Review: Wizards at Celtics Game #68 3/14/18

 As I said in the intro to the Comments,  I was very happy with the way this team played and I agree that the experience from that game will pay off in the future.   There were a couple of mistakes that cost them the game, but knowing these players, they won't make the same mistake twice.   I agree with Alex's review for the most part.  Morris tends to be a black hole.  I love Tatum and Larkin and love that Brad Stevens is the coach.  Enjoy Alex's review.  Let us know what you think in the comments. 



Another nail biter - yet I think most of the fans (myself included) walked away feeling good about the team and the way the kids fought till the very last second. Yes, the C's had all the chances to put the game away - 2 mistakes (Morris not rotating to the 3pt shooter in the corner pocket, and Tatum FT in the 1st OT) made all the difference. And I'm, for one, is very happy with this kind of learning curve especially for Tatum and TRoz: comes tomorrow and the playoffs, it will all pay in spades.

"The Game Changer"
Coach Stevens.
Thought about Larkin and Monroe, just to realize that I don't believe you can find any other coach being able not just to put together a second unit looking like a G-league squad, but being able to manage the game so well that even players that never played together - looked like seasoned pros, just a bit out of sync. There was an article by Bulpett (Boston Harold) that I totally agree with:

"Is it possible that Danny Ainge’s best acquisition will never score a point for the Celtics? As the club piled up a few losses in the last couple of weeks and people came to the conclusion that, no, the Celts are not the best team on the planet, a few scouts and others said greater light is being shed on what coach Brad Stevens has done since he arrived to get more out of the C’s than the sum of their parts."

Now, forget about "sum of all parts" - now we have a situation when the C's have NO PARTS, it looked like Gorilla duct tape commercial:

Of course this is not just BS - but also Danny and scouting getting the right players that have nice fundamentals (well, euro steps by Yabu and his finger roll l consider being one of the funniest moves EVER - it's like watching an elephant trying to fly...). But still - the kids never quit playing for BS, and do appreciate the opportunity to get on the floor in the NBA. I think there are no doubts now who is the best head coach in the NBA - and he's only 40, and looks like a 25 year old kid... Just curious what would be his record in the G-league over 10 years of coaching? something like 1-2 losses, maybe?!! He simplified the heck out of the defense going mostly with the straight up zone (welcome back to NCAA!!) - and did the very same on the offensive sets keeping it all simple stupid. Still - was not good enough with 17 TOs, but it was not all that bad at all against a really good team!

"The Best Lineup"
Damn, that's the really tough one! Everything was SOOOO messed up... I believe the one that stabilized the game in the 3rd when it looked like the C's were getting into the tail spin, and was able to stop the bleeding and to get it all back on track:
Larkin, TRoz, Tatum, Ojeleye, Monroe
I'll talk about Larkin a bit later - but this lineup did a great job on both ends, and kept pushing the ball inside to Monroe. Keep it simple stupid... It always works...

"The Game"
1. I don't believe you can find anyone not dropping the jaw by the end of the Q.... One of the best, dynamic offensess of the season - while starting TRoz, Tatum, Morris, Yabu, Baynes. It took a while for the Wiz coaching to figure out how to deal with the matchups: the C's scored 37, and it was all layups, low post, and very few wide open 3s (I believe it was something like 6-for-7?) because of terrific spacing. Morris is a natural 3, and does not look good playing the 4: he is not comfortable banging inside, and starts losing his game being bullied up in the post - including by his own brother. Tatum took full advantage playing the 2, and looked terrific with his giant first step.

2. Tail of the second Q: Wiz went small, and kept causing switch of the C's bigs on Beal. Another problem - the C's stopped feeding inside. I was screaming at my TV watching Monroe roaming on the perimeter instead of posting up!! Every time the C's have low post presence, and give the bigs their touches - good things happen. Once everybody is on the perimeter - that shuts down everything, and the C's look stagnant because of poor spacing and lack of movement. Not sure what is the problem here - but this is reoccurring tendency that I hate the most!

3. Morris - I still have hard times warming up to the guy. He did well scoring the ball, and hitting a huge 3 on Tatum's drive and kick - and yet I feel like he allowed to score more on him than anything else... I already mentioned his poor low post D, and he doesn't do too well rotating on the help D... -13 for +/- pretty much says it all... 3 things about him I concluded in the past, and they get more and more confirmation:
- Shoot first mentality - very poor passer, rarely looks up the court
- Ball stopper - rarely gives up the dribble
- Should not play the 4 - not a low post defender, poor rebounder. I miss Theis already, and pretty sure
- Should not be in starting 5 - just a good scoring option with the second unit where you can hide his liabilities with better matchups.
Just not a fan... He simply doesn't fit the C's... Maybe I'll have to eat a crow at some point - but the box score and 30 pts will not do that for me...

4. Tatum
Some good - some bad - some ugly... Mostly good though!
- I mentioned his improving court vision and passing skills - 6 ast, and more importantly looking for targets on drives and fastbreaks look very encouraging!
- Looked exceptionally good playing the 2: two way mismatch, killed Beal on both ends in the 1st and made him look stupid dunking on him. Maybe that's the way to go... Maybe Brown needs to switch to playing the 3 as he's more physically ready?
- Layups and drives: his layup at the end of the 1st OT is exactly what he's got to start doing:much more often: Brown learned now to use his body to protect the ball, and how to go into the defender not to be blocked. Now it's Tatum's turn to start doing the same, and to play though contact. Most of the time, it looks like he's trying to avoid the contact and to use his length - but it doesn't work like that in the NBA.
- Decision making: still shaky. He made at least 3 terrible entry passes to Monroe resulting in TOs, especially the one that almost put a dagger in the 2nd OT. Same applies to his jumpers: too much of reliance on his crossover, needs to start posting up much more! Good things happen when he take uncontested fadeaways because of his lengths and quickness!

5. And - finally! - Larkin
Cannot say enough how good this kid is! Clutch plays - but more importantly brings structure and controlling tempo all the way. Not a bad defender either! Every time the team was struggling - BS put him in to put it all together over again. Great looks inside, nothing forced, 0 (ZERO) TOs for the game! I like TRoz, but he's ways away from becoming a PG. He needed Larkin to get into the sets, and needed Larkin to control the spacing and tempo. I felt like BS had to start Larkin at the first place - and to bring TRoz off the bench to play with Morris with the second unit, which he does much better than starting. But - that's just my 2 cents...

I believe the C's will labor through the next game or two until KI is back, and will go back to winning record over again. But I consider this game as a win as well - the team moves in the right direction, just the fact that rotation and sub patterns are screwed up again really worry the heck out of me.. Just 14 games left - and no Theis and Smart (looks like it) coming back...

AG

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