2022-2023 POST GAME PHX SUNS - HOME

Celtics Wrap: Boston’s Cold First Quarter Leads To Loss Vs. Suns
The Celtics split their home stand 2-2

NESN by Gio Rivera

BOSTON — The Boston Celtics came up short after a cold start against Phoenix Suns 106-94 Friday night at TD Garden.

The Celtics fell to 37-16 while the Suns improved to 28-26 on their season.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
When the Celtics faced the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night, Boston had its way from the very start.

However, this wasn’t at all the case against Phoenix. As opposed to their 46-point jaw-dropper just a few nights ago, the Celtics dug themselves an early hole after they only managed to connect on eight of their first 22 shot attempts in the first quarter.

Overall, the C’s were notably sluggish to start the contest. That marked the Celtics’ lowest-scoring opening frame since Dec. 27 (22 points) versus the Houston Rockets. Meanwhile, the Suns weren’t surprisingly impressive themselves. Yet, Phoenix countered on windows of opportunity that the Celtics would provide through their mistakes, turning 14 Boston turnovers into 16 points.

And that would only increase Boston’s difficulty of overcoming a Suns team that entered the night winners in six of their previous eight games.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Jaylen Brown, who was fresh off his second career All-Star selection Thursday night, showed just why he was added to the reserves list. He totaled a game-leading 27 points with seven rebounds and four assists for the Celtics.

— Derrick White contributed 19 points with five rebounds through 34 minutes on the floor. 13 of those came in the second half.

— Mikal Bridges led the Suns with his 23-point showing to go with a pair of rebounds and three assists.

WAGER WATCH
DraftKings Sportsbook set Al Horford’s over/under rebound total at 5.5 with -120 odds on the Over. It only took three quarters of work for the 36-year-old veteran to hit that mark as Horford finished the night with nine rebounds in 28 minutes against the Suns. A $100 bet on Horford would’ve resulted in a $183.33 total payout.

UP NEXT
The Celtics will return to action on Sunday against the Detroit Pistons on the road. Tip off from Little Caesars Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.

112288

Tatum really sucked, he has too many games like this which really scares me. GWill and Al also have more off games like this, but neither of them is an MVP candidate. The other MVP candidates are way more consistent than Tatum, he makes boneheaded drives/plays, losing the ball too many times too that kill us. Milwaukee and Philly one game behind us now. We were a lot worse than the score indicated, Tatum GWill Al combined for 4 fg’s, 4-22 the whole game, but Joe has limited options. I put this loss on those 3, they didn’t show up at all.

cowens/oldschool wrote:Tatum really sucked, he has too many games like this which really scares me. GWill and Al also have more off games like this, but neither of them is an MVP candidate. The other MVP candidates are way more consistent than Tatum, he makes boneheaded drives/plays, losing the ball too many times too that kill us. Milwaukee and Philly one game behind us now. We were a lot worse than the score indicated, Tatum GWill Al combined for 4 fg’s, 4-22 the whole game, but Joe has limited options. I put this loss on those 3, they didn’t show up at all.

AGREED! OR HE WILL TAKE A HUGE NUMBER OF SHOTS, SCORE 35 PTS BUT HIS SHOOTING PERCENTAGE IS LOW.

112288

Good news? We won't see PHX in the playoffs. Bad news? We can't seem to help ourselves or get out of our own dang way!!! That will kill us in the playoffs. Might as well cut our loses now and forfeit the rest of the season if we're going to play like that. Yet, we're still #1. Probably not for much longer bringing home games like this. Pathetic. Message just isn't getting through. Wazzupwitdat?!!!

Incredulously stupefied,

db

P.S. Let's follow this up by losing in Detroit Monday to start another unexplained losing streak to incredibly stupid teams.

This game simply drove home the point that our two greatest needs are 1) bigs and 2) to stop bombing away from beyond the arc early in the shot clock.

Beyond that no real need to get worked up here.

A return of Smart and increasing minutes from Brogdon will be a nice boost.

Giannis took like 4 games off, now he’s on an incredible 40-50 point run. Maybe that’s the way to do it? Tatum is way too up and down. When he’s down he stinks up the joint missing simple lay ups, I don’t remember Bird or Pierce being so bad when their shot was off…???

Yes, JT sucked last night. As an MVP candidate he has to do better. The one positive was he got to the line. It's a long season, he usually bounces back. I thought Derrick White played great last night. He and Jaylen were the only ones that had anything going. Al had some great looks from 3 and couldn't knock them down. The miss down 6 with two minutes to go turned into Sakic's dagger on the other end. I know Hauser has been off, but on a night when no one could hit, I think he should got some run. This game was disappointing. It was a one point game going into the fourth and we let them fry us for 12 straight to open the quarter. Everyone on the floor at that time deserves the blame (JT was on the bench).

We sure do have to bounce back a whole dang lot given our personnel. All this losing games we should be winning is maddening. So far, we're 1-1 in February. And still #1.

db

50.06% or 38 of 75 shots were 3 point attemps by the Celtics. They were 26.3% from 3 point attempts or 18 for 38.

IF YOU ARE GOING ALL IN WITH HALF OF ALL YOUR SHOT ATTEMPTS WITH 3 POINT SHOTS

WILL YOU PLEASE GET A PROVEN 3 POINT SHOT SNIPPER WHO CAN EXECUTE ON A MORE CONSISTANT LEVEL THEN THIS TEAM WHO APPEARS TO RUN HOT AND COLD WITH NO CONSISTANCY!

It boiling down to common sense thinking if the results do not equate to an average NBA percentage for 3 point conversions, TRADE FOR SOMEONE WHO YOU CAN RELY ON TO GET YOUR TEAM BACK INTO A GAME! THINK RAY ALLEN BRAD! OTHERWISE WE RISK COMING UP SHORT AGAIN FOR BANNER #18!

The percentage has skyrocketed over the past decade — from 22.6% in 2011-12 to 39.9% in 2021-22. Following the trend, 3-point attempts were on pace to account for more than 40% of all shots this season.

112288

11228

NYCelt wrote:This game simply drove home the point that our two greatest needs are 1) bigs and 2) to stop bombing away from beyond the arc early in the shot clock.

Beyond that no real need to get worked up here.

A return of Smart and increasing minutes from Brogdon will be a nice boost.

I agree we need another big and the Celtics clearly miss Marcus on both ends of the court

Our offense is built on 3 point shooting. The team put up 38 3PA which is below our season average of 41.9 attempts. AH went 1-6 from the field and all of them were 3 pointers. He had great open looks and just could not make a shot. The Celtics fought back from a 20 point deficit and had opportunities to win this game.

What stood out for me was the 53-43 rebounding deficiency and the 75 FGA for the game. We did not play with pace. We walked the ball up the court and JT was the main culprit.

I wondering if Gwill is hurting. He looks slower than he has all year. He never was quick to begin with but he seems to be struggling just to keep up.

Brogdon played just 22 minutes. SIASJ still has not figure out how to use MB.

The 2-2 home stand was rather disappointing.

112288

It boiling down to common sense thinking if the results do not equate to an average NBA percentage for 3 point conversions, TRADE FOR SOMEONE WHO YOU CAN RELY ON TO GET YOUR TEAM BACK INTO A GAME! THINK RAY ALLEN BRAD! OTHERWISE WE RISK COMING UP SHORT AGAIN FOR BANNER #18!

That says it all. As I mention before, Brad did not replace Gallo. On top of that both Tatum and Brown are having career lows in terms of making their 3 point shots. (35.5% and 33.4%) this season compared to their career numbers of (37.8 and 36.7%)

Last night I guess the J's felt entitled to shoot as many 3's as their little hearts desired. Coming off their identical 7-12 numbers vs the Nets, the drop off was significant (3-10 JT, 3-12 JB.

The Celtics clearly need to add reliable shooter.

The Celtics defense continues to improve and that is a really good trend to see.

I think this team has invented a new construction material.  They have shown their heads can expand and shrink without cracking.  Perfect for New England weather. Their heads inflated significantly after the demolition of the Nets and then got shrank back down to size, and then some, with Phoenix.

Kidding, of course, but I am still engaged in an ongoing discussion with myself over their mental toughness.  I'm concerned they are a bunch of very talented Labrador Retrievers and what you need to win a Championship is a pack of constantly pissed off Rottweilers and Dobermans.  The Labs are willing to work, they'll unhesitantly jump into a cold stream to bring back your dead duck, but they're just as happy chasing a frisbee (mine certainly was, she was absolutely obsessed with them).  The Rotties and Dobies won't move unless they're the ones killing the duck.  It's 8:30am here in Pattaya and I haven't had coffee yet.

38.7%.  Can't win a game like that, and we didn't.  

Tatum 3-15.  The worst part is that he was 3-10 from 3.  That means all his fgm were 3s and he only took 5 2pt fgas.  I don't care how many records of Larry Bird he eventually breaks, Larry would have realized his shooting wasn't there and would have become a rebounding and passing fiend.

Grant with a -24 +/-.  He took 2 fgas, had 3 turnovers in 22 minutes.  

Their bench outscored ours 36-19.  Brogdon with 12, Pritchard with 3, Luke with 4.  Zip-a-dee-doo-dah from Grant as I said.  We need two shooters off the bench, because Pritchard will be gone.  MY PREFERENCE would be to trade Sam+Jackson+whom/whatever for a grizzled old veteran that still has something left and isn't going to demand much.  Will the Thrill might fit the bill, there may be others that will be made available over this coming week, some that may become available after the deadline when there are buyouts.  Payton wants more playing time.  Give it to him.  Smart's out, Brogdon has been pretty healthy but you never know and White isn't the shooter we need.  I'd like to keep Payton, even if it means losing him for nothing in a few month, and trade the non-shooting shooters Hauser and Jackson.  It's not that Pritchard is a budding All-Star, it's because you don't have to keep reminding him to shoot and be aggressive.  Hauser has fallen from 8th or 9th or maybe 10th man to 12th, just ahead of the easily forgettable Justin Jackson and Gallinari.  He'd be 14th except that we have an open roster spot and only have 14 active players.

The Js combined for 6-26 from 3.  We took a total of 38 3pt fgas.  This is worse than Kobe shooting the Lakers out of games, earning the nickname 'KoME', because we had two KoMEs.

75 total fgas is weak.  38 3pt fgas is 50%.  Joe knows nothing else.  I think we're seeing one of the side effects of such a young, rookie coach.  You better rest our starters, Joe, because if their legs aren't fresh come playoffs we will have troubles because their shots will be missing and you won't/don't have an Alternate Plan B.


Bob


.

bobheckler wrote:
I'm concerned they are a bunch of very talented Labrador Retrievers and what you need to win a Championship is a pack of constantly pissed off Rottweilers and Dobermans.

Bob
.

My Labrador Retriever wants me to express her disagreement with this sentiment.