The Celtics Got Manu'd
This one stings. Sure not many teams sweep the SA Spurs, but the Celtics were about 2 minutes and 1 stop away from doing just that. This game played out pretty much how you would expect, with Brad and Pop showing you why they are Brad and Pop. The Celtics beat SA on Oct 30th 108-94 in a game that felt sort of like last night. A strong start for Boston, they found themselves up 30-26 after one. Well last night there was another strong start by Boston and they led 31-26 after one. The Celtics would come out with a blazing third, a quarter in which they would win 26-18. Last night they won the third 27-21. The big difference between these two games, and a big part of why the Celtics didn’t pull last night out?
Late game execution.
You have to tip your cap. The Spurs showed you exactly why they are among the best in the league, and their guys made more plays down the stretch, simple as that. So while the result sucked, there’s still silver linings all over the place. Let’s talk about it.
The Good
– In his final game with the mask Kyrie put on a show. He was great early, he was great in the middle, and he had his moments late. I don’t care if there was no Kawhi, you put up 36 points on 13-21 shooting including 6 made threes against Popovich and that defense, you start the blog.
Kyrie showed you the arsenal last night, with a good combination of inside/outside scoring. The more threes he made, the more SA had to come out to guard him, and then from there he was at the rim. Make no mistake about it, Kyrie WAS the Celtics offense in this game. He took 8 of their first 22 shots, couldn’t miss and for large stretches was outscoring the entire SA team. This game is not even remotely close without the offensive performance Kyrie put up, and going into a game like this and getting an offensive performance like that from your best offensive player, is something to keep note of.
– It’s also extremely encouraging when your 19 year old goes for 20/8
Poise. That’s the best way for me to continue to describe Jayson Tatum. The fact that the fourth quarter was a disaster for pretty much everyone on the roster, and that was the quarter in which Tatum excelled including some biiiiigggg time makes in the final minutes, it’s clear he has ice in his veins. He’s probably their second best closer outside of Kyrie.
We know Kyrie is incredible in the fourth quarter, but take a look at how Tatum does. He’s 3rd on the team in 4th quarter FGA with 2.3 a game. He’s shooting at a 69/69% clip and an eFG% of 77% that leads the team. By comparison Kyrie is 57/26% (more volume) and Horford is 51/33% (same volume). And remember, the Celtics don’t blow teams out, so essentially every appearance from Tatum in a fourth quarter is a pressure filled situation. That’s experience he wouldn’t otherwise have if not for Hayward’s injury, and this is what’s going to help fast track his development.
– It is now law that Jaylen has to wear his goggles for at least the amount of time that Kyrie wore his mask. I don’t even care if he’s fully healed in two days, I’m going to need 4 weeks minimum. You see how he’s talking about how he can see more 3D and shit? Well it must be true because Jaylen was also solid as hell, with 15/5 on 7-10 shooting
After a first half in which Jaylen took just 3 shots, the Celtics were much more aggressive with him in the third quarter, and that was a huge reason for their turnaround. Jaylen and Kyrie cooked in that quarter, combining for 17 of the 27 points and Jaylen was able to be successful because he attacked the rim. This is the style of play I prefer to see from Jaylen, because when he attacks first, it increases his confidence and next thing you know he’s knocking down big time fourth quarter threes.
Oh and he was also the only Celtic to have a defensive rating under 100.
– When the second unit needed a spark, at least Terry Rozier was willing to answer the bell
What stood out with Rozier was how well he shot around the rim. He was making contested layups over bigs and off the window that we’ve seem him miss a hundred times by now. If he’s truly going to be improved around the rim, he becomes much more of a problem because he’s athletic as fuck and can get to wherever he wants.
I was also pleased with how Rozier defended, leading the team with 4 steals. Most of them came from making a good read defensively and being physical, which led to easy fast break points. Now he flamed out, struggled big time in the fourth which ended up hurting, but at the end of the day he was your ONLY bench production.
– I have two weaknesses when it comes to this team. One being Marcus Smart’s passing ability, and the other being anything and everything that Aron Baynes does. Knowing that, you could say this play brought me a great deal of joy
Beautiful
The Bad
– I suppose we can start with the second quarter. When you’re on the road playing a team like SA, you need your entire roster to play well. Well after Kyrie & Co got off to that great start, the second unit came in. What followed was a 5-16 performance and next thing you knew the Celts were losing. If you take our Terry Rozier’s 5-11, the rest of the second unit was 5-22 for 12 points. Your two most important second unit players in that group, Smart and Morris, went 4-15 and 1-8 from deep (Morris went 1-6).
Not only that, but they weren’t defending against SA’s bench who had no problems whatsoever. As a unit they went for 32 points. That lineup of Rozier/Smart/Morris/Theis is supposed to be able to lock people down, and that didn’t happen.
– It felt like Morris was kind of out of it right? From his spotty shot selection to that one play where he just didn’t run back and his man ended up scoring and getting fouled. If his knee is really bothering him, just sit him and let him get better. I can respect wanting to play, but not if playing looks like that. I’d rather him get his knee scoped if he has to just so he’s right for when it matters most.
– I learned last night that Aron Baynes can in fact feel pain. That is not something I thought was possible, but that knee to the stomach/dick must have really hurt, because Baynes never came back. Something tells me they could have used him for defensive rebounding late in this game, so that was a kick to the dick (pun not intended but intended).
– Speaking of rebounding, Celts got killed. A -7 on the night, this is somewhat concerning. The reason for their great start was because they defended at an elite level, and then rebounded at an elite level to keep teams off the glass for second chance points. That was shit the 2016 team did and why they struggled. Well, the Spurs had 14 offensive rebounds and 13 second chance points. Hell the game winner came off of a miss that the Celtics couldn’t secure.
This team needs collective rebounding, and only getting 1 from Irving, 1 from Marcus, and 2 from Rozier almost seems inconceivable. Once Baynes got hurt, the fact that SA played two 7 footers became a real problem as both Aldridge and Gasol had 10+ boards.
Defense and rebounding, that the key to this entire operation.
– This was probably Smart’s worst all around game of the season. He didn’t defend all that well, he didn’t make any sort of impact on the offensive end, he turned it over a lot, and he couldn’t stop fouling. Now the problem with Marcus is mentally he let the refs fuck with him. It’s so obvious when it’s happening too. Marcus changes how he plays when he’s focused more on his frustration from a no call as opposed to when he just plays.
– But make no mistake, the officiating didn’t have it’s best night. It is obviously not why the Celtics lost, but it sure did make things a whole hell of a lot more difficult for them. a 22-14 foul difference hurt, and it was more the lack of calls that most Celts fans are probably upset about. They’ll probably mention how Pop worked the ref and then got like 8 straight fouls on the Celtics.
I bet you Brad noticed.
– I hate when the ball doesn’t move. It makes this team one dimensional and negates like half of their offensive threats. Well last night the ball did not move. In fact the 14 assists were the third lowest in the Brad Stevens Era. Not one Celtic had over 3 assists. Kyrie had 1. It’s frustrating because we know this team is at it’s best when everyone is getting involved, when you are making the defense shift side to side. Where was the Irving/Horford pick and pop that was basically unguardable?
The Ugly
– This time around, Al Horford had absolutely NO answer whatsoever for LaMarcus Aldridge. A much different story from their first matchup where LMA only had 11 points on 5-11 and Horford had 14/13/5. In this game, LMA completely owned him from the opening whistle to the final seconds. The thing LMA did different was he was much more physical with Al, which is a style he struggles with. He’s not a body you type big. So because LMA was able to get to his spot in the paint, he obviously scored at will.
You have to credit LMA to some degree, I mean Horford did contest 16 shots, and he was in a zone, but that doesn’t excuse the beat down that LMA gave him both offensively, and on the glass. Horford led the team with 9 rebounds, but he allowed LMA to get 6 OREB, which is a problem.
On the offensive end, he was a non factor, which is a pretty big deal when you’re trying to beat SA. I thought the Celtics did him no favors offensively, he took just 2 FGA in the first half and finished with just 6. I want to say at least 3 times he was forced to take a tough contested end of shot clock heave, which isn’t a real offense, and I felt that for the first time this year he didn’t have that connection with Kyrie like we’ve seen before.
This was Al’s first bad game in weeks, so naturally Twitter freaked out on him, but it just goes to show how important he is. Even on nights when Kyrie is offensively dominating, if this team doesn’t get Horford going or if he has an off night, they struggle. With a matchup against DET tomorrow, Horford NEEDS a bounce back effort.
– What the fuck was the end of that first half? Of course Manu was going to hit that three at the buzzer and of course that was going to be some sort of sick SA voodoo omen. Gross.
– OK a little more on the fourth quarter. The team scored 20 points, shot 38% and had a defensive rating of 125. That’s awful. For the first time in a loonnnng time, the Celtics didn’t come up victorious in a clutch time situation. Here’s the thing, many people will probably want to harp on Kyrie’s shot selection down the stretch, and how he went 3-7 in the fourth. I say, we can’t have it both ways. This is the bed we made. We were in that position because Kyrie made a gigantic iso three right before. We all loved it. So we can’t then just be unhappy with his next few bad threes just because we don’t like the result. You live by the Kyrie three you die by the Kyrie three.
My issue was why he stopped attacking in the first place. He had spent the first part of the quarter getting to the rim with ease, and for some reason he just stopped doing it.
– I can’t believe Manu made that rainbow. But then I can believe it because it’s fucking Manu and the Spurs always figure it out those assholes. Sure they’re prayer can go in but Kyrie’s wide open corner three can go 75% of the way down and pop out. Sure.
The good news. Celtics still have a 4 game lead of the 2nd seed Raptors. They still have fewer losses than GS. There is no shame in losing a close game to SA at the buzzer on a prayer. Win tomorrow against DET who has kind of hit a snag, and get right back on track. Learn from this experience and move on. That’s all you can do
