Winners Of Four Straight The Celtics Look Ready As The Season Approaches
There’s been 240 minutes of preseason basketball so far and coming off a fourth straight win, some of our previous questions about this team are starting to get answered. With two games left before final roster decisions need to be made, every minute of last night’s game was important to at least somebody on the roster. Some rose to the occasion, others didn’t.
As is my duty, I have to remind you that this was a fake game. I know you know that, but I feel like it needs to be said again given what we are about to get into because it is going to make you feel things. Things you shouldn’t be embarrassed about, but things nonetheless.
Deep breath
The Good
– We begin today how the Celtics begin every game they play, only with a twist. When I think of a fast start my brain usually will go to Avery Bradley, which it did. What I was not expecting was the performance we got from Al Horford to open the game as well. The pair started the game 7-7, finished 12-14 (3-3 from deep) and they did it in a variety of ways.
For Avery, he is at his best when you can get him a couple easy buckets early, then he’ll use that confidence to kill you from midrange. Easier said than done of course, and there are a few ways you can put Avery in this position. Easiest of all is when Avery simply takes matters into his own hands
All NBA defense like you read about. It’s like I said, get Avery a few easy buckets, and then next thing you know the defense makes a mistake and goes under a screen and this happens
Avery might be the MVP of the preseason for me in terms of showing me new wrinkles to his game. I’m not sure people realize that Avery has improved offensively each and every year he’s been in the league. He sat at 15ppg last year, would it shock anyone if he lived in the 18-19ppg range this year? It shouldn’t.
But as I said, Avery didn’t do it alone to start this game, he had help from an offensive weapon in which we haven’t seen in a long time. Remember when this signing happened in July we wondered how Brad would incorporate Al? How would he fit into this offense we thought. Well, it took us 1 minute into this game, on their very first true offensive possession to find out what the Celtics future looks like.
Once again the Celtics opened with their patented motion set. A little dribble handoff between Isaiah and Jae got it started, and while that happened action on the right side was going down with a Horford screen for Avery. Avery came off that screen, and once he got Jae’s pass he and Horford immediately ran a pick and pop, only that was just half the play.
Horford doesn’t even look for his shot, instead opting to run another pick and role with a cutting Isaiah which he plays into a midrange jumper.
That play right there, the one you just watched is something we are going to see no less than a billion times this season. This was absolutely flawless execution, and right away tells us how valuable Horford can be to this offense. He already gets it because he was born to play in this system. With a younger taller Porzingis defending, Horford probably knew there was slim chance of making a move past him, so instead, he took him outside and drained shit right in his goddamn eyeball. Right baseline, left baseline it didn’t matter
With Horford it’s more than the shooting, and his three assists and three rebounds all in just 16 minutes show that. Defensively his effort was there, and if he keeps making plays like this, he is going to win this city over
Oh yeah…he hits threes too
– As a unit, the starters didn’t play much, but they were extremely effective and that’s really been the story of the preseason. They look great and I would say are entering the season as advertised. In all honesty they look exactly how a team should look that has been together for as long as they have.
– By no means is it surprising that in a game the Celtics played well, Jae Crowder was a team high +13. To these eyes he looks to be back to 100% health because he’s moving so much smoother than he did towards the end of last year. Anytime you have a high ankle issue your lateral quickness suffers, and I don’t really have a problem with Jae defensively. By far his best play of the night came in a sequence to end the first half where he made a three, challenged at the rim to cause a miss, then found himself open in transition for a step in three. Huge swing at that point in the game to really open things up
– As a team there were a few things the Celts did well. Defensively they were solid, causing 22 turnovers. Another double digit steals performance (13) this is how the Celtics are going to win games. When you throw in how well the ball moved last night, no wonder they played great. A total of 25 assists on 43 baskets for an assist percentage of 58% is my kind of offense. Just look at that ball movement and try and tell me you aren’t aroused. Go ahead, I know you’re lying
– Good awareness by Marcus on his made three at the end of the half to ensure the 2 for 1. What looked like it was going to be a broken play turned out a positive, can’t hate that. Oh and it was cool to see Brad go back to the Marcus defending Godzingis approach that worked so well last year. Find me another point guard who does that.
– Hey quick question, how does the chemistry between Isaiah and Horford look? Answer:
– A DNP in the first half, Gerald Green came out firing in the third, and tried to do a bit too much. I don’t need Green to feel like he needs to force his offense. That’s not why they brought him here. They brought him here to throw shit down in the open court on the fast break
– Can’t go much longer without mentioning Jaylen. Another strong showing, his third during this four game winning streak and it happened because Jaylen did what he does best. Attack. While he missed four (more on this later) he got to the line a team high eight times. Maybe Summer League does translate so fuck you guys who talked shit on those blogs.
What was good to see with Jaylen’s offense was his ability to recognize a mismatch and take full advantage. Like he did on his drive against Kuzminskas
No chance that Euro softy is able to body up Jaylen. What’s encouraging about Brown’s performance was you always like to see your prized rookie excel in close games in big pressure moments. That’s precely what we got with just under five minutes in the fourth. The goal for Jaylen has always been to be a pest on defense, challenge shots, be active, then get out in the break and finish in transition. Worry about the shooting later, you do that you’ll have a great year. This is what that looks like
Ok how we doin? Should we take a quick break or something? Couple more breaths
– If you told me there would be a night where James Young made two threes and looked somewhat competent and it wouldn’t matter, I’d say you’re crazy. But it’s true. Young made it in first, made a couple threes, and absolutely nobody cares because of the show RJ Hunter put on, and that’s how it should be. That’s the beauty of competition, and you could tell they were thinking about it every minute they were on the court.
We’ll talk about Hunter’s night in a minute, but first I want to take a closer look at this battle since Twitter basically awarded RJ Hunter the final roster spot. One game is nice, but I care more about the body of work and what that says about each player. Obviously, RJ gets a huge plus for this performance, and here’s how their preseason’s look
Young: 77 min, 21 points 43%/44% splits, 14 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block, 3 steals in 5 games
Hunter: 62 min, 31 points, 47%/28% splits 3 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 block, 6 steals in 5 games
Listen the NBA is a production business, and even I can’t sit here and say Young is winning this battle at the moment. While defense is a big issue for both, if that’s the case then at this moment you have to lean RJ. And that pains me to say, but this isn’t a case of RJ having a good game and that being that. It’s been this way the entire preseason and stats aside, the eye test is enough. RJ looks more comfortable, and when he’s comfortable he plays with confidence, and has performances like last night.
What I loved about RJ’s night was that he worked inside/out. Despite his frame, he made an effort to attack the rim, and showed that he could finish in traffic
Once that was established, just like Avery, he had the confidence to let it fly from deep and gave us a flash of that sweet stroke
The way RJ plays the game consists of a little bit of flash. He is the type of player that definitely plays up to the moment, but despite whatever is going on, more often than not he can recognize a situation and will make the right play, like when he was feeling a little cocky and drew the foul on that three from the top of the key
Add in his floater late and you have yourself the player of the night.
The Bad
– I’m not sure why, but Horford had a tough time figuring out that he needed to come out a little further when guarding Godzingis. Perhaps he was afraid of a dribble drive, but you can’t leave him open like that.
– Despite being at 46% from two point range, Marcus Smart is 3/17 from downtown, and I can’t lie it’s a bit concerning. At this point it has to be mental, like all the sudden when he steps behind that line his mind freaks out. If he doesn’t plan to shoot threes once the season starts then no problem, but something tells me that won’t be the case.
– Melo gave Brown all he could handle, I’ll say that. As big as Jaylen is, Melo is another level. Not the best defensive showing from Jaylen over these last two games, but again, that’s what rookies do.
– There are two things in basketball that really grind my gears, and they both happened yesterday. The first is missing FTs and the second is lazy passing. Demetrius Jackson is very close to earning the label of a lazy passer for me
– Speaking of lazy, maybe if you are in a dogfight for your NBA life, don’t have film of you that looks like this. Help me out one time James jesus
– And don’t think this lazy issue excludes the starters. This is the type of shit Brad has to nip in the bud now before these mistakes turn into habits. Like you know, running back on defense instead of jogging and giving up layups
The Ugly
– Fifteen missed FTs. 15. 1-5. This now makes 25 FTs in two games. I don’t want to hear that this is preseason and who cares because that is absolutely DISGUSTING. Jonas, Mickey, Jaylen, Marcus, and Demetrius all with multiple misses. Inexcusable.
Two more to go starting on Monday and then the games count for real.
4 fake wins down 52 to go