2023-24 Celtics
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If it's not his knee, foot, or achilles, I'm basically unconcerned.
They did mention in the broadcast last night that it was expected to be no big deal.
They did mention in the broadcast last night that it was expected to be no big deal.
PDX is a homecoming game for Pritchard, we could see a big night from him (prop bet?)
I expect we'll see TOP6 split squads a few times over the next 12 days with 3 BTBs
in that period@Blazers/@Jazz
@Wizards/Pistons
@Pistons/@Bulls
5/6 on the road, not the NBA schedule makers' best work
PP, Hauser, Kornet, Tillman, Brissett, Springer, Svi lace 'em up.
At least effort won't be a problem against some of these tankers.
Chicago has been playing better since Boston embarrassed them during the IST.
Doubt Billy Donovan has forgotten
Pritchard missed last years trip with a knee injury. The previous year he scored 19 in 18 min and hit 5 three’s in a 28-pt win (no better garbage time player in the league). As a rookie he played 12 min in a 1-pt game….and shot 1-7 (0-3 threes). Standard PP behavior.
Not in the East, but for overall homecourt they can’t play dead quite yet. Take out the trash now so you can fully rest in April.
If the Celtics were to go 10-9 the rest of the way (and 10 wins is as close to a slam dunk as there is given the remaining schedule), the Thunder would have to go 14-4 to tie. FWIW, OKC still has a difficult east coast trip to NY, Philly, Boston, and Indiana remaining, as well as a trip to Milwaukee. So while it is indeed possible the Celtics could lose the #1 overall seed, it's also unlikely barring an unforeseen collapse.
No problem with Joe/Brad deciding to prioritize the health of their vets at this point.
I'm with @Ed Hillel on this - bury the rest of the league, then you can ease off the throttle and get some more rest for the playoffs.
One other reason JMazz may be going split squads is to keep up continuity among his top 5. None of the top 7 are playing both of these games.
I think it’s fairly easy to rotate days off for multiple players the rest of the way with the #1 overall pretty much locked up while also ramping up minutes in certain games with 1-2 days off on each end of it. I’ll circle the “ramp up” games which also by pure chance happen to be against some of the better teams in the league….
3/14 Phoenix (1 off before, 2 off after)
3/20 Milwaukee (1 off each end)
4/3 OKC (I off each end)
4/9 @Milwaukee (1 off each end)
Two other potentials are @Atlanta and @New Orleans, each with 1 and 2 off.
3/14 Phoenix (1 off before, 2 off after)
3/20 Milwaukee (1 off each end)
4/3 OKC (I off each end)
4/9 @Milwaukee (1 off each end)
Two other potentials are @Atlanta and @New Orleans, each with 1 and 2 off.
I think they should do just that, but the best way to do it is to just take care of the shitty teams up front and not need to man a full squad against the Bucks 10 days before the playoffs.
I expect they'll split the TOP6 players days off on the Back-to-Backs (BTB)
Rest KP, Brown, White vs. PDX
Then rest Horford, Tatum, Jrue vs. UTAH.
Maybe continue that pattern with the 4 remaining BTBs?
Throw Hauser, Tillman into the starting lineup with Luke, PP, Brissett, Svi, Springer, Queta as your bench
For that same reason, I believe Pritchard will have a huge uptick in minutes/FGA tonight (& other BTBs)
I've said this before but I want us to go hard, as playoff dress rehearsals, for 2-3 specific remaining games. Probably home vs OKC and NYK. Maybe either Milwaukee game. Make a point of those being the ones our guys get up for and treat 100% serious, with full squad availability (barring actual injuries).
Yeah I mean maybe they'll do it 4 times. I think Thursday vs Phoenix is probably the best bet of the ones you list, given the extra rest. We don't have many other games that are unaffected by short-rest situations, frankly. I guess there's the @ Atlanta mini series, with 2 off days in between the games on 3/25 and 3/28, and a rest day on either end of it. Besides that and the rest after Phoenix, we don't have 2 days off between games the remainder of the season, so I'm sure they want to maximize the healing value. And I'm not sure we'd look to charge up and blow Atlanta off the court, like what would that prove, how would that challenge us, etc. So maybe that's an opportunity to give someone like Horford or Porzingis a full week off (they're not stars within the definition of the Player Resting Policy, so it doesn't apply to them - the most we might get is side-eye coming from Park Ave), instead of firing all cylinders on one of those games.
Looks like they will be resting several of the starters tonight.
It's going to be a PP/Hauser Launch Party
What is Pritchard's PPG when he plays 30mpg is probably more relevant?
(playing at home in Portland is just extra motivation)
Return homes can be tricky the first time w so many distractions but he’s been here before so he should be fine. Has he ever even played 30 min in an NBA game? Haven’t looked but if he did I’m sure it was a blowout so I wouldn’t really factor that much and if he did play that much it is due to him having it going on that night.
Payton has played between 26-33 minutes 10X this season (no starts) and averaged 18ppg.
Mostly in blowouts when the Starters get pulled
Also something you may find interesting. I posted a video where Simmons talks about new Ref rules after the All-Star game and the massive effect it has had on UNDERS.
Like many here I watch most of the games. To my eyes, none of the top six in the rotation looks as spry as earlier in the season. Aside from the Porzingis injury, Jaylen, Jrue and even Tatum look worn down.
They clearly aren't playing at the level they were a few weeks ago - as you note, why build this cushion if you can't use it. Unless you are a Cs fan in PDX (sorry because I know we have numbers there) I can't see why resting staters against a WC opponent near the end of a grueling road trip is bad. Like at all.
Your worst expected outcome is losing a game in the standings. And if the Cs have to fend off another team for the top spot, they likely have bigger problems.
I agree they look a bit worn down. Probably 80% physically and 20% mentally (they've stayed reasonably locked in for a very long stretch of games against good to very good opponents).
The team cares about this far more than we do, and has far better observations and data, so this rest shouldn't be surprising at all.
I'll be there. On the bright side, I'm glad I waited to get tickets as I snagged some good seats this morning for a very nice price.
Well maybe you can have a conversation with the Jays then, at least, even if you can't watch them do their thing.
Especially when dealing with nagging injuries. Jaylen's back has been clearly bothering him the last couple games and he's played through it, but better off dealing with that shit now before it becomes a bigger issue.
Yea I was hoping Tatum would take tonight off with Brown taking tomorrow off...
At least Jrue & KP got the memo
Maybe you got on camera, then. They showed an awful lot of the Celtics away contingent on the Boston broadcast.
Definitely lots of Celtics fans there. The brewery pregame was packed just with Celtics fans…the bartender who is a Sixers fan wasn’t happy.
With 17 games to go, magic number is 8 for EC #1, 12 for HC throughout. Pretty good chance we get 12 wins on our own.
One unique quirk of the schedule: the Celtics only have one road game after April 1, in Milwaukee on April 9. They finish the regular season on Sunday, April 14. So, the first playoff game will probably be Tuesday or Wednesday? And then game 2 could be any time from Thursday to Sunday. Playoff schedules are quirky so who knows.
But the point is, they'll be sleeping in their home beds for something like 19 out of 20 nights as the playoffs begin. That's a nice bonus.
Edit: I forgot about the play-in. Their first playoff game won't be until the 19th at the earliest.
But the point is, they'll be sleeping in their home beds for something like 19 out of 20 nights as the playoffs begin. That's a nice bonus.
Edit: I forgot about the play-in. Their first playoff game won't be until the 19th at the earliest.
Just going back through standings on Basketball Reference, I'm pretty sure this 9.5 game lead on 2nd place in the conference is the largest conference lead any team has had by this date in 10 years, since the Heat over the 2nd place Pacers on 3/12 in 2013.
Teams don't pull away from the field like this very often.
Teams don't pull away from the field like this very often.
The play-in schedule is one reason I'm not too concerned with them getting enough rest. They'll get 4-5 days off after the regular season. Play them enough to keep everyone sharp, especially in the few highlight games left.
Again, these silly one-game road trips (one this Sunday to the Wiz) - I would give all the top 5 the entire trip off. Why the hell not?
The league will surely fine them if they do that. But I would be surprised if all of KP, Tatum, and JB make that flight...
I didn't think anyone looked particularly tired, then I read this thread and now I am worried, especially about JT. At this point, I am more than happy giving multiple starters days off. I have actually kind of enjoyed watching the bench see what they can do with expanded minutes, as well as getting Tillman some more run with the team.
As someone who plans on attending that game, can I ask for 3 of the top 6 playing?
The Player Rest Policy applies to "stars", which for us includes Tatum, Brown, and Holiday. We are expected to make stars available to play on national-TV games, except for bona fide injury. And for all other games, teams are expected to (1) only hold out one star per game for rest, and (2) balance the games a star is held out, between home games / road games.
I did the game-by-game rundown last week, but literally half of our remaining games are national-TV games. Of the other games, I would certainly hope we'd rest one of our 3 "stars" for each one, and the other 3 starters (White, Horford and Porzingis) even more liberally than that, including for national TV games. Maybe less so for White since he's made of titanium, but even him too, a little bit.
Point is, Tatum and Brown are going to get a lot less rest during the stretch run than the other guys. We might expect them to take a $100k fine for a first offense and maybe a $250k fine for a second offense for the sake of resting the stars too, the last few games of the season, i.e. vs CHO 4/12 and vs WAS 4/14. Or rest them 4/7 vs Portland (non national TV) and see if the league fines them for it, then decide about the last 4 games.
Can they play for 1 minute then take the rest of the game off? These anti-load-management rules are BS.
Especially at this point in the season, where you have a team like the Celtics that will likely soon have nothing left to play for.
Oh, man, Mike Gorman with zero fucks left to give is such a treasure. He's saying what everyone knew to be true, but to have it so clearly laid out is pretty amazing in this day and age.
The fact that he's very clearly all there mentally at his age really adds to it. There is nothing absent-minded: he knows exactly what he's saying and just goes for it.
Yeah, nothing exactly earth shattering there, I think we all knew Grant was annoying. But to hear Gorman say it like that...pretty entertaining