Celtics playoff run: drive for #18

[Patsfanin Philly]

Celts in 6 or 7

If RW III or Big Al can play even with Adebayo and keep him off the offensive boards the series is over sooner.

Tatum- Butler
Smart- Herro
Brown- Oladipo

How badly hurt is Smart is the big question.....

 

[rochrist]

The NBA league wide 3 point success rate last year was 36.7%. 39% is a little over average (+ 2.3%), not sure how that is excellent. Grant had a good game including hitting an average % of 3 pointers.

The league average, at least according to the places I looked it up, was 35.6. 38.9 is not average, it's better than average. He's a young player who's gotten better every year, and he came through in a game 7 when it counted. You apparently feel it was just 'eh'. Suit yourself.

 

[RobertWeathers]

How badly hurt is Smart is the big question.....

Yea. Very concerning. My belief is it's something he can manage. He might sit G1 so to allow him more time to heal...

Great news on RW III not being limited anymore....

 

[BTTA]

The league average, at least according to the places I looked it up, was 35.6. 38.9 is not average, it's better than average. He's a young player who's gotten better every year, and he came through in a game 7 when it counted. You apparently feel it was just 'eh'. Suit yourself.

I'm less concerned with Williams and more interested in how 3 point shooting is evaluated. Williams' game is just a case study.
The difference you cite is a fraction of a point a game for a role player/bench guy like Williams; he could go from "average" to "really good" and everyone would get excited yet that improvement might not affect a single game.

The high volume 3 point shooters are of course different; a couple of % points comes out to 2-3 points a game for their teams. But they wouldn't be high volume if they were average over the course of a year, so the issue isn't nearly as relevant to them as a class.

 

[rochrist]

I'm less concerned with Williams and more interested in how 3 point shooting is evaluated. Williams' game is just a case study.
The difference you cite is a fraction of a point a game for a role player/bench guy like Williams; he could go from "average" to "really good" and everyone would get excited yet that improvement might not affect a single game.

The high volume 3 point shooters are of course different; a couple of % points comes out to 2-3 points a game for their teams. But they wouldn't be high volume if they were average over the course of a year, so the issue isn't nearly as relevant to them as a class.

The point is that shooting 39% from 3 is a sufficient percentage to make shooting the shot extremely useful. To produce the same number of point from 2 pointers requires either a substantially higher percentage or substantially more shots. For example, 100 3 point shots taken at 39% will yield 117 points. With two pointers, you'd have to shoot 59% to get the same number.

 

[Kdo5]

Can’t really make a judgement about this series without seeing at least one game but I feel confident going in. Better high end talent and bench. Ime who can neutralize Spolstera’s coaching advantage.

If Tatum has a great series we will go to the finals. When he’s on a roll it helps the other guys get going too.

 

[VrabelJr]

Crazy to go against ultimate competitors like Giannis and Butler back to back. Two dudes that never, ever give up and play with massive chips on their shoulder. I’m looking forward to another great series, though I wouldn’t mind sweeping them.

 

[Vatahala]

Smart and Horford are both out for game 1, hopefully R Willams is good for 30 minutes tonight.

 

[aluminum seats]

Couldn't watch last night, sounds like I spared myself a horror show. Lost the 3rd quarter by 25? Yikes

Put that one in a drawer and get the split--gotta hope Marcus is back. Seen too much resiliency from this team to despair too much after a game, but you really don't want to fall into that 2-0 hole

 

[RobertWeathers]

Couldn't watch last night, sounds like I spared myself a horror show. Lost the 3rd quarter by 25? Yikes

Put that one in a drawer and get the split--gotta hope Marcus is back. Seen too much resiliency from this team to despair too much after a game, but you really don't want to fall into that 2-0 hole

C's are a better team than MIA at full strength.

If we come back to BOS 1-1 we will win in 6 or 7

Down 0-2 would be tough.

 

[Tunescribe]

Tonight is a must win. Otherwise, I don't see the Celtics winning four of five with Miami having home court. Not having Horford is a gut punch, not sure how much getting Smart back might help especially if he's gimpy on that foot.

 

[borg]

No White tonight.....paternity leave

The Ghost of Red Auerbach shakes his head in dismay

 

[Tunescribe]

No White tonight.....paternity leave

The ghost of Red Auerbach shakes his head in dismay

I agree with Red. Why can't pro athletes time their baby deliveries to the off-season?

 

[borg]

I agree with Red. Why can't pro athletes time their baby deliveries to the off-season?

Remarkable the Greatest Generation was able to accomplish what they did without their Dads having gender reveal parties and taking 12 week paternity leaves to bond and nourish

 

[aluminum seats]

Horford is back, which is great. Smart being back will be huge too as long as he’s close to 100%

I’m torn on White. On the one hand don’t want to be a jerk, but damn, they’re flying home tonight. Be great if his wife had said “I’ll kill you if you miss a huge playoff game”

Sigh. Whatever. Just win

 

[Vatahala]

Amazing Celtics offense put up 70 1st half points despite Marcus Smart's 2 for 11 shooting performance.

 

[Guts]

20 pt lead with pretty much a quarter to go now

 

[Vatahala]

Nice turn around by Marcus in the 2nd half as he was 5 for 12 from 3 ending with 24 points, 9 rebounds, 12 assists and 3 steals.

 

[jimnance]

And THAT'S how you respond to a bad loss in a must-win game.
When healthy, C's are the best team in the league.

 

[Kdo5]

I have not seen a single game this postseason where the Celtics have gotten run off the floor. The Celts have always been a threat to get back into games even when losing.

Meanwhile I’ve seen the Celtics absolutely stomp teams from start to finish. I think they are straight up the better, more talented team. If they don’t end up in the Finals it’s because they had a number of big screw ups along the way.