like do not be fooled by that score.
It was as clear a case of a wire to wire ass kicking as we’ve ever seen.
In fact, we just saw it the other day against CLE.
Celts took a 7-6 lead early in the first quarter and never trailed again.
This time, they were on the other side of one of those ass whoopings.
In early November, the Celts beat the Hawks to finish a 4 game road trip (3-1).
Their first game back?
The first meeting with GS and Steph Curry.
The first home loss of the season where it was more of the same.
Right before Christmas, the Celts had a little 2 game mini road trip before returning home against Christmas.
How did that go in that return game?
Ah yes
Another game allowed 118 points.
A few weeks later, the Celts went out West and had a great trip.
What did we see in their first return game back at the Garden?
You’re probably starting to notice a trend by now
Oh don’t worry, we aren’t done.
About two weeks later the Celts once again went out West and had a great trip.
How did things go when they returned against HOU for the first game back home?
Which brings us to where we are currently.
How did things look against a shorthanded team as a double digit favorite on their own floor?
Don’t ask me to explain this trend, it makes no sense.
So while a game like last night is very fucking annoying, it’s also not at all surprising.
Your chances go up.
For whatever reason, this team is still obsessed with making their life harder on themselves for no reason.
Think about what we’re asking here.
I don’t need a 30 point blowout, but I need a win in that situation.
It makes no sense, but let’s try and figure it the hell out together.
OK, let’s move on.
They set the standard.
It’s so obvious when he’s playing like this and I have no idea why.
If he’s tired, sit him.
Give him a rest day for the first time since 12/23, because efforts like this help no one.
First, is the turnovers.
He becomes insanely lazy with the basketball.
I mean, what even is shit like this?
Live ball turnovers are death, and it killed the Celts in this game.
A total of 5 FGM and 4 TOs from your best player in his own building is never acceptable.
When these stinkers happen, in addition to the TOs we usually get Tatum missing EVERYTHING at the rim.
What happened in this loss?
Missing wide open layups on the front rim?
Essentially nothing on the glass?
Yes, the scoring was important, but again, the best players set the standard.
How would we describe the standard of this defensive effort?
The Jays combined for 7 of the team’s 14 TOs.
Tatum was a -22 in his minutes, Brown a -15.
These two set the standard for the entire roster, and last night the standard was dogshit.
- With no Jrue, it wasn’t a surprise to see that we got more double bigs.
The surprising part was how awful every double big pairing was.
Kornet/Al or Kornet/KP got cooked.
That’s usually the logical step right?
Well, what is he supposed to do when the one big lineup also sucks ass?
Nobody was providing any sort of defensive resistance.
- To me, this game was decided in 2 stretches
1.
The first 3 minutes of the 3rd quarter with the starters (14-4 Mavsrun).
The issue here of course, is these rotations are all your best players.
They scored 2 more points.
The third quarter with the starters same thing, 10-2 hole right out of the half.
This is when your best players are getting their first shifts, and they completely shit the bed.
Drew Peterson or Jordan Walsh isn’t the answer in those spots.
The answer is your best players not being complete ass and playing losing basketball.
- As we so often say, if you don’t defend, you die.
The Celtics lost a game in which they scored 120 points, shot 51/43/80% and made 16 3PM.
That is something that should NEVER result in a loss.
Turnovers, zero defense, and poor execution at the rim.
When you’re also not getting stops, that issue becomes even greater.
Mavs shot 55/45% and only turned it over 8 times.
no wonder you get blown out.
Completely outplayed for 3.5 quarters.
When things mattered, the Mavs bench was winning the scoring battle 44-10.
You simply can’t be a negative in every aspect of a game.
If you aren’t going to defend, then it’s possible for you to’t be a zero offensively.
Big picture, really this is just another annoying loss.
That’s pretty much it.
After winning 4 in a row, the Celts dropped the 5th game.
That’s pretty much how they’ve been playing for the last 2+ years.
If they play to their standard and not like a bunch of braindead idiots things should be just fine.
