Post Game Thread - Bubble Scrimmage, vs Thunder 7/24/20

[bobheckler]

Brad was talking up our defense in our intrateam scrimmages. I have NO idea what he was talking about because our defense SUCKED in this game. Our perimeter defense was AWFUL. Adams had a career half because Theis had to switch to pick up a penetrator because we didn't stay in front of our men at the arc.

Starters played first half, we were down 5 at the half, and then didn't go back in for the rest of the game.

Jaylen Brown - looked in mid-season form. He's lost nothing in the layoff.

Jayson Tatum - couldn't throw the ball in the pool from the cabana. Very rusty.

Theis - Got eaten alive by Steven Adams. Some of that is to be expected, Adams is massive, but some of it was just poor rotation by Theis.

Hayward - Meh.

Smart - 3 steals, played well. He looked good. Energy, as usual.

Kanter - a wrecking ball on offense, a zero on defense. Refused to go out to the arc on defense and they made us pay repeatedly.

Waters - looked very good, I thought. The offense looked very coherent with him running it. His defense was sneaky good.

Carsen Edwards - still can't find his way around the court.

Javonte Green - looked pretty good on offense and defense. Just one game, but if he plays a few more scrimmages like this he might be our Gerald Green this year, our X-factor.

Grant Williams - showed some IQ, not much more.

RWill - showed why he doesn't get minutes. He is the anti-GWill. Extraordinary athleticism (as opposed to GWill, who doesn't) but is still not good on defensive rotations. Like Kanter, he didn't want to go out to the arc.


bob


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[jrleftfoot]

Only watched from middle third . Confirmed my belief that our bench can't cut it. Hope i'm wrong.Kanter is Kanter. He can be an asset or a liability. It's up to Stevens to maximize him. He is a situational player. WTH happened to Edwards' shot. It has become , to quote the old rubric, flat as a board.

[cowens/oldschool]

Just glad this one is behind us, haven’t seen JT play that bad ever. GH was pretty off too. They put on a pnr clinic leading to back door cuts and dunks galore. They were executing and we were a step too slow, then the 2nd half started and we had a midget backcourt. Tremont actually did some good things. Hope we don’t just see first ream and second team line ups, would like to see say Tremont and RW getting some play/minutes with 2 J’s and GH. Glad we have 2 more practice games to gear up....

[bobheckler]

bob


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[dboss]

This is great.  We have a chance to bitch and moan about the Celtics after a 4 month hiatus.

Here is the box score.  We lost primarily because they shot the ball better than we did. Our blistering 3 point shooting tells the tale of the tape.

https://www.nba.com/games/20200724/OKCBOS#/boxscore

Going 5-24 from the promise land means you got more penitence  time left in the desert.

This was just a practice game where Brad used most of the team but he did not integrate his rotation guys with the starting unit.  This was first team, second team and third team floor time.  

Like every game there  were pluses and minuses.

Jaylen Brown looks as smooth as a new born baby's ass.  Kanter solidified his low post scoring and rebounding.  Waters did a fairly solid job at point but pairing him with Edward in the backcourt does not help either one of them.  RWII actually attempted 3 jump shots.  A virtual airball from the right baseline and two catch and shoot jumpers from the foul line area which he made because he has a very soft touch.  He and Grant each had 3 rebounds.  Grant knocked down a 3 pointer early.

One of our more reliable rotation guys, Brad Wannamaker just knows how to play.

The Celtics are going to have to figure out how to matchup with Joe Embid if we get a series with the Sixers.  Daniel Theis was manhandled by Adams.  Size does matter in the post.

Our biggest flaw showed up as our bench cannot seem to knock down outside shots.

Right now i think our rotation pecking order includes Tatum, Brown, Walker Hayward, Theis, Smart, Kanter, Wanamaker (Semi and Grant may split minutes) Williams may rotate in if Brad goes with a 3 headed center rotation.  I doubt we will see much of anything from Waters, Edwards and Green.  RL remains an unknown regardless of all the hype talk about his improvement.

[bobheckler]

We have limited veteran playoff experience on this team.  Smart has the most, 45 games and 1300 minutes, Jaylen Brown has the 2nd most, and he's just 23.  We all like Kemba and Gordon Hayward but the have a combined 35 games, 1200 minutes.  

This is why I think we might see a lot more of Wanny and Javonte.  They are older, and have they have playoff experience.  Yeah, I know it's not NBA playoff experience, but they have still had to face the pressure of "win or go home".

Wanny has 42 playoff games under his belt.  He is a Turkish League Champion, Turkish League Finals MVP and won 2 German League Championships with Theis.  I doubt he's gonna blink.  He's 31 years old, today!

Javonte has played in 31 playoff games for a total of 824 minutes in 3 years.  By comparison, Kanter has 872 minutes in 45 games over 4 years.  Yeah, I know about the difference in opponent's quality but it's still "win or go  home".


bob


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[dboss]

We just need better scoring off the bench.

[swish]

We just need better scoring off the bench.

 dboss

 Building a bench based on the potential promise of late round picks is risky to say the lease - that's where it's nice to have some seasoned minimum salary vets to spell the starters. High value at a low price - equal just what contenders that are capped-out on pricey starters can afford.

 swish

[dboss]

We just need better scoring off the bench.

 dboss

 Building a bench based on the potential promise of late round picks is risky to say the lease - that's where it's nice to have some seasoned minimum salary vets to spell the starters. High value at a low price - equal just what contenders that are capped-out on pricey starters can afford.

 swish

Swish

I agree with you 100%.  Veteran depth on this team is scarce

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