DLeethal wrote:I was gonna say I am slightly concerned about OG because of the hammy strain he had followed by an awful performance on both ends.

Yeah that’s gonna be an issue going forward.

Chandler wrote:

DLeethal wrote:

Panos wrote:

Nalod wrote:We played a bad game.
Celtics played a really good one.
It happens.

It's not just about losing. When they play badly they don't look like a good team being beat, they look like they don't belong. The turnovers, not being able to even get shots (forget about making them) and not being able to counter Luke Fucking Kornet looking like Mutombo out there. They looked awful.
Tatum goes out and every other Celtic stepped up. JB fouled out and it was hopeless.

TBF this is how the Celtics win when they win. Their style of play leads to blowouts. It doesn’t lead to winning tight games. Knicks always win tight games when they win. So I’m not overreacting to a blowout. Knicks haven’t blown a team out in months it seems. Boston shoots millions of 3s and when they are hot this is how the game goes. Next game will be a completely different game.

I agree with this but want to add the footnote. Celts shot 18 FTs in third quarter (game was tied before hand). JB 5 fouls in that quarter. Knicks were in penalty with 9 minutes left in that quarter

that's a serious fn. And no I don't think the Knicks were playing any more aggressive than the Celts. Whistles were lopsided. Celts play KAT w a smaller player (and often two) and for some reasons the refs think small guys can't foul big guys

that quarter was pivotal

So yes the Celts won, and did what they do, and needed to do, but it's difficult to swallow with the above.

Just call the game consistently

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martin wrote:

Chandler wrote:

DLeethal wrote:

Panos wrote:

Nalod wrote:We played a bad game.
Celtics played a really good one.
It happens.

It's not just about losing. When they play badly they don't look like a good team being beat, they look like they don't belong. The turnovers, not being able to even get shots (forget about making them) and not being able to counter Luke Fucking Kornet looking like Mutombo out there. They looked awful.
Tatum goes out and every other Celtic stepped up. JB fouled out and it was hopeless.

TBF this is how the Celtics win when they win. Their style of play leads to blowouts. It doesn’t lead to winning tight games. Knicks always win tight games when they win. So I’m not overreacting to a blowout. Knicks haven’t blown a team out in months it seems. Boston shoots millions of 3s and when they are hot this is how the game goes. Next game will be a completely different game.

I agree with this but want to add the footnote. Celts shot 18 FTs in third quarter (game was tied before hand). JB 5 fouls in that quarter. Knicks were in penalty with 9 minutes left in that quarter

that's a serious fn. And no I don't think the Knicks were playing any more aggressive than the Celts. Whistles were lopsided. Celts play KAT w a smaller player (and often two) and for some reasons the refs think small guys can't foul big guys

that quarter was pivotal

So yes the Celts won, and did what they do, and needed to do, but it's difficult to swallow with the above.

Just call the game consistently

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certainly had that feeling.

Chandler wrote:

DLeethal wrote:

VDesai wrote:

DLeethal wrote:

VDesai wrote:

DLeethal wrote:

Panos wrote:

Nalod wrote:We played a bad game.
Celtics played a really good one.
It happens.

It's not just about losing. When they play badly they don't look like a good team being beat, they look like they don't belong. The turnovers, not being able to even get shots (forget about making them) and not being able to counter Luke Fucking Kornet looking like Mutombo out there. They looked awful.
Tatum goes out and every other Celtic stepped up. JB fouled out and it was hopeless.

TBF this is how the Celtics win when they win. Their style of play leads to blowouts. It doesn’t lead to winning tight games. Knicks always win tight games when they win. So I’m not overreacting to a blowout. Knicks haven’t blown a team out in months it seems. Boston shoots millions of 3s and when they are hot this is how the game goes. Next game will be a completely different game.

Yes Celtics are a variance team. If you shoot 45-50 3's a game you're gonna swing more wildly on shooting percentages and nights when you're hot are gonna be 20-25 pt separation. We've also seen that Boston lets 20 pt leads evaporate quite easily with that style of play, so you almost need to discount that point margin.

Yea but last night they didn’t really let up from 3. White is shooting 70% from 3 on high volume last 2 games and Brown had the best all around game of the playoffs. Hauser Pritchard and Horford were all hot. That variance hopefully comes into play next game as they come down to earth a bit. Law of averages will usually win out.

Yes they were hot last night. We showed in game 5 that they are beatable even when hitting a normal % like 38%. They were hot early and came down to earth late. We didn't do a great job on switches and getting up on the shooters. I think without Tatum we weren't sure how to defend Brown. At this point we need OG on Brown and have him go under. I don't think Brown wants to take pull up 3's off the bounce. Celtics also were more aggressive playing drive and kick and we overplayed that, leaving too many shooters open on rotation. Whoever's on White has to have serious discipline. Celtics have worked us the same way all year. Do everything they can to get Brunson or KAT switched onto Brown or Tatum. Tatum will work an ISO or a pullup, but Brown was doing a good job of being aggressive on his drives and finding open shooters. I'm not gonna blame the refs, but they opened up the game when they called every touch foul on Brunson guarding Brown in the third. It was lights out after that. Switching that offensive foul elbow call on Brown to a foul on Brunson shifted the momentum of the game entirely.

100% agree, we guarded them as if they still had Tatum. Switched and tried to lull into a pull up iso 3. Instead they attacked the switch and flipped the ball around like crazy. Now Thibs needs to scheme to this new version of Boston knowing how they will attack us. I think he will, if he's done anything very well these playoffs it's been defensive scheming.

As good as Brown was hard to see him replicating that effort again.

I'm not gonna blame the refs either, Towns is a complete moron with his fouls and Brunson was not smart either. When you are frantically playing in rotation you end up fouling. And when you get severely outplayed going into blaming refs is just bush league stuff from a fan perspective.

I'm glad I read ahead. I 100% agree with this and was going to reply on the earlier posts. their 3s were different. Off of a lot of passing and kick outs from dribble penetration. At times I thought Brown was a decoy. Penetrate, defense collapses on him and he'd kick out. We need to definitely prepare for this, as well as thinking of what else they can do without Tatum.

I wouldn't mind if we flipped around too, and did kickouts. but that's a different issue

Brown had 12 assists last night, probably his best playmaking game of the season and their shooters were the beneficiaries. Tatum attacks the mismatch in a much different way.

martin wrote:

DLeethal wrote:

Chandler wrote:

VDesai wrote:

Chandler wrote:

VDesai wrote:I think the two things were at work.

Boston are the champs, and even though they are down their best man, they have other all star level players and pride. That was a team playing like they weren't going down without a fight. White, Brown etc. making hustle plays. Kornet playing the 2nd half instead of KP was a game changer.

The Knicks were....the Knicks. They have shown this uneven effort ALL YEAR. Every time things look up, they temper our expectations with a complete **** show. They did the exact same thing last round - had a team on the ropes and let them off a bit. When we acquired Karl Anthony Towns he came with a reputation...world class talent, unpredictable results, silliness....we're getting it all. Next game he'll show you why he's one of the most unstoppable players in the league at times too. I think this was an easy one to predict unfortunately.

I also feel pretty confident we win game 6, b/c bouncing back from losses is also a pretty consistent trait.

I don’t have the stat handy but the celts actually had a pretty crazy winning % WITHOUT Tatum

Personally I think it takes at least one year to see full potential of star acquisitions as guys develop the best way to gel. I’m still very frustrate w the way we’re using/misusing KAT on offense. His best skills are shooting and passing and we’re deploying him like a run of the mill banger. It’s like Thibs and/or Brunson don’t know how to leverage his talents. I say that realizing that he’s had a string of 20/10 games but the 20 was largely as a banger

KAT's 3 or 4 best seasons - and all the years he averaged over 12 boards, have come under Thibs. I don't think there's a coach in the league that maximizes KAT more than Thibs.

KAT is almost 30 years old and has been in the league for 11 seasons. He is a wonderful talent, but a player prone to silliness with very clear limitations and uneven results. But look, he made the Western Conference finals and is 1 win short of the Eastern Conference finals. You can win with him. Don't expect it to be smooth sailing though!

what you say makes sense

but having him play outside more also makes sense. His stretch 5 capabilities opens things up. I still think we're not close to maximizing his potential contribution

We're not and it's most likely Josh Hart's fault unfortunately. KAT being a stretch 5 means nothing if they put Jrue Holiday on him and allow the shot blocker to sit in the paint and sag 15 feet off Josh Hart. You cannot have a weak link shooter with your stretch 5 or it completely neuters your stretch 5. Josh needs to turn into a 6th man for this team going forward if we want to maximize KAT.

Winner chicken dinner

And then you can also attack him on the other end pretty easily. KAT gotta recognize that White is the one guy you cannot slack off on, just like Tatum.

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Chandler wrote:

martin wrote:oh golly

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two squeaks worth like a squeaky toy. honk! honk!

he kneed Brunson's nuts too

and no I don't think Brown got hit for real by Brunson. Brown is there rolling around on floor and as soon as refs say nothing to it, he's all better and stops acting

times like this I would like someone like I.Stewart on this team to help enforce things.

My Celtics friend defended the non-call. Says Jaylen clearly got all ball.

Chandler wrote:

VDesai wrote:I think the two things were at work.

Boston are the champs, and even though they are down their best man, they have other all star level players and pride. That was a team playing like they weren't going down without a fight. White, Brown etc. making hustle plays. Kornet playing the 2nd half instead of KP was a game changer.

The Knicks were....the Knicks. They have shown this uneven effort ALL YEAR. Every time things look up, they temper our expectations with a complete **** show. They did the exact same thing last round - had a team on the ropes and let them off a bit. When we acquired Karl Anthony Towns he came with a reputation...world class talent, unpredictable results, silliness....we're getting it all. Next game he'll show you why he's one of the most unstoppable players in the league at times too. I think this was an easy one to predict unfortunately.

I also feel pretty confident we win game 6, b/c bouncing back from losses is also a pretty consistent trait.

I don’t have the stat handy but the celts actually had a pretty crazy winning % WITHOUT Tatum

Personally I think it takes at least one year to see full potential of star acquisitions as guys develop the best way to gel. I’m still very frustrate w the way we’re using/misusing KAT on offense. His best skills are shooting and passing and we’re deploying him like a run of the mill banger. It’s like Thibs and/or Brunson don’t know how to leverage his talents. I say that realizing that he’s had a string of 20/10 games but the 20 was largely as a banger

10-2 before last night.