Post-Game Thread - Preseason vs Nets, Away

[bobheckler]

A game against NBA talent, and it was closer.  Not MUCH closer, but closer.  The 4 point final doesn't tell the tale.

We played without Lee, Smart, Rozier, Bradley.  They played without Barf-nani and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.  How long do you think it'll take for his name to become initials or something like "Ro-Jeff"?

Jarrett Jack got a flagrant 2 and was ejected early in the 2nd for a hard takedown of Jerebko.  Personally, I think it will be reviewed by the league today and downgraded to a flagrant 1, but he was gone last night.  Too bad.  This game means nothing and his presence would have helped us see what we really have.

Strong first half, fell apart a bit in the second.  Brad will have some things to work on today.

1.  Great game by Amir.  I had no idea he could shoot 3s.  2-3 from 3.  He also scored inside on flip shots against the defensively-challenged Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young.  A 12 point first quarter and a 17 point first half.  Played only 7 minutes in the 2nd half as Brad tried to hold to his pre-game promise that no player would play more than 24-28 minutes, with Amir logging 24 total.  2 blocks, 2 steals.  An impressive outing for Danny's free agent signing.

2.  Brad held every player to under 28 minutes except for one, RJ Hunter.  Hunter played a team high 30 minutes.  He's throwing the kid out there to see how many different combos he fits into.  Hunter was 3-8 but 3-7 from 3.  4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 TOs, 4 steals, 1 flying-in-from-the-side block on 6'8" Bogdanovic and 11 points.  Last year you could see that Kelly and Pressey had a nice 2-man thing going.  So far it looks like Hunter and Mickey have that.  A defensive mistake or two, he tried to dribble the clock down with :44 left and turned it over when he got swarmed and should have passed the rock but overall about as good a coming out party for RJ Sniper as he could ask for.  Granted, some of Hunter's minutes came because we were SO thin in the back court but Turner started at SG and he played 25 and IT started and only played 25 so there were a few more minutes they could have played and reduced Hunter's load.  I think Brad might see something in Hunter and is accelerating his development.  Two of his 3s showed his sick, sick range.  I mean, man, his feet weren't within 2-3 feet of the 3-point line and he didn't care.  If he can see the basket, he'll shoot and I have complete confidence in it already.

3.  Crowder was Amir's ally in the first half, showing great energy on offense and defense.  His stat line is ok, but not great, but he did a lot of those unquantifiables.  It looks like he worked on his shot this summer because he looked good taking them.  He covered Joe Johnson for most of the night and for most of the night Joe Johnson wasn't even in the building.  Joe's done, I think.  Maybe that's not fair to say after just one pre-season game but he didn't show me much last year, his scoring and fg% /36mpg were down, and he's 34 years old.  15 years, which is what this season would be, is a long time for a guard.  Good.  This is the year to lose it, Joe.  Lose it all.

4.  Zeller played a solid, albeit not overly impressive game.  He frustrated Lopez in the first half.  Lopez asserted himself in the 2nd but still only ended up with 12 points and 5 rebounds in 27 minutes.  Zeller only played 15 minutes, with 6 points and 3 boards.  So, the numbers/minute come out close.  I don't know why Z only played 15, I don't think he looked that bad, but it tells me that Brad thinks we still need a legit starting center.

5.  Kelly looked good.  He picked up 4 fouls but just about all of them were from him crashing the offensive boards, one of which he got and made a great pass for an assist from the baseline.  I'm ok with this.  With our depth at that position I like it that he's not holding back, he's being aggressive and trying to disrupt their transition rhythm by contesting rebounds.  On offense he definitely looks more comfortable and aggressive.  He had shots and he took them.  11 points on 4-6 and 2-4 from 3.  He hit 2 3s in a row that turned around a Net rally that had cut the lead down to 4.  4 assists and only 1 TO.  Between him and Lee we have a real battle for the "point BIG forward" spot.

6.  If you had asked me a year ago I would never have said that Jared Sullinger is the worst big on our roster.  He is obviously not feeling comfortable with being down on the depth chart.  Kelly penetrated, with time running out in the 1st half and made a beautiful dish to Sully who blew the bunny at the buzzer.  It's not the miss, anybody can miss, it was that he didn't look like he was expecting the pass.  Always expect the pass.   Sully was 1-8 on the night and only 2 rebounds.  A very UN-Sully game.  He just looks out of place and plays like it.  Trader Danny is starting to twitch, Vlade Divac's phone is starting to hum and buzz.  Gotta give Sully a Tommy Point for going to the floor and stealing the ball from Jarrett Jack out at half court.  He was all by himself out there against the much, much faster man and he was able to tick the ball away enough for Jack to lose control and then Sully dove for it like he was KG.  He then threw a beautiful bounce pass, from his butt, to the streaking Jerebko.  That was the play that Jack got frustrated at being stripped and put his shoulder into Jerebko without going for the ball and getting ejected for his effort.  Sully did not have a good night, but he looked good on that play.

7.  Sully's ostensible replacement on the depth chart, Jonas Jerebko, played a very active game, defending all over the floor.  Not a big stat night, but he just plays with energy and that separates him from Sully.

8.  In the Battle-of-the-Bubble I saw a tie, again.  Perry Jones showed more versatility on offense, some weakness on defense but not a lot of effectiveness.  Same with Young, who didn't do much until the end and it was complete garbage time.  He did, however, come up with a spectacular transition defense flying block out of nowhere on 7'0, 265# Chris Daniels.  Credit where credit is due.  Still a flip of the coin, if you look at performances-preseason-to-date.

9.  If Thaddeus Young goes down this year they hurtle in a terminal velocity descent right to the bottom.  If the Nets start off slow (and their Oct/Nov schedule goes Bulls, Spurs, Griz, Bucks, Lakers, Bucks, Rockets, Kings, GSW, Hawks, Hornets, Boston, Boston, OKC, Cavs, Pistons.  So, they could conceivably be 1-15 by the end of November, with their only W vs the Lakers at home) and Young goes down then it's a horse race for the #1 pick with the Sixers.  The difference is, though, is that Hinkie will gut his team to make sure he gets the #1 pick while Brooklyn has no incentive to lose.  We own their pick.  Heehee.  Young played a man's game last night.  He was the only Net that showed up.  Always liked him.

10.  Shane Larkin is one quick mofo.  IT couldn't stay in front of him.  Larkin couldn't stay in front of IT neither, but who can?  IT with 17 points on 6-10, 3-5 from 3.  Ho hum.  He also had 9 assists and 3 TOs in his first start.  A well rounded game (except for his defense on Larkin).

11.  Turner with his usual 5 boards, 7 assists, 1 TO, 10 point box score.  Nothing great but solid in every area.

12.  We were 13-26 from 3 with Hunter and IT leading the way with 3 3pt fgm, going 6-12 between them.  That's why Brad played Hunter so much.  IT is the only player we could count on last year for helping to spread the floor with his shooting.  Now, we have Hunter.  That job should have gone to Young, but...

13.  Statistical Roundup:  We shot 47% on 85fgas.  We're going to win quite a few games if that's our average.  That's not bad at all.  44 points in the paint and 18 fast break points.  Nice balance.  18 fast break points is a very nice number.  28 assists on 40fgm is 65%.  Another very nice number.  9 blocks.  When was the last time we had 9 blocks?  7 different Celtics had a block.

As I said above, regardless of how well we do we could be in very good shape as far as draft standings go by the end of November.  Billy King will be looking to trade whatever talent he has to try and upgrade because he doesn't have a lot of youth coming in to his organization over the next few years, courtesy of Trader Danny.  If he blows his team up, then they might even get worse in the short-term and a short-term implosion is just fine by me.


It was fun to watch.  I can't wait until we play a real NBA team.  We play the Knicks on Friday.  I may have to wait a little longer, although it will be interesting to see how Porzingis does.  Don't be surprised if you see a nice 2-man game between 7'+" Kristaps Porzingis and 7'0" Robin Lopez.


bob



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[bobheckler]

Injury Update: Marcus Smart has strep throat, so he'll be out Friday too. Rozier is also expected to miss the game to rest his knee. Bradley will be back, but that still leaves the back court sufficently thin for Hunter to get some more minutes, and exposure.

bob


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[rambone]

Great recap Bob, better than Forsberg at espnboston.com.

It's too bad espnboston has such a rigid top-down structure. Write-ups like this should get published there regularly, if not every game.

[rambone]

[gyso]

I couldn't watch the game, some kind of SNAFU with NBA League Pass. I gotta get it straightened out by the next game!

Thanks for the recap, Bob. It's always the highlight of the day after a game.

gyso

[bobheckler]

I couldn't watch the game, some kind of SNAFU with NBA League Pass.  I gotta get it straightened out by the next game!

Thanks for the recap, Bob.  It's always the highlight of the day after a game.

gyso

gyso,

goatd.net

My new go-to.


bob


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[rambone]

RJ Hunter Full Highlights 2015 10 14 at Nets 11 Pts 4 Assists

[bobheckler]

Thanks for the video, rambone.

I forgot about Kelly's great wraparound interior pass to Amir for the reverse jam. At about 1:00 of the first video. Kelly looked sharp. He got into a little bit of trouble on a penetration and was in danger of turning it over but still had the court sense to tap it to IT for the 3 and the assist. An assist vs a turnover? Take it every time and twice on Sunday.

FYI, to all, the second video is the entire game, if you missed it or didn't record it.


bob


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[sinus007]

Bobh,
Thanks for the great summary.
I wish Celtics could make 50% from 3pt every game.
I think RJH was da man despite a few defensive lapses.

Gyso,
I also had SNAFU with League Pass. I found out that it doesn't include pre-season game for TV (I have DirecTV). I bought it, individual team pass, through NBA.com. I managed to watch the game first on my iphone and then on my desktop after activation. The picture quality was very decent. I wonder how I can program a recording of a game.

AK

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