Post-Game Thread, 15ers - Home

[bobheckler]

My first thought after this game was "why can't we play the 15ers every night?".  Then it occurred to me that it really doesn't matter who we play.  We've become a legit threat and will play competitively against almost everybody and anybody.  Blow outs, however, are always welcome.  I mean, who's going to turn down a 38-18 first quarter?

Philly color commentator, Malik Rose, pointed out that the Sixers players weren't talking.  They weren't calling out defensive switches, they weren't calling out back picks and neither was their bench.  Brad Stevens would call a play and no Sixer would say a word.  The Celtics, he noted, were not only quite vocal on defense the Celtic bench was active, involved and calling out stuff to the players on the floor too.  The 15ers played like dead men walking in the 1st half.  That's what happens when you get used to losing, expect to lose and accept that as being your likely fate.  It's cancer.  Brad deserves rich credit for not letting the losses from last year and the beginning of this year to eat into the players' souls.  Brett Brown is trying like hell, as all coaches do, but Sam Hinkie is wearing a bright red suit to the Sixers' funeral.  There oughta be a law...

1.  Avery Bradley and Tyler Zeller fueled that first quarter.  They were a combined 9-10 for a total 20 of the Celt's 38 that quarter.  Bradley was 2-2 from 3 and 2-3 from mid-range while Zeller killed them from inside and out.  This is the 2nd game in a row where Tyler Zeller had a steady, sure stroke from mid-range.  Nerlens Noel did NOT want to follow him out to the elbow and Zeller made him pay.  Zeller also ran the floor, beating Noel downcourt on a fast break.  A career high 26 points for Tyler Zeller.  Did Danny take my advice and fly his parents into Boston?  Whatever is causing this, whatever you do, keep it up!  Zeller ended up 11-15 and Bradley had 20 points on 8-14, 4-7 from downtown.

2.  Zeller's counterpart, Noel, had a good outing, I thought.  His hometown return behind him, he settled down a bit.  He had 6 points in the first quarter on a variety of jumpshots and paint jobs.  He ended up with 18 points on 7-15 and his average is 9.2ppg, 12.9 over the last 10 games, so he was playing over his head a bit.  He only had one block but he made people think about taking it to him.  When they didn't, like Evan Turnover did once, he just screwed them up.  There is a thread discussing whether he was worth trading for.  One game does not a season make.  Given the choice between a 6'11", 228# toothpick and a 7'+, 220# toothpick who can run, block, shoot and already has a few years of pro experience, I'd go with Porzingis, personally.  Noel is only 20, but Porzingis is 19.  Noel played part of a year of college ball and sat out last year with his ACL.  Porzingis has been playing in one of the toughest leagues outside the NBA in the world.  His nightly competition has been tougher than what Noel faced at Kentucky.  I do want length, though, wherever it comes from.

3.  After a couple of uncharacteristically stone-handed turnovers by the normally Steady Eddie Brandon Bass, I thought it wasn't his night.  Then he scored a couple of buckets, ending with 12 points on 6-10.  He just pulls himself together and gets the job done.  I've noticed that there seem to be players that have developed really good two-man chemistry.  One of those pairs is Phil and Kelly.  Bass and Zeller seem to be another.  This is the 2nd game where I can point to at least one play where TPFKANPB ("The Player Formerly Known As No-Pass Bass") would get into the paint and then dish to Tyler Zeller, who sneaks in baseline while his man was preoccupied with the Bass penetration.  It has worked really, really well and helps to offset whatever deficiency in height we may have by forcing the defense to react to something and then be late getting back to their assignments.

4.  Another one of these two-man chemistry experiments is Gigi and Jae.  This is the 2nd game in a row where they have been looking for each other, with Crowder being on the receiving end of a very alert, heady pass by Datome.  In both the Indy game and last night, Gigi hit Crowder underneath for layups.  In the Indy game it was an almost-mid shot foul line pass to Crowder off a baseline cut underneath and last night it had to be a 25' pass, minimum from Gigi to Crowder underneath for a layup.  Individually, Gigi was one of 7 Celtics in double-digits, shooting 4-8 for 10 points, 2-4 from 3.  He hit his first two threes, then missed his next two and I said "ok, Gigi, that's enough.  Now try something else".  Sure enough, he starts moving with the ball.  He hit one baseline shot with a very high degree of difficulty over multiple defenders.  At 6'8" he has NBA SF size.  What really impressed me last night about Gigi, though, was his defense.  3 blocks.  3!  One was a great chase-down block that prevented a fast break layup.  Stats aside, he was moving his muffins on defense well, not letting his man choose which way he was going to come off of a pick and not giving too much daylight up for a shot.  All-round a very, very credible defensive game by Gigi last night.  The Philly play-by-play announcer, Marc Zumoff, kept repeating with incredulity in his voice "this guy couldn't BUY time off the Pistons' bench!" everytime Gigi blocked a shot, hit a 3 or did something well.  Boil it down and we got this guy, Jerebko and a 2nd round pick (Austin Rivers) for Green.  I like Jeff Green, I wish him well, but I'm feeling pretty good about this.  We got two ballers out of that.

5.  "Two white guys and a shrimp" is how one poster from a "Comments from the other side" thread described who beat them.  The shrimp they were referring to was Isaiah Thomas but the shrimp killing other teams now is Phil Pressey.  Phil is really standing tall.  He is a remarkably good defender for such a small guy.  He gets right up under them and if they put the ball anywhere near him he is ball-hawking it.  Not a good shooting night for him and his two-man game teammate, Kelly, a combined 1-13 for Mutt and Jeff (you gotta be a certain age to recognize that reference) but Phil injects energy like IT and Crowder does.  Three steals and they weren't just playing the passing lane types.  He was sucking balls right out of their hands as they cut through the lane.  A great example of how boxscores don't reveal the whole truth.

6.  Crowder with another glue game.  In a system that rewards energy and movement he is a key cog.  He's often defending their toughest wing and still moves to receive passes from Gigi and fast break passes from Phil.  His stat line last night was nice; 10 points on 5-7, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 0 turnovers but that doesn't really sum it up.  His hands are in everything, or near everything or swiping at everything.  We need a shot blocker/rim protector/paint protector.  Why?  Because we need to make people think twice about driving into the lane.  Well, when you turn the corner and you feel like you're running a gauntlet because Jae Crowder and Marcus Smart and Phil Pressey are swiping at the ball as you go by, that's just about as good.  It makes you think about other things besides where the rim is and who might between you and it and that's disruptive defense.  Dare I ask?  Who is the more valuable player to the Celtics?  Rajon Rondo or the one player left standing in green from that trade?  Jae Crowder is making his case night-in-and-night-out.

7.  Despite Phil Olynyk's 1-13 we still shot 50% as a team.  It has been a long time since we shot that well.  It has to be a confidence builder although we've become such a creature of Brad's demeanor I'm not sure it has as much of an impression as I'm making it out to be.  They are grinders and if the shots aren't dropping they will just grind you into sausage with their defense anyway.  They don't care, they aren't effected either way, they just keep grinding.  

8.  Smart was 4-10 last night, which is actually good for him I'm sorry to say, but he kept Jason Richardson from exploding.  At age 34 JRich isn't the player he used to be but like all great scorers they can go on a run just by hitting a few in a row (Jerry Stackhouse lit us up on multiple occasions while he was on his last legs.  It's what they do).  Richardson scored 2 points on 1-7.  So, mediocre game or not he did what you expect a defensive-oriented player to do, Smart shut down his opposite number.  It's hard to remember he's a rookie, especially when you compare him to James Young, who really does look like a rookie.

9.  As has become the norm, we had fewer turnovers than our opponent.  44fgm on 27 assists for 61% is solid.  88fgas is nice pace, although we do seem to run a bit hotter than that in general.  Oh well, after the first quarter we were in cruise mode.  Philly made a run that got it down to 15 or so in the 2nd half and we just put our sneakers on their throats and said "oh no you don't" and pushed it back up to 20+.

10.  Poor Gerald Wallace.  Didn't even get to play in a blow-out.  Brad's only healthy DNP.  I hope Danny can trade him next year, not because I don't like him or because of his salary, we're going to have plenty of money under the cap even with him, but because he deserves better.  He's been a good soldier, good teammate and veteran locker room presence and you never him so much as give a negative hiccup.

Miami beat the Cavs, Indy lost their 2nd in a row (have they lost their post all-star game mojo?) and Charlotte got obliterated by Utah (a team we beat).  ESPN is saying we are in 9th place despite having identical records with Indy and Miami.

The last 5 game winning streak ended on March 10, 2013 when the Boston Celtics of Pierce/KG/Bradley/Lee/Bass beat Atlanta in OT.  That's over 2 years ago.  As you no doubt painfully remember, that was the year we lost 4-2 to the Knicks in the first round of the playoffs and those classless clowns wore black to the game, like they were undertakers going to a funeral, after going up 3-0.  It was the end of that era as Danny saw there was no way out of that box without wholesale changes.

Charlotte at the Clippers tonight.  Portland at Miami and Indy at Chicago tomorrow night and we're on the road in OKC.  Serge Ibaka is out with knee surgery, so that will be interesting how they handle that.  He is a KEY cog.  After that it's Indy @ Cleveland on Friday, Denver @ Miami but we have to go to San Antonio.  That will be a real test.  


bob


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[BaronV]

They should have had Geno on at the end of the 1st quarter last night. The Sixers are an embarrassment.

-V

[sinus007]

Hi,
For whatever reason I was more excited about last night's win than about wins over Mia, Indy and Mem. Probably because I was afraid that after a successful run Celtics stumble over one of the worst teams. Phew... they got it. Now if they dispatch NYK they should get into playoffs.

AK

[Sam]

Guess what.  Posting on another thread, I came to the realization that this team (as currently constituted and including Isaiah Thomas) is using a style of play very close to that of the Russell Celtics.  I'm by no means comparing their success rates—simply remarking on playing style.  Up-tempo; intense, energetic, and durable; driven by pride; tight defense (the difference being that the current team relies much more on trapping and double-teams); and teamwork, teamwork, teamwork.

Coming from me, even the hint of a comparison between the two approaches is a huge compliment.  Another major difference is that the Russell Celtics had all of these characteristics in depth, whereas I suspect the current team is playing very close to over their heads.

Either way, it was/is extremely entertaining.

Go Celtics.

Sam

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