Celtics vs. Bulls - Away

The all-too-familiar pattern of fading in the clutch continued for the Celtics last night as they lost in overtime to the hometown Bulls.  For the most part, the game had the aesthetic triumph of an earthworm in heat:

• The losers shot 45%; the winners shot 37%.

• The losers shot only 29% from three-point land, but the winners shot only 21% from the arc.  In total, we had the "pleasure" of watching 34 wayward threeballs (both teams combined) clanging or just plain missing everything.

• The losers committed a horrendous 22 turnovers, but the winners committed a pretty terrible 18

• Both teams took 100 shots, so the pace must have been much faster than I saw.  After all, the Celts had 16 fast break points to 10 for the Bulls.

"Hey," you say.  "On a relative basis, these stats look as though the Celtics had a good chance to win."  And, when they tied it at the end of regulation after having squandered leads just short of double digits, the prospects looked amazingly good.  After all, they were out-assisting the Bulls, collaborating on 58% of their made field goals compared with 51% for the Bulls.  And they had managed to plug a leak in the dike by limiting the Bulls to one offensive rebound in the third quarter, which marked a downward progression from six in the second quarter and nine in the first quarter.  And the Celtics wound up with eight more made field goals than the Bulls.  Why wasn't this game an easy win for our boys?

The answer lies primarily in two stats, one intangible, and one human machine named Pau Gasol.  The stats first:

• 24 offensive rebounds for the Bulls, including eight in a combination of the fourth quarter and overtime

• 29 more attempted free throws for the Bulls than the Celtics (40-11)

(By the way, Brad said after the game that the officiating was fair and the Bulls were just more aggressive than the Celtics.)

The intangible was the suffocating defense employed by the Bulls much of the evening.  They routinely had three defenders collapsing on the Celtic with the ball, and their 10 steals were exceeded by at least four times that many deflections, undermining the Celtics' rhythm and timing again and again.  The Celtics didn't help by not spreading the floor at all well and constantly trying to force passes through openings that disappeared like desert mirages upon close inspection.

The human machine scored 29 points on 9-16 shooting and 10 of 11 at the line.  He also had 16 rebounds.  He just overpowered and outslicked the Celts' bigs, and he was ably abetted in the clutch by a descendent of Andrew Toney and Lloyd (World B.) Free named Aaron Brooks, Celtic killer extraordinaire.  Chicago really needed Brooks' input too because it got its fourth consecutive subpar night from Derrick Rose, who stank up the joint with 2-11 shooting through three quarters.  Of course Rose then picked overtime to hit a couple of backbreakers.  Chicago also got good games from Gibson and Miriotic (a converted power forward who's learning the "3" position....hmmm, could that become a trend the Celtics might copy?)  Noah hit only three field goals but did contribute 12 rebounds.

Basically, Boston lost its poise in overtime, aided in that respect by the aforementioned Bulls defense.  The Celtics resembled a playground scrum as they were given some opportunities by Bulls turnovers, only to return the favor with ill-conceived passes.

For the record, the Celtics starters were +1 for the night, while the bench was -6.

Evan Turner, the Boston floor general, was their leading scorer with a season high 29 points.  He hit a number of key shots in keeping the Bulls from running away with the game in the third quarter.  But, as Rosalie sagely mentioned in the Game-on Thread, he got too used to having the ball and handed out only five assists.  (Of course, Rose had only two assists, so the two "floor generals" were anything but.  Bradley had one or two nice stretches and wound up shooting 8-15.  Best of all, he took only one three-pointer, and the team as a whole attempted only 17—well below some of their recent totals.  Sully contributed a solid 16 points and 16 rebounds—eight of them offensive, including his cleanup and conversion of a wild Jeff Green toss at the backboard to send the game into overtime.

Speaking of Jeff Green, he did garner nine rebounds and played some decent defense in spurts.  But, my oh my, he was woeful in the shooting department: 4 of 18 to be exact, including 0-3 from three-point land.  He looked badly out of synch and seemed to be forcing low-percentage shots.  I'm thinking it's no coincidence that he's been slumping offensively since Rondo has not been there to feed him the ball.  Jeff's not a shot creator.  I've said the same thing about Avery Bradley; but, to Avery's credit, he is not shying away from creating his own shot.  He had a couple of nice unassisted drives for scores and has a pretty good knack for finding openings to fire up his pretty reliable mid-range jumper.

For their part, the Celtics simply lost their poise in overtime, as their turnover tendency finally caught up with them.  After surviving a Bulls onslaught of 9 offensive rebounds in the first quarter, the guys in green had gradually put the brakes on that action, as the Bulls had only six OR in the second quarter and one in the third.  However, it looked as though the Celts bigs had worn down when the Bully Boys returned to their board-crashing habits with 8 OF in the combination of the fourth quarter and the overtime.

I'm not sure whether Brad Stevens is just trying to play Mr. Cool in his rather benign critiques of the Celtics' efforts or whether the repeated frustration is getting to him.  It's obvious that he's having difficulty dealing with the fact that the Celts can't sustain the productive interludes they have in most games. I don't blame him.

Finally, I'm beginning to liken Jae Crowder to Kenneth Faried. Same hops, defensive intensity, nose for the ball and for the hoop, and willingness to get in the middle of the rebounding action.

Go Celtics!

Sam

Evan Ballhog Turner. He was hot and made a lot of shots but his passing was for the most part miserable or at the end nonexistent.

We haven't seen this Jeff Green for some time. I hope he just had a bad night, cause if this continues I wouldn't be sorry to see him and his attitude get traded to another team.

Liking Crowder more and more. Hello, Kelly Olynyk. Are you here? Earth calling Olynyk. Hello, helloooooo?

Green seems to me to be in a funk the past couple games. I saw a shot of him on the court during a break in the Dallas game and he looked very un happy.

Maybe it was the loss or the loss to his old team mate or maybe the trade rumors are getting to him, or maybe the trade of Rondo has effected him...I don't know, but he does seem to be in a funk right now.

Turner was even hitting 3's last night, who knew?

Zeller and Sully played well.....Bass and Kelly were pretty much invisible.

Crowder is active on both ends.

Bradley frustrates me, he hits shots in bunches, then spends long moments shooting like he never saw a ball before.

Pressey works hard when given minutes, but he is just too small to be playing much.


I thought we were going to try to run other teams off the floor?

guess not.


I don't mind losing a close game AT Chicago, even with two starters out. We are supposed to lose this game , but we had a chance.


like others, I hope Stevens can settle on a regular 10 man rotation at some point. I personally like Kelly and Smart both with the second team right now, as I think it will help both playing more against second team players.

"29 more attempted free throws for the Bulls than the Celtics (40-11)

(By the way, Brad said after the game that the officiating was fair and the Bulls were just more aggressive than the Celtics.)"

Stevens does come off, at least in public,  as a dispassionate, fair guy.  I remember once Tommy Henishon's team had a huge free throw advantage and after the game he said something like "Yeah it's true we had 40 FT's to their 12 but we should have been there even more."

You go Tommy.

What really killed me about the game was the Bull's first basket in overtime, a breakaway layup that the Bulls player missed but that Kirk Heinrich followed up uncontested because there were  no Celtic players pass midcourt.

Lack of hustle cannot be excused.

Summing up last night's game viewing experience…

1. Turner can fill it up, needs to continue to get minutes, but not at point guard.

2. Zeller continues to pick it up and look more comfortable.

3. Crowder is a much better than expected pick-up.

4. Wright needs more floor time to be properly evaluated.

5. The Steelers running game was really hurting without Le'Veon Bell.

Did you know the previous channel button can actually leave an imprint on your thumb?

Turner can fill it up, because hes a better ball handler, he can create his own shot and for others better than Green. At crunch time it was terrible to see how far off the shots clanked for Turner and Green, I guess ugly is a fair word. Kelly O is such a defensive liability, maybe that should be his nickname Mr Defensive Liability. As soon as Zeller fouled out, I would have went with Bass or Wright, on the game on thread I said please anybody but KO. Hes hard to hide on defense as Brad has intelligently limited him to only PF's, but when the play came his way he was woefully exposed on Rose's game clinching drive.

Otherwise entertaining close game against the best in the East, love the way Sully battled. I'm noticing 2 teams that I don't think have great personnel, Raptors and Hawks that are playing phenomenally, so maybe with some tinkering, Stevens and the players getting more experience were not that far off. Mr Intimadator would definitely help.

The Celtics match up well against the Bulls.

The Celtics will win these close games once they learn how to execute better down the stretch.  

The Celtics lost the game because they did not get to the free throw line enough.  The Bulls scored 20 more points than the Celtics at the line.  It is a real head scratcher.  How on earth did the Celtics stay in this game to the very end with a -20 at the line?

The Brandon/Brandon split continues.  We are simply not getting production out of that rotation.  

Jeff Green shot the ball poorly but I do not know the reason why.  It is not the first game we have seen where the ball will not drop for him.  There is no real evidence that he is having an attitude problem.  He did look very unhappy in the Dallas game but would you rather he was smiling while the Celtics were getting thrashed?

KO has been struggling a bit the last two games  But his minutes were 16 and 14 in the last two games.  I cannot be upset with KO because he is not a post defender.  By now that is a well documented fact.  However this may have been a good opportunity to have Wright in the game.

Coach Stevens should consider this the next time the team is in a similar situation.  

I agree with NYCelt about Turner at the point however he is probably our best option there until Smart is more comfortable in that role.  

It would be nice if we knew what the Celtics plans are this year as far as making a push for the playoffs.  If we are not in it then why not give Smart and even James Young more minutes to get them ready for next year.  You have to allow Smart to make mistakes in order for him to improve.  Young is a shooter and given the inconsistent shooting we have seen all year long, Young may provide a lift in that area.

Anyways it was an entertaining game.

dboss

It was an entertaining game to watch on a snowy night in Boston.

I think the Bulls are a bunch of cry babies. Noah, Gasol, Brooks, Thibs - STFU already. You got 29 more FTA and you are still complaining? Stop.

I wish Brad Stevens would show a little more fire on nights like this. The team was getting zero calls and were even the victim of many missed out of bounds and travels not called on the Bulls. Speak up for your team man...for god sake.

Turner played well....so did Bradley, Sully and Zeller. Crowder is a great defensive spark off the bench and I like the defensive presence that Wright brings (not sure why he isnt getting more minutes). I like Pressey as a person - but if you cant do a better defensive job on a guy your own size, forget it...you are destined to be a 12th man....or worse, end up in Europe.

I dont see where Berlin is getting that Jeff Green has an attitude problem. The only attitude I saw from his last night was in questioning the refs as to why he never gets the same respect on his drives to the basket, that other NBA 20 PPG scorers get.

Hi,
Yes, it was a good game. Celtics defense, IMO, looked better than their offense. It was kind of painful to see ET trying to go through a wall too many times instead of playing PG. Once again, unfortunately, the outcome of the game in large part was decided by the refs.
As for JG, maybe he should become a drama queen for a few games, pay by a few T's and ref will start to treat him as he deserves.

AK

PS Sorry. Forgot to mention Rose. Great player. Unfortunately, he doesn't look like the old DR. Scal was talking about him, saying he's patient, buying his time, etc. IMHO, unless DR can pull Rondo come playoffs time the Bulls are in deep dodoo.