_wall_beef_sta.html


Anyway, back to the game...

Isaiah Thomas is now the #1 4th quarter scorer in the league.  He scored 20 in the 4th last night on 7-12, 3-5 from 3.  He is unreal.  Just as you cannot quantify the value of Smart's ganas you cannot quantify the stone-cold ganas that IT has when it comes to loving the moment and wanting to own the 4th quarter like nobody else.  There are only 32 players in the NBA that average more in an entire game than Boston Celtic Isaiah Thomas scored in the 4th quarter alone last night.  And this is what we have come to regard as "normal".  Talk about needing a little perspective.

He even had a Bird-like putback of his own miss:

http://giphy.com/gifs/26DOzOY3eB0hcLTag

He even has a new shtick.  When it's the 4th quarter and he starts lighting it up he holds out his left arm and taps his left wrist with 2 fingers of his right hand, meaning "What time is it?  It's that time again".

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Boston CelticsVerified account
‏@celtics
After his 20 pt outburst in the final frame last night, Isaiah Thomas leads the NBA with 334 Q4 pts. The King in the Fourth. #NBAVote




Jordan Mickey got his first start and he looked very nervous in the beginning, but settled down a bit after he sat down and came back in.  He is credited with only 1 block but I saw two, for sure.  In the end I got what I expected:  a young player who has some talent but no experience.  His shot blocking, though, is a highly desired talent especially since the two he made were great recovery blocks.  Blocking a shot when the player comes to you, or when they turn and put the ball in your face, is one thing.  It is something else when they get past you on a drive and you can still block them at the rim.

Crowder finally had a good game after his recent post "don't cheer for them" slump.  7-10 and deadly from 3.  He outplayed the feisty but mostly ineffective Morris (I don't know and don't care which one he is).

Our 8 TOs in the 1st quarter almost did us in, but then we righted the ship and ended up with only 14.  A VERY sloppy first quarter.

In short, a very good game for us.  Our bench looked great.  Jerebko was motoring, Kelly played very well (6 rebounds and 2 blocks) and Rozier was fantastic.  He annoyed the living shit out of John Wall and Trey Burke and hit some big shots.  Tommy said "he's not going anywhere".  Well, someone is.  Bradley is a stud, I love his game, but is coming to the end of his contract, the next one will be BIG and he is highly respected around the league.  That's Danny-ish for "he's valued trade bait", and Rozier is definitely an up-and-comer.  If we don't give up Bradley as a key piece in a trade, I expect to see Rozier packaged as "special filler".

Just to put the cherry on top of last night, TJ McConnell hit a game-winning buzzer beater as Philly rallied to beat the Knicks.  That means that every team, except Brooklyn, has a minimum of 11 wins.  Brooklyn only has 8.  When you are the dregs of the league wins are harder to come by than losses and a 3 win cushion is nice.  The Miami Heat have played more road games than home games, so they will have more home games for the rest of their season, but Philly is reversed.  In the other conference Dallas and Phoenix are in the same position as Miami, with more road games played to-date, so they will have more home court advantages, as much as a team with only 11-12 wins can claim, finishing out.

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Chris ForsbergVerified account
‏@ESPNForsberg
With Philly’s hot streak, odds of Brooklyn landing the No. 1 pick are highest they’ve been all season via BPI. #netspick




http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400900004















bob


.

[Shamrock1000]

There was, apparently, some post-game drama as John Wall told Marcus Smart to "meet him outside", and Jae Crowder got into it a bit.  The Wizard players are saying we are a "dirty team".  



Funny, I've been thinking of us as a finesse team, not a raw brute one.  I saw them throw a few elbows, mostly Gortat and Smith, but I didn't see any bad takedowns or anything like that by us.  I think it's just frustration by them.  Personally, I'd love to work the video camera on anything between Wall and Smart and/or Crowder.  It would be like taking that classic shot of Mohammed Ali standing over Sonny Liston.  "What's my name!  What's my name!" Marcus Smart screams at John Wall.  Gotta love that Marcus Smart was ready to take on the entire Wizards platoon single-handedly.  Nobody has bitched about his shooting more than me, but you gotta love his ganas.  He is an absolute 1980s Detroit Piston bullyboys throwback.  


.

Yeah, makes me think John Wall might not be very bright. Either Marcus or Jae would absolutely destroy wall...

[dboss]

Bob

Nice post game review as usual.  I do not know what the board would do without you.  I browse through the forum thinking where is the post game review.  I do appreciate the work that you do here...fantastic stuff

About the game.  The Celtics won this game because of IT.  Yes there were contributions from a lot of players but once again IT put his stamp on the game.  By the way he had two putbacks not one.  

It is nice to see Gerald Green become part of the rotation.  I think his experience and veteran leadership may have been overlooked.  He needs to be the backup behind Crowder instead of Jalen Brown.  I like brown and he has the potential tools to develop into a very good player but I am not playing the 20 yr old rookie over Green.  Brown has time to develop.

The Celtics really struggled to defend Beal.  Can't stand that Smirky look he gives after making a basket.  The Celtics missed Bradley and if not for the heroics of IT we could have lost this game.  Bradley is going to miss the Atlanta game tomorrow.  I was getting ready to buy tickets 1st row behind the Celtics bench.  I talked to my wife and she was like yes but by the time I went back to buy the tickets they were already gone.  The tickets were $233 each but I was going to get them anyways.  Now I'm like F...that I will watch it on TV.

Was that a Mickey sighting?  Wow Jordan Mickey actually played in a game and was actually starting.  The only way to get better is to get better playing.  

30 points off the bench, 19 boards and 6 assists.  Not bad.

Nice bounce back from Crowder and as usual our lead pit bull, Smart was here there and everywhere.  

John Wall was 4-21.    That kid Porter kills us every time we played them.

Celts continued their impressive 3 point shooting going 17-41.  but I still hate the fact that so much of their offense relies on making 3 point shots.

Bob  I do not think that Boston should trade Avery Bradley.  My thoughts begin with the notion that we do not have to add a high end player to win.  We do need another big but that big does not have to be a high end center.  Give me a lunch pail guy and I'm good.  Perhaps more importantly, Bradley was drafted by Boston and has done everything asked of him.  Each year he comes back with a new wrinkle in his game.  He gave the Celtics a hometown discount when he signed before.  He is still young and I truly believe that he has another notch to hit.  I appreciated his loyalty to the team and I think the Celtics should do the same for him.  Beside unless we are getting a top 10 player and that player fills a particular need I see no good reason to move Bradley.  Bradley is a rare commodity that combines 1st team level defense with significant offense and is the best all around player on this team when you consider playing both ends of the court.  

The Celtics can probably acquire a lower level center without moving any of our core players.  The BIG key to building a championship team is to keep your core and add to it.  The Celtics still have enough high draft picks to find those players.  Believe in the process!

Right now we are a 2nd level team but i think the distance between us and the truly Elite teams is not as big as we may think.  

dboss

[Shamrock1000]

Interesting posto dboss. I think you nicely articulate a feeling a lot of us are having. For years, most of us have been on the "collection assets to trade for a superstar" bandwagon. All our picks are the most obvious assets, but guys like IT and Bradley are often lumped in this category of potential trade pieces for a star. The delightful wrinkle is that these guys are emerging as stars in their own right. At this point, it would be hard to win a trade with IT going out, and Bradley is not far behind. The catch 22 is that we feel we are one piece away from contending, but what we would need to give up to get that piece drops us out if contention. One alternate paths us to continue to draft and develop talent. Another is maybe we don't need a superstar, but rather the right star. Our weaknesses have been discussed in great depth. Maybe we could improve in those areas without giving up the farm. It ain't easy making these types of calls. I guess that's why Danny gets paid so well.

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