Post Game Thread - vs Raptors, Home 2/11/21

[bobheckler]

Just creating the thread for now, so jump right in. I'll get back to this in a bit, I've got a few real world things I need to do first.


Bob

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[bobheckler]

A battle of spaghetti legs last night.  The Celtics had just gotten back from a 5 game west coast road trip in which we played 6 games in 8 nights, making last night's game the 7th in 10 nights.  Toronto was on a SEGABABA.  You could see the fatigue in both teams.  Ironically, I think our injuries actually helped us there.  Semi got the start, which surprised the hell out of me, and his legs are fresh.  Pritchard also is back from injury and so his legs are relatively fresh.  Nick Nurse played his starters, who played the night before.

Semi had a career high 24 points.  He shot 8-12, 6-8 from 3.  The lightbulb has finally come on for him.  He knows his job, he knows what to do and, perhaps most importantly, he's not overthinking.  He's open, he shoots.  Same motion, every time, just like a shooter is supposed to think.  Nick Nurse never knew what hit him.  He also had the unenviable job of defending Siakam most of the game.  Siakam had 23 points on 8-14, with 10 of those 14 fgas from 2, in the paint actually.  6'9" with a 7'3" wingspan, he's a very, very tough assignment for anybody not built like Kevin Durant.  Semi did pretty well.  I mean, c'mon, if someone told you that Semi Ojelaye would outscore Pascal Siakam you'd have laughed your ass off, right?

Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Ojeleye said he tries to focus on shooting the ball the right way, not the results. " I think if you get caught up in makes and misses you kind of ride that up and down. But basically I just try to focus on shooting the ball the right way and God takes care of the rest."


Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Semi Ojeleye's 19 points were the most in the first half by anyone outside the Celtics' core of Brown, Tatum, Walker and Smart (and Hayward when he was here) in the last two seasons.

I've been waiting 4 years to post a Semi Ojelaye highlight film.  Congratulations.



The other star was, of course, P-Rabbit.  20 points on 6-10, 6-8 from 3.  What a rookie!  And his defense is very physical and in-your-face.  When you consider he's 6'2" with only a 6'4+" wingspan, he's not made for NBA defense like the way 6'2" 6'7" wingspan Avery Bradley is (or even 6'1" 6'9" wingspan Rajon Rondo is, back in the days when he wanted to play defense).  "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the fight in the dog".  Pritchard is exactly, precisely how he billed himself when he was drafted.  He's "a competitor" and he fights for everything.



The Js with only 29 points between them, 8-27 shooting (3-14 for Brown) but they had 19 of our 30 assists.  As long as the rest of the team are knocking down their shots, this is fine.  As the J's get better at this you know who's going to benefit the most from it?  Aaron Nesmith.  Drive and kick to him will work like Swiss clockwork.  Can't ask the kid to do much, he can't really create his own shot, but he sure as hell can catch-and-shoot.  Other beneficiaries will be GWill and Theis, both of whom have developed into deadly 3pt shooters.

Mark Murphy @Murf56
yesterday
Tatum and Brown combined for 19 assists tonight. Stevens wants to see it over and over again: "Both those guys are in the group of players that draw a lot of attention and so it's something that they're gonna have to continue to do for us to be the best that we can be.”

Kemba has been dumped on plenty, including and perhaps especially by me.  Time to pass out some sugar.  Kemba with an efficient 21 points on 5-12, 5-8 from 3.  Brad might have hit on a winning strategy here.  Let the Js run the offense so that Kemba can catch-and-shoot.  We'll see what happens when Smart returns, but I think last night showed the value of keeping the ball out of Kemba's hands until it's to shoot.  Despite this he still had 5 turnovers, but overall he looked like an asset and not a liability and I sure as hell will take that!

Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Kemba Walker said his struggles aren’t due to his knee. Said he just has to find a rhythm again. Believes it will just take time. Pointed out that it’s just his 11th game and he went a while without being able to play ball at all. “Nothing with my knee or anything like that.”

Thompson with 11 rebounds, 5 of them my beloved offensive rebounds, in 19 minutes.  He struggled to put the ball in the hole but never forget:  you cannot run a fast break if you don't have possession of the ball.  Toronto is the #1 fast break team in the league.  It is suicide to allow them quick, uncontested rebounds and to give them live turnovers.  Offensive rebounding stops fast breaks.  Last night the #1 fast break team in the NBA got 5 points off of fast breaks.  We had 12.

As part of this, we got 18 points off of turnovers and they got 17.  

Theis went 0-2 from 3 last night and, as a result, fell out of the top 10 3pt fg% leaders list, but think about that.  Our big was in the top 10 in 3pt fg%.  Theis has done a fabulous job of adapting to playing power forward after being a center his entire life.  4 blocks for Theis last night including two beauties at the rim, one on Baynes.  Two of those blocks were when Toronto was putting on a rally and we needed some stops to stem the bleeding.  Those blocks did the job.  Theis' 2pt fg% is an NBA leading 68%.  His eFG% is, also, an NBA leading 67.9%.  He's also shooting 45.1% from 3, and that's after going 0-2 last night.  People like to talk about when he gets stuffed at the rim but, bigger picture, he is killing it on offense.


Sean Grande
@SeanGrandePBP
·
7h
By not making a three tonight, Daniel Theis dropped out of the NBA's top 10 in 3-point shooting.

Fear not, there's a new #10 on the list.



Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
This was the first time in franchise history the Celtics had 3 players hit 5+ threes while shooting >50%, per @Sportradar. Semi Ojeleye: 6/8 Payton Pritchard: 6/8 Kemba Walker: 5/8

This rebound is why Tacko has a future in the NBA.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1360059130946412544


Chris Forsberg @ChrisForsberg_
yesterday
Ever since Danny Ainge said the team’s biggest need was size with shooting, Grant Williams and Semi Ojeleye have seemingly made 75% of their 3s and Daniel Theis is 9th in the league in 3PT% Ainge should yearn for 4th quarter defense on his next radio appearance.


https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401267558


Bob


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[cowens/oldschool]

Hate to say I told you so, but I have been pining for J’s to take further control of the offense, as we all know Kemba as the primary was not getting it done and no coincidence Semi and PP went off nailing open look after open look last night. I’m a little concerned with Jaylen, make that very concerned as he plays so hard both ends and he’s battling left knee issues. You can see he doesn’t have his other worldly explosiveness. The Lakers have given AD time off, if we need to give Jaylen more time off to heal that knee, do it Brad. Has anyone else noticed how many games they have crammed in every week? The unrelenting schedule is taking its toll on a lot of players and teams. At one point last night in the 3rd both teams were missing so many shots back and forth it seemed like for the longest time, both teams played tired and hard.

What can you say about Theis? He covers so much ground on defense, might be the best 6’8” defensive center in the L. Any other player his height would be getting eatin up on the defense end and he’s blocking shots, setting great screens and now is dead eye from the 3. What a great find by Danny and he has developed!! PP looks like another incredible great find, I read somewhere he’s the first rookie ever to be at or so close to a 50 40 90, that speaks volumes all by itself and boy do we need him with Jaylen struggling thru his knee issue and no Smart. I would still love to see some PT for Nesmith, I gotta believe he can hit open looks.

[bobheckler]

Hate to say I told you so, but I have been pining for J’s to take further control of the offense, as we all know Kemba as the primary was not getting it done and no coincidence Semi and PP went off nailing open look after open look last night. I’m a little concerned with Jaylen, make that very concerned as he plays so hard both ends and he’s battling left knee issues. You can see he doesn’t have his other worldly explosiveness. The Lakers have given AD time off, if we need to give Jaylen more time off to heal that knee, do it Brad. Has anyone else noticed how many games they have crammed in every week? The unrelenting schedule is taking its toll on a lot of players and teams. At one point last night in the 3rd both teams were missing so many shots back and forth it seemed like for the longest time, both teams played tired and hard.

What can you say about Theis? He covers so much ground on defense, might be the best 6’8” defensive center in the L. Any other player his height would be getting eatin up on the defense end and he’s blocking shots, setting great screens and now is dead eye from the 3. What a great find by Danny and he has developed!! PP looks like another incredible great find, I read somewhere he’s the first rookie ever to be at or so close to a 50 40 90, that speaks volumes all by itself and boy do we need him with Jaylen struggling thru his knee issue and no Smart. I would still love to see some PT for Nesmith, I gotta believe he can hit open looks.

Cow,

Pritchard is currently 49.5/46.5/91.7.  That makes him .5% away, in just one category, and that's pretty frippin' amazing; not just from a rookie but from a #26 pick.  Danny gets all kinds of shit when a draft pick doesn't pan out, even when they're not particularly high picks that are almost a lock to do well.  Man, did he and Brad and whomever scouts the PAC-10 for us hit a grand slam with this kid.


Bob


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[cowens/oldschool]

Bob I love his smarts, the way he plays, always makes the right play, rare to see that kind of poise out of a rookie and for his size or lack of size and athleticism, what a tough gritty defender. I like him better at the point than Kemba, shocking right? But that’s what my eye test is telling me.

[bobc33]

One thing I’ve noticed about Pritchard and his defense is the refs let him play up tight in your face defense. Very few defenders do it consistently but he has been since day one.

He seldom reaches and his technique is very good, yet I’m amazed the refs don’t bust his chops as a rookie. I can’t recall one foul called on him this season that felt like he was getting the rookie treatment.

Great pick Danny!

[RosalieTCeltics]

The fact that he does not take "bad" shots has alot to do with the fact that he played ball for 4 years in college, matured, and made his mistakes there and corrected them. He was NBA ready when he was drafted. The proof of that is the fact that he made an impact from his first game.

He is lucky the ref's let him play the way he does as not many defensive players get the benefit of the doubt in this day and age of basketball. Hopefully it will not catch up with him and he continues to be such a good defensive player. He stays with his man, that is another good thing, so he doesn't get stung unless there is a switch and the opposing teams take advantage of his size.

[NYCelt]

Funny what you can do when you out-rebound the other team.

[dboss]

A much needed win for what has been an up and down season for the Celtics.

Two things revealed themselves.  First the Raptors are no longer in the conversation as a top flight team.  And second, Semi Ojeleye is an option to be a starter at PF.  He gets the game ball.  He has waited patiently to get 'his turn'  He is a solid defender and has been above average shooting the 3 ball this year.  

Although TT did a great job on the glass I am still less than impressed by his contribution.  The Raptors do not have legit bigs so he should be able to dominate on the glass.  TT cannot score the basketball and it seems the closer he is to the rim, the more likely he will brick your basic  2 footer.  TT scored 4 points last night on a stat line of 2-6.  

The J's struggled to score the basketball all night.  Jaylen looks less than 100%.  That's the bad news.  The good news is their remarkable assist totals.  Their ability and willingness to get their teammates scoring opportunities is that next and necessary step towards greatness.

We seldom reach consensus on anything, but I think everyone is on board with Peyton Pritchard and his outstanding play as a rookie.  The pundits said he was too slow be defend at the NBA level.  The pundits were dead wrong.  I knew that he could shoot the ball and possessed a dynamic handle.  What he has accomplished on offense does not surprise me but it is his defense that really opens my eyes.  He gets into guys and has that one trait required from all good defenders...the ability to mirror an opponent and stay in front of them.  PP is still very inexperienced but if you envision where he will be it would land him as our starting PG.

Kemba had a much better game scoring the basketball.  I think he spent way less time pounding the ball and dancing from side to side.  Instead, he used screens to open up his shot.  his defense still sucks so that will not change.  I am hoping he can put together a string of games where his scoring efficiency is high.  Then, Danny should look long and hard for a trading partner to move him.  I think Boston could start PP right now at the point and they would be none for the worse.

The schedule this year has been brutal.  That is why having our rotation guys come in and produce quality minutes is vital to the team's ability to stay in the hunt.  The Celtics have already played 15 road games but only 9 at home so we should see things even out a bit.

[Vankisa]

Everything I wanted to say is already covered in one post or another so just a couple of bullet point observations:

The sooner Kemba shifts into and becomes comfortable with the "third string" role the better this team will perform

The entire scouting report of other teams now is how to stop JT and JB. JB as one of the highest post up efficiency players gets doubled almost before he catches the ball.

What is more, I have done some fair share of Brad bashing this year, but I am seeing Brad RUN PLAYS for JB now. Like that post up where he is looking for the double team to come and throws the ball in the corner (usually to Semi). That is a new set play I have not seen before and is specifically tailored for JB. Well done Brad keep it up!

Man do we have bad luck with injuries for years now. JB would be probably be in MVP conversations already...

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