OT: Brad Stevens

[Kenny11]

I think Miami is actually a more talented team, though it is close. Tatum can be spectacular but he takes some of the worst contested shots I've ever seen, especially when he is so good at getting to the rim. He is still a year away with his maturity in being a team leading star. Brown is great but still improving as well. I would take Kemba over Dragic but its very close. Bam and Butler are stars, Robinson might be the best shooter in the league and Herro is becoming a star. The Celtics rely on overachiever types like Smart, Wannamaker and Thies to play a lot of minutes and as hard as Thies plays, he has trouble with with quality big men...Ibaka killed the Celtics and now Bam is doing the same thing...Imagine trying to guard Anthony Davis or Jokic.

 

[Fatroony5]

Kanter played great in the playoffs last year. And it's not like Stevens is choosing between Shaq in his prime and Kanter. The Celtics do not have any other options and they are still not playing Kanter.

Robert Williams was +10 yesterday, is leading the league in playoff eFG% , and second on the team in rebounding rate. He is the better option against the Miami athletic line ups. Can’t turn the ball over 19 times, that was the difference in the game.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

I don’t think this series is necessarily over though. Herro is not going to drop 37 each game and Tatum is not going to be a goose egg for a whole half. And the Celtics aren’t going to have 18+ turnovers again.

The series really should be 2-2 on the balance of play. The Celtics can win 2 in a row against this team if they make some adjustments. I just don’t know if I have the faith in them to do that.

Having said that, Miami are a very good team and deserve to be where they are. I’d expect Miami to close it out, but it’s not over yet against a team like the Celtics. Each game from here on out will still be a grind.

 

[the Q]

I don’t think this series is necessarily over though. Herro is not going to drop 37 each game and Tatum is not going to be a goose egg for a whole half. And the Celtics aren’t going to have 18+ turnovers again.

The series really should be 2-2 on the balance of play. The Celtics can win 2 in a row against this team if they make some adjustments. I just don’t know if I have the faith in them to do that.

Having said that, Miami are a very good team and deserve to be where they are. I’d expect Miami to close it out, but it’s not over yet against a team like the Celtics. Each game from here on out will still be a grind.

with a healthy Hayward this could’ve been a Boston sweep.

less turnovers and hero ball is really all they need to do to make this work. But will they? Tatum has been doing this nonsense since duke.

 

[superjohn]

I have advanced analytics for you. Celtics are down 3 games to 1 to an inferior team.

Miami is the superior team.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

with a healthy Hayward this could’ve been a Boston sweep.

less turnovers and hero ball is really all they need to do to make this work. But will they? Tatum has been doing this nonsense since duke.

Hayward was very disappointingly timid again last night coming back from injury. There are also many instances where they don’t pass to him when he’s wide open.
If Hayward can come out aggressive, the team minimizes turnovers, and Stevens can gain some level of control of the team late in the game, Celtics should win comfortably.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

Miami is the superior team.

Did you believe that going into this series?

 

[the Q]

Hayward was very disappointingly timid again last night coming back from injury. There are also many instances where they don’t pass to him when he’s wide open.
If Hayward can come out aggressive, the team minimizes turnovers, and Stevens can gain some level of control of the team late in the game, Celtics should win comfortably.

but if he was healthy would that be the case? Probably not.

 

[UCDaveD]

Hayward was very disappointingly timid again

Gordon “Education Reform” Hayward is timid? I’m shocked! /s

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

but if he was healthy would that be the case? Probably not.

I agree, losing Hayward was huge these playoffs and he’d prob be a much bigger asset right now if he didn’t get injured earlier in the playoffs. The dude still needs to play more aggressive when he comes back from injury. Unfortunately I think the leg injury scarred him mentally for the rest of his career to some degree.

 

[superjohn]

Did you believe that going into this series?

I thought the teams were even and I thought Miami would win in a long series.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Robert Williams was +10 yesterday, is leading the league in playoff eFG% , and second on the team in rebounding rate. He is the better option against the Miami athletic line ups. Can’t turn the ball over 19 times, that was the difference in the game.

Williams sucks.

Coach's biggest blind spot is usually in substitutions, and particularly in not playing guys that have a bad rep defensively. Stevens needs to get past his biases if he wants to win this series. Celtics would be leading 3-1 if Kanter had played half of each of the 4 games in this series.

 

[UconnFanDC]

You guys are too emotional lol.

Brad is a great coach but just being out coach and the players are being out played period!

 

[Beowulf]

Williams sucks.

Coach's biggest blind spot is usually in substitutions, and particularly in not playing guys that have a bad rep defensively. Stevens needs to get past his biases if he wants to win this series. Celtics would be leading 3-1 if Kanter had played half of each of the 4 games in this series.

swap enes kanter with grant williams and maybe you're on to something. kanter is a swinging gate on defense. grant can switch every screen and is still thicc enough to body bam, and actually boxes out.

 

[donyell34]

that's really going out on a limb considering they are one game away from being in the finals

The limb I'm on is picking the heat to win this series and I picked them before this series started and going on to beat the west. I'm a laker fan and putting these nuggets away is not going to be easy. Could have been easily 2-1 Denver.

 

[the Q]

You guys are too emotional lol.

Brad is a great coach but just being out coach and the players are being out played period!

brad is an elite coach.

but he’s not infallible.

everyone knew Boston sucked huge donkey balls against zone since before the Philly series (the athletic had some nice numbers about it in the preview). That was with GH. Without his shooting and play making it should be expected to be worse.

also. Having no bench means the core 4 are being played too Much. They’re the top 4 players minute wise in the entire playoffs.

this offseason Danny needs to build a bench. Needs a James posey and starbury or Cassell.
plus more talent at c who can play against smaller faster centers like bam and AD.

 

[QDOG5]

Miami and Boston are very close in talent and this series proves that fact. Meyers Leonard is in the same position as Kanter. Played a lot during the regular season and I don't know if he's been on the court at all in the playoffs. The worst move in the playoffs has been Malone inserting Mason Plumlee at the end of game 2 of Nuggets-Lakers. First he tries to guard the inbounder, then Jokic tells him to guard Davis, then he asks for a switch when LeBron wasn't even screening for Davis. Even Kanter could have covered that play.

 

[gtcam]

I have advanced analytics for you. Celtics are down 3 games to 1 to an inferior team.

when are you going to stop the skip in this record????????
An inferior team who has lost 2 total games in the playoffs - I don't care who you play, it's the playoffs

 

[gtcam]

I’m a huge Stevens fan. He’s a great coach but he’s lost touch of this team.
The way they’ve played down the stretch multiple times during these playoffs has been so poor and reflective of the coach. There is way too much isolation and standing around the perimeter, while Butler, Herro and Dragic are running circles around the Celtics defense on the other end.

I like Stevens but his obsession with Daniel Theis over Williams/Kanter and inability to tell Marcus Smart or Tatum to pound sand for a minute or 2 when they take an ill-advised shot is infuriating at times.

Without Marcus Smart this team is already home
Tatum may be a huge talent but his basketball IQ is in the gutter and is too moody to be a consistent superstar - Butler was the same way, he grew out of it so will Tatum-hopefully
Kemba needs to know how to lead a team in this type of pressure situation - he's been through it with UConn in 2011 and I would expect it to be there now - he looks overwhelmed at times
I think Stevens is looking for a leader on the floor but no one has been consistent in that role during these playoffs.
Has Stevens made any mistakes? oh yeah but I don't fault him on the Theis/Kanter situation. These playoffs have been a series of runs and in those runs it is usually defensive stops that dictate the flow and you simply can't do that with Kantor in there for extended periods - BTW if I had to play one of them the full game, Theis is my choice with Williams being a close second. I play Kantor when I have an appreciable lead and need to have some offensive output from my 5 to keep the lead.

 

[FlippinCrazy!]

Williams sucks.

Coach's biggest blind spot is usually in substitutions, and particularly in not playing guys that have a bad rep defensively. Stevens needs to get past his biases if he wants to win this series. Celtics would be leading 3-1 if Kanter had played half of each of the 4 games in this series.

I’m so happy you’re not coaching any team I’m a fan of...

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

Without Marcus Smart this team is already home
Tatum may be a huge talent but his basketball IQ is in the gutter and is too moody to be a consistent superstar - Butler was the same way, he grew out of it so will Tatum-hopefully
Kemba needs to know how to lead a team in this type of pressure situation - he's been through it with UConn in 2011 and I would expect it to be there now - he looks overwhelmed at times
I think Stevens is looking for a leader on the floor but no one has been consistent in that role during these playoffs.
Has Stevens made any mistakes? oh yeah but I don't fault him on the Theis/Kanter situation. These playoffs have been a series of runs and in those runs it is usually defensive stops that dictate the flow and you simply can't do that with Kantor in there for extended periods - BTW if I had to play one of them the full game, Theis is my choice with Williams being a close second. I play Kantor when I have an appreciable lead and need to have some offensive output from my 5 to keep the lead.

The fact Marcus (who is my 2nd favorite player on the team) has basically been MVP of the the Celtics this playoffs doesn’t take away from my point that he takes way too many ill advised shots down the stretch and Stevens doesn’t hold him accountable nearly enough.
Do you want Marcus taking those 3s down the stretch of the East Finals? Or have Stevens draw up a play for Tatum/Brown?

I put full blame on Stevens for the Theis/Kanter/Williams situation. Robert Williams needs more playing time. I’m not a coach, maybe I’m missing something, but he puts in good minutes and deserves a lot more than like a third of the minutes Theis gets... especially when we are getting manhandled for stretches of time.
having said that, yes Ainge needs to address the big man situation this offseason. Badly.

And Kanter should get more than the zero minutes he got last night, even with his defensive deficiencies. How about when Tatum is failing to score a basket in the first half, why don’t we like, I don’t know, switch it up and put Kanter in to get the offense going with a different look? Infuriating.

Oh and also maybe Stevens can watch some YouTube videos on how to teach grown professional basketball players to break a zone defense.

 

[Hugo]

I’m a huge Stevens fan. He’s a great coach but he’s lost touch of this team.
The way they’ve played down the stretch multiple times during these playoffs has been so poor and reflective of the coach. There is way too much isolation and standing around the perimeter, while Butler, Herro and Dragic are running circles around the Celtics defense on the other end.

I like Stevens but his obsession with Daniel Theis over Williams/Kanter and inability to tell Marcus Smart or Tatum to pound sand for a minute or 2 when they take an ill-advised shot is infuriating at times.

Not much different than last year in the playoffs. Not saying he's not a good coach, but the playoffs are a different game and he needs to adjust accordingly. I haven't seen that so far in the Toronto or Miami series.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I feel like there’s too much talent on the team for him to handle

 

[husky429]

I feel like there’s too much talent on the team for him to handle

Stevens is at his best maximizing talent (see: Butler). He is still adjusting to NBA egos imo

 

[auror]

Stevens is at his best maximizing talent (see: Butler). He is still adjusting to NBA egos imo

He's also great at developing talent in general. And ATOs. And scheming defense. And getting guys to gel as a team. And making adjustments.

Re: maximizing talent... he made Isaiah Thomas All-NBA 2nd team! is Brad Stevens a good coach. What are we even doing here??