POST GAME CHARLOTTE - AWAY

Celtics Wrap: Boston Unable To Stop Kemba Walker In Loss To Hornets

NESN by Logan Mullen on Mon, Nov 19, 2018 at 9:24PM


In order to beat the Charlotte Hornets, there’s usually one thing you have to do well: neutralize Kemba Walker.

The Boston Celtics were unable to do that Monday night and they paid for it, falling to the Hornets 117-112 at Spectrum Center.

It was an even battle wire-to-wire, featuring 18 lead changes and nine more ties. The Celtics led by as many as 10 in the fourth quarter, but Walker fueled a Charlotte rally to give the home side the win.

Kyrie Irving led the Celtics with 27 points, while Jayson Tatum (18 points), Marcus Smart (14), Daniel Theis (10), Al Horford (10) and Jaylen Brown (10) also were in double figures. Walker paced Charlotte with 43 points and was one of three Hornets in double digits.

With the loss, the Celtics fall to 9-8, while the Hornets climb to 8-8.

Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE
PG: Kyrie Irving
SG: Jaylen Brown
F: Jayson Tatum
F: Al Horford
C: Aron Baynes

HORNETS CLAIM FIRST
In what mostly was a level first 12 minutes, the Hornets ended the opening quarter ahead 29-24.

A late surge by the Hornets gave them the advantage. Tied at 17 with less than three minutes to go, the Hornets used a 12-2 run to go up by 10 with one minute to play. The Celtics responded well in the final minute, however, scoring five unanswered to cut the lead to five.

Walker led all players with 12 points, while Irving topped the C’s with six points.

C’S HEAT UP
After a slow start to the second quarter, the Celtics impressively bounced back, outscoring the Hornets 32-25 as they took a 56-54 lead into the half.

The Celtics appeared to be fading, as the Hornets opened up the first 89 seconds of the stanza on an 8-0 run. But down by 13, the Celtics kicked things into gear, putting together a 14-0 run over 3:15 to go ahead by one. From there, the two sides started trading blows, as the Celtics couldn’t open their lead to more than five the rest of the frame.

Tatum had 10 second-quarter points, while Walker led all players with 18 first-half points.

NARROW THIRD
The third quarter picked up right where the second left off. Both sides kept going back-and-forth, with neither being able to create much separation. Ultimately, the C’s outscored the Hornets 31-30 and led 87-84 heading into the fourth.

It was an even affair for all 12 minutes. Over the course of the third, there were seven lead changes and three more ties. The biggest lead of the frame was seven, which was the Celtics’ advantage less than three minutes into the period.

Three players posted seven-point third quarters, including Irving.

BOSTON CAN’T HOLD ON
In a thrilling fourth quarter, the Hornets outscored the Celtics as 35-23 as they earned the win.

In need of some separation, the Celtics got some early on, beginning the first two minutes of the fourth on a 9-2 run to extend their lead to 10. That lead dwindled, however, with the Hornets regaining the lead with 7:30 to play.

Trailing 114-108 with less than a minute to play, Tatum knocked down a triple to cut the lead to three. But as was the case all night, Walker responded, knocking down a trey of his own to re-up the Hornets’ advantage. The Hornets then hit the free throws they were given to close the door.

UP NEXT
The Celtics will return home Wednesday for a tilt against the New York Knicks. Tip-off from TD Garden is set for 7:30 p.m. ET.

112288

IT'S OFFICIAL .......LET THE FIRST REAL TEST OF BRAD STEVENS AS A COACH BEGIN.

IT WILL BE INTERESTING TO SEE HIS APPROACH AND HOW HE WILL HANDLE HIS FIRST REAL CRISIS OF HIS COACHING CAREER.  IT WILL TEST HIS METTLE, AND IN AWAY, WE WILL SEE IF HE CAN RIGHT THE SHIP AND MOVE THE CELTICS TO DEEPER CALMER WATER, OR HIT A REEF AND FOUNDER.

I AM NOT ONE TO JUMP ON STEVENS WITH THE FIRST BAD STREAK OF HIS CAREER, HOWEVER TURBULENCE HAS BEEN SIMMERING BELOW THE RADAR FOR A FEW YEARS.

WHAT DO I MEAN.......YOU CANNOT KEEP PUTTING YOURSELF IN A HOLE NIGHT IN AND NIGHT OUT AND LOOK FOR MIRACLE COMEBACKS.  THIS HAS BEEN THE CASE FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW.  FURTHER, YOU CANNOT KEEP USING THE SAME OLD TIRED AND PREDICTABLE OFFENSIVE SETS AND EXPECT DIFFERENT RESULTS.  THE LEAGUE HAS FIGURED YOU OUT, AND THE SAME RESULTS CONTINUE ON A CONSISTENT BASIS.  

WHAT IS THE OLD EXPRESSION, INSANITY IS DOING SOMETHING OVER AND OVER AGAIN WITH THE SAME RESULTS !!!!!

BUCKLE UP BUTTERCUPS............WE ARE IN FOR ROUGH SEAS AHEAD!

112288

The Celtics loss by 5 on a night when they won most of the key statistical battles

FG% 50.6% to 48.3%
Assists 31-18
Steals 9-5
Blocks 6-3
TO's 12 - 14
Fastbreak pts  22-6
Points in the Paint 52-64

They scored 4 more points on fT and they shot 36.6% from deep to 28.% for us.

There were some good things out there tonight.  They were getting to the rim and we saw a lot more entry passes into the post area where Theis scored very well.  But when you go 9-32 from deep it does not help your case.

On the other side Walker was unguardable.  In my pregame summary I mentioned his volume of 3 point shot attempts and tonight he even exceeded that going 7-13.

When a guy is going nuts you have to make a decision on putting a double team on him and force the ball out of his hand and be prepared to rotate your defense.  That decision was not made.  Great offensive players are unstoppable once they get a hot hand.  That is just the way it is and always has been.

When you score 112 points you are supposed to win if your defense is really top notch.  

Other observations include the change in the starting lineup with Baynes in there and Hayward out.  That did not help as Boston was outscored in the first quarter 29-24.  The rotation looked different with Theis getting 16 productive minutes off the bench.

Jaylen Brown went 4-6 but only played 19 minutes.  On a night where he was playing well he got buried on the bench for the entire 4th QTR.  Hayward was in there instead and had no impact as he continues to struggle on offense.  Marcus Smart was in there I guess for defensive purposes but he also could not check Walker.  Again you have to double that guy or you will get beat.

Brad looks like a coach that cannot figure things out.  He is a hit or miss on the combinations he puts  on the floor as he searches for more efficiency.  Guys are being shuffled in and out of the lineup so fast it really looks like a college game.

Al Horford went 4-6 with 3 big blocks and 4 assist but he only had 3 rebounds.  Baynes was a bust and almost caused Tatum to get seriously injured when he pushed a guy into another guy who ended up slamming into Tatum on a drive.  We are not getting enough from our center position.  

So the beat goes on and the Celtics are no closer to playing quality basketball.  At  9-8 they are now 7th and close to falling out of the top 8.  The next game is with NYK.  Hope we can muster a win at home.

Hang in there Celtics fans.  This stretch may be painful to watch.

Hayward is playing scared, there was a play at the 11 minute mark of the 2nd when he moved without the ball, wide open at the rim and perfect pass and he jumped awkwardly and blew the bunny. Either of 2 J’s would have dunked that in an instant and Hayward was afraid to just do the simple play and jump fast and strong. I’m rooting for him, but he’s like a scared fighter and a scared fighter will get hurt in the ring. It’s gonna take some time, right now he’s afraid to finish in traffic.

Stevens has to figure out which players deserve to be on floor in winning time in 4th and in previous games Jaylen didn’t earn it, but was a mistake to freeze out Jaylen whole 4th, when Hayward was bricking up shots and passing them up. Jaylen had a nice bully ball finish and a Kyrie like finger roll in 3rd, he was finally looking like what we want. Should have won this game, Baynes made some nice plays shutting down around the rim first minutes of game, then never saw him....again at many key moments we got killed on offensive glass.

We better hope that Theis stays healthy. The fewer minutes for Horford at the 5 the better. I hope the Williams kid develops quickly. Hayward is more a detriment than a help at the moment and Stevens still plays him in crunch time. Stevens better wake up, this is not the college game where you can rotate 20 players. Also you stay with the hot hand, tonight it was Jaylen Brown.

Berlin-T

It's the elephant in the room. Theres a reason why our offense has sucked despite a collection of pretty good shooters. We dont run an actual offense and we have literally everyone taking threes even when they have no business doing do. We dont attack the paint consistently and we dont push pace. Even pedestrian defenses can figure out what we're going to do.

KJ

I honestly liked their overall offense last night.

They drove to the rim, they scored on post ups and on rolls to the hoop, they scored on the fast break, they shot the ball well on 2 pointers 36-57 .63%.  The black eye was the deep ball. They still took 32 3 points shots and only made 9.  You live by the 3 and you will surely die by the 3.  

I am more inclined to blame the defensive strategy.  Once again Boston lets one guy beat them.   How many games is that this year where some guy goes off?  Come on, our best defenders have been taken off the dribble all year.  Marcus Smart is our best on the ball defender but he is not quick enough to stay with quick guards.  

I am putting the blame on poor coaching.  They needed to double team Walker and force someone else to beat us.  Afterall he is not an elite passer  (6.1 assist and 2.5 turnovers)  You cannot let a guy shoot 7-13 from deep knowing that is what he has been doing and get beat off the dribble.  

There are however solutions to every problem and it begins with defending screens in the high post.  It is very difficult for a defender to fight over the top especially on tight screens and when the ball handler (Walker) is so fast.  Our big has to come over from the other side and challenge, not just show.  That may open up a roll  for the screener but if our big is able to shut down the dribble up top and challenge the shot or the pass they can stop that play.  

There are two ways to accomplish this.  First and foremost we need a 3rd defender to rotate over to defend the roll before he is already at the rim.  Most of our defensive breakdowns and defensive rebounding issues are related to that 3rd guy not being in position.

The second issue is with our bigs.  Neither Al nor Baynes are quick enough to cut the ball handler off as he come around the screen.  Sometimes they will get beat off the dribble penetration.  Most of the time that are just going to show but not engage.  Again a 3rd defender is needed to back them up.

A third consideration is Robert Williams.  He has the speed, length and tenacity to defend all the way out to the perimeter and he can actually check guards and recover.  If you tell him to cut off the ball handler he can do that.  I think Brad needs to get him some minutes just to see how this works.

Agree Dboss. The D needs to put more pressure on the opponents hot hand.
Re Gordon, I see so many good things about his game that I am not worried about him. Jaylen has me worried. Robert Williams has me hopeful, especially given our deficiencies at the 5. Sacto has me worried. What are they, 8-9? I hope they come back to earth soon.

IS THAT NOT BASKETBALL 101!

STEVENS SEEMS TO BE REGRESSING AS A COACH.

112288

This one was disheartening.  It was winnable and it was against a mediocre team.  We had a 10 point lead with 10:16 left.

Kemba Walker is the new Isaiah Thomas.  He is unreal.  Brad Stevens said it himself, you need to get up on Walker.  If you go under a screen you are dead.  He got way too many open shots and he has been unconscious this entire month with his scoring.

Here's how our players did defending Walker: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DscqxerWoAATIqb.jpg:large



Cody Zeller and Willie Hernangomez outplayed Aron Baynes and Al Horford.  10 points and 4 rebounds in 31 minutes for Horford and 2 points and 2 rebounds for Baynes?  Not acceptable.  Best game by Theis so far this season.  He really thrives in the pnr.

Kyrie was 12-25 but was 1-8 from 3.  That's a lot of empty possessions.  I realize he's a shooter and all good shooters think the next one is going in, but...he did have 11 assists.  Can't blame this one on Kyrie.  He can't be expected to go for 50 just because Walker got 43.

One of the reasons why we thought our offense would be so high-powered this year is because of the return of Gordon Hayward.  His offense has been, shall we say, underwhelming?  4 points on 1-6.  He rebounded well, but that's about it.  We all agreed (at least, I did) that he had until the end of November to find his game, his stroke.  Yesterday was 11/19.  The clock is approaching 12 and I get cranky when it gets late...

Smart was 4-6 from 3.  I have NO idea if that is going to continue, regression to the mean says 'no', but when he shoots like that, wow.  We talk about him when he's 2-11 and chucking up bricks without any conscience, it's only fair to give credit-where-credit-is-due when he's the hottest player on the floor for us.  His defense on Walker wasn't good.  Why did Brad keep that assignment?  Because Irving was getting torched and Rozier wasn't much better.  Where's Shane Larkin when we need him?

People are talking about how many 3s we take, and that we take too many.  Last night we took 32 and hit 9, 28%.  Charlotte took 41 and hit 15, 37%.  The problem isn't taking 3s, the problem is not hitting 3s.  Walker was 7-13.  Why wasn't he blanketed at the arc?

Statistically, we should have won this game.  50.6% vs 48%.  Nothing wrong with our overall shooting percentage.  In fact, if you take the 3pt fgas/fgm out of it we shot 63% from 2.  Our complaints on this board, recently, is how we're taking too many 3s, in part, because we're so bad at 2s, right?  Well, 63% is pretty freaking good.  It's our 28% 3pt fg% that's the problem.  We shoot 36% like them and defend like we normally do, we win a lot of games.  We outrebounded them, out-assisted them, had fewer turnovers.  They did take, and make, more fritos than us.  We hurt ourselves there.  We outscored them in the paint, 52-44.  Can't blame our inside offense, can we?

Clearly, something's not right.  Clearly, everybody isn't on the same page.  Is it the offense's fault?  Not this game, not overall.  Like I said we shot over 50%, we scored 112 points.  We are averaging 105.8ppg, so 112 is quite good for us, but we gave up 117 and let them shoot 48%.  That's defense, or lack-thereof.

Danny will give this another month, or two, and then he'll start twitching as we go into All-Star weekend and the trading season opens.

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401070920





bob


.

I'm with you 112288. This is Brad Stevens over the last 5 seasons gradually inching his way up to 7 minutes from the Finals and this season, crossing over what looks like the Grand Canyon to the Finals where hopefully he will sit until eternity.

I hate to think his methodical ways haven't planned for this last step as in the short term here it looks a little shaky. It should be plastered all around him. My money is on him to figure it out. Not to bring up the past in another world, but at Butler he did amazing things. Getting those two teams to the FINALS in 2010 & 2011 was no small task. No offense, but Butler was a no name school going up against the Goliaths. And got within 2 points of beating powerhouse Duke. So he knows how to get there. Now he just has to pull it off.

db

dBrown,

He is a smart guy and technically very sound basketball wise.  However, there are intangibles that separate the have's from the have not's and winning you championships.

I think there is a combination of things that is causing the Celtic's slump.

1) New Offensive sets.  

They need to get away from shoot happy beyond the arc  strategy and get into attacking the paint.   Attacking the paint does not mean just iso post- ups - mono a mono - but cuts to the basket without the ball while looking for a pass, pick and pop's ......setting up screens for uncontested shots.  I could make millions by betting on Celtic losses when they revert to chucking up 3 point shots.  

2) Beyond the Arc - The Stevens/Danny problem.    

I could make millions by betting on Celtic losses when they revert to chucking up 3 point shots all night.  

The problem Stevens has, he does not realize that he does not have a Ray Allan taking those shots or Larry Bird or Reggie Miller or Klay Thompson.  My suggestion.....GO GET A SHOOTER WHO CAN IF YOU WANT TO PLAY THAT STYLE BALL!  STOP BEING CHEAP DANNY!  YOU DO NOT HAVE A GO TO GUY WHO CAN SHOOT BEYOND THE ARC WITH HIGH CONSISTENCY THAT HAS PROVEN HIMSELF YEAR IN AND YEAR OUT!!!!!!!!

3) ON PAPER YOU MAY HAVE TALENT, BUT THIS YEAR THE TALENT IS NOT JELLING! I think there is some bad chemistry among the players and that is part of the intangibles that you cannot really see until actual playing begins. Look for a trade...maybe a major one to change the chemistry for the better.

112288

Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens had every reason to be very optimistic that Boston would take another step forward towards their Championship aspirations.  


The ability of the team to shoot the 3 ball with a high level of consistency was based partly on the the way they shot it last year as well as a healthy Hayward returning to form and continued improvement from some of the young guys.

Last year/This year

Al Horford            .429/.299
Jaylen Brown        .395/.275
Jason Tatum         .434/.387
Terry Rozier          .381/.349
Kyrie Irving          .408/.396
Marcus Morris       .368/.444
Gordon Hayward   .398/.283  Pre-injury shown under last year)

Horford, Brown, Rozier and Hayward are not even close to what they did last year.  

Our most reliable shooters are Kyrie and Jason and a surprise uptick from Morris.  Was last year a fluke?  Was it an outlier?  That is the question I am not certain about.  If it was more of a fluke then this team is in trouble because they have adopted the 3 point shot as their ultimate choice of weapons.  I keep waiting for the guys who are struggling to find their grove but now that there are 17 games already in the book it becomes more difficult to move the needle.

If this is actually reflective of their shooting ability some guys need to take a lot less 3 point shots.  It also forces you to think about scoring in other ways.  

I thought we had a starting 5 filled with really top notch 3 point shooters.  I'm not sure what we have anymore.