Post Game - Celtics vs. Miami Heat - Monday, April 29, 2024 - Game 4 Eastern Quarterfinals (W 3-1)

1st half was Derrick White and 4 guys he found at the playground vs the Miami Heat.

Fingers crossed on Porzingis' apparent calf injury. Hopefully minor and maybe worth his sitting out game 5.

Hi,
It wasn't total domination and our defense was porous at times. Both teams came to a conclusion that if the Celtics play even a decent, regular season level basketball or all 5 starters are injured, MIA just doesn't have a chance. Doesn't have personnel to compete.
I hope they bring this realization to Wednesday game.

AK

D White was just fantastic. He won this game for us. The guy just does it all, without any fanfare.

The J's were average at best last night, need them to step up tomorrow night.

Obviously, the big thing in this game is Zinger's injury. We have managed him all year yet he still got hurt. I'm hoping it's just a calf strain and he can come back soon. We have to close Miami out tomorrow and then I think maybe we can get by the next round without KP. After that we will need him. Luke and Tillman have to step up, also Queta maybe given a shot. These guys have played and got key time all year. I think they can hold the fort. In fact, I think Tillman could give Bam some problems. He is strong and moves his feet well.

You know you're a good team when your #4 scoring option drops 38 on a playoff team, you win by 14 and it wasn't even that close, and you're not getting exceptional games from #1-#3.  I like Jrue but I've made my opinion clear, if I had to choose between Jrue and Derrick I'd take Derrick because he can do stuff like this.  I just hope there's enough money left in Wyc's vault to pay the man.  We took 37 3s, Derrick took 15 of them and hit 8.  A career high 38 points for underappreciated (not on this board, but by the league) Derrick White.

Chris Forsberg @ChrisForsberg_
about 2 hours ago
Derrick White might have been even more of a menace on defense than he was scoring a career-high 38 points. NBA tracking on White’s defense vs Miami players in Game 4: 3-14 FG (21.4 FG%) 0-5 3PT (0 3PT%) 3 deflections 6 turnovers forced

Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 6 hours ago
NBA PLAYOFF HISTORY 8 3's 3 Blocks Vince Carter, 2001 Damian Lillard, 2021 Klay Thompson, 2022 DERRICK WHTE, Monday End of list.


Jaylen was 2-9 at the half and ended up 7-18.  Still not great but that's a 5-9 2nd half run and that broke their backs.  Just when they thought they figured Derrick out Jaylen started dominating.  He was 5-12 after 3, so a 3-3 3rd quarter.  6 turnovers though.  He forced things a bit much.  He wanted to bully Herro and Highsmith to the point where he made some bad decisions.

Our bench had 9 points, total.  7 by Al and 2 by Luke.  Sam and Payton were a combined 0-6.

Herro with 5 turnovers.  Easy scorer, not a particularly high BBIQ.  Jaylen makes dumb plays too, but he has the ball in his hands more than Herro and Joe expects Jaylen to run plays.  Herro's job is to score, not floor general. And his job sure as Hell isn't playing defense. If it is he's awful.

Bam was still arguing with the refs about that T and foul after the game was over.  C'mon.  You lost by 14, those points aren't the reason.  A great game by Bam.  A great example of how an undersized center who is a mediocre 3pt shooter (and who only took 42, hitting 15, all season) can still be an All-Star in this arc-happy NBA. HAVING SAID ALL THAT, the flagrant foul he committed on Tatum was bush league. The whistle was blown on a foul by another Heat player on, I think, Derrick. Tatum took a practice shot and Bam put his foot under Tatum's landing spot. I don't expect the league to suspend Bam, I think they'll deem the Flagrant 1 to be adequate and appropriate, but that was bush league.



Cameron Tabatabaie
@CTabatabaie
From Jan 1st through the end of the season, Miami had the No. 2 defensive rating in the entire NBA. Boston ranked 4th

New York, Orlando, and Cleveland all ranked in the Top 10




The obvious concern this morning is the injury to Porzingis. He left the locker room in a walking boot. It might just be cautionary, but still not good. While the extent of the injury is not yet known they did a test in Miami on his Achilles and it was fine. It looks like some kind of calf strain. Having said that I


The Heat are a very well-coached team. Their transition defense in particular, all series, has been excellent. It has been very tough to run on them but in the 2nd half last night they fell apart a bit. We started running on them, they got caught watching the ball a couple of times, and we croaked them. Derrick got two dunks off of cuts to the hoop and a pass from Al. Same play, two possessions in a row. That's evidence, to me, of fatigue. Mental, physical, it doesn't matter. Their brains were slowing down.


Tomek Kordylewski
@Timi_093
Al Horford got a technical for that. These refs, man.

Shout-out to Al Horford!
https://twitter.com/i/status/1785123724733063492











Giving some credit where credit is being awarded:

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Derrick White on his confidence: "It starts with Joe. Ever since he took over, he’s given me the most confidence…It’s amazing to play for him and I love it."


What I said earlier about resigning Derrick? This statement fills me with hope it'll get done. Derrick wants to play for Joe.


I just read that Jaime Jaquez is injured and "day-to-day". If he's gone, they're even more done than they appear. Let's close these bums out on Wednesday. If we can do that, and if Cleveland/Orlando goes 7, Z can get 10 days of rest.


Bob


.

Remember...There are NO bad wins. Keep that in mind if you read through my comments.

The Celtics swept their 2 game visit to Miami!   Now the Heat are on the brink as they head into the closeout portion of this series.

The Celtics pretty much controlled this game from the jump and if not for a pair of subpar performances from the Jays, we probably win by 20-25 points.

Our unsung hero, Derrick White, was flat out phenomenal.  

The Celtics offense really has not been good in this series.  Our defense has been good and is the main reason why we are sitting on the good end of a 3-1 series record. The Celtics two main bench scorers SH and PP each added a bagel last night.    PP has had 2 scoreless games in this series..

You may recall that I had 2 questions for the Celtics going into the playoffs.  They were:  How will an inexperience playoff performer in KP show up and can we get consistent production off the bench from SH and PP.

KP had 2 good games and one bad game and was on his way to another tough game last night before he got hurt (1-5) from the field.

SH and PP averaged 18.6 PPG off the bench during the regular season .   In 4 playoff games they are only averaging 16.3 MPG and 9.6 PPG.  SH in particular has seen his minutes cut.  Basically their offensive production is cut in half which explains why the high scoring Celtics have turned into an average offensive team.  

The Celtics are not getting the ball to them in this series and CJ has exhibited a quick trigger in taking Sam out of the game.  With all the GD hoopla about how deep our bench is, CJ has been more than content with playing only 8 players and has shortened minutes for Sam.

Now we have hit a decisive point in time with the unfortunate but predictable Porzingis injury.  Calf injuries are of serious consequence.  The bad news is that the Celtics are going to have to win without him.  He has missed more games than any other player on he Celtics this year.  The Celtics managed those injuries and never rushed him back.    Until the MRI results come out we will not know the extend of the calf strain.

So now CJ will be forced to expand his rotation by utilizing the center depth on this team.

Brad Stevens is no idiot.  He converted Queta's 2-way contract to a regular contract.  He could have added another wing player but choose to add another center.  KP came to the Celtics with a history of injuries to his legs.  Ankle, heel, Knee, quad etc. etc.  https://www.foxsports.com/nba/kristaps-porzingis-player-injuries  Brad may have been influenced by the KP situation when deciding on Queta.

The silver lining in all of this is the fact that Boston can still win without him.  It will not be easy but it is not impossible.

KP has missed 25 games during the regular season.  The Celtics went 21-4 in those games or a .840 winning percentage.  Their record with him was 43-14 with a win rate of .754.    25 games is a fairly relevant sample size and that gives me hope that we will be able to get the job done.

Now it is up to CJ to determine which of our BU centers will be best against the competition.  Tillman is really an undersized center but he is stout and brings a physical presence to the floor and now and then he may knock down an outside shot.     Kornet has the most game experience and can use his length as a legit center and he is decent setting screens up top and in dribble handoff situations.  He is also a good free throw shooter and  lob threat.   Queta is a combination of Tillman and Kornet.  He has the strength in the post to hold his position like Tillman and the size and length to defend the rim and rebound the basketball.  He is also a lob threat, a good screen setter and a willing passer.

In sum, the Celtics have significant center options that can be deployed against any team remaining in the playoffs.

The Celtics will not have the deep threat offense without KP but they still have AH and just maybe they get SH and PP more scoring options.

The Celtics first objective is to close out this series tomorrow.  Everybody needs to step to the plate....everybody.

One more thing on the KP injury. He turned an ankle earlier in the game. That may have contributed to his calf injury because he may have been favoring the ankle.

It is funny, I commented on Game On when I thought KP was limping two plays at least before he finally pulled up with the calf injury. You are right, he could have been trying to compensate for that first injury. you could tell he was so disappointed that he had to leave the game when walking off the court. Here is hoping it is just a game and maybe some rest for a couple of days while Cleveland and Orlando beat up on each other!!

RosalieTCeltics wrote:It is funny, I commented on Game On when I thought KP was limping two plays at least before he finally pulled up with the calf injury. You are right, he could have been trying to compensate for that first injury.  you could tell he was so disappointed that he had to leave the game when walking off the court.  Here is hoping it is just a game and maybe some rest for a couple of days while  Cleveland and Orlando beat up on each other!!

You are right.  The Cavs and Magic have to play at least 2 more and the series could go 7.  Extra games means more dead time for KP to get back.