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Celtics Wrap: New-Look Nets Punk Boston In Furious Comeback
Boston blew a 28-point lead


NESN by Keagan Stiefel

The Boston Celtics’ dominant stretch over the Brooklyn Nets ended on Friday, as they lost their first of the last 11 matchups with New York’s second team, 115-105, at TD Garden.

The C’s fell to 45-19, while the Nets improved to 35-28.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
There’s no arguing that the Celtics are one of the NBA’s best teams, but it has become evident over recent weeks that they have an issue playing to the level of their competition.

The latest example of that came Friday, when Boston played with its food long enough for Brooklyn to keep things compelling. The Nets, who are a solid team but have struggled to string together wins without a superstar, dominated the pace of play throughout the final five minutes of the first half and the entire second half, turning a once 28-point deficit into a 16-point lead.

The Celtics slowed their pace and were the less physical team, showing poor effort for most of the game.

Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla couldn’t seem to find a steady rotation, as he tried using Mike Muscala, Grant Williams, Luke Kornet, Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser off the bench to mixed results. Ultimately, no one could improve the energy, especially after Robert Williams III went down with a hamstring injury, which put a stop to any hopes of building positive momentum.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Mikal Bridges is the Nets’ defacto star, meaning they look to him as the No. 1 option. He delivered Friday night, finishing with 38 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

— Spencer Dinwiddie was the perfect second fiddle to Bridges, scoring 17 points, dishing out eight assists and adding three steals and a block.

— Jaylen Brown was the Celtics’ most consistent scorer, finishing with 35 points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block.

WAGER WATCH
Bridges was given -125 odds by DraftKings Sportsbook to surpass 28.5 total points, rebounds and assists. The former Suns forward surpassed that total by halftime, netting $100 bettors a $190.91 payout.

UP NEXT
The Celtics will welcome the New York Knicks to town for a matchup Sunday. Tipoff from TD Garden is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.

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The entitled mindset was evident from the beginning of the game.

What a bad loss.

prakash

100% correct.

The joke is on us for watching this laissez-faire attitude continue.

Something is up with Tatum another night going 0-8 from 3 point arc. It may be that his legs are tired and cannot get the lift he is usually accustomed to.

Hey Joe, too many minutes for Tatum, you are burning him out! Hey Brad, you missed out at the trade deadline. You should have traded for the center on the Spurs. Now Rob Williams has leg issues again and could not finish the game. Also you should have lpicked up a forward that can provide Tatum with a nigh off or limited minutes. Muscala not looking to hot now, just another tomato can!

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Our front court was useless today.

19 turnovers.

Transition defense? What's that? Tatum kept admiring his missed 3s and forgot to get back.

It makes me ill to say this but they beat us at Joe's game. 44 3pt fgas for them vs 30 for us. We shot the same, 31% vs 30%, but they took more. In fact, they took more period. 95 fgas for them vs 84 fgas for us.

They won shooting 42% even though we shot 48%.

This was about as embarrassing a loss as I've seen in a looooong time. It made me physically ill, I couldn't finish watching it halfway through the 3rd, I went out for breakfast instead. I hope they got booed off the court loudly and ferociously, they deserved it after that debacle. Up 24 and then losing by 10?! At home?!!

We are, still, a mentally weak team of front-runners and that won't get us 18.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401469103


Bob


.

Tatum is looking alot less like the player that can carry us to the promised land. I mean I hope I’m wrong, but there’s too many games where he is not the best player on the floor, like tonight. Suddenly Knicks and Bucks are red hot and since all star game we are off. Right now the supporting cast is suddenly banged up, making J’s have to carry more of the load. If one is off, we seem to struggle, Kornet is a nice story; but he was too slow and too limited to make any impact tonight and lately. Everytime RWill goes down on the floor, I’m always worried how he gets up; this time he didn’t fall down, but still hurt himself. Love Al, but we can’t rely on him to shoot like he did against Cavs every night.

Brogdon is a great player/pick up, but he also has his durability issues. White who I love is 0-11 on his last 3’s, so yeah we definitely have some issues, guess RWill being the biggest. We knew we had a center issue, meanwhile Bucks acquired Crowder, Ingles and Myers Leonard and still have Giannis who can still wreak havoc and outwork anyone both ends. The 5 issue could lead to our downfall, how come we couldn’t acquire Mo Bamba? Wonder who is the most injury prone RWill, AD or Zion?

I don’t know if Joe can get us back in Finals right now, does he keep on pushing to get home court advantage or rest key players so we are fresh for playoffs? Right now our best player does not look capable to me to get us there, he could still avg over 30 and break Larry Birds record of 40 point games in a season; but too many recent dud games like tonight where he is not super enough to carry us scares me. Wtf happened to Grant Williams offense? Tatum and White going 0-12 from 3 and GWills ineptitude is a recipe for disaster.

After watching that debacle, all I can say is this better be rock bottom and a 2x4 administered straight to the face for all concerned on that team and the coaching staff.

Wake up!  Banner 18 is there for your taking.  It is yours to win and yours to lose. It ain't going to get much better of an opportunity.

Amen.

db

I checked this morning and the sky wasn’t falling.
This is a rough patch but far from the edge of the cliff.
Not a good game on several fronts, so lots of fingers to point and blame to share.
Injuries and size are still issues. This is still basketball and teams with a couple of productive bigs have the edge. Healthy bigs. Our last two to play together are on ESPN and doing a podcast.
Shooting has been horrible, but with no low-post presence you go with the mindset of shooting your way out of the slump.
Two best guards at muscling their way to the rim were out with an injury and the other in 2nd half foul trouble.
Who knew Bridges also had an offensive game? Nobody in Phoenix. He killed us.

cowens/oldschool wrote:Tatum is looking alot less like the player that can carry us to the promised land. I mean I hope I’m wrong, but there’s too many games where he is not the best player on the floor, like tonight. Suddenly Knicks and Bucks are red hot and since all star game we are off. Right now the supporting cast is suddenly banged up, making J’s have to carry more of the load. If one is off, we seem to struggle, Kornet is a nice story; but he was too slow and too limited to make any impact tonight and lately. Everytime RWill goes down on the floor, I’m always worried how he gets up; this time he didn’t fall down, but still hurt himself. Love Al, but we can’t rely on him to shoot like he did against Cavs every night.

Brogdon is a great player/pick up, but he also has his durability issues. White who I love is 0-11 on his last 3’s, so yeah we definitely have some issues, guess RWill being the biggest. We knew we had a center issue, meanwhile Bucks acquired Crowder, Ingles and Myers Leonard and still have Giannis who can still wreak havoc and outwork anyone both ends. The 5 issue could lead to our downfall, how come we couldn’t acquire Mo Bamba? Wonder who is the most injury prone RWill, AD or Zion?

I don’t know if Joe can get us back in Finals right now, does he keep on pushing to get home court advantage or rest key players so we are fresh for playoffs? Right now our best player does not look capable to me to get us there, he could still avg over 30 and break Larry Birds record of 40 point games in a season; but too many recent dud games like tonight where he is not super enough to carry us scares me. Wtf happened to Grant Williams offense? Tatum and White going 0-12 from 3 and GWills ineptitude is a recipe for disaster.

You aren't wrong. Tatum is a good player and on some nights he is a very good player. But the notion that he is MVP caliber or a superstar is laughable. Too many turnovers is the main reason-but also failing to finish at the rim over and over again. Last night's game was a joke. The C's received some well deserved boos from the crowd. They took their collective feet off the gas pedal and could never find it again. No way they should have lost a game like that. Mazzula should have apologized to the fans after the game.

Pumpsie Green wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:Tatum is looking alot less like the player that can carry us to the promised land. I mean I hope I’m wrong, but there’s too many games where he is not the best player on the floor, like tonight. Suddenly Knicks and Bucks are red hot and since all star game we are off. Right now the supporting cast is suddenly banged up, making J’s have to carry more of the load. If one is off, we seem to struggle, Kornet is a nice story; but he was too slow and too limited to make any impact tonight and lately. Everytime RWill goes down on the floor, I’m always worried how he gets up; this time he didn’t fall down, but still hurt himself. Love Al, but we can’t rely on him to shoot like he did against Cavs every night.

Brogdon is a great player/pick up, but he also has his durability issues. White who I love is 0-11 on his last 3’s, so yeah we definitely have some issues, guess RWill being the biggest. We knew we had a center issue, meanwhile Bucks acquired Crowder, Ingles and Myers Leonard and still have Giannis who can still wreak havoc and outwork anyone both ends. The 5 issue could lead to our downfall, how come we couldn’t acquire Mo Bamba? Wonder who is the most injury prone RWill, AD or Zion?

I don’t know if Joe can get us back in Finals right now, does he keep on pushing to get home court advantage or rest key players so we are fresh for playoffs? Right now our best player does not look capable to me to get us there, he could still avg over 30 and break Larry Birds record of 40 point games in a season; but too many recent dud games like tonight where he is not super enough to carry us scares me. Wtf happened to Grant Williams offense? Tatum and White going 0-12 from 3 and GWills ineptitude is a recipe for disaster.

You aren't wrong. Tatum is a good player and on some nights he is a very good player. But the notion that he is MVP caliber or a superstar is laughable. Too many turnovers is the main reason-but also failing to finish at the rim over and over again. Last night's game was a joke. The C's received some well deserved boos from the crowd. They took their collective feet off the gas pedal and could never find it again. No way they should have lost a game like that. Mazzula should have apologized to the fans after the game.

Right as noted by a few on the game on thread Al and Tatum missed point blank lay ups with about 2-3 minutes left, they scored the other end and that was it. Thank God we have a deep team, been plenty of games the others could cover for Tatum too, last night we sure couldn’t. I see too many games Tatum is maddingly terrible and shorter players shut him down. Too bad we still have so many questions still at the 5…??? How much time has BS known we need just a healthy young center that can stay on the floor and do some effective damn dirty work ?

Also while I like the switching defense, there are too many times we switch with a worse match up. Can’t these guys figure that out, it’s so obvious…??? One time Jaylen is on Bridges, instead of staying on him, with minimal contact Hauser gets on him and Bridges nails a jumper in his face.

NYCelt wrote:I checked this morning and the sky wasn’t falling.
This is a rough patch but far from the edge of the cliff.
Not a good game on several fronts, so lots of fingers to point and blame to share.
Injuries and size are still issues. This is still basketball and teams with a couple of productive bigs have the edge. Healthy bigs. Our last two to play together are on ESPN and doing a podcast.
Shooting has been horrible, but with no low-post presence you go with the mindset of shooting your way out of the slump.
Two best guards at muscling their way to the rim were out with an injury and the other in 2nd half foul trouble.
Who knew Bridges also had an offensive game? Nobody in Phoenix. He killed us.

For what they had to do, Nets got a nice haul for Kyrie and Durant, Bridges and Johnson are legit 2 way players with a lot of upside. Add O’Neal and Finney-Smith and you have a plethora of wings that can all do the multiple positions mantra and they have a slew of picks for years. Dinwiddie always plays hard and can get hot for stretches, Claxton can do everything RWill does and stay on the floor.

cowens/oldschool wrote:Also while I like the switching defense, there are too many times we switch with a worse match up. Can’t these guys figure that out, it’s so obvious…??? One time Jaylen is on Bridges, instead of staying on him, with minimal contact Hauser gets on him and Bridges nails a jumper in his face.

Cowens

You are right about the switching defense. I like it too, but it has flaws. Every team targets Hauser when he's on the floor. They also target Al when the starters are in the game. I love Al, but it's hard for him to stay in front of guards. Dinwiddie exposed him last night. Definitely something to address.

If Rob is hurt again, this is a major problem. We were finally getting some continuity and now another injury. Hard to say if Tatum is tired. As was pointed out the legs go first, this could the reason he's missing threes or he just maybe in a little slump. This was a horrible loss. You cannot stop playing. Once another team gets momentum its hard to turn it back on.

Tomorrow night is a big game. Let's see what we got against a hot team that just spanked us. A loss tomorrow is cause for major concern. I think we play hard tomorrow and get back on track.

Let me share my theory with you on reasons why the Celtics lost in what amounted to a 38 point turnaround that can be pinpointed at the 7:23 mark of the 2nd quarter when Boston had built a 28 point lead to the final buzzer.

The Celtics have beaten the Nets 10 times in a row.  However they have never played this Nets team.

The Celtics needed a boost from their bench but no one except for White (6-10 for 16 points) and Hauser (2-3 from deep) helped them.

CJ searched high and low to find anyone who could make a play for us but no one stepped up.  He played everybody except for Blake Griffin.  

There is a particular metric that stands out.  We had 19 turnovers to 12 for them.  That partly explains them winning the FGA category.

The primary reason we lost last night was due to energy.  The Celtics literally spent up their fuel by the middle of the 2nd quarter.  They were playing at an unsustainable pace.  They went into after burner mode early during the game and ran out of fuel.  I do not believe that they are conditioned at a level that would allow them to play that fast. They put all of it on the line way too early and were flying on a reserve tank.  They could not find their energy and perhaps what we are seeing in games like this (big lead goes away) is really a reflection of their mental toughness or lack thereof to fight through fatigue.

The sky may not be falling, but there are alot of fans out here that have invested alot of heart and soul into this team. To listen to Jayson Tatum last night, it was "just a bad game". Tell those people who paid good money to come out and watch you Jayson. I am not looking for 40 points every night, that is stupid. What I am looking for is a team that wants to win so bad they can taste it. I know, I am overboard here, but, I have never been so disappointed in watching the Celtics as I was last night. Time to wake up boys and get your .....together. I do not want to look at the standings one day and find you in 4th place. Wake up

RosalieTCeltics wrote:The sky may not be falling, but there are alot of fans out here that have invested alot of heart and soul into this team. To listen to Jayson Tatum last night, it was "just a bad game".  Tell those people who paid good money to come out and watch you Jayson.  I am not looking for 40 points every night, that is stupid.  What I am looking for is a team that wants to win so bad they can taste it.    I know,  I am overboard here, but, I have never been so disappointed in watching the Celtics as I was last night.  Time to wake up boys and get your .....together.  I do not want to look at the standings one day and find you in 4th place.  Wake up

There are only so many bad games allotted before you are no longer an elite team.  

With the Knicks coming up tomorrow and the Cavs on Monday (B2B) Things could get ugly.  Rob has a strained hammy and Al does not play in B2B games.  We are right back where we do not want to be.  You cannot help but wonder if Brad should have made the deal to get Poeltl.  Why hold onto draft picks for a team with a deep core.

According to reports the Celtics offered :

Forward Danilo Gallinari, guard Payton Pritchard, and multiple future second-round picks to the Spurs for Poeltl. The offer was declined, per Brian Robb, as San Antonio opted for the best draft pick compensation.

My Note:  Throw in a first and all of us would be sleeping better at night


Raptors receive:

Jakob Poeltl
Spurs receive:

Khem Birch
2024 first-round pick
2023 second-round pick
2025 second-round pick

 

dbrown4 wrote:Indeed, this is a pivotal couple of days.  It may very define or not define our chances of winning it all.  Hate to put it out there but this may be true.  

db

db

A lot can happen in the 18 games remaining. If they can stay healthy, they should be fine. The margin for error however gets thinner with each passing game.

What was the outcome with Rob? He is the big question mark here

This was the year Wyc gave the green light to go to war to get #18. That said, Brad should have traded for SAS center even if he 1) is going to ba a free agent next year, and 2) if he wanted to start. Brad did not and he went to Toranto.

Some poster may say well the center now in Toranto cannot shoot from our side the paint to the 3 point arc. We if you have not noticed, Rob Williams cannot either.

It is a shame that Rob, who is a gifter player is not rurable and has significant issues with staying healthy.

The smart move would have been to trade with SAS and let this guy start. It would have been a natural for Rob to come off the bench and give additional rim protection and energy while also limiting his minutes. this way we can keep Rob healthy while really shoring up our defense with the second unit and add the additional toss and dunk by Rob for added offensive pressure.

Perhaps next year Brad can devise such a structure with the team players with either a new center from another team in a trade, or pick up the Toronto center embarking on free agency.

Brad knew that he was whistling pass the grave yard by not seeking a qualified center at the trading deadline and hoping Rob stayed healthy. I viewed the video tape of when Rob got injured and I cannot spot the ham string pull. Put he did land with his weight on his left foot and pressure on his left knee.

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