POST GAME CHARLOTTE HORNETS - AWAY

This was a SEGABABA for them.  A 4th quarter let down by them was a decent, if not a good, bet; and we took advantage of it.  It wasn't a sure thing though, not by a long shot.  We had only scored 9 point with 5:45 left in the 3rd.  Our defense was weak, we'd given up 16 points in those 6:15 3rd quarter minutes, and our offense looked like the bad ol' days.  Starting after PJ Washington's 2pt fgm at 5:50 left in the 3rd we went on a 54-37 run for the rest of the game.

Tatum said "F this shite" and took over.  He had 16 points at the half, so it's not like he was sleepwalking, but then he turned on the afterburner.  He had 4 of those 9 early 3rd quarter points (and an assist) bringing his total up to 20.  Then, with 17:45 left in the game he scored 24 points.  His 2nd half, total for the half, was 28 points on 9-12, 5-6 from 3, 3 rebounds.  As KD said in his post-game presser "Tatum is an elite shot maker".  He's making a lot of good decisions.  Something clicked.  I don't know what it was but you can see over the past few weeks he's not making the same dumb mistakes.  And aggressive?  24 fgas and only 9 of them 3s.  He has taken ftas in his last 61 ftas in his last 7 games.  That's 8.7 ftas/game and that is quite elite.  And you don't get that many ftas by just lobbing 3s.

Mark Murphy @Murf56
about 46 minutes ago
Per stat guru Dick Lipe, Tatum’s 98-point two- game swing (54, 44) ties Kevin McHale (56, 42 in 1985) for the most in franchise history.




Big Al with another big double-double in 34 minutes. Roll back the clock, Al, roll back the clock!  Let's not forget to thank OKC for adding another year onto his career by sitting him last year, and that extra year being an unexpected bonus in the Kemba trade.  Makes Brad look like an even bigger genius, doesn't it?

Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
59 minutes ago
NBA plus/minus rankings in 2022 1. Jayson Tatum (+365) 2. Al Horford (+259)


Smart and White are looking like a formidable back court.  Aside from being superior defenders, both of them, they have been doing a good job of running the offense too.  Smart with 9 assists and only 1 turnover and White with 8 assists and zero turnovers.  17 turnovers, 1 assist is damn fine production from your point guards.  We had a lot of dunks last night and many of them were courtesy of Marcus Smart's court vision, and the rest of the players buying into Ime's motion offense system and moving without the ball.  Gotta give a plug to Ime here.  Our player movement has been as good the last month or two as I have seen in years.  The "Point Js" experiment has been shelved, and I say "none too soon".  We had 30 assists, which is a ton, and only 11 turnovers.  Excellent.  Our assist-to-turnover ratio was 30/46, 65.2%.  Also excellent.  White reminds me a bit of Tony Parker.  Not a great shot maker himself, but he can score.  He drives and finishes.  He hits open shots.  He's a good heads-up floor general and, last but not least, came out of Pop's system just like Parker.  His assist-to-turnover ratio since coming to Boston is > 3:1 and that is outrageously good.  We could do worse than having even a poor-man's Tony Parker coming off our bench.  And did you notice our turnaround began shortly after Marcus Smart called out the Js publicly for hogging the ball?  I honestly don't think one can quantify Marcus Smart's value to this team and, as you all know, I am quite comfortable trying to quantify things.  As he has said many times "He loves Boston and Boston loves him".  What do all our great teams have in common?  What do the Russell Celtics, the Cowens/Havlicek/Jo Jo Celtics, the Bird Celtics and the KG/Pierce/Allen Celtics all have in common?  Two things, in my mind.  First, they hated losing more than they loved winning.  Losing was so intolerable to them they would do whatever it took for it to not happen.  And secondly, the name on the front of the jersey was more important than the name on the back of it.  They were team players, on a team playing in a team sport.  If they gave the team what it needed to win, or at least to not lose, the name on the back of their jersey would get its fair share of credit as well.  Marcus Smart has those two traits.  That's why I say Marcus Smart is the boiled, distilled essence of what being a Boston Celtic means.  There have been many Boston Celtics but not so many that were "born Green".  He's one of them.




Jaylen with an off night.  You can tell when it's going to be a rough one by watching his handle.  When the ball isn't coming right back up into his hand he's going to have problems that game.  We all know he can do it, that's not the question, but there are games when he doesn't.  Last night was one of them.  That's ok, he's due to go off.  MJ was MJ, but MJ needed Scotty Pippen.   Jayson needs Jaylen, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with Scotty Pippen.


Speaking of Ime's motion offense, despite Tatum having 44 points and taking 26% of the team's total fgas we still had 4 other Celtics in double figures.  Grant shot 1-5 from 3.  2-5 and he'd have been the 6th Celtic with double digit scoring.  That's a tough offense to defend because everybody's a threat to score.


A 14 point win can't hurt our EC leading Margin of Victory (MOV).

Poor Gordon Hayward just can't stay on the court.  I have no hard feelings against him but I'm sure glad he's not in green anymore.  Same with Kemba.  They're not a couple of Kyries, who are hurting their team through their non-basketball related absence, but their unavailability due to basketball-related injuries (Thibs sat Kemba but he still can't play steady, dependable minutes anymore) still undermines their front offices' vision for the team this year.


https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401360800


Bob


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The Celtics beat Charlotte for the 3rd time in 4 tries this year.  Tatum was elite again and everyone else contributed to the win.  This win was needed and now the Celtics have won 17 out of their last 20 games.  That is an .850 winning percentage.  Everyone is taking notice now.  The Celtics play extremely well at both ends of the court.

The Celtics came into this season with a lot of bad habits.  It clearly was not all Brad's fault.  Brad admitted that sometimes a new voice is needed.  He was correct.  Ime now has the full attention of his team AND Marcus Smart has become an extension of the coach on the floor.

I want to mention one more thing.  Remember how painful it was to watch the Raptors and the Heat, in the bubble, neutralize our offense with their zone defenses?

Last night the Hornets played a lot of zone.  Ime referred to it, as did Tatum, as 'junk defenses'.  Ime even went so far to say that teams play zone because they can not play man to man.

cowens/oldschool wrote:First Take is giving us our due. They started a segment “Are the Boston Celtics the best team in the East” Tatum got a lot of props as did our defense and Ime’s coaching and Brads moves hiring Ime and acquiring White and Theis. Stephen A gave a lot of props to 2 J’s ability to defend as wings, add in Smart and White that’s some hellacious defenders, now add in RWill

We are rolling, the movement, the pack of wolves….great to see!!!

Cow

First Take is the ultimate front runner sports show.

They arrived a day late and a dollar short. Stephen A is a band wagon jumper and he should have secured his spot before the wagon was bursting at the seams.