Official Boston Celtics Thread

[tonybologna]

Re: Official Boston Celtics Thread

This Celtics team just aren't together. You can see the frustration just growing & growing on their faces. Kyrie is showing it more than any other player but they ALL are looking down. I just don't see us making a run now. We are going to probably end up either 4th or 5th in the Eastern Conference. Of course, us Celtics fans would prefer the 4th spot to have home court advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.

To me though, I don't even think we will make it past the 2nd Round of the playoffs if we were to win the opening round matchup. 2 reasons for this. One is we would be playing either the Bucks or Raptors. Secondly, we just don't show no urgency or care to now to be a contending team.

It's a shame because coming into this season we were the favorites to be in the NBA Finals against the Warriors. It hasn't worked out with Hayward. I don't know what's going on there but Hayward now looks like a washed up player after coming to Boston from Utah as a star player. I know he was seriously injured last season but he's showing no signs of that leg injury even remotely bothering him. Something just isn't right & I believe it has to do with his role on the team just like so many other players. Stevens hasn't been able to use all this talent in the right way in 2018-19.

Could we get it together & make a Finals run? Sure we can because of the talent we have but it's not looking likely at all. We were a better team last season in the playoffs with Kyrie injured & Rozier being our starting PG. Makes no sense really because Kyrie is doing all he can & more. Rozier has been the one that's struggled off the bench. He will have a good game every once in a while but nothing consistent.

If we don't start getting more out of both Hayward & Rozier then this team is done as far as making a Finals run. Horford has picked up his scoring & overall play the last 8-10 games as well as Jaylen Brown but for us to make a serious run we are going to need Hayward & Rozier off the bench to provide much more than they have thus far this season.

The 76ers with what they did at the Trade Deadline has definitely surpassed us. We are only 2.5 GB of them for 4th place in the East & 3 GB of the Pacers for 3rd but the 76ers have the better team now it appears over us & the Pacers. I expect the 76ers to end up as the #3 seed. We will be fighting with the Pacers for that 4th spot.

[tonybologna]

Re: Official Boston Celtics Thread

ESPN article on Gordon Hayward: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...d-hardest-part

I said a lot of this same stuff from this article about Hayward in my previous post.

[tonybologna]

Re: Official Boston Celtics Thread

This Celtics team is really frustrating the heck out of me. Just lost to the Hornets tonight. The weird thing is the Pacers are stumbling worse than us in the last 2 weeks. We are in 4th place right now in the East but only 1 GB of the Pacers for 4th. Some might say what's the big deal if we get 4th or 5th. Well, home court advantage is the BIG DEAL.

We would prefer to have home court advantage for the 1st Round regardless of who we play & it looks like 4th & 5th is most definitely coming down to us & the Pacers. The Pistons are 5 GB of us & the Pacers are 3 1/2 GB of the 76ers for 3rd so almost a lock 4th & 5th place in the East will come down to the Pacers & Celtics.

I have noticed something the past 2-3 weeks about this team. We are bringing Jaylen Brown off the bench & have been all season long. He has been the 2nd best player on this team behind Kyrie for the 3+ weeks of the season. We are starting Smart instead & I think we need to put Smart back coming off the bench & Brown starting. Nothing Coach Stevens tries seems to work though.

Hayward is out injured right now & Horford missed tonight's game with a banged up knee. I think we must have Horford healthy to even have a chance at making a run to the NBA Finals. Horford has been playing well but the knee injury he suffered wasn't his already bad knee. It was his other one & he seems hobbled pretty bad by it. Wouldn't be surprised if he missed 2-3 more games but I sure hope it's nothing serious.

Kyrie is doing ALL he can do to take this team to wins. Yes, he seemed very frustrated with this team earlier on this season but he's not allowing his frustrations to effect his game. Rozier has picked his play up in recent games so that's a plus but it's not translating to wins for this team.

Kevin Durant stated on camera that he said this Celtics team would be fine come playoff time but I'm not so sure about that myself. He said that after we beat the Warriors @ Oracle by 35 points about a month ago. LOL! That game was our best all around game this season & we did it without having Kyrie for that game. Just shows what this team is capable of doing when it plays together & up to their talent.

[BleacherBum2310]

Re: Official Boston Celtics Thread

Nah I really don't care about home court. If Horford/Heyward are healthy that's what matters. I'm more concerned about Brad's stupid rotations and the amount he plays Marcus Morris and Terry Rozier.

I was pretty focused on benching Morris for Jaylen or Hayward because Mook freaking stinks and has for 2 months but Jaylen and Hayward bench units really work well and if you limit Mook's minutes it really doesn't matter the minutes he's starting.

and with how good Kyrie is I'm less concerned about their ability to play on the road in the playoffs.

This team has not been fun at all though. What's annoying is their best beats anyone not named GSW that's what's so annoying about this team and I still believe they flip the switch in the playoffs.

[tonybologna]

Re: Official Boston Celtics Thread

Nah I really don't care about home court. If Horford/Heyward are healthy that's what matters. I'm more concerned about Brad's stupid rotations and the amount he plays Marcus Morris and Terry Rozier.

I was pretty focused on benching Morris for Jaylen or Hayward because Mook freaking stinks and has for 2 months but Jaylen and Hayward bench units really work well and if you limit Mook's minutes it really doesn't matter the minutes he's starting.

and with how good Kyrie is I'm less concerned about their ability to play on the road in the playoffs.

This team has not been fun at all though. What's annoying is their best beats anyone not named GSW that's what's so annoying about this team and I still believe they flip the switch in the playoffs.

I guess my reply was over emphasizing home court. I meant to say I would like for us to get the 4th spot to have home court advantage but we don't need home court to beat the Pacers. I do think though home court would be more important as the playoffs advance & even in the 2nd Round. We do not want to be playing the Bucks in a non home court advantage series but that's the way it will be if we win in the 1st Round. There's still a chance the Raptors can pass the Bucks up for that #1 spot. Either team will be a tough matchup period but not having home court against either one of these teams I just don't see us being able to knock them out.

Like you said though maybe we can turn it on in the playoffs. I do agree with you about Steven's & his rotations. He doesn't seem to know how to handle players minutes on the court. I know why he wants Smart on the court as much as possible. It's because of his defense. However, even though his 3-pt. shot has improved this season he still makes bad/forced plays on offense. He's also a hothead when it comes to physical play from another player but he's fine with himself playing that way.

If he's going to play physical then he has to be able to receive it back without losing his cool. I'm concerned about Horford now. His knee injury from the game the other day might be more serious than what's being reported. He could barely walk after that incident on the court. He made it look like he was OK but I don't think he is & if we don't have him @ at least 80% then we're going to be in trouble & the Pacers could bounce us in the 1st Round. We are going to need both Baynes & Theis to step up if Horford can't play or is limited. They too have been banged up off & on this whole season.

I also think we need to have both Irving & Rozier on the court together. Rozier is ALWAYS the one subbing in for Irving. Why not put Rozier in for Smart & move Irving to SG with Rozier running PG? They could have at least a few minutes on the court together each half that way. They are never on the court together. Brown is usually on the court with Rozier for the backcourt. Stevens has got to reconsider/look at these rotations. They are not working. It's time to try something else because after 70+ games this team isn't the team we were supposed to be.

[BleacherBum2310]

Re: Official Boston Celtics Thread

I guess my reply was over emphasizing home court. I meant to say I would like for us to get the 4th spot to have home court advantage but we don't need home court to beat the Pacers. I do think though home court would be more important as the playoffs advance & even in the 2nd Round. We do not want to be playing the Bucks in a non home court advantage series but that's the way it will be if we win in the 1st Round. There's still a chance the Raptors can pass the Bucks up for that #1 spot. Either team will be a tough matchup period but not having home court against either one of these teams I just don't see us being able to knock them out.

Like you said though maybe we can turn it on in the playoffs. I do agree with you about Steven's & his rotations. He doesn't seem to know how to handle players minutes on the court. I know why he wants Smart on the court as much as possible. It's because of his defense. However, even though his 3-pt. shot has improved this season he still makes bad/forced plays on offense. He's also a hothead when it comes to physical play from another player but he's fine with himself playing that way.

If he's going to play physical then he has to be able to receive it back without losing his cool. I'm concerned about Horford now. His knee injury from the game the other day might be more serious than what's being reported. He could barely walk after that incident on the court. He made it look like he was OK but I don't think he is & if we don't have him @ at least 80% then we're going to be in trouble & the Pacers could bounce us in the 1st Round. We are going to need both Baynes & Theis to step up if Horford can't play or is limited. They too have been banged up off & on this whole season.

I also think we need to have both Irving & Rozier on the court together. Rozier is ALWAYS the one subbing in for Irving. Why not put Rozier in for Smart & move Irving to SG with Rozier running PG? They could have at least a few minutes on the court together each half that way. They are never on the court together. Brown is usually on the court with Rozier for the backcourt. Stevens has got to reconsider/look at these rotations. They are not working. It's time to try something else because after 70+ games this team isn't the team we were supposed to be.

against MIL i could see it. I would rather face MIL vs TOR though. BOS matches up way better vs MIL. Yeah Horford is the key so I like Resting him to make sure he's 100% for the playoffs. He's looked fine in matchups like vs PHI or the big games but it's certainly been a problem. Baynes is probably one of the most important players on the team because even when Horford goes out the D doesn't suffer that much with Baynes. He's so vital to this team. I'm glad the injury wasn't as severe as they thought. I only like Theis in stretches. He's been more liability this year. I'm the opposite on Rozier. He's been so bad this year I'm wondering what he has on Brad because honestly I don't think Wanamaker wouldn't of been better off getting some of his minutes. I'm still fine with Smart as a starter. now that he's actually legit good from 3 and while his temper/fire and shot selection can be an issue he also adds value with his playmaking along with the obvious 1st team all defense he provides.

[tonybologna]

Re: Official Boston Celtics Thread

against MIL i could see it. I would rather face MIL vs TOR though. BOS matches up way better vs MIL. Yeah Horford is the key so I like Resting him to make sure he's 100% for the playoffs. He's looked fine in matchups like vs PHI or the big games but it's certainly been a problem. Baynes is probably one of the most important players on the team because even when Horford goes out the D doesn't suffer that much with Baynes. He's so vital to this team. I'm glad the injury wasn't as severe as they thought. I only like Theis in stretches. He's been more liability this year. I'm the opposite on Rozier. He's been so bad this year I'm wondering what he has on Brad because honestly I don't think Wanamaker wouldn't of been better off getting some of his minutes. I'm still fine with Smart as a starter. now that he's actually legit good from 3 and while his temper/fire and shot selection can be an issue he also adds value with his playmaking along with the obvious 1st team all defense he provides.

Rozier was pretty bad for 2/3 of the season but the last 8-10 games go check his stats. He's playing much better now & is getting more minutes because of it. I admit for about 50+ plus games Rozier looked like someone that belonged in the G-League. Wannamaker probably would have been a better option during those times but now that Rozier is playing like he should then Wannamaker can't be an option.

I was just thinking about how we have used Smart since we drafted him. He's been coming off the bench ever since he's been a Celtic. It's worked out pretty well that way. Smart can score more than earlier in his career but he's our lock down defender. This league has now become a scoring league with the defense not showing the ability to stop other teams. That's why I think Jaylen Brown is a better option starting @ SG.

Not only can Brown provide more scoring he can also play solid defense, he's taller than Smart, & can get more rebounds. Smart in my opinion should be used more in games where we have a lead & trying to hold onto that lead comfortably by using his defense instead of having him in there to close out games where we are either down or trying to finish off games. Those situations we need more offensive minded players. I will say though Smart's offense has improved a ton just since from last season.

He can now shoot the 3 decently & make some crazy shots driving to the basket. However, he's still our main defender & can guard positions 1-4. Going back to Brown. The last 5 games Brown has scored quite a few points in only limited minutes. The other night in only 20 minutes on the court he scored 24 points. He only missed 2 shots & was like 9-11 from the field with four 3-pointers. Smart just isn't going to provide us that type of offense on a consistent basis.

The good thing about Brown is he hasn't complained one single bit about his lack of minutes all season long so he keeps quiet & does his job when he's out there. He's certainly not causing any rift in the media like Kyrie has off & on all season long. The latest when Kyrie called out Brad Stevens coaching style I don't have a problem with though. He's right about what he said whether people like it or not.

[tonybologna]

Re: Official Boston Celtics Thread

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26354307/celtics-projecting-confidence-losses-pile-up

I'm glad the team is not worried about their sorry play especially as of late. I certainly am very concerned when it comes to this same time last season. I wasn't worried/concerned at all about the Celtics team from 2017-18 heading into the playoffs. We were the #2 seed & was playing well just about the entire season. We are a totally different team now with how we play together on the court.

We as Celtics fans should have concerns but I'm glad the players don't seem to think so. Maybe they have more confidence than it appears or they are lying through their teeth about it to make other teams think they are fine. There's nothing in front of our eyes that tells us this team is glooming with confidence. Nothing at all!

[tonybologna]

Re: Official Boston Celtics Thread

Horford with a big triple-double tonight (19 points, 11 rebounds, & 10 assists) for us against the Heat @ home in a 110-105 win. This victory combined with the Pacers win over the Pistons tonight keeps us in a T-4th place in the East with the Pacers with both teams having records of 46-32. A lot of people & even some of you Celtics guys here think it's not a big deal whether we finish 4th or 5th in the regular season standings.

I would say that with last year's team but with the inconsistent play this season I think it's very important for us to have home court advantage for the 1st Round of the playoffs. The Pacers are no juggernaut without Oladipo but they're still a good team & we need home court advantage I feel to beat them.

Can we beat them not having home court advantage? Sure we can if we play our game but this team for 2019 is better suited having home court advantage in any series. Besides, the opening round series is probably the only playoff series we're going to have a chance for home court anyhow. If we can beat the Pacers regardless of who has home court advantage then most likely it's the Bucks next.

The Raptors would have to make up 2 1/2 games in these last 5 regular season games to take over 1st place in the East. Jaylen Brown was out for tonight's game due to back spasms so let's hope there's nothing serious going on there because he's been playing well off the bench for the last 8-10 games.

[tonybologna]

Re: Official Boston Celtics Thread

Big game coming up tonight @ the Pacers. It's hard to say that any single NBA game during the regular season is a big game but this one is for sure. Since we are tied with the Pacers for 4th place in the East then this one game with only 3 games left for us will most likely determine home court advantage for the 1st Round of the playoffs against these same Pacers.

I know some of you other Celtic guys don't think it's a big deal whether we get home court advantage or not. Let me explain why it's important for this years team. We are not as good away from home as we were last season. We do have a pretty solid record though against the Eastern Conference @ 33-16.

That's good enough for 3rd in the East & only 1 1/2 games behind the 2nd place Raptors @ 35-15. We are ahead of both the Pacers & 76ers in Conference records. However, away from home we are 19-20 & that places us T-6th in the East for away records. The Heat are even better than us away from home with a 20-18 record. @ home though we are 28-12 & that's good enough for 4th in the East which is the position we're tied for right now with the Pacers.

Take the Pacers on the other hand. They are 18-22 on the road & 29-10 @ home. They will be either 30-10 or 29-11 @ home after our game with them tonight. This information clearly shows we need home court advantage even in the 1st Round. The Pacers have a better home court record than us all be it by just by 1 1/2 games as of right now. They are a worse road team than we are too but only by 1 1/2 games.

This of course adds up to us being tied with them for 4th in the East. I have to admit when Oladipo went down with the season ending injury I thought the Pacers would fold & decline. Not saying they wouldn't have made the playoffs but I thought if they did they would end up being no better than 7th & more likely 8th place. They haven't folded & that's because of their inside play of Myles Turner & Domantas Sabonis.

Turner has also changed into an outside shooter as well. Collison & Bogdanovic have also stepped up their game as well. Getting Wesley Matthews right after the trade deadline in a waiver deal was a smart move by them. Matthews is a 2-way player that can score & is a tough defender. He's helped their defense tremendously along with Turner who leads the league in blocked shots. Doug McDermott who has never showed any signs of being the player that was drafted has been playing much better in the past 2 weeks.

Cory Joseph & Kyle O'Quinn are solid role players. Thaddeus Young had a solid 1st 30- 40 games of the season but he's come back to Earth since then but he still averages 12.6 points & 6.5 rebounds per game. Tyreke Evans also averages double figures in points & it seems like he's been in the NBA for 20 years. LOL!

I do not think with last years Celtics team it would have mattered if we had home court advantage or not. This is a different Celtics team though guys. We just play flat on the road. No lead is safe for us on the road either. We have blown 2 games this season on the road in which we had 25+ point leads. I think in the playoffs @ home we will feed even more off our home crowd.

I think it's very possible whether we have home court advantage or the Pacers have home court advantage this series has a 70%+ chance of going 7 games. We DO NOT want to play a game 7 in the opening round @ the Pacers. Not saying we can't win a game 7 on the road against them but I wouldn't like our chances.

If we can play like we should & are capable of playing & flip that switch then we can beat the Pacers regardless of home court advantage but nothing this season has shown we can flip a switch. I really think the biggest problem has been with Stevens & his player rotations. However, we can't blame our sorry defense at times on player rotations. We must play better defense like we did the past 3 seasons if we want to have a chance in the postseason.

[jeremym480]

Re: Official Boston Celtics Thread

I'd love HCA but if this team plays to it's potential, then I don't think it matters that much. Hopefully, they don't prove me wrong. I think Indiana is a fine, well coached team, with some very solid players. However, I don't think that they have the top end talent to hang with us.

I still think the main problem with this team is too much depth. It's a weird problem to have but it's like the law of diminishing returns. And you can see it when some guys are out, other get more minutes and they play better. I'm hoping that Stevens really shortens his rotations in the playoffs and limits both Morris and Rozier to about half of what they're getting now.

Another key though is our centers staying healthy. This team will only go as far as Horford can take them. He's just so solid at everything and I'm not sure where this team would be without him. Baynes is a huge difference maker for this team and him missing so much time is a big reason for their so-so regular season. Boston really needs his size and toughness down low. I like Theis but he gets eaten alive by bigger centers. He's okay in spurts but (if one of the top guys go down) you can't rely on him to play major minutes in the playoffs.


As much as I've been annoyed by this team, I'm still hoping that they can flip a switch and make huge playoff run. It's all going to be about early success too. I hate to say it because this is something that we haven't had a problem with in the past... but this team has a bit of a "front runner" mentality. I don't even like how they look once things go bad and they face adversity in a game, I can only imagine if they get behind 0-2 or 1-3 in a series. I feel like the likelihood of them imploding is much higher than them coming together and fighting through it. I guess we'll see soon enough...

[BleacherBum2310]

Re: Official Boston Celtics Thread

They seem to really have something wit Horford/Baynes starting lineup, The +- numbers are off the charts.

Also one reason I'm not giving up on them especially in the playoffs is when Horford is on the court they are a really good team. It's when he goes off they become one of the worst teams in the league and he's especially good not on back to backs and they're are no back to backs in the playoffs. in the playoffs He prob goes from 32-33 mins to 35-38. That's seems small but that's so huge.

and Hayward is looking good again.

Also I don't care about Home Court mainly in the 1st round because if you can't beat the Pacers with no Dipo you don't deserve to advance plain and simple.

[tonybologna]

Re: Official Boston Celtics Thread

We certainly looked like the Celtics team we are supposed to be in whipping the Pacers butts on Friday night. Hayward is now looking to be 100% healthy & is playing his best basketball of the season. That is wonderful for us heading into the playoffs. I agree with you guys though. Horford seems to be the key guy on this team that makes this train go. It's not Kyrie even though we know Kyrie is the best overall offensive weapon that we have.

Horford brings scoring, rebounds, & blocked shots. We're a different team when he's not on the court. Jaylen Brown missed his 3rd straight game with back spasms. I wonder if we will even play him these last 2 games? On one hand I would say yes because he had been playing well the previous 8-10 games before the back problems popped up.

On the other hand we need him for the playoffs so why take a chance & him get seriously injured with that back & lose him for the postseason? I still think getting a little playing time in each of these last 2 games might be the better idea because we do not want him to get rusty going into the playoffs. That's if he's even capable of playing these last 2 games. There's no guarantees that's the case.

[tonybologna]

Re: Official Boston Celtics Thread

Well, even with the loss today to the Magic we have wrapped up the 4th spot in the East. There are some major concerns though now on top of the team's overall playing concerns. Both Marcus Smart & Jayson Tatum had to leave the game today with injuries. Smart is said to be a deep thigh bruise & Tatum just a leg contusion. Jalyen Brown did play today but the Celtics weren't planning to play him until the injury to Tatum. He's dealing with a back problem.

We now have 3 players with real injury concerns (Smart, Tatum, & Brown) & we also have to add Horford who has suffered off & on all season long with knee soreness coming from both knees. Baynes could be a 5th player to be concerned about but he seems to have recovered & looks to be 100%. Bad timing with the injuries to Smart & Tatum today. I would guarantee neither one of them plays the final regular season game vs the Wizards.

Brown will probably only play a few minutes because he's missed quite a bit of playing time in the last 4 games & needs some on court time so he doesn't get rusty. I don't think he would play more than 12-18 minutes though. It's going to be scrub time this final game of the regular season. Wannamaker, Dozier, R.J. Hunter, Yabusele, & Robert Williams should see lots of playing time in the regular season finally. Those might just be the starting 5 with Brown coming off the bench for a few minutes each half to get the rust & dust off of him. LOL!

It's now time to get ready for the Pacers with home court advantage wrapped up for this series. We beat them 3-1 in the regular season & what's strange about each game is they all were blowouts except for the 1st time we played them back on November 3rd in which we lost by 1 point. We won all 3 other games against them by double-digit points with blowouts.

I think if we have everybody healthy then we beat them in 5 games. If we have certain players not able to go in this series like Smart and/or Tatum/Brown then they could take us to 6 games but I just don't see the Pacers being able to beat us 4 games in a series. GO MEAN GREEN!

[tonybologna]

Re: Official Boston Celtics Thread

Nice to take Game #1 on Sunday. I was a little concerned not having Smart out there because of his toughness & leadership. The defense we played the 2nd half is the type of defense not only we have got to play to have a chance to make a run @ the NBA title but it's the type of defense we played last season.

We continue to play this kind of defense in this series at least then it's possible we sweep the Pacers. Different story for the next round though with us facing the Bucks. We don't seem to have a way to even slightly keep The Greek Freak under control. But then again has any team been able to contain him this season?

Morris had a big game today(especially the 1st half) & that was something he hadn't done in a while. Kyrie played a near perfect game as far as controlling the game & tempo. He didn't shoot well @ 6-17 but he made key shots & also some nice passes. Played really well on defense in the 2nd half. Tatum also played a solid overall game. We've got to have more from Jaylen Brown though.

I do no think his back is fine either like he said after the game. I think it's still bothering him. Why not go ahead & start Hayward instead? Hayward has been used to coming off the bench about the entire season but since Brown isn't nowhere near 100% why not place Hayward in there for him & give Hayward a chance to get started right off the bat to start the game instead of having to off the bench? Hayward did end up with more minutes than Brown.

Hayward had 30 minutes & Brown had 28 minutes. Brown only provided us 2 points on a dunk. He did have 5 rebounds. I would allow Hayward to get 32-35 minutes/game in these playoffs since Jaylen Brown isn't going to be able to get back to 100% healthy. Anyhow, good to be up 1-0 but we better be ready for a Pacers blitz come Game #2. Horford needs to also provide us a little more scoring like he did the last month of the season even with sore knees.