Shooting is the KEY

the last half dozen or so games have been quite frustrating to watch. Lots of well deserved criticism for our Boston Celtics.

Lots of reasons for the team's poor play-especially after such a great start to the season. And, now I will add a couple of cents...

SHOOTING, SHOOTING and SHOOTING!!

When any team is struggling the main reason is almost comes down to poor shooting. Check out the percentages of just about
all of the Cs roster in the first 20 games and then look at the same guys in the last 8-9 games. I am not big for doing absolute
checking of stats from around the league, but I believe that Brogdan is the only guy on the roster who has not taken a big tumble
downward on our team.

A team that is not shooting well always seems to worry about their shooting to the point that they can completely fall apart in
key situations in any (all?) parts of their game.

So, I took the liberty of going back to watching our guys shoot in some of the first 20 games to compare to some of their shots
in the last batch of games to search for what is different. As I suspected, there are some very important differences to be seen with
the most important being how long the players are holding the "finish" (keeping their shooting hand up in the air) to their shots.

In the first part of the season (when shots were falling) almost every guy was "holding their finish" a click of time longer. I got my old
stopwatch out and timed said "finishes" on a whole bunch of our guys.

While now the "finish" is not as pronounced our guys are not shooting as well percentage wise. Again, only Malcom Brogdan is replicating this aspect of his shot. Everyone else who was shooting much better earlier in the season is now not using the exact same technique for some reason.

I believe that "Finishing" a shot is a very, very important part of shooting technique as it keeps the body straight and true which helps to eliminate any unnecessary body movement. Shooting rifle requires the exact same concept of not moving until the shot has been made to possibly help you see what I am trying to use words to point out.

Shooting with confidence breeds success for many other skills. If you shoot well you play better.

Brilliant analysis and comparison, wideclyde! I can add nothing. (Everyone on site knows what that means coming from me!!) This game of basketball is very fragile. Some of it is about power but most of it is technique and finesse. About 90% of basketball is mental. The other 50% is physical.

If you come into the season setting the world on fire as our guys did and someone sticks their leg out and trips you and all your crapola goes flying everywhere, you've been knocked off track. How you respond mentally to that embarrassment determines how tough you are between the ears. Right now, we're seeing nothing but Jello between the ears of our players. And absolutely no desire to fix it either barring the 25-point 2nd half comeback recently that fell 6 points short.

It makes you appreciate what the Bulls did going 72-10 and to a lesser extend the Warriors going 73-9 since they didn't complete the circuit. They were mentally tough all the way through. There were no losing streaks or setbacks. Everyone was on the same page every minute of every day.

The media has been rightfully pushing/observing JT's mental toughness and strong desire to make up for his huge Finals playoff gaff last June. He has mental toughness. That is his mantra. That's what's driving him this season. But JT can't win a Finals by himself anymore than LeBron can. You have to have everyone on board and in sync EVERY GAME from Game 1 of the regular season to Game 7 of the Finals.

These are all learning opportunities. This fix we are in is lingering a bit now which makes me begin to wonder (and wander) outside the box where something else may be brewing. But I'll try to stay on course until I see/hear something differently.

I think Marcus Smart has great mental toughness and desire. Jaylen Brown? Not so sure. His recent, now recurring miscues are a bit disturbing as many here have already pointed out. Al Horford? He should be very mentally tough as he has seen it all and can teach it to others as well. Rob Williams? Haven't seen him play long enough to know. It appears he's been in the weight room over his absence. I just don't see the KG look in his eyes just yet. Grant Williams? Growing into it but not at the top of the mental toughness list just yet.

The bench needs a lot of work as this has been pointed out as well. The mental toughness of an Eddie House is what's needed. Houser is nowhere close to that. Way too inconsistent. P-Squared still can't seem to find his arse with both hands. Brodgen? That dude is mentally tough all the way through and may be the best on the team. Again, people horrifically mistake humbleness/quiet nature/take a backseat demeanor working in concert with lack of confidence. Please, don't be fooled by that ever. I'd EASILY put him in the top 2 of our team in the mental toughness category. No contest.

Well, again, wideclyde. Excellent post. And nothing to add!

db

We are not going 68-14 or 67-15 this year

wideclyde wrote:the last half dozen or so games have been quite frustrating to watch.  Lots of well deserved criticism for our Boston Celtics.

Lots of reasons for the team's poor play-especially after such a great start to the season.  And, now I will add a couple of cents...

SHOOTING, SHOOTING and SHOOTING!!

When any team is struggling the main reason is almost comes down to poor shooting.  Check out the percentages of just about
all of the Cs roster in the first 20 games and then look at the same guys in the last 8-9 games.  I am not big for doing absolute
checking of stats from around the league, but I believe that Brogdan is the only guy on the roster who has not taken a big tumble
downward on our team.

A team that is not shooting well always seems to worry about their shooting to the point that they can completely fall apart in
key situations in any (all?) parts of their game.

So, I took the liberty of going back to watching our guys shoot in some of the first 20 games to compare to some of their shots
in the last batch of games to search for what is different.  As I suspected, there are some very important differences to be seen with
the most important being how long the players are holding the "finish" (keeping their shooting hand up in the air) to their shots.  

In the first part of the season (when shots were falling) almost every guy was "holding their finish" a click of time longer. I got my old
stopwatch out and timed said "finishes" on a whole bunch of our guys.

While now the "finish" is not as pronounced our guys are not shooting as well percentage wise.  Again, only Malcom Brogdan is replicating this aspect of his shot.  Everyone else who was shooting much better earlier in the season is now not using the exact same technique for some reason.

I believe that "Finishing" a shot is a very, very important part of shooting technique as it keeps the body straight and true which helps to eliminate any unnecessary body movement.  Shooting rifle requires the exact same concept of not moving until the shot has been made to possibly help you see what I am trying to use words to point out.

Shooting with confidence breeds success for many other skills.  If you shoot well you play better.

Wide Clyde

That's an interesting analysis. There could be a couple of reasons for not holding the finish on their shots. The ball movement and spacing hasn't been as crisp. Thus, shooters are not as well positioned and are maybe rushing their shots for a split second, so the follow through is also not as fluid. The reason could be as simple as confidence. When you are confident you take your shot and follow through without any thought. Its automatic. When you are pressing, is when bad habits seep in as you are trying too hard. Both Marcus and JT spoke about getting back to having fun. There is maybe something to that, just play ball and let it fly. On the other hand. they have to lock in. They can't be careless with the ball and play no defense. If they just play hard, lock in. make simple fundamental plays I think the W's will start coming again. Tonight should be interesting. Can they play a full 48 minutes like they did the second half on Wednesday?