POST GAME ORLANDO - AWAY

Celtics Wrap: Boston Drops Second Straight With 105-103 Loss Vs. Magic

NESN by Lauren Campbell on Sat, Jan 12, 2019 at 9:21PM

The official second half of the NBA season did not go in favor of the Celtics, as missed 3-pointers haunted Boston on Saturday night.

Despite having six players in double-digit points, the Magic was too much for the Green as they dropped their bout to Orlando 105-103 at Amway Center.

The Celtics were an abysmal 8-of-32 from distance, but shot 68 percent of their free-throws and 42 percent from the field.

Kyrie Irving led Boston with 24 points, while Marcus Morris Sr. (17), Jayson Tatum (16), Jaylen Brown (13), Al Horford (10) and Marcus Smart (10), all reached double figures. Magic’s Aaron Gordon paced all shooters with 28 points and Terrence Ross chipped in 25 in their team’s victory.

With the loss, the Celtics slipped 25-17 to, while the Magic climbed to 18-24.

Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE:
PG: Kyrie Irving
SG: Marcus Smart
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Marcus Morris Sr.
C: Al Horford

EVENLY MATCHED FIRST
It was a weird start to the opening 12 minutes as Boston was awarded two free-throws on the first possession. Tatum sunk both and the Celtics went on a 5-0 run before the Magic got on the board. The Celtics dominated on the court, rolling out to a 14-5 lead, but the Magic pulled within four.

Boston pulled away again with help from Smart when he delivered a sweet behind-the-back layup to up the lead to 18-10.

Much as they had all quarter, the Magic continued to chip away at Boston’s lead and came within a point in the final minute and would end the first by tying it up at 19-19 after a 9-1 run.

Smart and Morris led the Celtics with five points a piece, while Hayward was held scoreless in his first six minutes. The team struggled mightily from the charity stripe going a mere 2-for-8 and 3-for-10 from beyond the arc.

Gordon paced all shooters with 11 points.

BOSTON COMES ALIVE
The Magic came out roaring to begin the second, earning their first lead of the game to begin the quarter before marching to an 8-0 run. C’s head coach Brad Stevens to called a timeout at just the 10:36 mark with his team down 27-19.

Tatum and Hayward went back and forth with one another to ignite the Boston offense when Tatum hit a jumper before Hayward sunk his first points of the night to pull within six.

He sunk both of his free-throws before Tatum added two more points to cut the Magic’s lead to two.

Boston continued to run the court with a 17-3 run to take a 38-32 edge and forced Orlando to call its second timeout of the quarter.

Morris hit a step-back three to extend Boston’s lead to nine and was one of three Celtics to have 10 points en route to the 51-41 lead at the half.

Gordon continued to lead all scorers with 13 points despite being held to just two in the second quarter.

CELTICS’ OFFENSE DOMINATES
The Celtics had many ways to find offense in the third and helped them take a 77-72 lead into the final 12 minutes.

Tatum hit back-to-back fadeaway jumpers to up Boston’s lead to 12 at the 7:49 mark of the quarter, while Irving consistently carved up Orlando’s defense to create some prime scoring opportunities.

Orlando brought the score within five to end the third thanks in part to Ross’s nine points in the final 1:48 of the quarter.

Morris led the Celtics with 15 points with Tatum right behind tallying 14. Gordon, as he had all game, led everyone with 17 points.

TOO MUCH MAGIC FOR BOSTON
The Celtics were clinging to a two-point lead for several minutes in the fourth as both teams had trouble finding the basket before Gordon tied it up at 82-82 at the 8:16 mark and forced Stevens to call a time out.

It didn’t seem to work the way it had earlier in the game for Boston as the Magic went on a 9-2 run to take a 91-84 lead with 5:57 remaining. Boston would chip away at the lead bringing the game within four with just over three minutes to play. But Orlando just wouldn’t let up.

Boston made it interesting being down 104-103 with 10 seconds remaining, but couldn’t finish the job despite its best effort in the final seconds as Orlando drew a foul to go up two. Tatum missed an 18-foot jumper at the buzzer to send the Celtics out of the Sunshine State with a loss.

PLAY OF THE GAME
My goodness, Kyrie.

UP NEXT
The C’s continue their road trip when they travel to Brooklyn to take on the Nets on Monday. Tip-off from Barclays Center is set for 7:30 p.m. ET.

112288

The 3 ball is not going in some games so you have to find other ways to score.  8 missed free throws and poor 3 point shooting.  Together that's a killer.

There was a play in 4th where GH went to the rim from left side, didn’t go fast and strong, hesitated letting the defense catch up and by the time he gathered himself and put the ball up SWAT!!! On the Game On thread I immediately said to get Hayward out of there. This team has a lot of rotational and role problems. Instead of having Tatum and Brown work around adapting to Hayward’s game, Brad should be getting those guys rolling first, like they rolled in last years playoffs, then get Hayward going, playing off them. Hayward right now cannot carry this team, the 2 J’s can and have, but are not getting steady minutes with the right aggressive roles/shots. 

They were carrying us last year as babies, now we limit them? If GH was on and rolling, that would be one thing, but he only seems to have big games against the Timberwolves. Right now I’d play GH 12-15 minutes a game. Brad better figure this out. We’ve seen Jaylen put up points in bunches when he gets going in a variety of ways, 5-9, 2-3 from 3 in 24 minutes is not using a weapon/young stud enough. Williams gets 2 minutes?

Kyrie visibly upset with Hayward. Not sure why. No one got open except fot Tatum.

dboss wrote:Kyrie visibly upset with Hayward.  Not sure why. No one got open except fot Tatum.

Where were some of those great in bounds plays we saw last year?

Glad he didn’t shove him....

The elephant in the room is who gets the minutes. At times our depth looks diluted. Still no reason to lose to a bad team again.

I really thought this team would be great. The season is really flying by. When will they find their niche.

Our depth should be a strength, but for some odd reason it’s diluting us.

This teams chemistry needs changing and fast.  Seems some players are on one page and others are on a different page.

Look for a small deal by Ainge before Feb. deadline to send a message to the rest of the team because this team is not jelling.

112288

cowens/oldschool wrote:

dboss wrote:Kyrie visibly upset with Hayward.  Not sure why. No one got open except fot Tatum.

Where were some of those great in bounds plays we saw last year?

When the Magic had the ball with a little over 10 seconds left Boston tried desperately to steal the ball but in doing so a lot of time went off the clock. Just not enough time to execute a good play.

But free throws do not matter. Just keep shooting the 3 ball. That is now the signature of the Boston Celtics. They shoot threeeeees

112288 wrote:This teams chemistry needs changing and fast.  Seems some players are on one page and others are on a different page.

Look for a small deal by Ainge before Feb. deadline to send a message to the rest of the team because this team is not jelling.

112288

Just not sure a tweak changes anything. A new player would have to be integrated into the team. Right now substitution patterns are all over the place.

112288 wrote:This teams chemistry needs changing and fast.  Seems some players are on one page and others are on a different page.

Look for a small deal by Ainge before Feb. deadline to send a message to the rest of the team because this team is not jelling.

112288

A lot of that is on Brad and I’m not saying to get rid of him, but it’s obvious if you watch this team they are not getting the best out of everybody, too many teams, Spurs, Nuggets, Pacers are all jelling with much less talent then us. We haven’t found ourselves, are we a 3 point team, a defensive effort team, a running team, I don’t even know?

dBoss

Just a message that no one is safe with trader Danny. Call it a kick in the butt.

I am just wondering if Brad and the coaching staff are beginning to wear on the players. Remember, Irving had a small dust up with Brad and now Morris and Brown. Something is just odd, I sensed this before the season started. I never thought they played as one unit.

Puzzling...................

112288

112288 what deal you thinking?

Cowan,

You beat me to Brad. I have this philosophy that when more hands touch the ball on a possession.............the more you play as one unit. Too much shooting 3 point shots or pure isso plays, takes the rest of the players on the floor out of the game causing them to be out of the flow of the game or put another way, out of sync.

112288

cowens/oldschool wrote:112288 what deal you thinking?

I would look at some young fringe players with some talent.  Maybe Ojeleye or Yabusele and throw in a 2nd round draft pick for a real knock down shooter off the bench.

Where was Robert Williams beyond his 2 minutes of court time tonight?

The problem is this team does not know what team it wants to be on the court.  Is it a 3 point guns a blazing team like Houston, is it a lock down defensive team that can shut you down for long periods of time, is it team oriented with many touches per possession creating a balanced offensive attack - inside in the paint with some 3 ball when defenses sage?

I think this question of .........what team am I,  is due in large part to Brad Stevens.  I mean, some nights that's all they due is attack the paint and distribute the ball, other nights its isso ball, while other nights is.....let's jack up the 3 ball.

At this point I think Brad is all f@!ked up.  He needs to get down to basic Celtic winning ball...........play hard defense and attack the paint, the wins will follow!

112288

112288 wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:112288 what deal you thinking?

I would look at some young fringe players with some talent.  Maybe Ojeleye or Yabusele and throw in a 2nd round draft pick for a real knock down shooter off the bench.

112288

 I wouldn’t mind a player like Terence Ross, he killed us tonight, Rozier never goes off like that this year.

112288 wrote:Cowan,

You beat me to Brad.  I have this philosophy that when more hands touch the ball on a possession.............the more you play as one unit.   Too much shooting 3 point shots or pure  isso plays, takes the rest of the players on the floor out of the game causing them to be out of the flow of the game or put another way, out of sync.

112288

We played like that recently vs Pacers, but on the road we come up short, great teams can play on the road. Nets game is gonna be a big road test, see what this team is made of. Kyrie and Rozier 0-10 from 3 tonight, live by the, die by....that’s this era.

cowens/oldschool wrote:

112288 wrote:Cowan,

You beat me to Brad.  I have this philosophy that when more hands touch the ball on a possession.............the more you play as one unit.   Too much shooting 3 point shots or pure  isso plays, takes the rest of the players on the floor out of the game causing them to be out of the flow of the game or put another way, out of sync.

112288

We played like that recently vs Pacers, but on the road we come up short, great teams can play on the road. Nets game is gonna be a big road test, see what this team is made of. Kyrie and Rozier 0-10 from 3 tonight, live by the, die by....that’s this era.

Cowan you bring up a good point about this era basketball and "live by the, die by".   That is the problem, its a HERD MENTALITY....... these teams are doing it so we need to do it.    HOW ABOUT THINKING OUT OF THE BOX AND CREATE YOUR OWN STYLE AND HAVE PEOPLE BEGIN TO COPY YOU!

In my humble opinion its the latest fad, the shiny object that looks so great until you take the light away from it.  This era will soon fade into the sunset.

112288

Kyrie Irving sounds off

Boston fell 105-103 in Orlando on Saturday night. On the Celtics’ final possession, Irving did not touch the ball, and Jayson Tatum missed a tough baseline jumper at the buzzer that would have tied the game. Irving appeared frustrated with Gordon Hayward, who inbounded the ball on the play. When asked about his on-court reaction, Irving was terse: “Next question. J.T. got a good look, so let’s move on.” – via USA Today Sports


When he expanded on the Celtics’ overall state, though, Irving had plenty to say. A team that most expected to be one of the league’s best is currently 25-17 and in fifth place in the Eastern Conference. To Irving, the team’s struggles boil down to one thing. “Experience,” he said. “We’re lacking it, and because of that we have a lot of learning to do.” Irving later added: “The young guys don’t know what it takes to be a championship level team. What it takes every day. And if they think it is hard now, what do they think it will be like when we’re trying to get to the Finals?” – via USA Today Sports
Top Rumors,


He added later: “What’s the big picture? What are we doing here? These are things I don’t think some of my teammates have faced of just every single day. It’s not easy to be great. So the things you’re doing, that you’ve done your entire career of being able to coast by in certain situations and you’ve gotten away with your youth and stuff like that, being on a championship ball club, you can’t get away with that.” – via Boston Globe

“We’re better than most teams in this league,” Irving said. “It’s just going out and proving it every single night and demanding it and actually showing it. So until we do that every single night and realize our depth is a positive, and all the wishes and could-haves and should-have-done-that, once that goes out the window, then we’ll be better. But until then, we’re going to keep having these ups and downs.” – via USA Today Sports


Adam Himmelsbach: Kyrie is sitting at his locker just staring straight ahead. Hasn’t showered yet. Most of the other players have already dressed and left. – via Twitter AdamHimmelsbach



Maybe he was thinking that "I want to be back here" statement was premature?

remember he said earlier this team needs another old vet.

something to keep an eye on if they continue to under achieve this year, I think.

This loss came down to two things, in my opinion:  Terrence Ross and fritos.  Ross went off big-time.  He was hitting shots from everywhere with people draped all over him.  This happens.  Players just suddenly become Superman and you're trying to stop them and it isn't easy.  That is especially true for streak shooters like Ross.  They just have to hit a couple of tougher shots and then they'll all go in.  They took 24 fritos and hit 22 for 92%.  We took 4 more fritos, 28, but only hit 19 for 68%.  We are the 6th best ft% team in the league, 79.9% after last night.  Last night was an aberration, it was just an untimely aberration.  Gordon Hayward shot 2-5 from the line last night.  He's shooting 85% on the season and is 82% career.  If he just shot his average that he's been building on all season he should have hit 5-for-6, 87%.  There's the 3 points we needed to win.  You can't blame a player who is an excellent frito shooter for having an off night, everybody has off nights, even Larry Bird had them, but they cost us last night.  Marcus Morris is shooting almost 87% from the line for the season but was 2-4 last night.  There's at least 1 more point we should have had without changing anything else.  If our top two frito shooters just shot their averages from the line we win, despite all our other woes.  They didn't, so we didn't.

Notice that I talked about "this loss".  What I'm afraid of is that this loss isn't the real problem and Kyrie knows it.  As has been pointed out Kyrie called out our younger players, again.  Who are our "younger players"?  Tatum, Brown and Rozier, right?  Tatum was 6-16.  He started off ice cold (0-5 in the first quarter, 3-9 at the half) and then went a still weak 3-7 in the 2nd half.  Neither a good shooting percentage nor a lot of shots.  What's more worrisome is that he is shooting < 40% over the past 10 games, so it's not just a bad game or two, it's a slump.  Brown had an ok night but he's off this year as we all know.  Rozier, of course, is stinking the place up and not just this place but everyplace we've played this year.  0-5, 0-3 from 3 and didn't stop anybody.  I am becoming convinced that it's all in their heads.  Tatum's head got fucked up by Kobe and Brown and Rozier still have visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads from the playoffs last year when they were the BMOCs.  We thought that experience would make us better, deeper.  Instead it just gave us a bunch of egocentric multi-millionaire kids who are gargling their own bathwater and calling it Perrier.  Danny is now wondering if he can wait until the off-season to do sign-and-trades with Rozier so he can pump his salary up so the numbers will work for Davis. Unfortunately, the time to sell Rozier was at his high water mark which was after Game 6, not 7, of the EC Finals.

Our bench was 10-29.  Take out Brown's 5-9 and the rest of the bench was 5-20. Excrement, where is thy stink?

This loss hurt, and it was avoidable, but it's not what scares me.  Brad cannot fix lack of ganas, but Danny can, and the trade deadline is only 3 1/2 weeks away.




bob


.

There are different challenges every game but we tend to lump them altogether in some nice little package and give it a label.

The Celtics lost this game because they simply could not make shots and they could not alter the score by getting stops.

The Magic have stung this team twice his year.  It happens.  The Celtics are built as a 3 and D team with more wings than a lunch special.  The thing is other teams also have pretty decent wings with length.  They can and will match up well (Toronto, Milwaukee and yes Orlando)  Ross did not really shoot the ball well going 8-20 but how many times has he hit a big shot against Boston even when he was in Toronto.   No surprise there.  We are going to struggle to win game because we do not have enough athleticism at the 4.  

It is as plain as the nose on your face.  Brad cannot win using either Tatum or Hayward at the 4.  They are not power forwards they are wings .  A power forward is a guy like Giannis or Serge or even Gordon who beat their stank ass last night with 28 points and 12 rebounds.

Rotation minutes are obviously a factor but the bottom line is that the roster configuration is flawed because our front line is flawed.  Guess what.  Marcus Morris is having a career year and has been shooting the ball at a great clip.  However I do not see him as a big.  I do not see a 4.  I see a wing player.  PF have to rebound the ball and help defend the post.  He does not do that.  I would be more impressed if he was averaging 8-10 rebounds per game and getting a few blocks than being a long distance shooter.  So he gets a lot of praise for his career year which by NBA standard is pretty average.  I understand he makes 3 point shots.

Al had a rare double double last night.  So we should see him do that maybe 2 or 3 more times this year.

There are too many tweeners on this team for my liking.

Dboss great post, I know Morris is having a career year scoring, but we have plenty of guys that should be able to score if they are just avg versions of themselves. Morris is too slow to cover most wings and offers minimal rim protection, if he goes we would be better overall by plugging in a better big defender. What’s more concerning is Rozier’s season long slump, Tatum’s recent slump and GH’s continued slow response back from his injury.....

Having too many wings and putting them at other positions hasn’t worked to the degree it should for us, so much for positionless basketball...???

dboss wrote:Kyrie visibly upset with Hayward.  Not sure why. No one got open except fot Tatum.

If they had run what was said to be the 2 OTHER options- Al or Kyrie, they’d had a much better chance of succeeding. No way does Kyrie not touch the ball in that situation (unless Al got open).
Tatum’s fade away in the corner was low percentage and in my opinion the worst of the 3 options.