POST GAME MIL. BUCKS - HOME - GAME #1

Celtics Wrap: Boston Beats Bucks 122-121 In Thrilling Season Opener

WEEI by Abigail Adams

The Celtics are back, baby.

Boston pulled out a hard-fought victory over the Bucks on Wednesday, topping Milwaukee 122-121 in the season opener at TD Garden. The Bucks made things interesting down the stretch, but the C’s managed to eke out an impressive win.

Jayson Tatum played hero with a game-winning three. Jaylen Brown (33 points) helped lead the charge, while Jeff Teague (19 points) and Daniel Theis (10 points) also played key roles.

Tristan Thompson looked solid in his first game in a Celtics uniform with 12 points and eight rebounds in just over 22 minutes.

The Celtics start the season 1-0 while the Bucks fall to 0-1.


Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE
PG: Marcus Smart
SG: Jaylen Brown
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Tristan Thompson
C: Daniel Theis

A SLOW BUT STEADY START
There wasn’t too much daylight between the two teams in the first.

Boston looked fairly confident and remained neck-and-neck with Milwaukee early on. Thompson and Theis missed just one shot between them, combing for 10 points (including two triples from the center).

It wasn’t all sunshine and roses for the C’s, though. Tatum and Brown combined for 10 points as well, with both going 2-for-7 in the first.

Milwaukee capitalized on Boston’s early transition issues, converting them into 11 points on the break. Donte DiVincenzo was particularly dangerous here, and led all scorers in the first with eight points.

At one point, the Bucks owned a nine-point lead on the C’s. But Boston clawed its way back late in the frame to make it a three-point game after 12 minutes.

And the team can thank Jeff Teague for that.


BOSTON BATTLES BACK
It took a little effort, but the C’s finally took control in the second.

The Bucks continued to take advantage of Boston in transition, and it allowed them to maintain control of the game for much of the first half.

Antetokounmpo showed off his signature defensive skills early in the quarter with this massive block on Grant Williams.


Tatum continued to struggle, sinking just three of the 10 shots he took from the field. But Brown bounced back, nabbing 10 points in the last 2:32 and finishing the half shooting 46.2%.

Brown made up for his initial lack of offense with some much-needed defense, too.


Some solid stuff from Teague and Semi Ojeleye on both ends of the court loosened the Bucks’ grip on the game. Ojeleye gave Boston the lead back with 4:11 left in the half thanks to one heck of a triple, and boy, was it a beauty.

The C’s finished the quarter on a 25-11 run and entered halftime with a 64-59 lead.

C’S HEAT UP
The Bucks wasted no time snatching the lead back from the Celtics on a quick 7-2 run in the first 76 seconds of the third.

So, Boston returned the favor on a jumper by Theis. And they didn’t look back from there.

Brown continued to heat up, improving to 52.9% shooting by the end of the quarter. He continued to lead all scorers with 25 points through three.


Teague stayed hot, too, with six points and an assist in the third. He had 19 points in 18 minutes.

And then there’s Tatum, who hit five of his nine shots in the third after shooting just 30% in the first half.

All of this success helped Boston build a 17-point lead, which they took into the final frame. The C’s collected 101 points in the first three quarters alone.

JAYSON TATUM TO THE RESCUE
Try as they might, the Bucks simply couldn’t pull it out. But they certainly made things interesting down the stretch.

Milwaukee slowly chipped away at Boston’s double-digit lead, making it a two-point game midway through the quarter. Antetokounmpo led the charge with 17 fourth-quarter points, doubling his point total from the first three.

The Bucks took the lead back on an Antetokounmpo 3-pointer with 3:26 on the clock. Milwaukee was up 120-19 with 8.9 second left, giving Boston one last shot at victory.

And that’s where Tatum stepped in, sinking the game winning three with 0.4 second left in the game.


Boston seemed to have the game wrapped up with 1.5 seconds on the clock, but a foul on Thompson brought Antetokounmpo to the line. Antetokounmpo couldn’t finish the job, though, missing his second and final free throw to end the game.

And that’s all she wrote from TD Garden, as the C’s walked away with a thrilled 122-121 win over the Bucks.

PLAY OF THE GAME

TATEM 3 POINTER!


UP NEXT

The Celtics will host Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets at TD Garden on Christmas Day. Tip-off is slated for 5 p.m. ET.

!!@@**

Just a few observations.

First, we should have won by double digits.

Second, Stevens is too slow as usual to react to an opposing teams run late in a game.

Third, This was a lady luck win.  If Stevens strategy is to keep on shooting 3 pointers for almost 6 minutes straight, this is going to be a long disappointing season!  What Stevens, you do not have another call in your playbook to work the ball down low and either make a high percentage basket or get fouled in the process for a three point play.

Fourth, Brown is not going anywhere unless Danny has lost his mind!

Fifth, Tommy you will always be in our hearts!

Welcome back everyone, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

112288

Yes, 112288. Sure miss Tommy. Also, there is no way. Zero. That Danny trades Jaylen for Harden. What a performance by Jaylen and Jayson. Glad TT and DT started together. Finally some front court muscle.

Did you see where Gordon scored 28 and Scary Terry had 42 in Charlotte's loss to Cleveland?

Perhaps the Teague skepticism and pineing for Wannamaker will taper off? Tristan Thompson is going to be a hell of an asset. He will rebound and bang with the Embeids and Greek freaks. I think the three-headed center might actually work. All of them had their moments. This game was a perfect showcase of Smart's ability to influence a game without putting up numbers. Those three charges he drew from Giannis were classic MS. Jaylen taking that technical free throw caught me by surprise. One of these days, one hopes, the rumors of trading him for yesterday's news and tomorrow's headaches will cease. Failing to get back on D, in the first quarter reminded me of the preseason, but, fortunately, we picked it up. Pritchard seems to be a little overwhelmed, but I expect he will settle in. Whoever it was that predicted that he'll get more playing time than Nesmith is correct, so far. That may change when Walker comes back, though. All in all, a helluva way to start the season.

Ojeleye was needed against Giannis in this one. Nesmith may see better opportunities against other teams.

Semi did earn his keep with this one.

Yes, sports media, please stop reporting that Jaylen is about to be traded. He is going nowhere, except perhaps to Springfield some day.

Jaylen played great, loving seeing him as a top 2 option and had some nices passes along with lethal midrange. Also finally used the old Pierce lob, which worked, hoping to see that 3 or 4 times a game as we can always get mismatches and bob heckler and I have been pining for this play for awhile now. Tatum can still play a lot better, still doesn’t get enough calls on his drives and will be finishing better. Great to see our young studs both deliver and go for 30.

What a BS call on TT at the end, no contact and Giannis was the one pushing with his off hand, how the f..k do you call a foul on that at an obvious crucial time? RWill and Semi played well, not perfect, but some good minutes from both. Teague really knows how to play, and playing off 2 J’s he will get a lot of easy looks. He is gonna help us and be perfect compliment to Kemba and will keep Kemba fresh. Smart making key defensive plays all over floor, gotta love it!!!

Brad at key phases of game, like 4th quarter I think were better with 2 J’s on floor together.

Well, the media can all put their shovels back in the shed for now.  (Myself included if all I saw were the two preseason games!)  I don't have a whole lot to add.  But I'll try.  Nothing really constructive to add except there wasn't much defense unless your name was Smart.

1)  All hail Jeff Teague!  Our "bench" had over 30 points last night.  MIL had 9 I think.  Good luck with that come playoff time, MIL.  Jeff Teague can ball and shoot.  Looks a lot like Lou Williams on the Clips coming off the bench.  Instant offense.  

2)  Tristan Thompson can run his mouth all he wants.  He can back it up.  Huge relief to see that display with Giannis.

3)  Odd closing sequence.  I didn't see a foul on Tristan.  Giannis maybe, but certainly not Tristan.  I don't speak out against the refs for fear of fines, but they missed that one.  

4)  Giannis is going to see MS in his nightmares.  MS has actually figured out how to get a foul while defending against the indefensible Euro Step.  Amazing!!

5)  Doesn't matter if you win by 1 or 100, Boston still has a chance to 82-0.  MIL does not.  I'd really like to see Boston follow this one up with a thorough stomping of you know who coming up tomorrow.  Teach BKN a quick lesson on the difference between preseason and regular season.

6) We've got some studs!! Nuff said.  

Merry Christmas to everyone!!  Let the games begin!!!

db

3)

Without a doubt, last night's win was the best of the 20-21 season so far!

worcester wrote:Without a doubt, last night's win was the best of the 20-21 season so far!

Lol right!!

I’m actually feeling much more confident after this game than those 2 pre season disasters. Love the improvements I’m seeing in Jaylen’s lethal midrange game, he gets up so high and can adust his leap, this is gonna open up his drives even more. A little bit Bernard King and Jordan. Yeah I said it. Really looking forward to seeing 2 J’s attacking Durant tomorrow night....

I'm looking forward to seeing Kyrie try to defend Teague. More special would be to see Pritchard scoring on Kyrie.

worcester wrote:I'm looking forward to seeing Kyrie try to defend Teague. More special would be to see Pritchard scoring on Kyrie.

Great signing of Teague and Thompson, no way do we win this game without those 2 new additions.

I predicted a loss last night.  We were outmanned (down Kemba and they added Holliday) and outgunned (down Kemba and Gordon), I just wanted us to play with pride and ferocity.  Give Brad, and us fans, something to work with.  Well, I was wrong and they did.

I took a chance and made a stab at Brad's opening night starting 5.  I did not see Theis and Thompson coming.  Theis' natural NBA position is at 4, to use the old nomenclature.  Letting the stronger Tristan Thompson battle it out with the behemoths underneath frees him up to roam a little further away from the basket on defense.  The experiment worked, in my opinion, very well.

There was a lot of tension on the Game On! thread last night watching our 17 point lead evaporate.  There were more than a few darts thrown Brad's way for not having Tatum in the game as it started to slip away.  First of all, Tatum played 33 minutes, so it's not like he was in the doghouse.  Secondly, he almost shot us out of this game.  He was 3-10 for 9 points at the half in 14 minutes.  Using pretty simple math that means he played 19 minutes in the 2nd half out of a total of 24 available.  He played 9 minutes in the 3rd and 10 minutes in the 4th.  I know he's only 22 but if you want him to be fresh down the stretch he needs to sit for a few minutes a quarter, doesn't he?  He sat 3 in the 3rd and 2 in the 4th.  So, he ended up 12-28, 42.8%.  That's not so great and, let's be honest, that winning 3pt bank shot was pure luck.  He would have been 11-28, 39%, without Red taking care of him there.  Brad's been preaching "efficiency".  Well, that's not efficient.  Part of Tatum's inefficiency came from taking forced, contested shots.

Chris Grenham
@chrisgrenham
·
13h
Some other angles of the Tatum bank shot:
https://twitter.com/chrisgrenham/status/1341940912662970371

Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
yesterday
19-6 Celtics run to take the lead. Biggest news? C's did with Tatum on the bench.

Gary Washburn @GwashburnGlobe
yesterday
Tatum has been laboring since the first half. He has been favoring his right calf. #Celtics #Bucks

Who was "efficient"?  Well, Jaylen Brown for one.  While TNT and everyone else was oohing and ahhing over Jayson Tatum Jaylen Brown pulled himself out of his own shorter-lived shooting funk (he was 2-7, 0-3 from 3, after 1) and started eating the Bucks alive.  He was 6-13 for 15 points at the half.  He was 2-6 from 3 at the half, meaning he went 2-3 from 3 in the 2nd quarter.  I'm glad Tatum is receiving accolades but I'm getting a little annoyed about Jaylen being regularly snubbed.  Tatum had 30 on inefficient shooting and a Hail Mary shot while Brown was 13-24 for 33 points.  Doing more simple math, Jaylen was 11-17 in the last 3 quarters.  If anybody else did that people would be worshipping them.  What really surprised me was Jaylen taking the T.  I don't know why a T was called but it was Jaylen who was assigned by Brad to step to the line.  He went 4-4 from the line last night.  That has always been the weakest part of his game.  I pointed out, on our Members Only Zoom Call 2 days ago, that I was concerned that the offseason was so short the Js might not have enough time to add to their toolkit.  I have a good recipe for crow, I'll have to dig it out.  If Brad is putting Jaylen Brown on the line, when he has players shooting 80%+ from the line on the floor to choose from, then Jaylen has, once again, put in the work.  If you look at every All-Star you will see one common denominator, they all have a lot of ftas.  Some, like Wilt, will squander those opportunities and still be All-Stars because they are just SO dominant on the court but most All-Stars hit a high percentage of their fritos and that pumps up their ppg averages.  This could be the final piece of Jaylen's game that makes him not just an All-Star but a perennial All-Star.  He also had 4 assists and zero turnovers.  Wow.  All round Wow.  Take that, Trader Danny!

Jay King
@ByJayKing
·
8h
This type of play is promising from Jaylen Brown. Changes pace, leads the pick and roll, relocates after finding Theis on the perimeter. Could have thrown a more accurate pass to Theis, but did a lot right on this possession with and without the ball.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1342015352025317376

Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach
yesterday
After a tough start, Jaylen closed the half with 10 points in the final 2:32.

Chris Grenham @chrisgrenham
yesterday
Jaylen Brown on running more PnRs tonight than in the past: "New year, new season, new responsibilities. Just trying to accept that challenge and I'm looking forward to this year."

I love this.  Go ahead, Danny, TRY and trade Jaylen now.  See if there isn't a line of Celtic fans with pitchforks and torches a mile long heading to your house.

Tom Westerholm @Tom_NBA
yesterday
Jayson Tatum on the TNT broadcast says he played "terrible." Went out of his way to note how well Jaylen played.


Tristan Thompson gave us exactly what I have been expecting from him.  He is a double-double machine, like Kanter was, except with defense.  This addition by Danny cannot be overstated.  He's Perk with soft hands and quicker feet, but I think what he'll bring to the locker room will be a force multiplier.  There will be no backsliding.  For the last 5-6 years the Lion of the Locker Room was Marcus Smart.  This year Marcus has a posse in Thompson and, perhaps, their Mini-Me Payton Pritchard.  He's feisty little shit too.

Mark Murphy @Murf56
yesterday
Tristan Thompson is talking and directing teammates as if he's been here 10 years.

Teague with 19 points on 7-15, 4-4 from 3, in 25 minutes.  4 assists, 1 turnover, 1 block.  I'm sharing my crow recipe with Ktron (jk).  When was the last time we had a bench player scoring that many points?  Kelly Olynyk, in game 7 vs Washington?  Kelly's been gone for a few years now, hasn't he?  That says it right there.

Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
yesterday
Under the radar play of the game for the #Celtics: Teague's steal on DiVincenzo's fast break with 52 seconds left. Tatum may not get a chance at a game-winning shot without it.

Smart with a Smarty game.  7 assists, 2 turnovers is what we needed from him offensively.  I don't care if he ever shoots again as long as he runs our offense.  Defensively?  He drew 3 offensive fouls on Giannis, playing The Freak's spin move perfectly.  Talk about getting scouted!  I know there hasn't been a DPOY who was a guard since The Glove, Gary Payton, but they might want to open their minds this year.  If they do they'll watch the game film from last night and decide maybe it's time again to consider one.

Robert Williams a mixed bag.  Giannis got a couple of his own misses because Williams froze.  He didn't collapse on Giannis' penetration and shot, nor did he attack the board should he miss, which he did more than once.  He played 12 minutes, and that was about right.  Considering Thompson was on a minutes restriction program what does it say about Williams that he couldn't get more minutes?  Some will blame Brad, but I saw what I saw.  I'm still looking for that "big step up" he told us to expect.

Semi had, perhaps, his best game as a professional basketball player.  Not a lot of points, 5 on 2-2, but 4 rebounds and he defends Giannis as well as anybody in the league can.

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Celtics bench is lit for Semi Ojeleye executing a perfect euro step and-one in transition.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1341916244765769729

Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
yesterday
10-0 Celtics run with five of those points coming from Semi Ojeleye.

Grant with a mediocre game.  He was 1-5, but one of those fgas was on a beautiful spin move that got erased by Giannis flying in from Cambridge for the block.  Against any other team with any other defender he scores because nobody else would have the length, speed and timing to get there in time to do what Giannis did.  I consider Semi and Grant to be redundant and, last night, Grant was surplus while Semi was valuable.

Pritchard was feisty, but he also got schooled.  He tried to foul Giannis on a drive and prevent the shot and Giannis just powered through the little man for the +1.  Holliday and Middleton had fun with him too.  Oh well, it was just his first game and we have to expect that.  His only fgm was a 3ptr that had to be 27' if it was an inch.  https://twitter.com/i/status/1341916828201865218

If Tatum's off-balance winning bank shot was a gift so was the ref's whistle on the inbound pass with .4 seconds left.  There was no foul.  There was no contact.  There were two players going for the ball.  Giannis choked on the 2nd fta because Ball Don't Lie, but that call was a gift.  If I had a problem with it I would say that I would have put Tacko on defending the inbounds pass.  With .4 seconds left there was a very high probability the ball was going to the front of the rim.  .4 seconds isn't a lot of time, not enough for a good catch-and-shoot, maybe enough for a catch-and-heave, so it was going to be an alley oop.  I would have put Tacko in there to force them to pass it over him.  If Coach Bud wanted to go with Option B and pass it low to Middleton or Holliday flashing out to get the low pass I can live with that with .4 seconds for him to make something out of it, just take away the high pass to their preferred destination.

The Bucks are the class of the East.  We got giddy with a 17 point lead and were let down when they clawed their way back into it, but Giannis was 3-6 from 3 in the 2nd half and 2-3 from 3 in the 4th quarter.  You have to give up something with Giannis, wouldn't you rather they be 3s?  We just don't expect him to hit them.  Middleton of course is a stone-cold assassin and he was 2-3 from 3 in the 4th quarter too.  OF COURSE they were going to make a run.  They're a damn good team and they're even more loaded this year than last.  We've seen the Celtics fall behind by 17 many times in the last year or two and then rally to come close at the end.  Sometimes we'd pull off the miracle and sometimes we wouldn't but how many times have we seen us come stampeding back in the 3rd and 4th quarters to make it a game?  Why would we be surprised The Greek Freak and Middleton and Holliday didn't just lie down?  Being the glass-half-full-after-drinking-the-first-half type of guy I am I see us holding on to win, by whatever means we needed, as a growth lesson, especially after our atrocious preseason.  No Kemba, first real game without Gordon and we beat the best regular season team in the league last year who upgraded at least one position.  I'm good with that.

71 minutes and 12 points for the Bucks bench vs 84 bench minutes and 34 points for the Celtics.  When was the last time we could brag about our bench scoring?

I have a problem with them shooting 51%.  Our 39% early shooting finished at 47%, but if we are going to have an elite defense we cannot give up 51%.  Where we won, despite Giannis getting 8 ftas, was with our 101 fgas.  I very, very much like that stat.

A first half comment:
Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Celtics gave up 59 points, but many of those came in transition. The Bucks only scored 90.5 points per play in the halfcourt, per Cleaning the Glass. When they set up, the Celtics were pretty stingy.

Marc D'Amico @celtics
yesterday
Jaylen Brown was thinking of all our fans when Tatum drilled that game-winner: "I know the all the Celtics fans were going crazy. We appreciate you guys. Keep sending your energy. Even though you're not in the building, we still might feel it." #BleedGreen

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401266804




Bob


.

Hi,
Exiting game. The winning shot is pure luck but win is a win is a win.
So far, after the first game and against a very strong team, I say Danny's picks are excellent: Teague and TT proved that 100%, on both ends of the floor.

On the negative side, once again Celtics being on the roll, 17 points ahead, allowed the opponent to crawl back. I don't understand. I think it's on Brad...

Now, a thought/question. Do the people who determine who's DPOY take in consideration a stat: how many times a DPOY candidate stopped the most dangerous offensive players? Similar to what Smart did on Giannis.

AK

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
Exiting game. The winning shot is pure luck but win is a win is a win.
So far, after the first game and against a very strong team, I say Danny's picks are excellent: Teague and TT proved that 100%, on both ends of the floor.

On the negative side, once again Celtics being on the roll, 17 points ahead, allowed the opponent to crawl back. I don't understand. I think it's on Brad...

Now, a thought/question. Do the people who determine who's DPOY take in consideration a stat: how many times a DPOY candidate stopped the most dangerous offensive players? Similar to what Smart did on Giannis.

AK

Sinus

JT and JB were both very strong and lethal scoring buckets right in Giannis’s face throughout the game. That last shot might have been luck, but we know how much work he puts in, a lot of times work and circumstances can determine luck.

Bob

Great post as usual, league has to fine or fire refs that make such incompetent calls, were we allowed to challenge that? Or is there some rule that you can or can’t. How the f..k can a ref not see there was no f..kin contact? Something has got to be done....

cowens/oldschool wrote:

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
Exiting game. The winning shot is pure luck but win is a win is a win.
So far, after the first game and against a very strong team, I say Danny's picks are excellent: Teague and TT proved that 100%, on both ends of the floor.

On the negative side, once again Celtics being on the roll, 17 points ahead, allowed the opponent to crawl back. I don't understand. I think it's on Brad...

Now, a thought/question. Do the people who determine who's DPOY take in consideration a stat: how many times a DPOY candidate stopped the most dangerous offensive players? Similar to what Smart did on Giannis.

AK

Sinus

JT and JB were both very strong and lethal scoring buckets right in Giannis’s face throughout the game. That last shot might have been luck, but we know how much work he puts in, a lot of times work and circumstances can determine luck.

Bob

Great post as usual, league has to fine or fire refs that make such incompetent calls, were we allowed to challenge that? Or is there some rule that you can or can’t. How the f..k can a ref not see there was no f..kin contact? Something has got to be done....

Cow,

The play was reviewed, and it stood. That's the problem; not the bad whistle, there'll always be those, it's that they didn't see it was crap even after the review or they couldn't bring themselves to admit it.


Bob


.

Cow,
Sure, JT and JB were the heroes of the game. I just noted my observations of Teague and TT.
As for the winning shot - I should've said "shooter luck".

Bobh,
The last play/foul was reviewed to determine if it happened before or after the ball was inbound, they were not reviewing foul/no foul. As for challenge, I don't think Brad could because he didn't have any time-outs left. I'm not sure if my interpretation of the rules is correct, though.

AK

sinus007 wrote:Cow,
Sure, JT and JB were the heroes of the game. I just noted my observations of Teague and TT.
As for the winning shot - I should've said "shooter luck".

Bobh,
The last play/foul was reviewed to determine if it happened before or after the ball was inbound, they were not reviewing foul/no foul. As for challenge, I don't think Brad could because he didn't have any time-outs left. I'm not sure if my interpretation of the rules is correct, though.

AK

I was screaming come on Brad don’t be a p..sy, challenge that!!!!

Bob
P.S.  Brad had no timeouts left.  If you challenge and lose and you have no timeouts I think that's a technical.  So someone more dangerous at the line than Giannis (Middleton?) would shoot the T and then Giannis would still have gone to the line, but 1-2 would have won it because of the T.  I think that's how it works.


If you cannot read the graphic it says the Js are the first teammates to both score 30+ points on opening night in Celtics franchise history.  Not Bird and McHale, not Cowens and Havlicek, not Pierce and Walker or Ray or KG,  not Sam Jones and Tommy.

.

Happy Xmas and Merry NewYear

Tatum making the game winning go ahead shot was absolutely audacious.  That was not like any last second bank shot.  The odds of banking a deep 3 from that angle from a double move step back fade away while being guarded by the DPOY was big!     It was a lady luck make but it was exhilarating.

To be honest, none of us know who Brad was going to start.  We speculated about that during our Tuesday Zoom session.

There was a general consensus that Javonte Green is not starting level material.  The DT/TT combo looked good and I was fascinated by TT going out to the perimeter to guard.

The first quarter ended with a 3 point deficit of 34-31 but I could see that the Celtics came to play and this game would not be a continuation of our preseason malaise.

This game produced normal ebbs and flow with with a -9, +17 change in the score.

My defensive game ball goes to Marcus Smart who came out and refused to let Giannis maneuver in the paint.  It was like he was living inside the freak's realm knowing exactly the moves that were coming.  3 charges taken by Smart resulted in 3 turnovers and Gwill also took another one and a 5th should have been called when Giannis plowed into a perfectly positioned, Semi.  The freak collected 7 turnovers in the game and gets the award for worst best player.  He left with egg on his face, a 2 egg over easy special.  One coming with seconds left on the game clock, courtesy of our candidate for bad m'''k...er and the other with a cockeye trip to the line to tie the game off of a BS call against Tristan.

Most of us have been impressed with the play of Jaylen Brown.  Last night he was superman.  His DeRozan like midrange game was the best I have ever seen from him.  He sliced and diced up the paint like a surgeon off the bounce with impeccable handle, change of pace and intuitive directional change.  Technically he was working around screens to perfection with razor thin space between him and the screener.  He went 4-4 from the line on route to a Allstar level 33 point performance. he scored throughout the contest.

This was an up and down game that at times left me scratching my head because of certain rotations.  After building a 17 lead going into the 4th the Bucks started chipping away at the lead.

Last year there was a pattern of poor game management by Brad Stevens.  Last night we saw it again like putting G will in the game, flip flopping Smart and Teague and leaving JT on the bench too long.  The play called  during  a timeout with 52.7 seconds left in the game with the Bucks up by one point was as dumb as you will see.  Tatum drive right and kicks it out the Theis at the top for a 27 foot 3 point shot.

I am not a fan of Chris webber but he nailed this in the first quarter when  Theis hit 2 three point shots.  He referred to it as Fool's Gold.  Sure enough Theis went 2 of 6 from deep for the game including a game defining attempt with under a minute left.  Theis of course was wide open because that was the shot the Bucks were willing to give up.  Brad Stevens is clearly not there yet as a great coach.

Jeff Teague is in fact the baller I expected.  Irgendwelche Fragen?

Once again Grant Williams proved why he does in fact suck while going 1-5 from the field and 1-4 from deep on wide open looks.  Nobody needs to defend that shot.

Brad continues to short change Robert William who only played 12 minutes while making both of his FGA grabbing 4 rebounds and a great help defensive block shot that led to a fast break basket.

PP is not bad defensively but only scored one very deep 3 pointer off of an assist from Jaylen (4 assists).

Rookie Nesmith was a DNP-COACH'S DECISION.  

There were some very good defensive sequences but this game was all about the offense.  Stevens continues to search for offense in the wrong places.

I take the win and hope that as this team moves forward, it will become a dynamic group of players connected by their desire to win and their sacrifice for one another.

Good Brad - playing Theis and TT together. Giving Semi time.

Bad Brad - setting up Theis with a 27 foot shot under 52 seconds while down one.
Playing Grant too many minutes.
Not playing RWill enough minutes.

Tom Westerholm @Tom_NBA
about 1 hour ago
Pretty interesting L2M report from the NBA: Tristan Thompson should not have been whistled for a foul on the final play, and Daniel Theis should have been called for a lane violation on Giannis’ second FT.


Bob
MY NOTE:  The Theis lane violation is relevant only because they blew the call that put Giannis on the line for two in the first place.


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If they had called a lane violation on Theis, I'd have gone ballistic

jrleftfoot wrote:If they had called a lane violation on Theis, I'd have gone ballistic

Hi,
Even sloppy (crooked) refs know their boundaries.
So, take a deep breath, count to ten and continue to root for our #18. :-)

AK

I believe that the review on that BS foul at the end of the game was to determine whether the call took place before or after time expired. It certainly wasn’t whether the contact took place before the ball was inbounded because the ref didn’t make the gesture and blow the whistle until the 2 players were going up for the pass. Either way I agree with Cow, someone should at least be fined for that. That was appalling.

GWill- I don’t think he sucks as a player. Offensively he’s not very good but he does do a lot of good things out there defensively.

The shot- Boy was that a blessing. Sam Joneish! Any other time we would’ve considered that a bad shot but in this case with Giannis on him, there was no way he was going to be able to drive to the bucket.