2018-19 Celtics Season

not going in the right direction as the end nears.

Celts went down 13 in 1Q, played them even other 3Q (the good news) - the bad news is they couldn't find the D to close on them.

52% vs 36% shooting

52 vs 33 rebounds

they really miss Horford and Morris.

I've not gotten to watch many games this year...this one was pretty much a stinker - Irving for the most part seems to be a nearly invisible non factor in things.  

and...Home court advantage?  What home court advantage?

www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/25591263/boston-celtics-hold-much-needed-team-meeting-another-loss

I just don't like this. What is the point of continuing to keep calling out your team and the "young guys" to the press? You can make comments and not do that.

The don't do iso until late on the clock crap. OMG no ones does that more than Irving. Taking crazy hard shots, no one does that more than Irving. Yet he then acts like he's different because I can do anything I want out there. I'm sorry but you just shot 7-20, so no you can't. He says some things you want to hear. It's just everytime he does this I come away feeling like he blames the whole team and he can't do any wrong.

You have to lead by example and I don't think Irving gets that. If I'm a young Celtic player I've had enough of this crap. Irving is the key, yet go prove it on the court. Show these young guys how to play. Don't play one way, then tell them to play another because I'm special. It's just won't work and it isn't. This is getting bad. What the hell are his teammates going to think reading this?

Compare that to Tatum's going to keep what happened in the lockeroom, where it should stay speech. I think you get your answer.

I don't think that there is a simple answer for what is going on...I know some here really lay into Stevens, but I suspect even he is a bit flummoxed by this cast of talent - who to play where, how to motivate them. Last year the Hayward injury created a "all hands on deck, man it up" character early on - the team seemed to take on the character of fighting underdogs that drove them to success probably beyond what was reasonable to expect.

Injuries are taking their toll, but there are heads that aren't right - smattering of unhappiness among some of the key players (Brown, Irving for sure), expectations probably too high for Hayward being past his ghastly injury (in his head, maybe?), Tatum is still very young and trying to figure it out. A top tier playoff team on paper doesn't guarantee success, as we are seeing.

It is interesting to contrast our four pro teams - Red Sox stunning success for all times vs equally talented Celtics struggling with identity vs gritty Bruins overachieving vs Patriots now beginning an inevitable decline.

still...aren't we lucky!

I disagree; I love it. Calling out his teammates? He called out himself. He’s taking accountability. The quotes are great, honest straight forward. Kyrie is also a young guy, people seem to forget he’s only 26 himself. He’s a “veteran” in the league but he’s young in age and as a leader of a team. He’s incredibly honest about himself learning and growing and not being where he needs to be.

Christ you should have loved it; he talks about himself coming up short in creating for others and putting his game to the side more.

Your disdain runs deep my friend. We have a once in a generation talent not just doing things in the court that are amazing but he’s basically on a spiritual journey and sharing it with us. The guy is incredibly thoughtful, self-aware and brutally honest about himself and he shares it. He’s never once called out a teammate; he’s called out his teams play and every time puts himself at the center of the problem and has taken responsibility.

Talking about midrange jumpers and fade always isn’t akin to calling out Tatum publicly. That may apply to him more than others but it applies to a lot of them including Kyrie at times. Also, Tatum loves Kyrie so we shouldn’t be making issues where they don’t exist.

It’s not passive aggressive if he’s including himself (which is he) and there is open communications amongst themselves (which we don’t know but there seems to be). I can’t speak about the other two but him and Tatum are boys and Tatum isn’t bothered by Kyrie so we really shouldn’t be. All that being said, Kyrie is learning and he will be a better leader at 30 than he is at 26. It’s a new role for him and he’s learning on the fly, making mistakes,
Reflecting and learning. To me that’s leadership, self accountability and growth. The younger guys can learn a ton from that.

In the spirit of Christmas, I’m only going to call this team soft instead of incredibly soft.

Whew...intense. Celts righted the ship in OT. That team can go far...need to clean up a few things, but that's more like it.

I'm sorry but I've never seen good leaders act like him. Not even close. Nevermind its like you only see what you want to with Irving. This is the third time he's called out the young guys to the press that I know of.  Everyone knows exactly who he is talking about. So yea he keeps calling out Tatum, Brown, and Rozier. His big speach last time was talking about Tatum the things that got him pulled from the game.

Take Irving's comments and compare them to Horford's and Haywards. Again what is the point of calling out the young guys repeatedly to the press?

Irvings comments would have been awesome minus the  I'm different I can do anything crap and the look I'm making big sacrifices not playing the role I want type crap. It's like yea I need to change, yet I'm special and I've already done my part. I hate that with a passion. Irving out of all our players has made the smallest sacrifices. He gets his shots. You say he's taken responsibility, I don't think I've seen that all year. More like he keeps blaming everyone else.

You can love a guy all you want to keeps calling out a group of teammates, talks about the earth being flat, needing 14 year Vets when were losing, and his anti thanksgiving crap all in the last three months. It's like he's a Kardashian and always needs people talking about him no matter what. 

Those comments were about what got Tatum pulled from the game, yea he was talking about him. Your the only person that thinks otherwise. RJP do you have inside information about Tatum's thoughts? Tatum has been upset a lot this year, that is a fact. Irving comes out after that meeting and goes on and on. Tatum comes out and is like going to keep it private where it should stay. If you don't think Irving is upsetting the young guys than you need to wake up. You can't keep blaming certain players and not have them get upset. That's just human nature, no matter how much they like Irving.

Look at OT last game. Irving did everything he was calling people out for. Now he made a bunch of those shots so no one talks about it, but he was rushing shots and taking incredible hard shots. It's awesone when they go in, but even a guy like Irving can't do that all that often. Which has been this teams issue basically. When he makes them it's elite Irving saves C's, when he misses them it's Irving doesn't have enough help. Leaders need to lead by example and Irving isn't doing that. If you're  going to call out guys for taking early shots and though shots you can't keeping doing just that. Irving has never been a leader and it shows.

It's the catch 22 with Irving when he goes off its awesome. Yet him being the PG and going off means running our offense goes out the window. He wasn't scoring within our offense in OT, it was all iso crap or run up the court and shoot a three with 20 seconds on the shot clock. Yet if he cools off now our offense is non existent. Perfect example is the end of the Suns game. I don't really care how many shots he takes, but they need to come within our offense. Keep everyone involved and keep the ball moving. Basically everything he said in his speach, yet he's not doing it. It's going to be the downfall of this team if he can't fix it. Last year it was spread out among Horford, Tatum, Brown, and Rozier. He could do that crap on the Cavs because LeBron wouldn't allow him to hog the ball and would run the offense. This reminds me on Rondo when the big three could keep him in check and Rondo without the big three. Right now its like there's no one to check Irving and every player needs that unless your an MJ or LeBron type guy. Irving is a very good player, but he's not that good, not even close. Yet I get the sense he thinks he is.

BTW Irving isn't a once in a generation type player. That is guys like LeBron.

Simmons=a coward

Butler makes them better, but I still don’t see how he fills their most pressing needs. And that’s without getting into him being a terrible person.

Well honestly Brett Brown is a dumbass, there's no reason for Embiid to take that many 3s. And it's unquestionable Butler is a really great player, but his fit around Simmons and Embiid is not ideal. He's a ball hogging wing that primarily drives to the basket. We already had this discussion before so let's not do the exact same one again lol let's just wait for the playoffs. If they go far with this team, then you were right. If they get schemed into oblivion and lose in the first two rounds, then I was right. We have to wait.

Sorry I’m really confused by this description.

Kyrie took 4 shots in OT.

The first he missed a jumper with 12 seconds left on the clock.

Then he hit the 3 that put them up 1 which was a DESIGNED play. Kyrie brought the ball up handed off to Morris coming from left wing.. Kyrie slipped to the left side while Morris continued around to the right passing to Tatum. Horford slipped up to the top of the 3 point circle and received the pass from Tatum. Kyrie broke across from the left, got a hand off from Horford and drained a 3. That was a designed play for him to take that shot. Not some tough cavalier shot outside the offense.

Next time up, is the quick shot in transition. Quick shots in transition is not the same as ISO ball. Of course there can be bad transition shots but this isn’t one of them. It was taking advantage of the defense. Sorry, but he should take that shot every time. They are up 1. It was a 3 on 3 up the court and Horford and Hayward drove to the hoops. All 3 defenders dropped below the 3 point line. So Kyrie pulled up for the wide open 3. If they are up 4 that’s different; the clock is more important. Up 1 you still need to score and you have your best shooter, who’s also on fire and you don’t want him taking a wide open 3? I guarantee you wouldn’t be upset about that shot if it were the same exact shot (same defensive pressure etc) if Kyrie passed it to someone like Rosier or Tatum running up the opposite side of the court simply because there was a pass involved.

The last shot was a missed layup with no time on the shot clock, which by the way came after a Kyrie offensive rebound.