Celtics Beat Hawks 112-107

Lets's begin with awarding the game ball to rookie Romeo Langford.

I have wanted to see him play all year.

This is exactly why I said I didn't want him involved in any trades a couple days ago. You can see when he is on the floor how much talent he has. I can see him being a very good player if two things happen, he avoids injuries which have hampered him so far, and last but not least if he has that "want to" to improve his game. He has some real touch and moves around the basket. Looks like a good backup to Jaylen. Hope Stevens keeps giving him regular minutes.

Romeo has great off the ball instincts, some players need the ball in their hands all the time, off the ball they don’t do anything. Kyrie, Morris, Rozier were like this to name a few, Kemba can also play without the ball as can our 3 elite wings, those other guys were either too selfish, too slow or just didn’t get it and had bad instincts. Romeo seems to have a nose for the ball on both ends, the game comes easy to him. He had a coming out party and he didn’t even know what he was doing, doing it all on the fly, soon all his cuts will be sharper and faster. Adding another potential high caliber 2 way wing to grow under the guidance of our veterans and 2 J’s has got to be a great thing. We keep on churning out the wings, I know I knocked him many times, but Danny really has loaded up this franchise with young dynamic talents. 2 J’s have made such great strides this year, we  know they will be even better next year and the year after, imagine if they can take Romeo and Williams bro’s up levels with them....what a stacked young studly team we potentially have.

Kantor was bullying everyone in the paint, no one could keep him off the boards, why he wasn’t on the floor last 5 minutes of game befuddled me. Great to have an old school 5 like that. Knew JT would have another big game, with JB and GH out, he looks like a superstar in the making, very capable of carrying us. That step back 3 is so lethal and he keeps on hitting it and hitting it. Glad GH got a night off, he’s been playing and playing hard every night during this recent stretch. Glad Theis got a night off too, I would use load management on the bottom dwellers and go full force with the roster in the big games, like when we recently crushed the Lakers. Good to see Kemba and Smart back, they will be better/sharper going forward.

JT is also reminding me of Larry Bird, the way he is finishing so good with his left hand.

Romeo is a multi- positional wing.  He can play 2, 3 and maybe some 1 with more experience.  He's long and has a physical presence .  He has good defensive skills good timing and good athleticism.  He had 3 blocks last night. He hit bigtime shots grabbed bigtime rebounds and fought for those 50/50 balls.

He has earned plaing time.  He can help us this year.

dboss wrote:Romeo is a multi- positional wing.  He can play 2, 3 and maybe some 1 with more experience.  He's long and has a physical presence .  He has good defensive skills good timing and good athleticism.  He had 3 blocks last night. He hit bigtime shots grabbed bigtime rebounds and fought for those 50/50 balls.

He has earned plaing time.  He can help us this year.

He definitely can, I’m really impressed with his defense.

JT has an old school smoothness about his game. He handle is getting better all the time and he creates separation with ease. He is knocking down shots consistent with elite level talent.

JT is a pleasure to watch. His game is so smooth and aesthetically pleasing - he makes it look easy. Poetry in motion. Kyrie's game had that quality too. Fortunately, looks like JT actually makes his team better as well.

Kyrie made easy baskets look more difficult.

He is too much about the wow factor.

dboss wrote:JT has an old school smoothness about his game.  He handle is getting better all the time and he creates separation with ease.  He is knocking down shots consistent with elite level talent.

This stretch of late is the best I’ve ever seen him play, besides the step back 3, the left hand and improved defense, love the way he’s passing the ball lately.

It's hard not to give the game ball to a player who scored 32 points on 10-19 shooting, 7-12 from 3 (and 5 turnovers) but I might have to agree with DBoss on giving the game ball to Romeo Lanford, for the "pleasant surprise" factor if nothing else.  Not a great first quarter for Romeo statistically, he had no points, no rebounds, no assists but he had a block that was impressive.  His defense was solid.  That was his first 5 minutes.  At halftime he had played 16 minutes total, so 11 of the 2nd frame's 12, and had 5 points more on 2-6 and he added a rebound and a steal.  Better, still not really good.  Still, his defense had been pretty good throughout.  He let himself get behind on a few curls to the basket but he recovered very well, and that's how he got 1 of his blocks.  Given his lack of experience it is understandable that he didn't just go off like gangbusters, but it is what it is.  It was in the 3rd quarter he really stepped up.  His defense improved even more.  He defended multiple players.  He added another 4 points on 1-2 shooting and a frito.  His 4th quarter?  He played 8 of the final 12 minutes and scored 7 points on 2-3 and fritos.  He got 6 ftas in the game.  That is really impressive for a rookie to get that much respect from the refs.  His box score finally ended up looking good (16 points on 5-11, 2-5 from 3, 5 rebounds, 1 steal, 3 blocks) but he was looking very smooth and comfortable out there even during the early quarters when his box score was nothing to write home about.  He plays well through contact.  In fact, it looks like he looks to create the contact.  Impactful minutes, even if they didn't show up in the box score.  I tend to focus on players that aren't on the floor often, to see how well they execute and fit in.  I watch Poirier carefully, Waters, Edwards and Romeo probably more closely than I watch Hayward and Brown and the rest because I already know what they can/will do.  Romeo's a player.  Romeo is going to be good.  When he took, and hit, his first 3 from the corner 2 Celtic coaches fist bumped each other because they had been putting a lot of work into Romeo's, allegedly, broken jumper.  If his jumper is fixed (just one game, calm down Bob) then he is going to be quite dangerous because he is a natural slasher.  In an era of everybody wanting to be Steph Curry Romeo Langford wants to go to the iron.  One of his shots at the rim was blocked, and it was a really good block by 6'11" Damian Jones, but most players aren't going to get that shot.  Romeo's fearless.  Brad threw him into the fire last night, because of injuries and perhaps because they're the 14-39 Hawks and gave him 29 minutes.  I don't know how much more Brad can, or will, give him this year considering we are in hot pursuit of Toronto and Miami only 2 games behind us, but Romeo's going to be a valuable player for us next year and beyond.  All that time spent in Maine was well spent.  He's ready to contribute.

A. Sherrod Blakely @ASherrodblakely
about 1 hour ago
The fact that @Romeo Langford dropped a career-high 16 pts for the #Celtics last night stood out. But his defense was even better. He matched up with eight different Atlanta players who collectively shot 1-for-8 from the field when he defended them.

Now that I've oohed and ahhed over fair Romeo enough let's not forget about Tatum.  Another smooth one.  He is definitely in a shooting rhythm now.  He ME-balls a bit much when he's in this groove, but he's a heavily on-the-ball scorer so...in his last 10 games he's averaging 26.7ppg and shooting 50% from 3.

Sean Grande
@SeanGrandePBP
With Jayson Tatum knocking down a career-high seven 3's Friday, the boss's time in the Celtics Top 10 is down to hours....

CELTICS - ALL-TIME LEADERS - 3-Point FGs

10.
@danielrainge
348
11.  Jaylen Brown 346
12.  Jayson Tatum 343


Speaking of Poirier, 8 minutes of fairly mediocre stuff.  Some good, some blown plays.

When David Lee was in NY and GSW he was a double-double machine.  We all know he wasn't that for us here, but he was on two other teams.  Enes Kanter is David Lee 2.0.  Not a good post defender, not even a good defender period, but he's going to make you work to secure every defensive rebound, because he's going after it full.  He loves it here too.  He told Danny before the trade deadline that if he's traded he plans to flunk his physical so the trade falls through and he comes back here.  Gotta love players who want to be here and all 15 of the players we have want to be here.   After last year that is pure joy for me.

I'm starting to think the Sixers are actually playing to make sure they're 6th so they match up with us in the playoffs, at 3rd.  We should screw that up by catching Toronto for 2nd.  Not because I'm afraid of Philly, they are 1-13 against teams above .500, but because that speaks of arrogance and I want to deflate them.  Unfortunately, the Indiana Pacers have been revealed.  They blew a 10 point lead in Toronto 2 nights ago and lost in Indy vs Toronto on the 2nd night of a home/away b2b.  They just aren't that good and that will make it harder for them to get back into 5th place.  Unless Philly has a lot of road games against good teams, then they're a lock.  Philly is SO mentally weak.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401161413




bob


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Bob

Love how you break it on down for us and in the process reveal the essence of what Romeo  brought to the game for us.

The ongoing injuries have opened up opportunities for him to shine.

What I saw however is the overall talent of what you should expect from the 14th pick in the draft.  

Moving forward,  Romeo has to be in the conversation to be an everyday rotation guy who can also step in for a starter.  That is my way of the thinking in measuring the ultimate value of guys who reside on the bench.  Can they slide into a starter roll and not hurt the team?

It appears that Romeo is capable of doing that.

Now it is up to Brad to elevate him from the DNP coaches decision list into an everyday guy that can play and help us win.

dboss wrote:Bob

Love how you break it on down for us and in the process reveal the essence of what Romeo  brought to the game for us.

The ongoing injuries have opened up opportunities for him to shine.

What I saw however is the overall talent of what you should expect from the 14th pick in the draft.  

Moving forward,  Romeo has to be in the conversation to be an everyday rotation guy who can also step in for a starter.  That is my way of the thinking in measuring the ultimate value of guys who reside on the bench.  Can they slide into a starter roll and not hurt the team?

It appears that Romeo is capable of doing that.

Now it is up to Brad to elevate him from the DNP coaches decision list into an everyday guy that can play and help us win.

dboss,

Keeping in mind this was just one game against an undermanned and inferior opponent, what I saw was not "the overall talent of what you should expect from the 14th pick in the draft.  What I saw was the talent one should expect from a #7 - #12 pick in the draft".  That where people were talking about him going except that he tore the ligament in his thumb and his shooting and play declined as a result.  Danny did with Romeo what he did with Sully, he saw someone who should have gone higher but dropped due to a short-term issue (with Sully it was his back which needed surgery) and took them when he could.

I would not call Jaylen Brown "a natural".  He's an uber-athlete to be sure, and he used his athleticism to play excellent defense at Cal, but he wasn't a shooter, ball-handler or passer.  Much of what he is showing us now is due to his phenomenal work ethic and desire to be great.  Danny drafted for character and he hit a home run.  Romeo, in my opinion, is a natural.  He just has a nose for the ball, he is smooth without being overly athletic.  His timing on those blocks were excellent.  He didn't suddenly do a Jack-in-the-Box jump to get them, he waited until his man was going up and then he used his 6'11" wingspan to go after the ball.

Our upcoming games are:

Sunday vs OKC (32-20)
Tuesday @ Houston (33-19)
Thursday vs Clippers (36-15)


Post All-Star Game

2/21 @ Minny (15-35)
2/23 vs Lakers (38-12)
2/25 @ Portland (24-29)
2/26 @ Utah (33-18)

It am looking forward to seeing how Brad uses Romeo in these games.  Will he use him against the smallball Rockets?  Will he trust him in the more statement games, like vs LAC and LAL?  Interesting times ahead for Romeo.


bob



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Bob I completely agree on your assessment of Jaylen, it’s a credit to Jaylen and his coaches he could develop his game to this point and it’s still improving. How many great athletes come into this league and can never get to the skill point he’s already at....????

bob


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What a joy to watch Langford and Tatum.

It was also something to see that 43 year old legend on the floor at the same time with the young pup Langford. Years ago I went to Toronto for the 60th wedding anniversary party of one of my good friends, the self-effacing, out of the limelight patriarch of a big Canadian steel company family. All of his relatives were there except for his youngest brother, Larry Tanenbaum, the scion who had gone off with some of his inheritance to buy the Maple Leafs and then Toronto Raptors. Relationships within the family got strained when his older brother, my friend (who bought a three year old used Lincoln Town car for his own principle transportation) found out that Larry had used his private jet in 2000 to fly Vince Carter down to Chapel Hill to graduate from UNC. That was a bit extravagant in the family's eyes. BTW, my friend has donated over $326 million to Canadian charities, hospitals, synagogues, and museums over his lifetime. That's where his values are. Still, it's hard to argue with Larry's success. Now he is the most popular sports team owner in all of Canada, and his personal wealth is just through the roof. True story.