POST GAME TORONTO - HOME

mrkleen09 wrote:The away team with 21 free throws, home team with 13?  Tommy would be losing his mind.

dbrown4 wrote:I had a LeBron flashback last night.  Didn't he and most of his teams pull this in and out routine during the regular season in preparation for the playoffs?  No one can argue he didn't know what he was doing as he has this ridiculous streak of 8 Finals appearances and 3 championships.

Now, shift to the Celtics and their record once we get to the finals...17-4, right?  (I believe that is better than pocket Aces!)  Much better than LeBron's 3-5.  In other words, when we get to the finals, odds are REALLY in our favor to win it all!  We just need to get to the finals consistently.  I like that result a lot better!  

db

gyso wrote:

mrkleen09 wrote:The away team with 21 free throws, home team with 13?  Tommy would be losing his mind.

I imagine he'd be losing his mind because he understands the cause of the discrepancy.  Shooting threes early in the shot clock doesn't result in going to the line.  That's just lazy basketball.  Take it to the hole will result in more trips to the line.

That may be to much work involved for the modern NBA player to buy into.

gyso

dboss wrote:Leonard has freakishly huge hands.  see above image

bobheckler wrote:We played hard for most of the game, not as much in the 3rd quarter, and good things happened.  Go figure.  Raptor fans will talk about the absence of Valanciunas and CJ Miles, but Moose Monroe and Powell both had good games.  If V and Miles had been healthy and played that means that Monroe and Powell would have played less.  Monroe is only averaging 11.4mpg  and is averaging 5.2ppg.  He played 15 minutes last night and scored 11 and had 9 rebounds.

First, the obvious, when Kyrie Irving is in "god-mode" he is un-freaking-real.  He had 7 turnovers, to go with his 18 assists, but some of those turnovers were him making overly aggressive passes up court on fast breaks.  I'm ok with a couple of those because it incents his teammates to run the floor and it also forces the other team to get back on transition defense where they might otherwise have hung around our end of the court hoping to get a shot off an offensive rebound.  In other words it makes it more likely they are one shot and down on that possession because their shooters, or extra rebounder, are retreating.  I think it was Tommy Heinsohn who said that Cousy would deliberately throw the ball way ahead of Satch to make him run harder all the time.  I'm good with that principle as long as he doesn't get too crazy with it.  What I'm really ok with is that 6 of his 18 assists were in the 4th quarter.  He also had a block of a layup.  What a game by Kyrie!

Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 9 hours ago
BOSTON CELTICS WITH GAMES OF 18+ ASSISTS Rajon Rondo (10) Bob Cousy (5) Sherman Douglas (3) Tiny Archibald (3) Dee Brown Kyrie Irving


Morris with another weak offensive game, 2-9, but he played good defense on Kawhi in the 4th.  The other Marcus was trying hard but Kawhi was just too strong for him (think of that!  A player too strong for Marcus Smart to guard.  Damn).  Kawhi bombed away from 3 towards the end.  I think he might have been bothered by Morris' greater length.  

Tatum was 6-16.  That's 37.5% y'all.  He was 3-13 going into the 4th.  As people who are on the Game On! thread know I have a pet peeve with Jayson Tatum never giving up the ball on the break.  If he gets the rebound you should call your bookie and drop some money on him taking it all the way no matter what the defense looks like.   Last night, for 3 quarters, he was an offense killer.  It wasn't just his shooting (not even Marcus Smart shoots like that anymore) it was because of what I said above.  The kid needs to learn how to give up the ball and run.  He runs fast breaks without the ball but not if he touches the ball first.  Then he won't give it up.  To his credit he grabbed 10 rebounds.  That was more valuable than his scoring.

Big Al with the Big game, his biggest in a while.  Season high 24 points on 9-12 and 3-4 from 3.  Mr. Inside and Outside.  7 of his 24 in the 4th.  He's a consummate professional so it's a little inexplicable why he has stunk the last week or so but now comes alive in a big game?  It's unlike him.  This game, however, should put on hold the rumblings about him being past his shelf date.  He can still bring it.

Hayward too.  8-13, 18 points, 2-5 from 3 and 5 assists.  This is the "point forward" type of game Brad, and the rest of us, envisioned him playing for us.  A steal and a block also suggest he's moving to get to a spot without thinking first.  I'm going to say it again:  every time he has a game like this I want to hail his return but then he falls back.  I'm rooting for him, of course, but right now he's looking more like Jeff Green than Gordon Hayward.  He can be the best player on the floor for either team one game and then disappear for the next 3.  IF he gains consistency, and I have NO idea what that will take at this point since his ankle isn't the issue anymore, then we could become very dangerous.  IF.

Ya gotta love Baynesy, ya just gotta.  Breaks his hand, nags the shit out of the trainers to let him play until they do, and then goes out with a heavy wrap on his hand, his fingers all taped up, and makes a big impact.  Some players are larger than their stats and All of Australia is that to us.

Tom Westerholm @Tom_NBA
yesterday
Aron Baynes on getting cleared: "I think it was more they were just sick of me asking. I figure the more I keep annoying them, the sooner I’ll be out there."

Tom Westerholm @Tom_NBA
yesterday
Aron Baynes says he was just trying to get the Celtics moving on offense: "These guys can create a lot when you set a good screen, give them half a step."

When Baynes was asked about how his hand felt post-game he said "I feel great.  I'm not boxing out there".  I love Baynes.  He can come over for a Sunday BBQ anytime.  My type of guy.

Jaylen was 2-9 but I liked his aggressiveness and high energy.  Same with Rozier.  They played hard every minute they were in the game.  They are so athletic that when they play hard good things will happen.

Toronto took 25 fgas in the 4th and shot 40% (10-25).  We also took 25 4th quarter fgas but we hit 12 for 48%, 4-8 from 3.  That's championship basketball.

Kawhi is un-freaking-real.  He's a machine on offense and the best man-to-man defender in the league.  Think of how rare that is, how rare it is to be elite on both ends of the court.

Yes, Kyrie, this is the question...



Tom Westerholm @Tom_NBA
yesterday
The Celtics are 6-3 against the 76ers, Pacers, Bucks and Raptors.


This is the best record of the top 5 teams in the east vs each other.  Maybe we're just built for the playoffs?  That would make the Brooklyn and Miami losses less than footnotes.

Mark Murphy @Murf56
yesterday
Celtics' problem never seems to be the good teams. Rozier: "Maybe we should play the good teams all the time, then."


http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401071334




bob
Great recap, as usual, Bob. A couple of other small observations: Rozier's full court pressure , a/la Avery Bradley had the Prehistorics getting into their offensive sets late and double teams on Leonard were effective down the stretch. I seem to remember most of Kyrie's turnovers coming early on when the Raptors were dominating . It's hard to get back on D when you keep throwing the ball to the other team. I've been hard on Horford lately, but it seems his knee has been more of an issue than was publicly acknowledged. Finally, Baynes 3 pointer may well have saved the game. The sheer chutzpah of a guy who shoots as infrequently as he does throwing that one up is admirable in itself.


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gyso wrote:

mrkleen09 wrote:The away team with 21 free throws, home team with 13?  Tommy would be losing his mind.

I imagine he'd be losing his mind because he understands the cause of the discrepancy.  Shooting threes early in the shot clock doesn't result in going to the line.  That's just lazy basketball.  Take it to the hole will result in more trips to the line.

That may be to much work involved for the modern NBA player to buy into.

gyso