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Recap: Celtics lack of defense, rebounding remains a bit of a problem

Chuck - Red's Army November 9, 2016 Recaps 17 Comments

I guess that tough film session after the Denver debacle was a waste of time. The Celtics got whooped by the Wizards tonight, 118-93, in a game which featured the same alarming themes: no defense and no rebounding.

The Celtics came out sleepwalking. They trailed 15-2, 25-4 and 34-8. They shot 18%. This was their worst 1st quarter performance in 40+ years.

The rebounding was atrocious. The Wizards out-rebounded the Cs, 54-31. Their 19 offensive rebounds resulted in a ton of 2nd chance points (it would be nice to see this stat in box scores). You can’t sustain runs when you are constantly allowing multiple shots during possessions.

This team will be better once Al Horford and Jae Crowder return, but they’re still better than this. I think.

Green

Marcus Smart scored 18 of his 20 points in the 3rd quarter.

Kelly Olynyk (2 points, 1-6 FG, 6 reb) played. That is all.

According to Abby Chin, Horford increased his workload on Tuesday and might practice tomorrow.

Gross

Otto Porter had 34 points (14-19 FG), 14 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks. OTTO PORTER!! Safe to say Crowder’s defense was missed.

Jaylen Brown (3 points in 13 minutes) is struggling. He started tonight but was yanked 5 minutes into the game after a series of turnovers and fouls.

Greenlights

Props to Marcus Smart for not knocking-out John Wall after this cheap shot (flagrant 2/ejection)

Here’s the Wall cheap shot pic.twitter.com/o474GK0x1F

— Chuck M. (@RedsArmy_Chuck) November 10, 2016

The Grid

Last 3 first quarters Celtics have been outscored 112-56 (via Kyle Draper)
Boston’s bench had 6 points on 3-19 FG in the first half

Box score

Elmo

Ainge has got to go. I do not care if he has a bunch of draft picks as sure as hell does not know how to use them. Bring in somebody that will make the best use of what assets we have left. Before it is too late.
Lee in Oregon

That was the worst I’ve seen in a long time, against a team that’ll be lucky to make the playoffs. The defense is just pathetic. They made Otto Porter look like Wilt freakin Chamberlain.The offense looks like a lot of athletes and no shooters, yet it’s still shooting a ton of 3’s. Marcus made some 3’s tonite but I cringe everytime he launches one. Right now, there are no easy games for this team.
- Mike C
  
  Never a good sign when your only seven games into a season, and you’ve already allowed two players to set new career highs for points scored in a game. First Mudiay, and now Porter. Throw in Wades’ ridiculous shooting night vs the Bulls, and your basically saying 50% of the time the Celtics step on the court, at least one opposing player is going to be allowed to score at will. We’re so far from a top 3 defense in the league right now, its not even funny!
- TruthHurts
  
  Agree with you in general, but would argue that last vs the wizards our O was the bigger problem. Yeah porter went off but we still only scored 8 points in the first quarter. Eight !!! and we missed 7 3 pointers but kept on shooting them for some reason. Im with you 100% on marcus, DRIVE TO THE RACK and get fouled dont take a 3 unless ur wide open and in rhythm. Certainly not after a behind the back dribble step back you are not Steph Curry.
MondoCane

Completely agree. We’ve had our flaws over the last two years but we made up for them with hard work and hustle. I see no signs of hustle here and no desire to make up for these flaws.
Danny signed the second best FA available this summer, which happens to be a very smart and a savvy basketball player, so I think the guy did his part.
Players need to do some soul searching and start fighting like they have done in the past two years.
- Elmo
  
  All due respect here but would you ever see a Spurs team or Phil Jackson lead team play with this lackluster attitude? Maybe Ainge should give Stevens more power over personnel but do we even know that Stevens is going to be a Championship level coach in the NBA? Can he make those types of decisions? He could not be much worse than Ainge, that is for sure. Lots of blame to go around but when these players are playing like they are not interested, that falls on the leadership group. The Celts are not going to sneak up on anybody this year and it is possible last year was a fluke as there were really no expectations. It is easy to blame the players but somebody has to kick them in the ass from a leadership position. So, our choice of blame is between Ainge or Stevens but if it is only the players, Danny Ainge has put this thing together. God help us if it is both.
  - TruthHurts
    
    Lets do an exercise, First Il list all the good celts draft picks and moves and then you can list his bad moves. There are a few in there like passing on Draymond Green (remember at that time we needed a center and at 6’7 he wasn’t that)
    Draft Picks past 15 yrs (can now judge players)
    Perkins
    Rondo
    Tony Allen
    Glen Davis
    Leon Powe
    Ryan gomes–traded for KG
    Avery Bradley
    D West—traded for R Allen
    Gerald Green–Traded for KG
    Al Jefferson–traded for KG
    
    Draft picks last 5 years (still too early to judge players)
    Olynyk
    Sullinger
    Smart
    Brown
    
    He made great trades bringing in Thomas, Crowder for practically nothing, not to mention 3 top 10 picks for an aging Pierce and KG. You can cherry pick any draft and say they should have known Jimmy butler or Giannis A were going to turn out to be a great player but for someone who drafted outside the top 10 constantly he built a good team
    - Elmo
      
      LOL I was going to start a list but after I read Glen Davis and Ryam Gomes names, I saw you have your green googles on and stopped at:
      
      Dahanty Jones
      Troy Bell
      Juston Reed
      Orien Greene
      Randy Foye
      Jeff Green
      Gabe Pruitt
      J.R. Giddfen
      Semi Erden
      Lester Hudson
      Luke Harangody
      Marshon Brooks
      E’Twaun Moore
      Fats Sullinger
      Fab Melo
      Olynyk at 13?
      James Young…there goes one of Nets picks.
      
      Whew, you were right. That was exercise!
NE_Celt

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0a5fd852887adeb3914e0ba609564af89b7d6c54d50db828040be6751ab099ac.jpg
- Curt Hays
  
  There it is.
swissflix

Can Marcus get some love? More drives to the basket and his numbers have all gone up.

As for the game- we are just too small. Way too small. What is a lineup (as seen in the 3rd quarter) of Smart, IT, Bradley, Jerebko and Kelly supposed to do on the boards? It just means everyone has to help out more, move more and is going to get confused much easier and quicker. As seen throughout 48 minutes last night.
- TruthHurts
  
  I think that our size coupled with Brad’s preference for small ball will ensure that this is an issue all season long. I love AB but he can not be your leading rebounder as a 6’3 guard. We rotate so much on D that all it takes is 3-4 passes and inevitably someone gets cross matched against a bigger player. Also the constant rotations make it really tough to box out as most of the time the player is already in bad position
  - swissflix
    
    Agree with you on all points. Funny enough, that your nickname fits the topic 🙂
    - TruthHurts
      
      Green teamers get the rap as being delusional, while I do see things through green glasses I try to be realistic
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Elmo

I understand your point but Ainge put this entire thing together. Other than the gift from McHale sending the C’s KG, he has been terrible. The man just cannot draft. He did make a great deal with the Nets but to this point has pissed away most of what he got. Jaylen Brown might be a good pick but IMO, there were other things he could have done with that pick that would have helped this team more than a another 19 year old who is a crap shoot. If they keep Ainge and he continues along the road he is now, it will be another 20 years before they ever win again. Either that or maybe Stevens should have stayed in College as he has lost the Locker Room? That is a totally different issue but again, Ainge did hired him. It all revolves around Ainge.
- MondoCane
  
  Just one quick thing: I don’t want you to answer me on this topic, but there was a bunch of Celtics fans who immediately jumped on the Buddy Hield bandwagon last year and the guy is throwing brick after brick in the Pros. At the same time his decision making and his basketball IQ are questionable at best.
  So, when you say Danny can’t draft, just think about the players we luckily passed on.

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