One game - Celtics shoot like Priest from Caddy Shack on opening night ring ceremony night.

Some thoughts....

- not convinced with Josh in the starting unit (indecisive and often in the way) --- I feel like he should be spark plug on this squad
- Deuce looks great (proud of him)
- I thought Towns was fine --- ON BOTH ENDS
- Thibs is always going to lean into protect paint and live/die with three balls (tonight we were slaughtered and left for dead)
- good to see Mikal hit some jump shots and 2 threes in 2nd half
- would be nice if Jalen created a bit more for others but hard to ever knock him
- actually thought Sims looked ok, same for Payne and Daddies

This is a very good team if we stay healthy - going to take some time to jell

LivingLegend wrote:If we want to match up with Celtics it's hard to match their 5 shooters with our 4 --- it's possible Deuce could negate that advantage and give us a legit 5 out starting line-up. Yes we'd be weaker on the boards and at rim protection but it does allow you to lean into the floor spreading concept.

Against 5 - out offense we would not be at a disadvantage when it comes to boards. Not as much as against other offenses

LivingLegend wrote:Dear lord the over-reactions on this thread --- holy mackerel!!!

One game - Celtics shoot like Priest from Caddy Shack on opening night ring ceremony night.

Some thoughts....

- not convinced with Josh in the starting unit (indecisive and often in the way) --- I feel like he should be spark plug on this squad
- Deuce looks great (proud of him)
- I thought Towns was fine --- ON BOTH ENDS
- Thibs is always going to lean into protect paint and live/die with three balls (tonight we were slaughtered and left for dead)
- good to see Mikal hit some jump shots and 2 threes in 2nd half
- would be nice if Jalen created a bit more for others but hard to ever knock him
- actually thought Sims looked ok, same for Payne and Daddies

This is a very good team if we stay healthy - going to take some time to jell

All good points. Only quibble is Sims. I agree he attempted to get more involved but there were a couple of WTF moments. Prefer Big Mermaid

Rookie wrote:We need Melo to teach Dadiet the jab step

Just 1 or 2 though, not the 10 count

DLeethal wrote:This might be similar to Dallas last year who struggled to figure out a championship formula around Kyrie and Luka. Eventually it clicked but it was very rocky for awhile. They also needed to make a couple small moves around the margins. We might have to do that too. Or just get Mitch/Precious back and find an answer to backup wing which could be Dadiet.

Man, I forgot about Precious too. iHart, Mitch, Precious, Randle are not on the team any more or not last night. That's a lot of beef up front and KAT ain't that type of, well, cat.

The wing bro's gotta step up and Dadiet looks interesting now.

Dadiet has the same lightening quick release, just not the athleticism, strength, and explosiveness. But Dadiet does have a better team feel for the game IMHO. We shall see how it plays out for him.

Rookie wrote:

martin wrote:

Rookie wrote:We need Melo to teach Dadiet the jab step

Just 1 or 2 though, not the 10 count

Chandler wrote:One thing (among many) that Celts did well last night is they used 5 out as a vehicle for offensive boards. If you think about it, if you try to man up on 5 out, the offensive players have a strategic advantage. they are facing the rim seeing the shot and arguably the ball trajectory better. While the defender is closer to the rim there is more wide open space in 5 out than if people were packing the paint. thus unless the rebound is coming right at the defender it makes it more of a 50-50 proposition.

then you have the aspect that the offensive player is just moving forward while the defender needs to turn and pursue.

All of the above might be BS, but for sure it was maddening how many O boards they got considering they were all hanging out at the 3 point line

They did seem to get a # of key (long) rebounds on the few 3's they missed.

It is more difficult when spread and a step or 2 further from the basket because you are boxing out in more space and like you said sometimes the offense can see the shot trajectory better BUT I think we could do the same thing and this was just an horrific night where Boston (particularly Tatum) rarely touched the rim.

I've seen Boston go crazy like this before and have also seen them clanking the same 3's. It's tough you set your D to minimize penetration - you contest the 3 the best you can and they were just hitting a very high %.

Biggest thing that also showed in pre-season was just guys too open off simple screen action - I know Kat had some moments but entire team was off. Good thing is Thibs almost always tightens the D up over time.

Chandler wrote:One thing (among many) that Celts did well last night is they used 5 out as a vehicle for offensive boards. If you think about it, if you try to man up on 5 out, the offensive players have a strategic advantage. they are facing the rim seeing the shot and arguably the ball trajectory better. While the defender is closer to the rim there is more wide open space in 5 out than if people were packing the paint. thus unless the rebound is coming right at the defender it makes it more of a 50-50 proposition.

then you have the aspect that the offensive player is just moving forward while the defender needs to turn and pursue.

All of the above might be BS, but for sure it was maddening how many O boards they got considering they were all hanging out at the 3 point line

LivingLegend wrote:Dear lord the over-reactions on this thread --- holy mackerel!!!

One game - Celtics shoot like Priest from Caddy Shack on opening night ring ceremony night.

Some thoughts....

- not convinced with Josh in the starting unit (indecisive and often in the way) --- I feel like he should be spark plug on this squad
- Deuce looks great (proud of him)
- I thought Towns was fine --- ON BOTH ENDS
- Thibs is always going to lean into protect paint and live/die with three balls (tonight we were slaughtered and left for dead)
- good to see Mikal hit some jump shots and 2 threes in 2nd half
- would be nice if Jalen created a bit more for others but hard to ever knock him
- actually thought Sims looked ok, same for Payne and Daddies

This is a very good team if we stay healthy - going to take some time to jell

- I would like to see the starting line up a little longer before swapping Deuce for Hart. However, The Celts game plan was to pretty much ignore Hart on the offensive end and use Horford on him as a roamer and help defender. Whenever Kat backed down Jrue in the post, Horford came over to help. Hart needs to do a better job of cutting, but in the end, if more teams employ a similar strategy, We will be playing 4 on 5 most possessions. But, moving Deuce into the starting lineup, will weaken our bench. I can definitely see a move at the trade deadline to add another piece.

- Deuce looks really good, agreed.

- Towns was OK. Made some impressive passes which shows he's willing and has good vision.

- Thibs defensive philosophy is the protect the paint and play inside out. Didn't like that we started the game in drop coverage knowing that the Celts are a 5 out team but it was expected. He did switch it up some after the 1st quarter....

- Mikal's 3rd quarter was one of the few positives in the game. Hopefully, this carries over into the next game. For us to be as good as I think we can be, Mikal needs to be at the very least, a boarder-line allstar. He has the talent to do it

- The paint is gonna be wide open for Jalen to create, with the exception of the defender on Hart, floating and helping. When this happens, Hart needs to cut more and make himself available for Brunson when he is in the paint. Eventually, Brunson will start finding OG and Mikal in the corner. I believe Mikal was the best corner three shooter last year.

- Payne looked good. Pac is intriguing to me. For a 19 year old, he has been schooled very well on the fundamentals. He knows when to cut to the basket from the weakside, how to relocate for a 3 when the point guard is driving to the basket. And, his shot looks good. He has about 2 weeks to make an impression until Precious comes back.