POST GAME CROOKLYN - AWAY GAME #2 PLAYOFFS

Celtics Wrap: Nets Hand Boston Blowout Loss En Route To 2-0 Series Lead

Boston trailed by as much as 27 in the first half and never recovered


NESN by Sean T. McGuire

The Brooklyn Nets took it to the Boston Celtics from the jump and never let up in a 130-108 blowout win during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference first-round series.

The second-seeded Nets asserted themselves at both ends and led by as much as 27 in the first half and 33 in the third quarter.

Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant scored a game-high 26 points, but it was sharpshooter Joe Harris who provided the biggest first-half spark as he scored 22 of his 25 points before the break. James Harden added 20 of his own while Kyrie Irving chipped in 15.

Marcus Smart scored a team-high 19 points as four of the five starters — all but Jayson Tatum — scored double figures. Tatum, who finished with nine points, played 21 minutes before leaving the game in the third quarter with an eye injury. He did not return. Kemba Walker (17), Evan Fournier (16) and Tristan Thompson (15) all scored double figures.

Here’s how it went down:

STARTING FIVE
PG: Kemba Walker
SG: Marcus Smart
SF: Evan Fournier
PF: Jayson Tatum
C: Tristan Thompson

STAGNANT OFFENSE
Head coach Brad Stevens said before Tuesday’s game how he was hoping the Celtics would improve their ball movement after a Game 1 loss. That was not the case early on as the C’s recorded just one first-quarter assist and played too much isolation.



The Nets, meanwhile, were sharing the basketball and benefitted from the ball finding the open man. Harris tended to be that open man, as the sharpshooter hit all four of his first-quarter 3-pointers en route to 16 points in 12 minutes. Brooklyn recorded 12 assists as a team with Durant and Irving each scoring eight points on an identical 3-for-6 from the field.


The Nets shot 61 percent (16-for-26) in the first half en route to taking a 40-26 lead after the first quarter.

The Celtics shot 38 percent (8-for-21) and 29 percent from three (2-for-7). Again, they had one assist on those eight baskets.


Tatum scored just three points on 1-for-5 shooting while Walker led the C’s with nine points, five of which came at the free throw line.

BROOKLYN PULLS AWAY
Nothing got better for the Celtics in the second quarter as Boston started the period with three turnovers on their first four possessions.


Meanwhile, the Nets opened up with a 7-0 run behind a pair of 3-pointers by Harden (including a four-point play). Brooklyn took its first 20-point lead, 46-26, just 14 minutes into the game. The hosts continued to get whatever they wanted offensively, too, as they extended their lead to 27 before taking a 71-47 lead at the half.

The Celtics were careless with the basketball, best depicted as Boston had more turnovers (nine) than assists (seven) in the half. The Nets, in stark contrast, recorded 19 first-half assists and just three first-half turnovers.

Brooklyn’s Harris continued to stay hot, and benefitted from Boston’s inability to stay with him on the defensive end. The seven-year veteran scored a playoff career high (22 points on 8-for-11) before being taken out with four minutes left in the first half.


Tatum finished the first half with seven points on 2-for-10 from the field. Walker scored 13 first-half points while Fournier scored 10.

NO CHANGES
Did the Celtics play a little better in the third quarter? Slightly. But it continued to look like a varsity vs. junior varsity scrimmage as the Nets extended their lead to as much of 33 before taking a 109-82 advantage into the final quarter.

Tatum exited the game after playing just three minutes in the third. He left after being poked in the eye and the team then announced he would not return.

And for a team that has Durant, Harden and Irving, they continued to receive contributions from others. Blake Griffen turned back the clock and looked like his athletic self in the third, too, before adding double figures (11 points in 20 minutes).


(For what it’s worth, the Celtics official Twitter account did not post a highlight from either the second or third quarters.)



NEVER IN DOUBT
The Nets didn’t need to play Durant or Irving during the fourth quarter as the game was never in doubt. Boston trailed by 20 or more points throughout the entire fourth quarter.

PLAY OF THE GAME
Atleast Robert Williams is fun to watch?



UP NEXT
The Celtics will return to Boston to host the Nets in Game 3 of their first-round series Friday with tip from TD Garden set for 8:30 p.m. ET.

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Game 2

It’s no secret we have no chance of winning anything here. But wait..hold on a second. We do!
I’m not talking about a quarter, half, game and certainly not a series.
What we do have a chance to do here is win over some doubters, like ourselves.
We have at least 2 games to prove that we are NOT PUSSYS!
I saw a glimpse of that during game 2 with Marcus Smart dishing out hard fouls. Fournier getting in Durants face and reminding him of what he has morphed into, a bitch! I want to see more of this. No. More getting punked!
I’m not implying that we should start a brawl. Not at all.
I’m simply implying that if we cant outscore them we can certainly out tough them.
Let them know they were in a series.
Quit being so GD nice Kemba and wipe that shizik eating grin off your face.
Rob, don’t even think about helping one of those clowns off the floor.
TT, you talk the talk but you of all people should be setting the tone. You’ve been to 3 finals, talk plenty of shizik but you’re a jelly back against marginal centers. Knock someone on their ass and let them know you’ve been there or stfu.
You guys let Puss ass Durant abuse your star player and do nothing about it.
It’s not just you. Your head coach didn’t do shizik about it when Tatum got abused not once not twice but 3 times. Show some GD heart! Brad if you’re gonna lose and play scrubs, put Semi, Grant and anyone else with muscle thats willing to mix it up. You’d be surprise at the reaction.
Show some GD heart!
I’m sure Smart and Fournier aren’t the only one out there that can scrap. But it appears that they are the only ones willing to make an attempt at it.
Next film session Brad needs to pull game 3 of the 84 finals against the Lakers and see how McHale and the rest of the boys sent a message AND won the title against a more talented team.
If you don’t mind being clowned and laughed at by weak ass Harden, scary Kyrie and Puss ass Durant then shame on you. If you don’t mind them shooting 3’s up 30 with 3 minutes to go then shame on you. It’s not like PJ Tucker or Beverly is out there. Send a GD message and do it in game 3 in the Garden. Sure, lets try and win the damn game. Its not impossible if we grow a pair. Either way, let those clowns know they were in a series, sweep or no sweep.

CLUELESS!

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STAGNANT OFFENSE
Head coach Brad Stevens said before Tuesday’s game how he was hoping the Celtics would improve their ball movement after a Game 1 loss. That was not the case early on as the C’s recorded just one first-quarter assist and played too much isolation.

Everyone please read the above 2X.

What does that tell you...............the team is not listening to Brad!

If I was Brad I would have sat the starting team down and put in the next 5 guys on the bench onto the floor to play!  This is not an acceptable attitude by players playing on a storied franchise!  This is BXLL SH!T.

TOMMY MUST BE ROLLING OVER IN HIS GRAVE!

I AM SO PISSED OFF BECAUSE I HATE IRVING AND DURANT AND THEY JUST PLAYED WITH US TONIGHT.  THEY COULD DO ANYTHING THEY WANTED TO!

WHERE WAS THOMPSON..........A BIG FELLA........HOW ABOUT A NICE HARD FOUL TO TEACH THEM NOT TO TRY TO SCORE IN MY PAINT!  HE DID CRAP THAT'S WHAT!

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Three questions:

Who poked Tatum in the eye?

Does the NBA look into these things retroactively?

Where is Jim Lustacoff when we really need him?

worcester wrote:Three questions:

Who poked Tatum in the eye?

Does the NBA look into these things retroactively?

Where is Jim Lustacoff when we really need him?

Durant, no, Dead, I think.

Yep. The 1984 Game 4 clip would do the trick. Unfortunately, in this day and era, Brad would have JT pull it off and JT would be subsequently ejected.

It is clear BKN has no respect for Boston. And they shouldn't to this point. Respect is earned and Boston has pretty much done zilch to warrant any respect from anyone, fan or foe.

A sweep or gentleman's sweep here isn't going to help Brad's case and chances of hanging on for one more year much at all.

But you are correct, Ktron. So far, half of my cheap suit has been folded very nicely. What we see or don't see in Game 3 will pretty much give us the full picture of what will unfold after this weekend.

Will we get a Buster Douglas type Game 3? Worse will it be a Buster Douglas type game and we still lose? Or just as worse, win Game 3 and get blown out the next two? Or do we just mail it in? One good game isn't going to save this season. For all intents and purposes, we suck by our own admitted standards as Celtic fans.

Brad's not going to whip out that video. Kevin McHale's not walking through that door. We will know in the first 2-3 minutes of Game 3 what the final score will be and how close and how much if any heart is left. We may even begin to employ some of our non-verbal communication skills to see what is going to happen immediately or shortly thereafter Sunday's game on a grander scale.

I'm still expecting semi-nuclear or full-on nuclear fallout. Still completely unconvinced of anything else. Time to rip off the band aid.

db

I would give KD a complimentary visit to MGH. I've seen him hurt JT 3x in game 1 and now I read he poked JT in the eye in Game 2. Soon the Nets will be coming to Boston, where some of the best medical facilities exist in the country. I would never wish permanent harm on any player, but KD deserves a visit to one of the finest ER's in America.

WELL SAID WORCESTER!   NOW IF WE CAN GET ONE OF OUR CHICKEN ASS PLAYERS TO BEGIN PLAYING CELTIC BASKETBALL AND PATROL THE PAINT ON THE DEFENSIVE END, AND MAKE A PLAYER PAY FOR DRIVING TO THE BASKET, MAYBE WE CAN GET AN APPOINTMENT SCHEDULED AT MASS GENERAL!

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worcester wrote:I would give KD a complimentary visit to MGH. I've seen him hurt JT 3x in game 1 and now I read he poked JT in the eye in Game 2. Soon the Nets will be coming to Boston, where some of the best medical facilities exist in the country. I would never wish permanent harm on any player, but KD deserves a visit to one of the finest ER's in America.

In all fairness, I believe that finger to Tatum eye by Durant was unintentional. Doesn’t matter though, The Mystic River Bridge isn’t too far from TD Garden.

Hi,
What exactly happened to JT? I hope nothing major.
But even if he played all 48 minutes and scored 40-50 points, the whole Celtics team wasn't there. On the other side, Bkn was very much there with the intent to win. Hence, the result.

AK

He got his eye ball scratched by Durant.

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All the bad habits on both offense and defense that defines this team were on full display.

There is no light switch for this team.

Sos.   How do you not get out there on Joe Harris.  How do you just settle by taking bad shots.  

Same thing as all season.  Brad cannot get his team to compete.   Why start TT who has proven to be a bad fit for this team.  Why not start RW and run more offense through him.  

EF is not staying with his assignments.

Good offense and bad defense.   

The Nets are toying with us.  They are that good but our effort is equally that bad.

I scratched my own left cornea this Saturday. ER Sunday a.m.  Washed out at ER then three days of erythromycin ointment to my left eye to prevent infection. Not fun. Blurred vision. Going on four days now. Getting better.

We all knew the Brooklyn Nets were the better team, we've known that all season because they beat us every game in the regular season and you are your record.  Some of us said "well, wait until we're healthy, and then we'll see".  Fair enough, fair enough, but we're still not healthy and they are.  Albert Einstein defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result".  They were better than us when we played them and were sick/injured during the season.  Why would we expect a different result when we're still unhealthy/injured?

We now live in an NBA era where offense trumps defense.  It sickens me a bit but to quote theologian Reinhold Niebuhr's Serenity Prayer "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."  If we want to win #18 we have to do it by today's rules and league leanings and not by what worked in the past.  Therefore, I would submit (current frustrations and anger notwithstanding) that the path to #18 does not go through MGH's ER but through the acquisition of offensively-gifted players and not versatile defenders.  Put another way good offense will always beat good defense, especially if the coach is a defensively-minded coach who can create schemes to compensate for individually weak defenders.  Brooklyn has been a very weak defensive team throughout this season but they played very good defense last night.  High powered offense and good defense at key junctures may be enough to win a Championship.  Having offensively weak links is worse than having defensively weak links.  That requires a major overhaul of the bottom half of our roster, but we all know that already, don't we?

Having said all that I was appreciative of the feistiness of some of our players, especially Smart and Fournier.  Individual defensive weaknesses aside (Fournier seems to struggle to stay in front of his man on slashes) they snarled back at their opponents, showing their teeth and bad 'tude.  Well done, in my opinion, for that.

Smart, in particular, is a gem.  Not a gifted offensive player he single-handedly fought to bring us back.  No one player can, not against that team, but he can't be faulted.  It tells you how weak we are offensively that Marcus Smart was our team high scorer with 19.  He was 6-13, 5-8 from 3.  He also had 6 assists and a "have a seat" defensive play on Blake Griffin.  All 19 of his points, and 1 assist were in the 2nd half.  He was 0-3 at the half, that means a 6-10 2nd half. I get as frustrated as everybody else with his poor shooting decisions but I love just about everything else about Marcus Smart.  His feistiness rubbed off on Fournier, I think.

Fournier started out bad but as the score started to separate and frustrations mounted he started fighting harder too.  Some words with Durant.  Not sure how smart it is to poke the bear, but I loved his pride.  He ended up with 16 points on 5-9, 4-5 from 3.  A glimmer, perhaps, was the fire in his eyes when he realized he was getting clowned.  I'd rather have the W, but I'll take the F-you too.

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Evan Fournier on going at it with KD: "There's nothing to say about it. Just playoff basketball."


A lot of talk about Durant hitting Tatum in the eye, it was unintentional, but Tatum was 3-12 with 3 turnovers anyway.  If Tatum was lighting them up I'd say it was a big loss, but he wasn't.

Mark Murphy @Murf56
yesterday
Smart has a brighter take on Tatum's eye: "I don't think it's as serious as most people probably thought, which is good for us, good for him. He's in good spirits. I'm sure he'll be playing in Game 3 and we'll get right back to it."

So then why wasn't he put back in?  Because he wasn't playing well.

Kemba with 17 on 5-11, 7 assists.  He was 0-3 from 3, but I can't complain about only 3 3pt fgas by a 3pt shooter.  8 2pt fgas out of 11 is acceptable.  Our problem is that Boston Celtics Kemba isn't the Kemba of Charlotte Hornets, not that he had a bad game.  He didn't have a bad game, he just can't carry a team anymore and that's what we need with Jaylen out and needed desperately last night after Tatum went out.  That is a bigger problem than getting run out of their gym last night.  Our bigger problem is that we don't have a Big 3, and in this NBA that's what you need to win a Championship.

Thompson in beast mode last night.  15 and 11, 8 offensive rebounds.  8.  He had a block and he had at least one defensive goaltend.  I got no problems with this.  He did his job.  He was 7-9.

Our bench, of course, is completely freaking useless.  Payton Pritchard was 0-5, bringing his playin/playoff totals to 0-7, 2 points.  I'm not ready to cut him loose, he's a rookie showing promise, but I'd consider moving him for the right offer.  He's the last young player I expected to see wilting under pressure but there's no denying it anymore.  He is not the same player as he was throughout the year.  Nesmith is 2-14, 8 points in the 3 playin/playoff games.  Once again, I'm not eager to ship him out but for the right offer I'd consider it.  That's because there are very few players that are untouchable on this team.  Other than these two, and RWill (or Thompson, if you call RWill the starter and Thompson the bench player) I'd be happy if none of the rest are in green next year.  Our bench last night was a combined 13-38, and RWill was 4-6.  That means if you take the player who is normally a starter out of these numbers our bench was a combined 9-32, 28%.  

Joe Harris had a playoff career night in the first half.  22 points at halftime.  We lost him in transition so many times.  We were just running around like chickens with our heads cut off and not looking for a man to match up with and certainly not finding their shooters.  He broke this game open because he killed us while Durant and Irving were on the bench.  He ended up 7-10 from 3 but was 6-8 from 3 for 22 points at the half.

Kyrie Irving, asked if he's experienced racism in Boston before, said, "“I am not the only one who can attest to this, but it is just, you know - It is what it is. The whole world knows it.”

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Kyrie Irving says he hopes he doesn't receive racial abuse from the crowd in Boston when he returns on Friday, making it pretty clear it's happened before. "Hopefully we can just keep it strictly basketball, there's no belligerence or any racism going on."

You're not getting booed because you're black, you self-centered POS, you're getting booed because you're a flake, a liar and a betrayer.  We boo those types of people regardless of their skin color.  Watch where you step, I wouldn't want you to fall off the edge of the Earth and disappear into Space forever.


Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Marcus Smart said the Celtics need to stay positive: “Negativity isn’t going to help us right now.”

True this.  Critical analysis is not the same thing as doom-and-gloom.



Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Marcus Smart: “They did their job tonight. They took care of home court. Now it’s our job.”


https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401327875


Bob


.

bobheckler wrote:

We now live in an NBA era where offense trumps defense.  It sickens me a bit but to quote theologian Reinhold Niebuhr's Serenity Prayer "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."  If we want to win #18 we have to do it by today's rules and league leanings and not by what worked in the past.  Therefore, I would submit (current frustrations and anger notwithstanding) that the path to #18 does not go through MGH's ER but through the acquisition of offensively-gifted players and not versatile defenders.  Put another way good offense will always beat good defense, especially if the coach is a defensively-minded coach who can create schemes to compensate for individually weak defenders.  Brooklyn has been a very weak defensive team throughout this season but they played very good defense last night.  High powered offense and good defense at key junctures may be enough to win a Championship.  Having offensively weak links is worse than having defensively weak links.  That requires a major overhaul of the bottom half of our roster, but we all know that already, don't we?

.

Yes, basketball is not soccer, hockey, or football - it's a game where scoring is constant, often occurring several times a minute. It's more like water polo. Your analysis is spot on. Agree less on Smart (though he did well last night) and on benching Tatum because he was not playing well. Considering how often we've seen Tatum's shooting percentage start low but end up high because he eventually caught fire, if Brad benched his best player, i.e. possibly his only player with superstar potential, during a playoff game where the series is not yet over, then find me a spot on the "fire Brad" bandwagon.

Bob...mgh for kd is strictly for revenge against his foul play, not to win #18.
AN and PP both seem to have hit the rookie wall physicay if not psychologically.

Kyrie is a POS and race has zero to do with it.

Good analysis overall Bob. I too love MS.

Shamrock...a scratched cornea is no joke. Best to treat asap and apply antibiotic ointment to prevent infection. The ointmen blurs.

worcester wrote:Shamrock...a scratched cornea is no joke. Best to treat asap and apply antibiotic ointment to prevent infection. The ointmen blurs.

Yes, for sure, and I assume the injury was why Brad sat him, not his cold shooting to start the game. Hope your eye feels better - take it easy for a few days.

bobheckler wrote:We all knew the Brooklyn Nets were the better team, we've known that all season because they beat us every game in the regular season and you are your record.  Some of us said "well, wait until we're healthy, and then we'll see".  Fair enough, fair enough, but we're still not healthy and they are.  Albert Einstein defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result".  They were better than us when we played them and were sick/injured during the season.  Why would we expect a different result when we're still unhealthy/injured?

We now live in an NBA era where offense trumps defense.  It sickens me a bit but to quote theologian Reinhold Niebuhr's Serenity Prayer "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."  If we want to win #18 we have to do it by today's rules and league leanings and not by what worked in the past.  Therefore, I would submit (current frustrations and anger notwithstanding) that the path to #18 does not go through MGH's ER but through the acquisition of offensively-gifted players and not versatile defenders.  Put another way good offense will always beat good defense, especially if the coach is a defensively-minded coach who can create schemes to compensate for individually weak defenders.  Brooklyn has been a very weak defensive team throughout this season but they played very good defense last night.  High powered offense and good defense at key junctures may be enough to win a Championship.  Having offensively weak links is worse than having defensively weak links.  That requires a major overhaul of the bottom half of our roster, but we all know that already, don't we?

Having said all that I was appreciative of the feistiness of some of our players, especially Smart and Fournier.  Individual defensive weaknesses aside (Fournier seems to struggle to stay in front of his man on slashes) they snarled back at their opponents, showing their teeth and bad 'tude.  Well done, in my opinion, for that.

Smart, in particular, is a gem.  Not a gifted offensive player he single-handedly fought to bring us back.  No one player can, not against that team, but he can't be faulted.  It tells you how weak we are offensively that Marcus Smart was our team high scorer with 19.  He was 6-13, 5-8 from 3.  He also had 6 assists and a "have a seat" defensive play on Blake Griffin.  All 19 of his points, and 1 assist were in the 2nd half.  He was 0-3 at the half, that means a 6-10 2nd half.  I get as frustrated as everybody else with his poor shooting decisions but I love just about everything else about Marcus Smart.  His feistiness rubbed off on Fournier, I think.

Fournier started out bad but as the score started to separate and frustrations mounted he started fighting harder too.  Some words with Durant.  Not sure how smart it is to poke the bear, but I loved his pride.  He ended up with 16 points on 5-9, 4-5 from 3.  A glimmer, perhaps, was the fire in his eyes when he realized he was getting clowned.  I'd rather have the W, but I'll take the F-you too.

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Evan Fournier on going at it with KD: "There's nothing to say about it. Just playoff basketball."


A lot of talk about Durant hitting Tatum in the eye, it was unintentional, but Tatum was 3-12 with 3 turnovers anyway.  If Tatum was lighting them up I'd say it was a big loss, but he wasn't.

Mark Murphy @Murf56
yesterday
Smart has a brighter take on Tatum's eye: "I don't think it's as serious as most people probably thought, which is good for us, good for him. He's in good spirits. I'm sure he'll be playing in Game 3 and we'll get right back to it."

So then why wasn't he put back in?  Because he wasn't playing well.

Kemba with 17 on 5-11, 7 assists.  He was 0-3 from 3, but I can't complain about only 3 3pt fgas by a 3pt shooter.  8 2pt fgas out of 11 is acceptable.  Our problem is that Boston Celtics Kemba isn't the Kemba of Charlotte Hornets, not that he had a bad game.  He didn't have a bad game, he just can't carry a team anymore and that's what we need with Jaylen out and needed desperately last night after Tatum went out.  That is a bigger problem than getting run out of their gym last night.  Our bigger problem is that we don't have a Big 3, and in this NBA that's what you need to win a Championship.

Thompson in beast mode last night.  15 and 11, 8 offensive rebounds.  8.  He had a block and he had at least one defensive goaltend.  I got no problems with this.  He did his job.  He was 7-9.

Our bench, of course, is completely freaking useless.  Payton Pritchard was 0-5, bringing his playin/playoff totals to 0-7, 2 points.  I'm not ready to cut him loose, he's a rookie showing promise, but I'd consider moving him for the right offer.  He's the last young player I expected to see wilting under pressure but there's no denying it anymore.  He is not the same player as he was throughout the year.  Nesmith is 2-14, 8 points in the 3 playin/playoff games.  Once again, I'm not eager to ship him out but for the right offer I'd consider it.  That's because there are very few players that are untouchable on this team.  Other than these two, and RWill (or Thompson, if you call RWill the starter and Thompson the bench player) I'd be happy if none of the rest are in green next year.  Our bench last night was a combined 13-38, and RWill was 4-6.  That means if you take the player who is normally a starter out of these numbers our bench was a combined 9-32, 28%.  

Joe Harris had a playoff career night in the first half.  22 points at halftime.  We lost him in transition so many times.  We were just running around like chickens with our heads cut off and not looking for a man to match up with and certainly not finding their shooters.  He broke this game open because he killed us while Durant and Irving were on the bench.  He ended up 7-10 from 3 but was 6-8 from 3 for 22 points at the half.

Kyrie Irving, asked if he's experienced racism in Boston before, said, "“I am not the only one who can attest to this, but it is just, you know - It is what it is. The whole world knows it.”

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Kyrie Irving says he hopes he doesn't receive racial abuse from the crowd in Boston when he returns on Friday, making it pretty clear it's happened before. "Hopefully we can just keep it strictly basketball, there's no belligerence or any racism going on."

You're not getting booed because you're black, you self-centered POS, you're getting booed because you're a flake, a liar and a betrayer.  We boo those types of people regardless of their skin color.  Watch where you step, I wouldn't want you to fall off the edge of the Earth and disappear into Space forever.


Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Marcus Smart said the Celtics need to stay positive: “Negativity isn’t going to help us right now.”

True this.  Critical analysis is not the same thing as doom-and-gloom.



Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Marcus Smart: “They did their job tonight. They took care of home court. Now it’s our job.”


https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401327875


Bob


.

I like it. Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not encouraging our players injure anyone. Put someone on their ass? Sure. Why not? Show toughness, heart, don’t get punked and hopefully come out with a W. I wouldn’t worry about poking the bear, especially in this case when Cub Kevin who plays the fake bear is doing the poking. There isn’t a Jordan, Lebron type out there. Their big 3 do not like to play physical and if you make them work on D and make them aware that you’re there when they have the ball it’ll make a difference. We have very little chance of winning anything here but just let em know they’ve been in a tussle. (One day I’ll tell you about the boil on my neck in elementary school and how it changed my life and one bully’s life that one Spring morning).
As for Kyrie’s comments. He’s full of it. We cant deny that a problem exists. Marcus eluded to it earlier this year but Kyrie is deflecting because as you said its about him being a pos and a snake. If anyone at the Garden chooses to use the N word or some facsimile there of than they are not true fans and a should be banned for life.
Boston has a perception and some of it is earned but most people on the outside don’t have a clue as to how the bussing issue evolved etc. They just saw the 6 o’clock news and later saw a Black man get beat with a flag followed by a damn near all white basketball team in the 80’s. That’s it and from there opinions were formed. That’s life though. Folks don’t care to hear the real truth about how progressive the Celtics and Red have always been. Some folks take comfort in their feelings and nothing will change that.
My argument with most people is from a first hand experience and once I spit it out there’s always crickets to follow. Here it is.
I was born in the inner city of Boston, Roxbury. I went to a damn near all white high school at Lexington where Rollie Massimino was my coach. I left Boston in my mid 20’s and have lived in 11 major cities since then. I can attest first hand that Boston is no more racist than anywhere else I’ve been. As a matter of fact, its been my experience (and I had some bad ones in Boston) that Boston is the least racist of any City I lived in. I can name some of the others that would probably shock some of you but its not necessary. Yes, Boston has its issues but when people like Kyrie try to exploit that issue while wearing an Indian Nation cap on his head and eluding to what others may have said, its just another punk move by him. He’s an unhappy millionaire and its glaring. He needs to shut his pie hole and play and get booed because he's a POS and deserves to get booed even more for trying to change the narrative and turn it into something that its not. As Perk said, “He’s extra and he always has to try and be extra”.

Every year things change but let's face it.  The big drop off for this team has been at the defensive end of the floor.  We are 1 point less scoring but 6.4 PPG worse on defense.   Some of that drop off is related to more teams scoring more points but there are far too many lack of effort plays in far too many games.

Last year should have been a wake up call.  Yes we did make it to the ECF but circumstances were favorable.  We beat Philly who owned us all year but faced them without Ben Simmons.  The Toronto series stretched into a 7 game affair even though they had no KL then against the Heat we could not defend them and struggled against their zone defenses.  KW and GH being injured was not the only reason why we got beat really badly.

We have 2 young allstar players who still have upside.  What we need most is a floor general that can consistently run the offense.  We do no have that now.

We do not have a big 3.  We have a big two.  Brad has struggled with continuity issues because of Covid and injuries to key players but also because this team stopped playing defense.  The Knicks finished as the 4th seed not because of their offense.  

The Nets are dead set on a 4 game sweep.  The Celtics have been up against the wall all season and unfortunately they failed just about every time.

The onus to reconfigure this team falls on Danny Ainge.  He is the one who put this roster together and if this roster is not good enough to win then it is his doing.

Again, Celtics fans need to be patient.  There is no quick fix.

Disagree. We probably beat Miami with a healthy Gordon and Kemba.

Patience my A**

Ktron wrote:Disagree. We probably beat Miami with a healthy Gordon and Kemba.

Patience my A**

right back atcha..I disagree with you.  Here is why

We could not defend against them.   How does a healthy KW and a healthy GH make a significant difference on defense?  They do not. We got beat on all of their PNR action.  They pretty much were able to score at will.  Bam freakin killed Theis.  Dragic and herro had a field day taking our guards off the bounce. And Duncan Robinson lit our perimeter defense up.  Butler was also great.  The Heat were peaking at the right time and we were dead tired after the Raptors series that should never have gone 7 games.

I am not trying to create revisionist history.  Our offense may have been more fluid but that team was not prepared to play against zone defense and GH and KW would not have made a big difference.  It was piss poor coaching.  The Heat knocked off the Bucks and the Bucks were a much better offensive team last year (and again this year) than we were.

It is going to take more patience because the problems with our team cannot be fixed right away.  Yes it is very frustrating as the 5 year rebuild has been a failure and looks more like an 8-10 year odyssey.  The blame game, the finger pointing game the truth of this is that Danny Ainge is mainly responsible.  So this thing will take a lot more patience because Danny Ainge should be fired!  along with the coach so that The Celtics can go in another direction.  A new voice with a new vision at some point in time is always needed.  So be patient because Danny and Brad will be given more time to figure things out come hell or high water.

dboss wrote:

Ktron wrote:Disagree. We probably beat Miami with a healthy Gordon and Kemba.

Patience my A**

right back atcha..I disagree with you.  Here is why

We could not defend against them.   How does a healthy KW and a healthy GH make a significant difference on defense?  They do not. We got beat on all of their PNR action.  They pretty much were able to score at will.  Bam freakin killed Theis.  Dragic and herro had a field day taking our guards off the bounce. And Duncan Robinson lit our perimeter defense up.  Butler was also great.  The Heat were peaking at the right time and we were dead tired after the Raptors series that should never have gone 7 games.

I am not trying to create revisionist history.  Our offense may have been more fluid but that team was not prepared to play against zone defense and GH and KW would not have made a big difference.  It was piss poor coaching.  The Heat knocked off the Bucks and the Bucks were a much better offensive team last year (and again this year) than we were.

It is going to take more patience because the problems with our team cannot be fixed right away.  Yes it is very frustrating as the 5 year rebuild has been a failure and looks more like an 8-10 year odyssey.  The blame game, the finger pointing game the truth of this is that Danny Ainge is mainly responsible.  So this thing will take a lot more patience because Danny Ainge should be fired!  along with the coach so that The Celtics can go in another direction.  A new voice with a new vision at some point in time is always needed.  So be patient because Danny and Brad will be given more time to figure things out come hell or high water.

I think with a 100% healthy Gordon Hayward we would have beaten the Heat. As overly a dreadful picture of our performance last year as you painted if all that were true it shouldn’t have taken the Heat 6 games to beat a team without their starting PG and Gordon Hayward.
This dead tired theory is just that, dead tired. We swept Philly and went 7 games with the Raptors. Our team is pretty young so if we were tired so weren’t the Heat who were much older and went 5 against the Bucks. Granted they were peaking and hitting stride but in my opinion we have a better team with those 2 at full strength.
Bold moves need to be made and risks have to be taken for us to get back to the EFC and/or finals. It shouldn’t take as long as you believe it will IF they are willing to do the right things to turn it quickly. How many years we talking 5-6? Helllll naw. Danny has made some smart moves and some dumb ones. If given the chance, with the right moves and cooperation from the FO we can look at hanging #18, 3 yrs max. If we’re talking another 5 the then forget it, Brown and Tatum will have opted out and we will be back in the sh!tter again. If to the contrary heads roll and Danny Ray and em’ are given their skates then the right hire like a Masai Ujiri or someone of that ilk that has the cache’ can help turn this thing back on its head rather quickly. I can think of a few teams who turned it around rather quickly. But I don’t even want to think about them because the thought gives me indigestion, but its happened and hopefully it can happen here with a quickness. Patience my a**.

Ktron

A lot of times one good team is not a good matchup for another good team.

My focus remains on the defense because you have to stop the other team from scoring more than you score.

A 100% healthy GH would have made made things more interesting but that Heat team just played way better as a unit at both ends of the court than we did.  Besides GH played poorly against the Heat last year and the year before that during the regular season.

Yea we beat Philly down but they did not have Simmons and they beat us 3-1 during that regular season.  

We almost lost the Raptors series because of bad coaching.

It seems every year some guy (s) is injured and cannot help us much during the playoffs.  This team is snake bitten.

The only year we had a healthy roster going into the playoffs was 2018 when we got smoked by the Bucks in the 2nd round.  Blame it on the kyrie betrayal, blame it on our young pups looking for respect, blame it on a coach that could not keep the team playing together.  

Every year it is the same old song.

But fan patience must prevail.