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CELTICS FALL TO ROCKETS IN RETURN TO THE GARDEN, DROP NINTH STRAIGHT

WEEI - By Jackson Alexander 
 
When the Celtics and Rockets matched up on Monday night, Boston clung to the hope that a change of scenery, and the end of its arduous road trip, would finally stop the bleeding.

But a night back in the TD Garden did nothing to suture the wounds administered from Boston’s disappointing five-game West Coast trip. The Celtics (13-26) lost their ninth straight game, as the Rockets (25-14) claimed a 104-92 victory. Boston has lost 12 of its last 13 games. The lost to Houston means that Celtics are now 3-14 against the Western Conference this season.

Dwight Howard bullied the Celtics‘ bigs with 32 points and 10 rebounds, and James Harden and Jeremy Lin chipped in 16 points apiece.

Avery Bradley led Boston in scoring for the third time in four games, as he tallied 24 points. Jerryd Bayless used a massive fourth quarter to post 17 points. Brandon Bass, coming off the bench, scored 14 points, and Jordan Crawford added 13.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE CELTICS:

Defending Dwight: Boston managed Houston’s behemoth center very well in the first quarter, as Howard scored eight points, but that figure came on eight shots and he only pulled down one offensive rebound. It’s no mistake that the Celtics led 27-19 at that point. But the final three quarters went nothing like the first one. Howard missed just one shot for the rest of the game, and accumulated 24 points on eight shots from the second quarter on. No Boston defender should be held solely culpable as the Celtics rotated a number of defenders on him, and the help defense required to shut down a player of Howard’s caliber was absent.

First half free throws: The difference at halftime was simple enough: the Rockets got to the free throw line, while the Celtics did not. Houston outshot Boston by a slim margin (Rockets=41.9 percent, Celtics=35.8 percent) front the field, Boston turned the ball over two times less than Houston and the rebounding figures were nearly deadlocked. But the Rockets made 16 trips to the line, and converted 13 times, en route to a 52-43 advantage. Boston reached the charity stripe just three times, as Crawford finished 3-for-3. Houston made seven more free throws than the Celtics in the second quarter, which the Rockets claimed emphatically 33-16.

Avery’s starting helpers: Bradley did everything he possibly could have to keep Boston in it, scoring a team-high 24 points and forcing Harden into 6-of-17 shooting. But the other four starters did next to nothing on offense to aid Bradley. Only Crawford reached double digits, and he achieved his 13 points at an inefficient 3-for-11 rate. Bradley finished the game 11-for-21 from the floor. The rest of his unit shot 10-for-39.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE CELTICS

Bayless: With Boston trailing by 19 points after three quarters, Bayless received the opportunity to play the entire fourth quarter. The newly-acquired reserve guard ran with his chance, scoring 16 of his 17 points in the final frame and cutting the deficit to six points at one juncture late in the quarter. Bayless’ effort was not enough, but his performance will not be forgotten with starter Crawford struggling, and Boston thin at guard.

Bradley’s first: For the second straight game, Bradley erupted in the first quarter and helped push Boston to an early lead. Against Houston, Bradley tossed in 14 first-quarter points, and added three steals, two assists and two rebounds in a first quarter that Boston dominated, 27-19. He shot 6-for-8 from the field, and made five jump shots, including two 3-pointers. On Saturday, Bradley tallied 13 first-quarter points, again buried six shots and only missed one in the Celtics‘ loss to the Trail Blazers.

MarShon returns: MarShon Brooks, one of the returns in the trade that sent Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to the Nets this offseason, made his first appearance for Boston since Dec. 22. Brooks ran the point for Boston and led a spirited fourth quarter, when the Celtics provided the crowd something to cheer for, for the first time since early in the second quarter. Brooks did not light up the stat sheet (two points, five rebounds, one assists in 12 minutes), but he ran the point with a confident aura that was not prevalent prior to his demotion to the D-League.
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Rapid Reaction: Rockets 104, Celtics 92

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

BOSTON -- Rapid reaction after the Houston Rockets defeated the Boston Celtics 104-92 on Monday night at TD Garden:

THE NITTY GRITTY
Avery Bradley scored 14 of his team-high 24 points in the first quarter, while newly acquired Jerryd Bayless scored 15 of his 17 in the final frame, but it wasn't enough for Boston to overcome its defensive indifference during the middle frames. Dwight Howard scored a game-high 32 points on 11-of-17 shooting (many of the alley-oop variety as the Rockets built as much as a 20-point lead in the third quarter), then did enough at the charity stripe (10 of 18) to fend off Boston's late rally. All five Houston starters landed in double digits, including 16 apiece for James Harden (albeit on just 6-of-18 shooting with Bradley playing excellent defense) and Jeremy Lin (who added nine assists). Brandon Bass scored 14 points in a reserve role, while Jared Sullinger had eight points and 10 rebounds over 22 minutes in his first game back with the first unit.

TURNING POINT
The Celtics continued a recent home trend of fast starts, leading by as much as nine in the first quarter (and eight heading to the second quarter). But things turned quickly. The Rockets needed less than three minutes in the second frame to surge ahead and, later in the quarter, Houston embarked on a 14-2 run with Lin, Howard, and Harden teaming up to stretch out the lead. Houston led by as much as 20 in the third quarter and tried to put it on cruise control.

C'S MAKE A CHARGE
Down 19 entering the fourth quarter, the Celtics rode a red-hot Bayless and a Hack-a-Howard strategy to surge as close as seven (97-90) with 2:48 to go. In the final two minutes, the Celtics tried to lean on their defense (rather than the fluky foul strategy), but Lin hit a driving layup and a Bayless turnover led to a Terrence Jones layup to push the lead back to 12 with 89 seconds to go.

LOOSE BALLS
With Boston struggling to stop a Dwight Howard alley-oop-fest, rookie Vitor Faverani got a crack and didn't have much luck in a brief 4 ½ -minute stint. ... Keith Bogans was a healthy DNP. ... The Rockets finished with a 58-36 advantage in points in the paint. ... Both teams turned the ball over 15 times. ... The Rockets shot 46.8 percent from the floor overall, while Boston finished at 37.6 percent (38 of 101 overall).

WHAT IT MEANS
The Celtics (13-26) have now lost nine in a row and 12 of 13 overall. This three-game homestand continues with visits from the Toronto Raptors (Wednesdy) and Los Angeles Lakers (Friday) before Boston heads out on a three-game road trip with stops in Orlando, Miami, and Washington. 

112288

Bayless looking good!

Thank you for giving Brooks a quarter to run.

Green looks likes he's looking to get out of Dodge fast......seems very removed from the play and the team.

Crawford..........don't get me started.

112288

Interesting game to say the least. And it took small ball against a forest of Sequoias to get the game closer.

A few notes...

1. Avery Bradley Takes Charge

He started off scorching, scoring 14 in the first quarter and finished the night with 24 on 11-18 FG. His defense was pretty good all night long, but some of Houston's guards managed to get by him on drives on a few occasions.

I really think Bradley has become the #1 offensive scoring threat.

2. Bay*Less* is *More*

He was unleashed with quality minutes tonight, scoring 18 points on 7-13 FG, dishing 4 assists and pulling in 2 steals. He made a few great defensive plays and was a solid ball handler and distributor. With more time playing with his teammates, he can possibly improve in that area.

3. Ineffective Green, Crawford

Their respective performances were just flat out disappointing. They didn't even play in the 4th as far as I know. Crawford finished 3-11, Green was 2-10. Crawford was, however, 7-7 FT.

These two need to pick up their play.

4. Small Ball

Boston went to a small lineup in the 4th against Houston and surprisingly made some headway. Hump, Olynyk, Sully, and Vitor all had a very rough night against Howard.




KJ

That Perk trade is looking like ultimately it was a bad move that could have caused us a championship in 11, is Jeff Green even as good as Chandler Parsons? hes not even near Rudy Gay, okay hes as good as Trevor Ariza....great. On the game on thread I remarked who woulda thought Avery Bradley would supplant Jeff Green as an all around scorer by midseason this year? well its happening, don't worry after 3 more straight normal pedestrian games, JG will go for 22.

I was on a weird roll during game, right after I made a remark about the the 2 clueless white guy 4-5 pairing that was getting demolished by Howard, it was Dino Radja and some WNBA looking guy with a ponytail, relax its only humor, I made a comment that we could really use Perk. Then right after Tommy makes a comment that the best defender he ever saw on Howard was Perk.....whoppdedoo. It has occurred to me, we have went full circle, from the best defensive 4-5 combo of this era with KG and Perk to the worst I ever saw possibly ever in KO and Vitor. We found a new combo to use if we really want to tank, anyone who says were tanking, no we were not, if we try that combo again and use it for stretches, then its on, tanking.....well we discovered something.

Then right after I typed it, that I wanted to see Bayless, AB and Brooks, more because I was sick of Herky Jerky and Mr Noshow or once every 4 or 5 games....and viola they were all together with Sully and Bass, it was actually exciting as team was playing with energy and Brooks looked closer to 6'7" than 6'5". Anyway after so much waffling back and forth for a few years and seeing Greens regression and seeing Howard look like Wilt/Hakeem against us vs the 2 slow clueless white guys, guess I'd be accurate to say we still haven't found a legit 5 since we got rid of Perk....that trade sucked, we weakened our team short term and long term, Green had no impact in that years playoffs, notice a trend? and Perks bruising low post defense helped Thunder go to their first Finals. Green is as well equipped to carry this team as Trevor Ariza.

As for Herky Jerky thanks for getting us in better position.

Cowens,


Green is as good as gone. I think he and Stevens are not on the same page for a while. But to give him the benefit of the doubt 1 month of playing with Rondo will tell the tale.  If Green cannot get active in the offense with Rondo quarterbacking the offense, he is never going to fit in.  I'll give him a month..........oh that's the trade line date isn't it.

Cut and bail is the only suggestion for Danny if it does not work with Rondo.

112288

Celts better pull out the checkbook and lock AB down.

If he wants $8 million per, give him 8 and then say phew...great deal for the Celtics..

Dboss

Cow,

I wouldn't even call Faverani and Olynyk a "combo," as they rarely play on the court at the same time. Vitor gets spotty minutes and Kelly is typically supplemented with more physical help (Sullinger, Humphries). Also, they are both rookies with very limited experience. Vitor has the potential physicality and Olynyk has the intelligence. I suppose if you combined them into one entity it might produce a rather good player.

Last night, Dwight was manhandling every post player Brad threw at him. I remember one clip from the game where Brad and Vitor were talking on the sidelines and Vitor had this "What the hell am I supposed to do to stop him?" expression.

The Perkins-Green trade certainly changed the defensive dynamics of this team. I felt that they lost a top defender and intimidator.

Also, I had the same reaction as you when it was Brooks, Bradley, Bayless, Bass (wow, 4 B's? really?), and Sullinger. They played with energy and were giving Houston fits. They had a nice run at the end to at least make the game entertaining.


112288,

I've been saying for a while that Green is not a superstar and isn't cut from the same mold as guys like Durant, James, and George. Jeff can't really carry a team but once every 10-12 games. He is essentially a role player. As soon as people stop elevating him, the better they can realistically assess his value to the team. Rondo hasn't been playing, and the offense in general is rather poor. Under normal circumstances, Jeff is really better as a 2nd or 3rd option as opposed to being the primary scoring threat.




KJ

A very active Game On Thread last night.  It was fun.

I found a Mike & Tommy link and was happy.  Then, inexplicably, the audio switched to the Orlando Magic announcers, but the video feed was still the Celtics.  Talk about thinking you're hearing voices.  Then, it switched again, for no reason I can discern, to a station that had Mike & Tommy doing the game but a spanish-version of NBA roundtable during the commercials.  A great opportunity for me to practice my spanish, but WTF?

Our starters were a combined 21-60.  In fact, the only one who wasn't complete puke-city was AB.  

1.  Hump, who we don't count on for scoring, was 2-7 but he ran the floor, made great defensive rotations, worked his everlovin' hump off last night, had 8 rebounds (more than a few being quite rugged and in traffic) and 3 blocks in 21 minutes. He is our best big, right now.  Anybody calling him "Mr. Kardashian" anymore?  I thought not.  

2.  Sully was 3-11, but had 10 rebounds, 6 of them offensive and had to guard Dwight Howard.  A tough assignment for just about anybody.  Sully did what he should have done, he waited until D12 left him to go for the block and then sucked in the offensive rebound.  Sully's struggling a bit because the refs are watching him carefully.  This might continue all year and not get a reset button pushed until next year, due to his flagrant foul record.

3.  Jeff Green and Jordan Crawford?  Harder to find excuses for them.  Green was 3-10 and Crawford was 3-11.  Over the past 10 games, which is almost our entire losing streak, Green has been shooting 41.4% and 14.5ppg.  What really sucks is that 14.5ppg is only .9ppg below his season average, so it's not like he's in a vicious slump.  He's also only shooting 43.8% on the year.  Crawford is shooting 36.2% over his past 10 games.  He's actually scoring more ppg than his season-to-date, 14.1 vs 13.7, he's just taking (and missing) more.  I'm going to keep my powder dry on these two for another week or two (at least I'm going to try), since Rondo's coming back and their roles and expectations on the court will change.  I think their prominence on the team and the team's 2014 record speaks for itself.  One play worthy of note by Green.  Harden was on a break, going to his left (which is his MUCH stronger hand) and Green was the only one back and stayed with him and bothered the shot.  Hump busted his butt getting back and grabbed the missed shot rebound.  Crawford's play of note?  He drove the lane at 3 Rockets and got fouled.  Aggressive?  Yes.  High degree of success?  This time, yes, but in general?  Only if they were 3 bottle rockets.  Not thinking like a point guard, trying to get his teammates involved.  Ok, I'll stop now.

4.  Which brings us to the starter who actually played like an NBA starter.  Bradley has blossomed into a full-blown deadly jumpshooter who had 14 points in the 1st quarter while playing all 12 minutes.  He's not a scorer like Kobe or Irving or even DWade, who will do it in a bazillion of almost hard-to-believe ways, but he has become extremely effective at getting to his spot, which seems to be one foot inside the 3pt line, and drilling it.  Granted, James Harden isn't exactly the 2nd coming of Jerry Sloan or Clyde Frazier (or even Avery Bradley), but Bradley completely outplayed aforementioned Harden last night on both ends of the court.  Harden had 16 points on a horrible 6-18 and had his pocket picked repeatedly.  Bradley was all over him like a cheap suit.  One of the finest two-way games I've seen Bradley play.  When Bradley struggled in his first 1 1/2 years, and the calls for trading him were echoing off the boards like pinballs, Danny stood by him.  Danny's a freaking genius.  Thomas Edison wasn't perfect either, nobody hears about his failure to profitably mine low-grade iron ore (he sold all his GE stock to finance that failure) but we all know about the light bulb and other greatnesses.  Danny's a genius and Rondo and Bradley are his light bulbs and phonographs.

5.  Time to hand out the other gold star of the night.  Bay Leaves made an impression in his first home game as a Celtic.  What a 4th quarter, huh?  15 of his 17 points came in his ironman 4th quarter.  He was 6-11, but he started the quarter with a missed dunk, so he could easily have been 7-11.  He ended with 4 assists and 2 TOs.  He had 2 steals.  He sold popcorn and cotton candy.  He worked the jumbotron during the timeouts.  It was Jerryd Bayless' world in the 4th quarter last night and we just happened to have been in it.  He also busted his butt on defense, making steals on Harden and blocking Terrence Jones on a fast break, if you can believe that!  I'm still not ready to start him over Crawford, for the reasons I cited on another thread, but Bayless is making a good argument that he should be Rondo's back up and not Crawford when it comes to that.  Think about that, though, a 2nd unit back court of Crawford and Bayless.  They can both handle the ball, they can both shoot and neither of them are afraid of "the moment".  We could do worse.  We'll find out about that soon enough, just don't ask me how many seconds.

6.  This is the first time since October, 1998 the Celtics have had 100fgas.  Last night we had 101.  That is VERY good.  Not so good is that we only shot 38%, but getting the fgas up against a determined defense is a lot harder than making shots when you're open because you have the defense back on their heels because you're always running AT them.

7.  KO with 7 rebounds, 3 offensive.  He's working hard, I'll give him that.  Part of his problem is his tentativeness, brought on by poor shooting and getting manhandled in the paint.  When he just catches and shoots, he's fine, his problem is that he's over thinking.  He's expecting the defense to be on him.  He's a smart player, he'll figure it out, just perhaps not this year but that's what this year is for.  He has a lively body for a 7'er.  Too bad he plays like he's 6'3".  In one sequence, Bradley and Kelly's defenders switched on them off a pick and Kelly had Harden on him.  Instead of calling for the ball so he could take the much smaller, and defensively challenged, James Harden, Kelly instead ran to set a pick on his defender to free Bradley up and, in doing so, lost the mismatch (Bradley's on KO's man, as well as his own on Harden) as the Rocket defenders switched back.  Bradley hit the jumper, but that wasn't what you wanted your big man to do when he has a guard on him.  You gotta be greedier, Kelly.  You have to see yourself as a mismatch advantage and call for the ball.  I don't think we should give up on him, though.  I believe he'll settle down.  His shots will drop, because he's a shooter and can hit those shots and he already sets better picks than Il Hombre Indestructible.  He needs to play with more aggression, more anger.  Someone needs to kill his puppy.  He needs to be a little less Canadian.

9.  Chandler Parsons was a #38 pick.  Screw tanking.  Parsons is a great, albeit understated player.  He outplayed Green last night, despite him just coming back from an injury.  He's not spectacular, but he's extremely effective.  How about Green and one of our 1st rounders?

10.  Jeremy Lin, another combo starting point guard, had 9 assists and only one TO to go with his 16 points.

11.  Obviously, it was our bench that kept us in this game.  Bayless and Bass provided the firepower and MarShon Brooks (gotta remember to capitalize that "S") grabbing rebounds and forcing you to keep your eyes riveted on him while Israeli Omri Casspi tortured Kelly for his 12 points.  He's a Euro-style player, Kelly, he likes to shoot 3s.

12.  Terrence Jones is a player.  He's another Ibaka in the making.  He was all over on defense.  3 blocks, some from out of nowhere, really lets Howard off the leash and lets him go after everything because he knows that Jones can still guard the baseline.  12 rebounds, 5 of them offensive, by Jones too.  A #18 pick.  Between him and Chandler Parsons, Rondo and Bradley, it kinda makes you think the lottery is over-valued (especially by the pro-tanking crowd).

We shot 44% after one and they shot only 29%.  In the 2nd, we went into another swoon.  Not just because we only scored 16 points (Bradley sat and nobody stepped up to score in his place) but because we gave up 33 points.  After 3, fortunes had reversed dramatically and we were 37% and they were 47%.  We only had 13 assists vs 21 for them.  Everybody doing it on their own.


bob


.

One reason Crawford scored well with only three field goals is that he was 7 for 7 at the free throw line. (I believe no one else had more than 2.) It could be argued that, for a team like the Celtics, someone who has the pinecones to take it to the basket—especially down the stretch— is actually doing a good thing because he's (1) opening things up for his teammates and (2) economizing on the seconds it takes to put points on the board. Moreover, while he penetrated a lot, he was the only Celtics starter who didn't have a shot blocked.

Most of the criticism I see of Crawford centers on his scoring inefficiency. His duties as point guard and the fact that ht's usually the best Celtics passer on the floor) mean that he's not nearly as likely to get advantageous shot opportunities as if he were playing SG (especially with Rondo). He has almost zero opportunities to catch-and-shoot. His positioning to perform point guard duties puts him at different spots than as if he were free to curl or come off picks or seek out his sweet spots as a SG would.

It was really a pleasure to see Bayless and Brooks operate together. They hit shots; but, what I liked best was the way they pushed the ball down the stretch. Perhaps it was just the desperation kicking in at the end (as witness the Hack-a-Howard strategy); but, if they could do that regardless of at what point in the game, they'd have to see more time. Bayless' defense was better than I expected too.

Part of the fun in seeing Rondo return will be to evaluate the relative effectiveness of Bradley, Crawford, Bayless and Brooks. I think just about everyone would concede the easy advantage to Bradley, especially since he has experience in playing with Rajon. But there's the second unit to consider. Who knows? Bogans could very possibly rally and come from.......oh never mind!

Sam

I actually like Crawford, hes helping us this year, I just don't like him here long term, I already would prefer Bayless backing up Rondo long term, and even Brooks I would take over Herky Jerky as he has more size ideal in a modern 2 and can play the 3 for stretches.

Cowens,

Crawford belongs in the Euro league....not on an NBA team.  He has no BB IQ. Ya he will light up the place when he is hot but we have seen how hot he has been since the beginning of December......he disappeared.

Is he a 14th or 15th guy on a good team as insurance..........probably.........but no where near a 6th or 7th or 8thman coming off the bench to play smart ball.

I am not here to see thrills as he sometimes shows people....I am looking for the Celtics to build a smart basketball team with players who understand their role and who play in control, especially if we get into playing meaningful games come playoff time.

His turnovers would be out of sight if you include ridiculous shots that he throws up with the probability of near ZERO going in but does not count as a turnover.

Sorry...if I want to see thrills.........I'll go to the circus and watch a tight rope walker or trapeze.

112288

112288 wrote:Cowens,

Crawford belongs in the Euro league....not on an NBA team.  He has no BB IQ. Ya he will light up the place when he is hot but we have seen how hot he has been since the beginning of December......he disappeared.

Is he a 14th or 15th guy on a good team as insurance..........probably.........but no where near a 6th or 7th or 8thman coming off the bench to play smart ball.

I am not here to see thrills as he sometimes shows people....I am looking for the Celtics to build a smart basketball team with players who understand their role and who play in control, especially if we get into playing meaningful games come playoff time.

His turnovers would be out of sight if you include ridiculous shots that he throws up with the probability of near ZERO going in but does not count as a turnover.

Sorry...if I want to see thrills.........I'll go to the circus and watch a tight rope walker or trapeze.

112288

112288,

First of all, don't you know it's not polite to speak ill of the recently departed? LOL.

I have to disagree with you on Crawford not having IQ. He makes some bad decisions, so I suppose that's something to do with IQ, but he has good court vision. He knows where his teammates are and will be. He has sticky fingers, a left over from his pure SG days, but one cannot be even a mediocre point guard and have NO IQ.

In all fairness, he was strictly a SG until this year, when he was told "now you're a point guard". He's still a victim of his own Steez, but he has done better at point guard than anybody thought he would be. That he's still not as good as some would like it another issue, he's still overachieving. The best evidence of that is his last two trades. He came to Boston from the Wiz for Barbosa (who was out with an ACL) and Jason Collins (who was on his last legs and might not be playing this year, gay or not gay). Now, he's being traded for value.

Now if we could just deal Keith Bogans and his sulking, pouting ass I'd be ecstatic.


bob


.

Bob,

Just ask yourself....in a close game 7 do you want Crawford handling the ball?

Please  keep a straight face when delivering your answer....LOL!

112288

112288 wrote:Bob,

Just ask yourself....in a close game 7 do you want Crawford handling the ball?

Please  keep a straight face when delivering your answer....LOL!

112288

I'll take a stab.........if this team got to a game 7 as stands now, I'd roll the dice with him, he'd get a shot off which is more than a certain Magic Johnson did in the playoffs years ago as he let the clock run down.

beat

Beat,

I am sure you are saying this without a straight face...............Yes he'll get a shot off.........a shot to nowhere!


The whole thing is moot as he is gone.....thank god! Danny must have felt the same way or he would have stayed around.....not a smart player.

112288

112288,

I'm not sure why you despise Crawford so much. I don't think anyone has promoted him as an all-star or as the point guard you want to have, in the playoffs or otherwise. What defenders like myself have said is that he's filled in admirably in Rondo's absence despite not being a point guard, much as Sullinger has filled in admirably despite not being center.

I'd be happy to have Crawford fill an Eddie House-type role, providing scoring and a spark off the bench. He could be quite valuable in that role. Just because I wouldn't want either Eddie House or Jordan Crawford to play the point in crunch time in a game 7 doesn't mean that's the way you should evaluate their value to a team.

112288 wrote:Bob,

Just ask yourself....in a close game 7 do you want Crawford handling the ball?

Please  keep a straight face when delivering your answer....LOL!

112288

112288,

Get me to Game 7 and I'll figure out how to make it rain.  Even with Danny shakin' and bakin' it'll be a few years.


bob


.

112288 wrote:Beat,

I am sure you are saying this without a straight face...............Yes he'll get a shot off.........a shot to nowhere!


The whole thing is moot as he is gone.....thank god! Danny must have felt the same way or he would have stayed around.....not a smart player.

112288

Sorry I was dead ass serious

If the team as assembled was to get to a 7th game in the playoffs ............ Crawford would have been a good as option as any to get his shot or set up someone else.

beat

In a game 7, Crawford wouldn't be a ball handler. He'd be a shooting guard because the team wouldn't get to game 7 if they had to compromise at PG. And, as a SG, he'd have the opportunity to catch-and-shoot, which is hot the case as a PG. As a catch-and-shoot SG, I wouldn't mind seeing him in a game 7. Hey, maybe the Celts will play the Warriors in a game 7 some day and fanciful conjecture can go out the window in favor of actual facts.

Sam

beat you can't be serious, dead ass, my ass....Crawford's gone, he was not a long range core type piece, he'll have a job as an 8th or 9th man on non playoff teams, thats his ceiling, we saw his good games where he overachieved and he did a great job getting us to this point, theres way better out there.