Analysis of Celtics Games, '21-'22 Season

It was still get the ball to Tatum and let him do his thing yesterday, in crunch time. He just was making the right passes, and guys were hitting shots (himself included). But his usage in the final 6 minutes was 53% lol, I would guess that’s close to the highest it’s been in crunch time this season.

I think the biggest difference was he was being more aggressive off the dribble, which opened things up for himself, and others.

RorschachsMask said:

It was still get the ball to Tatum and let him do his thing yesterday, in crunch time. He just was making the right passes, and guys were hitting shots (himself included). But his usage in the final 6 minutes was 53% lol, I would guess that’s close to the highest it’s been in crunch time this season.

I think the biggest difference was he was being more aggressive off the dribble, which opened things up for himself, and others.

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There will always be games where they get the ball to Tatum or Brown and get out of the way. The problem earlier on was that it was every game.

Cesar Crespo said:

There will always be games where they get the ball to Tatum or Brown and get out of the way. The problem earlier on was that it was every game.

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I agree, and I love seeing the buy in. I just didn’t see much difference in crunch time, scheme wise. Which is fine, end of games are usually about your best players making the right plays and hitting shots.

And it seems like late in games, they are both getting better at making the right play, especially Tatum, which makes sense because he has the ball a majority of the time in those situations.

DJnVa said:

I would assume it's in relation to the Kyrie sucks chant, that Tatum motioned for the crowd to stop. Perhaps Hauser was egging it on on the bench?

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I was going to say the same thing. Tatum is very close to Kyrie and it must have been upsetting to him to hear his fans react that way.

RorschachsMask said:

I agree, and I love seeing the buy in. I just didn’t see much difference in crunch time, scheme wise. Which is fine, end of games are usually about your best players making the right plays and hitting shots.

And it seems like late in games, they are both getting better at making the right play, especially Tatum, which makes sense because he has the ball a majority of the time in those situations.

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Agreed. It’s the optics of a failed iso looking so so bad while a basket out of iso is like, “Look how Grant occupied space in the corner while Marcus signaled for TL to slide to the left side of the block. Pure poetry!”

I think there are four things that point to the C's success right now, as opposed to earlier in the season. All of which also has enabled the success of Tatum and Brown:

1. Marcus Smart is playing like a true PG, and not a wing. In the 23 games since the calendar changed to 2022, Marcus has played 23 games (he missed 7 games over that time) and is taking better shots, getting teammates better looks and everything is more efficient as a result. He's shot .383 from deep (on 5.2attempts) during that time, while only taking a total of 9.7fga per game. It's gotten even more noticeable in the 18 games since he returned from injury, down to 9.3fga, and 6.2 assists per game. He has full control over the game most of the time, and his defense has looked even more locked in. He's been a completely different guy after Schroder got shipped out, IMO.

2. Rob Williams: Ime using Al to switch out to the wings, and letting TL roam around like a free safety has been inspired. On the offensive end, again, teams are completely fucked if they leave TL to try to stop Smart/JT/JB on a drive to the hoop, because they know the lob is coming if TL gets a step. He's completely opened up the offense, IMO and has gotten better throughout the season.

3. Corner Office Williams: Grant Williams turning into an elite knockdown shooter, who rarely makes mistakes on that end of the floor has opened up the driving lane as much as TL does, if not more. The C's offense with TL down low, Grant in the corner and the wings taking it to the hoop has become an absolute "pick your poison" decision for defenses.

4. Derrick White. The C's are 8-2 since he showed up and while he hasn't had a huge impact, by the numbers, he's the guy who Ime is turning to when he needs to get someone a rest, and defensively, he's so, so much better than Schroder was in that role, and on offense, he's another guy who doesn't force things. If it's there, he'll take it (and usually successfully), but he seems to have come in here and understood his role immediately.

All 4 of these are reasons why Tatum, and to a lesser extent, Brown, are turning it on and the team is lighting it up on both ends.

Cesar Crespo said:

Why are they so much better? Health would be the simple solution.

Were DS and JRich really that bad? is it simply because Tatum and Brown are involving teammates more? Is it Smart's improved shooting? I'd argue for the tightened rotation but that has been a thing all season long. Is it just the easier schedule? I guess we'll find out because there schedule isn't easy going forward.

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Health was a big part of it. I think Richardson was good, but White is better. Schroder wasn't bad per se, but he was an awful fit. One dimensional scorer type who played with no pace, had the ball a lot, and pushed Smart out of the PG role.

RorschachsMask said:

It was still get the ball to Tatum and let him do his thing yesterday, in crunch time. He just was making the right passes, and guys were hitting shots (himself included). But his usage in the final 6 minutes was 53% lol, I would guess that’s close to the highest it’s been in crunch time this season.

I think the biggest difference was he was being more aggressive off the dribble, which opened things up for himself, and others.

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What has gotten much less common are those possessions where Tatum pounds the ball for 15 seconds and then creates a low quality shot while other guys stand and watch.

Ime wants Celtics to get the ball, decide quickly (0.5 seconds) what they are going to do (drive/shoot/pass) and then do it. There is a lot more of that in their offense now, including from Tatum and Brown.

Brown hit the key shot last night - a three to put them up 6 with under a minute left. He started the possession witht he ball, tried a drive but was stopped, so he passed it away. Ball went to Tatum, who did the same but finally dumped it to Smart who hit Brown for an open 3.

Deathofthebambino said:

I think there are four things that point to the C's success right now, as opposed to earlier in the season. All of which also has enabled the success of Tatum and Brown:

1. Marcus Smart is playing like a true PG, and not a wing. In the 23 games since the calendar changed to 2022, Marcus has played 23 games (he missed 7 games over that time) and is taking better shots, getting teammates better looks and everything is more efficient as a result. He's shot .383 from deep (on 5.2attempts) during that time, while only taking a total of 9.7fga per game. It's gotten even more noticeable in the 18 games since he returned from injury, down to 9.3fga, and 6.2 assists per game. He has full control over the game most of the time, and his defense has looked even more locked in. He's been a completely different guy after Schroder got shipped out, IMO.

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In support of this: the Celtics hit their season low point in Jan 6 when Barrett's late 3-pointer dropped them to 18-21. Since then, the Celtics have gone 21-6. But Smart missed 7 games during the 21-6 stretch - in the 20 games he has played, the Celtics are 18-2. 18-2!

Deathofthebambino said:

2. Rob Williams: Ime using Al to switch out to the wings, and letting TL roam around like a free safety has been inspired. On the offensive end, again, teams are completely fucked if they leave TL to try to stop Smart/JT/JB on a drive to the hoop, because they know the lob is coming if TL gets a step. He's completely opened up the offense, IMO and has gotten better throughout the season.

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Part of Rob's imporvement is that guys look for him on the lob more. Used to just be Smart but now Smart, Brown, Tatum, and Al all look for him, Part of it is Rob knowing better how to *make himself available.* We now get plays like this:
View: https://twitter.com/celtics/status/1499569503759257602

Horford's defender doubles Tatum, Tatum gives it to Hordford, Rob's man goes out to get the open Horford, Rob goes to the basket to receive the lob from Horford.

Rob has a great feel for the game, which shows up in his making himself available for lobs, but also his passing and rebounding.

Eddie Jurak said:

Brown hit the key shot last night - a three to put them up 6 with under a minute left. He started the possession witht he ball, tried a drive but was stopped, so he passed it away. Ball went to Tatum, who did the same but finally dumped it to Smart who hit Brown for an open 3.

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I thought the most amazing part of that sequence was that Brown threw that upfake with like 1-2 seconds left on the shot clock. The buzzer went off, I believe, with the shot in the air, but you couldn't hear it with the crowd going crazy. When he made the pump fake, I was convinced he wasn't getting the shot off.

Durant scored at 1:03 left, and Brown then made that shot with 39.4 left on the game clock.

Eddie Jurak said:

What has gotten much less common are those possessions where Tatum pounds the ball for 15 seconds and then creates a low quality shot while other guys stand and watch.

Ime wants Celtics to get the ball, decide quickly (0.5 seconds) what they are going to do (drive/shoot/pass) and then do it. There is a lot more of that in their offense now, including from Tatum and Brown.

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That's the big thing I notice---they have finally started to move the ball around even late. I still am not sure how robust their scheme is, but the players are certainly interacting far, far more effectively and that is helping.

I posted these in the Tatum thread the other day, but these numbers have been pretty consistent from the start of the season, though it’s gotten even better the last month or so. He still holds the ball about the same time per touch as last season, but he’s cut down on the possessions where he just holds the ball too long.

Think it’s a combination of Ime getting through to him, but also Tatum just dealing with natural improvement in reading defenses. The top picture is last year, the bottom is this.

Deathofthebambino said:

I thought the most amazing part of that sequence was that Brown threw that upfake with like 1-2 seconds left on the shot clock. The buzzer went off, I believe, with the shot in the air, but you couldn't hear it with the crowd going crazy. When he made the pump fake, I was convinced he wasn't getting the shot off.

Durant scored at 1:03 left, and Brown then made that shot with 39.4 left on the game clock.

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Buzzer went off right before the ball splashed...

Got the ball with about 2.5 seconds left on the shot clock.


He got the shot off with ~ 1.6 left on the shot clock. Great movement seeing as it went Tatum-Smart-Brown-FAKE-Shot in 3.5 seconds or so. So not disagreeing-- reaffirming the awesomeness of that sequence. And also a reminder of how so much can happen in a second at this level. Catch, pump, reset, shoot in about a second? Incredible.

What I liked best about that play was how cool they were as the clock wound down. They knew exactly what they had to do and just nailed it.

It’s eleven minutes long, but a fantastic watch.
View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O_xkJg-3RH4

Eddie Jurak said:

Rob has a great feel for the game, which shows up in his making himself available for lobs, but also his passing and rebounding.

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He, Smart, White and Horford all play as though they know *exactly* what the end of every offensive possession *should* look like and the path to getting there when the shot clock is still at 16. That's really where Pritchard and White are a big improvement over Schroeder and Richardson. Much more intuitive about the offense, so they make the play sooner. Multiply all those "sooners" by several guys and they get ahead of the defense trying to stop them because it's a continuous action rather than a series of plays.

RorschachsMask said:

It’s eleven minutes long, but a fantastic watch.
View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O_xkJg-3RH4

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That was great. Really interesting breakdown of how the C's are switching, while at the same time passing guys off to keep positioning and matchups favorable.

128 said:

View: https://twitter.com/Murf56/status/1501244478329401350

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There will be Celtics "Castillo" jerseys at the Garden before the end of the season.

RorschachsMask said:

View: https://twitter.com/statmuse/status/1501244160963067907?s=20&t=rcKXuzV01JA206Abu6eybA

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JJJ seems to be the big who took off to get in contention for Theis award. Maybe TL can have a shot next year now that his name is out there.

Fake Edit: When you’re discussing DPOY and the word “this” autocorrects to Theis you don’t ask questions and you certainly don’t backspace to delete.

Another win that the early-season Celtics would have lost.

Ths game started with Charlotte keeping itself in the game with hot shooting before the Celtics begain to pull away, ending the first quarter with a 7 point lead, 29-22. Rob Williams pulled 6 of his 7 (for the game) offensive rebounds in the first quarter. In the second quarter they poured it on, bulding the lead up to 15 (38-23) before going ice cold and lethargic and letting Charlotte creep back into it. Over the rest of Q2, the Celtics were outscored 25-14, so they ended up taking a mere 4 point lead into the half. Rob picked up another foul and didn't play much in the second quarter. The Celtics tried going to Theis and it didn't work: Theis was a -7 in under 2 minutes. Ultimately, the Celtics lost the quarter, 26-23.

The third quarter was back and forth, with Rob picking up another foul (his 4th), Ime challenging the call and losing it. This game had just started to have a bad feeling to it. It went back and forth, Charlotte even took a lead, the Celtics regained it, Charlotte tried to come back. With 45 seconds left, Harrell hit a layup to cut the Boston lead to 3. This proved to be the high-water mark of the game for the Hornets.

Tatum, looking for the 2-for-1, immeditaly knocked down a 3 with 37 seconds left, C's up 6. Martin answers with a second chance layup after Theis blocked his intiial shot, C's up 4 with 25 seconds. At this point, Charlotte comes unglued and makes three costly errors. First, Theis is fouled off-ball with 13 seconds left, gets 2 shots, hits them. C's up 6. At the other end, Charlotte misses, Tatum gets the rebound, and is fouled by Kelly Oubre in the Celtics end with 0.1 seocnds left. Oubre compounds his error by picking up a T. Tatum buries 3 free throws and the Celtics aere up 9 entering the 4th quarter.

The 4th quarter, aka the Tatum show, differed from the other 3 in that the Celtics just dominated behind Tatum's hot shooting. With the Celtics having a 12 point lead early in the 4th, Tatum knocks down two straight difficult, guarded threes and the lead is suddenly 18. He ultimately scored 16 in the quarter and 44 for the game, typing McHale's Celtic record for points in consecutive games (98 points). He's also second behind Bird for points in 4 straight games.

In addition to Tatum's explosion, the Celtics got double doubles from both centers, Rob doing his in just 20 minutes. Smart had 9 assists and scored 12 points on 6-12 shooting - missed his only 3 but was getting to the hoop and hitting some layups and floaters. Brown had a bit of an off game, 6-16 from the field for 15 points. The key guy off the bench was Derrick White, who nearly had a double double himself with 11 points and 8 assists, along with 2 steals and 3 blocks.

Big win, and one they would have lost earlier.

There was a possession that began after GW grabbed an offensive rebound of a White 3P miss. The possession started with about 6:28 left in the 4Q. I point out this possession because after GW grabbed the rebound, he passed it to White, who drove the lane and passed back to GW who moved the ball to Horford in the corner, who drove the lane and moved the ball across the court to White who was above the break, who hit Smart in the other corner, who drove and then passed the ball cross-court to GW, who hit an above-the-break 3P. 6 passes + three drives = wide-open 3P. I hope Ime has this play on loop in the locker room.

I can't find a video clip but will post it when I can.

30 assists last night bringing them up to 27.7/game over the last 15 games. 5th in the league over that span.

wade boggs chicken dinner said:

There was a possession that began after GW grabbed an offensive rebound of a White 3P miss. The possession started with about 6:28 left in the 4Q. I point out this possession because after GW grabbed the rebound, he passed it to White, who drove the lane and passed back to GW who moved the ball to Horford in the corner, who drove the lane and moved the ball across the court to White who was above the break, who hit Smart in the other corner, who drove and then passed the ball cross-court to GW, who hit an above-the-break 3P. 6 passes + three drives = wide-open 3P. I hope Ime has this play on loop in the locker room.

I can't find a video clip but will post it when I can.

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Yea good one, possession of the night. A highlight of the ancillary players, around the JAYLords, playing the right way

Marcus with 1 3PA and all those drives/rim attacks was glorious. Refs missed a few calls, Marcus could have easily had 15pts

Brown played drunk and TL sat with fouls a bunch. Supernova Tatum makes this team next to unbeatable if the ancillary guys continue to play the right way

Yea Brown......Grrr.

I am overly pessimistic about him lately. I loved him early on when he he played like a DeRozan who could hit 3s. But its like he started to believe the hype and instead of thinking he was the Beta, that he was the Alpha-2. Trying to keep up with Tatum is a fools errand. And I hope his hissy last night to PP about not getting the ball on a possession (that if I recall correctly they scored on) doesnt sour his teammates.
He needs to stop believing that he is the ONLY option when Tatum is on the bench and stop throwing the ball away.

bakahump said:

Yea Brown......Grrr.

I am overly pessimistic about him lately. I loved him early on when he he played like a DeRozan who could hit 3s. But its like he started to believe the hype and instead of thinking he was the Beta, that he was the Alpha-2. Trying to keep up with Tatum is a fools errand. And I hope his hissy last night to PP about not getting the ball on a possession (that if I recall correctly they scored on) doesnt sour his teammates.
He needs to stop believing that he is the ONLY option when Tatum is on the bench and stop throwing the ball away.

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Let's not oversell that Brown has been repeatedly bad lately.

In the 27 games in 2022, before he turned his ankle, he was averaging 24.1ppg, 6.7rpg, 3.9apg and 2.7topg. He was shooting 48% and 34.5% from 3 (but that stretch included a 3/25 stretch from deep over 5 straight games, all games the C's won). He played pretty damn good against Brooklyn the other night, including the bucket that iced the game, and not very good last night. It happens, he's not Tatum, but he came back from injury quickly, and while folks want to shit on his defense a lot around here, you can't be the best defense in the league if your #2 guy is playing shitty all the time on that end, which he's not. For every backdoor cut Jaylen gives up, Tatum gives up a fast break while he's whining to the refs. None of them are perfect, but IMO, Jaylen is a perfect #2, TL is a perfect #3, and if Marcus keeps playing like he is, that's a perfect #4, then you sprinkle in Al, and this starting lineup is, IMO, as good as any in the league, when their shots fall as they have been recently.

The bigger concern for me is minute allocation right now. These guys are playing a LOT of minutes. Last night's minutes were Tatum at 38, Brown at 36, Horford at 34, White at 32, Grant at 31, TL at 20, then you have PP at 9, Theis at 5 and a few guys who played the last minute. I'll have no problem with 7 man rotations come playoff time, but I really don't want to see them regularly between now and then.

Deathofthebambino said:

Let's not oversell that Brown has been repeatedly bad lately.

In the 27 games in 2022, before he turned his ankle, he was averaging 24.1ppg, 6.7rpg, 3.9apg and 2.7topg. He was shooting 48% and 34.5% from 3 (but that stretch included a 3/25 stretch from deep over 5 straight games, all games the C's won). He played pretty damn good against Brooklyn the other night, including the bucket that iced the game, and not very good last night. It happens, he's not Tatum, but he came back from injury quickly, and while folks want to shit on his defense a lot around here, you can't be the best defense in the league if your #2 guy is playing shitty all the time on that end, which he's not. For every backdoor cut Jaylen gives up, Tatum gives up a fast break while he's whining to the refs. None of them are perfect, but IMO, Jaylen is a perfect #2, TL is a perfect #3, and if Marcus keeps playing like he is, that's a perfect #4, then you sprinkle in Al, and this starting lineup is, IMO, as good as any in the league, when their shots fall as they have been recently.

The bigger concern for me is minute allocation right now. These guys are playing a LOT of minutes. Last night's minutes were Tatum at 38, Brown at 36, Horford at 34, White at 32, Grant at 31, TL at 20, then you have PP at 9, Theis at 5 and a few guys who played the last minute. I'll have no problem with 7 man rotations come playoff time, but I really don't want to see them regularly between now and then.

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Brown is great, the expectations are high, so he'll get graded tougher by the fanbase. His on-ball defense at the top is very good. IME needs to get him on the top more and less on the blocks (their switch D is basically a 1-2-2 match up zone)

Yea I'm still concerned about TL/Horford minutes. Would like to see Theis/PP get regular minutes along with Grant/White getting starter minutes for the rest of the regular season until they shorten rotations in the playoffs

bakahump said:

Yea Brown......Grrr.

I am overly pessimistic about him lately. I loved him early on when he he played like a DeRozan who could hit 3s. But its like he started to believe the hype and instead of thinking he was the Beta, that he was the Alpha-2. Trying to keep up with Tatum is a fools errand. And I hope his hissy last night to PP about not getting the ball on a possession (that if I recall correctly they scored on) doesnt sour his teammates.
He needs to stop believing that he is the ONLY option when Tatum is on the bench and stop throwing the ball away.

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He's been pretty good of late with a bad game mixed in here and there. His 3 point shooting has slipped a little but I think it's just a blip on the radar. He's about what you'd expect from a player in the 20-40 range. He's also pretty efficient so him wanting the ball isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Jaylen's interesting because I think there are a lot of posters disappointed in his defense, but at the same time... He's still really good at scoring the ball. He's starting to involve others more and turn the ball over less. It's a process. Most players his age don't have room for much more than incremental growth. Jaylen has a few obvious holes in his game though. It's easier to go from bad to average (ish) than good to great. Plus wanting Jaylen to be better than he already is seems kind of unfair to Jaylen. Current Jaylen is probably like a 2-3% outcome.

Make of these splits what you will. I personally want Jaylen to continue throwing the ball away if it leads to growth. We saw it with Tatum.

First 25 games: 34.4 mpg, 19.1 FGA, .457/.361/.773, 24.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists/3.2 TO, 1.2 steals 3 games of 5 assists or more. 5 games of 5 TO or more. 64 assists/80 TO.
Last 27 games: 33.1 mpg, 17.5 FGA, .467/.330/.746, 22.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, 4.1 assists/2.4 TO, 0.9 steals 11 games of 5 assists or more, 3 games of 5 TO or more. 111 assists, 66 TO.

Of course, it may not be growth. Players go on good stretches of games. Looking at this, his year is remarkably similar to last year.

21/22: 33.7 mpg, .462/.346/.760, .537 from 2, 23.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.0 steals, 2.8 TO
20/21: 34.5 mpg, .484/.397/.764, .536 from 2, 24.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.2 steals, 2.7 TO

If Jaylen was shooting .397 from 3 this year, his FG% would be .484. He'd be averaging 25.1 points.

That's some crazy consistency from year to year. We shall see how he finishes the season. Hopefully more of the last 27, with better 3 point shooting.

Cesar Crespo said:

He's been pretty good of late with a bad game mixed in here and there. His 3 point shooting has slipped a little but I think it's just a blip on the radar. He's about what you'd expect from a player in the 20-40 range. He's also pretty efficient so him wanting the ball isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Jaylen's interesting because I think there are a lot of posters disappointed in his defense, but at the same time... He's still really good at scoring the ball. He's starting to involve others more and turn the ball over less. It's a process. Most players his age don't have room for much more than incremental growth. Jaylen has a few obvious holes in his game though. It's easier to go from bad to average (ish) than good to great. Plus wanting Jaylen to be better than he already is seems kind of unfair to Jaylen. Current Jaylen is probably like a 2-3% outcome.

Make of these splits what you will. I personally want Jaylen to continue throwing the ball away if it leads to growth. We saw it with Tatum.

First 25 games: 34.4 mpg, 19.1 FGA, .457/.361/.773, 24.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists/3.2 TO, 1.2 steals 3 games of 5 assists or more. 5 games of 5 TO or more. 64 assists/80 TO.
Last 27 games: 33.1 mpg, 17.5 FGA, .467/.330/.746, 22.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, 4.1 assists/2.4 TO, 0.9 steals 11 games of 5 assists or more, 3 games of 5 TO or more. 111 assists, 66 TO.

Of course, it may not be growth. Players go on good stretches of games. Looking at this, his year is remarkably similar to last year.

21/22: 33.7 mpg, .462/.346/.760, .537 from 2, 23.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.0 steals, 2.8 TO
20/21: 34.5 mpg, .484/.397/.764, .536 from 2, 24.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.2 steals, 2.7 TO

If Jaylen was shooting .397 from 3 this year, his FG% would be .484. He'd be averaging 25.1 points.

That's some crazy consistency from year to year. We shall see how he finishes the season. Hopefully more of the last 27, with better 3 point shooting.

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The other thing offensively people will notice is that he's not scoring a ton of points the last few games.

I'll just say it's really hard for guys to score a lot of points when they have a teammate averaging over 35ppg over the last 7 games. If Tatum averages 35 and Brown averages 21, and the C's win every night, it doesn't mean Jaylen is playing poorly, it's that you can only score so many points in a given night.

benhogan said:

Yea good one, possession of the night. A highlight of the ancillary players, around the JAYLords, playing the right way

Marcus with 1 3PA and all those drives/rim attacks was glorious. Refs missed a few calls, Marcus could have easily had 15pts

Brown played drunk and TL sat with fouls a bunch. Supernova Tatum makes this team next to unbeatable if the ancillary guys continue to play the right way

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Interesting thought question maybe better answered at the end of the season: which C has improved the most from last season to this season? TL? GW? Marcus? JT? Horford?

As for JB, it's kind of lost in Tatum's supernova that JB played well in the 1Q and had some huge buckets in the 3Q when it was a game. But yes, he looked a bit off at times in the game. I think he had three straight TOs at one point, including another dribble off his foot.

wade boggs chicken dinner said:

Interesting thought question maybe better answered at the end of the season: which C has improved the most from last season to this season? TL? GW? Marcus? JT? Horford?

As for JB, it's kind of lost in Tatum's supernova that JB played well in the 1Q and had some huge buckets in the 3Q when it was a game. But yes, he looked a bit off at times in the game. I think he had three straight TOs at one point, including another dribble off his foot.

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Fat Grant was an utter disaster last season. He is in the midst of a 50/40/90 season while playing good D.

TL probably has had the most improvement impact on the team with his D and games/minutes played

wade boggs chicken dinner said:

There was a possession that began after GW grabbed an offensive rebound of a White 3P miss. The possession started with about 6:28 left in the 4Q. I point out this possession because after GW grabbed the rebound, he passed it to White, who drove the lane and passed back to GW who moved the ball to Horford in the corner, who drove the lane and moved the ball across the court to White who was above the break, who hit Smart in the other corner, who drove and then passed the ball cross-court to GW, who hit an above-the-break 3P. 6 passes + three drives = wide-open 3P. I hope Ime has this play on loop in the locker room.

I can't find a video clip but will post it when I can.

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Favorite play of the season so far. Perfect basketball against a defense that was legit trying.

Fwiw, Brown missed 1 game I think after rolling his ankle. I wouldn't be surprised if his offense takes a little time to get sharp.

Like Crespo, I'm glad to see him looking hard for teammates and developing vision, even if it comes with TOs for a while. It's a good thing.

Jimbodandy said:

Fwiw, Brown missed 1 game I think after rolling his ankle. I wouldn't be surprised if his offense takes a little time to get sharp.

Like Crespo, I'm glad to see him looking hard for teammates and developing vision, even if it comes with TOs for a while. It's a good thing.

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4.1 assists/2.4 TO for Jaylen's last 27. C's are 21-6.
5.0 assists/2.6 TO for Tatum's last 20. C's are 17-3.

1 of Tatum's 20 isn't with Brown and1 of Jaylen's 27 isn't with Tatum.


To answer who has improved the most, Tatum. Well, maybe. Unless there is something to the 2nd half player thing. His 3 point shooting is really masking how great he's been since December 1st.
2nd is TL. He went from an 18 minute player to a 30 minute one, losing pretty much nothing in the process.
3rd is Grant. If you define it by % of improvement, he could be 1st.

Coming into the year, Tatum was a .396 3 point shooter. If he was hitting 39.6% of his 3's this year, he would have 20 more 3s, 60 more points. It would bump his FG% from .442 to .457. He'd be averaging 27.7 points, 8.2 boards, 4.2 assists on .457/.396/.851 shooting, the C's would be like 48-19 and we'd be talking about Tatum for MVP.

bakahump said:

Yea Brown......Grrr.

I am overly pessimistic about him lately. I loved him early on when he he played like a DeRozan who could hit 3s. But its like he started to believe the hype and instead of thinking he was the Beta, that he was the Alpha-2. Trying to keep up with Tatum is a fools errand. And I hope his hissy last night to PP about not getting the ball on a possession (that if I recall correctly they scored on) doesnt sour his teammates.
He needs to stop believing that he is the ONLY option when Tatum is on the bench and stop throwing the ball away.

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The possession that you’re referencing before their argument, Brown had the ball, drove into the lane and passed it to Pritchard for the 3.
So I’m not 100% sure what the argument was about but it definitely was not about Brown not getting the ball on that possession

tbb345 said:

The possession that you’re referencing before their argument, Brown had the ball, drove into the lane and passed it to Pritchard for the 3.
So I’m not 100% sure what the argument was about but it definitely was not about Brown not getting the ball on that possession

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I posted this in the game thread. If you go back two plays before the one that PP hit the 3P, he had the ball on the right side. I'm not sure if CHA was playing zone but the ball clearly was supposed to go to JB in the right corner. PP was being guarded somewhat tightly IIRC. JB was pointing baseline as if that's where he wanted the ball to go. PP spun away from a defender, found himself open, and launched a deep 3P that was short. If you watched the game, even Gorman made a note of how deep the 3P was.

Even though PP was open, launching deep 3Ps without anyone else touching the ball even if he was "open" isn't the greatest idea on a regular basis.

I can't read lips but I'm fairly certain that JB was telling PP that he was supposed to pass the ball there and PP was trying to explain why he didn't/couldn't pass the ball.

RorschachsMask said:

View: https://twitter.com/The_BBall_Index/status/1502041608631554053?s=20&t=WcdI1hpaDJ1RXpVB5sbHIA

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Kind of an odd group. Two of those seem like much different defenders than the other 3.

Not surprised at all to see Robert and Al at the top.

Yeah "hissy fit" is a bizarre take on that exchange. Clearly they were discussing a breakdown of sorts, which happens from time to time. And PP with not getting many minutes this year, it's not terribly surprising that he wasn't 100% connected with teammates on a possession.

The energy is going to be insane in that building, a Luka/Tatum showdown too.

View: https://twitter.com/GwashburnGlobe/status/1502072092115845121?s=20&t=LNLY419vyCxjz6pPexEhkA

Smart is really playing great on both ends of the court. We knew he was a great defender and maybe it's a contrast with the other PGs we've had but he is really impressing me with how contained, deliberate and well, smart he's been running the offense. I don't know enough about the analytics to support this statement but he more than passes the eye test to me.

This was an amazing play at the very end of the 2nd quarter:
View: https://twitter.com/celtics/status/1501749221682298886


And this was sweet
View: https://twitter.com/celtics/status/1501730837049479168

I didn’t think Smart was going to be particularly effective at the 1 and I am so glad to be wrong. I was looking at his counting stats recently and you wouldn’t know that he was having the best season of his career but the eye test says he certainly is.

This was like 2 different games: game 1, from the opening tip to about the 1 minute mark in the third quarter, was a close game where the Pistons more or less matched the Celtics basket for basket, culminating with a Cade Cunningham 3 that put the Pistons up 2, 90-88.

At that point, a frustated Ime called a time out. From that point forward was game 2, where the Celtics cranked up their defense and put Detroit away, 26-13 but less close than that. Following the Ime timeout the Celtics ran off an 11-0 run which because a 25-5 run. With 3 minutes left, the Celtics were up 113-95 and that was it. Detroit made it look closer with a 8-1 run in garbage time, but we did see Stauskas score his first point as a Celtic.

This, again, was the kind of game the Celtics would have lost a few months ago, not only because it was close into the 4th, but also because the Celtics stunk from three: 6-32 (18.8%), led by Tatum and Brown combining for 3-17.

Because he wasn't hitting from distance, Tatum didn't have an other-worldly game like his past 2, but he was plenty good, leading the way with 31 points. He shot 13-27 from the field, but 2-9 of that was from three. From 2 he was 11-18. Also did not really get to the line (3-3) was pissed enough about that to pck up a T. But he added 8 rebounds, team-leading 6 assists, and a steal while only having one turnover.

Brown, who has been less effective since twisting his ankle, scored 22 on 8 of 22 shooting from the field, including 1-8 from three. Also 8 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and 3 turnovers to lead the team.

Smart added 20 points on great offensive efficiency, not something usually seen from him. Six of 10 from the field including 203 from three, plus 6-7 at the line. Only 5 assists, but he also led the team with 5 steals and only had one turnover.

Rob had a usual kind of Rob game, 12 points on 5-7 shooting, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and a block, and did not turn it over. He also, for once, successfully used an offensive move near the basket. Not a particularly difficult one but it is something you don't usually see from him - hopefully a part of his game that will continue to develop. Go to the 45 second mark below.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqaGWBOxkiI


The bench was mostly meh in this one except for Derrick White who scored 11 points, 4 reounds, an assist, a steal and a block against one turnover. Grant was sort of decent by the numbers (in 18 minutes he had 7 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists vs one turnover, but he was 0-2 from three and seems to be in a bit of a shooting slump).

Is it just me, or has Derrick White been slumping a bit? Was surprised to see PP out there instead of DW late, I imagine to provide more shooting but PP missed seemed like his last 4 3PAs.

Was sort of a weird game with tons of turnovers. Both teams seemed to be hucking the ball on passes, many of them going directly out of bounds. Maybe it was the KG energy.

NomarsFool said:

Is it just me, or has Derrick White been slumping a bit? Was surprised to see PP out there instead of DW late, I imagine to provide more shooting but PP missed seemed like his last 4 3PAs.

Was sort of a weird game with tons of turnovers. Both teams seemed to be hucking the ball on passes, many of them going directly out of bounds. Maybe it was the KG energy.

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It’s really tough having both Smart and White out there together in a similar way as Smart and Schroder weren’t working together. These two are so redundant. Not having shooters on the floor are going to kill us come playoff time.

NomarsFool said:

Is it just me, or has Derrick White been slumping a bit? Was surprised to see PP out there instead of DW late, I imagine to provide more shooting but PP missed seemed like his last 4 3PAs.

Was sort of a weird game with tons of turnovers. Both teams seemed to be hucking the ball on passes, many of them going directly out of bounds. Maybe it was the KG energy.

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Whites in a pretty terrible shooting slump. I don’t mind Pritchard being out there over him at the end of the game in a vacuum but with the defense they were playing today, it was malpractice to see Pritchard get so much run.

NomarsFool said:

Is it just me, or has Derrick White been slumping a bit? Was surprised to see PP out there instead of DW late, I imagine to provide more shooting but PP missed seemed like his last 4 3PAs.

Was sort of a weird game with tons of turnovers. Both teams seemed to be hucking the ball on passes, many of them going directly out of bounds. Maybe it was the KG energy.

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Shooting 24% from 3 last 10 games (9-37). Need him to get back to his career average of 34% (or better).

Celtics made 6 fewer 3-pointers than the Mavs in the same # of 3PA.
Mavs 15-37 40%
Celts 9-37 24%

The Celtics rank 20th in 3pt% to the Mavs 22nd on the season, so both are below average.

To emphasize the point further yesterday, the C's ballhandlers/wings: Tatum, Brown, Smart, Grant & White not only shot 3s like crap they shot 2s like garbage.

Meanwhile, the Mavs main ballhandlers/wings: Luka, DFS, Dinwiddie & Brunson were 13-27 from 3

The C's lose a game like this by double digits earlier this season, their defense kept them around. PP didn't really hurt them much. More like Grant/White didn't help off the bench at all

also Jaylen Brown has been in a shooting slump since the All-Star break. Maybe playing through a leg injury?

Brown had some bad turnovers, I think, too if I recall correctly. He’s been my favorite player for years as I really like his game, but aside from some really magnificent games this hasn’t been an awesome season for him.

This was a rough game that reminded of previous problems. Boston gave up a 38 point 3rd quarter. They shot under 20% from three. Down the stretch they launched a lot of early clock threes. Al Horford was fantastic, best Celtic on the floor by a wide margin, but among the starters only Rob attempted fewer shots.

Grant Williams is in a huge shooting slump, having hit only one of his last 14 threes. White has been in a shooting slump since he arrived: career 34%, with Celtics 25%.

Maybe because of that, Pritchard got a lot of playing time in the 4th, which started out well - he hit two corner threes early in the quarter - but ended less well - he missed his next two. Pritchard, BTW, scored one basket in the first half by flashing some incredible post footwork. Not what you usually expect of him.

All the Celtic starters had flashes of effective play but all but Horford (17 points on 6-10 from the field, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 steals, 2 blocks in 33 minutes). Jaylen Brown had 2 thunderous first half dunks including one posterization of Maxi Kleber that is immediately a candidate for best Celtic in-game dunk. but he shot 6-16, 2-7 from 3, and had 3 turnovers. Tatum, the leading scorer, had a 21-11 double-double but shot 7 of 23 from the field. Smart had some good moments but shot 4-12 from the field, only 4 assists, and had 3 turnovers. Rob was as uninvoled as you ever see Rob: 10 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, no blocks, no steals in 35 minutes.

I wonder if playing in front of KG made them tight? This just looked like the kind of game we would have expected to see in December.