Post Game Thread - vs Pacers, Away 3/10/20

[bobheckler]

A win is a win is a win, but this didn't look good in the 4th quarter.  Certainly not playoff-ready basketball.  With only a few minutes left in the 4th we had only scored 10 points.  We ended up with 20 points in that quarter, which still stinks, but it was enough to offset a 31 point 4th by Indy.

Gordon Hayward with 27 and 10 on 10-19.  That's great.  5 assists tied him with Smart for high assist leader.  That's bad.  Not bad for Gordon, a great game by him on both ends, but for us.  19 assists, total, on 41 fgm is selfish basketball.  

Which brings me to Kemba.  3-12, 2-8 from 3.  2 assists and 2 turnovers.  When was the last time he had a good game?

Tatum with a February game.  Give us another to show you really shrugged that bad game off.

Theis with a big game too.  20 points on 8-12 and 2 blocks and a bunch of ridiculous whistles.  I can't remember the last time I've seen a starting player on any team, who is not a rookie, get whistled for so many questionable calls as Theis.  I really am enjoying focusing on Theis.  Watch him run all over the place trying to create seals for whomever has the ball on whichever side of the floor they are on.  When we rotate the ball to the other side of the floor he's running to create seals over there and then back again.  If the ball curls over the top he reverses his position to create the seal on the other side.  Fans tend to watch the ball and the shot, the rebound, etc.  Try following Theis around sometime.  It's fun.

Romeo got early minutes in front of his home state fans.  He was 0-4, with 2 of those shots being blocked at the rim by Turner.  The right move, the right basketball play, not the result he expected.  Great blocks by Turner, but Romeo was laying them up a little softer than he probably should have.  Not a complaint, really, just an observation.  

One more point:  for a change we got just about every whistle.  We cannot have any complaints about the zebras.  I expect to see heads exploding on the Comments From The Other Side thread, and they'll have a legitimate argument.

We ended a 4 game losing streak, so I'll take a win anyway I can, especially a road win against a possible playoff foe, but this did not leave me feeling good.  We froze up in the 4th and that's when we should be dropping the hammer.

This victory clinched a playoff berth for us.  It only clinched #8, so we have to keep going to keep our our seeding, but we're in and you cannot win a championship if you don't make the playoffs.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401161602




bob


.

[dbrown4]

BobH,

I'm hoping the big blown lead accompanied with a win is us the turning the corner. We even got behind and could have lost this one at the end, but we hung around and took care of business. No panic. We do need to learn from these blown lead games and rid ourselves of them going forward. Finally winning a game after blowing yet another is a good sign to me. Way better than losing another in similar fashion. Certainly not the best but as you say, a win is a win is a win.

Now the big game is on the horizon. @ MIL next. MIL is finally experiencing the adversity the rest of the league has had to deal with to date and that is substantial injuries. This game is now unfortunately become a game we have to win just to win with all our shenanigans from the last two weeks. It looks like we will be down Jaylen and Giannis will be back. Bucks on a 3-game skid. Highly unlikely they will lose 4 in a row. Lakers are also breathing down their backs for all-around Playoff Home Court.

What better way for us to gum up the works than a victory in MIL. It would do wonders for our psyche and wreck MIL's. If we get blown out, that's pretty much what we can expect in the playoffs if we make it that far. If it's close and we're in it to the end but come up short, this puts some doubt in the MIL freight train. We win by a little in a hard fought game, that probably damages them the most. If we blow them out, they'll defer to their unfamiliar territory with their injuries and brush it off as a non-event.

But once again, we've backed ourselves into the corner.

db

[sinus007]

Hi,
This game, despite good outings for JT and GH, looked very much like a couple of previous games. The main difference was luck was on our side.
I don't know what it is, why it's happening but I know that a hope for a lucky shot to win a game doesn't usually works in the Playoffs.
Let's see what they show tomorrow.

AK

[bobheckler]

Chris Grenham @chrisgrenham
yesterday
Nine of Jayson Tatum's last 14 games have been 30+ point efforts.



Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach
yesterday
Hayward on his late pass for the Theis 3: “At the time, when I passed it I thought, ‘Man, maybe I should have shot that layup.' I was pretty open. But down 3, I thought, have confidence in him. So that was a big-time shot, a huge shot.”




Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach
yesterday
Tatum and Stevens were asked if it's meaningful to clinch a playoff spot and both were basically like yeah bro look what Kemba's been through his whole career


Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach
yesterday
Stevens said during late TO Cs said: "'We need this. As uncomfortable as it is right now in the moment, we need it.....We're far from a finished product, but we’ve got to get there quickly. We've got to start ascending soon. So it was important to go through a night like tonight"


bob


.

[dbrown4]

Last comment is priceless. I'm thinking Brad is finally ready to shake the Butler Finals ghost. Tomorrow night is going to be VERY interesting to say the least.

db

[dboss]

Celtics Win!

We must all agree that that is a good thing.  

JT and GH carried us.  Theis was fantastic again.  Marcus chipped in with 16/5/5.  Once again not much scoring off the bench as they only scored 10 points.

Kemba Walker does not look right.  I am not seeing the high energy level we have come to expect.  I think his knee is still bothering him.  He is struggling to take his man off the bounce.  His cross over step back is not sharp and he is forcing things a bit.  Too much dribbling combined with late shot clock attempts from the perimeter.

Enes Kanter can pile up rebounds but I am ready to say that he is a bad fit for this team.  I have never seen a guy miss so many bunnies.   His defensive rotations are slow because he is slow to move his feet to establish a better defensive position.

Romeo Langford is getting more minutes consistently.  Right now he is a pretty good wing defender and a pretty good rebounder.  He went 0-4 last night as he is finding out that defenses will challenge him at the rim.  He is a wing and until his perimeter game develops, he will be limited in terms of scoring the basketball.

Grant Williams only played 3 minutes last night.  Brad came to the conclusion pretty quickly that he was not going to be able to check Sabonis.  Grant continues to struggle making open 3 points shots.  He has gone 1-15 over his last 11 games.  He's gone scoreless in 6 out of 11 games during this sample size.

Semi is getting more playing time but his minutes are still inconsistent.  He had 6 board last night and at least two of them were contested in heavy traffic.  His production is up and down just like Grants'

What I am seeing is that Brad plays either Grant or Semi.  If one sits one game the other plays.  There appears to be no set pattern here although last night Brad pretty much benched Grant.  

The other good news is securing a playoff spot.  I would like to think that we are still in the fight for the 2nd seed.  We are 3 games back in the loss column with 18 to go.  A heavy lift but not impossible.

The Celtics miss Jaylen Brown.  The Celtics will miss any of their core guys because the bench is really not top notch.  I'm including Daniel Theis among our core guys.

[NYCelt]

The rest of this season and playoff success, just like the Pacers' and other recent games, currently hinge on The Three Bs...

Bench, Bigs and Brown.

[dboss]

The rest of this season and playoff success, just like the Pacers' and other recent games, currently hinge on The Three Bs...

Bench, Bigs and Brown.

I think it should be more like BBC

Bench, Bigs and Core (players)  If we were to lose any of our core players we can forget about any extended playoff run.

[BingBang!]

Jaylen is out and Kemba isn't right. If and when those get fixed, could have a powerhouse team again. Feel bad for Kemba; he usually plays with a lot of joy and that isn't present right now.

[jrleftfoot]

Enes is clumsy . He's going to miss some bunnies, but he is still making 57 percent of his shots and he doesn't bitch about playing time. I think the rotational minutes Stevens is giving him are just about right.Maybe Robert Williams will stay healthy and take some of his minutes.

[dboss]

Enes is clumsy . He's going to miss some bunnies, but he is still making 57 percent of his shots and he doesn't bitch about playing time. I think the rotational minutes Stevens is giving him are just about right.Maybe Robert Williams will stay healthy and take some of his minutes.

foot, 57% is solid but he is still missing too many layups right at the rim.  If it wasn't so damn funny it would be amusing.

I was thinking what it looks like and I came up with a guy juggling a hot potato.

[jrleftfoot]

Can't disagree, boss, he's clumsy as a newborn foal, but the effort is always there. Plus, he's relatively cheap. He is frustrating at times, for sure.Here's hoping RWIII develops fast.

[NYCelt]

The rest of this season and playoff success, just like the Pacers' and other recent games, currently hinge on The Three Bs...

Bench, Bigs and Brown.

I think it should be more like BBC

Bench, Bigs and Core (players)  If we were to lose any of our core players we can forget about any extended playoff run.

OK, BBC it is. As long As the British Broadcasting Corporation doesn't mind.

Silver lining? Everyone has a chance to rest up and heal right now.

[dbrown4]

So help me if the season does start backup and we have ANYONE still injured, I'm jumping ship!!!

db

[dboss]

There is no way at this point to know if the season will start back up or if they will begin again with the playoffs or anything for that matter.

The US does not have a credible statistical data base because of the lack of testing.  The virus will continue to spread but hopefully public awareness will slow it down.   When new cases drop dramatically it could signal a return to normal.  Widespread testing and containment will be needed.

[sinus007]

Hi,
They could play without audience and televise the games. Huge financial hit but it's better than no games at all.

AK

[dboss]

Hi,
They could play without audience and televise the games. Huge financial hit but it's better than no games at all.

AK

That is not going to work.  If a player is infected then everyone on the team is affected with or without fans. 

It's shut down because a player got infected (2) and now our guys have to self-quarantine.  

If a player got sick and died the team would have a liability suit.

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