The Celtics Get Their Revenge Against The Heat, Win Their 4th In A Row
Safe to say the last time these two teams played resulted in a pretty frustating loss for the Celtics. It kicked off what would be a pretty awful road trip, and left a lot of Celtics fans in a place where we had no idea what to make of this team. They won 4 in a row, then lost 3 in a row, and as I sit here this morning these very same Celtics have now won 4 in a row. This win marked the 9th straight at the Garden and 13th win in 15 times at home. They’re beating the good teams, they’re beating the bad teams they’re supposed to beat but so very often don’t, and I would say things are much better than where we were 12 days ago coming off that loss in south Florida. That’s not to say they were perfect last night, farrrrr from it, but we all know how important the month of January is for this team and their need to stack wins, and as of now we’re in the final week of the month and the Celts boast an 8-3 record with CLE/GS/BKN/CHA left to close out the month. If they can finish off this homestand with 4 more wins, I think we all take a 12-3 month no? But let;’s not get ahead of ourselves, that’s how this team gets in trouble and takes 5 steps back after showing even the smallest bit of progress.
The Celtics won this game because they got back to doing what makes them successful in the first place. First they played hard, second they defended, and third they moved the ball. That seems simple but it really is that easy. Do those three things consistently and you’ll be able to beat under .500 teams at home. I think it was fair to be a little nervous after that three game skid, but the Celts have come out and played their way back into things. They sit just 2.5 games out of the three spot, have the second longest active winning streak in the conference, and are back to playing a brand of basketball that we know and love.
Aside from attaining personal revenge, there’s nothing really all that impressive about beating the Heat, it’s not like there will be a parade today to celebrate it but it was something this team had to do. They had to show they could come out and avenge an earlier loss that should have never happened, and I won’t fault them for playing who is on their schedule. This team is in no position to look down on ANY team in this league given how they’ve played, so while this was an expected result, it was still nice to see them not shit their pants and blow another winnable game.
With that said, we can begin
The Good
– I’m at the point where I’m starting to run out of things to say about Kyrie Irving. How many times can you talk about how amazing he was and how he’s playing the best basketball of his career? I guess every time he plays because that’s the reality of the situation
Another insane 26/10 with 8 steals on 11-19 shooting, Kyrie Irving is carrying this basketball team every single night, but what I love is how he’s doing it. He knows he has to carry the load, but this isn’t a case where Kyrie is taking 25 shots a night. Everything is coming within the flow of the offense, he’s getting his teammates involved, and he’s playing the right way. He had another AST% over 40% last night, had 82 touches and 54 passes, and when the game got close and they needed their closer to step up and finish this game off, what did he do? He attacked the basket and got layup after layup after layup.
On the defensive end he was great with the 8 steals but it goes deeper than that. Opponents shot just 4-17 against Kyrie last night, he had the second lowest Drtg on the team at 85.9 and a stupid net rating at +36.9. I’m not even kidding when I say this may be one of the the best stretches of his Celtics career
Between the production, the efficiency, the leadership, Kyrie has been incredible there’s really no other way to say it.
– What’s the best way to forget about the worst performance of your career a few games ago? Come out in the next two and be your old self again. That’s what Jayson Tatum did, and I love the fact he was 2nd among starters in FGA with 13. He finished with 19/6 on 8-13 shooting, made all three of his 3PA, and is back to being that efficient #2 option this team needs him to be
Like it so often is with Tatum it mostly comes down to his approach. He had a good mix of inside/outside attempts, didn’t take one contested long two, and when it came time for him to make his open threes he was nails. The one concerning thing is he didn’t take a FTA, but almost nobody on the team did so I won’t get on him for that. Defensively he was much better, only let his main assignment of Josh Richardson score 6 points, he was second on the team in deflections, played with great energy and I thought did a much better job of keeping the ball moving. He didn’t let it stick to his hands and go isolation into a missed jumper, his decision making was quick and he moved with a purpose. That’s what I care about most.
– It’s been an up and down season for Al Horford, but when he’s on and playing well, he is really fucking good.
You see his 16/12/4/3 and that looks pretty awesome, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. You know how we joke about his screens and how they are the best in the business? Well he was responsible for 14 screen assists, which means the Celts scored 14 points off his screens. That’s good. Defensively he had the quickness we’re used to, we saw him lead the break and be Point Al which is always an experience, and he’s another guy like Kyrie that is leading by example. If it means we need to be resting him every so often so that he stays fresh and at this level I say do it, because there is absolutely a difference in the player we are seeing this week compared to last.
– Much like Tatum, it was nice to soo Mook snap out of his scoring slump. It had been a rough past 4 games for Morris but he came out right away and was aggressive. He finsiedh with 17/4 on 6-11 shooting, but watching him play he looked like that same old confident Mook we’ve had all year. Almost as if he had no clue he was in the middle of a brutal slump
While 7 of his 11 FGA were threes, I didn’t feel like there were too many that I had a problem with him taking, and when this team needed a bucket he did the right thing, got his ass to the block and converted on high percentage looks. Defensively he was as solid as ever holding his opponents to just 3-12 shooting, he owned that James Johnson matchup forcing him to turn it over 4 times, and there’s a reason he was tied for the second best +/- among starters at a +25. I was nervous we may not see this version of Mook for a while given how he was shooting the ball, so to see him snap out of it like this was great.
– You know what else was great? This team’s ball movement. I mean this is the type of Celtics porn that can get you in trouble if you’re caught watching this at work
Watching this team pass the ball like this gives me two reactions. First, joy because watching them be unselfish like this makes me so goddamn happy. They finished with 26 assists on 43 FGM and had three players with at least 4 assists. The second feeling though is frustration, because watching this tells me this team IS capable of sharing the ball, so when they go through stretches where the ball doesn’t move (2nd quarter), it makes me irrationally angry. I don’t know how many more games we need to see the proof is in the pudding for them to get it. Move the ball and good things will happen, it’s that simple.
– If you don’t respect the lack of fucks that Aron Baynes gives than you my friend are an asshole
Think of how brave this is. In today’s world where if you get put on a poster you are mocked on the internet for eternity, we have Aron Baynes out here who is not afraid. He is willing to challenge and give up his body no matter who is trying to finish strong at the rim, and for that I will be forever grateful. You see guys make business decisions all the time and let people dunk, not Baynes. His business decision is he doesn’t give a fuck you’re going to have to go through him which almost no human is capable of doing. Basically unless you’re the Greek Freak it does not end up well for you. Plays like this are why he’s so high on my list of important Celtics, and it’s no surprise he came back from injury and things look a billion times better.
– Defense and rebounding, that’s the key. The rebounding was pretty much even and the defense held MIA to under 100 on 41/31% splits and caused 19 TOs. I’ll take it
– Hey would you look at that, the Celtics came out of halftime and didn’t lay an egg in the third quarter! In fact it was the complete opposite, they dropped 37 points and shot 72/66%. It’s about time they came out with some goddamn energy to start a second half.
The Bad
– I suppose we can start with the whole blowing a 22 point lead thing. That’s never ideal. I think deep down we all knew there was no way the Celts were going to hang onto a 20+ point lead because when the fuck do they ever do that, but even still to blow it at home against a bad team and have this be a 5 point game late is pretty annoying. We saw a lot of the same problem areas that have bitten this team in the ass before, whether it was a bad second quarter or another brutal start to the fourth, those areas still need a ton of work. This is a Celtics team that had just 6 points in the first 5 minutes of the fourth, at a time when all they were doing was giving MIA life. Almost nothing was at the rim, the offense stalled, and the second unit had a lot to do with that (more on them later). I don’t know if Brad needs to start staggering rotations or what, but this is the kind of stuff that is going to kill you once you play a good team. We’ve seen it enough times recently to know it’s a problem.
– I know he’s a legit three point shooter now, but I didn’t love that 6 of Smart’s 7 FGA were threes. I feel like maybe he was settling a little too much and that’s what makes me nervous. I am all for Smart threes when he takes them in the flow of the offense, and less so when he forces them. It seemed as though all this success shooting lately has sort of messed him up.
– What were there, like 5 airballs last night? I don’t think I’ve seen this team miss that badly that often maybe ever. The weird part was it came from everyone. Not a big deal, but weird.
– Shame on this team for not being able to stop Dion Waiters and Derrick Jones Jr. They combined for 36 points and I’m pretty sure are not good at basketball.
The Ugly
– There is nothing worse than watching this team be sloppy with the basketball. A total of 19 TOs, this was an everyone problem but I’m looking mostly at the starters. Three players with at least 3, you just can’t be this careless with the basketball. I feel like this has been a problem lately, whether it’s guys forcing things, or guys not knowing where to be, it makes me nervous that they aren’t going to be able to get this under control and next thing you know the Warriors have 50 points off TOs when they play on Saturday. Clean it the fuck up would you please.
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– Honestly, this may have been one of the worst bench performances of the season. The starters did their job, they carried the weight and got them off on the right foot, and the second the second unit came in things were a complete disaster. You look at the +/- difference between the two units and it is absolutely staggering
How is that even possible? I thought this depth was supposed to be a strength of this team? That certainly was NOT the case last night. I dare you to find a second unit player who played well last night. You can’t.
We’ll start with Hayward. I thought he was better in terms of looking for contact and being aggressive at attacking the basket, but we need more than 2-6. They were better at giving him the ball as he had a 21% usage rate so I’m going to need him to make those possessions count.
I would also say this was a little bit of a step back for both Terry and Jaylen. They were two guys who over the last few games came in and made a real impact. High energy, good defense, everything you need from when you have two starter quality players going up against second unit guys. That did not happen last night. The offense stalled with Terry running the show in this one, Jaylen couldn’t buy a bucket or really defend, and you look at the advanced metrics from the entire bench it tells the whole story
That makes me want to vomit. The second unit should apologize for making the starters win this game like 4 separate times. Be better.
Again, all this team did last night was what they were supposed to do, but that’s not insignificant because they rarely do. To me it’s all about building momentum heading into the showdown with GS where we can see just how close this team is to the best of the best. It’s the first meeting between the two, they look scary as hell with Boogie now in the fold, so hopefully we’re looking at a 5 game streak heading into Saturday. This team still has a long way to go and a lot of ground to make up given how they started the season, but we’re finally starting to see them turn it on and find some level of consistency.
Now keep going.