Nearly Everything About The Celtics Season Opener Was A Humiliation Ritual From Hell

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Alright, how's everyone doing this morning now that we've all had some time to take a deep breath and calm down after watching the Celts completely shit themselves on national TV?

Yeah, I'm still pretty annoyed as well. Don't be ashamed or embarrassed if you feel a similar way. That shit was annoying to watch. I know, I know, it's 1 of 82 and blah blah blah. I think it's possible to understand that and also still have emotions and feelings based on what we watched. These games count, the results matter, all of it. I'd argue a H2H matchup against a team you may be competing with for seeding come the Spring is even more important, which is yet another reason why yesterday's debacle pisses me off. It's the same thing with the game on Friday against the Knicks. These games may be taking place in the first week of the NBA season, but they matter. 

What the Celts debut reminded us is that when you sit down and prepare to watch this team play, you have to accept that they are going to put you through every human emotion possible over those 2.5 hours. You are going to experience the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. They are going to look completely unstoppable one minute, and then also look like a team that has never played the sport of basketball once in their lives the next, It's emotional warfare really, and that remains true no matter what the roster looks like. This has been true for every roster combination, every coach, every era, all of it. 

The focus of yesterday will largely be around the 22 point blown lead, as it should. That shit was horrific, and I think it gave all of us PTSD. It was something that as it was happening, we all knew how it was going to end. We've seen that movie before. The thing is, this team has actually been pretty damn good about not blowing 20+ point leads. I know, that sounds crazy, but it's true!

Honestly, this makes me even more annoyed. 49 straight wins when leading by 20? They were 136-4 in those games entering last night under Joe? 

Giphy Images.

God dammit.

And while it's true that this was just 1 game, I think my issues are more with the process than the result. It's obvious this team isn't going to blow 20+ leads very often. They literally are 136-5. But what is undeniable is their overall process last night was pretty poor, even while building their lead. A lot of the previous problem areas showed up, the things that have proven to get this team into trouble…..got this team into trouble. That's the annoying part. 

So with that said, let's comb over the dead body. We have to get it out of our system before Friday.

The Good

- Now let me be clear, every single thing you're going to read following this section has nothing to do with Paul George. He was absolutely fantastic. OK, there were some lazy passes that I didn't love, but overall? 18/10 Celtics regular season debut

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I fully understand that this was a bit of an out of body experience for George and to not expect this type of performance again. It was a bit of a prayer in some ways, but in others I think it gives us plenty of reasons to be optimistic about George's impact as long as he's on the floor. The active hands defensively are a real weapon, especially when both he and Tatum trap. The shooting looks as advertised as an off ball player, and his defense looks as legit as it did during the preseason.

Wasting a performance like this is the real issue. You could not have asked for a better Paul George performance. If we live in a world where PG13 looks like PG13 and he gives you an efficient 38, that is more than enough to win the game. With all the pressure to perform following the trade and going up against an elite defense, I walked away absolutely impressed with how George played. 

So much so, that I'm not even going to get mad at him for the shooting regression that is most likely coming on Friday. He's 36, it's going to come and go. But last night? A+.

- OK, we're done here. 

The Bad

- Let's start with Joe Mazzulla. Heading into the season, a big topic of discussion was who the 5th starter would be? Guys like Payton Pritchard, Hugo Gonzalez, Baylor Scheierman, and Jordan Walsh all had cases. It was my stance that if the whole goal of the franchise is now maximizing Jayson Tatum, then the 5th starter should be Payton. The data with those lineups is off the charts, it puts their best creator not named Tatum on the floor with Tatum, it gives the floor proper spacing etc. I also understood that someone like Walsh may get the first crack at it, just like he did in the preseason.

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In the end, Joe decided to roll with Walsh. I think two things are true when it comes to this decision

1. The Walsh starter minutes weren't even that bad.

2. It was very clear why Payton Pritchard should probably slide into this role

Against tough, physical defenses, I can say with certainty that Payton Pritchard and Jayson Tatum need to be on the court together at ALL times. None of this staggering bullshit. If they are going to continue to use Tatum off ball (which I don't hate), then they need their other best creator on the floor. If you looked at those lineups without Payton, the Celts offense looked like dogshit. Nobody could get into the paint, Tatum's like was harder, all of it. 

To pay Payton Pritchard under 30 minutes in a matchup like this is pretty inexcusable to me. Especially when we KNOW this team struggles with ball pressure. We saw Derrick repeatedly turn it over, neither he or George could create advantages off the dribble, which made it so the Pistons never really had to rotate. Instead, they flattened the court and the Celts had no answer, mostly because they did not have their two best creators on the floor.

Why does this matter? Because creation was a concern for this roster heading into the season when playing playoff caliber defenses. Now do you see why? I'm all for vertical rim pressure, but outside of a few Mitch lobs that wasn't a factor, so if you aren't getting rim pressure via lobs and you're not getting it via drives, you're in a bit of trouble. 

It also brought back all the same feelings of the PHI series to see Joe overly rely on players like Hauser in favor of the young wings like Hugo/Baylor. Hugo played just 10 minutes, which was a bit surprising. These are the things that I think call for warranted criticism of Joe. He has all these tools in his toolbox, but he has to actually use them. 

- It should be virtually impossible for the Celtics to lose a game in which they make 17 3PM and shoot 40% as a team. You can probably count on one hand the amount of times they've lost a game while doing that, so that was fun. 

Naturally everyone will cry over 3pt shooting, but this wasn't even really an issue. Only 40 of their 88 FGA were 3PA. That's only 45% of their shots, which is MUCH lower than normal. You probably won't hear about how the Celts went 3-11 on 2s over the final 8 minutes of the game, but that was horrible as well.

- I thought the center rotation for the most part was pretty awful. Only 9 combined rebounds from Mitch/Queta/Garzilla, which is objectively #bad. The whole foundation of this system is maximizing possessions and creating more opportunities. Well, this is what it looks like when the OREB superpower gets limited. It reminded me a lot of the Sixers series once Embiid came back and the glass was shut off. Once that happens, the shooting variance becomes that much more impactful.

Mitchell Robinson and Queta had a combined 2 OREB. That's nowhere close to good enough. Mitch owned up to his dogshit performance after the game which I appreciated

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Mitchell Robinson told the Globe he'll be OK after tweaking his ankle but was hard on himself about his performance: “I got my ass kicked on the glass. I can’t have no starts like that. It’s cool to get out there and put on that Boston jersey for the first time in a regular-season game, but overall, I still didn’t do what I needed to do. I gotta compete better. I feel like I didn’t compete at a high level that I normally do and I was kind of slow on a lot of things.” #Celtics #Pistons

but let's not sugarcoat it. Jalen Duren had his way with this entire frontline. The center rotation is supposed to be a strength of this team, especially defensively. How would we saw that went? I'd say it was pretty terrible, but that's just me.

In my opinion this game started to turn in the 3rd quarter when the Cs were getting completely manhandled on the glass. It was the Pistons who dominated the offensive glass/2nd chance points, and those are the margins you have to win when your're playing a good team.

- Speaking of the defense, what have I been saying for basically 11 years now? If you don't defend, you die.

How does this 2nd half defense look to you?

Pretty fucking bad! No shit you give up back to back 37+ point quarters and you lose the game. Welcome to Planet Earth. The frustrating thing was the defense was solid in the first 24 minutes, and they just compeltely let go of the rope. 

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How many times did we see someone (Hauser) foul a 3pt shooter? I think in total it was 3 separate times? How many times did we see them give up wide open looks, daring someone to beat them who immediately beat them? Seems like that tends to happen every time they do that shit! 

Up 22 with 8 minutes left in the 3rd, the defense should be good enough to close that deal, even if your offense struggles. Especially in a game that Cade is 8-18 in. Instead, the Cs couldn't defend without fouling (32 FTA), and their lack of execution defensively should NOT be overlooked. It killed them.

- I don't think Javonte Green made 5 3PM in his entire Celtics tenure, so that was fun. 

- In addition to the absymal performance on the glass, we also saw the turnover issue from the preseason show up as well. The Cs averaged around 16 TOs in the preseason which is WAY too high, and then had 14 yesterday which led to 14 points. 

In total, the Pistons had 36 points off turnovers/2nd chance points. Do we think that played a role in the outcome? Again, this is why the margins are important. For a team that is going to dive into possession-maxxing, the Celtics in no way shape or form maximized their possessions. No OREBs and TOs is NOT a formula for success. 

The Ugly

- Sadly, there is nowhere else to put Jayson Tatum. In his first test as the sole #1 and franchise guy, he failed. I don't care so much about the 6-23 (0-7), that's a rhythm thing. Let's not pretend like we haven't seen that type of shooting performance before. Grow up. 

But what does concern me was Tatum's overall approach. I hated it. In terms of his shot profile, WAY TOO MANY MIDRANGES. We cannot live in a world where Tatum is passing up open pull up 3s for contested midrange fadeaways. Just like this play. This is very bad

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When you look at his shot profile, you see Tatum was poor from every level. He struggled at the rim, from midrange, and behind the arc. 

and I'll never understand why a real living human wants Tatum to take more midrange FGA. It's not his shot, it's never really been his shot, and he does both himself and the offense a disservice when he settles for them. 

To take only 1 FTA is also concerning to me. There was no aggression, I do not think he played with force, and what the fear is that this is both physical AND mental. Teams are going to body up on Tatum and be physical with him, and instead of asserting himself, I found Tatum to be pretty passive.

THAT CANNOT HAPPEN.

Not anymore. Not with his role as THE GUY. How many times in the 4th did we see Tatum basically refuse to do anything and just give the ball to Garza for him to shoot? This is why all that bullshit about USG% and guys not knowing their role and stealing from Tatum's USG% is bullshit. He is the one who decides these things. When he plays passive, the team tanks. 

When the Pistons were making their run, that is the time for the best player to show up and say "I'm not letting this lead slip". Did that happen? No. In that aspect of Tatum's role, he failed. 

And whether you think it's fair or not, coming off the season the Celts had last year and the trade they made over the summer, there are going to be more eyeballs than ever on Tatum's play. He's going to be compared to how Jaylen Brown plays for the rest of their careers. Considering the Celts were 38-0 with 20 point leads last year and now 0-1 this year, that's going to fall on Tatum. He's getting completely dragged and rightfully so. He was awful, and I think even he knows that. 

Again, I'm not worried about the 6-23 (0-7). I'm more concerned about the process and the approach because I think those two things are tied together. Contested 2s, no FTAs, a lack of finishing at the rim, this was probably the worst we've seen Tatum in years. In fact, it was the 5th worst shooting performance of his entire career. My gut says that's not going to continue, but that doesn't make it any less annoying. 

Things certainly don't get any easier with the Knicks who are also coming off a brutal loss of their own. You know they'll be motivated to right the ship, and as of late they've had Tatum's number. I'm not saying Game 2 of the regular season is a must win, but it's certainly getting close to a can't lose. Especially with how the opener went. Flush it and come back Friday ready to respond. This team very rarely loses 2 in a row, so I'm interested to see how they bounce back.