POST GAME DETROIT - AWAY

Celtics-Pistons takeaways: C's defense dominates in Detroit


NBC SPORTS BOSTON BY JUSTIN LEGER


The Boston Celtics began their road trip with a dominant win over the Detroit Pistons, 102-93.T

Jayson Tatum helped the C's pull away in the third quarter when he dropped 19 of his 24 points. Jaylen Brown chipped in 13 points of his own, 10 of which came in the first quarter. Dennis Schroder added 10 points and five assists off the bench.

Hamidou Diallo and Saddiq Bey notched 21 points apiece for the Pistons and helped Detroit make things interesting in the fourth against Boston's reserves. The Celtics were able to hold on to earn their fourth-straight victory -- their longest streak of the season -- and sixth in their last seven games.

Here are three instant takeaways from the Celtics' win, which brings them to 29-25 on the campaign. Their road trip continues Sunday night in Orlando.

C's defense continues to dominate
Boston entered with the fourth-best defensive rating in the NBA at 106.1 and improved on that mark Friday night.

The Celtics held the Pistons to only 31 points on 29.5% shooting in the first half. Outside of a late fourth-quarter run against Boston's reserves, it didn't get much better for Detroit from there. It finished just 34-of-104 from the floor (32.7%) despite its 37-point fourth-quarter outburst. It's the third time this season the C's have held a team under 33% shooting.

It's been against inferior competition, but the Celtics defense has been elite over the last couple of weeks. They've held teams under 100 points in five of their last seven games.

Jayson Tatum for the dunk contest?
Tatum will be in Cleveland for the 2022 NBA All-Star game after earning his third consecutive All-Star nod. The 23-year-old already said he doesn't want to participate in the 3-point contest, but what about the dunk competition?

That probably won't happen either, but Tatum provided a glimpse of the show he'd put on if he did participate. He got up for a pair of monstrous dunks during the third quarter.

If Tatum is interested in the dunk contest, it's tough to top that audition tape.

The dunks weren't the only highlights from Tatum in Friday's night's win. The C's star exploded for 19 points in that third quarter on 7-of-13 shooting (3-4 from 3).

He finished with 24 points and nine rebounds in 28 minutes.

Marcus Smart-Robert Williams connection is strong
We've discussed Marcus Smart's playmaking plenty since he returned to the C's lineup, and he kept it going with six assists in Friday night's win. It certainly helps Smart's cause that he's able to lob it up to a guy like Robert Williams.

The Smart-Williams connection was a sight to behold again as the duo made it look easy at Little Caesars Arena.

Smart finished with six points and four rebounds to go with his six assists. Williams was a star once again for the C's as the walking double-double ended up with 11 points, 11 rebounds, and five blocks. He's one of several reasons the Celtics defense has arguably been the NBA's best as of late.

112288

We took care are of business.

For those that have been knocking Tatum, and I have been one of them; the 3rd quarter is also what he can do. Can get into his zone and for that time look as unbelievable as any HoFer, we just haven’t seen it as much this year; probably the main reason we are only a few games above .500. Ime has to figure out how to get Tatum and Brown to be in attack zone mode as often as possible. Forgot what an electric dunker Tatum can be, as the muscle he added looks like it made him more explosive. Hopefully Smart and RWill and whole team can find the balance of looking for easy baskets for our stars, helping them and them helping you do the same, as they have tried to do with mixed results. Still seeing Jaylen make some bad mistakes, driving into double teams and no one makes more bad passes than Schroder.

We still have time to clean this up, in the meantime we are winning now without playing perfect and I think we can get a lot more out of our 2 stars. They and the whole team have to find the right balance between J’s as lead dogs, getting the most out of them in as mistake free play as possible. Love the way RWill is getting after it, he’s been huge making the big defensive play or getting key rebound at the right time and has been getting a lot more minutes and his body is holding up….knock on wood. Now if we could only get some damn shooting from Nesmith, Romeo and PP? Is it too much to ask for? Practice a routine over and over that can translate to an actual game, hit some shots and do it again and again….

We won by 9.  The betting line was Celtics minus 10.  Amazing.  How did they know we'd be up so much Ime would send in the end of our bench and let a 20 point lead get cut in half in mere minutes?

The Pistons really don't have much of a front court.  Isaiah Stewart is their starting center.  A brute at 4, but 5?  Their front court is 6'8", 6'8", 6'7".  They also have 7' Kelly Olynyk.  I'll leave it to Cowens to extol his virtues as an NBA center.  Setting aside the obvious poke at my good friend Cowens we should remember that Danny flat-out stated that he drafted Kelly to play 4, not 5, which makes sense.  What this means, though, is that the Detroit Pistons really don't have an NBA 5 on their roster.  This should have been a cakewalk even if Cade Cunningham had played.

Brown came out like he was pissed he was left off the ASG, 10 points on 4-7 after 1, and then went ice cold.  He was 4-9 at the half and ended up 13 points on 5-13. That's 1-6 after the 1st quarter.  We still lova ya, Jaylen.

Tatum with a solid 24/9 game.  19 points in the 3rd quarter to blow the game open.  Only 1 turnover.  I don't care how many assists he has, the whole "point forward" experiment should be shelved this year in my opinion, but I do how many times he gives the ball up.  1 turnover is excellent.

John Karalis @John_Karalis
yesterday
Jayson Tatum says Pistons assistant (former C's assistant) Jerome Allen told him at the start of the 3rd quarter that he might as well have put a coach's polo on because he only had 5 points. He said "ok, I got something for you" and then dropped 19 in the quarter




You hardly hear Big Al's name anymore but he had 10 boards last night in 19 minutes.  He was very active defensively too.  Just do that, Al, just do that.  You're still gone as soon as Brad can find a sucker, but just keep doing that until he does.

I love Smart.  I know, I'm hardly breaking news here, but he impacts the game so many ways that never show up in the boxscore.

The Time Lord has arrived.  Another double-double, sure, but also 4 assists and only 1 turnover.  As counter-intuitive as this might sound I think the offense runs better going through his hands than through either of the J's.  He also had 5 blocks.  The entire Detroit Pistons team had 4.  Jayson is saying that RWill could be a future All-Star and, perhaps, even DPOY.  He showed why that's not just crazy talk last night.  Of all the NBA players playing regular minutes only Mitchell Robinson of the Knicks has a higher fg% this season than RWill.  He's also in 5th place in blocks/game.  Not bad for a #27 pick, Danny, not bad at all.




So, once you get past the first 8, what happened?  We lost 15 points off our lead in 4 minutes.  Nesmith was 0-2.  It's obvious the game is still too fast for him.  He's trying, he's working hard, but it hasn't slowed down for him yet.  In general nobody contested their 3s.

Also, they picked up their pace.  They had 45 fgas at the half, nice but not crazy, 75 fgas after 3 (100fgas/48 is a brisk pace) but ended up with 104 fgas.  That's a 30fga 3rd and a 29fga 4th.  That is way too many.  it's a good thing they're the Detroit Pistons and not a good team.  They were shooting <30% after 3, 22-74.  That means they shot 12-29, 41.3% in the 4th.  Still pretty good but if they hadn't sucked so bad for 3/4 of the game....On the other side of the ledger the Celtics shot 5-18 in the 4th.  Aside from that being 27.7% they also took 9 more fgas than us.  In other words, we imploded in the 4th, again.  We were just fortunate in our opponent.

Our first 4 game winning streak of the season.  We have won 6 of our last 7. We are now in 8th place, 1/2 game behind Toronto for 7th, 1 game behind Brooklyn for 6th and Brooklyn is going south like a duck in winter.

Chris Forsberg @ChrisForsberg_
yesterday
Only team ahead of Boston in East standings with easier strength of schedule rest of way is CLE. Celtics with 22nd hardest remaining strength of schedule. MIL (1), CHI (5), PHI (6), MIA (9), CHA (10), BKN (11). Boston 1.5 games back of BKN, 3 matchups over next month.


Jayson Tatum: "We was always confident when we were under .500. Frustration might have been the right word, but there was never any doubt in that locker room. Frustration was warranted because of the results…But we got a lot of confident guys in the locker room."

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Rob Williams on defensive turnaround: "shoot, it's losing I guess. Sick of losing like that. Sick of having the disgusting taste in your mouth. Checking each other, like JB telling me you gotta sit down on defense. I’m telling JB stop losing him."

The mark of Champions is not that they love winning, everybody loves winning, it's that they cannot stand losing.


https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401360607


Bob


.

bobheckler wrote:We won by 9.  The betting line was Celtics minus 10.  Amazing.  How did they know we'd be up so much Ime would send in the end of our bench and let a 20 point lead get cut in half in mere minutes?

The Pistons really don't have much of a front court.  Isaiah Stewart is their starting center.  A brute at 4, but 5?  Their front court is 6'8", 6'8", 6'7".  They also have 7' Kelly Olynyk.  I'll leave it to Cowens to extol his virtues as an NBA center.  Setting aside the obvious poke at my good friend Cowens we should remember that Danny flat-out stated that he drafted Kelly to play 4, not 5, which makes sense.  What this means, though, is that the Detroit Pistons really don't have an NBA 5 on their roster.  This should have been a cakewalk even if Cade Cunningham had played.

Brown came out like he was pissed he was left off the ASG, 10 points on 4-7 after 1, and then went ice cold.  He was 4-9 at the half and ended up 13 points on 5-13. That's 1-6 after the 1st quarter.  We still lova ya, Jaylen.

Tatum with a solid 24/9 game.  19 points in the 3rd quarter to blow the game open.  Only 1 turnover.  I don't care how many assists he has, the whole "point forward" experiment should be shelved this year in my opinion, but I do how many times he gives the ball up.  1 turnover is excellent.

John Karalis @John_Karalis
yesterday
Jayson Tatum says Pistons assistant (former C's assistant) Jerome Allen told him at the start of the 3rd quarter that he might as well have put a coach's polo on because he only had 5 points. He said "ok, I got something for you" and then dropped 19 in the quarter




You hardly hear Big Al's name anymore but he had 10 boards last night in 19 minutes.  He was very active defensively too.  Just do that, Al, just do that.  You're still gone as soon as Brad can find a sucker, but just keep doing that until he does.

I love Smart.  I know, I'm hardly breaking news here, but he impacts the game so many ways that never show up in the boxscore.

The Time Lord has arrived.  Another double-double, sure, but also 4 assists and only 1 turnover.  As counter-intuitive as this might sound I think the offense runs better going through his hands than through either of the J's.  He also had 5 blocks.  The entire Detroit Pistons team had 4.  Jayson is saying that RWill could be a future All-Star and, perhaps, even DPOY.  He showed why that's not just crazy talk last night.  Of all the NBA players playing regular minutes only Mitchell Robinson of the Knicks has a higher fg% this season than RWill.  He's also in 5th place in blocks/game.  Not bad for a #27 pick, Danny, not bad at all.




So, once you get past the first 8, what happened?  We lost 15 points off our lead in 4 minutes.  Nesmith was 0-2.  It's obvious the game is still too fast for him.  He's trying, he's working hard, but it hasn't slowed down for him yet.  In general nobody contested their 3s.

Also, they picked up their pace.  They had 45 fgas at the half, nice but not crazy, 75 fgas after 3 (100fgas/48 is a brisk pace) but ended up with 104 fgas.  That's a 30fga 3rd and a 29fga 4th.  That is way too many.  it's a good thing they're the Detroit Pistons and not a good team.  They were shooting <30% after 3, 22-74.  That means they shot 12-29, 41.3% in the 4th.  Still pretty good but if they hadn't sucked so bad for 3/4 of the game....On the other side of the ledger the Celtics shot 5-18 in the 4th.  Aside from that being 27.7% they also took 9 more fgas than us.  In other words, we imploded in the 4th, again.  We were just fortunate in our opponent.

Our first 4 game winning streak of the season.  We have won 6 of our last 7.  We are now in 8th place, 1/2 game behind Toronto for 7th, 1 game behind Brooklyn for 6th and Brooklyn is going south like a duck in winter.

Chris Forsberg @ChrisForsberg_
yesterday
Only team ahead of Boston in East standings with easier strength of schedule rest of way is CLE. Celtics with 22nd hardest remaining strength of schedule. MIL (1), CHI (5), PHI (6), MIA (9), CHA (10), BKN (11). Boston 1.5 games back of BKN, 3 matchups over next month.


Jayson Tatum: "We was always confident when we were under .500. Frustration might have been the right word, but there was never any doubt in that locker room. Frustration was warranted because of the results…But we got a lot of confident guys in the locker room."

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Rob Williams on defensive turnaround: "shoot, it's losing I guess. Sick of losing like that. Sick of having the disgusting taste in your mouth. Checking each other, like JB telling me you gotta sit down on defense. I’m telling JB stop losing him."

The mark of Champions is not that they love winning, everybody loves winning, it's that they cannot stand losing.


https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401360607


Bob


.

Bob I agree with you RWill can facilitate the offense and definitely different and maybe do it better than 2 J’s and it’s knowing his limitations that actually helps him; he can’t drive or post, he can see over the defense, he does process fast and makes the right pass fast. Something is definitely there, hope this skill gets further developed.

The Celtics are back in 8th place in the East.

They feasted on a scrub team but all teams that are winning also feast on the vulnerable.  The Celtics have won 11 of their last 15 games.

Boston is now 3rd in the East with a point differential of 3.6.  They remain below .500 on the road at 11-15 but two more wins on this mini road trip can get them closer.  Road wins require mental toughness.  They have always been a good measuring stick for me in evaluating the team's prospect for success in the playoffs.

The unpredictable play from our bench showed the dark side of our dream.  The lead going into the 4th was big enough to sustain our lead but it clearly shows just how bad our deep rotation is.

Building around the Jays is looking more and more about building a bench.  With both Marcus and Rob Williams playing great complementary basketball you can complete the 5 with AH or GW or even Richardson.

Langford, Pritchard and Nesmith have not played enough to get better and the team does not have the luxury to play them much during this resurgence except in blowout games.  Their opportunity is limited.  Playing them all together does not help.

This is what I expected to happen.  You cannot develop that many prospects simultaneously.  That is why Danny Ainge should not have used so many picks on prospects instead of trading them out for established players.  If you want to make a trade for a better talented player it almost forces you to cough up one of your top rotation guys like Richardson or Grant Williams.

If that is what it will take then you do it but you wait until the offseason because more than one deal will be needed.  Schroeder needs to go now like in 5 more days.

Btw, the much talked about, and coveted, Jerami Grant scored 10 points on 3-12 shooting, 3 rebounds.

He's shooting 41.1% from the field this year, and 34% from 3. He is the poster child for high-volume, low efficiency offense. On the other side of the ball his Defensive Rating is 113. I don't get what everybody loves about him, other than he lacks a conscience.


Bob


.

bobheckler wrote:Btw, the much talked about, and coveted, Jerami Grant scored 10 points on 3-12 shooting, 3 rebounds.

He's shooting 41.1% from the field this year, and 34% from 3.  He is the poster child for high-volume, low efficiency offense.  On the other side of the ball his Defensive Rating is 113.  I don't get what everybody loves about him, other than he lacks a conscience.  


Bob


.

Yeah watching him play, I do not see what dboss sees in him. He is usually right on on his calls, but this is not one of them. Watching JGrant play, he was what I thought he was, a lanky 4 tweener more than a 3, has very limited perimeter skills. There is so much he cannot do compared to the 2 J’s or even Richardson, he doesn’t get up the floor well, has limited handle, a plodder with long arms. One of those players that puts up stats on a bad team.

cowens/oldschool wrote:

bobheckler wrote:Btw, the much talked about, and coveted, Jerami Grant scored 10 points on 3-12 shooting, 3 rebounds.

He's shooting 41.1% from the field this year, and 34% from 3.  He is the poster child for high-volume, low efficiency offense.  On the other side of the ball his Defensive Rating is 113.  I don't get what everybody loves about him, other than he lacks a conscience.  


Bob


.

Yeah watching him play, I do not see what dboss sees in him. He is usually right on on his calls, but this is not one of them. Watching JGrant play, he was what I thought he was, a lanky 4 tweener more than a 3, has very limited perimeter skills. There is so much he cannot do compared to the 2 J’s or even Richardson, he doesn’t get up the floor well, has limited handle, a plodder with long arms. One of those players that puts up stats on a bad team.

Let me make a fake case for him since I have nothing better to do.

The Reason why dboss mentioned him is because he is averaging around 20 PPG for the second year in a row.  He is the Pistons #1 option on offense.  On the Celtics he would be our 3rd option.  That means he would get more open looks just like Josh Richardson does now.

Although defensive ratings are designed to capture a particular players defensive impact per 100 possessions, the underlying impact of a players defensive rating cannot be totally separated from the team defensive rating.  He is averaging 1.1 blocks per game which is better than any of our current wings and he does not turn the ball over a lot.

Shooting percentages this year are down for a lot of players.  Grant has put up solid career numbers.   He is more of a scorer than a shooter.

He would NOT be on my list of top trade targets.  He is on the high side $$$.  Harrison Barnes would be at the top of my list if we were looking to add a 3rd high level scorer and solid overall 2-way player to this team.

dboss wrote:

Langford, Pritchard and Nesmith have not played enough to get better and the team does not have the luxury to play them much during this resurgence except in blowout games.  Their opportunity is limited.  Playing them all together does not help.

This is what I expected to happen.  You cannot develop that many prospects simultaneously.  That is why Danny Ainge should not have used so many picks on prospects instead of trading them out for established players.  If you want to make a trade for a better talented player it almost forces you to cough up one of your top rotation guys like Richardson or Grant Williams.

If that is what it will take then you do it but you wait until the offseason because more than one deal will be needed.  Schroeder needs to go now like in 5 more days.

Exactly. It's not like college where they get five days of practice between games to show the coach what they can do and try them with different line ups for extended minutes. Now that the core seem to be finding a groove it's not likely that RL, PP, and AN will get any significant minutes for the rest of the season unless it is at the end of blowouts. If Schroder is traded and no rotation PG is brought in, then I would expect to see more minutes for PP. But it's unrealistic that with the current roster they will get regular minutes this year.

dboss wrote:The Celtics are back in 8th place in the East.

They feasted on a scrub team but all teams that are winning also feast on the vulnerable.  The Celtics have won 11 of their last 15 games.

Boston is now 3rd in the East with a point differential of 3.6.  They remain below .500 on the road at 11-15 but two more wins on this mini road trip can get them closer.  Road wins require mental toughness.  They have always been a good measuring stick for me in evaluating the team's prospect for success in the playoffs.

The unpredictable play from our bench showed the dark side of our dream.  The lead going into the 4th was big enough to sustain our lead but it clearly shows just how bad our deep rotation is.

Building around the Jays is looking more and more about building a bench.  With both Marcus and Rob Williams playing great complementary basketball you can complete the 5 with AH or GW or even Richardson.

Langford, Pritchard and Nesmith have not played enough to get better and the team does not have the luxury to play them much during this resurgence except in blowout games.  Their opportunity is limited.  Playing them all together does not help.

This is what I expected to happen.  You cannot develop that many prospects simultaneously.  That is why Danny Ainge should not have used so many picks on prospects instead of trading them out for established players.  If you want to make a trade for a better talented player it almost forces you to cough up one of your top rotation guys like Richardson or Grant Williams.

If that is what it will take then you do it but you wait until the offseason because more than one deal will be needed.  Schroeder needs to go now like in 5 more days.

I’d say the play from our bench has been very predictable. Pathetic.
I don’t agree that they need to play more to get better. Let me restate that. They may need to play more to get better but in the G League not in the NBA. Isn’t that the purpose for its very existence?
I watch players on other teams that get very little playing time grab the moment and make a difference when they get their chance. As far as I’m concerned the NBA is just like any other business. When you get your chance to shine you have to seize the moment.
Maybe playing with the vets may help but I would think that they have more opportunity when they’re out there with their peers. They’ll have less opportunity with The J’s and Smart on the floor.
I want nothing more but to see all of our players succeed but they got to show something when they do get their chance.
A 4 minute slump where a lead goes from 22-7 ain’t gonna cut it.

Ktron wrote:

dboss wrote:The Celtics are back in 8th place in the East.

They feasted on a scrub team but all teams that are winning also feast on the vulnerable.  The Celtics have won 11 of their last 15 games.

Boston is now 3rd in the East with a point differential of 3.6.  They remain below .500 on the road at 11-15 but two more wins on this mini road trip can get them closer.  Road wins require mental toughness.  They have always been a good measuring stick for me in evaluating the team's prospect for success in the playoffs.

The unpredictable play from our bench showed the dark side of our dream.  The lead going into the 4th was big enough to sustain our lead but it clearly shows just how bad our deep rotation is.

Building around the Jays is looking more and more about building a bench.  With both Marcus and Rob Williams playing great complementary basketball you can complete the 5 with AH or GW or even Richardson.

Langford, Pritchard and Nesmith have not played enough to get better and the team does not have the luxury to play them much during this resurgence except in blowout games.  Their opportunity is limited.  Playing them all together does not help.

This is what I expected to happen.  You cannot develop that many prospects simultaneously.  That is why Danny Ainge should not have used so many picks on prospects instead of trading them out for established players.  If you want to make a trade for a better talented player it almost forces you to cough up one of your top rotation guys like Richardson or Grant Williams.

If that is what it will take then you do it but you wait until the offseason because more than one deal will be needed.  Schroeder needs to go now like in 5 more days.

I’d say the play from our bench has been very predictable. Pathetic.
I don’t agree that they need to play more to get better. Let me restate that. They may need to play more to get better but in the G League not in the NBA. Isn’t that the purpose for its very existence?
I watch players on other teams that get very little playing time grab the moment and make a difference when they get their chance. As far as I’m concerned the NBA is just like any other business. When you get your chance to shine you have to seize the moment.
Maybe playing with the vets may help but I would think that they have more opportunity when they’re out there with their peers. They’ll have less opportunity with The J’s and Smart on the floor.
I want nothing more but to see all of our players succeed but they got to show something when they do get their chance.
A 4 minute slump where a lead goes from 22-7 ain’t gonna cut it.

I agree with some of what you say here.  I think playing with a few starters on the floor would be better than being out there with several other guys that are also trying to make an impression.

 I have always been in favor of developing the young guys.  Pretty hard to do when the team as a whole is struggling to find their identity.

The lack of progress with these young guys makes it hard to get value in trades.

A couple of things I noticed watching the game.

First of all, when the homers for Detroit point out several times that your defense is top shelf and your ball movement is excellent, it's all good.  Very good.  

Mentioned above, we're winning in spite of some of our flaws now.  There's also a huge difference between blowing a lead and losing the game and blowing a lead and still winning.  It's not ultimately where you want to wind up or how you want to win game, but it's an improvement.  Runs against you happen throughout the game.  It's always a game of runs.  

Now I know I'm going to briefly raise Ktron's ire but watch and learn.  Ime has a slight problem pulling the starters too soon in games that are in the bag.  Nothing is more embarrassing from top (coach) to bottom (#15 on the bench) than having to put the starters back in in the 4th after the lead has evaporated to uncomfortable levels vs. time remaining.  

However, when Ime pulled the plug in this game, he did it at the right time against the right team.  We weren't losing that game.  He gave our bench some much needed run and we stumbled out of the gate once again.  But this time, they didn't have to suffer the humiliation of having the starters come back in and bail them out.  The bench eventually figured it out and righted the ship.  Especially PP.  They went right at him, trying to get in his head by double teaming him even in backcourt.  Must be in the scouting report.  He also scored the last 6 points from the free throw line sealing the victory.  Ime +1.  Kudos.  IMHBAO one of the best moves he's made this season to build confidence in the bench.  

Best way to solve this in the future if we're beating the crap out of a team in the fourth?  ALWAYS wait for the other team to say "Uncle".  Problem solved.  I don't think DET pulled their starters, did they?  

Next, I think we are going to have to get used to a skewed box score for our starting 5 the way they are currently constructed.  Textbook says two guys with 25 points plus, two guys in the 15-18 points range, someone with 10+ assists, maybe a couple of guys with DD rebounds and then a surprise double digit or two off the bench.  Winning formula.  Ours doesn't look like that, especially last night's game.  Al with lots of rebounds and maybe double-digit scoring.  RWIII same thing.  MS?  He has my permission to roam and fill in where he sees fit.  6 assists that contributed to at least 12 points.  The important thing is, whatever it is, it's working.  We've won these most recent games regardless of Tatum shop-malling it, high TO's, crappy FT's, off-quarters, off games for the Big 2, bad bench night, etc.  Not all at once, mind you, as we would be cellar-dwelling but we're never going to have a perfect game except in 2008 Game 6 of the Finals.  That was as close to perfect in a close out as you are going to get.  But I digress.  Now you're not going to win a championship that way with the wheels coming off all at the same time, but we're not to the playoffs just yet.  We've got time.  

The good news is, is not costing us much.  Believe me, we've paid the price and then some to this point.  We've also put ourselves in a very tenuous position this late in the season where we have to win a ridiculous number of games to even move up significantly in the standings and have a snowball's chance of not getting swept in the first round.  But things are building.  

I want more than anything to go to back to dboss and say "I tried to tell ya!" as we go 27-3 from here on out or he may even let it go as low as 24-6 before I can mouth off, but it is possible if we catch the wave.  I'm pretty sure dboss would LOVE to hear from me after we go 27-3!  haha

Not counting sheep and looking passed Sunday's game, but there is a gut check coming Tuesday in Brooklyn.  BKN may be on an 8-game losing streak and coming home after playing DEN tomorrow.  And I'm sure with our luck, Durant and somehow Kyrie will be mysteriously back in the lineup and playing the best ball they've ever played.  We need to come out all guns blazing.  Sunday and Tuesday.  As much as I want to see BKN take themselves out of the playoffs and go far beyond what I predicted for them, their streak will come to an end.  I just don't want it happening against us!!

Anyway, that's enough observing for now!  Things are looking good!  You know I love ya, dboss! You too, Ktron!

db

I didn’t see GWill becoming a regular rotation player over Romeo and Nesmith. Grant still has a lot of faults as an undersized 4 that cannot rebound, he is shockingly our best 3 point shooter and frustrating that the 3 youngins can’t get their shot to fall more.

Db

Give me 20-8 the rest of the way.  If we had a dependable bench my expectation would be higher.

We have a favorable remaining SOS

https://www.tankathon.com/remaining_schedule_strength

cowens/oldschool wrote:I didn’t see GWill becoming a regular rotation player over Romeo and Nesmith. Grant still has a lot of faults as an undersized 4 that cannot rebound, he is shockingly our best 3 point shooter and frustrating that the 3 youngins can’t get their shot to fall more.

Grant has received more opportunity to play partly because of his frontcourt position.  His shooting is due to good mechanics and repetition.  Neither Romeo or Aaron display consistent shooting mechanics.

Ktron wrote:
I’d say the play from our bench has been very predictable. Pathetic.
I don’t agree that they need to play more to get better. Let me restate that. They may need to play more to get better but in the G League not in the NBA. Isn’t that the purpose for its very existence?
I watch players on other teams that get very little playing time grab the moment and make a difference when they get their chance. As far as I’m concerned the NBA is just like any other business. When you get your chance to shine you have to seize the moment.
Maybe playing with the vets may help but I would think that they have more opportunity when they’re out there with their peers. They’ll have less opportunity with The J’s and Smart on the floor.
I want nothing more but to see all of our players succeed but they got to show something when they do get their chance.
A 4 minute slump where a lead goes from 22-7 ain’t gonna cut it.

We already have two players on two-ways in Hauser and Thomas. And two IR in Bol and Dozier. Enes and Bruno aren't going to sub in for Smart or Schroder. That leaves eleven. We have eight in rotation now. The three youngsters are what remains. So who do you send to the G and who subs in in their place?

atcross wrote:

Ktron wrote:
I’d say the play from our bench has been very predictable. Pathetic.
I don’t agree that they need to play more to get better. Let me restate that. They may need to play more to get better but in the G League not in the NBA. Isn’t that the purpose for its very existence?
I watch players on other teams that get very little playing time grab the moment and make a difference when they get their chance. As far as I’m concerned the NBA is just like any other business. When you get your chance to shine you have to seize the moment.
Maybe playing with the vets may help but I would think that they have more opportunity when they’re out there with their peers. They’ll have less opportunity with The J’s and Smart on the floor.
I want nothing more but to see all of our players succeed but they got to show something when they do get their chance.
A 4 minute slump where a lead goes from 22-7 ain’t gonna cut it.

We already have two players on two-ways in Hauser and Thomas. And two IR in Bol and Dozier. Enes and Bruno aren't going to sub in for Smart or Schroder. That leaves eleven. We have eight in rotation now. The three youngsters are what remains. So who do you send to the G and who subs in in their place?

Good question that I don't have an answer for. I’m not saying that all 3 head north together at the same time. Rotate maybe? Other than that, at this moment, I don’t see any other alternative. It’s either that or they sit and watch.

ktron and atcross

I think we could rotate those guys up to the Maine Celtics so at least they are getting reps and game level conditioning. I think Bruno had a trip up there recently. The Celtics are probably unlikely to go through their remaining 28 regular season games without a few more bumps and bruises.

Ime may be forced to expand beyond his 8 man rotation as he has done all year due to missed player games.

These guys look particularly not ready for primetime. They could not even break a basic press. There is limited practice time available and watching videos is not the same as actually practicing or playing in a game.

Ktron wrote:

dboss wrote:The Celtics are back in 8th place in the East.

They feasted on a scrub team but all teams that are winning also feast on the vulnerable.  The Celtics have won 11 of their last 15 games.

Boston is now 3rd in the East with a point differential of 3.6.  They remain below .500 on the road at 11-15 but two more wins on this mini road trip can get them closer.  Road wins require mental toughness.  They have always been a good measuring stick for me in evaluating the team's prospect for success in the playoffs.

The unpredictable play from our bench showed the dark side of our dream.  The lead going into the 4th was big enough to sustain our lead but it clearly shows just how bad our deep rotation is.

Building around the Jays is looking more and more about building a bench.  With both Marcus and Rob Williams playing great complementary basketball you can complete the 5 with AH or GW or even Richardson.

Langford, Pritchard and Nesmith have not played enough to get better and the team does not have the luxury to play them much during this resurgence except in blowout games.  Their opportunity is limited.  Playing them all together does not help.

This is what I expected to happen.  You cannot develop that many prospects simultaneously.  That is why Danny Ainge should not have used so many picks on prospects instead of trading them out for established players.  If you want to make a trade for a better talented player it almost forces you to cough up one of your top rotation guys like Richardson or Grant Williams.

If that is what it will take then you do it but you wait until the offseason because more than one deal will be needed.  Schroeder needs to go now like in 5 more days.

I’d say the play from our bench has been very predictable. Pathetic.
I don’t agree that they need to play more to get better. Let me restate that. They may need to play more to get better but in the G League not in the NBA. Isn’t that the purpose for its very existence?
I watch players on other teams that get very little playing time grab the moment and make a difference when they get their chance. As far as I’m concerned the NBA is just like any other business. When you get your chance to shine you have to seize the moment.
Maybe playing with the vets may help but I would think that they have more opportunity when they’re out there with their peers. They’ll have less opportunity with The J’s and Smart on the floor.
I want nothing more but to see all of our players succeed but they got to show something when they do get their chance.
A 4 minute slump where a lead goes from 22-7 ain’t gonna cut it.

I would agree 100%.

I’d go as far as to say a debate could be made that the bench may be where the roster improvement is most critical. Perhaps even over starting unit PG and PF. I think that you could almost take the current starting 5 into next season, maybe minus Al, and be far more competitive by trashing the bench and starting over. I’d keep Richardson.

This is worthy of it’s own topic/thread IMO. I’d even do it if I had the time today.

NYCelt

and I agree too... your statement, "I’d go as far as to say a debate could be made that the bench may be where the roster improvement is most critical."

and mine

"Building around the Jays is looking more and more about building a bench"

The G-league is not the cure for every ill. I know when Langford and Pritchard went to Maine they were the big dogs and put up very good numbers. But if there is a problem in their development I would say that it is in knowing exactly what their role is when they are not the big dog on the floor, and how to finish against NBA level defense, which is I suspect a rare quality in the G. When the "bench" took the floor in Detroit it was a lineup of players that never spent significant time together with before. It's not like the "B-team" is getting a lot of 5-on-5 time between games. And that's not the scenario we would be concerned with right now anyway. What we need is for them to come in and hold their own with the rotation players as needed. It's more about resting core four than getting more minutes for one of the young three. Maybe once the trade deadline has passed, and we know for sure who we have, the issue can be discussed further.