POST GAME INDY - AWAY

Berlin-T wrote:I'm going to say something that probably will not be very popular among some board members, but I am sick and tired of watching Kyrie playing hero ball during the last 3-4 minutes of the game.

It's dribble, dribble, dribble shoot, dribble, dribble, dribble shoot, dribble, dribble, dribble shoot. He almost NEVER passes the ball to a teammate. How did we get up by 19 points in the first half - by sweet ball movement.

I know Kyrie is a great talent and he made two clutch threes at the end of the game but one (if not two, I'm not sure of the first one) was a catch and shoot off a screen - not off his dribble.

BB is a team game and Kyrie should remember that he has 4 other teammates on the floor - some of them also very skilled.

Berlin-T

Berlin I think you are wrong about this.

Every great offensive player needs the ball in their hand because they are able to create off the dribble. Danny traded for Kyrie because Kyrie is an ultimate go to guy. He is as good as it gets.

Having a go to guy is something that Danny has talked about for a long time. IT was our closer the last two years and he did a great job in the 4th QTR. Kyrie is an ultimate go to guy. At some point perhaps Tatum will be another option as will Hayward. I want the ball in Kyrie's hand when the game is on the line. Like last night. At 1:37 he hit a 14 foot step back jumper; at 0:27 he dropped in a 3 pointer and at :10 he drops in another 3 pointer.

Those are big time shots with the game on the line.

dboss

Thanks for the comment, Bob. Those are great points on Jaylen Brown. I was thinking in terms of himself versus Tatum. Actually all of the comments here by everyone have been impressive. I agree Jaylen has improved so much from last year to this one.

Bradley had quite a number of flaws and it seemed each year he came back, he'd have one less. I guess a big part of basketball players getting better is time. It doesn't happen overnight.

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I don't think Kyrie Irving becomes a ball hog. He is simply the obvious go-to guy. And the best part of his game compared to Isaiah is he does not take the bruises and beatings Thomas was forced to. It's remarkable how I.T. does it. I liked him from the few times we played Sacramento. He was unstoppable. It's a shame his hip went bust. That becomes a big what if. If Isaiah was healthy, no way would Danny have included the Brooklyn pick or it just wasn't going to be the same deal.

It seemed brutal to trade Isaiah after all he went through. He could potentially become the reason the C's don't make it to the Finals. It's going to be a roller coaster no matter what. Even if the C's get to the Finals, they will probably become even more of an underdog against GS or perhaps Houston has finally arrived.

_____

But yeah, few players have no flaws. Perhaps every great player still had some flaws. And there can't be that many great players. So good players have more flaws to correct and scrubs are way up against adversity. It is sort of bizarre that in the game Smart hits nearly every shot and looks like Ray Allen or Pierce, his pg skills fell apart. Brown's inability to shoot free throws makes no sense or it's just no different than real life outside of sports. We are not robots and neither are athletes. The other side also has good players and want to win.

The best part of this recent slide (Omg, blow it up Danny, we've only won four of the last seven) is perhaps the target is finally off of the Celtics' back. The C's had become every scrub team's super bowl.

Here are some interesting stats on Rondo that show there is always room for growth and one never knows (e.g. Smart's jump shot). He was a miserable three point shooter for most of his career consistently hitting about 25% for a rough estimate. Since the trade to Dallas four years ago, he has shot them at .352, .365, .376 and .378.

I think Brown will eventually shoot 80% at free throws. He is too smooth at outside shooting to become a hack-a-player.

Rozier is only 23. It's on Danny. He will decide. If I worked for the Celtics, I'd advise players to avoid reading fan comments. We can't help but have favorites or opinions that might upset them. Jae Crowder let it get to himself. I think I saw something about Tatum reading comments saying he had an awful game, then came back to life, might have been from here.

And it was the other Bob who said in Brad we trust when everyone thought it was over.

Yes, I agree that is a signature win. The league might finally have some parity since Philly stopped blatantly tanking. The C's point differential has taken a big hit. It's been cut perhaps in half. I agree with the sentiment that all teams must be respected. Atlanta has played the Celtics tough. The C's have played GS very tough even when they shouldn't have had that ability in previous years.

The key is repetition. Smart does best when he doesn't overthink it, like with his first shot. Maybe that is why he seems to shoot much better in clutch situations. The players become more natural rather than pedantic. So Kyrie is the best option to ball hog because it is second nature to him at this point. Stevens is a genius because he looks at basketball as a learning process. Kyrie's next step is probably to become better at ball distribution. I truly believe LeBron must have stunted his growth for that skill. It will click with Brown and he will drain his free throws. Smart is fascinating because for better or worse he seems to be involved in 90% (sorry for hyperbole) of all plays. He's had a few nights like the one before, so it is difficult to say yay, Smart can finally shoot. But there is the chance he can. Look at Rondo nailing three pointers.

And sorry I keep bringing up Rajon. I know he is polarizing.

Smart has shot the ball well the last two games going 6-12 and a sizzling 6-8 from deep. His release is a bit more out in front and not from the top of his head. There is a confidence factor at work but he is really trying to maintain a different release point on his shot. It is not easy to learn a new shooting technique when you always shot it a different way.

I believe that he will improve his shooting percentages if he stays the course. It is not an easy thing for him to do. Whenever I am ready to throw my hat in the ring he shows some light at the end of the tunnel. He has finally climbed out of the 20's.

Bob very good post on Jaylen, I remember it took Scottie Pippen 3-4 years to really get his shit/game together and this was with the GOAT Jordan working out and guiding him as much as possible. In his early years he was a head case, he always came up small in big games. I am thrilled with Jaylen’s progress this year, it’s hard for still developing players to be on for every game, even if they are as talented as Jaylen, but gotta love the fire he’s shown vs Durant and Lebron. He wants the signature match up and plays as hard as he can and that’s all you can ask. As far as I’m concerned there’s 3 players we can never trade, Jaylen, Tatum and Kyrie.

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Pacers had a 91.8% win probability with 31.3 seconds to go.








bob
MY NOTE:  Probabilities are not certainties.



.

I thought it would be higher

Sure Rozier won the game, but the audacity of his expecting to become a starter some day is unacceptable.

jrleftfoot wrote:Sure Rozier won the game, but the audacity of his expecting to become a starter some day is unacceptable.

I have said before that Terry needs to up his consistency and improve the mental part of his game before he can even consider being a starter in the NBA. But I would much rather have a player with lofty goals, than a guy who is content to be a 8th or 9th man.

Jaylen plays a lot of time at SF still.

I still thinks that will be his primary position in the NBA over his career.

I see a lot of 3 guards out there for Brad during the games, Smart, Irving, Rozier and even Larkin.

we've played 33 games
thats 1584 min x two guard spots= 3168 minute total

Irving- 993
Smart- 943
Rozier- 763
Larkin- 267

those guys total 2966 by my math of the 3168 minutes at guard.

so Jaylen has played about 200 minute of his 969 at what would be considered a guard position


https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/2018.html

kdp59 wrote:Jaylen plays a lot of time at SF still.

I still thinks that will be his primary position in the NBA over his career.

I see a lot of 3 guards out there for Brad during the games, Smart, Irving, Rozier and even Larkin.

we've played 33 games
thats 1584 min x two guard spots= 3168 minute total

Irving- 993
Smart- 943
Rozier- 763
Larkin- 267

those guys total 2966 by my math of the 3168 minutes at guard.

so Jaylen has played about 200 minute of his 969 at what would be considered a guard position


https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/2018.html

Interesting numbers

mulcogiseng wrote:I'm sorry I missed the end of the game. I've been using Bob's link and besides all the threats from porn sites and who knows whatelse, the feed stops on a regular basis and I have to reboot. Guess what happened with less than 30 seconds to go? LOL

It's true that good teams will lose leads to bad teams. But because that statement is true doesn't mean that it should happen on a regular basis. This team has issues/flaws and denying that won't make the situation better. Let's not get fooled by the fact that Boston has been called the team with the best defense. Or that I have said we will get to the finals this season. Or because Brad is such a good coach.

I don't really call what Kyrie does heroball. It's not the same way that IT played when heroball was necessary to get the win. And he doesn't do it for the entire game. What I call it is breaking down the Defense. He does continue to pass but when the ball end up back in his hands with the clock running down he does his best. Yes, it can and should be cleaned up. But I've never seen anyone who can handle the ball the way he does. Even when it breaks down and he looses his dribble, he somehow recovers and makes it look like this was his plan all along.

I like Theis. Game in and game out he puts up solid but unspectacular numbers. He is becoming our consummate role player. So far its been mostly good D and scoring on putbacks or off the p and r. But he is starting to look for his outside shot and he has one based on previous performance in the Bundesliga. How much upside does DT have? I don't know. But I bet he can get a whole lot better and more productive and I hope that he gets the chance to prove just what he can do.

TRo you might want to start considering retirement. Sure, you may still end up a starter in the NBA but I doubt you will ever top last nights great play to end the game. You will forever be linked with John and Larry for stealing the ball. Times like this I really miss hearing Johnny's broadcast.

Good and Bad and Inconsistency. Those are the traits of this team right now. Wait, did I forget to mention the Leprechaun?  Lucky is back. No, not that Lucky. I mean the real one.

ps. just saw Bob's post and want to add this.   Jaylen's game has improved dramatically over last season. His handle is much better and yet still has a ways to go. His shot is much better yet still has a ways to go. But his fritos have not improved. But he often misses the front end and swishes the next attempt. He is a work in progress and his progress has been amazing. He works hard and I guarantee that he will be a much better player next year. It's all good with JB

mulcogiseng, don`t  forget the Gerald Henderson steal that turned  84 finals around

mulcogiseng

I could not agree more with your comments.

Jaylen will improve in all areas.  Considering that he is only 31 games into his second season, his development has been very good.  I was concerned when he got drafted that he was not a good shooter.  He is a very good shooter because he has excellent technique.  His free throw shooting has been horrible.  He needs to work on that so he becomes automatic.  Sometimes he tends to rush his first shot.  He needs to slow down and take his time.  He has a beautiful stroke.

His ball handling also needs to improve although he has gotten better since last year.  Danny would have been very reluctant to trade Avery if he did not think Jaylen was ready to start at SG.

Jaylen has the potential to be  a 20+ PPG scorer because (1) he shoots very well from the perimeter, (2) can get to the rim and finish and (3) he should be able to become an excellent free throw shooter.  

What an amazing situation to have 2 very young guys Jaylen/Jayson that have a tremendous amount of talent.

dboss