POST GAME - WASHINGTON - HOME

Rapid Reaction: Wizards 106, Celtics 99

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

BOSTON -- Rapid reaction after the Washington Wizards defeated the Boston Celtics 106-99 on Saturday afternoon at TD Garden:

THE NITTY GRITTY
Avery Bradley scored 21 of his team-high 26 points after the intermission, putting on a mid-range clinic while shooting 12-of-18 from the floor overall in a team-high 38 minutes, but couldn't fend off the Washington charge. Jared Sullinger (22 points, 11 rebounds) and Brandon Bass (11 points, 11 rebounds) held a meeting of the double-double club, while Jordan Crawford had 11 points, 8 assists, and 3 rebounds against his former squad. Trevor Ariza scored 19 of his game-high 27 points after the intermission (including 14 in the third quarter) to help the Wizards rally back. Marcin Gortat added 13 points and 11 rebounds, while John Wall kicked in 20 points and 9 assists for Washington.

TURNING POINT
Despite leading by as much as 18 early, the Celtics again let an opponent back into the game. Boston's lead was at 8 with 6:14 to play, but Ariza and Wall paired up to key a 14-1 run and Ariza's fifth 3-pointer of the night had the Wizards out front 98-83 with 2:24 to play (Washington's biggest lead of the night to that point). The Wizards closed out the game on a 22-7 run overall.

LOOSE BALLS
After turning the ball over just three times in the first half, the Celtics gave it away six times in the third quarter. The team finished with a manageable 13 turnovers for 16 points, but that third quarter let Washington back into the game. ... Boston shot 48.3 percent overall, but struggled beyond the 3-point arc (4 of 20, 20 percent). ... Gortat finished a team-best plus-19 for Washington; Wall was plus-16. ... Keith Bogans and MarShon Brooks were healthy DNPs for Boston.

WHAT IT MEANS
The Celtics (12-16) have now lost two straight and are tied with Toronto atop the Atlantic Division. Boston travels to Indiana tonight with the tail end of a back-to-back looming Sunday against the East-leading Pacers (it's also a homecoming for Indianapolis native Brad Stevens). A five-day holiday break is their reward, the first three days of which the Celtics will take completely off from basketball activities. Boston returns to practice on Dec. 26 and hosts the Cleveland Cavaliers next Saturday afternoon at TD Garden.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


CELTICS BLOW ANOTHER HUGE FIRST HALF LEAD, LOSE TO WIZARDS

By Jackson Alexander 
 
When Jeff Green drove to the basket and converted a layup with just over six minutes remaining, it appeared that the Celtics (12-16) were prepared to coast to victory against the visiting Wizards (12-13). Green and Boston led 92-84, and Washington did to earn a lead.

But less than four minutes later a shocked TD Garden watched the Wizards’ Trevor Ariza drill a three-pointer to put Washington ahead by five points, in the team’s 106-99 comeback win against Boston. The Wizards outscored Boston over the final six minutes, 13 seconds.

Ariza led the way with 27 points and knocked down five 3-pointers, while speedy guard John Wall added 20 points.

The Celtics‘ Avery Bradley accounted for a team-high 26 points, and forwards Jared Sullinger (22 points, 11 rebounds) and Brandon Bass (11 points, 11 rebounds) each went for double-doubles.

WHAT WENT WRONG

Closing time: Despite leading almost the entire game, the Celtics were unable to close out Washington due in large part to poor shooting and sloppy handling of the basketball. At the 6:13 mark of the fourth quarter, Boston held a commanding 92-84 lead after a Jeff Green layup. But the C’s promptly missed 10 of their 12 next shots and turned over the ball four times to spark the Wizards’ run to end the game.

Bench blues: For the second straight game, all five Boston starters reached double-digits in points. But, unlike in the Celtics’ recent 107-106 loss the Pistons, the bench did not support the starting cast. Only three C’s came off the bench to score, with Kris Humphries leading the way with eight points. The reserves combined to score 14 points, compared to the 32 in Boston’s last game.

Ariza arrives: With so much attention placed on limiting the production of Beal and Wall, Boston seemingly forgot about the team’s third leading scorer, Trevor Ariza. The veteran scored a game-high 27 points, and knocked down a vital 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter, one of five threes for the small forward. Ariza also snagged seven rebounds.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Hot start: For the fifth straight game, Boston charged out to a lead in the first quarter as forward Jared Sullinger and point guard Jordan Crawford anchored the Celtics‘ 30-14 advantage. Sullinger tossed in 10 points and four rebounds, while Crawford played the role of facilitator and scorer, chipping in seven points and four assists. The C’s shot a scorching 60 percent from the field, while forcing the Wizards into 25 percent shooting from the field. In Boston’s last five first quarters, the team has outscored its opponents by a combined 49 points.

Unconscious Avery: The Celtics received a superb performance from guard Avery Bradley. He led the team in scoring with 26 points, and experienced a stretch that began in the third quarter and extended into the beginning of the fourth quarter where he could hardly miss. From the 4:01 mark of the third quarter to the 7:58 mark of the fourth quarter Bradley scored 18 points, and shot 9-for-10 from the field.  Eight of his 10 baskets were mid-range jump shots.

Sully: The 6-foot-9 forward continued to impress as of late, as he amassed 22 points to go along with 11 rebounds. A late scoring burst by Bradley ended any hope of Sullinger leading the team in scoring for the fourth straight game. He collected his point in a variety of ways: banging with bigs such as Marcin Gortat and Nene right under the rim; displaying his mid-range game and even three-point prowess; and luring the behemoths outside of the paint, just to blow by them off the dribble.

112288

This Celtic team reminds me of the childhood book.."The Little Engine That Could".

The story is used to teach children the value of optimism and hard work...................and that is what Brad Stevens in instilling into the Celtics.

With this attitude reinforced into the team and Danny gets some good players both starts and bench..........we will have a great team.

2 years..........that is what it will take.........lets us forget the sugar plumbs that were dancing in our heads with Asik.  The February trading deadline will be the next phase of the process.

Just remember today is the first day of winter...shortest day of the year..........but guess what!..........The days will now be getting longer...........and soon spring will be in the air.........trading deadline will have arrived and have past, and the NBA draft will be arriving too..........and another phase will have been accomplished in Danny's rebuilding process!

112288

112288

Pressey had five assists and no turnovers.  Crawford had eight assists and five turnovers.  I haven't yet gotten to see the game, but I'm wondering whether Phil focuses on safer but less dynamic passes than Jordan.  In other words, does Jordan try more low-percentage passes with higher payoff possibilities such as making something out of nothing.

Sam

Sam,  Jordans game has changed from a few weeks ago....he has gotten sloppy at critical times........As Tommy said today if Pressey was 4 inches taller he would be a premium point guard....but he is not..........nor is Jordan a solution..


112288

I'm wondering about Jeff Green going forward too, he seems to have all the attributes for a very good SF, why is he in a fog for so many games in a row?

One thing that is happening to the entire team.  The team has fits and starts of jelling, but it has never been solidified; and one reason is the unbalanced roster and the necessity of so many guys playing out of their comfort levels.  Consistency is usually the first thing to suffer in such cases.  They have to put out a supreme effort on defense because they lack the luxury of an intimidator at the rim.  They have no seasoned PG—just one converted SG who I believe it trying his level best but has a ceiling on his PG skills, and one who's limited by his height and his big league experience.  And all the other players are subject to somewhat of a state of flux, having gone through a lot of experiments with player combinations, playing out of position in many cases, and even trade rumors.

I'm not trying to make excuses, simply indicating what I feel might be contributing to the unevenness of this team.  There's also the possibility that the level of talent is wanting.

Sam

Sam,
IMO, the difference between JC and PP is that in crunch time JC takes it upon himself to score. The team kind of falls apart. It seems like in the 4th quarter, especially in the last 4-5 min, he completely abandons the style he can and does play in the course of the game, especially in the first half. Sometimes it works but mostly it doesn't. PP, on the other hands, doesn't play in the crunch time, doesn't feel that pressure, therefore it's easy for him to stay with his natural style and it seems he's a better PG.
It's not the first game where Celtics are in full control despite all the efforts of the opponent to change the course, all of a sudden, in the 4th quarter they loose that grasp and the game. I tried to pin it on lack of experience, absence of the leader, etc. But maybe the above is one of those reasons.
I hope BrSt finds some kind of solution...

AK

cowens/oldschool wrote:I'm wondering about Jeff Green going forward too, he seems to have all the attributes for a very good SF, why is he in a fog for so many games in a row?

Jeff Green is basically an advanced role player. Advanced in that he can sometimes take things into his own hands, but remains a role player because if he isn't "in the game" early on, then he never truly gets going.

Jeff has to be fed early and in a position where he can score. Otherwise he'll have to work harder on every single offensive play. So its fair to say that it's not 100% his fault. Boston's PG play hasn't exactly been that great recently, and that's where the offense starts.



KJ

This "not being able to hold a big lead" is getting old, especially against teams we should beat.

1.  Another WTF!? from Jordan Crawford.  A stat-stuffed one, to be sure, but the boxscore is misleading.  With the clock winding down in the great 30-point first quarter, Stevens calls out that he wants to run the clock down and take a last shot.  What does Crawford do?  He immediately launches a 3.  It went in, but he was living in his own private Idaho and not listening to the coach.  I called it a "have a seat on the bench next to me, Jordan, so I can talk to you" shot.  Not surprisingly to me, Stevens had Pressey start the 2nd quarter.  Stat-wise, Crawford had 7 points and 4 assists in the 1st quarter, so if you didn't watch the game, you'd think he was on course for a HOF game.  In the 2nd quarter, Crawford looked up court and saw Jeff Green.  He does a jump-double pump half court pass that Green miraculously corrals before going out of bounds and gets fouled.  Good pass?  Yep, but the jump-double pump was a "huh?".  It complicated things without needing to.  At the half, I think Crawford had something like 5 assists and 2 TOs.  He had 8 and 5 on the game.  He was 1-5 from 3.  He was 1-7 from 3 against Detroit on Wednesday, so that would make him 2-12 this week so far and still it doesn't occur to him to cut back a bit.  The Wiz double-teamed him and he didn't handle it well at all, that's where the TOs in the 2nd half came from.

2.  Bradley called Sully "the epitome of the Celtics today".  Well, Bradley could fit that description too.  The two of them are our warriors.  Sully had 10 points in the 1st period.  He ended up with 22 points on 9-18 and 11 rebounds, 5 of them offensive.  He is an absolute force of nature and he's at least 2" shorter than everybody he's going against.  Sully would have had more, but for some reason they stopped feeding him in the 2nd period.  

3.  Bradley was team high scorer with 26 points on 12-18, 2-3 from 3 (so he was NOT overly 3-happy) with 21 of those points coming in the 2nd half.  He was absolutely unconscious in the 4th.  Crawford was throwing the ball away and Bradley was forcing TOs back.  An absolutely great game by Bradley especially considering he alternated between guarding the explosive John Wall and Bradley Beal, who has finally become the scorer they expected from him when they drafted him.  

4.  Another lousy game by Jeff Green.  13 points on 4-13, 0-6 from 3.  Furthermore, his counterpart Trevor Ariza, went off for 27 points, with 5-8 from 3, virtually all of them wide-open shots.  They tried to get Green involved, by running plays for him, but it didn't help that Crawford kept setting Green up for long jumpshots, which he hadn't been hitting all game, instead of running a play that sends Green towards the rim.  Of course, that would have required Crawford's brain to be engaged, and we weren't seeing that today.  Over the past 5 games, Green has averaged 14.2ppg on 39%fg%, is 27% from 3 and 4.4rebs.  Those are NOT all-star numbers.  I like Green, he has SO much talent, SO much, but he's still up-and-down, just like always.  He always says the right things.  He says he needs to focus more on rebounding and go after the ball, but his rebounds/game this year is down from his career average.  He says he knows he has to be more aggressive and show up every night, but then he doesn't.  I just don't know what to think about him.  You gotta focus, Jeff, you gotta be the asshole KG told you to be.  There's a big dorsal fin circling the Celtics right now, its name is Danny Ainge, and he's looking to pick off stragglers that aren't playing like they want to be here.

5.  Kelly needs to go to the D-league to get more minutes and live in the weight room.  He's too soft.  He's suffering from Jeff Green Syndrome, he's too nice.  Could you imagine if KG was still here?  He'd make Olynyk cry just like he did Big Baby.

6.  Bass is just working so hard on both ends of the court.  We need a center, but I'm glad Bass is still in green.  He is pure blue-collar.  When we get a center, whenever that is, his minutes will get cut back as Sully plays more 4 (assuming Bass isn't one of the players gone, of course).  I'm going to feel sorry for him because it is absolutely not a reflection on him or his game or his work effort.

7.  Nice game by Hump.  He made some nice hustle plays which wouldn't show up in the boxscore but that saved baskets or made them with the clock ticking down.  I'm a big fan of Bass', that much is clear, but I'm liking Hump a lot too.  It's a shame we can't keep them all.

8.  Another cameo from Vitor.  I thought he played pretty well in the 7 minutes he got.  Yeah, Nene out played him, but Nene outplayed Nene too.  Great game by the fellow Brazilian coming off the bench.  Nice mid-range jumpers, 8 rebounds and 5 very pretty assists.  

9.  The offense became coherent when Pressey was in there.  5 assists and a steal and zero turnovers.  He was hitting Hump and others for layups and in their sweet spots, Crawford was passing out, and often throwing away, to long jump shooters.  Pressey has been in a bit of a slump the past few weeks, so I'm not going to fall all over him because of one game, but it was a pretty darn good game.  He looked good.  If only he could shoot.  Tommy said if he was 4" taller he'd be a formidable guard.  Yeah, well...

This sucked.  No lead is safe with this team.  We're starting out strong, the other team adjusts, especially at halftime, and we don't adjust with them.

Washington is getting better.  We're confused and inconsistent.

And we're going into the lion's den tomorrow.  If Brad wants to know what good ball movement is, he should look at the game film of Indy vs Houston yesterday.  It'll scare him white.


bob


.

WHERE IS BROOKS?

HE HAS TO BE GIVEN A FAIR SHOT, NOT GARNERING SPLINTERS ON THE BENCH!

JORDAN WAS GIVEN A SHOT....WHY NOT BROOKS

112288

112288,

If Brooks was a PG, he might get minutes.


KJ

We are talking offense.  Lee has disappeared, Green is cold. Bradly needs rest at times.............Where's Brooks?

112288

112288,

I'd hazard a guess that, although he has played only 15 minutes this season (before today's game, I believe), Brooks ranks 4th among all Celtics in number of shots taken per minute of game action, yet he averages only 38.9% shooting the rock.  It's one thing to be a gunner. It's another thing to be a gunner who misfires the great majority of the time.  Moreover, he commits far more turnovers per minute on the floor than any other Celtic.

Crawford's far from perfect, and I realize that even the slightest deviation from perfection has a lot of fans crying for his scalp.  He shoots about as often as Brooks, but he shoots a better percentage.  Jordan averages three times the number of assists per minute as Brooks does, and one reason is that Jordan is more comfortable out there and not feeling he has to prove himself every moment by bombing away rather than respecting the flow of the game.

Sam

Bob, I still haven't seen the game and won't be able to do so until the 2:00 a.m. replay by Comcast.  But I did look at the play-by-play ticker, and I didn't see any timeout for the Celtics after Crawford rebounded the ball, headed upcourt, and hit a three five seconds later.  How was it apparent what Brad's strategy was?

I personally think there's far too much adulation of the final shot syndrome.  I believe the best strategy is to take the shot you're confident you can make when it becomes available to you; then, whether or not you make the shot, have a little gonadal confidence in your defense to stop the other team.

Otherwise, the clock winds down to seven seconds while the opposition breaks out a deck of cards as it relaxes on defense, knowing that it has to dig in for only the last seven seconds.  With each of those seven seconds that ticks off the clock, the defending team feels increasingly secure in doubling the guy with the ball; and, when there are just one or two seconds left, they might as well put four guys on the player with the ball because he's something like 95% likely to be the shooter.

I'm also not a fan of divided focus in basketball.  When the offensive team has to concentrate on the clock as well as presumably trying to gain advantageous position, I believe the pressure on their offense becomes magnified just as the pressure on the defenders eases.

Moreover, I am a fan of being constructively unpredictable out there as long as it usually messes up your opponent and not your teammates.  Being able to predict (oh the horror!) almost the exact second when the offense will shoot makes things so much easier for the defense.

If Brad gave them an obvious signal to play for the last shot, then you can disregard what I said.  But I'll still go on record thinking that's not as great a strategy as NBA coaches seem to think.

Sam

Ya Sam I hear your stats....but it is also an unfair stat as he was never given a chance to find his rhythm as any pro needs.  I say give him his fair due and play him and see what he has. If it isn't to the coaches liking, ship him out or release him.  But give the guy a fair shake.

Talking about misfiring....look at Bradley's first 2 years, he could not put a ball in the ocean let alone a basketball hoop..........now look.......one of the Celtics key shooters.

Brooks is a shooting guard not a point guard. I do not care how he was used in the past...he is a 2 guard....just like Bradley is no point guard, that experiment was proven out this year.   So back to Brooks, as a 2 guard you are not going to have as many assists as Crawford as point guard. 

The great year he had in Brooklyn I believe was no fluke...he just got caught up in the Avery Johnson thing and then a switch in coaching.

112288

112288,

This is the time of the season when the coach is looking for the kind of continuity that leads to stability rather than for opportunities to experiment.  During the experimental period earlier in the year, something seemed to keep Brad from giving meaningful time to Brooks.  I have no idea what any issues might have been—perhaps some things Brad saw or didn't see in practice.

They're obviously struggling to find the right rhythm that leads to enhanced chemistry that will allow them to sustain great starts and not become such easy prey for opponents' major comebacks.  They don't need to create discontinuities to complicate matters.  Especially if the discontinuity involves the intrusion of a gunner who's shooting poorly and making all sorts of errors out there but feels the need to improve himself.  That's a personal agenda. They need team agendas.

Perhaps there will come a time when the Celtics are getting trashed and Brad will give Brooks some serious minutes.  But I believe introducing the element of a gunner without that much of a conscience is not an intrusion the team needs in the roller coaster ride each game seems to be lately.

Sam

I'm not really so down on Crawford at the point as some - however - he seems to have trouble late in the game when pressure rises. I don't know if he panics and thinks he has to do it all by himself or whether he doesn't recognize the seriousness of the situation and just bombs away for the hell of it. Whichever it is, it's a mental problem that he must solve to be consistently effective.

As far as Jeff Green goes - sometimes I think he might be smoking too much grass.

Sam,

Mike Gorman said that Brad was telling Crawford to bleed the clock as he was bringing the bsll up and Gorman said that when Crawford didn't Brad didn't look happy (although I'm not sure how one could tell). Then the quarter ended and Pressey started the second quarter.



bob



.

Perhaps we're already witnessing Crawford's ceiling as a "PG."

Crawford's style is high risk, high reward. When he's on, he's spectacular. When he isn't, he's an enigma. He made quite a few mindless plays, reminiscent of those I described before the season and during the early games.

Of course, I'm not going to blame this loss on him alone, as the team as a whole failed to execute the whole way through.



KJ

So many of our deficiencies will be remedied by RR, especially the play of Jeff Green.

worcester wrote:So many of our deficiencies will be remedied by RR, especially the play of Jeff Green.

There ya go. Everyone is making do as best they can with Rondo out.

On another thread, MrKleen commented recently that he was upset about a particular loss until he remembered that they're rebuilding, that this process will take years, and that they've actually exceeded expectations to this point. It's good to keep what MrKleen said there and what Worcester said here in mind when considering how well Jordan Crawford is doing while playing out of position or Jeff Green is doing without the point guard he needs to ignite his game.

Celtic fans have high expectations, which is good, so it's not natural to think that a 12-16 record and blown leads to the likes of the Wizards are acceptable, but the fact is that they're doing remarkably well.

Amen. And I still want the basketball gods to bestow us with a makeup gift for taking Len Bias and Reggie Lewis: Jibari Parker.

Brooks is not playing because he's not a smart player, because he doesn't play defense (and Brad loves defense) and because we've got non-point guards up the wazoo. Considering we seem to be getting rattled I'd say sending in a player whose weakest muscle is the one between his ears is not going to help.

Not that I'm biased against Brooks or anything.


bob


.

There has been some slippage in the Celtics' defense and quite frankly they have fallen in love with the 3 point shot.

The Celtics got 13 points on fast break

Where the hell is the fast break?

Mr. hyde returned with 8 assists and 5 turnovers and 1-5 from down town

Green spent most of his day practicing 3 point shots

dboss

dboss wrote:There has been some slippage in the Celtics' defense and quite frankly they have fallen in love with the 3 point shot.  

The Celtics got 13 points on fast break

Where the hell is the fast break?

Mr. hyde returned with 8 assists and 5 turnovers and 1-5 from down town

Green spent most of his day practicing 3 point shots

dboss

dboss,

I agree with just about all of this.

Green spent most of his day practicing 3 point shots, in part, because the person whose job was to feed him, was kicking the ball out to him at 3 point land, so he took the shot.

Crawford's half court generalship has become pretty predictable.  He will often twirl off a pick (reversing his field) and drive into the paint.  If the defense comes to him, he usually does an "over the shoulder" pass to the picker (who is now a popper) or to someone else outside (and if they don't then he continues to the rim or pulls up for the short jumper).  In other words, he sucks the defense in and then passes to the open shooter at the perimeter.  There's nothing wrong with that as long as the shots are dropping.  When players like Green are struggling with their outside shots, though, feeding them more of the same doesn't help.

The difference between Crawford's half court game against Wiz vs Pressey's is that, while Pressey wasn't as aggressive driving to the hoop as Crawford, many of his passes were more-or-less towards the rim.  Many of Crawford's half court passes were away from the rim or east-west (and, because of the double-teams and aggressive defense by Washington, turnovers were the results with fastbreaks coming next).  When players received Pressey's passes, they were closer to the rim, when they received Crawford's they usually weren't.

Nothing is 100%, so I'm sure that if we review game film we'll see half court passes Crawford made that were towards the rim, just as we'll see some of Pressey's that went away from it but the overall effect, based upon my memory, was what I said.  


bob


.