This is what I don’t get. What’s the issue with going small against the 76ers without Embiid and with Tucker at the 5? I really do not understand.
Game 1 vs. Philadelphia—Just Win
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
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If you are also an Arsenal fan it's been a rough week... watching the Bruins, C's and Arsenal have amazing seasons and struggle/lose coming into the end has been super depressing.
Especially when they weren't going to the hoop near the end.
edit: or at least as much
edit2: really didn't feel like they took advantage of their size inside most of the fourth quarter after it had worked great in the first half.
I was just messing based upon other comments. I was likewise impressed that strong, but he is the best young wing basically?
First team all nba last year (likely this year). Only first teamer younger is Luka, and Id rather have our guy with the added D.
I dunno. I just watched the ending (for the first time, mercifully). It struck me as "one of those days", much less damning than the home game they dropped to Atlanta. They generated an amazing number of open looks in the closing minutes via ball movement and offensive rebounds— the shots just didn't fall. There were a few split-second plays that could have gone differently to swing the game: had the Maxey foul been called a charge rather than block; had Brogdan spent one more second dribbling the ball rather than throwing it away with 1 on the 24; had Tatum been able to gather himself on the late layup attempt.
The lineup choice seemed ok to me: yes, the Sixers were hunting Horford but he held up ok— drawing a charge on one play, contesting the Harden game-winning 3 pretty well— and the C's were feasting on the offensive glass. White didn't have it today, and Marcus played well down the stretch, so I don't know what else you do (play Grant instead of Al??). Looking at the Sixers made 3pt%, I can imagine there's an adjustment to be made there in terms of driving them off the line more, but just judging from the end of the game, I wasn't screaming, "Why is Al in there?"
It's depressing to drop game 1 with Embiid on the bench, but I'm going to wait til game 2 before drawing any conclusions about the shape of the series.
The lineup choice seemed ok to me: yes, the Sixers were hunting Horford but he held up ok— drawing a charge on one play, contesting the Harden game-winning 3 pretty well— and the C's were feasting on the offensive glass. White didn't have it today, and Marcus played well down the stretch, so I don't know what else you do (play Grant instead of Al??). Looking at the Sixers made 3pt%, I can imagine there's an adjustment to be made there in terms of driving them off the line more, but just judging from the end of the game, I wasn't screaming, "Why is Al in there?"
It's depressing to drop game 1 with Embiid on the bench, but I'm going to wait til game 2 before drawing any conclusions about the shape of the series.
One hundred percent. The problem was, there wouldn't have been enough time left on the shot clock for the recipient of the pass to get off a good attempt.
I dunno, they turned the ball over twice in the final 30 seconds. It was just embarrassing execution down the stretch once again. Sadly, there is another universe where Maxey is called for a charge and they win but this team just isn’t making the plays necessary to win a title. And, to me, the game was really lost with their similarly sloppy play at the end of the 2nd quarter. Double digit lead down to 3 when they could have more or less iced it.
Do we think TimeLord is kind nursing something in the knee? Under 20 minutes and I thought other than a few times he chose not to challenge a floater that he looked pretty damn good out there. For a few minutes, it seemed like he could get a lob at the rim at will and they never went back to that in the second half.
And I think this game is a really interesting case for the "take it to the hoop" crowd, of which I am often a member. The 26 3-pt attempts were the lowest for the Cs (by 3) all year. It may actually be that the Sixers were okay with the layup line as long as the Cs didn't make 20 threes and put them away that way.
When you lose the made threes battle by 7, you lose a lot of the time. Combine that with the turnover numbers and it's sort of amazing Philly didn't win by more.
And I think this game is a really interesting case for the "take it to the hoop" crowd, of which I am often a member. The 26 3-pt attempts were the lowest for the Cs (by 3) all year. It may actually be that the Sixers were okay with the layup line as long as the Cs didn't make 20 threes and put them away that way.
When you lose the made threes battle by 7, you lose a lot of the time. Combine that with the turnover numbers and it's sort of amazing Philly didn't win by more.
With a week of light practices under his belt, Harden had his old burst, finishing above the rim several times. How long can he stay fresh?
Yeah, Mazzulla said 26 attempts from beyond the arc aren't a winning formula for this team.
Well...maybe not, but the layup line....no way THAT was the Sixers' strategy. Shooting a ton of threes works mathematically when you're shooting 40% from three, because it requires a team to shoot 60% from two in order to match, and nobody can match that consistently. But the Celtics were getting open layups and dunks the entire first quarter and shot like 90% from two. There is no team in the world that wouldn't take a layup line like that all game long, and clearly the 76ers switched defensive strategy (with the zone) trying to choke that layup line off.
At THAT point, yeah, the Celtics needed to shoot more and better from three.
Well, sure, they did things wrong. Otherwise, they would have won the game. I'm opining that there's still a gulf of distance between the team I watched down the stretch last night vs. G5 vs the Hawks. The latter looked shook, couldn't run their offense, and frankly didn't even seem like they wanted to be out there. What we saw last night had its warts and didn't end well, but I honestly think that the level of execution they showed last night is enough to win ~70% of the time in that scenario (up 4 with 1:38 left).
edit: to be more specific, the Brogdan turnover was bad but the Smart TO I chalk up more to desperate times leading to desperate measures (down with 5.1 seconds, attempting a risky pass). The team went 1-6 from the floor down the stretch, missing open looks from Horford and Brogdan, which was the biggest reason they lost IMO. I think putting turnovers at the top of the list is kinda a case of overfitting the facts to fit the existing narrative about this team.
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Did they not look shook in the last minute? Their best players literally passed up open shots. They then followed up that possession with another turnover that iced the game. They didn’t close out the game well at all. We can’t just arbitrarily cut it off to when they were up 4 with 2 mins to go. Every minute counts and you need to finish the job. They also played like ass to close out the second quarter, which set up this fiasco.
And this is against crappy/mediocre teams like the Hawks and Embiid-less Sixers. We know they have it in them, which is why it’s so frustrating. But you aren’t closing out the Warriors/Nuggets/Lakers executing like this.
I certainly hope we see this team sustain a good stretch. Last night should have been a comfortable win given how it started.
I try to be upbeat but it really has put me in a mood at times over the past few weeks. The added constant rain doesn’t help.
Here’s to the C’s winning game two and a still pretty improbable second place for Arsenal!
I think Atlanta under Snyder was far from a mediocre team and who they were in the regular season. They also shot lights out from three.. well above season and career averages. If Trae misses the shot in game five it’s seen entirely differently.
Sizers are still very good shooters without Embiid. Celtics shouldn’t have lost last night.. but it’s not like the Sixers didn’t play well..
Trap game. I actually think it’s hard to play a team with such a dominant player out.
For instance, the C’s spent a ton of time just driving into the Embiid-less lane—including on their last play—instead of moving the ball the way they normally do. And while it mostly worked, it def. messed with their rhythm and probably led to a number of their turnovers.Their whole rhythm was just off. Plus, it’s legit not clear how a team is going to compensate – yes you know Harden is going to get a lot of touches but it’s less clear how guys like Harris and Maxey (much less Melton) are going to respond.
We can wring our hands all we want but win games 2 and 3 and we’ll forget about it. Play your game not theirs.
They did play well and made some tough shots but they also did what they wanted to do for most of the game. It’s time for the Celtics defense to dictate things outside of Q4.
I expect a much better performance and a W in G2.
There is a long list of teams that prevailed with their best player sidelined.
In Game 6 of the 1982 NBA Finals, with Kareem injured, rookie Magic Johnson famously started at center and led LA over Philly to clinch in Game 6. Magic was everywhere on the floor, scored 42 points.
Nuke the HW logo on all branding immediately. Bad juju.
This is the moment for me. How are you not winning at this point?
View: https://twitter.com/BrianTRobb/status/1653241242858160136
Lots of rough decisions by Celtics in Game 1 crunch time. Jaylen Brown deciding to pull the ball back out here on a potential 3-2 fast break was probably the most surprising.
This is the moment for me. How are you not winning at this point?
View: https://twitter.com/BrianTRobb/status/1653241242858160136
Lots of rough decisions by Celtics in Game 1 crunch time. Jaylen Brown deciding to pull the ball back out here on a potential 3-2 fast break was probably the most surprising.
"Potential" is doing a lot of work there. It WAS a one on two when he got to the three point line. He pulled it back out which was actually smart since he didn't want to turn it over, the C's were up 4 and he wanted to get a good possession rather than force a tough layup.
That's the play that drove me nuts. That's HARDEN in the lane. Jaylen should have driven to the basket. Yeah, there's defensive help coming, but the odds are VERY high that he gets fouled. Even if Harden's defense is shockingly effective, he's got two teammates coming into the play who he can pass to or who could get the rebound.
Force the defense to commit and good things can and will happen.
Yep. You gotta know who's where. So like when you pass someone the ball, some people think it's a good pass if you "hit the open man". But there's also next-level play - know WHO you're passing to and WHERE you're passing it to them. Hitting Rob Williams as the trailer on a fast break when he catches it at the three point line is not a good play - RWill will likely turn that over. Passing to Tatum as the trailer on a fast break, however, is a great play. Same pass, same play, different player involved totally changes the quality of that decision.
In this case, it's Brown vs. Harden, one on one, with Brown having a full head of steam. The realistic possible outcomes are: Hoop and a foul, a hoop, a foul, or a Brown miss/turnover. The first three options combined probably come to about 75-80% given who the defender was. If it's Embiid there, different story.
Yes, that’s precisely my point. You just don’t know how the other team that’s missing the guy is going to scheme their way through the new game. There’s not as much tape and guys are going to play roles they haven’t before.
I would reiterate as well that the Celtics made a conscious effort to take the ball to the rim last night. Which in the abstract is the right decision: Joel Embiid is missing, and for most of the game that play was there for the taking. But it’s also not, how you just played 82 games.
So it wasn’t entirely surprising to me to see guys fumbled the ball trying to take it inside or that they drew up a play to just pass it inside for a layup on their final shot. When you’re shooting roughly 70% partly because you’ve had a zillion shots from right under the hoop all game that actually makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately Philly made a good play there and stripped Smart.
I guess I’m just not that worried about it. As you said, it’s one game. If they struggle with it in game 2? Different story.
Game 2 pretty much becomes a must-win game. If they go to Philly tied, I like their chances. If not....obviously it's a humongous hole to dig out of.
Absolutely. And I'd add "Horford/Brogdon get the rebound off of a Brown miss" to that matrix. Harris is probably going to converge with Harden and Brown at the bucket if Brown drives, with his momentum taking him out of bounds, which leaves Horford and Brogdon there to clean up the glass.
Yep. I'll be in the Garden with my son -- and a buddy who's a Philly fan. I'm excited and terrified in equal measures.
I didn't get to watch the game, listened on the radio- the 3 plays most discussed here- JB declining the fast break opportunity, the Smart block/charge, the Brogdon turnover....all were very well described and commented on by Grande and Max. Grande definitely thought that there would be a 24 second violation call.