The Celtics Preseason Is Over And It Was.....Not Great!

With the Celts losing once again to the Cavs (now 4 straight but who’s counting) their 2018 Preseason schedule is now complete. If you remember this time last season, the Celts were 4-0 and looked dominant. This year? They look the exact opposite. And look, I get it, there are going to be people that comment on this blog telling me to relax, that it’s just preseason and it doesn’t matter. I’ll have you know, I am relaxed, I am not freaking out for what this could mean for their season, but at the same time I despise horrific basketball. It bothers me that a team with this much talent can repeatedly play like this is the first time they’ve even played the sport. I feel like those are fair expectations. Just actually look like you know what the hell you are doing.

Before we get into last night’s game, let’s look at the Celts preseason as a whole. What do the numbers show? Well, they shot 40/24.6% over the four games, and made just 8.5 3PM a night…..while taking 34.5. They had a 96.6 Ortg paired with a 101.8 Drtg which for those who are not great at math comes to a -5.2 Net Rating. That is almost impossible for my brain to comprehend. They were among the bottom teams in terms of AST% and REB%. Basically the ONLY thing the Celtics did well through their four games was take care of the basketball, with the second lowest TO% so far.

So yeah, things weren’t great. Again, doesn’t mean much in terms of how they will look on October 16th, but to completely ignore what we’ve seen is something I cannot do. I look at it like this, if they dominated everyone and won every game by 50, nobody would be saying “it’s just preseason”, they would be puffing out their chest and gloating. Well just because things looked shitty as hell doesn’t mean we get to change our tune. To me, it all matters, both the good and the bad.

Alright, let’s get into it

The Good

– Not a ton to choose from, because again the Celtics sucked dick, however there were moments that made me happy. For example, for the first time in his career, we will begin with the play of Robert Williams

Sure he only had 4 points, a rebound, and 2 blocks, but if you watched him play a couple things stood out. For one, he keeps blocking these perimeter jump shots. I find that pretty awesome. He showed a good understanding of how to play P&R, which is pretty important because that’s going to be like 90% of the offensive sets he’s involved with when he’s on the floor. He challenged shots at the rim which is exactly what this team needs, and I was impressed with how soft his hands looked.

Remember, all we need from Williams is defense, rebounding, and rim protection. Last night that’s exactly what he gave us.

– Making another spot start for a sitting Kyrie, Terry led all starters with 17 points.

That’s the good news. His efficiency wasn’t there as he went 7-17 (1-5), and I didn’t love his defense (114 Drtg). Honestly the only reason he’s in this section is simply because he was the only starter who really scored.

– This team will soon remember that the more they just give the ball to Al and let him create offense, the better they will be. He had 10 points and 7 assists last night with just 1 TO, but the problem was he only took 4 shots. On a night where no one could shoot, it annoys me how they settle for long jumpers instead of just letting Al go to work

– Just like Terry, Morris was the only one who really showed up scoring the ball for the second unit, but he wasn’t all that efficient either going 5-12 (2-7). Sure he had 17 points which was nice, and he’s been a decent scorer over these last four games, but his struggles from deep were annoying

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– Credit to the Celtics for not turning it over a bunch. Just 13 on the night. Also credit the scrubs for still trying and dropping 33 points in the fourth quarter. Celts had 59 over the final two quarters, so at least there’s some sort of momentum heading into Tuesday (not really but I’m trying here OK?)

The Bad

– OK, I’ll just say it. Marcus Smart may have overreacted just a smidge in his little scuffle, but that does not excuse JR Smith for being a big time scumbag

Let’s be honest, Smart would murder JR if they ever got into a real fight. He’s a legit psychopath and that’s why we love him. He can take to Twitter and use all the emojis he wants

Not one person with a brain is taking JR over Marcus in a fight. Nobody. Here’s what Marcus had to say after the game

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I mean on one hand, I need Marcus to be smarter (pun not intended but intended) in this situation. While I love that he will murder for a teammate, you gotta know the time and place. I mean listen to that man, JR doesn’t want that smoke. He ain’t about that life. Maybe this is all boiling over because Smart remembers this play from this past playoffs

so I say just let them go at it and see what happens. Let’s see if JR is still so tough with no LeBron around. Put the mortgage on Marcus. Don’t you ever let anyone tell you preseason basketball doesn’t matter. I’m just glad me and Marcus are on the same page there.

– I honestly have no explanation as to why the Celtics cannot shot the basketball. Another game with brutal splits, this time 39/24%, they are shooting themselves in the foot before the game is even into the second quarter. I think they started something like 3-14, and in no world is that going to get it done. It’s almost as if they are allergic to running an actual offense, and instead are settling for these awful long twos, or these contested fadeaways off the dribble, it’s honestly so frustrating because this team has way too much talent to be dicking round like this. Look at this shot chart

Oh weird you are having success in the paint? Better not go there and instead take end of shot clock long jumpers instead! Absolutely disgusting.

– Look I don’t want to be mean, but I have to speak the truth. Offensively, Jayson Tatum had a horrific preseason. He finished 14-41 (3-9) and got into double figures just once. You cannot convince me Kobe didn’t mess with his head in that training session. He just looked nothing like the offensive player we saw last season, and that’s a little weird. He didn’t attack as much, instead settling for long twos, and maybe he did that so he wouldn’t have to absorb unnecessary contact or something, but let’s be honest, he stunk this preseason. It’s OK to admit.

– I agree

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The Ugly

– On some level, it’s not all that shocking that the Celtics struggled offensively. Pay attention to this team for 5 seconds and you’ll see them forget how to shoot. That’s fine. What isn’t fine is they are letting these struggles translate over to the defense end. I mean throw everything else out, this team should be able to defend. They sat Kyrie/Gordon, everyone else played. Guys that are supposed to be plus defenders for a team that basically led the league in defense last year. So how did this look against a Cavs team that was also resting their best players? Puke fucking city

I mean how do you even explain this? if the Celts main rotation players cannot even stop the Cavs second unit/not best players, then what the fuck are they going to do when they face real competition? I’m sorry, if their poor defensive effort had just happened once over the last four games I’d say OK, no big deal. But it showed up every single time they played. Is it a mental focus thing? Are they just not taking things seriously? Maybe, but I don’t exactly love that either. This team cannot have that “flip a switch” mentality. That’s how you get your ass beat. This team is the favorites in the East and they need to still play like they haven’t been crowned shit.

To me that’s how I would sum up their preseason: entitled

It sure looked like they didn’t take these games seriously and figured they could just show up and win. That’s a dangerous mentality to have and something I hope Brad gives them a stern talking to about.

– Hey how about we play Yabu more than 12 minutes OK? He was only your best player.

So look, these games are behind us. Yes, the Celtics looked like dogshit, but they also came out of it with no injuries so I’m counting that as a win. We now shift all of our attention to October 16th. That is when things matter for real, and the Celts have 9 days to get their shit together. Something tells me they’ll be ready, because I can guarantee you the Garden is going to be electric. It’s time for the regular season folks, so let’s just forget these last four games even happened. Cool? Cool.