Post Game Thread Celtics@ Orlando

[dboss]

Nice road win to keep the momentum moving.

dboss

[k_j_88]

It was their most complete game so far. They actually were hitting shots down the stretch and grabbing rebounds instead of making persistent turnovers.

They gave up 89 points, which is very good. Their defense looks to be pretty stout despite the personnel changes. Perhaps Stevens did bring that defensive intensity.



KJ

[dboss]

By the numbers

The Celts beat the Magic 91-89

The most significant stat other than the final score is FA.  The Celtics put up 95 shots and that is an outstanding number.  

The Celtics also collected 19 offensive rebounds which is one reason for the 95-83 shot attempts difference.

Both team were running 17 fastbreak points for Boston and 20 for the magic.  Assists were even at 19 a piece.

The Celtics also had 6 players in double figures which reflect a very balanced shot distribution.

Some highlights were:

Little Avery Bradley leading the team with 8 rebounds and 3 steals.

Jeff Green with three monster dunks ( two of them left handed)

KO finally making a jump shot (when we needed it the most)

Humphries making a cameo 1 minute appearance in a I'm still here moment.

Deep rotations where 10 guys played plus the Hump.

A strong defensive effort

My observations:

Coach Stevens is starting to get a feel for how to coach this team.  

Brandon Bass has become their best all around player at both ends.  Do we really want to trade this guy?

KO is not a very good jump shooter and definitely not a 3 pt. threat.  I mentioned in another post that he only took 1.9 shots per game in college and you can see that there is no fluidity in his shot.  Kelly is a guy that understands angles and openings in the defense and knows how to make cuts to the basket for layups but he continues to miss a ton of open looks and has yet to make a three pointer.  He is not a Stretch 4.  He also needs to secure rebounds rather than play tipsy.  Too many tip rebound attempts.  Grab the ball with both hands and make a play please.  He will be just fine once he understands how to contribute.

The Celts only had 11 turnover which is outstanding. Crawford ran the offense as needed, made few mistakes but the Celtics have yet to figure out how to get Jeff Green the ball.  Jeff took 14 shots but some of them were not in rhythm.  When Rondo returns this team could get really good.

The night was filled with contributions from everyone.  It was an excellent team win.

Overall there is little to dislike.

dboss

[bobheckler]

A two-game winning streak!  Woohoo!

Despite a horrendous fg%, 36%, we won this with sustained defense and being just plain scrappy.  If there's one common theme that has been seen in just about every game is that we just don't give up.  Our execution is weak in the 4th, our shots haven't been dropping that much (especially Kelly's) but we just won't cooperate and go away.  This time, it paid off.

On the "Comments from the Other Side - Jazz" thread, one of the posters said "It gets annoying when the only thing our commentators talk about is good fouls against us and how good the other team is".  Well, last night Magic color commentator and former NBA player Jeff Turner, went on and on all night about how great our defense was all game and how there was a lid on the basket for them".

1.  Another common theme seems to be that we go into a hole starting the game because Vitor's man absolutely tortures him.  Last night was Vucevic, who is turning into a very good NBA center after being stuck behind Hawes in Philly.  Vucevic had 8 or 10 of the Magic's first 15 points with 3 baskets coming right at the rim and only one from outside the paint.  In his previous game, Vucevic had 30 points and 20 rebounds, so he's no stiff, but the game before this one he was lit up right from the tip-off by Enes Kanter.  The game before that, Marc Gasol.  The game before that, Andre Drummond.  Yes, he had a very good game against Larry Sanders and the Bucks and wasn't too bad in the season opener against Valanciunas, but he's getting his head handed to him regularly now.  He isn't stopping these players from setting up in the blocks.  He's playing behind them, strictly, and not doing a half or 3/4 front to challenge the inbound pass.  Then, they're bouncing him back a foot or two for the easy shot.  By the time we're halfway through the 1st quarter, we're down 7-11 points and have to claw back.  How does that happen?  Vitor gets benched.  Vitor's playing hard, he wants to succeed, but he really, really needs a big man coach to take him to the next level because all the veteran bigs we have on this team  that could mentor him aren't centers.  On the bright side, I finally got to see Vitor set, and hold, a real honest-to-God physical pick last night.

2.  One of the frustrating things about watching young players and rookies is the mistakes they make.  Charles Barkley had it right, mostly, when he said rookies were like deers "they run like deer, jump like deer and think like deer".  The nice things about watching these players, though, is seeing the lightbulb come on when they realize what works.  That happened with Bradley when he suddenly realized that nobody was paying attention to him and that he could use that to cut baseline and backdoor them.  It's starting to happen now with Kelly Olynyk.  His shot still isn't dropping, although he did sink a very, very clutch 12' baseliner over Vucevic to pull out this win, but he's seeing other things work for him.  Specifically, he's attacking the offensive boards on almost every possession.  Between him and Sully, they are really screwing up the other team's fast break rhythm.  His boxscore last night is deceiving.  He is given credit for 6 rebounds, 4 of them offensive, but those were multiple tips of offensive boards at the rim.  So, he's given credit for an offensive rebound when he never actually grabbed the ball, so they are stat stuffers.  He also was credited as being 4-13 from the field.  Some of those misses were the missed tips, so his shooting wasn't as bad as that stat looks.  He's being very disruptive though.  His offensive board attacks are working very well.  It's nice to see him realize that this works for him.  Now, we just need his shot to start dropping.  It'll come, it's not like he's Rondo, who was a bad shooter and had to basically learn how to shoot.  Kelly knows how to shoot, he just needs to relax and stop short-arming them (no alligator arm pun intended).

3.  Bradley set the tone last night by blocking Afflalo's first shot.  Afflalo ended up the high scorer with 23 on 8-15, but they didn't come easily.  Bradley also completely discombobulated Victor Oladipo (who is, I predict, going to be a VERY good player).  Oladipo has got that nice change of pace game that rookies usually need a couple of years to get, but last night he was 3-12 and that was because Bradley hounded him like The Furies.  Jeff Turner made a big point about how Bradley's steal off of Oladipo in the 4th quarter hurt really bad because it set Oladipo back.  Another common theme seems to be that Bradley comes out for the game shooting like crazy, missing most, but then settling down and doing most of his damage in the 2nd half.  Maybe he should let the offense flow from others in the beginning.  Nevertheless, an excellent night for the Pit Bulls.

4.  That would include Courtney Lee.  He had an excellent, excellent first half with 11 points on 4-5, 3 rebounds, 1 block and 2 steals in the first half.  He rang up some fouls on Oladipo.  Very aggressive game by Lee on both the offensive and defensive ends.  He might have been confused what his role was in previous games, but he's figuring it out now, as they all are.

5.  We had 95fgas this game.  95!  Man, that is just beautiful pace!  Stevens needs to bottle that.  Pressey plays uptempo and Wallace always brings the ball up on the trot (I have NEVER seen him walk it up).  We shot an execrable 36% for the game.  You can get away with that, obviously, if you get 95fgas.  This is a stat that stat-monger Brad Stevens should fasten onto like velcro on a Depend diaper and hammer it home to the troops.

6.  Phil Pressey made his first truly bad decision last night.  The rap on him at Missouri was that he'll keep you in the game for 35 minutes and then lose if for you in the last 5 minutes because he'll try to do it all himself.  That's what happened last night.  He had a fast break going (Yeah, Phil!  Uptempo!) and had Courtney Lee actually waiting down court for Phil to catch up (Lee had to step out of the lane so he wouldn't get a 3 second violation, that's how ready he was) but instead of drawing the defense and dumping it off to Lee for the easy 2, he tried to do it himself and we ended up with no points and a turnover.  Well, ok, this was his first bad decision.  Overall, I'm still liking Phil Pressey on point.  His shot isn't dropping, but he runs like a bat out of hell, is a complete pest on defense and makes the offense look more coherent when he's running it.

7.  Bass-o-Matic with another 16 point on 6-14 and 7 rebound night.  Ho hum.  No Pass Bass also had an assist and a block.  Say what you will about hhim being undersized for his position, but so was Big Baby and so is Sully.  Hell, even Russ was undersized compared to Wilt and Kareem.  So what?  It's all about what you do with it and Bass is Steady Eddy.  I've long been a fan of his, so I can't say it's a surprise, but it is pleasant.  I sure hope he's not the one who goes when Danny finally fixes the logjam there.

8.  Jeff Green didn't do much but, boy, what he did was spectacular.  Some really athletic stuff.

9.  Wallace didn't have a great stat game, especially scoring, but he was in the middle of almost everything good that happened.  Switching off onto other players' men, bringing the ball up fast, driving Afflalo off the 3pt line on that last shot.  If Wallace wasn't all over Afflalo, forcing him to take a dribble to his left, that would have been a 3 and a tie game.  Overtime.  Instead, Afflalo forgot to make sure his feet were outside the line and it was only 2 and we preserved the 1 point lead.  That was because of Wallace's outstanding defense.  Forget about his contract, he's getting paid whether he plays or sits.  When he plays, though, good things are happening.  Another common theme is that Stevens is platooning a 2nd unit front court of Kelly, Sully and Wallace.  Both of those other two players are playing better and better every game.  Coincidence?  I don't believe in them, not when it happens multiple times.

10.  They shot 40% for the game.  They shot 47% after 1, 43% at the half.  Man, that is stifling defense.  Our offense is awkward and often incoherent, but we have the #2 defense in the NBA, giving up only 92.7ppg, after 6 games.  Only Indy, which is 6-0, is better with a ridiculous 84.3ppg given up.

Here's a stat chart to play with.  Our SOS (which adjusts for difficulty of schedule) has us with the 5th toughest schedule to-date.
http://www.nbastuffer.com/team_stats


Great pace last night.  Great defense last night.  Another night of scrappin'.

Even Crabby Ol' Crash must be pleased.

It's too bad we're playing Miami on the road on the 2nd half of a back-to-back tonight.  It'd be nice to build on this momentum by playing another cupcake. Although, ya neva know what will happen when you're dealing with a bunch of scrappers.


bob


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[bobheckler]

Worcester sent me these pics last night and asked me to post them.  He was at the game, lucky dog.  Check out these seats!

I'm expecting him to stop by later today sometime and provide us with a fuller opinion of what it was like to be there, at the first road victory of Stevens' Celtic career.






















bob



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[bobheckler]

bob



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[bobheckler]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, only 11 turnovers.

HUGE improvement, HUGE.  If they've gotten a handle on that, then they've turned a corner.  Getting turnovers down, on a consistent basis, would be a big, big glimmer.  Not just because we'd win more games, but because it'd be evidence that Stevens' system is taking hold.



bob


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[bobheckler]

ORLANDO, Fla. – Gerald Wallace's game-saving play for the Boston Celtics Friday night fit the rest of a wild fourth quarter – it was unconventional. Arron Afflalo's shot still went in for the Orlando Magic.

But Wallace covered enough ground that he forced Afflalo to up-fake, then dribble once to his left. The extra movement caused both of his feet to edge just barely across the 3-point arc, giving Orlando only two points when they needed a third.

Boston survived, 91-89, after Avery Bradley made one out of two free throws on the ensuing possession. Victor Oladipo missed a half-court heave at the buzzer.

As you can see in the video above, Orlando head coach Jacque Vaughn called a nifty inbounds play. After Afflalo passed the ball in, Jason Maxiell faked like he was setting a pick toward the middle of the court. But upon actually reaching Afflalo, he redirected the screen to send the guard to the corner.

Thankfully for the Celtics, Wallace spotted it all unfolding. He initially established position to help toward the middle of the court, but reacted quickly once he saw Maxiell's pick change direction. Wallace closed out hard on Afflalo, forcing him into the extra dribble that ended up costing Orlando the game.

"If (Afflalo's) feet were a little smaller we would be in better shape," said Magic head coach Jacque Vaughn.

But the outcome wasn't only determined by Afflalo's big feet. It was also determined by Wallace's quick ones.



bob


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[bobheckler]

ORLANDO, Fla. – Gerald Wallace's game-saving play for the Boston Celtics Friday night fit the rest of a wild fourth quarter – it was unconventional. Arron Afflalo's shot still went in for the Orlando Magic.

But Wallace covered enough ground that he forced Afflalo to up-fake, then dribble once to his left. The extra movement caused both of his feet to edge just barely across the 3-point arc, giving Orlando only two points when they needed a third.

Boston survived, 91-89, after Avery Bradley made one out of two free throws on the ensuing possession. Victor Oladipo missed a half-court heave at the buzzer.

As you can see in the video above, Orlando head coach Jacque Vaughn called a nifty inbounds play. After Afflalo passed the ball in, Jason Maxiell faked like he was setting a pick toward the middle of the court. But upon actually reaching Afflalo, he redirected the screen to send the guard to the corner.

Thankfully for the Celtics, Wallace spotted it all unfolding. He initially established position to help toward the middle of the court, but reacted quickly once he saw Maxiell's pick change direction. Wallace closed out hard on Afflalo, forcing him into the extra dribble that ended up costing Orlando the game.

"If (Afflalo's) feet were a little smaller we would be in better shape," said Magic head coach Jacque Vaughn.

But the outcome wasn't only determined by Afflalo's big feet. It was also determined by Wallace's quick ones.



bob


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[cowens/oldschool]

bob thanks for your great reporting, I don't have League Pass yet this year, looks like KO, Sully, AB are all having that light bulb go on, and looks like Bass and Courtney Lee have surprisingly improved alot too, even Mr Herky Jerky contributed last night. Been following Nets, KG's shot is way off and Pierce is under the weather and D Will is not fully healthy yet.

Mike Fratello said on NBA TV that when Rondo comes back, this will be a playoff team, that it has too much talent with Rondo to not make the playoffs....when Rondo comes back we will be deep at every position except center, we have alot of good developing young pieces, we may be a team on the rise plus with all these draft picks. Its early, but like what I'm seeing and reading about.

[dboss]

cow

The Celts were in all the games that they lost. The losses were primarily due to fundamentals.

Turnovers, rebounds and playing too slow. If this team limits turnovers and bangs the glass they will not be an easy out for any team in the league.

When Rondo comes back this offense is going to run smoothly. Crawford will BU Rondo or he could become our designated sniper off the bench

We are still lean at center because we do not have a shot blocker/intimidator. The Celts can make up for this deficiency with quality on the ball defense. I do not know if there is another team in the league that has 2 on the ball defenders as good as Bradley and Wallace. Both Bass and Green and Lee defend well so although we do not have a rim protector the team is still very good on defense.

If we can consistently rebound as a team and not turn the ball over we have a good opportunity to drive a lot of teams crazy.

As you mentioned we have a lot of future picks coming and we also have a very solid core to work with.

I think DA has set the team up for a quick turnaround given the assets in both players and draft picks.

By the way, Wiggins is a phenom but I really like the PF Julian Randle.. Unreal handle for a guy his size http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Julius-Randle-6294/

dboss

[cowens/oldschool]

dboss I also read somewhere that the pick we get next year from the Nets is not the Nets pick, its the pick they got from Atlanta in the Joe Johnson deal, so if this team is as good as it seems it could be with Rondo and the young depth, we could still have a lottery pick as I'm sure Hawks are not making playoffs....great move Danny.

[k_j_88]

I didn't have a problem with the play Pressey made on that one break in question.

He was the first guy up the court and by the time the rest of the team had caught up, the defense had passing lanes cut off. I'm sure he could have pulled up and allowed the offense to set up, but that would have killed the momentum and the defense would've been set up too - Boston has deficiencies in the half court game.

Pressey's first instinct was to attack the rim, and I thought it was the correct play.



KJ

[dboss]

Cow I was wondering about the nets pick.

We could luck up and find ourselves in the lottery. If that happens the Celts will have a definite shot at a quality player.

This will not be a long term retooling project.

Dboss

[Sam]

Anyone up for a new stat?  There are obviously many factors that influence the Celtics' fortunes in games.  Given the number of stats, it is difficult-to-impossible to identify an individual stat that be fairly reliable in correlating with Celtics wins vs. Celtics losses.

Two stats, in particular, have been intriguing me, especially since (1) they both seem to be particularly prominent in influencing the results of Celtics games and (2) one of them (turnovers) tends to have a major effect onthe other (FGA)

For each of the six games to date, I tried dividing Celtics turnovers by Celtics FGA.  The result looks like a percentage but is actually more of an index.  it's sort of like a golf score, the lower the index, the better the Celtics are performing.  Raising FGA can enhance the index; lowering turnovers can enhance the index; and doing both simultaneously can be a dynamic force toward victory.

Here are the index numbers for the Celtics' first six games.  Except for a positive bump in game 2 vs. game 1, the index has regressed (improved) with each successive game:

Game 1: 33.3 (meaning the Celtics had 1/3 as many turnovers as FGA)
Game 2: 22.4
Game 3: 31.1
Game 4: 24.3

Game 5: 15.7
Game 6: 11.6

In particular, the index showed a considerable and positive dip after game 4—and both subsequent game have been wins.  The magnitude of victory wasn't high in either game, and they could conceivably have lost one or both, so there's obviously no guaranteed predictive ability here.  But I believe it's reasonable to assume that, when the index gets under .20, the Celtics can be pretty competitive.

This may seem like I'm uttering an obvious truism.  But one implication that may be a little under the radar is that it doesn't have to be a disaster if turnovers are elevated in a particular game; there's the possibility of increasing the index if the Celtics also have an elevated number of FGA.  Conversely, if they don't exactly challenge the record books in terms of FGA, reducing turnovers can improve the index to a workable level.  The real lesson that I've learned (although others may disagree) is the fallacy of considering only the number of turnovers or only the number of FGA in a vacuum.  I believe they should be considered in relation to one another in order to be be most meaningful.

And I find the indices of their two most recent performances to be very encouraging.  And others have noted some other very positive developments.  Slowly (an understatement) but surely (a hopeful statement), things seem to be becoming a little better in focus for Brad and his players.  One thing I'm noticing is that, although they sometimes lapse into a stagnant halfcourt offense, when they do move without the ball, they're moving to positions of advantage rather than just moving aimlessly.  That, coupled with more predictability in where players can expect their teammates to be, seems to be reducing turnovers—which in turn increases FGAs—as well as increasing the number of assists contributed by all positions.

With something like 8% of the season gone, I'm becoming cautiously optimistic that the team is gradually coming together and, maybe even more important, placing increasing confidence in their ability to come together.

Go Celtics!

Sam

[k_j_88]

Sam,

I liked the index idea.

And I'd agree that turnovers become less important the more possessions and shots the C's are able to have.

They could potentially have 20 TOs but if they put up around 100+ shots, that's still roughly 80% of the time the offense gets an actual shot at the basket.

The more shots you take, the more points you score, inevitably.


KJ



KJ

[cowens/oldschool]

Sam great stat, we have been in every game, things will really be interesting once Rondo gets back. I predict with Rondo Jeff Green will avg over 20 ppg.

[mrkleen09]

Not looking to beat a dead horse - but Jordan Crawford is playing VERY good basketball.

13 points - 5 assists - 3 rebounds and only 2 turnovers. (+11)

Just sayin.....

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