Celtics spank Raptors 112-94 round 2 game 1

Brad Stevens deserved a vote for COY.  Today we saw why.  

He threw a screw ball at them and they never recovered,  Who envisioned an opening with Lowery, their engine, being guarded by Jayson Tatum?

Marcus Smart is the unanimous pick for player of the game.  He played a great game and even his 5 TO's could not dull his impact.   Theis with the bunny misses but also a double double with 11 Points and 15 boards.

I figured that RW would be a factor in this series and sure enough he led the bench with 10 points, 5 boards, 2 assists, 2 blocks and a steal in 19 productive minutes.

If not for some ill advised blunders this 18 point win could easily have been in the 30's.

One game does not make a series but game one sent a clear message to the Raptors that we are not the Crooklyn Nets.

Brad probably told the team in the locker room after the game that they have to play much better.
 
The Celtics won the guard, wing and bigman matchups.  Brad Stevens outcoached Nick Nurse throughout the entire contest.

We can win the guard and wing match ups against Milwaukee. Unlikely we win the big man match up, but who knows, with Marcus guarding Giannis?

Next game for sure we tighten up on our turnovers. 22 was way too many to beat the Bucks, and Brad knows this.

Raps are 11-2 in the bubble.  Both losses were blow outs to the Celtics.

Adjustments will be made for game 2 but  I like our chances.  Celtics did not have to double a lot.  We won the one on one matchups.  

Clean up the sloppy possessions and we own this series.

So have we won nine games in a row now?

9 out of 10.

Not too shabby.

Great game and great start for the Celtics in Round 2.  Not much to add that hasn't been said already.  

Couple of things, though.  First of all, the last game we played them was proven to be no fluke.  The only difference was we were down one significant player and the difference showed in today's game.  We've got room to improve.  That's what DLill said after going up 1-0 on LAL.  More on this below.

I'm in the same boat as you about COY, dboss.  I'm sticking with my earlier prediction that secretly this is all about the COY.  I know as players you can't base your series battle cry/mantra on this emotional snub, but I can promise you the players have the 90-1 score in the forefront of their minds all the time.  They want and need to show the league that was an egregious error.    

This game wasn't the big one although it is the set up.  It's Tuesday's game that's the big deal.  N-Squared has to come out and prove how and why he's the COY after being handed his ass on a platter twice now in back-to-back games with the opposition being down one significant player and the "upstart" Brad Stevens.  If we come out and hand them a third consecutive brow beating and complete dismantling performance, MAJOR doubt will not only seep into his head but more and most importantly his players' minds.  That's the killer.  It will be back breaking and disheartening.  It's probably already starting to wobble their knees ever so slightly.          

Both games were blowouts.  We weren't able to run this one up into 30's like the first game being sans OG, but we hit hard and early and never let up.  After the first quarter, the outcome was never in doubt.  

Add to this what was going on last year at this time for us.  We beat MIL rather soundly G1 in this very same 2nd Round...and then the wheels came off.  All 4 at once.  Led by none other than Cryrie.  Remember the Titanic. I believe we collectively blamed G2 and subsequent losses on Kyrie for quitting AND Brad for not repeating the G1 playbook for the next 4 games. Brad will remember this. If he's the real COY he'll come out and torch TOR Tuesday. No pressure.    

If TOR wins G2, our players are potentially back in the same mindset as last year.  They need to put the hammer down and remove all doubt that this isn't last year's team.  Nowhere close.  

Of course, we're still not noticed and won't be except by maybe Kenny and Shaq.  It's still the LAL vs. MIL Show until either or neither fail to show up in the Finals.  But it's wake up time in the bubble.  All the "NBA Experts" (whoever their are) pick TOR to take us out. (13-5 in ESPN article recently)    

This series may show out how important home court is or was and what the lack of it does to some teams.  This game probably would not have turned out this way if we were playing G1 & G2 for that matter in TOR.  TOR needs Jurassic Park.  They need their fans.  I don't think we care at this point.  You know what I mean.  The Boston fans are the best in the world.  And the players feed off of them and their crazed support.  But this team may be completely ruthless.  We'll find out Tuesday.

Go Celtics!!  

db

Yes, Ruth did not catch the team plane out of Boston.

Hi,
This game was one of remaining 11 ( I hope) games that proved that Brad and Smart had to be finalists for COY and DPOY.
The next game, I hope, they continue the same disruptive defense since I don’t think they can sustain 47% shooting with 43+% from deep.

AK

We won this game with defense, we are among the top one or two teams in the league in perimeter defense. While I love Lavert, Nets have no one on perimeter that can defend near the level of Smart, Brown and Tatum, as a PF playing somewhat out of position Theis covers all over the floor as well. Good luck in one on one match ups against those 3, they cannot win those match ups enough. In other words I think we’re a bad match up for them. As the game has evolved Danny has done a great job getting long armed athletes that can dig in on defense and harass all over the perimeter. I can’t wait to see how good our defense is going to be when Robert Williams knows what he’s doing...???

I know we won by 20, but we can take it up a notch and play much better. Tatum was a little sloppy, no where near as sharp as he can be, never came close to his taking the game over zone, but his talent still came out. I thought he was average for him, not the all NBA version that’s coming. Jaylen played hard, very active on defense, his offensive efficiency is usually better. Smart played great, his usual grinding defense and very hot from 3. Kemba played well for the most part, scared after one fall, some very timely baskets/daggers. Curious to see what Nurse can come up with, nice wrinkle to start the game Tatum on Lowry and glad RWill got a chance to produce and earn some minutes as Brad put him in good positions. If we weren’t so sloppy and someone didn’t miss so many easy bunnies, we really could have been up 30 like last game. Can Nurse go bigger on perimeter, does he have any wing type to bring in to compete with 2 J’s?

Our guys will run right by Toronto's bigs en route to the rim if Nurse puts them out on the perimeter to defend our guards and wings.

A most enjoyable outcome, to be sure.

1.  I'm not counting on Toronto shooting so miserably next game.  They missed a lot of open shots.

2.  I do expect their fg% to be lower than during the season because we have an excellent defense too and we did a good job of closing out their shooters, and I have no reason to believe we won't again.

3.  Pascal Siakam shot 5-16.  Jaylen shot 5-18.  What this game showed me is that they need Siakam, but we don't need Brown.

Some people have made some remarks about Theis' turnovers.  I don't want to mention any names (Cowens) but their point was that we would have won by 25 without them.  Perhaps, but the same could be said if Jaylen had shot his normal %, or if Smart hadn't had 5 turnovers but let's remember that at least a couple of Theis' turnovers were passes made to him while he was deep in the paint and being swarmed, which Toronto does very well.  What we want and expect from Theis is to contest shots, body up bigger centers as best as he can on defense and pull them out of the paint with his shooting on offense.  Rebounding is a bonus from him since he's usually too consumed with trying to keep his bigger man off the glass to go get the ball himself.  He leaves that job to Tatum and Brown etal.  Yesterday Theis had 13 points and a career high 15 rebounds.  He had 2 blocks.  He did everything we ask of him.  Could he have had 17-20 points if he hit his bunnies and wasn't getting stripped down low?  Yeah, but that's not why he's on the floor, to score points.

The Time Lord is now legend.  Doris Burke gave a reasonable explanation of how he got his nickname and there's nothing Danny can do about it anymore.  It has its own life now.  Playing-wise, he did well.  Made a few mistakes on defense, didn't rotate fast enough, but overall he played quite well.

Sean Grande
@SeanGrandePBP
·
10h
It's just the 4th time in 74 years of Boston Celtics history they've won their first five playoff games.

A win in Game 2 Tuesday would match the franchise record set in 1986.

(A fairly decent squad that year)


5 down, 11 more to go.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401240076




bob


.

Game # 2 will be more significant than game # 1.

The Raptors will be out to even up this series. They are going to go right at our guys and bring a high level of energy. The Celtics will need to match that energy but at the same time avoid getting into early foul trouble.

Most defending champions get knocked off and sometimes it happens during the early rounds of the playoffs.

Here's the game flow graph:



The Celtics created separation about halfway through the first quarter.
We maintained the lead for the rest of the game.
I don't believe the Raptors could have played any worse.
(Or was it the result of our great DEFENSE!!!)

We did get to see the game after checking into our villa.
I watched it without knowing the result.
It . . . was . . . marvelous!!!
I read along with the Game On! thread, but didn't get ahead of the game.

bobheckler wrote:A most enjoyable outcome, to be sure.

1.  I'm not counting on Toronto shooting so miserably next game.  They missed a lot of open shots.

2.  I do expect their fg% to be lower than during the season because we have an excellent defense too and we did a good job of closing out their shooters, and I have no reason to believe we won't again.

3.  Pascal Siakam shot 5-16.  Jaylen shot 5-18.  What this game showed me is that they need Siakam, but we don't need Brown.

Some people have made some remarks about Theis' turnovers.  I don't want to mention any names (Cowens) but their point was that we would have won by 25 without them.  Perhaps, but the same could be said if Jaylen had shot his normal %, or if Smart hadn't had 5 turnovers but let's remember that at least a couple of Theis' turnovers were passes made to him while he was deep in the paint and being swarmed, which Toronto does very well.  What we want and expect from Theis is to contest shots, body up bigger centers as best as he can on defense and pull them out of the paint with his shooting on offense.  Rebounding is a bonus from him since he's usually too consumed with trying to keep his bigger man off the glass to go get the ball himself.  He leaves that job to Tatum and Brown etal.  Yesterday Theis had 13 points and a career high 15 rebounds.  He had 2 blocks.  He did everything we ask of him.  Could he have had 17-20 points if he hit his bunnies and wasn't getting stripped down low?  Yeah, but that's not why he's on the floor, to score points.

The Time Lord is now legend.  Doris Burke gave a reasonable explanation of how he got his nickname and there's nothing Danny can do about it anymore.  It has its own life now.  Playing-wise, he did well.  Made a few mistakes on defense, didn't rotate fast enough, but overall he played quite well.

Sean Grande
@SeanGrandePBP
·
10h
It's just the 4th time in 74 years of Boston Celtics history they've won their first five playoff games.

A win in Game 2 Tuesday would match the franchise record set in 1986.

(A fairly decent squad that year)


5 down, 11 more to go.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401240076




bob


.

Bob gets your stories straight, first of all it wasn’t just turnovers, it was missed point blank bunnies, and there was at least 4 or 5 of us that couldn’t help noticing. There was one in 2nd half where he caught the pass and pump faked then missed the bunny, if he would have went up strong and dunked, at worst he would have went to the line. On that one I questioned him saying he’s playing scared, when guys that tall and close to the basket don’t make the obvious play, in this case a finish, we question it, we might bitch, that’s what we do....On Jaylen what do you mean we don’t need Jaylen? first of all, he got us off to a great start, he did a great job covering Siakim, their best big. We need Jaylen more than ever, he always takes the toughest defensive assignments and has the ability to cover all over the floor and multiple positions. The key to this game was defense and Jaylen left a big imprint on this game as he has all season.

Daniel played a helluva game with 13 points, 15 rebounds, and a gazillion screens set. Yes, he missed some shots close to the basket, but c'mon man. He played a fine game.

Of course Jaylen played an important role in yesterday's win, but if both Jaylen and Pascal did not play yesterday, the Celts would still have won. For sure. If Pascal had played and Jaylen hadn't played, we very well may have lost, because Pascal could have gone fpr 30+. In any case, Jaylen is healthy as are the rest of our shock troops. Roll Green Tide.

“Roll Green Tide”

I like it Worcester!

worcester wrote:Daniel played a helluva game with 13 points, 15 rebounds, and a gazillion screens set. Yes, he missed some shots close to the basket, but c'mon man. He played a fine game.

Of course Jaylen played an important role in yesterday's win, but if both Jaylen and Pascal did not play yesterday, the Celts would still have won. For sure. If Pascal had played and Jaylen hadn't played, we very well may have lost, because Pascal could have gone fpr 30+. In any case, Jaylen is healthy as are the rest of our shock troops. Roll Green Tide.

Jaylen already has that quality of the true greats, when his scoring or shooting is off, he can still have crucial positive effect for his team that effects winning. Our identity is defense and we are not big in the middle, we have great perimeter defenders that can switch and cover multiple positions, Jaylen is all of that....

Imagine being an opposing coach and having to game plan against Jaylen's offense and defense.

worcester wrote:Imagine being an opposing coach and having to game plan against Jaylen's offense and defense.

I love watching him defend Lebron, Durant, Siakim, Kawhi, etc