After last night’s massacre we should really do an eight down segment, but we’ll stay optimistic. After a 110-79 trashing here are things we liked and didn’t like about last night.
UP
1. James Young’s 4th Quarter
It was garbage time I know, but he hit a couple of 3’s and you could clearly see his aggressiveness growing when he got his offense flowing. Of course he shouldn’t let his offense be swayed based on how hot he was, but hopefully he can carry that confidence for tonight’s game against Utah. Young finished with 9 points.
2. Gigi time
Brad Stevens unleashed the beast of Gigi Datome last night, and he was pretty efficient with his minutes. 7 points and 5 rebounds in 15 minutes of action for the Italian. Probably won’t lead to any more playing time, but great to see he was still playing hard when he could have just half-assed it down 30.
3. Bench points
Celtics bench outscored the Cavaliers 45-31.
4. Game against Utah
After getting embarrassed like that, the one thing any player would want to do is get back on the court. Celtics will immediately get that chance to redeem themselves when they host the Jazz tonight.
Down
1. Team basketball
Brad Stevens hit it on the end during the press conference, and it’s starting to become evident now, Celtics are playing like individuals. Maybe it was the 3-1 stretch that got to their head or going up against arguably to two best teams in the league, but the ball movement has stopped. This team lacks talent from all positions to really be able to get by with that type of basketball. Hopefully this game drove that home.
2. Isaiah Thomas usage
It’s been going on since the second half of the Golden State game, but the use of Isaiah Thomas has been a bit questionable. No matter how fast guards are, they need multiple picks to really get by their man. Thomas has been getting fewer picks and when being guarded by players that are longer and bigger he’ll need that extra edge. Also, when struggling on-ball it would be great to see Thomas move off-ball for a few possessions and run him off even more screens to create better angles for him. This will be something to watch against Utah, which has multiple long and athletic defenders.
3. Pace
After putting up 96 and 109 shots in their last two games the Celtics only took 88 shots last night. This was an indication of the Cavaliers dictating the pace and not allowing the Celtics to run up and down in transition, a huge difference from the last time the teams met. This was also evident in the Celtics being outscored 15-4 on fastbreak points.
4. Containing Lebron James
It was just too easy. Lebron scored 21 first half points on the Celtics and could have gone for 40 if the game wasn’t so out of reach by halftime. It’s one thing to just get outplayed by better offense as evident from the Warriors game, but it’s an absolutely different thing to just be dominated the way Lebron did against anyone in a Celtics jersey. That behind the back layup near the end of the half will be on SportsCenter for a while.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
