Celtics 2024-2025 Discussion

[bresna]

A few of points from yesterday's game...

The sideline chat Mazzulla was giving the team highlighted one of my earlier points about this team - they have to rebound better. He said to make it "personal", whatever the hell that means. I was glad to hear that.

Jokic enters the box waaaaaay before the free throw shooter releases and the refs never call it. Both Kornet & Brown had misses where Jokic was already in the box and facing the net before the shot was off. Brown's deliberate free throw shooting motions get a ton of defenders to jump in early and the refs never seem to call it. It's weird that something so obvious happens so often without any announcer, homer or otherwise, noting it either.

I like the double big of Kornet & Horford. Al is a sneaky defender while Kornet defends the rim nicely. Queta is a decent backup but he's really just a foul machine. Speaking of fouls, Queta had a nice breakaway dunk where it was extremely obvious that he was fouled. No call and the announcers, watching the replay, made no comment on it. Queta did - not that it got him anywhere.

Why is it that when a player from the other team hits ball first then hits arm/body, like Westbrook did to Tatum in the 1st half, a challenge reversed the foul call, but when the same thing happened a few games back and a Celtic (Hauser?) did the exact same thing, the foul was upheld? I'm beginning to think that the NBA, like the NFL, doesn't like us.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

For the playoffs, his offense is a nice to have. His defense is a MUST have vs CLE.

This is 100% true.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Crazy ****…lol

 

[jimnance]

Dayuuuuum that was a fun game.
Impressive win vs. an up and coming quality young team.
Payton and Derrick. Yiiiikkkess!!!!!

 

[Kdo5]

Pretty ****ing great when 4 or 5 of your players could drop 30-40 on any given night. Pritchard is a beast.

Was at this game though and both him and DWhite were electric with that shooting.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Pretty ****ing great when 4 or 5 of your players could drop 30-40 on any given night. Pritchard is a beast.

Was at this game though and both him and DWhite were electric with that shooting.

Glad to see White broke out of his worst stretch of play with a new level of excellence. He has been at his career peak everywhere, not just the shooting percentage.

Pritchard is making it really tough to see him on the bench in the postseason. As great as Holiday is defensively, his offense has bottomed out. It will be interesting to see the playoff minute shares between these two.

 

[1960Pats]

I like SGA but he's not really close to Tatum. JT affects the game positively in so many more ways.
I think we all agree Joker is by far the best player on the planet and he's going to be on the very short list of GOAT candidates. I would also take Tatum over Giannis in a heartbeat. He's a much more complete player.

I've come full circle on Tatum after initially calling him underrated with a thread.
If I had any complaint now it'd be about his sometimes poor shot selection, but that's it. Tatum does everything very well.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Anyone else watching, "Celtics City"?

Watched E1 and E2 so far. All before I was born but still awesome. Very well done.

****y Isaiah Thomas (Pistons) didn't want to be in it as he was afraid he'd be blindsided.

 

[Real fan 02]

Dayuuuuum that was a fun game.
Impressive win vs. an up and coming quality young team.
Payton and Derrick. Yiiiikkkess!!!!!

Health is the only thing that will hold us back.. I don't know what is going on with KP.. this season to me feels so 2009 esque... we aren't getting out the east without KP.. thunder are the real deal.. they committ to defense. Age, wear n tear on guys is real.

 

[ViperGTS]

I've come full circle on Tatum after initially calling him underrated with a thread.
If I had any complaint now it'd be about his sometimes poor shot selection, but that's it. Tatum does everything very well.

I've said Tatum is the best player in the NBA for a long while now. If you look at who they prop up, it's lot foreign players. Doncic, Jokic, SGA, Giannis etc. Embiid, then don't forget Ben Simmons.

There is a massive push to make those guys the face to grow the NBA.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Thunder are obviously a really talented team. The way they looked last year against Dallas and this year in the IST Final against Milwaukee is a red flag though. They didn’t just get beaten, they totally lost their composure.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

I've said Tatum is the best player in the NBA for a long while now. If you look at who they prop up, it's lot foreign players. Doncic, Jokic, SGA, Giannis etc. Embiid, then don't forget Ben Simmons.

There is a massive push to make those guys the face to grow the NBA.

Tatum is really under-appreciated. The big “knock” on his game is he’s less alpha and less flashy than these other guys, which isn’t actually a real problem. I wish his efficiency was a little higher with better shot selection but he continues to improve there.

When the Celtics lose, it’s like “ah-ha! You see?” but then some of these other guys are going like 48-34 with their teams. They just aren’t held to the same standard of needing to win to prove their individual greatness.

Jokic is one of the best players in NBA history though. I can’t think of another player like him.

 

[jimnance]

Tatum is really under-appreciated. The big “knock” on his game is he’s less alpha and less flashy than these other guys, which isn’t actually a real problem. I wish his efficiency was a little higher with better shot selection but he continues to improve there.

When the Celtics lose, it’s like “ah-ha! You see?” but then some of these other guys are going like 48-34 with their teams. They just aren’t held to the same standard of needing to win to prove their individual greatness.

Jokic is one of the best players in NBA history though. I can’t think of another player like him.

Yeah, Jokic is the best player in the world. Thats indisputable. And I agree he will be on the very short list for GOAT.
But Tatum is the 2nd best player in the NBA right now.
And yes, he's underappreciated.
He's much more complete than Giannis and does more than SGA to contribute to winning.
Plus he's bigger than SGA which is always the tiebreaker for 2 players with close to same skill level.
SGA can't guard 4's and 5 's like Tatum.
But Tatum  can guard wings.

 

[bresna]

Health is the only thing that will hold us back.. I don't know what is going on with KP.. this season to me feels so 2009 esque... we aren't getting out the east without KP.. thunder are the real deal.. they committ to defense. Age, wear n tear on guys is real.

Have you checked their record with vs. without KP? They're 20-12 with KP and 27-7 without him. That's a significant drop-off with KP in there.

 

[Real fan 02]

Have you checked their record with vs. without KP? They're 20-12 with KP and 27-7 without him. That's a significant drop-off with KP in there.

Yes your right. KP is the ultimate difference maker. He's been great a celtics but as expected when the team trades for him he's often unavailable... I'm not down on the team I'm just a realistic fan.. I don't see us getting out the east if KP isn't available during the playoffs.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Have you checked their record with vs. without KP? They're 20-12 with KP and 27-7 without him. That's a significant drop-off with KP in there.

I still think the team is better without Brown as well but not in a contested 7 game series vs a tough team.

 

[jimnance]

I still think the team is better without Brown as well but not in a contested 7 game series vs a tough team.

Yup. 7 game series is a different animal.
Especially playing Cavs and Thunder.
C's are gonna need everybody.
That means KP and JB as well as Jrue.
Not beating either of those teams if we're
not full-strength.
Those stats @realfan posted about KP are misleading.
C's are a much better team with KP than w/o him

 

[Brick27]

JB is the alpha of the team and clearly was in the Finals. JT is not under appreciated nor the best player in the world, but that’s alright. He’s a hell of a player.

How about he just F’ing goes out there and gets it done in the big spots. No flopping like a ****y at soft contact at the rim and having ****ty handles in traffic. Would like to see less of that.

This team will indeed need all the help and health they can to get to win the finals, let alone win it.

 

[Real fan 02]

Yup. 7 game series is a different animal.
Especially playing Cavs and Thunder.
C's are gonna need everybody.
That means KP and JB as well as Jrue.
Not beating either of those teams if we're
not full-strength.
Those stats @realfan posted about KP are misleading.
C's are a much better team with KP than w/o him

Absolutely correct. KP allows the team to have much better spacing when he's on the floor.

Health and availability are at the upmost important for us to repeat.. those young, hungry teams like Cleveland and OKC aren't going anywhere.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

I’m kind of a minimalist so I’m biased, but I’ve always thought Celtics white uniforms are the best in all four major sports. Just a classic look, nothing extraneous, and nice looking colors. I hate when they have home games and wear the black jerseys or green jerseys, or even worse, those stupid cursive city edition ones. Anyone else agree / disagree?