Celtics 2025-2026 Discussion

JoeSixPat · Mar 25, 2026

bresna said:
I get that. But what I don't get is that as he gets into playing shape, he still thinks he can iso-ball and it's not working well for him. I said it earlier that this team just might be better off if he didn't come back this year and what I'm seeing is why I said that. Tatum is taking minutes from guys that played their asses off and I'm not sure leaving JT in there to get his game back is a recipe for continued success.

I truly hope that I will eat these words.

No question they are using this stretch to let Tatum get back into game shape, likely losing some games now to be stronger later

Not having Vooch sucks, not because of the W/L record but just to let he and Tatum find a rhythm as he posts up

That's what we don't seem to have with the current Center by committee

While it's troubling that they have an awful record against the main contenders, we can't really look at the other games this season. We'll see how hard they play tonight. If they beat OKC it will be a nice surprise, but even here, it won't be a win or a loss by the same team we'll be seeing in the playoffs.

jimnance · Mar 25, 2026

Big win tonight. Beat OKC who was at full strength.

bresna · Mar 26, 2026

First things first - awesome win! To be honest, I actually don't know how they managed to do it. They had to overcome one of the worst trio of refs the NBA has, with Marc Davis being particularly ****ty.

They also won despite two of their starters throwing up bricks. White & Hauser were clanging away, shooting a combined 6-20 (5-15 from 3).

Tatum had a great 2nd quarter and led the team in rebounds. Brown was a beast and led the team in scoring despite the refs swallowing their whistles when he drove to the hoop... oh, unless they were calling phantom offensive fouls on him. I wish the crowd would quit the MVP chants. Brown is this team's MVP but there is no way he's winning that this year. The NBA obviously doesn't give him any respect so there's no way they are going to start when it comes time to vote for the MVP.

The Thunder have become the KC Chiefs of the NBA, with SGA being their Mahomes. It's disgusting to watch the refs give SGA a foul on nearly every drive while allowing him and his team hack away on the other team. If this is the way the NBA is going to call their games, why not just award them the championship now and save everyone the stress of watching this team get treated like this game after game.

One last thing... What was up with JT's "First Ring" shoes last night? OK, he won his first ring wearing these shows. But man, are those things fugly.

rochrist · Mar 26, 2026

bresna said:
First things first - awesome win! To be honest, I actually don't know how they managed to do it. They had to overcome one of the worst trio of refs the NBA has, with Marc Davis being particularly ****ty.

They also won despite two of their starters throwing up bricks. White & Hauser were clanging away, shooting a combined 6-20 (5-15 from 3).

Tatum had a great 2nd quarter and led the team in rebounds. Brown was a beast and led the team in scoring despite the refs swallowing their whistles when he drove to the hoop... oh, unless they were calling phantom offensive fouls on him. I wish the crowd would quit the MVP chants. Brown is this team's MVP but there is no way he's winning that this year. The NBA obviously doesn't give him any respect so there's no way they are going to start when it comes time to vote for the MVP.

The Thunder have become the KC Chiefs of the NBA, with SGA being their Mahomes. It's disgusting to watch the refs give SGA a foul on nearly every drive while allowing him and his team hack away on the other team. If this is the way the NBA is going to call their games, why not just award them the championship now and save everyone the stress of watching this team get treated like this game after game.

One last thing... What was up with JT's "First Ring" shoes last night? OK, he won his first ring wearing these shows. But man, are those things fugly.

Funny, JB said after the game he thought the refs had done a great job and called it the same for both sides.

JoeSixPat · Mar 26, 2026

rochrist said:
Funny, JB said after the game he thought the refs had done a great job and called it the same for both sides.

Yep - a backhanded compliment for sure, but I'd say correct for this game.

NBA refs typical inability to call things consistently is a threat to the game. JB thinks his public outcry helps and I'm not thinking he's wrong.

JoeSixPat · Mar 26, 2026

bresna said:
First things first - awesome win! To be honest, I actually don't know how they managed to do it. They had to overcome one of the worst trio of refs the NBA has, with Marc Davis being particularly ****ty.

They also won despite two of their starters throwing up bricks. White & Hauser were clanging away, shooting a combined 6-20 (5-15 from 3).

Tatum had a great 2nd quarter and led the team in rebounds. Brown was a beast and led the team in scoring despite the refs swallowing their whistles when he drove to the hoop... oh, unless they were calling phantom offensive fouls on him. I wish the crowd would quit the MVP chants. Brown is this team's MVP but there is no way he's winning that this year. The NBA obviously doesn't give him any respect so there's no way they are going to start when it comes time to vote for the MVP.

The Thunder have become the KC Chiefs of the NBA, with SGA being their Mahomes. It's disgusting to watch the refs give SGA a foul on nearly every drive while allowing him and his team hack away on the other team. If this is the way the NBA is going to call their games, why not just award them the championship now and save everyone the stress of watching this team get treated like this game after game.

One last thing... What was up with JT's "First Ring" shoes last night? OK, he won his first ring wearing these shows. But man, are those things fugly.

That's still these Celtics unfortunately - they live and die by the three, especially without someone playing an effective Porzingas or even Kornet role. When they're cold from 3 as they often will be and were in the 1st, they'll fall behind.

When they heat up as they did for the last 3 quarters, they can beat anyone if they play good D

But what they really need to do from both a coaching and player standpoint, is to transition to a postup/2pt offense once they have a lead.

That's Vooch's role, to give them that option throughout the game but especially once they have a lead and benefit from a high percentage 2 pt offense rather than a lower percentage 3 point O, which, if they go cold, winds up giving up a lead.

So to me, this is the Celtics showing that they can beat OKC (or any other team) at 100% even if they are at 90% but playing at a high level.

As good as this game was with pretty much EVERYONE playing at a high level, adding Vooch for the playoffs will be key, though you really gotta hand it to Queta for his development into a more physical presence, as he's not the liability on the court he once was and still seems to be getting better.

rochrist · Mar 26, 2026

JoeSixPat said:
That's still these Celtics unfortunately - they live and die by the three, especially without someone playing an effective Porzingas or even Kornet role. When they're cold from 3 as they often will be and were in the 1st, they'll fall behind.

When they heat up as they did for the last 3 quarters, they can beat anyone if they play good D

But what they really need to do from both a coaching and player standpoint, is to transition to a postup/2pt offense once they have a lead.

That's Vooch's role, to give them that option throughout the game but especially once they have a lead and benefit from a high percentage 2 pt offense rather than a lower percentage 3 point O, which, if they go cold, winds up giving up a lead.

So to me, this is the Celtics showing that they can beat OKC (or any other team) at 100% even if they are at 90% but playing at a high level.

As good as this game was with pretty much EVERYONE playing at a high level, adding Vooch for the playoffs will be key, though you really gotta hand it to Queta for his development into a more physical presence, as he's not the liability on the court he once was and still seems to be getting better.

Did you not notice Brown driving to the basket on almost every one of his possessions? He only took three 3 pointers for the entire game..
The entire team, which is stacked with 3 point shooters only took a couple more than league average for the game. And when Brown is going inside that way, they're going to get a ton of great looks from 3.

jimnance · Mar 26, 2026

rochrist said:
Did you not notice Brown driving to the basket on almost every one of his possessions? He only took three 3 pointers for the entire game..
The entire team, which is stacked with 3 point shooters only took a couple more than league average for the game. And when Brown is going inside that way, they're going to get a ton of great looks from 3.

Yep JB and JT drive to the hoop a lot.
Pritchard also gets in the paint for a layup, short jumper or a dish.
C's score plenty in the paint. There's a lot more ways to score in the paint than a traditional big man post-up. Very few teams have an old school post-up only big man.
C's also crash the offensive glass with all 5 guys and get plenty of easy putbacks.

rochrist · Mar 27, 2026

Gritty win tonight against a tough Hawks squad w/o Brown. Pritchard is unbelievable. At one point, they had a one point lead and his +- was +18. He finished +28.

bresna · Mar 28, 2026

That was a weird game. I still don't know how they managed to win it. When they went down 25-9, I was thinking this was one of those games where they just didn't have the desire to win. No Brown. Tatum and the rest of the starters missing shots. Then Mazzulla subbed in Pritch and somehow, they turned it around, riding PP's 36 points and JT's 12 rebounds all without one steal. It was the team's first win without a steal since 1984.

Tough week on the road coming up. The Hornets and these Hawks back-to-back (Sunday & Monday), the Heat on Wednesday then the Bucks on Friday.

JoeSixPat · Mar 28, 2026

rochrist said:
Did you not notice Brown driving to the basket on almost every one of his possessions? He only took three 3 pointers for the entire game..
The entire team, which is stacked with 3 point shooters only took a couple more than league average for the game. And when Brown is going inside that way, they're going to get a ton of great looks from 3.

Great to see them taking high percentage 2s but tough to keep that up for a 7 game series... and kindof seems like that took its toll on Brown for that game too

The Hawks game was ALSO great to see them win the game by 2s. As hot as Pritchard was from 3 at the start, he and the rest of the team cooled against the Hawks but they took advantage of what was working. Tatum played a LOT of time and was really a force inside but he really had to work hard inside there too picking up a lot of fouls.

They had to fight tooth and nail against the Hawks given what they had (a great test without JB) - I think where Vooch will make a difference is when they have a lead and want to slow down the game/waste the clock, letting Vooch be the one to throw his body around, and muscle back into his defender to get the 2 points or the foul.

It just seems to me that I've seen a lot of close playoff games in the past when they built up a lead only to lose it when the 3s went cold. But then again no one has learned more and improved more on the job than Joe Mazzulla so if anyone is going to "learn that lesson" it's him - and I think that's why Stevens went after Vooch (on top of the luxury tax issues.)

I see us improving at C next season but am LOVING the trends I'm seeing of a strong inside game when the 3s go cold.

bresna · Mar 30, 2026

1 down, 3 to go on this tough road trip. Considering how badly they played against Charlotte at home on 3/4 (118-89), I thought this game would have been a lot tougher. Instead, it was a bit of a cakewalk.

I would not be surprised to see an L tonight in Atlanta, especially if Brown can't go. I would think JT is sitting. He played a lot of minutes last night and it seems prudent to rest him on a back-to-back.

jimnance · Mar 30, 2026

bresna said:
1 down, 3 to go on this tough road trip. Considering how badly they played against Charlotte at home on 3/4 (118-89), I thought this game would have been a lot tougher. Instead, it was a bit of a cakewalk.

I would not be surprised to see an L tonight in Atlanta, especially if Brown can't go. I would think JT is sitting. He played a lot of minutes last night and it seems prudent to rest him on a back-to-back.

With the C's win plus Knicks loss tge 2 seed is basically a lock.
3 game lead on NY with 8 to play.
So give JB all the rest he needs

1960Pats · Mar 30, 2026

Is it me or has JB improved his drive to the basket? It seemed like he'd lose the ball in traffic on his drives in the past but he's doing that better now. He looks much smoother and more in control.

JoeSixPat · Mar 31, 2026

bresna said:
1 down, 3 to go on this tough road trip. Considering how badly they played against Charlotte at home on 3/4 (118-89), I thought this game would have been a lot tougher. Instead, it was a bit of a cakewalk.

I would not be surprised to see an L tonight in Atlanta, especially if Brown can't go. I would think JT is sitting. He played a lot of minutes last night and it seems prudent to rest him on a back-to-back.

You called it - although JB was back but off/rusty and Queta wasn't himself. Either one of those things changes and they probably have a W but it's all about being healthy for the playoffs at this point

bresna · Mar 31, 2026

JoeSixPat said:
You called it - although JB was back but off/rusty and Queta wasn't himself. Either one of those things changes and they probably have a W but it's all about being healthy for the playoffs at this point

Queta sat last night, which I think hurt them more than Tatum sitting. Garza was OK, scoring 20, but he is not a rim protector like Queta. Amari Williams contributes too little on offense. They really need Vooch back for the playoffs.

bresna · Apr 2, 2026

What an incredible 1st half & an amazing 1st quarter. That was nuts. 53 points in the 1st? Wow. In a weird way, their 1st quarter barrage almost ruined the rest of the first half. The refs simply refused to call a foul on Miami for the rest of the half, with the foul shots favoring the Heat 17-2 at half time. It makes you wonder if the NBA directs referees to do this to prevent blowouts. I was glad to see them stop that crap in the second half, calling the rest of the game pretty evenly.

It's looking good for the #2 at this point. I don't get how the Pistons are doing so well with Cunningham out.

jimnance · Apr 2, 2026

bresna said:
What an incredible 1st half & an amazing 1st quarter. That was nuts. 53 points in the 1st? Wow. In a weird way, their 1st quarter barrage almost ruined the rest of the first half. The refs simply refused to call a foul on Miami for the rest of the half, with the foul shots favoring the Heat 17-2 at half time. It makes you wonder if the NBA directs referees to do this to prevent blowouts. I was glad to see them stop that crap in the second half, calling the rest of the game pretty evenly.

It's looking good for the #2 at this point. I don't get how the Pistons are doing so well with Cunningham out.

Yeah C's were impressive.
Great teams step up when their best player goes down. Not all that surprising about Detroit.
We certainly know about that when everyone wrote the C's off after JT went down.
C's/Detroit seem to be on a collision course in the ECF.
To be the best you gotta beat the best.
Detroit woukd have home court plus a fully healthy Cunningham.
But C's are fully capable of beating them. It won't be easy. The West champion will be even harder.

bresna · Apr 4, 2026

Another insane Q1 last night. The Bucks seemed to laying down though and I thought it was pretty funny that the NBA announced that they were investigating the Bucks for sitting Giannis during the actual game.

I think the C's next 3 games against the Raptors, Hornets & Knicks, all potential playoff opponents, could give an idea of how far they can go this year. That Knicks game is going to be a huge test for them.

jimnance · Apr 4, 2026

Lets' go Huskies!!!
3rd Championship Game in last 4 years for the most dominant College Basketball team over the last 30 f'n years!
Been a huge Huskies fan ever since Jim Calhoun left the Northeastetn Huskies for te UConn Huskies.
I used to work right across the street from Northeastern and we hired Northeastetn interns all the time. I had one as a personal assistant and she was sensational. No, get your heads outta the sewer, not that way.
I also played a lot of hoops on different levels for many years and loved the Northeastern program under Big Jim.
Go back to 1995- UConn has more National Chsmpionships than anyone. More than Duke, UNC, Kentucky, everybody.
They are the Bluebloods of College Basketball.

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