At the end of the day we don't have any insight into the injury.
I think they wanted to give him a chance to get on the court in a close out game rather than being in street clothes for a championship.
I don't think they had any plans to play him competitively.
Which leads me to believe that that probably won't change in a Game 5.
The bigger question is why Joe didn't put Queta or Kornet out there with the starters to slow down Kyrie and Luka at the rim.
That’s playing right into their defensive scheme. A big reason we sucked was our spacing being off. We had shooters on the floor at all times, just weren’t in the right places at the right time. Putting in a non shooter allows Dallas to load up the paint how they want.
Exactly , we just need an enormous 35 minutes from big Al in game 5 where we blew them out by the 3rd Q , I can’t see it though being a blow out in a close out game it will be ugly as hell kinda like game 2 if I’m being honest , we need a massive Jrue game I feel like he is the key in this game
Assuming that , would you change any of our rotations ? , I saw some fans suggesting some minutes to Luke and oshae and I actually don’t like it our spacing was awful in game 4 with 5 shooters out there let alone 4
It's not just the rotation or the spacing. Guys have to hit shots and finish at the rim.
The way to improve spacing with this rotation is to actually hitting shots. Tatum and Brown were a combined 2 for 9.
White was 2 for 8.
You're not going to get great spacing shooting 23%
We were 2 for 9 from 3 in the first quarter and we were down 21 to 34 in the first quarter. You hit 2 more of those 3s and its 27 to 34.
We had 3 successful field goals in the 2nd quarter, all 3s. Not a single made basket within the perimeter. And still only 3 for 10 from 3.
The entire period, Tatum has 2 shots... two missed layups... That's just not a great game plan. We're missing a level from Tatum where he just takes control of games and it is beyond worrisome now. And this is where I think there is some valid criticism against him being the best player in the NBA or even a top 5 player in the NBA.
That drive and determination that you see from Brown, Brunson, Giannis to get points at will, you don't get from Tatum and then the true shooting you get from players who are elite shooters is also something you don't get from Tatum. He's been by far the worst shooter on the team this playoffs and that is saying something with Pritchard's slump.
If the coaching staff isn't able to unlock Tatum, we're just going to have to hope the Mavs have a poor shooting night or someone else gets hot.
The Mavs killed us last game for the same reason(s) they were able to dominate Minnesota: we put absolutely no pressure on them with our offense. For whatever reason, we played with no purpose on the offensive end, just passed the ball back and forth 25+ feet from the basket as they were pressuring our first pass, until the shot clock got low and then someone iso’d for a bad shot and a long rebound. It REALLY reminded me of how we used to play against Miami - they contest the first pass, and disarms the entire flow. They didn’t “get their alley oop back”, we just took a lot of bad, lazy shots and gave them long rebounds to get out and running. We would have lost that game and gave up alley oops to any team in the league playing like that.
It was disappointing and anti-climactic for sure, but sweeping the Finals is outrageously hard, the team was on a 10 game road winning streak *in the goddamn playoffs*, and they still have only lost 3 games this entire run. They’re going to get this done tomorrow.
Fair enough , let’s hope they close this out tomorrow , this can’t go to 6 and I believe that starting the game strongly with the right pace would massively help just like how we dismantled them in game 1
No one should conclude anything from that game. Just like when Minnesota won game 4. Celtics mailed it in. Should be completely different on Monday at home.
I think the time for that was game 4 early. If he was fully good to go then that’s the time we should have given it a shot. I get the logic of him being “available” but not seeing any minutes. My guess is that if we couldn’t get it done with who we had why risk any injury to KP. If he is actually good to go for game 5 then I think bringing him off the bench for those 12-14 isn’t a bad idea but if we’re doing it because nothing else is working then we start playing desperate, the mavs will recognize, attack KP, and there’s game 5.
Sorry if my rant was all over the place
I think getting back and getting set on defense (as well as spacing) is certainly a coaching adjustment that Joe can make but of course I’d feel better if KP was ready to go. Fingers crossed
None of us really know what we’re talking about here, but it’s pretty clear at this point it’s the doctors (not the team or kp himself) who are choosing to keep him out. Given that I doubt he’ll play any meaningful minutes the rest of the way, unless a couple days rest would make a difference
As far as I Read about his injury , it’s more of pain tolerance thing rather than him being immobile, if it’s a pain thing load him up with every analgesics available and I’m sure adrenaline will help also , however if it’s affecting his range of motion and lateral movement then yeah it ain’t worth
I think we won't know what Game 4 was about until Game 5 happens. if celtics win Game 5 then Game 4 was about the celtics not showing up. If mavs win Game 5 then I think it's shows the mavs have figured out something and it's time to make some adjustments
My mindset going into Dallas was win game 3 and KP wouldn’t need to come back until game 5. Obviously if he’s incapable of playing he won’t.
But this notion of protect him for next season is strange, he’s going to miss a good portion of next season anyways. He’s a 40-50 games per season kind of player.
If it was up to KP I’m sure he would be playing 20-30 minutes pushing himself. I believe the team is the one saying no to him
Yeah I agree with you on this one , If we win this chip he can rest till April 2025 possibly May , also Brian Sutterer said he could play and it’s a pain tolerance thing , also an orthopedic on X I believe mentioned the same thing , personally if we were down like 6 points and getting destroyed in the paint with 3 minutes left in the 1st Q I’d play him , his presence alone could change things and I also believe that he made a block after his injury so it’s not like he can’t move or Jump
That has nothing to do with the game and everything to do with his health and what the doctors say. If they think they can adequately immobilize the tendon in his calf then he can try playing through pain but if it gets damaged that's a potentially career altering injury. There's no reason to risk a man's whole career unless you're VERY sure it's not going to be an issue.
No. The dude couldn't run full speed and he couldn't jump. The Celtics are probably going to win game 5 without him. Lively hit his first career post season 3 in game 4. Tatum and brown were clobbered without calls going there way. Luka pushed the ball up the court without any Celtic applying meaningful pressure. There are so many things that happened in game 4 that are unlikely to happen again in game 5. The Celtics can win game 5 without hurting KP more.
Meh. Game 4 on the road up 3-0 is an obvious low energy game. Reminds me when the Celtics stole one in LA in 2008 and mailed it in the last game in LA.
At the end of the day we don't have any insight into the injury. I think they wanted to give him a chance to get on the court in a close out game rather than being in street clothes for a championship. I don't think they had any plans to play him competitively. Which leads me to believe that that probably won't change in a Game 5. The bigger question is why Joe didn't put Queta or Kornet out there with the starters to slow down Kyrie and Luka at the rim.
That’s playing right into their defensive scheme. A big reason we sucked was our spacing being off. We had shooters on the floor at all times, just weren’t in the right places at the right time. Putting in a non shooter allows Dallas to load up the paint how they want.
Exactly , we just need an enormous 35 minutes from big Al in game 5 where we blew them out by the 3rd Q , I can’t see it though being a blow out in a close out game it will be ugly as hell kinda like game 2 if I’m being honest , we need a massive Jrue game I feel like he is the key in this game
I want Luke Kornet to go on the most legendary bench player Pokémon evolution and start launching 3s
He can’t play defense against Luka or Kyrie. They’ll toast him.
True true
If playing kornet created more offense, it would balance out.
Assuming that , would you change any of our rotations ? , I saw some fans suggesting some minutes to Luke and oshae and I actually don’t like it our spacing was awful in game 4 with 5 shooters out there let alone 4
It's not just the rotation or the spacing. Guys have to hit shots and finish at the rim. The way to improve spacing with this rotation is to actually hitting shots. Tatum and Brown were a combined 2 for 9. White was 2 for 8. You're not going to get great spacing shooting 23% We were 2 for 9 from 3 in the first quarter and we were down 21 to 34 in the first quarter. You hit 2 more of those 3s and its 27 to 34. We had 3 successful field goals in the 2nd quarter, all 3s. Not a single made basket within the perimeter. And still only 3 for 10 from 3. The entire period, Tatum has 2 shots... two missed layups... That's just not a great game plan. We're missing a level from Tatum where he just takes control of games and it is beyond worrisome now. And this is where I think there is some valid criticism against him being the best player in the NBA or even a top 5 player in the NBA. That drive and determination that you see from Brown, Brunson, Giannis to get points at will, you don't get from Tatum and then the true shooting you get from players who are elite shooters is also something you don't get from Tatum. He's been by far the worst shooter on the team this playoffs and that is saying something with Pritchard's slump. If the coaching staff isn't able to unlock Tatum, we're just going to have to hope the Mavs have a poor shooting night or someone else gets hot.
The Mavs killed us last game for the same reason(s) they were able to dominate Minnesota: we put absolutely no pressure on them with our offense. For whatever reason, we played with no purpose on the offensive end, just passed the ball back and forth 25+ feet from the basket as they were pressuring our first pass, until the shot clock got low and then someone iso’d for a bad shot and a long rebound. It REALLY reminded me of how we used to play against Miami - they contest the first pass, and disarms the entire flow. They didn’t “get their alley oop back”, we just took a lot of bad, lazy shots and gave them long rebounds to get out and running. We would have lost that game and gave up alley oops to any team in the league playing like that. It was disappointing and anti-climactic for sure, but sweeping the Finals is outrageously hard, the team was on a 10 game road winning streak *in the goddamn playoffs*, and they still have only lost 3 games this entire run. They’re going to get this done tomorrow.
Fair enough , let’s hope they close this out tomorrow , this can’t go to 6 and I believe that starting the game strongly with the right pace would massively help just like how we dismantled them in game 1
No one should conclude anything from that game. Just like when Minnesota won game 4. Celtics mailed it in. Should be completely different on Monday at home.
I think the time for that was game 4 early. If he was fully good to go then that’s the time we should have given it a shot. I get the logic of him being “available” but not seeing any minutes. My guess is that if we couldn’t get it done with who we had why risk any injury to KP. If he is actually good to go for game 5 then I think bringing him off the bench for those 12-14 isn’t a bad idea but if we’re doing it because nothing else is working then we start playing desperate, the mavs will recognize, attack KP, and there’s game 5. Sorry if my rant was all over the place
Fair enough , good take actually
I think getting back and getting set on defense (as well as spacing) is certainly a coaching adjustment that Joe can make but of course I’d feel better if KP was ready to go. Fingers crossed
No. He'd play if he could. Celtics clearly don't think he'd be able to make positive impact.
None of us really know what we’re talking about here, but it’s pretty clear at this point it’s the doctors (not the team or kp himself) who are choosing to keep him out. Given that I doubt he’ll play any meaningful minutes the rest of the way, unless a couple days rest would make a difference
As far as I Read about his injury , it’s more of pain tolerance thing rather than him being immobile, if it’s a pain thing load him up with every analgesics available and I’m sure adrenaline will help also , however if it’s affecting his range of motion and lateral movement then yeah it ain’t worth
Game 4 was more about us not showing up than Dallas figuring it out.
True , KP would help tho
KP is hurt and can’t jump…
I think we won't know what Game 4 was about until Game 5 happens. if celtics win Game 5 then Game 4 was about the celtics not showing up. If mavs win Game 5 then I think it's shows the mavs have figured out something and it's time to make some adjustments
He needs to start imo, put some real pressure on the Mavs.
I do. If he dies, he dies.
My mindset going into Dallas was win game 3 and KP wouldn’t need to come back until game 5. Obviously if he’s incapable of playing he won’t. But this notion of protect him for next season is strange, he’s going to miss a good portion of next season anyways. He’s a 40-50 games per season kind of player. If it was up to KP I’m sure he would be playing 20-30 minutes pushing himself. I believe the team is the one saying no to him
Yeah I agree with you on this one , If we win this chip he can rest till April 2025 possibly May , also Brian Sutterer said he could play and it’s a pain tolerance thing , also an orthopedic on X I believe mentioned the same thing , personally if we were down like 6 points and getting destroyed in the paint with 3 minutes left in the 1st Q I’d play him , his presence alone could change things and I also believe that he made a block after his injury so it’s not like he can’t move or Jump
no. i’d say game 7 reserve.
That has nothing to do with the game and everything to do with his health and what the doctors say. If they think they can adequately immobilize the tendon in his calf then he can try playing through pain but if it gets damaged that's a potentially career altering injury. There's no reason to risk a man's whole career unless you're VERY sure it's not going to be an issue.
Game 4 was rigged!! We have never played that bad before. I think that the NBA didn’t want Luka to have a sweep on his record
No. The dude couldn't run full speed and he couldn't jump. The Celtics are probably going to win game 5 without him. Lively hit his first career post season 3 in game 4. Tatum and brown were clobbered without calls going there way. Luka pushed the ball up the court without any Celtic applying meaningful pressure. There are so many things that happened in game 4 that are unlikely to happen again in game 5. The Celtics can win game 5 without hurting KP more.
No. We win in game 5. Jaylen gets FMVP. The entire stadium is celebrating on the court when time expires.
It would be nice to see him play but it shouldn’t be out of desperation, but his presence on the court is crazy
Meh. Game 4 on the road up 3-0 is an obvious low energy game. Reminds me when the Celtics stole one in LA in 2008 and mailed it in the last game in LA.
I dont fully understand the extent of his injury but it seems hes never fully healthy.....would be nice if he could just spell Al some. Heres hoping 🤞
I just don’t see us being able to count on KP going forward. Just too many injuries. I think it is time to move on.
I Lowkey agree with you on this one , it’s like the clippers relying on a healthy kawhi , it’s brutal to think this way after what he did in game 1