People are talking about Tatum way to much in this game, they should be talking about the mins he was off the floor, because that is why the game was close
literally that's what I was saying when he was off the court the celtics forgot how to play basketball they lost the lead everytime tatum went to the bench
Good point. The Porzingis injury really has put so much extra pressure on Horford. Having him off the bench this season was huge as far as how he played with guys like Sam Hauser and PP while giving Tatum/Brown rest. They don’t have that luxury right now with Pingis out. Celtics are not as deep as ppl may have thought they were beginning of season- and role players are not being called on all that much. Except PP who’s been great this postseason. Hauser? 😴
And in the Horfors iso P&R’s - unless we’re just gonna live with that all playoffs. Probably worth not playing a drop switch, or we’ll just live with other teams ripping elbow jumpers and assume we’ll beat them in other aspects of the game
There is a very clear answer as to why this game was even close. Tatum on 46 minutes 121.2 offensive rating 104.2 defensive rating +17 net +20 total Tatum off 7 minutes 76.5 offensive rating 186.7 defensive rating -110.2 net -15 total Absolutely wild numbers, as soon as Tatum was subbed out in that 3rd quarter that 13 point lead evaporated, the team needs to figure out how to play without Tatum on the court, and Mazzulla has to do a better job with the rotation. Pritchard Hauser and Kornet should never all be on the court at the same time without Jayson Tatum. I do agree the 4th quarter was weird. They need to do a better job getting the ball to their best players in good positions. Felt like a lot of stagnation and Jaylen dribbling the clock out aimlessly while Tatum just stands there. The Jay's both had good games outside of that 4th, the Celtics blew 3 different leads of 10+ points. I don't really think they settled for the "sexy shots" too often, and outside of that horrible stretch in the 4th, I think they got pretty good looks offensively. I can think of a couple of open looks from Tatum top of the key and the corner that if he buried we wouldn't even think to talk about his settling (he would have gone 4/8 if he makes those open looks). and JB really played in the flow for most of the game. The defense, and in particular, Al Horford was a large reason that the Celtics struggled. He found a way to make a winning impact in spots, but the Pacers were clearly attacking him in the pick and roll with him giving so much space, and he simply can not buy a shot right now (3/12 from 3) so the Pacers can play 5 on 4. I think both sides are looking at that game wondering how it turned out the way it did. There's no reason the Celtics getting 31 points off of 22 turnovers and having 20 more free throws than the other team should have been in an overtime game. There's also no reason the Pacers should have choked that game away, they have found a clear weakness and exploited it well, but luck swings the way of great teams. Celtics need to apply more pressure on the ball and fight through those screens, that is the only way I can see them being able to navigate the clear weakness that is Al Horford. Force Haliburton to prove that he will drive inside and score instead of letting him take 14 3's. It's obviously risky because you can get Haliburton going, but right now letting everyone hit open midrange shots on Al Horford in drop coverage is risky enough. The pacers are one of the best offenses of all time statistically, they're going to score, but there is a clear adjustment to make it harder. The Pacers simply need to clean up their mess. 22 turnovers is far too many, some absolute brainless turnovers last night. The defense is also worrisome, the ball denial on Tatum worked in the 4th quarter, but I don't really think it will work again, at least not for a large stretch of time. They foul too much, and have all season. I really think defensively there isn't much answer for the firepower of the Celtics offense other than letting Al Horford miss open shots (which is kinda working). They applied pretty good pressure on the ball, but they simply don't have the tools to stop Boston. Last night's game played out mostly the way the Pacers wanted it to play out. A shootout with the game getting into the 130s should be in their favor. If they can replicate that game while minimizing their mistakes, then they're feeling pretty good. Dropping a game like that can completely change momentum though, and I would not be surprised to see a good adjustment from Boston, the pacers to come out flat, and the Celtics to take game 2 by a wide margin. Those are my thoughts. Love the content P keep it up!
Celtics were up double digits like 4 times and it got erased when Tatum came off and the hauser/ kornet rotation came on Mazulla and his bench rotation pose bigger questions than Tatum’a shot making imo .
@@mitchellreid3946thank you I’ve been saying that. I’ll even allow Queta to play over Kornet. I’m so over that soft mf. He’s part of the reason our defense looks so soft when we don’t have Al then that makes Al Legs dead for later because we can’t trust Luke to hold it down he’s just not putting in the work to be playing over other guys.
@@thegreat1885kornet looks lost as hell out there and I'm tired of his mental lapses and getting cooked because he wants to play drop coverage and not want to play the perimeter Evans was cooking his big slow ass
I think after OG went down it was pretty apparent that the pacers were just the better team. So there is a little bit of revisionist history for sure but it came with OG getting injured
The pacers are a good team, to paint them as a side that should be getting steamrolled is pretty disingenuous. The Celtics are rightly favourites but that also adds extra pressure and scrutiny that their opponents haven’t been getting so far. They’ve handled it pretty excellently so far
Yeah even after he saved the game down the stretch with great defense and that shot he's still being overshadowed by Tatum 10 pts in OT. It's a shame how fans treat Brown in Boston.
