2017-18 Celtics Season Thread

Wow. Signature win right there...

14, don't let the door hit you on the way out golden state.

This team is a no-joke juggernaut right now. Kudos to Dealin' Danny, he's been on fire just as much as the guys on the court. Love these guys.

I had the good fortune of watching nearly all of Tatum's games at Duke last year - starting injured, he just continued to get better and better...I was so happy the C's went for him in the draft. Irving was a great one and done Dukie also (he was injured as well, but showed what he was about before it happened).

I went to a local bar to watch the game...talk about intense - and I loved every second.

Not sure the defense can get much better - but despite this great winning streak, the offense does have room to improve.

I love this team it’s fun to watch and they are really good but A LOT is going right for them and i feel a correction may be coming. How long can they keep going mad effort every game? Is their defense causing teams to miss these open looks or are they getting lucky or is it both? Offensively, they can’t keep shooting so poorly as a group and keep winning.

Here’s the thing tho. They are a brand new team still trying to learn to play together. It’s crazy to say since they are 14-2 but they are only 16 games into a season where they have 4 new starters and 10 new players. They are playing 6 rookies and Brown so they literally have guys learning to play together and learning to play in the league. Add to the fact that their best all around player, who’s also new, was lost 5 mins into the season and Morris missed the majority of the Pre-season and you have a team that’s even further behind. In realty they should be struggling to find their rhythm so the fact they are out of sorts on offense totally makes sense.

I’ve decided to just enjoy the ride and have no expectations.

I don’t like all the NBA Finals favorite talk. I know it’s inevitable but it’s premature. Really, the most we can say is this team is better positioned than they were last year to grow into a Title team (taking Hayward into consideration) and that they are better than expected after the injury.

Last night should be a reminder that Tatum is very much a rookie and big games are different than other games. The playoffs will be last night times 10. It’s also a reminder that he adapts and grows quickly but still.

Sorry feeling the need to temper expectations today.

Anyone else notice how Marcus Smart came out at the last minute only to go right back in? I feel like the only purpose of that was for Stevens to say to him "Just. Play. Defense."

Any death is rough, but his friend committed suicide, from what I heard and that has to be even more difficult.

This is why I love a team built around D. It's like a football team that just wears the other team out. What is this the 3rd or 4th time they have staged a big comeback. You wear the other team down. You make them fight for every point. 97 points was the Warriors low before this game, they had 88 points.

You can say we got lucky because Curry was off, but look at Irving. He won't go 4-16 in many games. Our bench was 2 for 19, with Smart going 0 for 7 and Rozier going 1 for 5. Those two do this every now and then, but over 7 games that won't be the norm. Even Smart isn't that bad every game.

We won't be an offensive juggernaut without Hayward, but this team will get better as the season goes along. As good as Irving has been, it still seems he is learning to be the top guy and in a way the only real option. As with Thomas he should just keep getting better and increase his efficiency in our offense over time. They only have like 5 games with Morris playing. Tatum just got a huge lesson and will learn from it. Brown is just starting to do his thing game in and game out. That Warrior team is the exact same team from last year besides Young and Bell.

I really can't wait to see this team at the end of the year. Tatum will be a different player then. A guy like Semi should improve his offense as he gets more in rhythm. Who knows what Brown could be doing by then. I still have faith that even Rozier will improve his shot selection as he gets used to heavy playing time. Smart is really the only guy have little faith in that he will improve his offensive game. In a way he just looks lost. Like he keeps trying to find what works and just can't. He seems to be going backwards instead of improving. He needs to try and score instead of just trying to get fouls. They need to bring in a Vet PG that was like Pierce. A guy that wasn't a top notch athlete, but used moves to get good shots and draw fouls. He has learned from guys like Rondo, Thomas and now Irving. Thing is he can't come close to doing what those guys can. He seems scared to use his strength because he keeps getting charging calls. He needs to learn how to use it and not just go full steam into the lane. He won't ever be great, but right now he seems to be playing below even his abilities. He seems to be the one player that Stevens can't make look awesome or even decent.

I was talking about his offensive game and his shooting and ability to get shots really.  He can pass which makes him somewhat useful.  That whole article basically says those teams have no idea how to guard Smart.  The Hawks guarding him to drive and 3 guys trying to stop Smart, come on.  If he keeps shooting like this the whole league will just give him the Rondo treatment.  Stay off him and dare him to shoot the ball and Smart will do just that.  Come the playoffs teams will not be that stupid.  They will play Smart for the pass and dare him to shoot.  You could have did an Article like that two years ago about Turner, he did they same thing for us and we see what he has done in Portland.  Smart is a useful player, but come on with that small sample size trying to show how awesome he is on offense. 

So far, there's a perfect correlation between the Celtics winning the game, and winning the rebound battle. They lost the first two, and they've won both of those the next 14 games. As one example of players flying under the radar, the German import Theis was on the floor for a total of 31 minutes in the previous 3 games. In that time he pulled down 17 rebounds. As another Rozier has averaged a little less than 24 minutes a game and he's averaging 4.5 rebounds which is even better than Smart's ratio - another guard who's also a good rebounder. Stevens can load the lineup with guys who all compete on the boards and depending on the matchups he often does.