The Celtics lost to the Mavericks 118-113, but man I woke up feeling like we won last night. This team showed enough resiliency last night to make me feel comfortable enough to have playoff expectations for them. Every loss won’t feel this good, but you get the sense that this team is actually learning from it’s losses and that’s a big positive. Anyway, let’s get into the four ups and four down’s from last nights game.
FOUR UP
1. Marcus Smart is just… wow
Forget about the stats, this kid is awesome to watch. Playing in front of his family and friends Smart played tenacious defense, had 3 big offensive rebounds, a sweet behind the back pass to Sullinger, and a big three right in the face of Nowitzki late in the game. Smart elevates his game to a completely different level when the game comes down to the wire, and it’s great to see a guy who in just his third NBA game already looks like a veteran. When his offensive game starts to come together his going to be one of the best two-way guards in the NBA, and I’m so excited to watch.
2. Sullinger was a beast on the boards
The stat sheet only shows that Sullinger only had seven rebounds, but boy did it feel like he have twenty. Against a much bigger Dallas front court, the stretch 4 showed a lot of grit and resiliency in fighting for loose balls and it was a huge reason for our 22-7 edge in offensive rebounds. One underlying fact that many people might not notice is the Celtics have never lost an offensive rebounding battle this entire season. Sullinger is a big reason why.
3. Our random Jeff Green explosion occurred!
Last night Jeff Green went off dropping 35 points to go along with 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 50% shooting from the field (14/28). I’m not going to bore you with the “this could be Jeff Green’s year talk” because after last year I just don’t think that’s fair to him. He had a fantastic game against an elite team and that’s all we should take from this. Green is in a system where his not expected to be some type of bonafide scorer and his benefiting from the more realistic expectations. Consistency seems to be something his lacked over the years so it will be interesting to see how he plays Wednesday against the Raptors.
4. Avery Bradley starting to put it together
Recently I’ve been a little critical in assessing Avery Bradley because, although his scoring has been good, he wasn’t doing much else but chucking the ball at the rim. Well last night something happened, not only did Bradley explode offensively with 32 points on a efficient 13/22 shooting, but he grabbed 8 rebounds, dished out an assist, and had 3 steals. With this undersized frontcout Bradley and others are going to have to join in the rebounding effort, and he did a great job of that. Also, his strong defensive play actually seemed to propel him offensively in the second half, those 3 steals were just a microscope of how good his on-ball defense was during stretches in the game. 8 million dollars a year will feel like a bargain if this type of production continues.
FOUR DOWN
1. That First Quarter
Celtics started the game extremely flat, and that was honestly the main reason they didn’t win this game. Throughout the second, third, and fourth quarter the Celtics outscored the Mavericks by 16. However, going down 19-40 after the first was just a hole too steep. Boston will need to be able to start games a lot better if they want to beat elite teams. They don’t necessarily have to be winning every time, but they should be able to keep teams in striking range.
2. Put in James Young
This is the second game I really thought Stevens should have thrust Young in and seen if he could generate some offense. Marcus Thorton for as good as he was during the preseason has seemed to come down to earth and really isn’t giving us much of a scoring punch. Young has at least shown that he could hold his own a bit defensively, and with scoring at a scarce during that first half it’s only a matter of time before you start giving him some minutes.
3. Kelly Olynyk can’t play against size
If you were one of those fans wondering who was more expendable between Kelly Olynyk and Jared Sullinger you definitely have your answer. Not only is Olynyk smaller than some of these huge frontcourts, but his also not even as athletic as some of them. After another bad performance against a team with legit size and you have to wonder when Stevens will turn to Zeller who was having a decent game in limited minutes.
4. Rondo’s costly mishaps
Rondo had a decent game across the board, 7 points, 9 rebounds, and 15 assists, yet again flirting with another triple-double. However, he struggled shooting the ball (3-11), and he had a team-high 5 turnovers. He also had some late in the game blunders that dug the Celtics into a deeper hole. After Marcus Smart hit his big three against the Dirk, on the next Celtics possession Rondo tried to force a ball into Sullinger that was almost a turnover, then with the shot-clock winding down he took a rushed one foot fade-away that air-balled. The Mavericks secured possession and went down and scored. On the next play he tried to attack the rim, but was stripped, and Dallas again went down and scored pushing their lead back up to 10. Though that wasn’t the reason the Celtics lost those two possessions that were wasted in a tight game are the ones that cost Boston from getting it into a single possession game earlier in the fourth. It’s only the third game, and his still working out the kinks, but these are the type of mistakes that I don’t expect from a player who wants a max contract.
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