The Celtics Won Their Opener In Dramatic Fashion And The Haters Are Sick

Pool. Getty Images.

How does everyone feel today? I feel fantastic thanks for asking. I guess that's what happens when you wake up undefeated with one of the highest scoring offenses currently in the NBA. I suppose this is just par for the course when you see your 22 year old phenom make a game winner right in the eyeball of a 2X MVP and player many consider to be one of the best in the world. I suppose this is just what happens when your other young franchise cornerstone looks like the best player on the floor and all of the offseason additions your GM made looked great right away. I imagine this is how people feel when they realize the haters are sick to their stomach. I can see feeling this way while laughing at everyone who wants to hop back on the Celts bandwagon after they've been nothing but negative and talked shit on this team for the last few months but now realize oh shit maybe they are actually good and they want to join in on our fun. Never, ever, ever, ever forget they called this a 6/7 seed team. They don't get to come back now. 

Am I overreacting after one game? Uhhhhhhh yeah. Of course I am. That's how this works. The same way if they lost my mentions would have been filled with people overreacting the other way. So you have to deal with it. This isn't a preseason game, last time I checked this one counted. And when the games counted the Celts showed us the same thing they always do. They can compete with ANY team in the league. Shorthanded? Who cares. All I had to hear about was how every team in the East got better this offseason and the Celts got worse. You couldn't stop hearing that. Well I dunno, I think it's pretty impressive to put up 122 without Kemba Walker against a historically good Bucks team. A team that many thought got way better than you during the offseason, If that was the case, well then what happened here?

I'll tell you what happened. The Jays shook their goddamn dick that's what happened. It wasn't perfect, and we'll get to that, but I'm having a hard time thinking of how this season could have started any better. We may as well dive right in because you are not going to be able to stand for at least 6 hours.

The Good

- Where do we start? This is the hardest decision I've had to make in at least the last 3 weeks. The more I thought about it, I'm going to go where some may not. The top spot of this blog is going to Jaylen Brown.

A few weeks ago I called Jaylen Brown the most important player on this roster. I feel even more confident with that statement after watching last night. It's the truth. Tatum is their best player, but Jaylen is their most important. What we saw last night was not only incredible to watch, it displayed his developement everywhere you looked.

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This was BY FAR the most I've ever seen Jaylen as the primary ball handler out of the P&R. Not only did he show great patience, but look how easy he was able to get to his spot and make that midrange jumper. That is going to be there for Jaylen all season long. In year's past, we never really saw Jaylen create offense this way. But now with Hayward gone and Kemba hurt, it's going to be extremely important that he continue to be this efficient at it. Not only that, but he did not turn the ball over! His 28% usage rate was the 2nd highest on the team, and to get zero turnovers as a result is what gives me life. 

That bucket with 1:52 left where he drives by Giannis and finishes at the rim legitimately brought a tear to my eye. The patience, the improved handle with the inside/out move, the strong finish at the rim in a big moment. It was perfect.

- But of course, you can't mention on Jay without the other, and my oh my is Jayson Tatum that dude. When you're playing a team like the Bucks, you need your best players to go up a few levels. While his efficiency started off less than ideal, the man came around and showed up when it mattered most

This is a man that had a 44% usage rate in the second half. No, we aren't moving on until you read that again. 44%! That is one of the most insane things I've ever seen and I'm not even going to worry about it not being sustainable right now. A 9-18 second half, I know a lot will be made about the game winner, but to me it was Tatum's plays earlier down the stretch that were just as big. 

The pullup at 2:58 to tie it at 115, the Paul Pierce fadeaway to give them a 119-117 lead with 1:24 left. Every single time this team needed Tatum to deliver in the clutch, he did. The biggest difference I saw in these clutch minutes compared to the ECF was the fact that they were aggressive. They didn't just settle for early shot clock threes. They took good shots. 

I'll remind you that Tatum did not attempt a single FT in this game. Not even one. Imagine when he finally gets a whistle? Pray for the league.

- Hey Nick Wright. Cry about it

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- It sure looks like Danny found something in Jeff Teague eh? I wonder where all the people are that killed him this offseason. Last time I checked, adding Jeff Teague happened in the offseason right?

I shouldn't need to tell you but I will anyway. At no point last year did we see a Celtics back up point guard not named Marcus Smart score at least 19 points in a basketball game. It happened zero times. So yeah, this injection of offense into the second unit it not something I'm used to. Is it fair to say I trust Jeff Teague to do whatever he wants offensively while he's on the floor with the second unit? Take 15 shots like he did last night? Fine by me. The three point shooting will come back down to earth, but the driving and finding his floater is real. That's something he can do whenever he wanted. I'd say he was even passable defensively too which is a gigantic win. Opponents shot just 2-9 against Teague if you were curious about that sort of thing. 

- Make no mistake, this was a big time, real effort and swing by the Buck. Their three best players played big minutes, they all showed up offensively, and the Celts still won. Even without Kemba. This wasn't a situation where you beat a good team but theier best guys didn't show up. No no, the Bucks showed up. They just got beat by the better team. 

- Then there was Tristan Thompson. Guy isn't even healthy yet and put up 12/8 in 22 minutes in his Celtics debut

he had his moments defending Giannis which is exactly what we wanted to see. He hit the boards. He cleaned up around the rim. He provided toughness and defensive versatility. Almost like ya know, he's actually good. Another player guys couldn't stop crying about, that it wasn't what Ainge should have done. Whoops.

What I like most about Teague and Thompson is they appear to be veteran players who Brad doesn't have to babysit. They know their role and they just go out and do it with none of the bullshit. Performances like these are exactly what last year's ECF team needed. Now they have it. No wonder they're actually good.

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- We all need to give Marcus Smart a ton of credit. He promised us he was going to be better about his shot selection and look what he did. He took 3 FGA. He had the same amount of charges on Giannis as shots. Smart finished with 7 assists. He set the pace, and did all the little things you need to do to beat this wagon of a team. I would say Smart was everywhere when it came to impacting this game while not making it about him. It was about as perfect as you can get. Now in this new facilitator role, it was very obvious on numerous occasions that Smart was turning down a bad shot to keep the ball moving. I cannot stress how important that is enough.

Not only that, but he mentally owned Giannis. That was great to watch.

- Where has this Semi been all our lives? Knocked down a three, pulled out a transition eurostep out of nowhere, and looked……competent on the floor? 2020 really is weird.

- So this is what it looks like when the offense shows up. They finished with 47/45% splits, 18 3PM and just 6 TOs against one of the best defenses in the entire league. While Tatum/Jaylen took 52 of the 101 shots, they still were balanced with 5 guys in double figures. The bench put up 34 points. 34! That might not seem like a lot to some, but for this team it was gigantic. 

The Bad

- The defense though, that still needs a little work, The Celts never held the Bucks under 25 points in any quarter, they allowed 51/40%, and it's safe to say they weren't all that good at stopping the MIL trio. Giannis had 35, Middleton 27 and Holiday 25. That can't happen moving forward because the Celts aren't always going to shoot 45% from three. They have to tighten up that end of the floor. 

It starts right away too. The Bucks came out and shot 58% in the opening corner. Thankfully the Celts made 7 3PM in those 12 minutes, but I need a better start defensively. That's going to be the backbone of this team when their offense goes cold, and they certainly left room for improvement. Just ask Brad

- Not the strongest showing for Grant I've ever seen. Teams are going to leave him open for threes, but that doesn't mean he has to take them. He's athletic and skilled enough to put the ball on the floor and attack the rim. I just get the sense he's trying to be the spot up shooter the team needs in certain lineups and I'm just not sure that's him.

- Timelord was….meh. He deserved his quick hook, only played 12 minutes and had that nice block, but he's not there yet. He did show life on the glass which was nice, but it's going to be a slow transition with him.

- It's flat out annoying how Khris Middleton turns into an inferno every time he plays this team without fail. Close in the fourth? Middleton is going to make dagger threes. What an asshole. Like we get it, enough already.

- This is easily one of the worst calls I have ever seen in my life. 

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Be more obvious you're trying to cheat for Giannis. They already don't call his travels, but this was just insane. Yeah I was experiencing some 0.5 second PTSD from the bubble but so what. My eyes work. Giannis is the one that grabs Thompson, yet it's a foul on Thompson in the biggest moment of the game. So pathetic. 

We're also all in agreement that Tommy 100% helped on the Tatum game winner and then forced that FT miss by Giannis after that horseshit call right? I can only imagine how bullshit he was while watching this game and now he finally has the power to do something about it. This is important moving forward. Sort of like when Red helped Pierce make that FT in Game 7 against the Cavs

If we have Tommy up there willing to fight against any injustice and do something to help the Celts win if he feels like they are getting boned, well then this is going to be a fantastic season.

The Ugly

- Yeah the Celts won, but we can't sit here and pretend like they didn't blow a 17 point fourth quarter lead. Dear god was that pathetic and infuriating all at the same time. It was the same old story, they started chucking threes, the ball didn't move, and then defensively they started to panic once Giannis got hot. We should know by now not to trust ANY sort of double digit lead, but this is something the team has to figure out. The players, Brad, I don't care who does it, just figure it the hell out. If you are up 17 points with 12 minutes to go, I should not have to sacrifice 5 years off my life watching you gut out a win. Just be like every other goddamn team that has a 17 point lead in the fourth quarter. The good teams don't blow those. So annoying.

So here we sit. 1-0 and a win over the "best team in the East". A team that nobody thought the Celts were going to be able to hang with and many predicted would get blown out by. That's unfortunate for them. For me? I'm going to spend the rest of my day drinking my Kool Aid and watching these highlights until my eyes bleed. Celts are back baby and the haters and losers are SICK.