Post Game Thread, PRESEASON GAME #4 vs Raptors - Away, 10/14/22

[bobheckler]

I didn't see the game because it was Friday Happy Hour for me.

Tatum got ejected?!  WTF?  I watched the highlight film where he got ejected.  That's ridiculous.  That earned an ejection?  He wasn't in the ref's face, it didn't look like he even said anything to the ref.  He just sort of waved his arm in the general direction of the ref, without even looking at the ref directly.  This happened with 3:15 left in the 3rd and Boston up 5.  About 3:15 of this film.

It's the preseason for the refs too but, man, that was a quick trigger.

The good news is that with the entire 4th quarter ahead of them they still got to OT without Tatum (and RWill).  Not worried about Toronto.




Here's another video, focused solely on the 2nd technical that earned the ejection.  I recently posted an article in which Bulpett interviewed the VP of the refs, in which there was careful review of every game, blah, blah, blah.  Well, let's see what they say about this.





Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach
yesterday
Grant Williams said he got his tech for telling the ref: "Referee the game, not your emotions."


Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach
yesterday
Joe Mazzulla said Brogdon sat the second half for precautionary reasons. Also said Kornet was cleared to play. If so, sort of surprising he didn't get some time.


Maybe the whole "Luke is playing with the starters" was just a bunch of sportswriter hype?


Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach
yesterday
Marcus Smart said he tweaked his groin when he slipped on the wet floor in the fourth. Thinks he's OK. "I feel like I’m all right. But the adrenaline is still going right now. Hopefully in the morning I feel all right."

I hope he's ok today.


A pretty nice boxscore for White.  5-6 from 3.  Three of those 5 fgm were from the left corner and one was from the right corner.


https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401474904


Bob


.

[sinus007]

Hi,
Frankly, I didn't like how we played. Allowing 35 points in the first quarter and 63 in the half is a poor defense.
I hope it's just a pre-season game that nobody cares about. Except the refs, of course. I didn't understand what was that - a message? New party line?
Any way, we're just 3 days away from the first game. Can't wait!.

AK

[RosalieTCeltics]

First of all...as Eddie House said last night, that should be the last game that that ref calls when there are big teams playing.  he was a jerk, knew they had called Tatum for delay of game earlier, and still threw him out with that second tech.  Even the fans in Toronto were unhappy, a full house paid to see two good teams play each other. Let's face it the J's are building a reputation, and people will pay to see them.     Second, that was one dangerous floor those guys were playing on last night.  They were sliding all over the place, and Smart did a split that you knew he was going to feel today. Why does the league allow this crap   Third...I am really hoping that all the print being spread around about Derrick White being a big trade chip is just chatter.  This is one valuable piece they have in him  Fourth....Payton did not do himself any favors last night, he was ice cold all night and seemed uncomfortable at times on the floor. Yes, Hauser was cold too, and that hurt us alot because Jaylen and Marcus played way too long and if one of them had been hitting their shots they would have come off the floor and let the bench finish off the game

[dbrown4]

I'm hoping we are going to be able to predict and say with great accuracy with each game of the upcoming season that we have so much depth that we don't need everyone to "show up" every night to win, even with the occasional debilitating injury(ies).  Injuries will continue to happen to every team throughout the season.  It should be extremely rare that we don't have enough horses in this current barn in that we are in EVERY game with a chance to win, if not blowing the proverbial crap out of most of the league's teams.  We lost the last game because of TO's.  But I'm chalking that up to new personnel, getting the kinks out, etc.  That's what the pre-season is for.  As a matter of fact, I'm going to keep a stat for that for the season.  I haven't picked the threshold numbers, but I'm going to keep a team record of games won & lost based on TO's.  Probably in the 15/game or more territory and maybe 10/game or less.  I'll play with it and take any suggestions.  

I also noticed the Celtics backed off the Rondo-style fast-break/running playing in that game.  Average crossing half-court time was about 20 seconds on the shot clock.  That's not pushing it/fast break basketball. Assists/FGM number is still high, but it has come down some.  I'll be watching those as well.

db

[cowens/oldschool]

I too was not happy with the defense and pace, their 2 young wings outplayed our elite wings. We may have to use more double bigs with Vonlah or Blake or Fi playing with Al; if we continue to get out rebounded, obviously we could use Timelord. GWill looks improved, but he and Al have been vulnerable together on the boards in the past.

[Celtics17]

I too didn't like certain things. I know its pre season so have to take it with a grain of salt however:

1) The defensive rebounding was poor. Time and again their bigs got a piece of the rebound creating second shots. With timelord out if we don't improve we are going to be vulnerable to teams with multiple big men.

2) it's good that Grant Williams has worked on his handle, but the problem is he's got to know when to take it off the dribble and when to move the ball. Too often he dribbles into traffic when he should just make the next pass.

3) I think Blake can be an asset, but a couple times he was beaten badly off the dribble. I'm hoping he's just rusty because we need his defense and rebounding till timelord returns.

4) I love Tatum, but at this stage of his career he has to stop throwing his arms up every time they call a foul on him. They will T him every time he does that.

5) On the bight side Derrick White shot the ball lights out and his shot looks improved and he looks bigger and stronger.

6) Jaylen looks fantastic!!!

[dboss]

Celtics drop OT game to the Raptors 137-136

My Takeaways

It was another preseason game.  That means that a win or a loss has zero meaning in the big scheme of things.  If you do not believe me go ask a Bucks fan.

Rebounding needs to be better especially on the defensive glass.  Without Rob, everyone needs to do a much better job blocking out.  Sometimes that is difficult to do if your opponent is constructed like the Raptors who have a team full of long athletic and active guys that are bigger and longer than you are.

It certainly looks like CJ is going to play a small ball lineup as D White started in all 4 preseason games.  On offense he has been lights out from deep while shooting .556%, on 4.5 attempts per game in 22.9 minutes.

Turnovers plagued this team last year and during the preseason it still looks like an issue that needs to be addressed.  Marcus led the team with 3.3 turnovers and from my observation many of these were decision making mistakes.  He had multiple games with bonehead pass attempts.
 
Our small ball lineup has been really effective on offense.  The Celtics led the NBA in PPG at 124.8 I love the pace we are playing with and that needs to become part of our DNA.

Kornet still has not played one minute during preseason and that probably translates into him being outside of our normal rotation.

With Vonleh and Jackson making our 15 man roster, the Celtics have reached their maximum number of players.

The Celtics finished the preseason at 2-2 but more importantly they have established their pecking order.

Newbies Malcolm Brogdon and Blake Griffin will be part of our top 8 guys and once Rob returns we will have a very solid 9 man rotation.

Outside of that, Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard provide valuable rotation guys if they can come in at a moment's notice and knock down shots.

How Noah and Luke impact our bigman rotation is yet to be determined.  Justin Jackson gives us some depth at the wing.
Kabengele and JD Davidson will be in deep reserve.  Neither  had much of an opportunity to play during preseason.  I was somewhat surprised that Kabengele hardly played at all.
 
My biggest concern heading into the season is about our defense and in particular our lack of a rim protecting rebounding big.

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