I’ve been preaching this all week since Game 1 concluded when Jimmy casually pranced and probed to the rim without much resistance. Smart is THE most important Celtics player in this particular series imo.
Celtics vs. Heat, Round 3 Discussion
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What are you seeing with Smart’s defense on Butler.. is he denying him the ball? Just staying in good defensive position in front of him and not going for any of his fakes? Haven’t focused on it and was just wondering if you’ve seen anything in particular.
This guy is a great twitter follow, and this thread has clips of Smart's excellent coverage.
View: https://mobile.twitter.com/stevejones20/status/1527463480986685441
I agree with this to a point, but it's worth remembering we were all collectively saying the exact same thing just 2 years ago in the bubble.
All of that along with his presence when switches occur and say Tatum has him on the perimeter as Marcus is on the low block eyeing Jimmy almost daring him to try to get past Tatum.
Edit: Great post TSC!!
Smart is every wing's worst nightmare. He's really good at getting around screens and he's as strong as an ox, so you can't just bully him. We saw this last series, Giannis still got his, but Marcus made him work his butt off to get them. The result was that Giannis was dragging ass by the ends of games once they'd turned Marcus loose on him (not to mention Grant Williams and Al Horford).
Butler lacks Giannis's overwhelming physicality, and he's getting old. So getting mauled by Marcus has to be hard on him. Also, now that he's Deputy Marcus the refs have started cutting him some slack on defense (ever since the award announcement it seems like he gets a lot more leeway from the stripes).
If you can't spot the juggernaut within thirty minutes, YOU are the juggernaut.
So this is something I’ve noticed lately, but a lot of nba people/fans in general talk about the Celtics as the juggernaut. Nba writers are all in on this team, especially my fellow nerdy ones. I’m in the Dunc’d On discord, and a ton of them think the Celtics are in the beginning stages of a dominant run over the next however many years.
JVG and Mark Jackson were talking about it last night, Jeff was saying the Celtics are bigger, more athletic, and more talented than the Heat, and Jackson said something to the extent of “you can say that about them against any of the teams left.”
It’s almost surreal feeling, the shift to being talked about as the big, bad wolf.
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Lowe mentioned him on his latest podcast as a must-follow, particularly for his breakdowns.
Yeah him and Nekias are awesome, they are probably my favorite nba podcast.
I was using my phone and it interpreted dpoty as deputy, and the minute I saw it I realized it was destiny, because he's Deputy Marcus.
Nah, someone shot the sheriff, but they did not shoot the deputy because the fuckin' deputy don't allow no shots.
We may be in the middle of an era with the best top tier group of defensive players this league has ever seen. Any one of those players on the 2nd Team could be a 1st Teamer in the past but are stuck behind 5 behemoths!
It’s really wild to have an in-season turnaround that feels roughly equivalent to the turnaround experienced from acquiring two Hall of Famers in one offseason. Whatever happens from here, it has been amazing to watch.
It seemed so natural to me, that I never considered it could be a typo. Just a nickname I wasn't aware of.
Reflexes guts and tenacious d
And what is to be must be
Every day they try to take it to the house
But not on this day get that shit out
Yes, not on this day get that shit out
I think it’s something that hardcore fans have believed for a bit and it’s starting to spread to the mainstream media….
I think it’s a pretty good litmus test for who is actually paying attention and watches the games. The people who pay attention seem to think the Celtics are the favorites by a decent amount.
Meanwhile, Shaq is on TNT talking about how the Celtics won’t shoot that well again and that’s the only reason the Heat lost…
It's hard for casual fans, because usually "good defense" means something like Milwaukee's (great paint protection, vulnerable to 3-point shooting, have to turn it up in the playoffs) or Miami's (try hard all season, not much paint protection, good at shutting down from the perimeter and helping).
Usually there isn't that big a difference between "great defense" and "good defense that can turn it up in the playoffs."
With the Celtics, they protect the paint, shut down the perimeter, can switch 1-5 with no weaknesses, help and rotate better than anyone, can play huge or small/fast, and are really physical. It's an absurd combination, and the only thing that can stop it is health.
Love those guys. It's funny, they were talking about Miami's possible game 3 adjustments to get their "flow back" on offense, and Jones was saying "yeah, Boston had to adjust after game 1, because Miami was helping so much, and then in game 2 they knew where the passes would be. I wonder what Miami can do like that?"
And it was like...the Celtics were achieving those lockdown results in their base D, because they got 2 of their best 4 defenders back. It's not the same as adjusting to extra help.
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There was an article or video clip on the ESPN front page yesterday with the caption along the lines of “The Celtics might actually be able to win the title due to their D”. So yeah, lowest common denominator and all. People don’t get just how good they are.
This is pretty much how the Spurs were covered during their entire run, especially once Duncan started getting older.
But I don't recall anyone actually being "surprised" that the Spurs were contenders, especially after they won once or twice.
Feels kind of like how the 2003 Pats were covered, up until they won. No one thought they could beat Indy. And then in 2004 there was no question they were contenders.
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If Brad continues to add defense-first/ball-movers (ie White/Theis) they can even withstand a few injuries (ie TL- Nets series & Marcus Game #2 vs. Bucks) as long as it's not the JAYs injured.
It should be a quiet offseason but expect Brad's blueprint to continue to add defense-first role players to the bench
The Celtics have gotten to several eastern conference finals during the Brad Stevens eta when they weren’t contenders. So it shouldn’t be terribly surprising people who don’t follow the team closely struggles to distinguish between the two. I also think NBA defense is harder to appreciate than say NFL defense where it’s so in your face. As the playoffs deepen you’re seeing the narrative shift.
I generally agree with this however as we have seen in these playoffs teams can get hot and knock down shots against the Celtics stingy defense - Game 1 against Miami (particularly the 3rd quarter) or Game 1 against Milwaukee for example. It’s really hard though for Celtics opponents to do that consistently as the Celtics high energy, highly switchable, long length defense wears down other teams and forces bad shots which favors the Celtics in a seven game series assuming the Celtics are hitting their shots at a decent rate and not giving away a lot of possessions with turnovers. I don't have to squint too hard to see a team like Golden State getting hot from the field and the Celtics getting sloppy with the ball for multiple games resulting in a hole too big for the Celtics to climb out of.
The thing with TL, is he still has so much ceiling on the defensive end. If he was ever able to be a competent perimeter switch option (he's just far too upright and relies on his length vs getting low and wide), he'd completely unlock the team defensively.
Still, glad he got the recognition, because as far as weak side rovers go, he's phenomenal. Great leaper (and blindingly quick second leaper). Five guys got votes in some capacity. That's pretty incredible, although when you see some names on the "also received votes" list, it gets pretty wonky.
Still, glad he got the recognition, because as far as weak side rovers go, he's phenomenal. Great leaper (and blindingly quick second leaper). Five guys got votes in some capacity. That's pretty incredible, although when you see some names on the "also received votes" list, it gets pretty wonky.
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Good point. It seems obvious to the hardcore Celtic fan around here to distinguish between those teams and this one. Even the JVG/Mark Jackson's of the world are capitulating on this version of the Celtics' at this point
The NBA mainstream narrative for the last decade has been going small/shooting 3s galore (call it the Warrior's effect) warping defenses. The Celtics may have a new NBA paradigm, 5 good to great switchy defenders warping offenses.
Brad spent years trying to hide IT/Ky/Kemba*. The negative knock-on effect of having ONE bad defender on the floor for massive minutes in the playoffs is crippling. It's really hard to measure by individual player defensive analytics. But I imagine in the back of Brad's mind during those coaching years he was like fuck this I just want a roster full of players that can & want to play good/great team defense (and IME demands that)
*It's probably not a coincidence that Brad's best season was the 2018 Celtics when they took the Cavs to 7 games with Rozier/Tatum/Brown/Smart/Baynes/Horford/MaMo. They really didn't have a bad defender on the floor and could compete with anybody.
I agree on the Warriors — and in watching Dallas last night, they just didn’t play any defense in the 4th quarter as they were blowing their big lead. 7 straight possessions resulted in drive-to-the-basket layups or dunks. 7 straight. I said out loud “this team can’t beat the Celtics”.
Not to get too far ahead obviously, but I think it will feel like in retrospet that the Bucks / Celts series was the NBA Finals.
The Mavericks are kind of a “who knows?” Team. They take a ton of 3’s and the people taking them are all decent to good shooters.
To me, your opinion of then rests on your opinion of DFS/Dinwiddie/Kleber/Bullock. I think they are all good players but I can’t bet or count on them for 4 games against a defense as good as the Celtics.
The Warriors probably have a higher ceiling than the Mavericks but they seem to make 4-5 unconscionably stupid turnovers a game and have severe brain lapses on defense.
Jay King
@ByJayKing
2m
Robert Williams is questionable for tonight due to knee soreness, per the Celtics.
@ByJayKing
2m
Robert Williams is questionable for tonight due to knee soreness, per the Celtics.
While true, questionable in the playoffs usually means available. At least it seems that way.
Ime has been pretty conservative in managing RW, so if he plays I think he avoids using him much.
Yeah. I could see him getting a DNP-CD if things go well. I'd imagine he's available though.
I’d wait to see how Lowry and Tucker are moving on the court before making this declaration.
And 72 hours ago, who would have thought Miami would be healthier than the Celtics?
Bummer on TL, but I think they can sustain their solid D with Al and Theis given the Heat’s lack of size inside and penetrators (Butler being the exception and he’s facing a layered defense).