Celtics Are Now Losers Of 4 In A Row And 6 Of Their Last 7...It Feels About As Good As It Looks

Greenie 1/13/2016 11:52 AM

Another game, more heartbreak. Such is life right now for the Boston Celtics. If you were looking at a worst case scenario, or rock bottom, well my friend, take a look around. The Celts have wasted their 18-13 start, and while this portion of their schedule was supposed to be where they started to pull away, it has literally been the exact opposite. A complete collapse. Since their win against NY on Dec 27th, the Celtics have given up 100+ points 5 times in 7 games (all losses) after just 10 times in their first 27 games (still all losses). You read that correctly. If the Celts give up 100+ they don’t win. Period. Well, seeing as how the Knicks scored 120, is anyone really surprised?

With each loss, the frustration for everyone mounts, that’s a given. When I look at a game last night, I see that the Celtics shot the ball well, they won the rebounding battle, they won the turnover battle, they had more assists and made more threes. So what the hell happened? They simply could not defend. A team who’s identity is defense could not stop a Knicks team that lost Melo half way through, and saw Porzingis miss large chunks of time in foul trouble. That’s what is alarming.

Before we dive in, what isn’t alarming is how fucking legit Porzingis is. He was pretty mediocre in the first meeting at the Garden, but shit did he put on a show. In fact, Charlie called it

10-18 (3-9 from deep) 26 points 6 rebounds and 2 blocks certainly qualifies. Especially when you take a look at how he shot the ball (and where he shot it from) early in the game.

He’s virtually unguardable. KP is everything I wish Olynyk was at this stage of his career. Matchup nightmare. You cannot leave him open from 26 ft, but you also can’t play up on him because he can put the ball on the floor and go by you. He only weighs maybe 120 lbs, and yet he is all over the offensive glass. He has unreal touch around the basket and can hit any type of midrange move, all while being 7’3.  I don’t think you could ask for a rookie to do more in his first year in the league, especially when he is from fucking Latvia.

It KILLS me to like a Knicks player this much, but you can’t not love him and what he is doing in the league. Again it sucks that NY gets to benefit from his greatness, and last night showed how great he can be. Let’s relive it, as painful as it was.

The Good

– Let’s start with the best performance of the night, Isaiah Thomas. His 35 points were a game high, marked his second consecutive night with 30+, and put him on a pretty good list in Celtics history.

Now while he did just shoot 11-23, we got a classic Isaiah performance. He as great in his ability to get to the rim and really was the main reason Porzingis got into foul trouble in the first place. there were plenty of drives that he didn’t get a call which was frustrating, but overall his performance was great. I’d say he’s officially out of his slump, and if you look at how he attacked offensively, that makes sense. He played from inside out, which is rare for a PG to do.

His third quarter basically brought the Celtics back to life, and without him this would have been a downright blowout.

– I’ve started to enjoy the progression of Jae Crowder more and more. Last night’s 6-10 (3-6 from deep) 21 points 8 rebound performance was huge for the Celts last night, and really has become the norm for him over the last month or so. He plays with so much more confidence than what we’ve seen from him in the past, and aside from Smart, probably plays with the most energy on this entire team. He did have a brutal missed FT at the end of this game which obviously bothered me, but other than that he had a pretty good showing. What stood out to me is how much he flourished once the Celts went small, scoring 9 points in the quarter (trailing only Isaiah’s 16)

– Speaking of going small, what an absolute genius move by Brad Stevens. Everyone with eye balls saw how terrible Olynyk was defending Porzingis last night, so after letting the game slip away a bit, Brad decides to make a lineup change that made absolutely no sense. Smart on Porzingis? How can that be the solution? But oddly enough, it fucking worked. It basically saved the game. Smart did a wonderful job on KP, limiting him to just 2 points in 3 minutes of action in the 3rd quarter. He did a great job getting him into foul trouble, and despite the severe height difference, he got into KP’s head, you could tell. Im not sure how many other coaches in the league make a move like this, maybe 2 or 3, and without that move I don’t think the Celts get that spark to mount their comeback in the 3rd.

– It’s shocking to me that the Celts could shoot 48% in a game. It’s even more shocking that they lost doing it.

– I really liked how the Celtics settled down a bit defensively after that outrageous first quarter.They followed up their por start by holding the Knicks to just 36% and 40% in the second and third, which is the reason they were able to mount a 14 point comeback. It was during those quarters that we got a glimpse of the Celtics team from earlier in the year. Good defense caused good offense. Now it certainly helps that NY was playing without basically their two best players during this stretch, but why let facts get in the way of a positive take ya know?

The Bad

– Well, this was yet another game you blew a second half lead on the road. Right after you just did it in Memphis. After Sullinger’s huge bucket and foul with 5 minutes left, the Celts held a 102-99 lead. They would then give up a 7-0 run and never lead again. That hurts.

– It also hurts that the Celtics gave up 120 points to a team that didn’t have Melo for 75% of the game, and didn’t have Porzingis for basically the entire 2nd half (played just 8 min). After two solid quarters of defense to get back in it, they went back to their old habits and gave up 35 points on 72%(!!!) shooting in the fourth. That’s just lazy.

– The biggest culprit? Aaron “Hurricane Nia” Afflalo. Give him credit for carrying the load with the two studs out, but the Celtics were basically begging him to score. See of his 10 fourth quarter points, it seemed as though the Celtics were content with him catching the ball repeatedly from 8 or so feet in the paint. As if they hadn’t seen him make that little turnaround jumper 50000 times in this game already? For all the coaching adjustments they DID make in this game, this was one they never got around to addressing and in return, Afflaflo killed them for it.

– I believed I warned everyone about Valley Evan Turner. See he turned in a pretty solid 7 game stretch from 12/26 – 1/6, but what we are dealing with right now is brutal. Over his last 3 games, Turner is an astounding 7-24 (29%) from the field, and continues to make boneheaded game killing plays. Last night was no different and we all know what play I’m talking about. With 1:27 left in a 107-108 game, this dumb motherfucker takes a unnecessary three (while forgetting he shoots 16% from there and had been 1-4 already) which he obviously missed. No big deal, that was to be expected. What is INEXCUSABLE was his inability to get back on defense, and let his man (Derrick Williams) run up the court for an easy fast break slam to make it a 107-110 game and effectively end it. His 5 3PA are way way way way way way too many, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that playing Turner down the stretch in the fourth quarter of a close game didn’t work out. Enough already.

– I didn’t love how Jae was choosing to guard Melo before he got hurt. Everyone with a brain knows Melo has one of the quickest releases in basketball, and very commonly shoots a quick pullup off the dribble. Several times Jae had his hands down while defending, and you know the saying, “hand down man down” Melo torched him for 17 early points before getting hurt.

The Ugly,

– What the hell were the Celtics trying to do defensively on KP in that first quarter? How about you guard the huge 7’3 dude who is making it RAIN all up in your face. Porzingis was channeling his inner Steph Curry, and the Celtics showed no willingness to stop it. They were just super lazy on their rotations, especially Olynyk. It was a sif no one read the scouting report or watched zero seconds of film. Weird that they would be so unprepared for Porzingis after already playing him this year.

– Getting worked by Jerian Grant. Here’s a guy averaging 5 points a game on 36% shooting, and the Celts let him erupt for 15 pints of 5-6 shooting. That’s pretty bad.

– More missed FTs. While their 5 misses is not the reason they lost by 6, it did definitely play a role in momentum down the stretch. Jae’s miss allowed the difference to stay at one, so with every basket came a lead change, and therefore a momentum switch. So deflating.

– Let’s call a spade a spade. The Knicks were more aggressive, but some of these touch fouls were a bit ridiculous, especially the foul that iced the game with 17 seconds left. Let the players play. Grant was out of control and got bailed out. It happened a few times where the Celts were called for these little touch fouls, and had to play heavy minutes while in the bonus. This team will not win any games if they cannot defend without fouling. Period.

 

Luckily, the Celtics have a chance tonight to try and snap this slide. Bad news is, it’s against Indiana. Fortunately they also played last night, so here’s to hoping they have some tired legs. The Celtics really struggle at home (9-10) this year, so it will definitely be a challenge.

2016 has been brutal for the Celtics so far, but the way I see it, they can’t get much worse. I really just think the Celts need to get a win or 2 under their belt to shake all this negativity off of them, because frankly I cannot take much more of this. It’s as if they are allergic to winning their 20th game of the year. Knowing this team they’ll probably win 7 of their next 10 or some shit and we’ll forget all about this little skid, but for now, things have been better.

P.S. RIP to former Brad Steven’s player Andrew Smith. You may remember Stevens missed the Chicago game to see him in the hospital, and unfortunately Andrew lost his battle with cancer. Fucking sucks. If you missed it here was Brad before the game

 

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