They Finally Won!!

Greenie 3/21/2016 12:23 PM

I’ll take it! Look beggers can’t be choosers when you are playing some of your worst basketball of the season. The Celtics needed a win, any win, and they needed it badly. Thankfully, the Sixers exist, and while teams like MIA have been able to feast on them recently, last night was the Celts turn. Boy was it just what the doctor ordered. With things so close between the 3-6 seed, I will never apologize for being pumped that the Celts snapped their skid. I get it that the Sixers are the Sixers, but just like we had to deal with a tough stretch in our schedule, this time we got to enjoy a layup.

This team looked a lot like the team from a few weeks ago, and that’s a good thing. They very well could have shown up in PHI and had another disaster. Look it almost happened around Thanksgiving. They got back in the win column by going back to what they do best. Defend, and run.

With 12 games left, we need a little 7-5 finish to hit at 47, which is where as you know I’ve always felt they end up. The fact that the Celtics have matched their win total from last year with so many games to go shouldn’t be ignored. I know Mazz says don’t confuse the wins with progress, but, they have made progress. This has been a MUCH better season than basically anyone else thought was coming, so while there is still more to go, take a second and realize how much worse things could be during this rebuild.

Aight, let’s get it.

The Good

- Amir Johnson picked a good time to have his best game of the season. He doesn’t do anything cray special, his low post offense is a jump hook and that’s basically it. And yet, he was able to make a major impact this game through his hustle and effort. A very Celtics performance if you ask me.

Amir’s had some foot issues that have clearly set him back, and this make me a little nervous for tonight’s game against Orlando, but to get production from Amir in this fashion in a sense took the pressure off of everyone else.

- How bout da gawd since the AS break? Holy shit That is pretty fucking impressive. Look at his month of March. 26 a game, 47% from the field and 44% from three. For a guy that doesn’t have a good jump shot. What I love about this Isaiah’s run is he’s making those who try and argue against him look so foolish. This is AS production, Top 20 production, TOP PG in the NBA production. Those are the facts. Last night Isaiah said enough was enough and his 26/6/8 with just 1 turnovers was gigantic. Of all his plays, obviously two stand out, both containing a certain level of skill and luck

Those were ridiculous. AND THEN! And then Isaiah followed up his dominant performance with this white hot fire flames hat. Fuckin da gawd man, what a monster

- I liked how early the Celts went back to their bread and butter and ran a couple consecutive high screens for Avery in that first quarter. The desperately need Avery to get out of his slump, so it was nice o see Stevens make a conscious effort to get him some open looks early. He responded going 7-12 for 20 points. He still can’t hit a corner three, but this was his best game in what seems like FOREVER, so I’ll take it.

- Avery wasn’t the only one who broke his slump, as Marcus also had his best game in what seems like a long long time. So what was the difference? Well, he didn’t let his struggling three point shot get in the way. He was as active as we’ve ever seen him, and made an effort to take it to the basket and get into the paint for a floater which we haven’t seen in months. His 15/5/5 is the typical Smart line when he’s playing well, and it’s clear he does so much better when he’s asked to make a play, not finish a play, if that makes any sense.

- Anytime you win the rebounding battle, points in the paint battle, fast break points battle, and second chance points battle you’re probably going to win.

- Nice bounce back effort from Evan Turner as well. The line looks nice (17/9/6) but it was his play at the 4 down the stretch that helped the Celts finally pull away. Believe it or not Turner was actually a team high +21, and it was nice to see him stick it to his former team. When Turner plays well, the Celts are tough to beat, and it’s scary to rely on that.

- Finally, another double double for sully, which even included two threes! He’s another guy that has been playing real solid basketball since the AS break, but the fact that he’s been healthy this entire year is what stands out most to me. We never really knew what a fully heathy Sullinger season looked like, and if this is what it is, it’s worth the risk.

The Bad

- It wasn’t all positive. For some reason all the tape the Celts have watched over the last 5 games clearly didn’t make an impact. They refused to guard the three point line to start this game, in fact, PHI’s first 9 points were all from deep. They settled down, but given how poor the Celtics have been starting games, to see that sort of result was frustrating.

- I really really really didn’t like that Smart three mid way through the second quarter from the top of the key. Just such an unnecessary shot from a guy struggling to make that type of shot.

- We’ve seen better efforts when it comes to transition defense. There was a lot of complaining to officials and not getting back on defense, and A) The Celtics aren’t good enough to do that, they aren’t GS and B) They never get foul calls, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise.

- This poor transition defense also allowed players like Ish Smith to do whatever he wanted. The Celtics had a real tough time keeping Smith out of the paint, and he got to the rim at will.

- I didn’t know Carl Landry was still in the NBA let alone capable of scoring 26 points in 25 minutes.

The Ugly

- While they had just 13 turnovers, the amount of lazy passing by this team is shocking. Pick a player, and they had lazy passes. I’m not sure if it was a lack of focus based on who they were playing or what, but this has been a dangerous trend for the Celtics over the last two weeks. I can accept a turnover trying to make a play, I cannot accept a turnover when you are just throwing a lazy lob into the post, or a lazy cross court pass. Clean it up.

 

So with yesterday’s win, the Celtics keep pace with a streaking Atlanta and Miami to keep that chase for the 3 seed interesting. Tonight, they get Orlando at home, who also played yesterday, and should be missing some of their key guys. Orlando is usually a tough play for the Celtics, they’ll be much better than the team they just faced, but this W would be equally important. See, I have some bad news. If you thought their recent stretch was tough, don’t look at their schedule. The Celtics are about to embark on a journey out West, and even though they’ve beat a majority of these teams already, I can’t see them sweeping the season series against all of them. Remember, all we need is a 7-5 finish, but it’ll probably have to be better if they want to secure that 3 seed. IMO, maybe they’d rather play CLE instead of TOR in that second round based on how this season has gone, so if they end up with like 4, is that the end of the world?

40 down 7 to go

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