drewski and cole, I can totally understand where you're both coming from.
But this late in the season, you cannot make that kind of change because Smart is a head case and will cost the team once or twice a season. He was a total bonehead who was selfish and thought about nobody but himself last night.
Okay, time to move on. I didn't like it but you can rest assured we won't have that problem with Marcus again this year.
And you're sending a terrible message by making that change now. I would have made it a month ago based on Jaylen beginning to find a groove and returning Smart to his off the bench energy guy. But right after this transgression, to make that move, isn't fair and should not be made.
And remember he's the only enforcer that weve got unless you count Marcus Morris. Maybe we should let Marcus Morris do that. Or bring in yabu. Can you imagine if every time we were mad at him beat we brought in Yabu to shove him?
No but it makes me feel better. I do think that sometimes they push it too far and then the media starts to talk, and then they back it off
The problem for me is that it makes me feel unsettled and insulted...and it has to be unsettling for anyone who believes in the integrity of the NBA.... something you do not believe in.
One of us is likely an idiot and a fool for watching the sport.... and I would rather not have to reflect on that notion or have my nose rubbed into that other reality when you lock into your conspiracy mode.
I don't come here to listen to that which clearly undermines the sport.
An emotional, but relatively meaningless loss and 9 other takeaways from Celtics/76ers Boston lost their cool and the game, but it didn’t really change much By Keith P Smith Mar 21, 2019, 11:12am EDT
Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
1. Normally we go through the takeaways in chronological order as they happened, but this game has one major takeaway we have to get to first: The Celtics, Marcus Smart in particular, lost their composure and lost the game. It’s really as simple as that. After rolling for most of the first half, as they usually do against the 76ers, Smart and Joel Embiid got tangled up a couple of times early in the third quarter. That led to Embiid sticking an elbow out when screening Smart and Smart losing his mind and shoving Embiid to the floor, resulting in Smart getting ejected.
As Brad Stevens said postgame: you love the fire from Smart. But he has to control it, because you need him. And boy did the Celtics need him. Immediately after Smart’s ejection, Boston lost J.J. Redick multiple times for jumpers. This came after Smart did a good job keeping him under wraps early in the game. And then, with the game close in the fourth quarter, the Celtics defense failed to get stops.
Now, in the big picture, this changes nothing about these two teams. Philadelphia probably wrapped up the third seed with the win, but they were likely getting it anyway. That means the only way these two play again this season would be in the Eastern Conference Finals. Should that happen, Boston should be just as confident as they always are. They were without Gordon Hayward, who does well against the Sixers, and they lost Aron Baynes and Smart during the game. The way they lost was disappointing, but it really doesn’t mean anything.
2. As for rest of the takeaways, let’s start with a big one for Boston: who does Kyrie Irving defend against the new-look 76ers lineup? Stevens started Irving on Tobias Harris. It’s similar to how Irving was on Wilson Chandler to start games before Philly revamped their roster, but more dangerous. Chandler is basically a standstill shooter at this point. Harris can do a lot more offensively, especially in the post and off the dribble. But it works for a couple of reasons.
The first being that Boston switches everything anyway, so who you end the possession on is just as important as who you start on. It also challenges Philadelphia to do something different on offense. If you want to get out of your regular read and react offense to attack Irving with Harris in isolation, go ahead. That’s something Boston will live with. It was reminiscent of the approach Stevens often used with Isaiah Thomas. Not hiding him, but challenging you to play outside your comfort zone.
3. Stevens went to Baynes way earlier than usual. Baynes subbed in for Horford at the 8:22 mark of the first quarter. That started a trend of Stevens using Baynes for the remainder of the 12 minutes that Embiid played in the first half. It’s clear that Stevens trusts Horford to guard anyone, but he prefers Baynes on Embiid. It also allowed for some of the two-big lineups that Boston has been using more and more lately. And that allowed Stevens to put Horford on Simmons, like in last year’s playoff series. The gameplan was obviously scuttled after Baynes rolled an ankle late in the first half, but it’s clear how the Celtics will defend the Sixers should they meet up again.
4. The Celtics had some really good ball movement early on in this game. On this play, Terry Rozier makes the hard push and gets it to Irving right away. Irving hits Horford as the trailer, but watch Rozier. He does a great job reading the defense and relocates for the wide-open corner three:
5. Part of what made Smart’s ejection disappointing is that it forced Boston to change their approach offensively. Yes, offensively. In the first half, they were running and pushing the ball on every play. Lots of that was designed by getting the ball up the court to the guards to find players on the secondary break, as Smart does with Jaylen Brown here:
After Smart was ejected, it took a playmaker off the floor (remember: the Celtics were already down Hayward) and Boston slowed things down considerably.
6.Rozier played a great game. He scored 20 points off the bench and was really aggressive going at the Sixers defense all game long. He looked like 2018 playoffs Terry Rozier. With Hayward taking on more of the playmaking responsibility on the second unit, it frees Rozier to play in the scoring role that he’s best suited for. Hayward wasn’t there against Philly, but Rozier stayed in attack mode and it worked.
7. It was an up-and-down game for Jayson Tatum, who remains in one of the worst shooting slumps of his career. But he didn’t settle for jumpers to shoot his way out of it. He attacked the rim on a regular basis. More importantly, he stayed patient and made plays for others. Here you can see his development as a passer. Tatum is still a threat to shoot, so he drew both Embiid and Simmons and held the ball one extra tic to let Horford get open:
8. The Celtics biggest offensive strength in last year’s playoffs was that they relentlessly hunted mismatches. It didn’t matter who had it, Boston just found the weakest link and went at it over and over again. Philadelphia’s weakest defensive link remains Redick. Multiple times Boston targeted him, no matter who he was defending, and it almost always ended in something good for the Celtics.
9. Because Smart got tossed and Baynes was out, Stevens had to go to Semi Ojeleye in the second half. As he often does, Ojeleye delivered. He didn’t do anything spectacular, but he was solid in his 11 minutes. He scored seven points and played good defense. The second-year player always stays ready and that’s key for a guy who isn’t regularly in the rotation.
10.Late in the game, with Embiid (who played over 40 minutes for just the sixth time in his career) obviously gassed, Boston went to something new. They put Horford in isolation against Embiid. And it worked. In four isolation trips, Horford scored three times. It was a new wrinkle and one that could work against teams like Milwaukee and Toronto too, because they play bigger, slow-footed centers.
No but it makes me feel better. I do think that sometimes they push it too far and then the media starts to talk, and then they back it off
The problem for me is that it makes me feel unsettled and insulted...and it has to be unsettling for anyone who believes in the integrity of the NBA.... something you do not believe in.
One of us is likely an idiot and a fool for watching the sport.... and I would rather not have to reflect on that notion or have my nose rubbed into that other reality when you lock into your conspiracy mode.
I don't come here to listen to that which clearly undermines the sport.
Sorry....
Pud
Pud...you are clueless...the NBA is just short of the WWF...the only reason I continue to watch is that the Celts are relevant...otherwise the league has become a joke...
Photo via Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images
Marcus Smart could not have known the beast he would unleash when he took exception to a hard pick and sent Joel Embiid sprawling face first to the court with a two-handed shove to the back early in the third quarter. The Celtics’ physical, picket-fence defense had again taken Ben Simmons out of the game, shutting off his driving lanes and leaving Embiid to shoulder the entire offensive load. Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris might as well have been locked in a broom closet somewhere deep in the bowels of the Wells Fargo Center. For the 11th time in 13 games, there was no question about who the better team was. And with the playoffs less than a month away, the thought of winning a series against this team seemed a laughable proposition.
Murphy's reference to Embiid's "hard pick' is somewhat understated - meaning the failure to mention Joel's extended elbow into Smart's body. Sharp pick (elbow) may be more appropriate. Murphy's following analysis is extremely interesting.
The Celtics are a bad matchup for this Sixers team. In Marcus Morris, they have a player perfectly endowed to keep Simmons away from the rim. In Irving and Terry Rozier, they have two of the exact sort of guard that has long caused the Sixers’ perimeter defense fits. In Brad Stevens, they have a head coach who has already spent a playoff series devising ways to stop this franchise’s supremely talented yet odd-fitting cornerstones. The most favorable consequence of Wednesday night’s win might be the game it cost Boston in its quest to avoid opening up the playoffs on the road against the Pacers. In order to reach the NBA Finals, the Sixers might need to go around the Celtics rather than through them.
"Odd-fitting cornerstones" is an interesting analysis of Embiid, Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris, but that is a thought held by many NBA analysts. But Murphy is correct about the Celtics being a bad matchup for the 76'ers - and that Philadelphia may have to go around Boston to reach the Finals. That is the intrigue I mentioned previously.
They (76'ers) are not a conventional team. They have a point guard who doesn’t break physical defenders down the way traditional ballhandlers such as Irving and Rozier can, and who needs to get to the rim to feel comfortable taking a shot. They have a shooting guard in JJ Redick, whom the Celtics spent the first half targeting on the defensive end of the court. Redick played one of his best defensive games of the season, but it was just barely enough.
The fact that despite not having Gordon Hayward and losing Aron Baynes and Smart, this game was close. Deficits in free throws attempted (43-to-16, 76'ers favor) and rebounds (54-to-46, 76'ers favor) certainly played a role in Boston's loss.
If the playoffs started today, Philadelphia would meet the Detroit Pistons in the first round, and Boston would face the Pacers. Even Philly followers think that the Celtics may have the 76'ers number, and a first-round meeting of the two rivals may not come out well for Philly. With 11 games to go, Boston is still looking for consistency.
An emotional, but relatively meaningless loss and 9 other takeaways from Celtics/76ers Boston lost their cool and the game, but it didn’t really change much By Keith P Smith Mar 21, 2019, 11:12am EDT
Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
1. Normally we go through the takeaways in chronological order as they happened, but this game has one major takeaway we have to get to first: The Celtics, Marcus Smart in particular, lost their composure and lost the game. It’s really as simple as that. After rolling for most of the first half, as they usually do against the 76ers, Smart and Joel Embiid got tangled up a couple of times early in the third quarter. That led to Embiid sticking an elbow out when screening Smart and Smart losing his mind and shoving Embiid to the floor, resulting in Smart getting ejected.
As Brad Stevens said postgame: you love the fire from Smart. But he has to control it, because you need him. And boy did the Celtics need him. Immediately after Smart’s ejection, Boston lost J.J. Redick multiple times for jumpers. This came after Smart did a good job keeping him under wraps early in the game. And then, with the game close in the fourth quarter, the Celtics defense failed to get stops.
Now, in the big picture, this changes nothing about these two teams. Philadelphia probably wrapped up the third seed with the win, but they were likely getting it anyway. That means the only way these two play again this season would be in the Eastern Conference Finals. Should that happen, Boston should be just as confident as they always are. They were without Gordon Hayward, who does well against the Sixers, and they lost Aron Baynes and Smart during the game. The way they lost was disappointing, but it really doesn’t mean anything.
2. As for rest of the takeaways, let’s start with a big one for Boston: who does Kyrie Irving defend against the new-look 76ers lineup? Stevens started Irving on Tobias Harris. It’s similar to how Irving was on Wilson Chandler to start games before Philly revamped their roster, but more dangerous. Chandler is basically a standstill shooter at this point. Harris can do a lot more offensively, especially in the post and off the dribble. But it works for a couple of reasons.
The first being that Boston switches everything anyway, so who you end the possession on is just as important as who you start on. It also challenges Philadelphia to do something different on offense. If you want to get out of your regular read and react offense to attack Irving with Harris in isolation, go ahead. That’s something Boston will live with. It was reminiscent of the approach Stevens often used with Isaiah Thomas. Not hiding him, but challenging you to play outside your comfort zone.
3. Stevens went to Baynes way earlier than usual. Baynes subbed in for Horford at the 8:22 mark of the first quarter. That started a trend of Stevens using Baynes for the remainder of the 12 minutes that Embiid played in the first half. It’s clear that Stevens trusts Horford to guard anyone, but he prefers Baynes on Embiid. It also allowed for some of the two-big lineups that Boston has been using more and more lately. And that allowed Stevens to put Horford on Simmons, like in last year’s playoff series. The gameplan was obviously scuttled after Baynes rolled an ankle late in the first half, but it’s clear how the Celtics will defend the Sixers should they meet up again.
4. The Celtics had some really good ball movement early on in this game. On this play, Terry Rozier makes the hard push and gets it to Irving right away. Irving hits Horford as the trailer, but watch Rozier. He does a great job reading the defense and relocates for the wide-open corner three:
5. Part of what made Smart’s ejection disappointing is that it forced Boston to change their approach offensively. Yes, offensively. In the first half, they were running and pushing the ball on every play. Lots of that was designed by getting the ball up the court to the guards to find players on the secondary break, as Smart does with Jaylen Brown here:
After Smart was ejected, it took a playmaker off the floor (remember: the Celtics were already down Hayward) and Boston slowed things down considerably.
6.Rozier played a great game. He scored 20 points off the bench and was really aggressive going at the Sixers defense all game long. He looked like 2018 playoffs Terry Rozier. With Hayward taking on more of the playmaking responsibility on the second unit, it frees Rozier to play in the scoring role that he’s best suited for. Hayward wasn’t there against Philly, but Rozier stayed in attack mode and it worked.
7. It was an up-and-down game for Jayson Tatum, who remains in one of the worst shooting slumps of his career. But he didn’t settle for jumpers to shoot his way out of it. He attacked the rim on a regular basis. More importantly, he stayed patient and made plays for others. Here you can see his development as a passer. Tatum is still a threat to shoot, so he drew both Embiid and Simmons and held the ball one extra tic to let Horford get open:
8. The Celtics biggest offensive strength in last year’s playoffs was that they relentlessly hunted mismatches. It didn’t matter who had it, Boston just found the weakest link and went at it over and over again. Philadelphia’s weakest defensive link remains Redick. Multiple times Boston targeted him, no matter who he was defending, and it almost always ended in something good for the Celtics.
9. Because Smart got tossed and Baynes was out, Stevens had to go to Semi Ojeleye in the second half. As he often does, Ojeleye delivered. He didn’t do anything spectacular, but he was solid in his 11 minutes. He scored seven points and played good defense. The second-year player always stays ready and that’s key for a guy who isn’t regularly in the rotation.
10.Late in the game, with Embiid (who played over 40 minutes for just the sixth time in his career) obviously gassed, Boston went to something new. They put Horford in isolation against Embiid. And it worked. In four isolation trips, Horford scored three times. It was a new wrinkle and one that could work against teams like Milwaukee and Toronto too, because they play bigger, slow-footed centers.
If we can get the 4th seed then we'd play the Pacers @ home to be followed by the top seed (Bucks) away while Sixers struggle with The Raptors. We have dealt with the Bucks before though they have added a few wrinkles to last years team ... that said, we can still beat them. Can the Sixers beat the Raptors in a 7 game series away? I doubt it!
Red: "Basketball is like war, in that offensive weapons are developed first, and it always takes a while for the defense to catch up."
think if by some miracle we actually did get even calls in the playoffs. that would be like being spotted 15 points in most of these games. you can argue about the motives but you can't argue the ft discrepancy we face nightly.
As far as the game/fouls called or not called, I saw dirty play from Embiid that was missed or intentionally ignored. Sure Smart has a rep as a flopper but that doesn't mean a dirty screen shouldn't be called. Ainge played like Smart years ago and plenty of charges I see on other NBA games are obviously embellished to make sure the refs don't miss/ignore them and they do make the call in a majority of cases. If refs are intentionally ignoring fouls against Smart then that's not right ... call what you see not what you feel. If we've learned anything over the years it's that a fight is certain to break out if the refs let one team have their way with the other by ignoring fouls or dirty play. When it's too late and the game is on the line then they start blowing the whistle to prevent a riot from breaking out ... Ya reap what ya sow NBA!
I get a bad feeling when I see some players getting special treatment while others take phantom fouls even though I get the star player "treatment" thing. An advantage is one thing but a 46-13 advantage looks purposeful. I'm the 1st to criticize the C's for taking too many threes but in this game we outscored the Sixers in the paint 54-40 yet still didn't get to the FT line ... WTF?
Lately Brad has emphasized scoring in three forms in the following order: 1) Layups 2) FTs 3) 3-pointers
When we resort or favor the three, it's incumbent upon Brad to right the ship ... however, that wasn't the case in this game as some have asserted (Ordway on WEEI 96.3 OMF Sports Talk Radio).
The C's have been discriminated against when it comes to free throws ... has it been an attempt by the NBA to slow down what was perceived to be a runaway train before the season even started? I can't say but my eyes don't lie.
The problem for me is that it makes me feel unsettled and insulted...and it has to be unsettling for anyone who believes in the integrity of the NBA.... something you do not believe in.
One of us is likely an idiot and a fool for watching the sport.... and I would rather not have to reflect on that notion or have my nose rubbed into that other reality when you lock into your conspiracy mode.
I don't come here to listen to that which clearly undermines the sport.
Sorry....
Pud
Pud...you are clueless...the NBA is just short of the WWF...the only reason I continue to watch is that the Celts are relevant...otherwise the league has become a joke...
Elvis:
Let me get this straight... the league is a joke but the Celtics are relevant?
Relevant to what, for God sake.... relevant to a joke?
I'm not laughing.... are you?
If the league is a joke, the joke is on each and every Celtic fan along with every other NBA fan in the known universe.
One of us is truly clueless and I don't think it is me.
Well, it would be sad but I'm sure I wouldn't be the first person you blocked.
If admin asked me to tone it down though, I would.
Tone what down, Cole?
Attacks that disparage the integrity of the NBA league office, the integrity of the franchise owners and on alleged high level collusion with refs to fix games.... while you cheer for the underdog Celtics?
As we say down South....
You cannot hate the league... but love the Celtics.
It depends on how you look at it. From the viewpoint of integrity of the game yes, that's how I feel. But from a marketing standpoint it's all working fabulously.