The Ultimate 2022 NBA Playoffs Thread - Boston Celtics vs Golden State Warriors (Game 1 Friday 3 June)

[jod23]

Don't think they do. Smart is plenty good enough as a playmaker...he just shouldn't take bad shots. Tatum and Brown need to get better off ball...you can't have three average creators who settle for s**t shots when plan A doesn't work. Who else are they getting for $17m?

If those three guys were offensively in synch, they'd be unbeatable.

Smart has improved but he is not a natural PG. TO's killed the Celtics again and again as they werent able to get into their offence quick enough and didnt have any reliable ball handlers. Moving Smart to SG and bringing in a legitimate PG would be huge. You can run PG, Smart, Brown, Tatum, Williams. Move Horford to the bench but play him when you want to go small or in different lineups. Then get one or two better bench players to be so reliant on your starters and the Celtics can win a chip.

 

[Slysh]

He absolutely can. He averaged less TOs than CP.

Tatum and Brown need to put bros before buckets.

Do you want to know why he averaged less turnovers than CP?

 

[kozi]

Blasphemous yes. But glorious artwork.

 

[Kramer1]

Smart has improved but he is not a natural PG. TO's killed the Celtics again and again as they werent able to get into their offence quick enough and didnt have any reliable ball handlers. Moving Smart to SG and bringing in a legitimate PG would be huge. You can run PG, Smart, Brown, Tatum, Williams. Move Horford to the bench but play him when you want to go small or in different lineups. Then get one or two better bench players to be so reliant on your starters and the Celtics can win a chip.

No arguments...but the J's want the ball in their hands, and Udoka promotes a slow half court offence...I guarantee that changes in his second year. Horford mostly got to his spots, ths J's took what was given to them and thought they were good enough to make it work...they weren't.

Their five shooter line up is gold...it just plays immature offence.

 

[Kramer1]

Do you want to know why he averaged less turnovers than CP?

Tell us Pop.

 

[Slysh]

Tell us Pop.

Lower usage rate, not the primary ball handler and not a legit play maker.

Smart averaged 5.9 assists per game

CP3 averages 10.8

And the turnovers are not drastically different despite the huge gap in actual playmaking ability.

How anyone could have watched the Celtics and thought they don't need a true PG is kinda shocking to me. The Celtics half court offence was a drag to watch. The 3 best players on that team are average to below average ball handlers and facilitators. If they do not add to the roster or one of those 3 drastically improve in that area it will be another big area of concern for them going forward.

 

[fidstar]

+1 to getting a real point guard being first on their list to do.

 

[Kramer1]

Lower usage rate, not the primary ball handler and not a legit play maker.

Smart averaged 5.9 assists per game

CP3 averages 10.8

And the turnovers are not drastically different despite the huge gap in actual playmaking ability.

How anyone could have watched the Celtics and thought they don't need a true PG is kinda shocking to me. The Celtics half court offence was a drag to watch. The 3 best players on that team are average to below average ball handlers and facilitators. If they do not add to the roster or one of those 3 drastically improve in that area it will be another big area of concern for them going forward.

Smart is a competent PG who is obviously A grade on the other side of the ball. He's also on a reasonable value contract.

His usage rate was practically the same as CP (for example) in the POs, his A/T ratio was 2.37 which isn't alarming, in fact good in context of teams played.

Team turnovers (particularly the Js), poor shot selection and Looney teabagging them on the boards were the problem.

I'd be addressing numerous other things before Smart...and I don't even like the flopping d-bag.

 

[Memphis]

Smart is a competent PG who is obviously A grade on the other side of the ball. He's also on a reasonable value contract.

His usage rate was practically the same as CP (for example) in the POs, his A/T ratio was 2.37 which isn't alarming, in fact good in context of teams played.

Team turnovers (particularly the Js), poor shot selection and Looney teabagging them on the boards were the problem.

I'd be addressing numerous other things before Smart...and I don't even like the flopping d-bag.

Smart didn't help matters not being able to run an offense but this isn't just on him.

We also didn't play the way we did throughout the second half of the season, it is like we got to the playoffs and slowly went back into our old selfs with that bs iso ball instead of playing the way we were playing all of the second half moving the ball on the perimeter every one gets a touch before the shot.

That is what I think killed it for us we went back to old ways and stopped moving the ball as much and way way to ******* careless with it.

JB can't dribble for some reason has no balance nor control of the ball while running. So much needs to improve this offseason.

 

[jod23]

Smart is a competent PG who is obviously A grade on the other side of the ball. He's also on a reasonable value contract.

His usage rate was practically the same as CP (for example) in the POs, his A/T ratio was 2.37 which isn't alarming, in fact good in context of teams played.

Team turnovers (particularly the Js), poor shot selection and Looney teabagging them on the boards were the problem.

I'd be addressing numerous other things before Smart...and I don't even like the flopping d-bag.

The thing is I dont think anybody considers Smart to be a PG. He's more a SG and at best a combo guard. It's certainly not on Smart that the Celtics lost, it's more on the front office that shoe horned Smart into playing PG instead of going out and actually getting a real point guard.

 

[Kramer1]

The thing is I dont think anybody considers Smart to be a PG. He's more a SG and at best a combo guard. It's certainly not on Smart that the Celtics lost, it's more on the front office that shoe horned Smart into playing PG instead of going out and actually getting a real point guard.

Dubs aren't a traditional PG set up. Bucks aren't, Mavs aren't, any LeBron team isn't, plenty of ways to skin the cat.

Pick up the pace, Tatum to stop flailing around on the court every time he drives leaving his d a man down, Brown to never dribble right, Smart to cut out any contested jump shot, Ime to get himself a Gentry or some other offensive savant. Plenty of levers to pull.

 

[jod23]

Dubs aren't a traditional PG set up. Bucks aren't, Mavs aren't, any LeBron team isn't, plenty of ways to skin the cat.

Pick up the pace, Tatum to stop flailing around on the court every time he drives leaving his d a man down, Brown to never dribble right, Smart to cut out any contested jump shot, Ime to get himself a Gentry or some other offensive savant. Plenty of levers to pull.

Erm... Steph Curry is a PG. He has excellent handles, can distribute and set up an offence that admittedly does revolve around him. Bucks have a very good pure PG in Jrue Holiday. The Mavericks had a generational PG in Luka. LeBron team have been hit and miss over the years as he forces his way to being a pseudo PG/SF/PF and a lot of the time it doesnt work cos his teams done have a PG and everything runs through him. But he's so talented that his teams mostly get away with it.

Marcus Smart certainly isnt LeBron James. Your whole first sentence just basically backed up my stance on the Celtics needing a PG.

Also why try to do all of those things, pick up the pace, Tatum to stop flailing, Brown to only go one way, Smart to do this, Ime to do that etc etc. When almost everything can be fixed with just getting a good PG.

 

[Kramer1]

Erm... Steph Curry is a PG. He has excellent handles, can distribute and set up an offence that admittedly does revolve around him. Bucks have a very good pure PG in Jrue Holiday. The Mavericks had a generational PG in Luka. LeBron team have been hit and miss over the years as he forces his way to being a pseudo PG/SF/PF and a lot of the time it doesnt work cos his teams done have a PG and everything runs through him. But he's so talented that his teams mostly get away with it.

Marcus Smart certainly isnt LeBron James. Your whole first sentence just basically backed up my stance on the Celtics needing a PG.

Also why try to do all of those things, pick up the pace, Tatum to stop flailing, Brown to only go one way, Smart to do this, Ime to do that etc etc. When almost everything can be fixed with just getting a good PG.

Steph plays as much off guard, perhaps more as they are looking to terminate plays with the ball in his hands. Dray obviously plays a lot of point forward. A non traditional set up.

Mavs start a point forward in Luka and a PG in Brunson...like I said a non trad set up.

Giannis has the third highest usage in the league and almost as many assists as Jrue. Another different set up.

But yeah...maybe they should get Kyrie, that would work. Kemba Walker may be an option too.

 

[Slysh]

Steph plays as much off guard, perhaps more as they are looking to terminate plays with the ball in his hands. Dray obviously plays a lot of point forward. A non traditional set up.

Mavs start a point forward in Luka and a PG in Brunson...like I said a non trad set up.

Giannis has the third highest usage in the league and almost as many assists as Jrue. Another different set up.

But yeah...maybe they should get Kyrie, that would work. Kemba Walker may be an option too.

Luka is a PG, he is a primary ball handler who can run an offence in the half court. Smart hasn’t shown he can do that, Brown hasn’t shown he can do that, Tatum hasn’t shown he can do that.

They don’t need a star point guard, just someone who can run the offence when the game slows down, it’s why the Celtics looks so vulnerable late in clutch time. The game slows down and they hd to resort to iso hero ball

 

[jod23]

Steph plays as much off guard, perhaps more as they are looking to terminate plays with the ball in his hands. Dray obviously plays a lot of point forward. A non traditional set up.

Mavs start a point forward in Luka and a PG in Brunson...like I said a non trad set up.

Giannis has the third highest usage in the league and almost as many assists as Jrue. Another different set up.

But yeah...maybe they should get Kyrie, that would work. Kemba Walker may be an option too.

Non traditional is not what I'm arguing. The fact is the Warriors, Bucks and Mavs all have legitimate PG's who can initiate an offense and handle the ball.

I'm not saying go get Kyrie or Kemba Walker. Both have been there and failed, but that was before Ime Udoka was coaching and the Celtics play differently now. I'm saying just go out and get a decent role playing PG who can handle the ball and initiate the offense. It's an easy fix.

 

[Memphis]

We have a 17 mil trade exemption so I'd like to see that used either on another decent PF or PG.

 

[Memphis]

Big boy has toned down for this season, he is going to be a force when healthy.

 

[Kramer1]

Big boy has toned down for this season, he is going to be a force when healthy.

Nyawlins gonna be fun to watch

 

[Slysh]

Big boy has toned down for this season, he is going to be a force when healthy.

Can't wait to cash in the receipts on all those muppets that were calling him a bust this year

 

[scaryness]

Interesting that Curry's 4 rings all 'count' when it comes to propping up his career even though 2 of them where with KD who always gets told his 2 rings 'dont count' when he played better than Curry both times.

Do those Warriors titles 'count' or not? Can't be both.

 

[fidstar]

 

[peternorth]

will tatum come back from this. Looked broken in the end. Was he injured?

the whole kobe thing....we'll never know the result if he didn't go down that path.

 

[Borough Blood]

He was gassed. Will come back better for the experience.

 

[peternorth]

He was gassed. Will come back better for the experience.

needs to add more strings to his bow. He has the step back and a fadeaway.

 

[fidstar]

Memories.