The wintah weatha changed a lot of plans… including mine. So instead of looking after each game individually, here’s a look at what stood out after the back-to-back snow-delayed trip to Philadelphia and Washington.
4 Up
1: Zeller’s return
Let’s give this kid some shine for once this season. He made it off the bench to get a few minutes against Philly and make 3 of 4 shots. Then he got some earlier minutes against Washington and ran a few straight pick-and-roll plays early that worked well. This time he got 18 minutes and made 4 of 6 shots. In the two games combined he had a respectable 15 points on 7-10 shooting, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals over 25 minutes of play.
There’s no predicting what will happen to Zeller. These two games show he’s still got a nice set of useful skills that he can display when he gets the minutes.
2: Offense AND defense working?
The Celtics scored 112 and 116 points on offense and held Philly & Washington to 92 and 91 points respectively. That’s going to do wonders for their offensive/defensive ratings… especially when they put up 90+ shots in each game.
The Celtics average 10.4 steals in wins and 8.8 in losses… and they had 12 and 14 steals in this back to back. Again… it’s all about offense from defense from this team so this shouldn’t be very shocking. The Celtics actually have one of the highest margins of victory in the league… and that’s almost always due to them getting a ton of steals and fast break points in their wins.
3: Hot from 3
Kelly Olynyk was 50% for the back-to-back… and now just under 44% for the season, good for 6th in the league. Yes, he’s dialed in right now.
And how about Marcus Smart who took the snow day to work on his shooting and then went 5-11 from deep after a disastrous January up to that point?
The lesson is… next time Marcus Smart goes cold, let’s schedule a blizzard.
4: All Star IT
43 points on 16-31 shooting over just under 53 minutes over the two games. Less than 30 minutes is ideal for Thomas who was especially efficient against the Wizards, checking in with 71% true shooting for the game (thanks to 2-3 from 3 and 5-5 from the line).
4 Down
1: Long 2’s!!!
Sully does so many things for the Celtics, but his shooting continues to fail him. 3-7 against Washington and 4-12 against Philly. 7-19 isn’t going to cut it for a guy enamored with that long 2. I don’t want to harp on this every time, but he’s shooting 38.7% in those long 2’s (16 feet out to the 3 point line). He’s taken that shot 119 times this season, almost as many attempts as he’s had at the rim (128, for 57%). I’m begging Sully to take that shot less frequently.
How bad is it?
He’s made 46 of his 16+ foot jumpers.. good for 92 points, or .77 points per attempt.
He’s 19 of 71 from 3… a woeful 26.8%, but that works out to .80 points per attempt.
What does that mean? It means that shooting about 27% from 3 is more efficient than shooting 36% from that 16+ foot area. Either way is horrible, and as Chuck tweeted last night, the long 2 will probably improve before the 3 does, but the point stands… right now Sully’s 27% from 3 is a better option.. that’s how poor his mid-range game as been.
He’s not alone, though. Avery Bradley is as guilty as anyone for settling for those shots. He’s at least shooting 43% from that long 2 range.. but let’s look at his numbers the same way.
Avery Bradley’s shot selection can really be terrible. So many 22 footers this yr. His offense can be so much better pic.twitter.com/HZbhmu3QIH
— John Karalis (@RedsArmy_John) January 26, 2016
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Bradley is getting .86 points per long 2 attempt and .92 points per 3. Where Bradley differs from Sully is he steps into those long 2’s when he’s run off the line rather than stepping sideways and attempting a 3. Sully’s long 2’s are part of his game and mostly pick-and-pop plays. We want more Bradley 3’s… or maybe some of those 10-16 foot shots that are a little higher percentage if he absolutely must settle for a 2. Bradley has taken 37 shots in that 3-16 foot area… and 174 long 2’s. Last night he dribbled up the sideline and had a chance to pull up from 3 and instead took an extra step to take a 23 footer.
THERE’S NO POINT TO THAT!
We ranted about the long 2’s on the last Rainin’ J’s podcast, but it bears repeating especially for Bradley… it’s the worst possible shot he can take. Again, the 3’s are a better, more efficient option. Most things are better options than most of those long 2’s. They’re sometimes unavoidable, but they’re not great shots at all.
2: Letting that one guy go off
Against Philly, it was Robert Covington who went off for 25 points on 6-13 from 3. Against Washington it was Otto Porter (you can even say Jared Dudley). I’m probably nitpicking… but there’s always one guy who seems to go off no matter what.
3: So much for Jerebko’s resurgence
Maybe he was pissed off at naming the blizzard “Jonas”… but his resurgence hit a screeching halt with 2-11 shooting. He rebounded well against Philly, but he barely played against Washington. It really is too much to ask him to do all that good stuff all the time. If he did, he’d be a different player.
4: Rookie development
Again, this is nit-picky but its hard to find a ton bad out of 2 blowout wins. Still, I remember earlier this year when the RJ Hunter hype train was full steam ahead and James Young was taking steps forward. Now, when I want one of them to step up and maybe make some noise on a healthy team, they’re nowhere to be found.
This is not really a knock on them.. Young is the youngest guy on the team in his second year and Hunter is learning the game too. This just requires patience on our part. I really just needed a 4th thing to put here because Chuck will lock me in a room with nothing but “The Notebook” on loop if I don’t.
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