Gordon Hayward Would Like to Re-Introduce Himself

So much for the whole “no effort, no ball movement on offense” malarkey that I definitely did not buy in to.

The Celtics offense has returned to Erotic City (both literally and figuratively) and a lot of it has to do with the elevated play of one Gordon Hayward in recent weeks. All it takes is moving the max contract player to the bench for him to drop 30 points in a near-triple-double, I’ve long said that.

The Celtics offense has undergone a serious rejuvenation since their dismal stretch that started about two weeks ago. They set their season-high in points two games in a row against New Orleans (124) and Cleveland (128). They’re playing with more pace, and getting back to the threes-and-layups style that best suits their personnel. In the last three games, they’ve jumped from 23rd to 19th in overall pace of play, and, FINALLY cracked the top-20 in offensive rating. The team with Kyrie Irving, Jayson Tatum, Gordon Hayward, Al Horford and Jaylen Brown took 23 games to get into the top two-thirds of the league in offense, but beggars can’t be choosers, I guess, so I’ll take it.

The rest of this blog is a personal thank-you note to Gordon Hayward, whom I know for a fact reads all of the stuff I write. I saw in an article by Tom Westerholm of MassLive that Marcus Smart got Gordon all sorts of riled up in practice this week. After the 30p/9r/8a outburst on Saturday, Morris told the media that Smart was fouling Hayward so often and so hard that “he just got red at one point” (Tom Westerholm, The Athletic). I, for one, did not know it was possible for Gordon Hayward to be visibly upset (unless he just found out on video that he’s having his third girl) but if there’s someone to bring that anger out, Smart will do it. He shot 50% from the field (4-5 3PT, 10-10 FT) against Minnesota and was clearly the main distributor and scorer on the second unit. He makes everyone around him, especially Terry, a better player on offense. Against the Cavs, he had 14p/4a/4r on 6-9 from the field and he was a +16. Whatever it was that Marcus was doing, it essentially completed his rehab process because he attacks the rim with so much more force now than he had up until this week. Apart from the dunks, this was probably my favorite play of his the entire game;

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Boston Celtics

✔@celtics

Making space and knocking it down

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He catches that ball, and there is absolutely no chance he’s gonna pass it. He just drops his shoulder into Derrick Rose (who also had a good game despite having 0 knees), moves him back a solid 4 feet, plants on the ankle that twisted like a pretzel last season and nails a beautiful turn-around. I need him to keep being aggressive. It makes my breathing easier. I am itching for the inevitable poster he’s gonna throw down in one of the next few games (sick joke that the next game is 4 days from now, btw).

The Gordon Hayward comeback is complete. And you know what’s funny? It’s only up from here. He’s only getting closer to his former self.

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via GIPHY

Brad’s lineup shuffle is paying dividends awful early. Real shame. The Kyrie-Smart-Tatum-Morris-Horford starting five is miles more energetic, they look a team that is ranked #2 overall in defensive rating. They’re tied for #7 in net rating with the Hornets (4.0) , just one spot below the superteam and dynasty, the Golden State Warriors (4.3). Now, the sky isn’t falling in Oakland, is it? Nobody expects them to not make the Finals, even though their all-stars hate each other, right? Well, the Celtics actually like each other, and Brad Stevens is just starting to get a hold of this group. Like I said, it’s all up from here. And in the last week, they look damn good. That Grinch gif is me x1000. Go Celtics.

P.S. Can we please get some minutes from Robert Williams? Every time he plays he has at least one highlight-reel block. The dude legit plays volleyball out there.

Boston Celtics: Not That Good

Marcus Smart summed it up much better than I can.

“Words can’t even explain it. It’s like deja vu all over again. Like, we keep saying and doing the same thing after every game. It’s getting really annoying. I mean, I don’t even know why to say to you guys at this point. Literally, this is the first time in my life I literally don’t have no answer for any questions. I don’t know what it is and I’m stumped right now” (Jared Weiss, The Athletic)

I, as well, am stumped. The Celtics have more talent than any team not from Oakland, yet essentially a quarter of the way through the season, sit at 10-10, tied for 6th place in the East with Charlotte. Celtics fans were expecting a shot at Zion, RJ Barrett, or Bol Bol with the Kings’ or Grizzlies’ draft picks this summer. The Celtics currently have a worse record than both teams. It’s not what you want!

The Celtics quest to string together a 48-minute game continues. I’d take a 36-minute game at this point. The inconsistency among this squad is baffling. Against the Hawks on Friday, they exploded for a 45-point first quarter. I understand it’s the Hawks, but the ball movement was incredible and they were hunting for good shots. That would’ve worked against anybody. What doesn’t work, though, is following that type of effort up with a 16-point quarter. I really don’t understand how, against such a bad team, the C’s could play both so good and so bad within one half of basketball. They just stopped moving on offense. There’s a tendency within most of the players to just sit and watch while Kyrie Irving/whoever else just dribbles around and looks for a PnR. Every player has said it to the media at some point, but the effort level is not even close to what it has to be. Al Horford said it best, it was something along the lines of “you shouldn’t have to talk about effort.” Effort should never be a concern, that is literally the only thing a team ca control. If you put in effort 100% of the time, everything else will fall into place. The Celtics are putting in effort 69% of the time at best, and things are definitely not falling into place.

I promised myself I wouldn’t overreact to a blowout against the Hawks because they’re a terrible basketball team. But, they did seem to care a bit more. Diving on the floor, not letting them (fully) claw back into the game, etc. Nobody played more than 25 minutes in the first game of an important back-to-back. There could not have been a better setup for last night’s game against Dallas.

There could not have been a more effortless, careless, and all-around mediocre game than the one the C’s played last night. Even though the game was close from the second quarter until there were about 5 minutes left, it never really felt like the Celtics were going to win. Every time they’d string together a few good possessions, they would give up a wide open layup to JJ Barea, or an alley-oop to DeAndre Jordan. Barea, Jordan, and Luka Doncic (certified pimp) were KILLING the C’s on the PnR, especially in the fourth. Every guard that is slightly adept at scoring has done so. Role players like Barea, Jeremy Lin, Trey Burke, and Ricky Rubio have torched the C’s defense. Again, it’s just a matter of effort a lot of the time. The Celtics clearly have the talent to stop these types of players, but they consistently do not. The toughness and fight that this team had last year is completely gone. I don’t know if the expectations did it or what, but they need to dig deep and find that fire again if they want to be a good basketball team for more than 20 minutes per night.

A lot of people on the Twitter machine are clamoring for a trade, which I find to be super unnecessary. Who would they even trade for that would seriously elevate the team’s play? Anthony Davis can’t be traded this season, and there’s a 0% chance New Orleans ever trades him unless he tells them to their face he won’t re-sign, so that one’s out. To those insisting on trading Terry Rozier, kindly GTFO. I understand the knocks on his defense, because he is one of the guys who is incredibly inconsistent on that end. But I see people disparaging his offense, saying he has horrible shot selection and can’t make plays, things of that nature. Do we not remember the playoffs last season? He has shown that he can contribute time and time again. He is the sixth man now, though, so it’s a different role, both offensively and defensively. Once Brad Stevens does the math and finds out which lineups work the best together, I think guys like Terry, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Daniel Theis will start contributing more effectively.

One change I would like to see is Robert Williams getting some goddamn minutes. To echo the Riffsman, he really could help this team on defense, and with his energy level. He comes off the bench every 3 games and gets like 8 minutes, but he is always active on both ends, and if I’m correct he’s never missed a shot. All alley-oops and putbacks, high-percentage looks if you ask me. I don’t think he needs to be the first big off the bench or anything, but he’s a much better post defender and rim protector than Theis, and he’s a viable PnR roller.

It is getting to the point where team chemistry can’t be an issue anymore. But, chemistry and effort-level are not one and the same. They just need everyone to bring everything they have, every time out there. Too many guys are on autopilot, just standing and watching while everyone else makes the plays. There’s nobody to even call out, either, because every player has done it more than once, from Kyrie to Al to Tatum to Daniel Theis. The entire team just needs to try harder, and the shots will start to fall, the 50/50 plays will start going our way, they’ll start getting to the free throw line more often (they currently shoot have the least FTA per game in the NBA), the list of things that happen when you go hard every play goes on and on.

I want Marcus Smart to hold a players-only meeting or something. Brad can only get so much out of these guys. Marcus has been in Boston longer than anyone, and he embodies what it means to be a Celtic in 2018. He’s the de facto captain of the team. You think you’d find a guy in that locker room that won’t listen to and respect what he has to say? You’d be hard-pressed. I know for a fact that Smarf could rip off a motivational speech with the best of ’em. He’s from Flower Mound, after all. I don’t know who else can drill it into their heads that they have to play with more heart, than the guy who has more heart than anyone on the floor, at all times.

For now, I’m gonna temper my expectations for this team. Until they prove they can play a full 48 minutes without being terrible at some point, they’re just not that great. No team can win a championship, let alone make a playoff run, if they can’t play a full game. The Celtics have yet to be the Celtics we expected to see, outside of a few games/quarters sprinkled throughout an astoundingly average 10-10 start.

If they wanna be good, the time to kick it into gear is now. If they don’t get going soon, they’ve dug a very deep hole for themselves come playoff time, and Danny Ainge might not be able to resist the undying urge to make a trade. We’ll see what happens, but I have faith. They did it with less last year, and it’s all the same guys. Brad and Kyrie will compile the data and analytics they’ve filed in their massive brains, devise a plan, and figure this shit out. Go Celtics.

I Have Never Seen Anything Like I Did Last Night

Wow. Never in one game have I seen a team play so terrible and bad for an entire half, and then come out and do a complete 360 be so good for the rest of the game.

That felt like an out-of-body experience. Every game with the Celtics feels like a bad acid trip at some point but I thought my soul was going to evaporate watching the majority of this game. They get boned on every shot they take for a full two hours before they magically make 18 in a row and tie the game to end regulation. They had 13 points at the end of the first quarter. They were down by 22 points in the second half. They were down by 12 with 3:30 left in the game.

The Suns made three field goals in the final nine minutes. The Celtics outscored them 51-29 in the fourth quarter and OT. They made eight consecutive shots to end regulation and start OT. They, quite literally, were as bad as a team can possibly be, and as good as a team can possibly be within the span of one game. This wasn’t “the good, the bad, and the ugly,” this was “the excruciatingly painful, and the immense feeling of joy.” No in between.

Somehow we survived the starters not named Kyrie putting up a goose egg in the first half. Tatum didn’t even score until there were 5 minutes left in the game and only had 4 on 1-7 FG in the game. Hayward had 8 on 3-8 FG,  Horford had 7 on 3-7 FG, and the bench didn’t show up until the second half. The team as a whole played awful defense until halfway through the third quarter and couldn’t stop Devin Booker and TJ Warren (?????) for the life of them. The Celtics’ ability to turn this game around in the blink of an eye, on the road, is truly a testament to their chemistry and toughness. People always bitch and say there are too many stars, only one ball, blah blah blah. Well, Kyrie took 28 shots last night and almost single-handedly won the game. Clearly, other guys are fine with not getting shots if they WIN THE GODDAMN GAME. Nobody on this team gives a rat fuck about their stats if they win. It is a team. Brad Stevens puts them in positions to succeed, and they know this, so they go as hard as they can for him and for each other so they can capitalize on those opportunities. It doesn’t always work out because the second-best player on the team just got his ankle glued back together, and the three young stars have a significant reduction in minutes. These things take time. It’s the 11th game. But what we saw last night showed us exactly what they are made of, even if they sucked wind for 28 minutes. /endrant

Now that I’m done with my spiel that I didn’t mean to get into before I started writing this, I’ll get into some film.

The Celtics defense was fucking bad in the first half. I came really close to giving up on this game, considering the cellar-dweller Suns were torching them. Transition defense was bad, and so was the help side. Here’s a sweet combination of the two;

All four players that got back on defense are staring at Devin Booker as he goes up the court. It sounds trivial to say this about NBA players, but sometimes you just have to keep your eye on your man. I know it’s tougher in transition, but not one person was watching out for the cross-court pass. Jaylen got there just in time for Canaan to hoodwink him with a nice pump-fake three.

Obvious bad pass from Jaylen. He had Kyrie, but it was a bit late. Booker makes a nice save and dribbles it back up the floor and Warren gets an easy three. Either one of Terry or Baynes has to commit to Warren instead of continuing to fall back into the paint. The lineup the Suns had out there was all shooters except Ayton. Gotta know they’re looking for the three ball.

There were too many good offensive sets in the last 6 minutes to count. Kyrie was hitting legit circus layups. When Jaylen goes hard to the rim like he was there, it opens up the Celtics offense. He’s probably the best athlete on the team, and when he puts that to good use, everyone benefits, specifically guys like Morris and Horford. It takes pressure off of Kyrie when he’s not the only guard they have to worry about scoring the ball.

And then we got a beautiful display of basketball genius. Brad Stevens ATO plays are second-to-none;

 

Bottoms. That’s Marcus Morris SENIOR, to you sir. You knew as soon as he took that shot it was gonna fall. Smooth as ice.

OT was a different animal. There was a very slim chance the Celtics were gonna lose after Morris hit the buzzer-beater, but they still let Phoenix hang around for the first few minutes.

All is well, though. Brad Stevens can still yell at his team despite them pulling a 22-point comeback out of their ass. The perfect ending. We got Utah tonight, no Kyrie, and I’m calling a big game from Scary Terry right now. This trade rumor stuff (which I will address in a blog later today) is pissing him off and he’s gonna get to start tonight. Go Celtics.

15 Photos: In-Class Activity

Photos with captions:

1. Jamal Murray attacks the rim for two of his career-high 48 points last night against Boston.

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2. Kyrie Irving’s 31 points on 13/17 FG were not enough as the Celtics fall 115-107.

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3. Early-MVP candidate Nikola Jokic was guarded in the post by Al Horford for most of the game.

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4. The two point guards battled all evening long, but Murray’s 48 put the Nuggets on top.

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5. Celtics players were frustrated with Murray’s last-second attempt to go for 50 points while dribbling out the clock, while Murray says “I was just going for 50. No disrespect.”

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6. In need of a win, the Dallas Cowboys faltered behind the mediocre play of QB Dak Prescott.

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7. Titans QB Marcus Mariota puts the moves on a defender while running upfield for a fourth-quarter touchdown.

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8. Titans CB Kevin Byard reaches way back for the interception of Dak Prescott in their own endzone.

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9. Prescott gets taken down for a sack, as the Cowboys line had trouble protecting him or getting the run game going.

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10. Another angle of Byard’s interception over new Cowboys receiver Amari Cooper, who the team acquired from the Raiders this week for a first-round pick

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Photos with cutlines:

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Former Celtic and current Celtics announcer Tommy Heinsohn has become an excellent painter in his retirement, his skills are on display with this painting of Jayson Tatum and Kyrie Irving

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Philadelphia 76ers forward Ben Simmons is being loosely guarded by the Celtics defense here due to his inability and lack of desire to shoot three pointers.

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Duke and Yale take the field for the 2018 NCAA men’s lacrosse national championship game at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Ma. back in May, where Yale and star player Ben Reeves came out on top

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Albany and Yale square off in the 2018 NCAA men’s lacrosse Final Four game at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Ma. during Memorial Day Weekend, where Yale steamrolled Albany on their way to the national championship game

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Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge puts Red Sox pitcher Joe Kelly in a headlock after he hit Tyler Austin with a pitch. The benches-clearing brawl was seen as a re-ignition of the rivalry between the Red Sox and Yankees

It’s Time For College Athletes to Get a Slice of the Pie

For as long as amateur sports as existed, they have been exactly that; amateur. Anyone who competes in an amateur sporting event is doing so in order to expand their popularity and become a better athlete. The ultimate goal is to make the eventual leap from amateur to professional. The thing that separates these two? Some might say age, but with the NBA’s age limit being 18 and one year removed from high school, and the MLB’s and NHL’s policies being relatively the same, “kids” can still be professionals. What really makes someone a “pro” is money. Pro athletes make money, and lots of it. Millions upon millions. Some of the highest-paid people on the planet. You know who makes more than a pro athlete does? The person who owns the team the athletes play for. Combine all the athlete’s salaries and multiply them by about 10, and that’s how much a sports team makes. The big bucks.

Oddly enough, colleges are the same way. The NCAA has 347 Division 1 schools, all of which have a ton of sports that haul in a ton of money. Factoring in all the tuition bills they’re getting from regular students, not to mention the money produced by student-athletes, they have plenty of cash to go around. The average salary of a university president is about $140,000 (Business Insider) so it’s clear the school employees get a hefty chunk of that, but the rest has to be allocated to someone (after all the school’s expenses have been paid, of course).

Why don’t the athletes, who do all the work and advertising for these schools, get any of it?

The age-old adage of “they’re giving the athletes a free education!” is antiquated. Students can take out loans. There’s financial aid and FAFSA. Scholarships for being able to walk and chew gum at the same time. Almost anyone can go to college if they want to. Education isn’t a privilege anymore. 99% of people do it for 15+ years. Doesn’t sound like a special privilege to me. In fact, those kids aren’t even there for the education most of the time. In the wise words of NFL quarterback Cardale Jones, “We ain’t come here to play SCHOOL.” College is essentially a free minor league for pro sports. The idea that the school is doing a service to these kids as they go out and risk their professional careers to make tens of millions of dollars with the schools name slapped across their chest is absurd. The school can sign an endorsement deal with Nike for $500 million and the players are the ones that wear it and make people want to buy it, but they don’t get a penny. All they get is the chance to go out and maybe play well enough to start making more than $0 every time you risk harm to your body.

Most people advocate for a larger stipend for student-athletes. A stipend is essentially an allowance that athletes get, and currently they are very small. Pays for small stuff like food and drinks and some clothes. Not enough to live off of on it’s own. That is why it’s time for the NCAA to fork over some of the approximate $40 million that the average football and men’s basketball programs combine for per year (Business Insider). Give it to the kids that pay your salaries, you crusty old beards. The NCAA has essentially been using slave labor ever since they started signing billion-dollar TV deals.

The changing of the guard is underway, even if it’s slow as a snail. Media pundits from all over are starting to be on the “pay the players” side of the debate. Jay Bilas, perhaps ESPN’s most famous college basketball analyst, firmly believes players should get their cut.

I’m not out here trying to say college athletes should be millionaires. That’s what the pros are for. But while they are walking billboards for their respective school, they need to get some of the revenue. It is the only organization in the world that makes a multi-billion dollar profit off of what is basically a huge collection of unpaid interns. Mark Emmert, the corrupt president of the NCAA, is losing favor by the day. The NFL and NBA are trying to create ways for players to bypass the NCAA and get paid for their talents right out of high school. Some basketball players have chosen pro leagues in China or Europe over the $0 salary you earn in college while simultaneously curating a brand for a school and providing entertainment for millions of people. Change is coming, the NCAA knows it, the athletes know it, and so do the fans. For a guy who just wrote such passionate shit about paying players, I don’t know how or when this issue will truly be solved. But until then, the NCAA is gonna keep finding players, coaches, and brand executives (cough couch, Adidas) that try and extort money.

Celtics Couble-Coverage; Things Look Bad

I got a name for it. It’s like double-coverage, because I cover every other C’s game on this website. Hence, double. BUT, the word “Celtics” and also “coverage” start with C. My journalism class that I paid $700 for told me, “the people love alliteration.” So I gave it to them. Celtics Couble Coverage. Just read it as “Celtics double-coverage.” Don’t hurt yourself.

Alright, TAke a look, y’all:

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I did a blog on opening night saying that the five-worst teams in the NBA were Sacramento, Atlanta, New York, Orlando, and Chicago. I stand by this, despite the Magic beating the Celtics at home and the Knicks just barely giving up the game at MSG. What this means, is that currently the Celtics are a bad, if not terrible basketball team. The Magic and Knicks are not good. The Celtics are just playing badly. Don’t get that misconstrued. And the C’s will come back in due time; but for now, they gotta solve some of the glaring issues.

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This started off as one of those games where you thought to yourself, “Hey, I might get to bed early tonight.” The C’s were clicking in the first, putting up a 31-point quarter, while holding the Knicks to 18. The Knicks’ best player with Porzingis still hurt is Enes Kanter, so Brad played Aron Baynes a lot to combat his size inside. With Horford at the four, the C’s defense improves tremendously. This was evident in the first quarter when Kanter and the Knicks really struggled for open looks.

And that was the end of the “I might get to bed early tonight” thought process. The second quarter was miserable. The C’s made Tim Hardaway Jr. and Allonzo Trier (who was undrafted in 2018) look like all-stars. For a team that did so well defending the three last season (#1 in the league if I’m not mistaken), they have done an awful job at it this year. The chemistry was gonna be a work-in-progress all along with the new additions, but I didn’t think it would have this severe of an effect on the team’s defense. When Baynes is off the floor they really struggle to stop teams. Thank you based Danny Ainge for resigning him when I said we should get Nerlens Noel. Hand up, that was wrong.

Jaylen Brown has had a tough time finding his shot in the early-going. He only recorded seven points on 2/9 from the field against New York. With Gordon in the fold, his role was bound to be reduced a little bit because Gordon is a better playmaker, rebounder and three-point shooter. Jaylen is still the second-best slasher on the team (until Gordon is 100% back in shape) outside of Kyrie, but he doesn’t seem to be attacking on those opportunities as often, either. I don’t think it’s a matter of “what’s the issue” with Jaylen, I just think he hasn’t settled into his role on the team yet. He’s getting the shots up, they just aren’t going down for him yet. Which they will.

The second half of this game was brutal. The offense just seems to randomly stall out and constantly run the same pick-and-roll plays over and over again at times, which I know for a fact isn’t gonna be a long-lasting problem with Brad Stevens as the head coach but it’s very sad to watch in real time. For a team that starts guys known for their offensive game like Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Jayson Tatum and Al Horford, they sure do suck at scoring sometimes. Now, a lot of this has to do with just missing shots; they were 36% from three, but they still miss plenty of wide-open shots. They miss more open shots than any team in the NBA this season per the NBA’s shot-tracking data. Will this last? Nope. Is it going on right now and causing them to play stressful games against inferior opponents? Chet Ubetcha. A little Fairly Oddparents reference for the kids at home, how’s that for covering all the bases.

Celtics-Magic

I actually attended this game personally With My Smokieng Hot Girlfriend, and we got a similar, but somehow even worse version of the Knicks game. The Celtics didn’t even bother to come out rolling this time. An emphatic 19-point first quarter had them looking pretty dead from the get-go. Nobody got in a rhythm at all this game, and Baynes was ruled out with a hamstring injury for the next few games. The massive Orlando frontcourt of Nik Vucevic, Mo Bamba and Aaron Gordon was clearly too much for only Horford and Theis to handle. Vucevic was bullying guys down low all game long and finished with 24 points and 12 boards.

The Celtics did a really brave and courageous thing and decided to go out and put up an even worse offensive performance than they did against the Knicks. The C’s were 9-40 (22.5%) from three. 9-40. That is really fucking bad. Al Horford is a great shooter, he’s modified his game like few players ever have to become a stretch-5 playmaker, but goddamn he gets way too many looks from three. I don’t know if every single one of these is by chance either; there were at least three specific plays I remember being set up for him to get a three off a screen. Why not do that for Tatum? Or Kyrie? Or any of the sharp-shooting wings and guards we have??? I love Al but he does not need seven 3PA in a game, especially when he’s made one.

Thank the lord for Kyrie Irving because otherwise this would’ve been an embarrassing double-digit loss. Like I said, not one player was in a rhythm the entire game, but Kyrie did end up finishing 10-19 from the floor with 22 points, 8 boards and 5 assists. He’d been a bit slow to start the year so for him to lead a comeback effort like that definitely bodes well. He and Gordon both ended up with three-point chances to tie the game at 93 at the end, but they just couldn’t get them to fall, much like they had all night. Giving up 93 points to the Magic is fine, but going 9-40 from three and scoring 19 points in a quarter is not gonna win you the game. Thankfully, we all know Brad Stevens is gonna right the ship, most likely soon. The open jumpers are gonna fall eventually, that’s why you play 82 games in a season. This shit happened last year, too, and then they went on a 16-game win streak. You know what they say, “history repeats itself.” Go Celtics.

Boston Celtics vs Orlando Magic: Social Media Story

The Boston Celtics faced the Orlando Magic for their second home game and fourth game overall last evening. The Celtics entered the game with a record of 2-1, with the Magic sitting at 1-2.

The Celtics had a new addition to the injury report this week; center Aron Baynes has been ruled out with a hamstring injury. Many writers who cover the Celtics have been wondering how head coach Brad Stevens will combat this injury;

Brad Stevens ended up staying with his usual small-ball starting lineup of Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward, Jayson Tatum and Al Horford. However, it was extremely noticeable that Baynes’ defensive presence off the bench was missed.

Brad Stevens is known for being a basketball savant and all-around intellectual, but without Aron Baynes, the number of lineups he can employ against a team with four huge big men like Orlando is very slim. Baynes’ defense inside forces the opponent to kick it out to the perimeter, where the Celtics have equally-good defenders waiting to get in passing lanes. Baynes alters the opponents shot when he defends them, which doesn’t show up in the stat sheet at all, but is something that affects the game and every coach, player, and competent fan sees it.

On top of the absence of Aron Baynes, the Celtics just played down to the level of a clearly-inferior Magic team. The Magic are expected to be among the worst teams in the entire league this year, in the midst of a rebuild, and have very few established players on the team. First-round picks Mo Bamba and Jonathan Isaac are appealing pieces that both played well last evening, with Bamba posting five rebounds and two blocks off the bench and Isaac putting 18 points and 12 rebounds.

One of the Celtics’ biggest strengths last season was three-point shooting. Last night against the Magic, the Celtics shot 9-40 from three-point range. First of all, the team just has to hit their open shots. The Celtics also did a poor job of facilitating, with players like Al Horford taking threes off screens that looked like they were meant for Tatum or Hayward.

This is just a brutal stat. 9-40 is so tough against the Orlando Magic. All it takes is the Celtics playing a decent-at-best game and they will get past a team like this. But so far, it’s been nothing but inconsistency from the Celtics. They’ve opened the season going win-loss-win-loss and have looked very good on certain occasions, but on others looked like they were nowhere near the championship-contending team that most NBA writers deem them to be.

Despite their shooting woes and lack of inside defensive presence (Orlando center Nikola Vucevic put up 24 points and 12 rebounds), the Celtics were still only down three points with one possession left. The ball was inbounded to Kyrie Irving, who missed a three to tie the game. The ball was rebounded by Boston and kicked out to Gordon Hayward, who also failed to connect on the three, and the game ended with a final score of 93-90, a a gutting loss for this Celtics squad in the early-going.

 

 

The NBA Starts Today: 2018-2019 Season Preview

Opening night bitches. Celtics-Sixers at 8:00, Thunder-Warriors at 10:30, then the rest of the league gets started tomorrow.

My balls are tingling. The day is finally here, the wait finally over. It’s been a long damn time since I watched a real basketball game (preseason sucks ass). C’s-Sixers and Thunder-Dubs is a solid opening night slate and frankly we all deserve it. Paying attention to this goddamn reality show circus of a league all summer long is seriously an effort. I don’t get to eat as much, and I’m losing my vision from staring at my phone screen all day long. But that is the price I pay to give the public the cold, hard facts. It’s my civic duty. If you thanked me, I’d get it, but I’m not gonna ask you to or imply that you should because that would be arrogant of me. I’m just going to thank the NBA for gifting us with the great sport of basketball this evening, pack up my lunch pail, and go back to work.

One could argue that this is the most predictable NBA season we’ve anticipated in a while. We all know the Warriors starters are basically the USA Olympic team and if healthy, they will beat anyone in a seven-game series. It’s true. But that “one” who would argue that is still dead wrong. Outside of the Warriors being good, we don’t know much else about the NBA yet. There are the clear top-5-ish good teams (Golden State, Boston, Toronto, Houston, Philly) and the clear top-5-ish bad teams (Sacramento, Orlando, New York, Atlanta, Chicago). The rest of the league is an orgy of teams that are equally bad and have no shot at winning in the playoffs. And that, my friends, is gonna make this season fuckin’ awesome. The Warriors and Celtics are on the  pat for a Finals matchup, but the rest of the league is so even and competitive.

So, I got some ideas (or “ideers,” as some people say for unknown reasons) for how the year’s gonna play out. I’m gonna give my predictions for each conference and how they’ll look at the end of the year, with some #analysis to boot.

Eastern Conference Standings

  1. Boston Celtics
  2. Toronto Raptors
  3. Philadelphia 76ers
  4. Milwaukee Bucks
  5. Indiana Pacers
  6. Miami Heat
  7. Washington Wizards
  8. Detroit Pistons

Whoa, the Celtics at #1! What a prediction! I really like the way this cat thinks. I imagine the Celtics hover around 60 wins, and Toronto and Philly won’t be far behind. After that, the talent drops off a bit. Milwaukee and Indiana have the stars in Giannis and Oladipo, respectively, but the supporting cast lacks a bit. I assume Miami gets Jimmy Butler at some point, but they’ll still be average assuming they give up a valuable piece, so I have them at 6. Washington and Detroit sneak in at 7 and 8 off the strength of their star power. John Wall and Beal seem to will themselves into a first-round exit every year, and a full year of Blake and Drummond should end up with the first playoff berth for Detroit in two years.

Western Conference Standings

  1. Golden State Warriors
  2. Houston Rockets
  3. Utah Jazz
  4. Oklahoma City Thunder
  5. New Orleans Pelicans
  6. Los Angeles Lakers
  7. Denver Nuggets
  8. Portland Trail Blazers

Team USA via Oakland gets the clear #1 spot in the league. Houston ought to be real interesting with Melo in the fold, wouldn’t be surprised if they drop to 3 or 4 with the lack of wing defense. After that, it gets tricky. The middle of the West is very deep and there’s a legit 8 or 9 teams that could make it 3-8. The LABron-lead Lakers are a real ragtag bunch if you ask me, I have tempered expectations for them. 49-33 and the 6-seed is my guess. Utah is my surprise team; they were good last year, Quin Snyder is an excellent coach, and Donovan Mitchell is a budding star. Snyder turned Rubio into an above-average point, and if Joe Ingles continues being a bulldog on defense and knocking down corner 3’s, they’ll be just as good if not better than last year. Count on it. I have Denver and Portland rounding out the top-8. Isaiah Thomas could thrive in a sixth man role for the Nuggets with Jamal Murray at the helm. If Portland blows up the Dame-CJ backcourt, they’ll be a lot lower than 8th, but if not, they’ll be just good enough for a playoff spot.

Good stuff, right? I thought so too. They give out awards at the end of the NBA season, you see. There’s Most Valuable Player, which is given to the player deemed most valuable, Defensive Player of the Year, given to the player who is the best at defense, among various other awards. Like I did with the playoffs, I’ll #predict and #analyze whom shall bring home the presumptuous honor for each individual category;

Most Valuable Player – Anthony Davis, C/PF, New Orleans Pelicans

This might be the last year that LeBron is the best player in the NBA. AD is really fucking good. He averaged 28 points per game with 61% true shooting. His usage percentage was 30 last season. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about AD is that when is usage goes up, his efficiency stays the same. He doesn’t become less efficient with more volume, he continues the output. Now that he doesn’t have another superstar in New Orleans, expect him to put up some absolutely monster numbers this year. If they make the playoffs, it’ll be hard not to give AD the MVP.

Defensive Player of the Year – Kawhi Leonard, SF, Toronto Raptors

Some people think Kawhi won’t be the same after his “injury” last season. I’m not one of ’em. He sat out last season cause he hated the Spurs and wanted out, not because of his quad. I’m sure it was hurt, but many players have came back from injuries like his in significantly less time (Tony Parker, for example). If he’s healthy, there’s no reason he’s not the best defender in the world. And this award is for exactly that type of player. Perfect match. Nick Nurse is a good coach and should have a well-oiled machine on defense with the length and tenacity of Kawhi, Kyle Lowry, OG Anunoby and Delon Wright.

Rookie of the Year – Luka Doncic, SF/PG, Dallas Mavericks

I’m all in on the Luka hype. I know preseason isn’t real basketball, but check this;

#Mickstape (Scary Hours)

✔@MickstapeShow

Preseason averages for Luka Doncic:

47.5% from the field
43.5% from deep

15 points
5 rebounds
3.5 assists

1.5 steals
1.25 blocks

Can he sustain that pace for 82 games? Let’s discuss.

Twitter Ads info and privacy

In response to the Mickstape tweet, he won’t sustain that pace. But he will be the secondary playmaker and scorer on a young, developing team. That should give him a lot of free reign on offense, and if he can stay in front of people, he’ll survive on defense with DSJ and DAJ to help. Luka has instinctual scoring ability around the rim. Creative finishes, passes, dribbling, you name it. He is a wizard of coordination and dexterity. Combine that with his ultra-smooth stroke and freedom on offense, he’s a top-flight ROY candidate.

Sixth Man of the Year – Tyreke Evans, G, Indiana Pacers

I presume he comes off the bench most of the time with Oladipo and Collison starting, so I gave him the slight edge over Terry Rozier here. The C’s have too many good bench players to pick just one, and Tyreke will be the ball-dominant guard for the second unit. He’s always been an adept scorer, but where he’ll separate himself is on defense; if he can guard the opposing team’s sixth man every time down the floor, his impact on the game will be astronomical.

Most Improved Player – Jarrett Allen, C, Brooklyn Nets

Jarrett Allen is an athletic son of a bitch. Brooklyn is shaping up real well to scoop up Boogie and become a first-round doormat for the next 5 years, but the young center they have now offers a lot of hope. Allen is springy as fuck and averaged 3 blocks per 100 possessions last season, which shows he can hold it down in the middle, too.

Coach of the Year – Brad Stevens, Boston Celtics

There’s almost no chance they don’t give Brad this award as consolation for royally fucking him over last year. Dwayne Casey won the award and got fired a week later. Pathetic. Brad lead the C’s hospital squad to the brink of an NBA Finals birth. The team’s best player was 21 years old and the other two main contributors were third-year players at best. What he did last year is 100x harder and more impressive than anything he’ll be able to do with this year’s fully-healthy squad. Brad for President.

Well,,, that about wraps it up folks. The dawn of a new NBA season is upon us. We only have about 5.5 more hours until tip-off. I’ll be covering the Boston Celtics in-depth, as I did last season, but I hope to get some more NBA articles out there so I can build a #resume. I need a job. A man’s gotta eat.

Thank god for basketball season. Go Celtics bitch.

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Boston Celtics 2018-2018 Season Preview

Public Service Announcement: The Boston Celtics men’s professional basketball club opens up their 2018-2019 NBA season on Tuesday, October 16th at the TD Garden in Boston against the rival Philadelphia 76ers. Tip-off is at approximately 8:08p.m. ET.

FINALLY. The wait is over. In a mere two days, the last memory of Celtics basketball that we have is no longer that excruciatingly painful Game 7 Eastern Conference Finals loss to LABron and the Cleveland U-16 AAU squad. No more Celtics hospital squad. Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving are back at full strength. And don’t forget Daniel Theis, either. The deepest team in the NBA is finally at 100% health. Oh, and they added a DeAndre Jordan-esque big with the 27th pick in the draft, Robert Williams. This team is LOADED. Expect to see Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown make even bigger strides towards being legit stars in this league. Tatum spent the offseason working with Kobe, and as long as it wasn’t a sabotage by the Lakers I’m sure he will benefit from learning from him. Terry Rozier has been in trade talks for his entire career, and that won’t change this season, either. He is the best backup point guard in the league, and due for a big-money contract. Like I said, this team is loaded. Young talent across the board. They may end up having a 12-man rotation. Insane.

Opening the season against Philly at home is gonna be awesome. When Gordon comes out in the introductions, there is a 0% chance the Garden doesn’t register on the Richter scale. The Hayward-Simmons matchup on night one is primetime stuff. Dare Ben Simmons to shoot a three. He won’t. He only has 11 times in his entire career. Sad stuff, really. I anticipate Boston and Philly to be two of the top three teams in the East this season, so starting off the season series with a win on opening night would be huge.

This is the part of the column where we have to be realistic; the Celtics have a pretty fat chance at winning a title this year. Remember that team out west that set the record for most wins in a season a few years back, and then added Kevin Durant? Well, I hope you’re sitting down. They got DeMarcus Cousins, too. Albeit off an Achilles injury, they still added the best true center in the NBA. Their starting lineup has five all-stars. I fully expect the C’s to make it to the Finals, but it might be tough once they get there. It’s gonna take a whole lot of luck (and probably injuries) for anyone to be able to beat this absurdly-talented Warriors team.

That doesn’t mean we can’t hope, though. The Celtics “position-less basketball” scheme matches up well with any team in the NBA. They have the second-best starting five in the league. Brad Stevens remains a basketball savant and all-around wizard. There’s a lot to like this year. The pieces of the puzzle are there, they just gotta put them all together. And that starts on Tuesday. Keep a close eye on the C’s this year, and get on the bandwagon now before it’s not cool anymore.

Giant Concerns: Week 5/Week 6 Preview

Week 4 Review

This is just what happens lately as a Giants fan. Flashes of hope, but mostly just a long, sad jog to the finish line. A 63-yard buzzer-beater field goal is just icing on the cake.

Admittedly, I didn’t watch a ton of the game cause I was in the car but I’ve watched my fair share of film. Almost none of it good. Every week, we tear the offense apart for not being able to score, Eli not being as good as he used to be, the offensive line for being useless, etc. They finally go out and score 30+ (31) points for the first time in almost two years, and the defense gives up 33. Couldn’t get a stop to save their lives. You can make a big stink about the spot the refs gave McCaffrey late in the game, and whether or not Cam Newton spiked it on fourth down, but regardless, they had their chances. The Panthers deserved to win that game after continuously putting up points on the Giants’ defense. That was a good kick, whatever. That wasn’t the reason they lost.

I have GIANT concerns about this team. And I have a huge issue with these ESPN assholes making them seem like they still have a chance at the playoffs. Look at this;

It is just as bad, if not worse, than it seems, and no they are not in the NFC East race. Shut your face, Jordan. If you don’t think the Eagles will figure it out, and the Giants won’t continue to invent new ways to lose games, you are a goddamn fool. There is almost no chance the Eagles finish the season at anything worse than 9-7 no matter how shitty they look right now. They’re not gonna do anything in the playoffs, but thinking the Giants can hold a candle to them in the division race is laughable. The Giants have a regressing QB that often overthrows the world’s highest-paid wide receiver, and a line that can’t protect said QB, or create a hole the size of a pea for the running back they picked #2 overall. The defense is barely average. BJ Hill, Lorenzo Carter and Dalvin Tomlinson all look like good young players, but they don’t contribute much yet. Olivier Vernon is still questionable to make his debut in Week 5. Eli Apple is just coming back, and he’s not even good. Janoris and Landon Collins hold down this defense. Snacks and Ogletree make some plays up front too but there are too many holes across the board to make any real impact. With the way they built this team, they have to playcall around having a bad offensive line and a QB with no arm, and a defense that can’t create pressure off the edge or stop the intermediate routes. Those are literally the four things you absolutely need to win football games. Jesus Christ. Why do these idiots keep perpetuating this idea that this team has a chance at making a run. With what??? Their schedule for the rest of the year;

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Philly twice, the R-words twice, Chicago, Tennessee, and Atlanta. It’s not a brutal schedule by any means, but with 5 division games there is no chance they end the year at anything higher than 5-11. They’re not beating Philly on the road, and Washington is just a better team. They already lost to Dallas and Dallas sucks too. They can rip off a couple wins in the coming weeks but there is just no shot at consistency with the way this team is built. I know I may seem like a bitter asshole but don’t fault me for being realistic. I want them to be good and this ain’t it chief.

These Baldy Breakdowns perfectly encapsulate the Giants offensive line issues;

The skill position players have to do all the work themselves. Look at any team that’s won a Super Bowl recently. None of them have that issue. They built the team from the outside in and it’s not going to work.

Week 5 Preview

We got the Eagles at home on Thursday night. The team seems to have put the loss behind them with the comments they’ve made to the media, which is good. They better have some cool color rush uniforms to make up for their bullshit this year.

The Eagles don’t look all that great this year. Their defense is pretty bad, especially the secondary. They’re very weak at strong safety, and none of their corners are outstanding. If there was a game for OBJ to be force-fed the ball, it’s this one. He is by far the best player on the field when he goes out for a pass against these guys. Shurmur has to try and get him open and make it a point to Eli to find him. He got his first TD last week and has a great chance to add to it if the line can give Eli time to throw over the top.

This does kinda seem like a good game for the Eagles to get their shit together, though. The Giants are a 1-4 dumpster fire and could end up being a tune-up game. Wentz has been good since he got back, but they just lost Jay Ajayi for the year to a torn ACL. The run game is decimated. Thankfully for them, the Giants have an awful secondary.

If the Giants can stop the run, like they should be able to with no Ajayi, it should allow them to back off the line a bit and not give up as many jump balls to Alshon Jeffery or Nelson Agholor. Eli Apple needs to have a big game. Assuming Jenkins is on Jefferey most of the time, Apple will need to shut down their other WRs and make sure that random players don’t have a big game. If we shut down their bad players like we’re supposed to, we might have a shot at outscoring them on offense.

Outscoring them ultimately comes down to Eli. Can he make his reads? Can he actually throw the ball downfield? Who knows. Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn’t. He’s got Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, Nigel Bradham and Vinny Curry coming at him this week. If he gets hit early and often, it’s over. Let’s hope the riddance of Ereck Flowers elevates the O-line play a bit. 8:20p.m. on Thursday. 1-5 sounds really bad. 2-4 is just regular bad. Go Giants.