This Is Starting To Get Out Of Hand
Please take a second and refill your glass to the brim before continuing on with this blog
You’ve heard the saying. Big time players make big time shots in big time games. While this wasn’t necessarily a “big time game” it was a big time moment and yet again Isaiah Thomas showed the world why he is a big time player who makes big time shots. At this point things are getting utterly ridiculous, and I absolutely love every second of it. Isaiah’s ascension into a legit top 5 MVP candidate is something truly special, and things feel pretty good for all of us on Team Isaiah. What we’re seeing is a player who is taking a leap. You know how they say an NBA player takes his leap in Year 3? Isaiah is taking his Celtics leap in Year 3 (really its been a total of 2 seasons but go with it). In Year 1 it was all about figuring out how the pieces fit together, and if Isaiah would flourish within this system with this kind of freedom. Then we learned he could. Year 2 was all about taking the initial spark that maybe the Celtics had something, and seeing if it would get better over the course of a full season. It did and Isaiah made the All Star team. Now in Year 3, it’s all about nutting the fuck up and taking that final leap into elite NBA player. The help arrived, the key role players all improved to essentially career year levels, everything was there for him to take that leap. Well, now he’s in the MVP discussion (while it’s clearly Harden) and should be an All Star Starter. Not bad.
Most of us thought he would take this leap, we’d seen enough over the last season and a half to know that with the additions the Celtics made, and the development of those around him, that Isaiah was ready to break out. But I don’t think ANY of us saw this coming.
The Good
– Ok everybody knows the rules. You have a performance like this, we enjoy your performance uninterrupted.
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One of the more impressive things about Isaiah’s performance is when you look back and realize that after 24 minutes of basketball he had just 7 points on 2-7 shooting. The Hawks talked before the game about how they were going to throw multiple bodies at Isaiah to try to slow him down at all costs, sort of like what TOR does, and to some degree it worked. His scoring was held in check and he was forced to create for others. Fortunately for the Celtics, that’s OK because Isaiah is developing into one hell of a passer. I never really understood why people would talk about Isaiah in a way that makes it seem like the ball stops with him, or he isn’t a facilitator as well as scorer. There are two players in the NBA that have an assist% over 33% while also having a usage rate over 32%. Those players are Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Biggest difference? Isaiah turns the ball over about half as much. All this is a long way of saying Isaiah in reality is one of the better passing PGs despite his scoring burden.
One of the main reasons Isaiah was able to flip the script in the second half was mostly because of Kelly Olynyk. It shouldn’t surprise you that once the Celtics committed to a lineup that truly spaced the floor, Isaiah took off for 21 points on 7-14 shooting in the second half. Before we get to the heroics, there were a couple offensive plays that I feel are worth mentioning.
First, as impressive as it is when Isaiah finishes among the trees at the rim, It’s just as impressive seeing him drill 25 footers right in Dwight Howard’s eyeball
I’m not really sure how Isaiah even gets these off let alone makes them. I guess it’s just a gift from the Basketball Gods. Plays like this were important because this was a game where Isaiah had to show us he could be effective without scoring in the paint. Of his 28 points, just two of them came from below the FT line.
But the real story of this game was the last 1:19 seconds. First his bucket that put the Celts up 98-92, felt like it might have been the dagger. What a crossover, to his offhand no less
Then Malcom Delaney hits a ridiculous three. No biggie, Isaiah came right back down the court for a three of his own. Why on earth would you give him that much space, and after this we thought he won the game for the second time.
But next possession Tim Hardaway banks a fucking three with 49 seconds left and it’s a one possession game at 101-98. Isaiah misses a tough layup which leads to a Paul Milsap three. Shit. Now tied, it’s up to Isaiah to win the game for the third time and final time.
A couple things about this shot. First, love that he waived Brad off for the TO. By this time Isaiah was on such another planet there was zero chance he was stopping the momentum, or passing this ball. This was his game to win. As he said in his postgame, there isn’t one player that can guard him one on one, so when he saw it was Bazemore guarding him, everyone on the planet should have known what’s coming. The Isaiah Hesitation. This move has been talked about at great lengths on this blog about how unguardable it is, and this shot is why. Almost always Isaiah is taking this move all the way to the basket, but at we see above, he has the ability to stop on a dime and give himself a WIDE OPEN jumper from 15ft. As soon as he pulled up I knew it was going in, we’ve seen Isaiah make that shot a thousand times.
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– Kelly Olynyk’s career high might be 30 points, but this may have been the best all around performance of his Celtics career. Where did 26 points on 9-11 shooting (4-5 from deep) 8 rebounds 3 assists and 1 steal come from? Who the fuck knows and who cares. I hope you enjoyed Aggressive Kelly Olynyk as much as I did, and I hope you were also as frustrated knowing that this is what he’s capable of despite sometimes being Hesitant Kelly Olynyk. It really can’t be any more clear. When Kelly just lets it fly without trying that stupid pump fake, the dude can flat out shoot. Everyone with a brain would rather have Giannis, but performances like this give you that glimpse of hope that maybe there is something there. This was about as best case scenario as you could get from Olynyk, and his 32 minutes were the second most of his season, and most in about two months. It feels weird to type, but without Kelly the Celtics lose this game.
– There was a lot of debate over the summer on whether you prefer Al Horford or Dwight Howard. Personally, I could not have been more out on Dwight dating back to last year and in their first matchup of the season, I don’t know how you could walk away not preferring Horford. Call me crazy, but I’ll take 10/6/6 with a couple threes over 11/8/0. And while this was just one game, it’s never been about the numbers for me when it comes to this debate. It’s about basketball fit. Why is Al a much better fit for this offense? Because of this exact play
But that’s not it. Part of Brad’s system isn’t just spacing the floor and hitting threes with your big men, it’s also about having a player with Horford’s skillset that can create easy baskets for others. I don’t see Dwight making plays like this
– Marcus probably had one of the most Marcus Smart lines you’ll ever see. Can’t hit absolute dick shooting the ball, and yet still makes a positive impact. I loved how in the second half they made a conscious effort to go at Smart on the block given his size advantage over Schroeder. Smart is actually a very smart player out of the post, especially at identifying the mismatch and making the right play. Sometimes it’s him taking it strong, sometimes he sees the double and finds Jae open in the corner.
– Speaking of Jae, don’t look now but someone is busting out of their shooting slump. It makes sense that Jae’s shooting has improved over these last two games because they are getting him high quality looks. When Jae is on the receiving end of good ball movement, so far this season he’s knocked down that shot. That’s a piece that is extremely valuable to this offense and this team’s success. With Horford/Olynyk spacing the floor combined with Isaiah’s hesitation, Jae is going to have the opportunity to make these wide open looks in high percentage areas. Last night was an example of what that opportunity can look like.
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It also should be mentioned that this was probably one of Jae’s better defensive efforts of the season. That tells me he’s healthy.
– Give me more Jaylen. I need more Jaylen
– I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but is it possible Terry is playing his way out of Brad’s doghouse? This is now the second game in a row he has seized his opportunity, and he’s looking more and more like Summer League Terry. The second unit desperately needs an effective Terry Rozier, and that can’t happen without minutes.
I just think that for a team that can’t rebound to save their life, Rozier can be part of the solution. Every time he’s on the court he always seems to be around the glass so why the hell not let him loose.
– Not sure if you heard it, but I loved the mics catching Isaiah trash talking Schroeder. “All that money and you ain’t doin nothing!” Then again to Dwight, “You can’t guard me Dwight!” Love it.
– After the ending in TOR, it was nice to see the other side of the coin. ATL being the hottest team in the league at the moment, and the whole collapse thing make this an important win for the team’s mentality. Had they lost this game, jesus christ who knows what happens.
The Bad
– I can understand why the like six Hawks fans in existence might be a little mad at Horford for leaving. I do think it’s pretty lame to boo one of your franchise’s greatest players though. All he ever did there was make All Star teams and the playoffs, let alone what he did for the community and all that shit. Booing during intros isn’t the best look in my opinion. I’m of the thinking you cheer during intros/halftime and boo once the ball is tipped, but that’s just me.
– Do you guys think Rozier and Jaylen will ever complete an alley oop? Ever? Maybe just one?
– Deep down we all knew that giant lead in the first quarter wasn’t going to hold up. We’ve all seen enough Celtics games to know that at some point it was going to be like a five point game. What I can’t let slide is doing it twice in the same game. The first lead was as high as 16, the second as high as 20. It is extremely dangerous to need to win a game multiple times. The Celts need to find a way to prevent these huge dry spells from happening, especially on the road.
A lot of that starts on the defensive end. This by no means was a full 48 minute effort, but it was close. Allowing 36 points in the final quarter is what I would call less than ideal, and look facts are facts. The Celtics have now given up over 100 points in 13 straight games. That is VERY alarming to me, because without defense it doesn’t matter how brilliant Isaiah is, this team will be cooked.
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The Ugly
– It’s small and probably not a big deal, but this is my blog and good shooters missing FTs really pisses me off. Speaking of Basketball Gods, the Celts dodged a bullet here. Everyone knows when you miss FTs you blow games.
– After allowing so many offensive rebounds on missed FTs, this is probably going to be the Celtics next practice
We now shift gears to a nice little three game homestand with CHA/NYK/POR on deck. The Celtics haven’t lost at home since the OKC game right before Hanukkah and all three of these are games you should be able to pull out. Good job on the undefeated road trip, the Celtics find themselves 5-1 so far in the home heavy month of January. At 25-15 they’re starting to separate from the 3rd tier in the East while staying within striking distance of that top 2 seed. With a long way to go and a lot to fix, the least you can do is enjoy a win like this.
25 down 27 to go