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Celtics Wrap: Late Marcus Morris 3-Pointer Gives Boston 100-99 Win Over Thunder

NESN by Nicholas Goss on Tue, Mar 20, 2018 at 10:34PM

The Boston Celtics were without five of their best players Tuesday night against one of the NBA’s most talented teams in the Oklahoma City Thunder. And they still found a way to win. Despite a depleted roster, the C’s led for several stretches of the game, and ultimately prevailed after a 3-pointer by Marcus Morris put Boston ahead 100-99 with 1.2 seconds left in the game. Tatum led the C’s with 23 points, whileMorris poured in 21. Russell Westbrook (27 points) and Paul George (24 points) led the way for the Thunder. The Celtics improve to 48-23 with the win, while the Thunder fall to 43-30. Here’s how it all went down.

STARTING FIVE PG: Terry Rozier SG: Jayson Tatum SF: Marcus Morris PF: Al Horford C: Aron Baynes

ON THE MEND The Celtics are dealing with a lot of injuries. These five players didn’t play versus OKC.

SLOPPY OPENING Morris was aggressive early, scoring the first four points for the C’s. The Thunder recovered from a tough shooting start, including an 0-for-3 mark from Carmelo Anthony on 3-pointers, to lead 8-4. The Celtics put an end to the run when Tatum attacked the basket and threw down this thunderous dunk. That was the only highlight of the quarter for the Celtics. They shot 7-for-21 from the floor and committed four turnovers in what was a sloppy 12 minutes of basketball. The Thunder went on a 16-5 run to go ahead 26-16 with a minute to play in the quarter. They led 26-18 at the buzzer. Steven Adams and Paul George led OKC with eight points apiece. The Thunder shot just 36 percent overall and 1-for-6 on 3-point attempts, but made up for it by hitting on seven of eight free throws.

CELTICS FIND THEIR GROOVE The Celtics started the second quarter with a little more energy and forced the Thunder to take a quick timeout two minutes in. Tatum’s defense on this block led to a Celtics basket on the ensuing offensive possession. The Celtics, led mostly by Tatum and Rozier, clawed within 36-34 with five minutes left in the half. Then, Rozier scored seven quick points as the C’s went ahead 41-40 with three minutes to play. The tide turned when Rozier entered the game at the 6:22 mark of the quarter. OKC ultimately finished the quarter a little better than Boston and entered halftime with a 48-45 lead. George paced the Thunder with 13 points, and Adams and Westbrook both chipped in 10. Morris and Tatum led the C’s with 11 points each. Tatum also hauled in a team-high six first-half rebounds. Boston as a team out-rebounded OKC 29-20 overall and 9-3 on the offensive boards.

BACK-AND-FORTH The Celtics jumped ahead of the Thunder 55-52 with a 10-4 run to start the second half. Horford, who attempted just one shot in the first half, opened the third quarter by hitting two early 3-point field goals. Tatum did a good job all game taking advantage of mismatches, including this one on Adams. A 3-pointer by Tatum extended Boston’s run to 11-2, and increased its lead to 57-54 with half a quarter to play. But the Thunder fought back, and a quick seven-point burst by Westbrook put OKC up 71-64. The Celtics trailed by nine at 75-66 with less than two minutes left in the quarter, but a quick 7-0 run, capped by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Shane Larkin, trimmed the deficit to two at 75-73. Tatum led the C’s with 18 points through three quarters, while Westbrook paced OKC with 22.

CLOSING TIME The Celtics and Thunder played pretty evenly to begin the fourth, with Boston tying the score 79-79 after an and-1 by Greg Monroe. George also committed his fifth foul on the play, but remained in the game. Larkin put the C’s up 82-81 with a 3-pointer, giving him 13 points off the bench. The score remained that for a while before George hit a 3-pointer to put OKC back ahead with 3:30 left. Anthony broke out of his slump to hit a 3-pointer of his own to increase the Thunder lead to 87-82. Tatum answered with a 3-pointer of his own, and then Anthony hit another one for a 90-85 OKC advantage. The basket also gave Tatum his first 20-point, 10-rebound game. Corey Brewer then hit another 3-point shot for OKC, who closed the game on fire from beyond the arc. The Celtics had a chance to tie or win with 7.7 seconds left after Anthony missed a pair of free throws, and Morris hit a 3-pointer to put Boston in front 100-99 with 1.2 seconds remaining.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT Rozier with the slam.

UP NEXT The Celtics begin a road trip Friday night in Portland against the Trail Blazers. Tip off is scheduled for 10 p.m. ET.

112288

That was fun. Ton of heart and lots of guys growing before our eyes.

Tatum is a stud - without a doubt, a perennial all star for a decade to come.

Larkin was a  spark plug. I really thought JT should have taken it to the hole on that final possession but it worked out. Thank goodness for missed free throws.Still no Yabu sighting.

I mentioned it at the end of the game on thread but I think it is worth repeating. Brad Stevens can flat out coach! Of all Danny’s moves signing him may be the best. (Assembling the 2008 roster is in contention also.)

The future is bright.

Two back to back 23 point games from Jayson Tatum, played great defense on George for the most part, was watching that match up closely. I see no reason he and Jaylen cannot be as good or better in a few years than George. Great hustle plays thru out whole game by Shane Larkin, gotta root for the always hustling little guy. Shane actually runs the point better than Rozier and he really gets after it on defense.

Amazing we even won with all our injuries and so many players off
like Semi and Al, hope Al can put this game behind him and get his
shit together.

Not sure Brad's coaching had any thing to do with it as OKC missed their last 6 free throws.

Celtic's got lucky, however it was a good effort.

112288

The Cardiac Kids Strike Again!  You cannot count these guys out until the final buzzer.

Mark Murphy @Murf56
yesterday
From stat guru Dick Lipe - these Celtics one win away from tying for most 1-point wins in franchise history with 6. '81-82 Celtics had 7. Two other teams also with 6.


Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
yesterday
Win Probability vs. Boston OKC - Nov. 3 - 94.7% Charlotte - Nov. 10 - 94.8% Golden State - Nov. 16 - 96.4 Dallas - Nov. 20 - 98.0% Indiana - Dec. 18 - 91.7% Philadelphia - Jan. 11 - 95.0% Portland - Feb. 4 - 88.5% OKC - Tonight - 94.3% The Celtics won all 8 of these games.


@ESPNStatsInfo
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The Celtics trailed by 5 with 16.8 seconds to go and won.

Entering today, teams were 0-884 this season when trailing by 5 or more points in the final 20 seconds of the game.



Our "Big 3" (Tatum, Morris, Larkin) hung in there with their Big 3 (MVP Westbrook, 5x All-Star George and 6x All NBA Anthony).  

And a child shall lead them.  Tatum is another player when he is playing aggressively.  I understand he's a rookie and he's trying to fit in and the game is probably still fast for him, but when he attacks the basket he is not a rookie.

A. Sherrod Blakely @ASherrodblakely
yesterday
With 23 points and 11 rebounds, #Celtics @Jayson Tatum becomes the youngest player in franchise history (20 years, 17 days) to register a 20 pt/10 rebound game. The franchise record was previously held by Antoine Walker (20 years, 165 days on 1/24/97). pic.twitter.com/UZ24hOqN8K

Scott Souza @Scott_Souza
yesterday
#Celtics coach Brad Stevens: We're just going to keep throwing Jayson Tatum to the wolves and asking him to make big plays at the end. Our young guys have made them all year.

Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
"That was an ideal pass," Jayson Tatum joked to Marcus Morris on his way out of the locker room. "Great shot, though."


Bill Doyle @BillDoyle15
10 hours ago
Paul George on Jayson Tatum @Jayson Tatum : He looks like a star, he doesn't look like a rookie. He looks like a star in this league. He has that confidence, he has that game and he's in the organization that's going to help him become a star.



What I like most about this quote is that he is giving credit and respect to the organization.  Paul George is legit, and can play anywhere he wants.  He is one of those players teams will do what it takes to clear cap space to get him, so this a big compliment.  He doesn't need to kiss anybody's ass.

I thought Mook was having an off game until I looked at the box score and saw he was 8-13.  I thought he was a mediocre defender when we first got him, I was told I was wrong and he was above average (especially against LeBron).  I am now reverting back to my original assessment.  He's mediocre.  His scoring, however, is very good.  He isn't intimidated by the moment and he loves, loves, loves to shoot.

KG called it:



Scott Souza @Scott_Souza
yesterday
#Celtics coach Brad Stevens: If we were looking for Marcus Morris for 13, 14 points a game before, we are looking for 16, 18 a game now. If he's playing the minutes he's playing now he can get them.


Monroe had a great night too.  Adams was able to handle Baynes but he couldn't handle the Moose.  His minutes have been creeping up.  I don't know how much of that is Theis' absence, probably some, and how much of it is him becoming more comfortable with Brad's schemes.  Either way it has been a long, long time since we have had a player that is almost unstoppable down low.  I think the days of the "under the basket scrum" are over.  Owners and players don't want to take the chance that someone will miss a season because of an elbow to the face as part the rebounding action, but having someone that commands attention down low and forces the defense to collapse on them still have a place.

Larkin is an energizer bunny.  He had 2 offensive rebounds just because he was running to the ball instead of waiting for it.  He is an absolute pest on defense.  No wonder Danny loves him, Danny lived to be a pest when he was a player.  Expect to see a lot more of him.

A. Sherrod Blakely @ASherrodblakely
yesterday
“Shane is going to be critical for us, with Kyrie out. He’s a big part of our team right now.” - #Celtics Brad Stevens

The players we thought would lead us, like Horford (2-9) and Rozier (5-15), had poor offensive games.  We shot 41.4% from the floor.  Throw in Semi's 0-6 and Nader's 1-7 and it's amazing we won with offense like that.  That's a combined 8-37, 21.6%, on 42.5% of our total fgas.  

Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach
yesterday
Stevens on importance of this stretch for young guys: "Semi guarded Westbrook in isolation, Carmelo in the post and Paul George off downscreens today. That’s about as difficult as it gets."


Our Magic Number to lock in the #2 playoff seed is now 6, with 11 games left.  I was thinking last night, when it looked like we were going to lose this game, that with Kevin Love now back for Cleveland and us being without Smart and Theis and Jaylen out for a little while longer and Kyrie being concerned with his knee enough to get a 2nd opinion that maybe we're not the "lock" for 2nd place as some people have been saying.  I'm going to go wash my brain out with soap now.  It is now abundantly clear that Brad and his coaching staff have done a magnificent job of making sure everybody on the team knows their role, their job and that makes it easier for the next man up to fill a hole.  They might not have the talent of the player they are replacing, but there is a coherency to the effort.

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400975805
























bob



.

Cs win rebound battle by 7. Very much a reason for a one point win?

112288 wrote:Not sure Brad's coaching had any thing to do with it as OKC missed their last 6 free throws.

Celtic's got lucky, however it was a good effort.

112288

+1 we had great effort whole game, however we went ice cold in 4th....was begging them to put Monroe back in, as soon as he came in he scored 2 much needed baskets after we blew the lead, why wait so long? Al couldn’t do shit on offense this game. He also had Semi in and no Tatum for that ice cold stretch, playing Semi is like playing 4 on 5 on offense.

Cowans

Agreed. We have prolonged periods of being in ice water...........at times I feel as though the players were passenger's on the Titanic jumping into the ice filled North Atlantic.

Brad is too slow to react and often let's teams increase their leads.

Brad has some good points to his coaching and some negatives. He still has a lot to learn about the NBA game in my opinion.

112288

112288

112288

BS did call a great play to give us the lead, Tatum executed it perfectly and our stretch 4 Morris came through and the play was so good Morris even had a wide open option in Horford.

However some of his rotations puzzle me, he’s been playing Semi too much, most of the time that kid can’t buy a basket. Time to play Monroe more, I’d start him as an experiment and get him used to playing with the starters, he can only add to that unit, make the game easier for everyone.

Give credit where credit is due. Brad Stevens is a terrific coach who has these guys believing in themselves. How many coaches
could get what he got out of that group of players last night? Everyone of them did something, small or big, to help them win.

Take it for what it is, OKC came in here thinking they could take the night off and still win and the Celtics shoved it right back at them in the end. They played harder, fought harder and WANTED this game. Shame on OKC, and you can put Melo in a bag as far as I am concerned.

A win is a win is a win I am proud of this team

cowens/oldschool wrote:112288

BS did call a great play to give us the lead, Tatum executed it perfectly and our stretch 4 Morris came through and the play was so good Morris even had a wide open option in Horford.

However some of his rotations puzzle me, he’s been playing Semi too much, most of the time that kid can’t buy a basket. Time to play Monroe more, I’d start him as an experiment and get him used to playing with the starters, he can only add to that unit, make the game easier for everyone.

Cow,

I'm all in favor of Monroe getting more minutes, and his minutes having been trending up, but he is not a small-ball 5 like Semi can be. Also, he does not have the mobility to stay with other small-ball 5s or stretch 4s. Semi's also a rookie and expectations should be kept low for that reason. The only way to get past being a rookie is by playing in the league for a year and gaining the experience.

Semi's shooting is bad, even by Smart standards (think of that!) however he is defending some high quality players. As Brad said Semi was guarding Russell freaking Westbrook in isolation. There is no way, none, Monroe could do that.

We're down Theis. We need a big who can take his 15mpg. Monroe can't take them all, not even with Morris taking some of them and especially not since I really do not want to see Mook playing defense against a 5. Any kind of 5. Semi gets shot over sometimes but he doesn't get moved off his spot, and Morris does.

I think Brad needs to tell Semi to start diving to the basket more, fewer "stand in the corner and wait for the ball" stuff. I'd like to see more player movement from Semi. Let's see if his defender can stop a 6'7" 235# bulldozer with arms bigger than their heads, on a cut.


bob


.

It is really strange, Semi's shooting has gone down hill. In the summer he was hitting those corner three's well. Now, it is worse than Smart ever hoped of being. He has a game very now and then where he hits his shots, but not too much. His defense has improved as the year has gone on, but to replace Theis? No way, but he may surprise us with some good defense along the way.

What's not to like about an improbable win?

Early into this season, Brad said that at some point everyone will play because everyone will be needed.   That's the way he coaches.  He coaches up and down this roster.  

Our 20 year old played like a veteran superstar.  Many years down the road we will reminisce about the year Boston drafted Jason Tatum.   High end talent.

I have referred to Morris as the black hole because he is not known to catch and pass but make no doubt about it.  Marcus is a professional scorer.  He has handle and is virtually unstoppable in that mid-range game and he can shoot the 3 ball.  He defends and he rebounds.  I have racked my brain in search of a reasonable comparison.   I see clearly that he has some Paul Pierce in him.  

Now that Larkin has knocked off the rust, he looks like he did earlier before the DNP's (coaches' decisions or injury)

Monroe can score but if he could play a lick of defense he could stick.  He just does not seem to have the quickness nor the anticipation to defend the pick and roll.  He went 17/6/3 in 22 minutes.  Hard to find fault overall.  He can score in the POST!

Brad said Nadar is going to play a lot.  Nadar has been struggling.  Like everyone else this is his opportunity to play and contribute.  Thus far he has been disappointing.

The same can be said for Semi.  Semi is an indecisive physical specimen.  With Theis gone, Semi will get to play the rest of the season and into the playoffs.  He has zero confidence in his shots.  Everything is to the left or to the right or TOO short.  The Celtics need for Semi to contribute at the offensive end.

Terry Rozier shot poorly and also had 4 turnovers that were all mental errors.  He still managed to score 14 with 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals.  Down the stretch he drained a big time three pointer.  Overall he has been a very bright spot for the Celtics.  I love his game.  I love the freak athleticism.  I loved his  steals and breakaways cause you know he is gonna jam that ball.

With 3 studs in street cloths (Irving, Brown and Smart) the Celtics refused to lose.  This one goes into the signature win column.  It was a hard fought victory.

It is funny, everyone knows that Morris hates to pass that ball, but make no bones about it, he is afraid of nothing. With Kyrie and Jaylen out, we need a scorer out there. Mike Gorman made the remark during pregame that Danny is going to have to make some decisions when it comes to the guards on this team, but let me tell you, from day one, Brad Stevens said,"Shane Larkin is going to play some very important minutes for our team". He is another one who has no fear. He
is terrific in the role he plays here. What Gorman was referring to I do not know. Smart? Rozier? Larkin? I would doubt that they will be gone, Rozier may want to go in another year, but
that is to be dealt with later.

Jason Tatum is growing up right in front of us. With Brown out he has taken his position and blossomed. What a joy it is to watch these kids grow.

This road trip is going to be tough, with a little luck Brown will be back to help out. I am worried about Kyrie, he goes and the season goes with him. How much can they take before it falls apart. But, every team goes thru a bad time, and hopefully we will too.

4 minute scoring droughts in the 4th quarter are almost always a death sentence. C's lucked out through some fortunate misses by OKC, but we need to figure a way to jump start our offense.


KJ

cowens/oldschool wrote:112288

BS did call a great play to give us the lead, Tatum executed it perfectly and our stretch 4 Morris came through and the play was so good Morris even had a wide open option in Horford.

However some of his rotations puzzle me, he’s been playing Semi too much, most of the time that kid can’t buy a basket. Time to play Monroe more, I’d start him as an experiment and get him used to playing with the starters, he can only add to that unit, make the game easier for everyone.

"BS did call a great play to give us the lead, Tatum executed it perfectly and our stretch 4 Morris came through and the play was so good Morris even had a wide open option in Horford."

Actually, during the post-game interview on Boston Sports TV, Tatum admitted that it was a broken play and Brad was yelling to him that he and another player were set up in the wrong place when the play began.

"However some of his rotations puzzle me, he’s been playing Semi too much, most of the time that kid can’t buy a basket."

As others have already mentioned, Semi is in there for his D, not for his O. He is able to stay with his man for the most part. Unfortunately, he has shown that he can't shoot - it might be why he was a low draft pick in the 1st place.

"Time to play Monroe more, I’d start him as an experiment and get him used to playing with the starters, he can only add to that unit, make the game easier for everyone."

I agree that Monroe should be getting more playing time. Steven Adams pretty much neutralized Baynes as he was 1-4 with only 2 pts., but Adams couldn't handle Monroe who was 6-12 and had 17 pts. in 21 min. Baynes is good for 15 min./game and with Theis out, Moose should get the bulk of the remaining 5-spot minutes. His heft and size give the C's an inside presence that they never had before in Brad's tenure. He's proven that he can score, although he doesn't have any vertical jumping ability - you don't see him flushing the ball. But size matters in the paint - he has his fair share of boards and blocks, and surprisingly, steals too. Some may sneer at his defensive inadequacies, but he is what he is - slow of foot on D, but an efficient inside scorer. If he was as good on D as on O, then he would probably not have been available for the C's to sign him.

Apparently, the C's dodged a couple of non-called infractions on that winning play.

http://www.nbcsports.com/boston/celtics/nba-congrats-celtics-win-they-sure-should-not-have-won

Nadir has been an enigma to me. He showed a lot of promise when he was playing in the G, nee D League, earning an MVP. He doesn't look very comfortable on the court and and just may not be able make it to the next level. Although he has all around talent, he doesn't excel in any one basketball skill. He doesn't have much size nor exceptional speed or quickness, which could help bail him out when he makes mental errors; nor has he shown that he can shoot, albeit he shot well with the Red Claws and in preseason with the C's. I'm not so sure it's just "Rookie Jitters" for him. Maybe he'll catch on in the future, but it probably won't be with the C's.

I'm no orthopedic surgeon, but from what I sense is that it's a matter of Kyrie's threshold of pain to continue playing this season. I would think he's getting a 2nd opinion to find out if he'd possibly do damage to his knee if he doesn't shut it down. If they tell him there's no risk, then he'll have to decide whether to play it out. Off-season surgery to clean-up and remove the hardware (screws) from his previous surgery are probably on the agenda.

http://www.nba.com/article/2018/03/20/report-boston-celtics-kyrie-irving-seeks-second-opinion-ailing-left-knee?cid=EMA_NBA_daily&uniqueID=699050802

dboss wrote:What's not to like about an improbable win?

Early into this season, Brad said that at some point everyone will play because everyone will be needed.   That's the way he coaches.  He coaches up and down this roster.  

Our 20 year old played like a veteran superstar.  Many years down the road we will reminisce about the year Boston drafted Jason Tatum.   High end talent.

I have referred to Morris as the black hole because he is not known to catch and pass but make no doubt about it.  Marcus is a professional scorer.  He has handle and is virtually unstoppable in that mid-range game and he can shoot the 3 ball.  He defends and he rebounds.  I have racked my brain in search of a reasonable comparison.   I see clearly that he has some Paul Pierce in him.  

Now that Larkin has knocked off the rust, he looks like he did earlier before the DNP's (coaches' decisions or injury)



Monroe can score but if he could play a lick of defense he could stick.  He just does not seem to have the quickness nor the anticipation to defend the pick and roll.  He went 17/6/3 in 22 minutes.  Hard to find fault overall.  He can score in the POST!

Brad said Nadar is going to play a lot.  Nadar has been struggling.  Like everyone else this is his opportunity to play and contribute.  Thus far he has been disappointing.


The same can be said for Semi.  Semi is an indecisive physical specimen.  With Theis gone, Semi will get to play the rest of the season and into the playoffs.  He has zero confidence in his shots.  Everything is to the left or to the right or TOO short.  The Celtics need for Semi to contribute at the offensive end.

Terry Rozier shot poorly and also had 4 turnovers that were all mental errors.  He still managed to score 14 with 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals.  Down the stretch he drained a big time three pointer.  Overall he has
been a very bright spot for the Celtics.  I love his game.  I love the freak athleticism.  I loved his  steals and breakaways cause you know he is gonna jam that ball.

With 3 studs in street cloths (Irving, Brown and Smart) the Celtics refused to lose.  This one goes into the signature win column.  It was a hard fought victory.

Handle really? When I think of handle I think of players that can also finish drives and pass and Morris does neither, it’s an adventure whenever he finishes a drive because he’s so slow with weak lift compared to most wings. He can shoot and score a little, run and finishing sure isn’t his game.

bobheckler wrote:The Cardiac Kids Strike Again!  You cannot count these guys out until the final buzzer.

Mark Murphy @Murf56
yesterday
From stat guru Dick Lipe - these Celtics one win away from tying for most 1-point wins in franchise history with 6. '81-82 Celtics had 7. Two other teams also with 6.


Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
yesterday
Win Probability vs. Boston OKC - Nov. 3 - 94.7% Charlotte - Nov. 10 - 94.8% Golden State - Nov. 16 - 96.4 Dallas - Nov. 20 - 98.0% Indiana - Dec. 18 - 91.7% Philadelphia - Jan. 11 - 95.0% Portland - Feb. 4 - 88.5% OKC - Tonight - 94.3% The Celtics won all 8 of these games.


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The Celtics trailed by 5 with 16.8 seconds to go and won.

Entering today, teams were 0-884 this season when trailing by 5 or more points in the final 20 seconds of the game.



Our "Big 3" (Tatum, Morris, Larkin) hung in there with their Big 3 (MVP Westbrook, 5x All-Star George and 6x All NBA Anthony).  

And a child shall lead them.  Tatum is another player when he is playing aggressively.  I understand he's a rookie and he's trying to fit in and the game is probably still fast for him, but when he attacks the basket he is not a rookie.

A. Sherrod Blakely @ASherrodblakely
yesterday
With 23 points and 11 rebounds, #Celtics @Jayson Tatum becomes the youngest player in franchise history (20 years, 17 days) to register a 20 pt/10 rebound game. The franchise record was previously held by Antoine Walker (20 years, 165 days on 1/24/97). pic.twitter.com/UZ24hOqN8K

Scott Souza @Scott_Souza
yesterday
#Celtics coach Brad Stevens: We're just going to keep throwing Jayson Tatum to the wolves and asking him to make big plays at the end. Our young guys have made them all year.

Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
"That was an ideal pass," Jayson Tatum joked to Marcus Morris on his way out of the locker room. "Great shot, though."


Bill Doyle @BillDoyle15
10 hours ago
Paul George on Jayson Tatum @Jayson Tatum : He looks like a star, he doesn't look like a rookie. He looks like a star in this league. He has that confidence, he has that game and he's in the organization that's going to help him become a star.



What I like most about this quote is that he is giving credit and respect to the organization.  Paul George is legit, and can play anywhere he wants.  He is one of those players teams will do what it takes to clear cap space to get him, so this a big compliment.  He doesn't need to kiss anybody's ass.

I thought Mook was having an off game until I looked at the box score and saw he was 8-13.  I thought he was a mediocre defender when we first got him, I was told I was wrong and he was above average (especially against LeBron).  I am now reverting back to my original assessment.  He's mediocre.  His scoring, however, is very good.  He isn't intimidated by the moment and he loves, loves, loves to shoot.

KG called it:



Scott Souza @Scott_Souza
yesterday
#Celtics coach Brad Stevens: If we were looking for Marcus Morris for 13, 14 points a game before, we are looking for 16, 18 a game now. If he's playing the minutes he's playing now he can get them.


Monroe had a great night too.  Adams was able to handle Baynes but he couldn't handle the Moose.  His minutes have been creeping up.  I don't know how much of that is Theis' absence, probably some, and how much of it is him becoming more comfortable with Brad's schemes.  Either way it has been a long, long time since we have had a player that is almost unstoppable down low.  I think the days of the "under the basket scrum" are over.  Owners and players don't want to take the chance that someone will miss a season because of an elbow to the face as part the rebounding action, but having someone that commands attention down low and forces the defense to collapse on them still have a place.

Larkin is an energizer bunny.  He had 2 offensive rebounds just because he was running to the ball instead of waiting for it.  He is an absolute pest on defense.  No wonder Danny loves him, Danny lived to be a pest when he was a player.  Expect to see a lot more of him.

A. Sherrod Blakely @ASherrodblakely
yesterday
“Shane is going to be critical for us, with Kyrie out. He’s a big part of our team right now.” - #Celtics Brad Stevens

The players we thought would lead us, like Horford (2-9) and Rozier (5-15), had poor offensive games.  We shot 41.4% from the floor.  Throw in Semi's 0-6 and Nader's 1-7 and it's amazing we won with offense like that.  That's a combined 8-37, 21.6%, on 42.5% of our total fgas.  

Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach
yesterday
Stevens on importance of this stretch for young guys: "Semi guarded Westbrook in isolation, Carmelo in the post and Paul George off downscreens today. That’s about as difficult as it gets."


Our Magic Number to lock in the #2 playoff seed is now 6, with 11 games left.  I was thinking last night, when it looked like we were going to lose this game, that with Kevin Love now back for Cleveland and us being without Smart and Theis and Jaylen out for a little while longer and Kyrie being concerned with his knee enough to get a 2nd opinion that maybe we're not the "lock" for 2nd place as some people have been saying.  I'm going to go wash my brain out with soap now.  It is now abundantly clear that Brad and his coaching staff have done a magnificent job of making sure everybody on the team knows their role, their job and that makes it easier for the next man up to fill a hole.  They might not have the talent of the player they are replacing, but there is a coherency to the effort.

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400975805
























bob



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I'm thinking you are referring to a conversation we had regarding Mook`s defensive prowess or lack thereof. I  threw out some stats regarding Morris` defense , including statistics indicating that  he had had more success defending Lebron than any other forward in the league . I don`t remember whether the stats were from 16 or 17. I am quite sure that I never said you were wrong about him being a mediocre defender, because I hadn`t seen enough of him to make a judgement regarding the quality of his defense. My recollection is fuzzy, Bob, but  what I recall is that " mediocre" is a much more complimentary description than the opinion you expressed. That being said, I don`t think that Morris is an outstanding defender. He is a decent team defender, who can be out-quicked and, occasionally overpowered. Great offense will beat good, even great defense in the NBA. That`s a flat out fact. Morris defense may have been over-hyped, or maybe he wasn`t called upon to defend 3 positions , as he is in the Celtics system, when he was a Piston. To put that conversation in context, the general consensus on this board , at the time, was that MM was a poor fit and his minutes should be distributed among the rest of the guys. I`m glad to see that folks have come around and started to recognize his fearlessness , with the ball in his hands , as a positive. I will , in a spirit of comity , agree that his defense could be characterized as mediocre. He`s not the athlete that Jaylen Brown is, nor the destructive force that is Marcus Smart. He`s pretty much on a par with the rest of the guys, IMO, and I haven`t seen any lack of  effort.

cowens/oldschool wrote:

Handle really? When I think of handle I think of players that can also finish drives and pass and Morris does neither, it’s an adventure whenever he finishes a drive because he’s so slow with weak lift compared to most wings. He can shoot and score a little, run and finishing sure isn’t his game.

Surprised to read this to be honest.

Weak lift?  Marcus is WAY up above Paul George and Stephen Adams as an example.



As for his handle, one of the best on the team - at least as it relates to getting his own shot.  Lots of great crossovers in this clip

Mediocre is fair of his defense, can shoot and can get his shot off, decent rotation bench player.

Kleen are you serious? Neither player is jumping straight up, Adams is too far away, just trying to bother him and George isn’t even jumping. If Morris is such a good jumper, how come he rarely gets rebounds in traffic?

I can't remember the last time I saw Marcus Morris get his shot blocked.  He has NO problem shooting over whoever is defending him.  However high he is jumping, it is high enough.

As for rebounding, Per 36, he averages 8 rpg, not bad for a small forward (better than Jae Crowder) and again, he is making 5 million a year for the next two years.

A star, no.  A bargain for the price, 100%

mrkleen09 wrote:I can't remember the last time I saw Marcus Morris get his shot blocked.  He has NO problem shooting over whoever is defending him.  However high he is jumping, it is high enough.

As for rebounding, Per 36, he averages 8 rpg, not bad for a small forward (better than Jae Crowder) and again, he is making 5 million a year for the next two years.

A star, no.  A bargain for the price, 100%

I shouldn’t be so hard on him, he’s been on 4 teams in 7 years, guess that is an NBA journeyman, good work if you can get it, wish I could have even played Div 1....