2018 Boston Celtics - NBA Thread

erikthredd

Basketball season finally starts tonight with the 76ers & Celtics in Boston. I've been waiting for over a year to finally get a look at Kyrie Irving,Gordon Hayward,Jaylen Brown,Jayson Tatum & Al Horford all on the court together in a real game.

erikthredd

Great win to start the season! Tatum leads the way with 23pts & 9reb and Boston's bench finishes with 44pts & 28 rebounds.

Timbuk3

Yup, it was a good game, I enjoyed it !!!

PatsGuy5000

Tatum looks awesome, offseason workouts with Kobe paying off. He is very young 20+ and when he puts a little bulk on, could be dominant in future years.

galaxy27

yo @erikthredd

did you watch the game last night by chance? i was out and about and only caught some highlights. if you did, i'm curious if you think the Raps truly look legit with Leonard. i suspect he is going to have a monster year.

erikthredd

@galaxy27 said:
yo @erikthredd

did you watch the game last night by chance? i was out and about and only caught some highlights. if you did, i'm curious if you think the Raps truly look legit with Leonard. i suspect he is going to have a monster year.

I did see it and Kawhi looked like he was in mid season form. He had one stretch in the 3rd where he put up like 12-15 points pretty quick. Toronto looked good especially the final 4-5 minutes when they pulled away,the lead had been going back & forth all game to that point. IIRC Kawhi,Green,Ibaka,Lowery & VanVleet all hit at least one three in that final 5mins and Boston got away from what they had been doing all game by quickly jacking up threes trying to to catch up.

The win would have been nice but I was pretty happy to see that Hayward is further along than expected coming back from his injury. I haven't watched many Jazz games when he played for them since the games were starting late on the east coast and he looked real good last night. Boston is playing the Knicks tonight so we get to see how he looks in back to back days.
Tatum has looked real good after two games too,he's been more assertive on the offensive end and his rebounding has gone up so far. He did have one drive to the hoop that got blocked badly from behind by Kawhi & Ibaka that was reminiscent of Lebron's block in the finals the year they won.

I was listening to local sports talk radio yesterday and there was report that Khalil Mack was hurt and could be limited tomorrow,is this a big deal or just something minor? He'd be lining up against NE's backup right tackle LaAdrian Waddle with Marcus Cannon missing the game with a concussion.

galaxy27

@erikthredd said:

I was listening to local sports talk radio yesterday and there was report that Khalil Mack was hurt and could be limited tomorrow,is this a big deal or just something minor? He'd be lining up against NE's backup right tackle LaAdrian Waddle with Marcus Cannon missing the game with a concussion.

i've read conflicting reports but i sense he'll play, albeit at < 100%. either way, i'm not feeling good about tomorrow's game because the Pats' O and the Bears' D are trending in opposite directions. did i mention that 127-year-old Frank Gore went for a buck-o-one last week?

here's where my confidence level resides: i already have my av picked out lol

erikthredd

I think the Bear's offense might give NE's defense some problems especially Taylor Gabriel's speed and Trey Burton roaming free in the secondary. The Pats also haven't played that well on the road this year either maybe that changes tomorrow.
I haven't gone looking for any avatars yet for fear of jinxing the Pats

erikthredd

Looks like Hayward isn't ready for back to back games and is sitting out tonight's game.

erikthredd

Great game by Tatum with 24 points,6 in the final minute of a 2pt win, to go along with 14 rebounds. Baynes had to leave early in the game with a hamstring issue,hopefully not serious.

erikthredd

Got some excitement in the Lakers/Rockets game tonight with Ingram,Rondo & Chris Paul throwing punches.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knamgGQwNjE

erikthredd

First Rajon Rondo spits on & throws punches at Chris Paul then a Rondo family member berates Chris Paul's wife in the stands after the on-court brawl.
The Lakers signed some of the biggest headcases in the NBA this past offseason and it only took two games before one let loose some crazy.
https://clutchpoints.com/rockets-news-chris-paul-fuming-mad-at-rajon-rondos-family-members-disrespecting-his-wife-after-the-melee/

PatsGuy5000

Good road victory last night (without Hayward). Should see more improvement as the season progresses. Not sure Marcus Smart should be shooting as many 3’s?

galaxy27

@erikthredd said:
First Rajon Rondo spits on & throws punches at Chris Paul then a Rondo family member berates Chris Paul's wife in the stands after the on-court brawl.
The Lakers signed some of the biggest headcases in the NBA this past offseason and it only took two games before one let loose some crazy.
https://clutchpoints.com/rockets-news-chris-paul-fuming-mad-at-rajon-rondos-family-members-disrespecting-his-wife-after-the-melee/

i watched this live. there were some LEGIT punches being thrown. an MLB group bear hug this was not.

i really think LeBron is going to regret this decision, unless they can woo Leonard away from the Raps. he's about to turn 34 and right now he has teammates who excel at thuggery, not basketball. i have no idea what Ingram's problem was, but to the Beard's credit he handled it beautifully. i kinda wish they had cleared the court for Rondo & CP3 -- there would have been blood everywhere. and what you didn't see in that clip is Carmelo Anthony following Ingram around the court for about 3 minutes. he may have little game left, but he sure does act tough when a fight breaks out. lol

erikthredd

I did see another clip of the fight where it kind of looked like Melo was keeping Ingram away from the scrum on one side of the court while Lebron kept Chris Paul away from the other. I think it was on espn.
Luckily for Lebron all those cray mofo's are all on one year deals.

Two big plays by Michel to start the game

erikthredd

Orlando comes to Boston and has the C's playing catch-up all night just to fall short. The biggest problem with having 5 guys on the floor that can shoot threes is none of them wants to go after offensive rebounds. Its gonna take time for this team to start gelling but they should be taking it to the hoop more over jacking up so many threes.

erikthredd

@galaxy27 Whats your opinion on the Rockets offering four first round picks for Jimmy Butler? The picks would be from 2019,2021,2023 & 2025 plus the Rockets would have to match up quite a bit of salary to make it work. This deal won't help the Wolves much this season but they'd have plenty of picks in the coming years.

galaxy27

@erikthredd said:
@galaxy27 Whats your opinion on the Rockets offering four first round picks for Jimmy Butler? The picks would be from 2019,2021,2023 & 2025 plus the Rockets would have to match up quite a bit of salary to make it work. This deal won't help the Wolves much this season but they'd have plenty of picks in the coming years.

that's a king's ransom, but desperate times call for desperate measures. and yes, they're only 4 games in but make no mistake, they're already in desperation mode. the Rockets have regressed since last year; as currently constructed, they are going nowhere. losing Ariza really hurt. when they signed Carmelo Anthony, i cringed. he is definitely not the missing piece. he has never played defense in his pro career, and now he's a liability on offense as well. 40/26/63 are his percentages so far.

honestly, i don't think even Jimmy Butler can vault them past the Warriors. they're screwed either way, but then again, so is the rest of the NBA.

erikthredd

That's alot of picks especially if he doesn't commit to re-signing in Houston. If he does and they find a way to make the money work the Rockets would have a solid foursome locked up in Harden,CP3,Butler & Capela. If Durant decides to jump ship next offseason,that Rockets team could possibly get by GS.

erikthredd

Good win by the C's over OKC at home. Tatum with 24 and Marcus Morris 21 including the go ahead three in the final 30 seconds of a tie game. They still looked atrocious in the first half,missing 11 three attempts.

PatsGuy5000

They still have a ways to go; Hayward still not even close to playing the level prior to the injury. I’m not sure having 5 three point shooters on the floor is the ideal? No O rebounding

galaxy27

the Warriors were down 5 to the Knicks with 9:15 left the 4th last night.....

.....and won by 28.

their only obstacles are complacency & boredom

galaxy27

Harden has a grade-1 hammy strain & they got blown out at home by 20 to the Clips last night

Houston we have a colossal problem

erikthredd

@galaxy27 said:
the Warriors were down 5 to the Knicks with 9:15 left the 4th last night.....

.....and won by 28.

their only obstacles are complacency & boredom

Durant dropped 41 in that game and my comment was talking about a Durant-less Warriors team a year from now if he left. GS would still be good but imo not as good as the pre-Durant team or this current Warriors team.

@galaxy27 said:
Harden has a grade-1 hammy strain & they got blown out at home by 20 to the Clips last night

Houston we have a colossal problem

That sucks about Harden but I wouldn't worry too much about a bad loss at home when the season is only a week and a half old. Most of these teams are still in extended training camp mode trying to workout all the kinks that a 4 game preseason couldn't do.
I hope we don't see Morey try to "sweeten" the Butler offer if Harden is going to miss time. Four 1sts & players is already a huge offer.

SanctionII

I am looking forward to seeing how the Warriors play when Cousins joins the starting 5. If he fits in well the team may be unstoppable.

erikthredd

@SanctionII said:
I am looking forward to seeing how the Warriors play when Cousins joins the starting 5. If he fits in well the team may be unstoppable.

Is he ahead of schedule on his rehab? A couple weeks ago I read an article saying midseason but saw a headline this morning saying he started practicing with the team.

SanctionII

I do not know specifics but reports are that he is playing full court in pick up games with coaches and staff plus is participating in drills.

galaxy27

@erikthredd said:

Durant dropped 41 in that game and my comment was talking about a Durant-less Warriors team a year from now if he left. GS would still be good but imo not as good as the pre-Durant team or this current Warriors team.

i didnt post that in response to anything you said; i posted it because Golden St.'s firepower is still unparalleled. im a firm believer that they truly get bored in the regular season. they were messing around with the crappy Knicks for over three quarters, then they decided to flip the switch. next thing you know, they outscored another pro basketball team by 33 points in roughly 9 minutes.

the current state of the NBA is what it is. every team's barometer is how they stack up against the Warriors. it really boils down to one question: can we beat them four times in a seven-game series? every team's answer without Boogie is no. the answer with Boogie is hell no.

that's why a team like Houston is freaking the hell out this early in the season. Daryl Morey may throw in his wife as well to get Jimmy Butler, because he knows the gap between his team and Golden St. went from narrow to a country mile in the span of a few months.

you talk about Durant leaving? honestly that's what it is going to take for anyone else to have a chance of winning a title.

erikthredd

I just googled Daryl Morey's wife and that won't be enough to land Butler.

SanctionII

Durant leaving or staying is an open question. Many reasons for him to stay. Many reasons for him to move on.

If he does leave I expect the Warriors will likely sign Cousins to a long term contract and will pursue Anthony Davis very hard.

erikthredd

@SanctionII said:
Durant leaving or staying is an open question. Many reasons for him to stay. Many reasons for him to move on.

If he does leave I expect the Warriors will likely sign Cousins to a long term contract and will pursue Anthony Davis very hard.

If Durant leaves,locking up Cousins is much more likely than landing Davis. GS would probably have to deal Klay (after re-signing him next offseason) or Green,maybe even both,in a trade with the Pelicans for AD and that might not even be enough.

galaxy27

the silver lining with the Rockets sucking is ticket prices potentially dropping from obscene to borderline ridiculous. i mean, if you're going to stink, then Pepé Le Pew stink so i can sit courtside lol

the other day i read where Cavs tix were going for........wait for it........wait for it.........TWO DOLLARS APIECE in certain sections on a ticket broker site. LeBron may have single-handedly wrecked the Cleveland economy. lol

erikthredd

Boston goes to Detroit and the Celtics top two scorers finish with 3 & 6 and the C's still win by 20. Boston's bench is no joke with 62 points & 32 rebounds. Hayward is looking better with each game.

erikthredd

The Cavs fire coach Ty Lue after an 0-6 start, now he's free to follow Lebron to the Lakers so he can lead them to the promise land.

erikthredd

Big win for the C's tonight after knocking off the previously 7-0 Bucks and also setting a team record for most threes made in a game with 24. Kyrie had another great game with 27&7 and is finally looking like he did pre-injury last season. Hayward too with a season high 18 points.
Giannis had another monster game and i think this season's MVP award will come down to either him or AD.

erikthredd

Tough loss up in Denver last night by Boston. Jamal Murray was on fire and fell one basket short of getting fifty on the night. I really wanted the C's to draft Murray (or Buddy Hield) with the 3rd pick in 2016 and they grabbed Jaylen Brown instead,who turned out to be a great pick but man can Murray shoot. Really soon this guy will be averaging 30ish a night. Denver looks like they're gonna be a legit contender this season.

Boston is currently ranked 3rd in three point attempts & 29th in free throw attempts and unless those two start to even out this team is going to lose more games than expected. They're great at making the extra pass on offense until they find that open shooter but they need to start taking it to the basket more and get to the line. Their defense will only take them so far.

erikthredd

Boston finally puts it all together for their biggest win of the season after beating Toronto in OT. Kyrie goes for 43 & 11 assists with 23pts coming in the 4th/OT. Tatum had 19 of his 21 in the second half as well. Hopefully they keep it up with Utah coming to Boston tomorrow night.

erikthredd

Boston finally looks like they found the right pairings and switched out Hayward & Brown out of the starting lineup for Morris & Smart. They're finally playing like most fans were expecting and Hayward has been playing great coming off the bench. He just missed a triple double tonight with 30/9/8.

PatsGuy5000

They are improving, like the line up shift

erikthredd

That Celtics team everyone was expecting early in the season is finally here. Five straight wins by an average of 29 points.
They just beat the Bulls in Chicago by 56 points and that was without their two best big men,Horford & Baynes.

erikthredd

I've been waiting all season for this game tonight with GS coming to Boston. The Warriors have a 9 game win streak while the Celtics have won 10 straight at home and 5 straight overall. Hopefully it lives up to expectations.

PatsGuy5000

Warriors are on fire, it will be a good game to see

erikthredd

Overall it was a great game but Boston got real sloppy with the ball in that 4th quarter. I don't think this win will register much for GS but a Boston win would have been huge for their confidence going forward. Hopefully next time around in GS the C's can pay it back.

SanctionII

Tonight's game was really good. It would be great to see the Celtics play the Warriors for the title this year.

erikthredd

I'd absolutely love to see that happen but Boston has a habit of losing to bad teams on the road and its really hurt them in the East standings so far. They're finally at full health now though so who knows maybe they find a way to start gaining ground.

PatsGuy5000

Warriors are going to be tough to beat, Cousins adds a presence in the middle they were lacking. A cold shooting night by Curry, Thompson, & Durant May be the only way to beat this team.