PLAYOFFS 2023 - EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS GAME #1 - POST GAME MIAMI HEAT - HOME

Celtics Wrap: Boston Comes Up Empty In Fourth Quarter, Heat Take Game 1
Boston was a no-show in the fourth quarter

NESN by Gio Rivera

BOSTON — The Celtics dropped Game 1 of their Eastern Conference finals series with the Miami Heat, falling 123-116, Wednesday night at TD Garden.

The Heat strike first, taking a 1-0 series lead over the Celtics.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
There was no question about it that the Celtics would have their hands full, taking on a scrappy and determined Heat squad in a best-of-seven series with an NBA Finals appearance at stake.

Well, that’s exactly what Game 1 turned out to be for Boston, kicking off its third conference finals battle with Miami in the last four years. The Celtics and Heat came down to the wire as Miami put together a 12-point lead, its greatest at that point, before the end of the third quarter. Jimmy Butler scored 13, like the Heat, getting whatever look he so wised, in part of a 45-25 blowout quarter.

The Celtics tried to regroup, going on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to five points and uplift a TD Garden crowd that showered them with boos after their catastrophic, and nearly costly, third quarter. However, a series of costly turnovers, failed attempts to knock down a timely shot plus being haunted by seven missed free throws, and the Celtics fumbled yet again at capitalizing on their homecourt advantage.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Jayson Tatum led Boston, scoring 30 points with seven rebounds and a block, but completely disappeared in the fourth quarter, scoring all six points in the final frame at the free-throw line.

— Butler was on-brand and in full playoff mode, finishing with a game-leading 35 points. The 33-year-old also had five rebounds, seven assists and six steals in his complete performance, shooting 12-of-25 from the field and a perfect 8-for-8 from the free-throw line.

— Malcolm Brogdon led Boston’s reserve unit, providing 19 points of contribution off the bench with two rebounds and an assist.

WAGER WATCH
Marcus Smart certainly played the role of a point guard, and early. FanDuel Sportsbook set the over/under of Smart’s assist total at 5.5 with +110 odds on the Over. But Boston’s leader shattered those odds quickly, recording 10 assists by halftime. A $100 wager placed on Smart would’ve resulted in a $210 total payout.

UP NEXT
The Celtics, in search of a bounce-back victory, return to action with the Heat for Game 2 on Friday night. Tipoff from TD Garden is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET.

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This Miami team is no fluck.  They are well coached by one of the top 3 coaches in the league, with a stict game plan. They have multiple 3 point shooters and they rebound and play tough defense.

I was worried about meeting them verses the Knicks.

It seems that we always dig a hole for ourselves!

112288

We will be better next game. We have felt these guys out.

Our guys seem to be experiential learners.

2nd verse same as the first. Relax everyone. This is our MO. That and all the drama you can possibly stand. I know drama. BTW, the going down 0-3 and winning the series is still intact. Not that this is going to happen, but given this team, it is possible.

db

We got them right where we want them!

You do not give up 46 points in 1 quarter in the Eastern Finals and think the other team just shot their load!   Erik Spoelstra, dispite not liking the guy, is one smart SOB. Coming back from half time, he showed 3 different offensive looks and 3 different defensive looks all similar in appearence, but deadly in results against the Celtics.

Everytime you get cocky and think your opponent is not on your level and you are looking past them to the next opponent, you get jabbed by the middle finger.

This series can go 7 if we are not careful.  Besides having Kevin Love and his height and 3 point shooting to contend with, Tyler Herro could be back in game 6 or 7. And Jimmy Butler is no lazy ass James Harden!  Jimmy seems possessed and very focused.  

112288

It’s the whole culture there that starts with Riley. He knows exactly what he’s doing. We should have had a 20 point lead in first half if not for Kyle Lowry, who in short bursts can still show why he’s a former all star and championship point. Jaylen was pissing me off with lackluster turnovers, obviously I love him, but that cost us a bigger lead in the 2nd quarter. The 4 days off really helped them, Heat looked fresh and are so deliberate in their approach on the floor. They remind me of the methodical Spurs, they really know how to play.

Smart had 10 assists in first half, then finished with 11. He was putting on a clinic, like I said we should have been up 20, if not for our usual dumb turnovers and then Spurs made adjustments and took it away. Pritchard played, but could we not put him on switches in the post with Jimmy Butler? No more easy baskets in 2nd half. Why isn’t Grant Williams playing? He can defend multiple positions and spread the floor. Spolstra has Heat getting production out of every player with key injuries to Hero and Olidipo. No name players are getting a shot and responding, and were experimenting and freezing out contributors? I understand we need Al’s defense, but his shot has been off for awhile. Grant playing 12-15 minutes next to RWill to give Al a little spark or breather is now out of the question?

Sixers had no pg behind Harden, and Harden’s bad play really helped us. Heat don’t rely on their pg in that way, completely different system and have Lowry off the bench. We have to be better against Heat, they will not beat themselves. They can adjust their defense on the fly and J’s have to not dribble into their traps and double teams. Stop losing the ball guys!!!

"It's like déjà vu all over again."

- Yogi Berra

NBA teams are given 7 timeouts per half plus a 20-second timeout.  They are allowed a maximum of 4 full timeouts in the 4th quarter.  That means that if you want to use all your timeouts you have to use at least 3 of them in the 3rd quarter.  Joe didn't call our first timeout until there was only 6:28 left in the 3rd and the Heat had gone on a 21-12 run and the score was tied at 78.  But here's the thing:  Each period must have two mandatory timeouts. If neither team has taken a timeout before 6:59 of the period, the Official Scorer will take a mandatory timeout at the next dead ball and charge it to the home team.  The Celtic timeout that was taken at 6:28 was a league mandated timeout because it was the first dead ball, caused by a Jaylen Brown foul, in the quarter by either team with less than 6:59 on the clock.  There was, of course, no reason why Spo would call a time out, his team was on a substantial run that eliminated our 9 point half time lead in less than half a quarter.  So this timeout at 6:28 wasn't called by Joe to stop the run, it was called by the Official Scorer.  Joe couldn't figure out that he should call a timeout to settle his team down.  This was, by the way, the last Celtic timeout in the 3rd quarter.  We gave up 46 points in that quarter and Joe didn't call a single timeout himself.  Our rookie head coach needed the NBA to call a timeout for him.  In the 4th quarter, starting off down 12 (103-91), Joe called 2 timeouts, one with 3:19 left and the score 114-109; and the second with 27.1 seconds left and we're down 8 @ 122-114.  The first timeout of the 4th makes sense.  We were down only 5 points and there was still time to set your defense, call some good plays and claw our way back.  The final timeout was valueless. Down 3 possessions with :27 left the game at that point was already over.  In 24 minutes of play Joe called 2 timeouts, both in the 4th quarter, and had the NBA do his job for him in the 3rd.  That's 3 timeouts used by/charged to the Celtics in the 2nd half out of 7+ available.  Spo conducted a coaching master class in how to control momentum and flow, and our head coach got schooled.  Someone tell me I'm wrong.

After Game 7 against the Sixers Joe said he was going home, having a glass of wine and watching some film of Miami.  Try it again Joe but this time leave out the wine, ok?

Miami with 6 players in double digit scoring.  We had 6 too.  My point is that the Miami Heat isn't the 2-headed Atlanta Hawks or the 3-headed Philadelphia Sixers (giving Tyrese Maxey some credit here).  Miami started off with Bam playing point center.   We played like we never thought of that.  Bam was getting all the way to the frito line, and closer, before our defender picked him up and a lot of the time it was one of the Js.  I don't know where RWill and Al were, but they weren't stopping Bam early.

We shot 52% for the game, so our offense was fine.  They shot 54% overall and almost 52% from 3.  That's lack of perimeter defense by us.  They had 6 more 3pt fgm than us, that's 18 points right there, and a lot of them were Heat players just walking into them because our defenders were on their heels in the paint.

The Js with 10 of our 15 turnovers, Jaylen with 6.  Jaylen has said he wants to have the ball more, to be the creator more.  Not with handles like that.  Jaylen has improved a part of his game every off-season.  We all know which part he needs to work on this offseason.  Shooting-wise the Js were a combined 19-39, so that was fine, BUT Tatum took ZERO fgas in the 4th quarter and turned the ball over 3 times.  Brown was 3-7 in the 4th with 2 turnovers.  Our All-Stars, our All-NBA players, were a combined 3-7 for 12 points, 0-4 from 3, 2 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 turnovers in the 4th quarter.  We're not going to win many games when both of them stink up the final frame like that.  7 fgas, combined?!

Miami with 12 steals vs 6 for us.  Steals are just live turnovers and result in a higher % of conversions into points.  Jimmy freaking Butler had 6.  His energy level was off the charts.

This guy's attitude is a bit tiring (and I find his voice grating) but it is a film about defensive lapses and not about defensive superlatives.  This is painful to watch but he makes some good points.  It's educational.  If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.




Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
about 40 minutes ago
Jimmy Butler on Marcus Smart after Game 1: "I think they will watch film and see that they probably have to utilize him more. I would.”

Smart with 13 points on 3-7, 11 assists and only 2 turnovers.  2 steals.  The problem is that Marcus had 10 assists in the first half and only 1 in the second.  10 points in the 2nd half, so he wasn't just standing around, but only 1 assist.  In fact, we only had 7 assists in the entire 2nd half.

Tale of the 3rd quarter:  We shot 9-20 (45%, not bad, but not enough fgas) and 3-9 from 3 in the 3rd quarter.  The Heat were 17-26 (65%) and 6-9 (67%) in the 3rd.  Six more fgas and double our 3pt fg% on the same number of 3pt fgas.  Our 2pt fg% was 6-11, not bad.  Their 2pt fg% was 11-17 (64.7%).  Maybe you can hope their 3pt shooting cools off in the 4th and yours improves (it didn't, we shot 2-8 from 3 in the 4th), but how can you not call a timeout when the Heat are absolutely cooking you from 2?

4 of Miami's 12 steals came in the 4th.  Remember, those live turnovers known as steals are in addition to the 3 official turnovers in the 4th.  That's 7 4th quarter changes of possession in their favor that have nothing to do with missed fgas.  For our part we had 1 steal and they had 2 turnovers.  So, net, they had 4 more possessions in the critical 4th quarter off of our lack of focus and execution as well as their higher defensive energy.  


I don't understand the Payton substitutions over Grant either, but if I have a beef with Pritchard's game it was that he didn't shoot enough.  I thought his defense was good, really good energy and effort on Butler and Lowry, but he only took 2 fgas in 12 minutes.  That still doesn't explain the Grant Coaches-DNP.  Joe had a couple of "wtf Joe?!!!" moments.

Okay, okay, time to settle down a bit.  We've been here before.  We lost game 1 against the Sixers.  If "you are your record" then the Sixers are a better team than the Heat, and we beat Philly in 7 despite losing game 1.  Our regular season away record is 25-16 (.609) and Miami's was 17-24 (.415).  So they won one on the road.  If the past is prologue I am confident we can win home court back in South Beach.

I just hope this team doesn't give me a coronary before then.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401547671


Bob


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This team is just baffling. I really thought they would put the hammer down in Game 1, but once again they played half a game. I know you can't panic, this is their MO, but its not good to do this in the playoffs. The Heat were also scorching hot. First Lowry, then Struss, then Martin all hitting threes. Our execution down the stretch was horrible. We stopped them at least 3 straight possessions down 5 and proceeded to botched each opportunity. Tatum could not get the ball in the right spot and sometimes didn't even get a touch. I know the Heat play good d, but this is on us for not spacing the floor right.

Why did Marcus sit from the middle of the third quarter to the middle of the 4th quarter? I saw him go to the locker room at one point. Was he hurt? He looked fine when he returned. He was quarterbacking the team beautifully. Why sit him for 12 straight minutes?? I don't want to start blaming Joe again, but how can you sit your most effective player for that long? I didn't mind him giving PP a shot. He is capable of giving us a boost, but it didn't work out. The other thing that is baffling is why did Butler continue to get favorable matchups after every switch? Every time I looked he was one on one with Horford, Rob or PP. Do we have to switch everything?

We will see if we can come out Friday and play a full game. We let them take homecourt. If this is truly a championship team its time to show it.

A couple of things popped out.

It seemed like Marcus was not running our offense in the 2nd half.  He was great in the first half. I like him running our offense more than any other player on the team.

JT did not get enough looks in the 2nd half and when they finally got him the ball late, he fumbled away his opportunities. The 10 combined TOV by our All  NBAers was horrible.

I am afraid that CJ is still allergic to calling timeouts to change the momentum of a game and to call specific plays for guys.  

While it was nice to see PP get some run he is too small to switch and Butler took advantage of him. Maybe if you feel the need to play PP, you change up the defense and play a zone.

The offense was not great but we still managed to score 116 points.  Therefore, the 7 point deficit can be traced to piss poor defense which was characterized by not closing out to shooters on the perimeter.

It is what it is.  A loss on Friday by the Celtics would pretty much turn this voyage into a shipwreck.

dboss wrote:A couple of things popped out.

It seemed like Marcus was not running our offense in the 2nd half.  He was great in the first half.  I like him running our offense more than any other player on the team.  

JT did not get enough looks in the 2nd half and when they finally got him the ball late, he fumbled away his opportunities. The 10 combined TOV by our All  NBAers was horrible.

I am afraid that CJ is still allergic to calling timeouts to change the momentum of a game and to call specific plays for guys.  

While it was nice to see PP get some run he is too small to switch and Butler took advantage of him. Maybe if you feel the need to play PP, you change up the defense and play a zone.

The offense was not great but we still managed to score 116 points.  Therefore, the 7 point deficit can be traced to piss poor defense which was characterized by not closing out to shooters on the perimeter.

It is what it is.  A loss on Friday by the Celtics would pretty much turn this voyage into a shipwreck.

Come on man!! When I see a successful basket off a ATO it will be the first time!!

I think we still win this series-unless we lose the next game too.
Why not try Grant Williams on Butler? At least Grant knows how to move his feet even though he gives up a lot of height. Butler isn't going to be able to bull Williams around like he did Jaylen and Brogden. Of course they will try to switch Grant off him so that will need a solution too.

Celtics17 wrote:This team is just baffling. I really thought they would put the hammer down in Game 1, but once again they played half a game. I know you can't panic, this is their MO, but its not good to do this in the playoffs. The Heat were also scorching hot. First Lowry, then Struss, then Martin all hitting threes. Our execution down the stretch was horrible. We stopped them at least 3 straight possessions down 5 and proceeded to botched each opportunity. Tatum could not get the ball in the right spot and sometimes didn't even get a touch. I know the Heat play good d, but this is on us for not spacing the floor right.

Why did Marcus sit from the middle of the third quarter to the middle of the 4th quarter? I saw him go to the locker room at one point. Was he hurt? He looked fine when he returned. He was quarterbacking the team beautifully. Why sit him for 12 straight minutes?? I don't want to start blaming Joe again, but how can you sit your most effective player for that long? I didn't mind him giving PP a shot. He is capable of giving us a boost, but it didn't work out. The other thing that is baffling is why did Butler continue to get favorable matchups after every switch? Every time I looked he was one on one with Horford, Rob or PP. Do we have to switch everything?

We will see if we can come out Friday and play a full game. We let them take homecourt. If this is truly a championship team its time to show it.

Miller said that it looked like Smart hurt his ankle.

Jaylen Brown: Celtics Played Game 1 Like Regular Season Game





Bob
MY NOTE: No excuses for this. No excuse for not recognizing the playoffs are different, no excuse for not being locked and energized. It's one thing to miss your shots, shots that you should feel comfortable taking, it's a whole other thing to play like it's a regular season game. That's the downside of the Brad Stevens "steady as she goes" mentality. In the playoffs every game should be played like we're a pack of meth-crazed wolverines with a terrible attitude.


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Pumpsie Green wrote:I think we still win this series-unless we lose the next game too.
Why not try Grant Williams on Butler? At least Grant knows how to move his feet even though he gives up a lot of height. Butler isn't going to be able to bull Williams around like he did Jaylen and Brogden. Of course they will try to switch Grant off him so that will need a solution too.

Pumpsie

This team has to be standing on a ledge before they respond to the possibility of losing.   Knowing that you have another game to play is not motivation for this team.  It looks more like a crutch to me.

They climbed up to that ledge in game one and now they need to climb down in game two.

There is an above the neck issue with this team.   After every loss all the players pretty much say the same things but they can never explain, for example, why they did not play with energy and intensity while they point to those things as the reason for losing.

Joe Mazzulla:  "The Celtics lost their sense of urgency."

And you did what to remind them of that, Joe? He doesn't realize he just indicted himself.





Bob


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Post Game Pouting

This evening began with some not so good news.
The Melbourne Beach Gnats tore my a$$ up and Doc (not Glenn) said, “Stay away from the pool until you’re healed.
No water unless you’re drinking it or washing up.”
i.e: stay out of the pool fool.

So the night began with me and my bad attitude.

Hey but my C’s oughta make me feel
much better come fo midnight!!

Nope! Instead….

It was a night of frustration and aggravation.

It was a night we all want to forget
It was also the night of….Drum Roll Please….

“The Peyton Pritchard Experiment”
-Out of nowhere In walks the out of rotation diminutive Bob Cousy award winning point guard.
Pardon the Pun but what was the point? (He did touch the ball twice in 12 minutes. Yay that.)

What’s Joe got up his sleeve???
Just a left arm. Nothing else to see here.

No Grant again? What’s up wit dat?
The Heat are grinders and I would think Grant could help us out there. Why is he sitting on the bench disguised as an assistant coach?

-What’s Joe got up his other sleeve?
His right arm. Nothing else to see here either.

-I don’t want to dwell too much on the coaching but
Tonight Spo put Joe in a blender.

-We are a different team when Rob is out there.
He was kicking Butt in that first half.
Where was he in the second half?
Back in the locker room folding towels?

Yeah Joey got out coached but we have better talent. By far.
Coach Spo is great but he’s not a genius unless we make him look like one.  
Tonight we did.


‘Joetables’-

“We won 3 quarters”.
         
“I called 2 time outs in the first quarter”

(other than tv time out - none in that 3rd)

“We played harder than them in the first half. We were prepared.  It’s was just that 3rd quarter. We were prepared we just let go of the rope”.

Gary Washburn: “Why did they let go of the rope?”

Joe: “I don’t know. Good question but we did play hard in the first half”.

Cue Twilight Zone theme

Rod Serling:

“Imagine if you will. You, your wife and the kids are passengers flying on a 747 on your way to Miami.
You get halfway there and the Jet suddenly falls out of the sky and hits the ground.

-FAA later retrieves the black box and hears the
Co-pilot saying-

“What’s going on? We’re losing altitude. We goin’ down!”

Captain:

“I don’t know thats a good question. We’re halfway there and Its been smooth sailing up until now.
Black box suddenly goes silent.

I know. Way too morbid. I gotta do better.



Noticeable’s:

-Joey had a tantrum and threw his clipboard .
That oughta get ‘em fired up!!!
It didn’t.

-Okay enough about Joe. He’s in school and still learning so we can expect mistakes to be made.
However, WE do have Star Players. Help coach and your teammate’s out. Take over! Isn’t that what Jimmy Butler is doing?

-I’m also not going to bother to post any player post game comments.
It’s always “WE” gotta do this or that. Who may I ask is “We”?
At this stage I don’t care to hear it. You’re the best team now prove it.
Just get it done.

Unsolicited advice here:

-We are better. But we better want it just as bad if not more than Butler.
Dude is serious about taking care of business.
If our stars aren’t feeling like that then whoa is we.
Butler is not invincible. We may not be able to stop him but we certainly can slow him down.
We cannot play like we played last night and expect to beat The Heat.

-Statistically The Heat have one of the worst offensive rating in the league.
Instead of scratching and clawing to get to 110. They put up 123.
Over 1/3 of those points came in that dreaded 3rd. 46 friggin’ points?

-Smart was phenomenal running point in the first half.
Second half, Jaylen began bringing the ball up. Not so Phenomenal.

Jaylen appeared to hurt his hand  when he tumbled to the ground.
Later in the huddle Jaylen’s hand appeared to be bleeding out.



Post Game Pettiness:

-Again, Joe getting defensive and combative with media. Let it go Joe. (LIGJ) I promise you, you will never win that war.

-Reggie Miller- Stop front running and stop gushing. We can actually hear you drooling on the Mic.
Also, nobody cares that you palms were sweaty.  

-Okay I said I wasn’t going to bring up any of our players post game quotes but I must file this in my petty folder. I wont say his name just the quote.

“We came out too cool in the second half”

Look I know global warming is real but this is the first time I heard that Heat can cool you off.  
‘Ba- Dum-bum-CHING’

Ktron I like the Twilight Zone reference. Every team goes through ups and downs, but the Celtics bring it to another maddening level. I have no explanation how their variance from game to game or quarter to quarter is so high???

cowens/oldschool wrote:

dboss wrote:A couple of things popped out.

It seemed like Marcus was not running our offense in the 2nd half.  He was great in the first half.  I like him running our offense more than any other player on the team.  

JT did not get enough looks in the 2nd half and when they finally got him the ball late, he fumbled away his opportunities. The 10 combined TOV by our All  NBAers was horrible.

I am afraid that CJ is still allergic to calling timeouts to change the momentum of a game and to call specific plays for guys.  

While it was nice to see PP get some run he is too small to switch and Butler took advantage of him. Maybe if you feel the need to play PP, you change up the defense and play a zone.

The offense was not great but we still managed to score 116 points.  Therefore, the 7 point deficit can be traced to piss poor defense which was characterized by not closing out to shooters on the perimeter.

It is what it is.  A loss on Friday by the Celtics would pretty much turn this voyage into a shipwreck.

Come on man!! When I see a successful basket off a ATO it will be the first time!!

True. No positive correlation whatsoever between ATO plays and made baskets. We've been through this before.

Here's a random link to one of many, many studies found online on the subject. It's an older one from 2020 but was at the top of the list: https://towardsdatascience.com/analysis-of-after-timeout-plays-in-nba-f69952f74779

Odds of scoring on these is less than 50/50 by most well thought out accounts I can find, and by the 'eye-test' or recall many of us non-stat heads rely on.

I can see being critical of a coach for not using TOs if the team is fatigued. I've seen Mazzulla let them run when it looks like they're dragging, so that might be a fair criticism. Maybe too, if a player like Marcus is hobbled like he was last night, and you don't want to take him out again, a TO might be in order. But if you're looking for points, there is an equal argument for just letting 'em run.

bobc33 wrote:Ktron I like the Twilight Zone reference.  Every team goes through ups and downs, but the Celtics bring it to another maddening level.  I have no explanation how their variance from game to game or quarter to quarter is so high???

A real Dr. Celtic and Mr. Hyde situation, no doubt.

Ktron seems to be perfecting his post-game comments to the point we can book him back into one of his radio gigs. Would have to be better than a lot of what's out there now. We just have to keep him out of the deep end of the pool after certain losses.

That avatar with the dish of canolli is downright dangerous! Sweeter than Cowens' old Megan Fox or Matty's Cheryl Tiegs (although in a different way and I'm going no further with this...)

We can win the muck up games like we did against the Sixers, we can’t do that against this team. This team is so well coached, you can marvel at so many things they do right and imagine if we could ever be you know a cohesive disciplined unit that sticks to the same system all the time. Our defense won game 6 vs Philly, until Tatum got hot. RWill was the right call. Tatum was in another world in game 7, other than that I didn’t see any great strategy that Joe did that improved the team. Did you see anything other than Rob making huge impact until Tatum got hot and Tatum wearing his Superman cape game 7 that Joe did?

We had one hellacious bad 3rd quarter that blew the game, but I thought we did alot of careless things before that, that let a 13 point lead evaporate to 7 before halftime. That rush by them continued in the 3rd and other than being mad, Joe came up with nothing to stop the onslaught. They were getting wide open looks from 3, perimeter defense was recently one of our strengths. Bob correctly pointed out no one was impeding Bam bringing the ball all the way up the court right into the paint. I’d say we are extremely slow on in game adjustments. Guys Friday nights game is a must win, we lose that game I don’t see how this talented inconsistent bunch of underachievers can come back from that. We have 2 nuclear players, but there is a mental fortitude/discipline I’m consistently not seeing enough of from our 2 best players. I see that all the time from Playoff Jimmy….

First, I will start with the fact that I am not emotionally tied to this team for the last several years.

I have been disappointment in the past going back 3-5 years by either the lack of maturity due to young age and inexperience of Tatum and Brown, or management not being able to bring supporting talent to the bench.

I understand that back when, but the last several years it was either the lack of playing lock down defense or ISO ME BALL until Smart got into the grill of several players and IME laying down the law that he wants hard nose defense played, that the players responded.

I am now in a wait and see if they, the Celtics respond - mode. The Celtics have no leader who can also inject ugency or fear into players not playing hard! Look at  James, or a Shaq, or our own KG,  they are true leaders and they made their teammates that much better by playing harder.  You listened and you followed orders!

I was solidly involved with being involved with the team beginning with the 2008 team through 2013. Why?   Because KG was there and he set the culture for the Celtics! He was half animal, half crazed person who only wanted 100% commitment by all team members to win period! And win begining on KG's clock not others clock!  That is why I invested emotionally because I knew I would get a fair effort and I would see results!

If the Celtics do win the NBA Champioship which I hope they do, I hope a leader emerges to get other players to follow in his footsteps to win the champioship.

Let us hope one emerges sooner rather than later!

112288

NY Celt

I actually remember Brad being very good on designing plays ATO for a few seasons. The commentators would give him his props on the design and execution of the play and more often than not, it worked according to my eye test.

OK. In the continuing theme this team is insistently pushing forward, I'm going to go with us going down 0-2 tonight. That should get EVERYONE sufficiently squirming. Then call your bookie and ask for the odds on Celtics coming back from down 0-3. If it is over 10,000:1, place $10 on it. The same amount you place on the national lottery. These odds are significantly better.

db