The Celtics Learned A Valuable Lesson Of What Happens When You Mix A Lack Of Composure With Even Worse Execution

With only 2 games in the past 11 days, I think we were all foaming at the mouth a little bit in anticipation for the Celts return to action. After missing the knockout stage of the NBA Cup and being awarded some additional games against the Pistons and Wizards, the Celts were able to stack some Ws while getting their much needed rest. I think the hope was they would come out recharged and guns blazing, seeing as how they were 3-0 on the season with 3+ days rest an 4-0 on the season with 2 days rest. 

Instead, what we got was one of their worst overall performances of the season. I'd say they were good for about a half in certain spots, but that was about it. All that rest really didn't seem to make a difference down the stretch, and as a result the Celts earned just their second loss against teams under .500 on the season (12-2).

Having said that, the Bulls do fascinate me. Their record sits at 13-15 and they are 9th in the East, which on the surface tells you they sort of stink. But of those 13 wins? 8 have come against teams .500 or better. Their 8 wins are more than NYK/ORL/MIL/MIA/ATL/IND and tie CLE for the 2nd most in the East (BOS leads with 9-4). They're only 2 games out of a top 6 seed and 3.5 out of a top 4 seed. Yet, they're sellers at the deadline? Very weird season. Usually, it's the other way around where a bad team feasts on the other bad teams and struggles with the good ones, you know, like the majority of the teams in the East

so shoutout to the Bulls for getting up for the good teams and executing well enough to win on the road after trailing going into the 4th quarter. 

As for the Celtics, even with all the bullshit that transpired late in this game, this result is all on them and how they played. It was awful. Sometimes in the NBA, you get what you deserve, and to me that's what last night was. They deserved everything that happened to them down the stretch. Putting themselves in that position in the first place is the issue, not what happened once they found themselves at the mercy of power hungry asshole officials. Lets be VERY clear about that before we dive in. What went on in that 4th quarter was insane and yet another reason why people have a problem with the NBA's product, but it is NOT why the Celts dropped this game. 

That was their own doing, so let's talk about it.

The Good

- There's really only one player that I would say is excused from all this, and that would be Jayson Tatum. For a while he was a +8 in a game the Celts trailed by 7, they were pretty dominant when he was on the floor, and I thought he was more than solid on both ends 

31/10/4/2 on 10-22 (4-11) with only 1 TO in his 37 minutes, Tatum was the only one who played with a pulse to start this game, which wasn't exactly a surprise considering he's arguably the best first quarter player in the NBA this season

and overall I have essentially zero qualms with his shot chart/offensive approach. A good mix of attacking the paint/rim and a good mix of 3PA that came in rhythm

had he not smoked a few bunnies and got rejected by the rim on what could have been a viscous dunk, things would have looked even better. If any of the "others" play to their standard, Tatum gave this team enough to win in my opinion, which is why he gets off mostly scott-free despite this loss. 

Should he know by now not to even react when Tony Brothers does anything? Yes. It's very clear a this point that there's some sort of personal beef between Tony Brothers and Jayson Tatum, and all you have to do is go back to the end of the 3rd quarter. Notice how there was a no-call here on very obvious contact? Look at how Tatum reacts. The same frustrated clap because the refs missed an obvious foul.

You'll notice, Tony Brothers wasn't involved here, so there was no tech. Then in the 4th quarter, while all the chaos was going on and Brothers felt he needed to get involved, he gave Tatum a tech for a similar reaction and claimed he "wasn't respecting the game". This was that play

It's laughable at this point. 

- Alright, we can move on considering there was nothing else worthy of being in this section

The Bad

- OK, where do we want to start? I'd like to begin with what we saw defensively if that's OK with everyone. To me, shooting will come and go, there will be nights you're automatic and nights you can't buy a bucket to save your life. What needs to remain constant is your defensive execution. In this loss, a lot of the focus will be on their horrific shooting (more in this later), but to me the issues start on the defensive end.

After holding the Bulls to just 21 points in the first quarter, the Celts then allowed 33, 28, and 35 points in the following three quarters. So much of their success defensively is guarding the perimeter and taking away opponent 3PA, and this may have been their worst performance in that area all season.

The Bulls got up 52 3PA, which is an insane number against this Celtics defense. On the year the Celts rank 4th in the NBA in opponent 3PA at just 36.0, so to allow a team to get up 52 is nowhere close to good enough. For comparison, the Hawks are 30th in the NBA and they allow 41.5.

Miscommunications, a lack of ball pressure, not making things tough for the Bulls to move the ball, if you do all those things at once, a game like last night happens. The Celts were Mazzulla Ball'd. For the majority of the game, they traded 2s for 3s, thriving in the paint but losing the 3pt battle, and guess what happened? They lost. 

Given the rest and the fact that everyone was active, there's really no excuse for a defensive effort as poor as what we got in this loss. 

- Tough night for the starting backcourt, with the Stock Exchange combining for 8-22 (3-16) from the floor and no real resistance defensively, especially in the second half. After responding these last few games to his shooting struggles, DWhite was right back to smoking a ton of wide open looks, which is mostly just some shit luck. 

I'd say the same thing for the Payton Pritchard minutes, especially in the 4th quarter. His 1-5 (1-5) were mostly all open looks, and are shots we've seen him make in his sleep. Unfortunately, those were nowhere to be found late.

The issue is when the backcourt is in a shooting slump, they HAVE to shut the water off defensively, and they are more than capable of doing just that. When you get a no show on both end of the floor from the guard rotation, that's where things can get out of control just like they did last night.

- I'm not sure which GM called Brad and told him that they're down to do a Jden Springer trade but they just need to see a little more run before they pull the trigger, because that shit was pretty costly. Maybe this was Joe Mazzulla doing weird Joe Mazzulla things and trying to press a button that didn't need to be pressed, because that decision backfired big time.

It's not that there isn't on ball potential with Springer, it's simply the fact that when he was out there, the Celts were playing 4 on 5. Teams just don't need to give a shit about him offensively, which makes it harder on the spacing and the execution for everyone else. They sort of got away with it in the first half (I guess?) but the second stint was brutal. A -8 in those 4:31 4th quarter minutes, Springer ended the night a -5 on 0-2 (0-1) in 13 total minutes.

Whatever that experiment was, it failed. 

- As fun as it was to see Joe lose his shit after the game

let's also tell the truth when it comes to the entire ordeal of the 4th quarter.

For the first time in A LONG time, the Celtics lost their composure. They let awful officiating get them away from playing the right way and executing at a time when being on your shit is most important. Here's an example of what I mean. Right after the jump ball and the double techs, the Celts were back on defense down 5. Let me ask you, how would you grade this defensive effort and execution?

I give it a solid F- effort and execution here by Jaylen, and that has NOTHING to do with the officials. Didn't really fight to stay attached, didn't fight through the screen, was slow to recover and challenge, I mean in a crucial spot stuff like that can't happen, and it's no surprise that LaVine buried that shot. The Basketball Gods make you pay for shit like that, and that's why I say the Celts deserved everything they got in this loss. 

Even before all the techs, how is shit like this even remotely acceptable?

Sorry, this is just bad basketball. 

- Which brings me to the next item on my list. The play of Jaylen Brown. Not to be dramatic, but it may have been one of his worst two way performances of the year. Offensively, just 7-17 (1-9) with 3 TOs and a -19 in his 36 minutes. Defensively, well I mean you can see the clips above. It's not exactly what I would call….good. 

One of the biggest issues in this loss was surviving the non-Tatum minutes, something that primarily falls on Jaylen Brown seeing as how he's the #1 guy on the floor when Tatum sits. Sometimes he shares the floor with KP or White, but those are the minutes of a game where Jaylen has to carry. This doesn't just mean scoring, it also means defending at a high level. In a game where he gives you neither, you tend to lose the non-Tatum minutes just like we saw happen in this game.

This usually isn't that much of an issue, as you can see the Jaylen "On" minutes with Tatum "off" has generally been fine, especially offensively

A 130 ORTG is pretty fucking good, but make no mistake in this game the non-Tatum minutes were a disaster. It was one of the few times Jaylen's -19 really felt like a -19. 

After all that work to build a lead going into the 4th quarter, Tatum got his normal rest and the rest of the Celts immediately allowed a 10-4 Bulls start, which changed the momentum. By the time Tatum came back in at the 6:44 mark, the Celts went from up 4 to down 6. That simply cannot happen.

- All you hear nowadays is how NBA players need to stop taking 3s and instead bring back the contested midrange. THAT is what people say will save the NBA TV ratings.

Call me crazy, but that shit fucking stinks. This is what that looks like

KP should never, ever, ever, EVER pass up an open 3PA look like this. It's almost like he let all the losers out there who cry about 3PA get into his head or something. This is the anti-Mazzulla Ball approach so no shit it didn't work. I don't care if KP has missed 50 straight 3PA, take the 3. Dribbling into a contested midrange jumper is not a better shot, it's not more entertaining to watch, and it's not as effective, even at 7'3.

The Ugly

- I'm not sure where else you put a shooting performance that ended with 39/25% splits. The Celts had been pretty lucky so far this year in games they shot below 32% from three, I believe they were 6-1 on the year heading into last night. At some point, you have to make shots. I know it feels cheap to chalk it up to that, but again, 39/25%. Part of the game is you know, scoring.

And this wasn't a night where the Celts only settled for 3PA. They took 33 FGA in the paint (CHI - 34). They took 21 FTA. There was balance offensively. The problem was when they needed to make an open 3PA, they bricked every single one. 14-56 isn't going to happen all that often, but when you combine poor defense with dogshit shotmaking, what do you expect to happen?

- I can live with off shooting nights. Every team in the NBA has them. But what I can't live with is getting outplayed on both ends in a 4th quarter at home to lose a winnable game. That is excusable on every level and it's why the Celtics lost. Just look at the 4th quarter

Getting outrebounded 18-6?????? Another game of multiple 4th quarter OREB leading to huge 2nd chance points? Dogshit shooting combined with zero defensive resistance? No shit you lost this game, that's losing basketball.

I say it all the time and I truly mean it. The Celtics might be the worst late game defensive rebounding team in the NBA. It makes no sense. All of those OREB came simply off hustle and fight. The Bulls played harder, played with more energy and effort, and they were rewarded for it. That has nothing to do with the officials, that's on you as a team for playing soft as hell and not finishing possessions. CHI finished 7-9 in the paint and 5-12 from 3, so where exactly was the defense?

Even when Tatum came back in the game, it was a 3 point game with around 5+ minutes to go. More than enough time to right the ship and lock in, yet the team did the opposite. 

The good thing about this team is they don't really let this type of stuff snowball. It wouldn't shock me one bit if in the rematch in a few days the Celts responded with a convincing win. They very rarely lose 2 games in a row (haven't so far this season), but that would require them to not lose their composure and actually execute. It'd also be nice if they hit a shot or two, and something tells me they will.