The Streak Is Over
It was bound to happen. We all knew at some point the Celtics winning streak would come to an end, and in typical Celtics fashion, it happened last night in an extremely frustrating fashion. The Celts had played with fire so much during the streak, especially during this road trip, that sooner or later the Basketball Gods were going to make them pay. There are only so many times you can play like absolute dogshit and not have it bite you in the ass.
Personally, I think this was a good lesson for the Celtics young players to learn. Every single team in the league now is going to go at them with Game 7 effort. The national and local media rightfully has been blowing this team for about a month straight, and NBA guys are competitive dudes. This early success has given the Celts a target on their back, and last night was more the reality of the NBA than the win streak in my opinion. You have to play well on the road, and you have to execute down the stretch of games if you want to win.
So on this Thanksgiving day, I’m thankful that Brad will be able to teach this lesson to his young group, but I sure as shit have some problems with what we saw last night.
Let’s begin
The Good
– What could have possibly been good in a game that the Celtics gave one of their worst efforts of the year? Well, how about the play of Jayson Tatum.
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18/7/4 on 5-11 (3-4 from deep) this kid just keeps on balling. Two huge threes in the fourth quarter when the pressure was at it’s highest point, if you want me to try and find a positive from this mess, it’s clearly Jayson Tatum. That spin move in the post on Wayne Ellington literally made me gasp out loud. As did that block on Tyler Johnson late in the fourth quarter.
Anyone who thought maybe his shooting in October may be unsustainable, let me tell you that he has 50/47% splits again this month. What a goddamn stud.
– It wasn’t superhuman Kyrie, but he did lead the team with 23 points and finished at 50% from the field. Like he has so many times this season, he saved his best work for the fourth quarter which was why the Celtics were even able to make a run in the first place. What I liked is he clearly told Brad he wasn’t coming out, even after playing 8+ minutes in the third quarter. He played 8+ minutes in the fourth as well, and went 6-8 from the field
More good news on the efficiency front too. This was now the third game in a row Kyrie has shot at least 50% from the field and scored at least 23 points. He’s starting to look more and more like the Kyrie of old offensively which is encouraging.
– On a night when it seemed like almost nobody could shoot, there goes Jaylen Brown going 6-10
Did you know only once in his last 6 games Jaylen has shot under 50%? In fact, aside from the GS game where he had 22/7 but shot 38%, he’s never been below 53% during that run. Jaylen learned to shoot and god damn is it glorious.
– The resiliency is real. Sure maybe a small portion of last night’s comeback was MIA pooping their pants for a second, but if there’s one thing we learned during this streak, it’s that this team is extremely hard to kill. They just keep coming, and until the clock reads 0.00, they honestly always have a chance. They had no business having an opportunity to tie this game late (more on this later), but their kids are showing the poise of seasoned vets. A lot of that is following Kyrie’s lead, but how could you not be impressed with the fight they’ve shown.
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– Hey at least they took care of the ball right? 11 TOs was nearly 4 under their season average
The Bad
– Well, this will certainly not go on the highlight tape of lock down Celtics guard defense. In fact, this may have been the worst performance defensively from the starting backcourt all season. There’s no arguing that both Kyrie and Jaylen have made HUGE strides on that end so far this season, but holy hell did they struggle with MIA’s guards.
Goran Dragic had 27 points on 8-17. Dion Waiters had 26 points on 11-24. That’s 53 points, which is more than half of MIA’s 104. If the Celtics guards are able to do their job defensively, the Celtics most likely win this game. Kyrie had the 2nd worst net rating of any starter at -10.6, and his biggest problem trying to defend Dragic was simply that he couldn’t keep him out of the paint. I mean look at that shot chart
6 of his 8 baskets from the FT line and below. Not great! Also, what happened here?
With Dion, it’s a little different. Did you know he’s the third best crunch time player in the NBA right now? It’s Lebron, Kyrie, and fucking Dion. Yes, the same Dion Waiters that just went 0-10 seemingly could not miss. Iso Dion down the stretch was absolutely brutal. This three right here? This is the Basketball Gods laying the hammer down
My God is that some absolute bullshit.
– There are certain keys to the Celtics success, good defense and rebounding are two of the most important. When they hold a team to under 45% shooting, they are virtually unbeatable. Well, the Heat shot 49.4%. For the first time in what felt like years, the Celtics finally lost a rebounding battle, this time 48-37.
Pick any area you want and the Heat outproduced the Celts. Second chance points? 10 to 5 MIA. Points in the paint? 52-40 MIA.
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– The Celtics had fewer TOs, made more FTs than MIA even attempted, and lost. That makes a ton of sense.
– No other way to put it, Al Horford is battling through a rough stretch right now. After his insane start to the season, things have not been great. Far too hesitant in my opinion. He finished with 7/9/4, and shot 3-10 from the field. He’s now 7-26 over his last three games and hasn’t scored more than 7 points in any of them. I don’t think it’s a shock to say they are going to need much more from Al if they want to be a top team in the East.
I’m not going to say “oh he must be hurt” or something just because he’s suddenly struggling. I mean nobody said that in the three games following his concussion when he literally could not miss, I just think this is one of those stretches. It wouldn’t shock me if against ORL Brad runs a lot of early, easy looks for Al to get his confidence up, because right now he’s playing tentative basketball.
– OK I get it, this team loves falling behind by 16+ points every time they play. That’s one way to go about things, but how about for the next few games we try and do the exact opposite. I know it’s crazy, but I’m thinking it may just work.
The Ugly
– Hello old friend. I have not missed you one bit you son of a bitch, but here we are. Where should we start? How about what’s on everybody’s mind I’m sure. This team sucks dick at shooting the basketball. It’s astonishing really how poor they are. Always fun to start a game off in which you score 16 points in 12 minutes and have 31/25% splits. Even in the second quarter when they scored 25 points, it still came on 34/30%.
Is it too hard to ask for this team to just be average from the field? I don’t need them to be GS or HOU, I just can’t have them be at the bottom of the league in terms of FG%. Can’t have it. They are currently 28th in the league at 43%, the only teams worse are DAL and CHI, essentially the two worst teams in the NBA. I think we all agree this team is better than last year’s right? Well, then why can’t they match the 45% (16th) shooting? You can play the best defense all you want, but as we just saw, with young guys that’s going to be an issue on some nights, and on those nights you HAVE to be able to put the ball in the basket.
– Which brings me to my next point. This may be the worst scoring bench in the NBA. Well maybe not the worst, they are averaging 32.7 points a night which is 22nd, but they’re 27th in FG% so that’s pretty damn close. All on my TL last night I saw fans were frustrated with Marcus Smart’s shooting, and I agree, it’s very annoying, but what the hell is going on with Terry Rozier too? Yeah Smart wasn’t great with his 3-9 (0-2), but Rozier was right behind him with 2-8 (2-6). If they are going to get that sort of production from their two main bench guys, the Celtics are all kinds of fucked.
That’s why I don’t care about “chemistry”, Ainge needs to use that DPE on bench scoring help. We’ve seen enough to know that this is a major problem and they have the resources to address it. Is the answer Lou Williams? Marco Belinelli? I don’t care who it is, but they need something.
– The Heat shot at least 50% for three straight quarters. I’m sick just thinking about that.
– I can’t go any longer without mentioning the ending of this game. We learned last night what my Dad has been preaching to me since birth. You cannot miss late fourth quarter FTs, you just can’t. You especially can’t miss them if it’s your some of your best shooters taking them. Marcus missing his with a chance to tie, and then Al coming down and missing two, no shit MIA hit a dagger three right in your eyeball to win the game. That’s how the Basketball Gods work. They gave you an opportunity and you spit in their face. Those bastards are spiteful as all hell.
I’m not saying the Celtics always have to go 100% from the line, but I do expect based on the fact that they are a very good FT shooting team, to not miss those type of FTs.
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The good news is, the Celts are still in great shape. One loss does not erase everything we just saw over the last month. Teams play shitty and lose, it’s whatever. They now return home for a nice little homestand with 6 of their next 7 at the Garden against teams like ORL/DET/PHI/PHX/MIL/DAL. They’ll be fine. Now say it with me
