To me, this is why all the fake outrage after every loss will always be funny.
But it feels like after a loss there’s this rush to say
“See!
They aren’t as good as last year!
Championship hangover!!!”
I dunno, sometimes you just play like shit and it burns you.
But most importantly, it just felt nice to watch this team get back to playing at their standard.
Sorry if that offends, but it’s the truth.
I don’t need the Celts to overachieve, I just need them to play to their normal level.
Do that, and you’ll have many more nights like last night.
I mean think about it.
Pre-title, what did we say?
That the next jump for Tatum would be consistency.
That the true elites of the league bring it every single night.
Then we said OK the point totals are cool, but the efficiency needs to be much better.
He has better finishing around-the-rim efficiency this season than Giannis.
Think about this for a second.
Do you know how insane that is?
Jayson Tatum
End of list.
Nobody on the team did that better than Tatum last night.
The Basketball Gods will reward him.
- After the Hawks loss Jaylen Brown vowed to be better, especially with his turnovers.
Be aggressive, play smart, and be active and efficient.
To start the year it felt like he wasn’t even close, especially from three.
That’s honestly what I love most about both guys.
They never run from their failures.
For Jaylen, that means ball security and using his strength and athleticism to thrive in the paint.
Two way wings are important, and no team has a better collection than the Celts.
Against the Hawks, I’d say it classified as a stinker.
The next night against the Nets?
It’s pretty much every part of his game.
You’re getting 20M+ production for like 7M.
For a 2nd apron team, that is MASSIVE.
- Look, for this team basketball is simple.
Rebound, take care of the ball, and move the ball.
You do those things, you will be unbeatable.
Well, last night they shot 53/47% with 22 3PM and won by 25.
What was the difference?
As always, the margins
Surprise!
Who could have seen that coming?
Oh yeah, everyone who isn’t a baby every time the Celtics lose a game.
But the thing is, it requires you to now be absolute dogshit around the margins.
If you take care of the margins, Mazzulla Ball will do the rest of the heavy lifting.
We have 200+ games of evidence that supports this, and last night was the latest one.
- It felt like this was a bounce back game for everyone last night, including the backcourt.
I just wanted to make that clear.
- 35 assists and 7 TOs is enough to make a grown man cry.
Over their last 5 games, the Celts 1st quarter offense ranks 18th in the NBA.
Their defense ranks 19th and their net rating is 19th.
That is objectively bad.
I know it seems like a small sample.
but 5 games is nearly half of their season so far.
Too often we’re seeing these 16-2 or 14-5 starts, and living like that is not sustainable.
If there’s one gripe of the early season, it’s probably the defensive end.
Part of that gets solved by KP, but also that can’t be used as a crutch.
- Every single night it’s some bullshit with the officials.
To no surprise, it was a Year 1 ref who repeatedly boned Derrick White all night.
All I am asking for is consistency.
If you are going to let players be physical, then let the Celtics be physical.
Why is this so hard for officials?
Cam Thomas gets slightly bumped on a runner in the paint it was a foul.
Jaylen Brown gets the same contact on his runners in the paint, and it’s a no call.
Make it make sense.
- I continue to be extremely worried about the Celts bigs in space.
Just way too slow/flat footed.
How many times did we see Steph do it?
Get one of their centers on your guard and simply go north/south to the rim.
To be honest I don’t know how they solve that issue because their roster is their roster.
- 17-24 from the FT line (70%), stinks.
It has to be a mental thing for Tatum at this point.
Then you had Jaylen missing another 3 in this game, which will always be annoying.
I guess maybe that Jordan Walsh only got 1:44 of run?
Maybe it’s letting Ziaire Williams have the best night of his career?
I’d like it if that stopped if we’re being honest.
They do that, things will be just fine.
