Post Game - Round 1, Game 1 vs. Nets

I liked it so much I made it my avatar!

Playoff basketball…….have to love it.

bobc33 wrote:I liked it so much I made it my avatar!

Playoff basketball…….have to love it.

Too funny, in the back of my mind, I thought you might.

What an immensely satisfying win, and what a classic photo, Gyso. Says so much. More than 1,000 words.

Great game #1 win for the Celtics and let's send out a congratulations to coach Ime Udoka for getting his first playoff win as a head coach.

KD had a poor game.  His partner KI had a great game.

Tatum, Brown, Smart and Horford all came up big and all scored 20 or more points.  

The Celtics only played 8 guys and probably more like 7 1/2 since PP only logged 8 minutes.  Theis got in early foul trouble and was pretty much a non factor but he did have 4 offensive rebounds. He repeatedly got exposed in the PNR.  Grant Williams played poorly.  His 0-4 from deep did not help one bit.  Derrick White continues to show that he too is a very unreliable shooter (1-4) from deep.  If our bench did not play below average, we would have won this thing by double digits.  The only reliable shooter off our bench is PP.  He made his only shoot attempt, a 3 pointer but he did not get a chance to play much.

Overall our defense was not very good.  Guys were missing rotations, getting velcroed to picks, making stupid fouls and making a few too many turnovers on offense.

We had a fantastic 3rd QTR and gave that away in the 4th.  When we went down 5 we were on the verge of losing this one.  Thank goodness the team dug deep and executed down the stretch with the game on the line by playing great on defense and making the next pass on offense.

All was not bad as we won the battle in the paint and on the glass. They outshot us from the field and from deep.  The difference in the score was because we took 89 FGA to their 78.  Those extra shots came from offensive rebounds and more turnovers by them.  KD had 6 turnovers as we did play outstanding defense against him.

We can clean up a few things for game 2 and hopefully secure that game as well.

The Garden was super loud and KI still sucks.

Tatum's layup at buzzer gives Celtics 115-114 win over Nets

ESPN BOSTON

BOSTON -- — Jayson Tatum has been adamant he didn't view the Celtics' matchup with the Nets as a chance to prove anything opposite two of the league's elite scorers.

His finish in Game 1 said otherwise.

Tatum made a layup at the buzzer on a pass from Marcus Smart to give Boston a dramatic 115-114 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

"When he took that dribble we just kind of made eye contact. He made a great pass," Tatum said. "It doesn't get any better than that. A buzzer-beater in a playoff game at home."

Tatum scored 31 points, the last two on the first buzzer-beater of his career. It was Boston's first in the postseason since Paul Pierce in 2010 against the Heat.

Tatum's bucket came after a poised Boston possession in the frantic final seconds. Kevin Durant missed on the other end, Boston rebounded and raced up the court, electing not to call a timeout.

Jaylen Brown dribbled toward the middle and swung the ball out to Smart. He fired it into a cutting Tatum, who spun around and dropped in his layup just before time expired.

"I've always been told you have more time than you realize you have," Smart said. "I was about to throw it to Al (Horford) off the dribble and I saw JT cut at the last minute."

All five Celtics touched the ball on the possession.

"I think that's kind of a microcosm for our season, guys moving the ball being unselfish," coach Ime Udoka said.

Brown added 23 points for the Celtics, who host Game 2 on Wednesday. Horford had 20 points and 15 rebounds, and Smart finished with 20 points, including four 3-pointers.

Kyrie Irving finished with 39 points, including 18 in the fourth quarter. But the Celtics forced the ball out of his hands the last time Brooklyn had it and Durant missed a jumper with a one-point lead that set up the Celtics' final possession.

Durant added 23 points but shot just 9 of 24.

"They did a good job of forcing me away, then helping in the paint. I just got to be more fundamental in my moves," he said. "I feel like some shots went in an out for me."

Boston charged out of halftime with a 23-8 run to open a 82-69 lead, sparked by Smart's dead-eye shooting from beyond the arc.

The Celtics also seemed to tweak their approach to guarding Durant in the half court, fronting him and sending help over the top to limit his driving ability.

Durant and Irving still found ways to score, but they had to exert increased energy to get off their attempts.

It didn't last.

With Boston leading early in the fourth, Irving got Brooklyn back in the mix with two straight 3-pointers and a layup to trim Boston's advantage to 98-97. Then, following an empty trip by Boston that saw Brown and Horford fail to convert from in close, Durant calmly drained a 3 on the other end.

Brooklyn had increased its lead to 107-102 when Durant was long with a jumper. Brown found space on the Celtics' next possession and connected on a 3 from the wing. The Nets turned it back over on an offensive foul on Durant. Smart then slid underneath Irving on Boston's ensuring trip and tied it.

The score was tied again at 109 with less than 2 minutes left when Durant got a friendly bounce on a jumper. Horford's follow shot tied it again. But Irving was good from deep on the next time down the floor give the Nets a 114-111 cushion.

Brown then tied it coming out of a timeout with 38 seconds left.

In his latest trip to face his former Boston teammates, Irving received the loudest jeers during pregame introductions and was booed whenever he touched the ball the rest of the way.

Fans also showered plenty disdain on Bruce Brown, who made headlines last week after suggesting Celtics big men Horford and Daniel Theis might be easy to attack inside without injured center Robert Williams III available to defend the rim.

Horford played the opening 12 minutes as if on a one-man mission to obliterate that notion.

Boston entered with the league's best defensive rating since the All-Star break and applied early pressure on Durant. He tried to establish himself in the post in the first quarter, but the Celtics blitzed him with backside help defenders, stripping him three times.

Brooklyn finished with seven turnovers for the quarter, but it translated into only a 29-28 lead for Boston.

Horford was active throughout, going 3 for 4 from the field with 10 points, two rebounds and a steal.

Boston had to adjust early in the second quarter after Theis picked up his third foul. But things evened out when Drummond was whistled for his fourth foul with 4:58 left in the period.

The Celtics immediately went on a 9-2 run before the Nets clawed back to tie the game up at 61 at the half.

"Stayed with it, took their shot and found a way to finish the game," Horford said. "End of the day it's just getting the win, it doesn't matter how it was."

TIP-INS

Nets: Brooklyn finished with 16 turnovers. … Durant and Irving shot a combined 1 for 8 from the field in the first quarter.


Celtics: Outscored the Nets 56-32in the paint. … Williams cheered from the bench in street clothes. … New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and his son, Jonathan Kraft, sat courtside.

ELITE COMPANY

Horford is just the 13th player in NBA history to record a 20-point, 15-rebound playoff game at age 35 years old.

TOUGH CROWD

Irving had a moment of frustration in the third quarter when he appeared to flip his middle finger toward Boston's fans as he ran down the court.

"The same energy they have for me, I'm gonna have the same energy for them. It's not every fan," Irving said. "There's only but so much you can take as a competitor."

112288

THE CELTICS ARE REAL AND CAN MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN THIS YEAR! BUT THEY NEED ROBERT WILLIAMS!

IT WAS A SLOOPY GAME FOR THE CELTICS ESPECIALLY IN THE FIRST PERIOD WHERE THEY GOT CROOOKLYN IN FOUL TROUBLE AT THE 8 MINUTE MARK.  BUT POOR OFFENSIVE DECISION MAKING BY THE C'S COST THEM TO AT LEAST HAVE A DOUBLE DIGIT LEAD AFTER ONE PERIOD.  WHY SHOOT 3 POINTERS WHEN ALL YOU HAD TO DO IS DRIVE THE PAINT AND GET TO THE LINE!

POOR 3 POINT SHOOTING COST US AS WELL BY BROWN AND GANT WILLIAMS.

THE BRIGHT SIDE, THEY PLAYED HARD NOSE DEFENSE AND NEVER BACKED DOWN.  NEVER SAW THIS TYPE OF PLAY SINCE 2008 SEASON!

112288

Loved the win especially when it felt like the Celts were a little anxious and did not play that well. Bring it on, these Celts have me believing.

Tatum was huge at the end stopping Durant then great execution by the team, playing great team ball on the last play executing the system perfectly at the right time for an incredible finish and dramatic opening game of the series. Jaylen with a huge downhill drive the possession before that to bring lead down to 1.

I thought our defense was good, the effort was always there, a few breakdowns that we can clean up, but a lot of great swarming stretches flummoxing Durant. We should have had a bigger lead early, missing so many bunnies. In the fourth we missed alot more bunnies, Jaylen missed a makeable for him righty and lefty lay up, that looked great otherwise. Smart missed a lefty one….could have easily been the
difference in the game if we lost; but the constant defensive effort kept us in the game, despite the Kyrie display.

I was really impressed with Nic Claxton, he actually reminded me of RWill, his defense and offensive boards/putbacks were huge, keeping them in the game. Durant had a massive lapse in defense at the worst time, staring at the ball going to Smart and losing sight of Tatum leading to the Tatum catch and spin move.

Boston had 14 offensive boards, Brooklyn 5. 43 to 29 rebounds overall.
Horford was huge with 15 boards (6 offensive) and 20 points.
Excellent team effort: players, coaches, fans!

cowens/oldschool wrote:Tatum was huge at the end stopping Durant then great execution by the team, playing great team ball on the last play executing the system perfectly at the right time for an incredible finish and dramatic opening game of the series. Jaylen with a huge downhill drive the possession before that to bring lead down to 1.

I thought our defense was good, the effort was always there, a few breakdowns that we can clean up, but a lot of great swarming stretches flummoxing Durant. We should have had a bigger lead early, missing so many bunnies. In the fourth we missed alot more bunnies, Jaylen missed a makeable for him righty and lefty lay up, that looked great otherwise. Smart missed a lefty one….could have easily been the
difference in the game if we lost; but the constant defensive effort kept us in the game, despite the Kyrie display.

I was really impressed with Nic Claxton, he actually reminded me of RWill, his defense and offensive boards/putbacks were huge, keeping them in the game. Durant had a massive lapse in defense at the worst time, staring at the ball going to Smart and losing sight of Tatum leading to the Tatum catch and spin move.

You're right cow, Claxton (and Dragic) were very good and kept them in the game. Team rebounding won the game for us. In a late timeout Steve Nash aware of the disparity on the boards urged his whole team to rebound.

Hang on Sloopy, Sloopy hang on.

Bygone I forgot to mention Al, he was a monster 20-15 and stopping Durant on extreme perimeter defense a bunch of times. This guy found the fountain of youth, running the floor for key putbacks too. On last defensive position, great help D swallowing up Kyrie, forcing the bailout pass to Durant with Tatum breathing down his neck, playing perfect D. Al was huge huge huge.

For me the game was summed up in the last two plays which I'll call a Tale of Two Defenses.  

Brooklyn's last possession will forever become the textbook A+ way to play defense against two great scorers in the playoffs and forever prove the phrase defense wins championships.  Durant got off a horrible shot because of that defense and still almost made it.  But we had backed him up far enough that it turned out to be a desperate 3 instead of his signature I don't miss shot right around the key.  If I see that shot one more time, we should just give them two points as I have yet to see him miss it.  KG used to make that same shot just a little further up the court for two.  

Surprise, surprise with our last possession as we worked it around and the last person in JT's way was #1 graduate of the James Harden's School of Defense When It Really Counts Kryrie Irving.  Fantastic spin move by JT.  

BKN really wanted that one and we almost gave it to them.  Bad news?  We blew a big lead.  Haven't seen that in a while.  Championship teams do not do that.  What championship teams do is if they blow a lead they find a way to win.  That's very good news.  Let's hope we don't have to resort to that tactic again for the the remaining 15 victories.  

Good news for us?  We can play  A LOT better.  Bad news for BKN?  They're not going to be able to play much, if any better even if BS returns.  Our defense will not allow both KI and KD to go off and even if we did cut both of them loose, their remaining players would just be standing around watching and building shopping malls when they did finally touch the ball.

Bad news?  Our bench was massacred.  30-14?  Good news?  They can and will play A LOT better.

Good news?  Check out how we scored vs. BKN.  Four of our starters with 20+ points.  Bad news for BKN?  Just two over 20 points.  I can live with that.  Tell me something I don't know.  Can't and won't win a series with two ball hogs.  All about balance.    

Good news?  Ime just placed himself into the conversation of great Celtic coach, regardless of the outcome of this series or these playoffs for this year.  I'm not ready to put him in Red Auerbach territory just yet because we need to see how this all pans out.  But he just submitted his application for the job.  Realize that no one has applied for Red's job since Red.  Doc sort of came close but had to deal with the Perk injury in 2010.  I'm talking about both positions.  Regular season dominance and post-season dominance.  Again...THANK YOU, KTRON!!!!  The voice of common sense.  But if we are so fortunate to hang Banner 18 and I can finally change my avatar,  I will not shut up until all on this site are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt about what's coming out of Boston for the foreseeable future.

Last and certainly not least, we are going to have to prove Wednesday that this game was no fluke.  If we come out and lay an egg, we've made no progress.  Both teams have stuff on which to improve.  We have more mainly because we had to wait a week to play and appeared out of sorts.  Plenty of time for rest between here and Wednesday and then Saturday.

Our bench scoring, blowing a big lead and TO's along with Theis can all step it up next game.  BKN to improve?  They are thinking they have to make few if any adjustments.  Better rebounding?  Good luck.  Get KD going?   At what cost?  Good luck.  TO's?  We'll both can improve there.  They had this game.

You may see only one game at best where both KI and KD go off.  Personally, I don't think it will happen and even if it does, they have to give up so much to pull it off and still won't  be guaranteed a win.  This is playoff basketball.  And they may very well win that game.  But that will be it.  Big scoring does not work in the playoffs.  Never has, never will.  

And yes, let's go ahead and pre-empt Stephen A.  First, he's going to say I told you so.  This was the game he was looking for.  Probably not the outcome because he's in the tank with BKN.  He's still going to think KD AND Kryrie can get off in the same game.  Maybe, but probably not against the Celtics.  He's going to bring up BS.  And the chatter for his return will reach a feverish pitch if we go up 2-0.  With each passing day, I still believe we have RWIII in the wings if we need him.  BKN does not want to see him at all.  All those mid-range near the basket shots Kryrie was making?  Those will all wind up in the stands or RWIII will block them so hard he will use the Russell technique to start a fast break by throwing/tapping it to someone.  And guess who has to run and track down an unstoppable layup each and every time even though they can't afford the extended energy?  You got it.  KD and KI.

Stephen A. will have to address the Kryrie ISO along with the brick KD laid at the end and Kryrie's James Harden turtle shell defense on Tatum.  Those are his boys on the grand stage and they were laid out for all to see.  He won't spend much time on that until it happens again in Game 2 and be forced to.

Hopefully, Ime will treat this game as a loss because let's face it, barring the spectacular last two plays, we did blow this game.  BKN played about as good as they are going to play because to fix any of their problems, they are going to have to give up something else.  

Go all KD and KI or both shooting lights out?  Then no help from everyone else.  Remember BKN shot 53% AS A TEAM from the field and still lost.  Protect the ball via less TO's?  Let's call that a wash with us needing improvement there as well.  Rebound better against our two bigs right now?  Drummond did not eat his Wheaties. Looked pretty much unprepared. I think we pretty much shut up B-Squared with his 5-point, 2-3 performance.  Better bench performance from BKN since we smoked their other starters?  PLEASE, PLEASE go to your bench, BKN!!

I'm just a little disappointed in the points we gave up at 114.  That's borderline No-D.  But since it's against KD and KI, I'll cut us some slack.  We can play even better defense.  BKN can always play better defense but they don't know how and BS certainly isn't going to save them regardless of his entry date.

We need to blow them out G2.  Calling for it.  Again, I don't ask for much.  Need to squelch any kind of thoughts or desires coming from BKN.  Balance is the name of the game. Knife to the heart with a twist.    

OK, time to stop writing!, though  This is good start!!

db

Great game although a little sloppy play by both teams.

Great result too.

I think it’s going to be a closely played, epic series by teams with different strengths.

Not a lot of depth for either team, so staying injury free and keeping the fouls down will be important factors.

Hi,
Great win and great ending. But I'd prefer to go without all this drama. Celtics did have this opportunity when they got ahead by 15 points in the 3rd. Unfortunately, they stumbled then and BKN pushed really hard.
I hope they play defense better.
As for the last play, I have to note the smart decision by Ime to not take a timeout, allowing them to attack a defense that was in total disarray.
One down, 15 to go.

AK

A great result given it could have been an epic choke.  We froze up in the 4th, rallied to tie it a couple times and then some good defense and a great offensive execution by everybody.  Jaylen attacked the rim and collapsed the defense, he kicked it out to Smart who was rushed by two Nets because they were out of position because of Jaylen and had to run, and then Tatum with the cut to the basket and the heads up pass by Smart to hit him.  Some real maturity showing here.  Jaylen, even earlier this year, would have tried to finish at the rim with 2-3 Nets waiting for him, but now he trusted his teammates and passed out.  Smart could have taken the shot, he was open at first, but realized that those two Nets created an open man somewhere.  After all the talk about Smart not being a real NBA point guard I think that play shut a lot of those critics up.  That was floor generalship with an eye on the clock.  Smart's coaches have always told him there's always more time on the clock than you think.  That's about slowing your mind down and not rushing through plays, and his has.  And a few months ago Jayson Tatum would have just sat out at the 3 point line and waited for a pass, which would have taken longer to reach him because he'd be further away, and go for the 3 which we didn't need.  He cut to the basket, and that made all the difference.  Our kids are growing up before our very eyes.

Weird reffing.  They called 50 fouls in the game, 18 fouls in the first quarter alone.  They tried to get a handle on things early but, because they had put so many players into early foul trouble they had to swallow the whistle in the 2nd half (Horford 2, Theis 2, Grant 2, Bruce Brown 2, Curry 2 all in the 1st.  KD had 2, Drummond 4, Theis and Smart with 3 at the half).  As a result a lot of players were getting hit and no whistles.  I mentioned Jaylen looking like he had snowballs in his nostrils, other players were getting hammered too, perhaps with less visible damage, and no whistles.  You have to adapt your game to the refs, but what about when the refs change their game?  You get cotton noses.  I'm not going to lie, I was worried with all those fouls to our front court after 1.  Al/Theis/Grant with a total of 6 after one was scary.


Good thing Claxton is a crappy frito shooter.  We needed every bit of his 1-5 from the line last night.  Otherwise he had a really, really good game.  He could become another RWill.  Foul trouble hampered Drummond but he just isn't effective anymore.  He's a T-Rex and Velociraptors rule the world now.  Long, springy centers are more coveted than brutes.

Speaking of centers how about Big Al coming up B. I. G.  20 points and 15 boards, 6 of them offensive.  Offensive rebounding tends to be a younger player's game since it takes energy.  Energy to fight for position and energy, if you don't get the rebound, to still get back on defense.  Older players would rather just get back on defense.  Al saved this game for us, in my opinion.  Anything even close to a normal game for him and we're done.  They outshot us.  We outrebounded them 43-29.  I had to check that twice, not for the 43 but for the 29.  That is ridiculously few rebounds.  How?  We had 14 offensive rebounds to their 5, that's a +9, and 6 of those were Al's.  Nothing against Kemba but Brad was a genius to make that trade.  




Another 4 offensive rebounds belonged to Theis.  Foul trouble limited him to 20 minutes but he had 6 rebounds and 4 offensive boards.  I know, I know, I'm obsessing about offensive rebounds but that was the difference.  Both teams were 19-24 from the line.  It was 16-14 turnovers, so not much difference there either.  They shot 46% from 3 vs 36% for us, but we got 36 points off of 12 3pt fgm while they got 33 points off of 11.  Still, they outshot us, but we took more shots.  We took 89 fgas vs 78 for them.  That's a +11 and that's offensive rebounding, folks.  A couple of Theis' offensive rebounds were tapbacks that didn't go in, ergo him being 1-6 from the field, but keeping the ball out of the Nets hands is good too.

Tatum had 8 assists.  5 turnovers but still a decent job of floor generaling.





Jaylen looked like he was asleep for most of the game.  He said he hasn't slept much this past week he was so excited for the playoffs and he looked it.  He had 8 points on 3-8 at the half and 14 points on 5-12 after 3.  That's a 9 point 4th quarter on 4-7, 1-1 from 3.  We only scored 19 points in the whole quarter.  He had zero rebounds, zero, at the half.  All 5 of his rebounds came in the 2nd half.  He was getting the crap beat outta him, he had cotton in both noses by the end and, I guess, that fired him up.

Smart with a great game.  The last time I saw a competitor like him in green was KG.  He is unreal.  It was announced that he is one of 3 finalists for DPOY along with Gobert and Bridges of Phoenix.  Who's the best defender, the heart and soul, of the #1 defense?  Not Gobert or Bridges.




And how about Ime not calling a time out in that last sequence.  Brad definitely would have.  Understandable, given how masterful Brad was with ATOs, but different.  Jaylen's attack on the last play, and everything that happened as a result of that, happened because the Nets defense wasn't set after a time out.  That was Ime trusting his players to figure it out.  Brad trusted execution, Ime trusts players.  Something to say for both, ATOs are pretty important, but you cannot fault last night's results from Ime.

Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Ime Udoka: “I tell the guys all the time, if we have an advantageous position, I won’t call a timeout.”


One more comment about Ime:  he did a great job of switching up defenses on Durant.  At one time or another he had Tatum guard him, Al, Smart, Jaylen.  Threw KD off his game, I think.  This would have been and ugly loss if KD had shot anywhere near his norm.  He didn't become of our defense and that was across the starting 4-5 and their ability to switch onto anybody.  When your defense can switch effectively onto anybody you have no weak links, no mismatches.  Just different looks.


Boston Celtics @celtics
yesterday
Coach Udoka on our ball movement leading to Jayson’s game-winning shot: “That’s where we’ve really improved at, and it all came together on the last possession.”


Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Ime Udoka says Marcus Smart passing up the last shot shows his maturity as a playmaker and how the team evolved over the year: "We’ve gotten away from the your turn, my turn and we enjoy seeing each other succeed. Get those assist numbers up."


Here's the last 1:31, with the score tied at 109:  KD with a 2, Smart with a miss, Al with an O-board and 2, Kyrie with a 3, Celtic time out with 45.9 left.  Jaylen with a layup, KD miss, Al rebound to the Tatum game winner.  The difference is one more fga, one more fgm, one more offensive rebound.  Ok, I'll stop talking about offensive rebounds now.

Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Marcus Smart said he tells teammates just to cut when he has the ball: “When you think I don’t see you, that’s when I see you the most.”




Sean Grande
@SeanGrandePBP
Doesn't seem like much given the emotion of it all, but in the interest of packing up the day, the Celtics walk-off win in Game 1 broke a tie with the Spurs atop this list...




Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
yesterday
Al Horford: "Our crowd was great tonight. They were unbelievable."


We are certainly NOT out of the woods yet.  They need to steal one from us at da Gahden.  One.  It would have been nice for them to do it in Game 1 but Game 2 will work out just as well for them.  We need to come out with fire in Game 2 because they're going to be madder than wet cats after this one.  Every game, every day, brings us closer to RWill's return and then we are even more dangerous.


https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401429890


Bob


.

Yeah, bobh. BKN wants no part of RWIII. All of Kryrie's shots in the lane and maybe some of KD's key jumpers would all wind up in the seats if RWIII were present.

I think we could care less at this point all the BS drama. That's not going to matter.

BKN is playing for the worst case scenario. Even if they go down 0-2, they are pretty confident they can win G3 at home. After that is when BS will show up because at that point, they will have nothing to lose down 1-2. The trick would be G3 and us ratcheting up the defense to the insufferable level and crashing the party.

Now if they come back and win G2, (which I'm asking for a heart-stabbing blowout by us) then they gain the upper edge as we lose home court temporarily. G2 first. If Ime plays and reacts to G1 as a loss for us, we should be fine.

db

We should not expect KD to go 9-24 in game 2.  The Jays pretty much cancel out KI/KD.  They may outscore our two guns but not by much.  Both of our guys can play defense against multiple position.  It is pretty even in terms of my expectation on what to expect.  

After you move past the stars, this series comes right down to everyone else and in particular, our rotation guys.

A game 2 win by Boston adds another layer of pressure on the Nets.  Ime is a task master and the coaching staff and players will be watching a lot of film
to help them identify areas for improvement.  

I know that we can play a much cleaner game.

We really need Theis to stay out of foul trouble early and Grant needs to play smarter and make his wide OPEN looks.  The play when he ran over someone when the Nets were in transition was really stupid.  AH logged 41 minutes and left nothing on the table but we will be in trouble if we have to play him those type of minutes.  That is why we need Theis and Gwill to up their games.

dbrown4 wrote:Yeah, bobh.  BKN wants no part of RWIII.  All of Kryrie's shots in the lane and maybe some of KD's key jumpers would all wind up in the seats if RWIII were present.

I think we could care less at this point all the BS drama.  That's not going to matter.  

BKN is playing for the worst case scenario.  Even if they go down 0-2, they are pretty confident they can win G3 at home.  After that is when BS will show up because at that point, they will have nothing to lose down 1-2.  The trick would be G3 and us ratcheting up the defense to the insufferable level and crashing the party.  

Now if they come back and win G2, (which I'm asking for a heart-stabbing blowout by us) then they gain the upper edge as we lose home court temporarily.  G2 first.  If Ime plays and reacts to G1 as a loss for us, we should be fine.    

db

db I see G2 the same as game 1. Both are must win games so that we can maintain the home court advantage. I can see a blowout in Game 2. The Celtics really did not play with a lot of pace. KD and KI may not have any doubts about their abilities and skills but doubts will start to creep in after we beat them in game 2.

Again as I said in the other thread, the Celtics will apply pressure in a progressive manner. Slowly but surely we will strangle the life out of them. They think they can win by out scoring us. The Celtics are not going to let them do that in this series. The Celtics know, without any doubt, that if they play stifling defense our offense will take care of itself. In the end, the Celtics shut down both KI and KD when it mattered the most. As good as they are, they could not close us out.

Al Horford just became the 13th player in NBA history to record a 20-point, 15-rebound playoff game at age 35+ The other 12 are all either in the HOF or HOF-bound: Kareem, Barkley, Baylor, Wilt, Duncan, LeBron, Karl Malone, Dirk, Hakeem, David Robinson, Russell, and Dominique


Bob


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dboss,

Your last sentence is something I want BKN to have engrained in their psyche for years to come.  It started with G1.  That was a gut punch.  BKN was all ready to steal one.  And they should have save the last two plays.  But we can't stop there and give them ANY life or any hope.  None whatsoever.  That's why the blowout is the only answer for G2. If we just clean up our crap from G1 REGARDLESS of any adjustments by BKN as any adjustments BKN makes are all at a cost or they match/cancel our poor play in G1, we should win going away in G2.  I can assure you we won't lose another big lead in this series.  That was from rust and being off for a week.

BKN played as good as they are going to play.  You saw it yesterday.  Go ahead, let Kryrie and KD both go off.  It won't work.  It certainly won't happen for 4 games in the series.  It may happen at best in just one game and they won't win that one either because look what we did defensively to their 3 other starters relative to their offensive production.  They produced Jack Squat.  And those numbers will go down even more the more KD and KI ball hog between the two of them and take flow away from BKN's overall game.

Your point about or defense slowly ratcheting up is another good point.  Let's compare our defense to a boa constrictor that has you wrapped up.  Very subtly yet insidiously every move you make to attempt to improve your situation makes your plight worse until you just can't breathe anymore and you literally have the life sucked right out of you.  Dang, that's a perfect analogy!!  I'm just sayin'!!  Make that happen, Boston!!

I really want BKN to lose it and just walk off the court before the end of one of these games because they are that befuddled.  

db