Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
Restless in the middle of the night, Crowder decided to visit the Celtics practice facility for a shooting workout. At around 1 or 1:30 a.m., technically Saturday morning, he brought a friend to rebound and spent about 45 minutes in the gym.
“I wasn’t sleeping good last night,” Crowder said after practice later Saturday, which he followed with another shooting session. “The win was great. I was very happy with that, but I wanted to prepare myself for Game 4. It’s a big game for us, and I wanted to really step into my shots and be a force in my offensive game. I’m doing great on defense and guys are still applauding me on that, but I just want to lift our team up a little more in the offensive end. I just wanted to see the ball go through the hoop.”
MassLive: Jae Crowder visits practice facility after Game 3 win to work through struggles
“I’m going to keep shooting — that’s what I’ve done all year,” Crowder said. “A slump is going to happen — it’s happening right now — but I’ll be fine.”
Both Crowder’s teammates (it was Isaiah Thomas who divulged the until-then secret late-night shooting practice) and his coach believe that shots will eventually fall.
“I believe in the law of averages and Jae’s a good shooter,” said Celtics coach Brad Stevens. “Jae’s been a good shooter all year. I have not lost one iota of sleep over that, either. Keep shooting it. He’s open, he’s gonna be aggressive and we want him to be aggressive. He’s a big reason why we’re here.”
ESPN Boston: Crowder works graveyard shift to bury shooting woes
Yep, there’s no other way to say it… Jae Crowder’s shooting has sucked. I mean, I’ve seen guys suck at shooting before, but Jae’s shooting has been the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked.
Part of that is the ankle. He’s not driving as much and teams can key on his shooting a little more and that might be throwing him off. But part of that is just him, and the late night shooting session is just a way to exorcise some of those demons that have crept up recently.
I’m not too worried about Crowder. He’s still a threat out there who needs to be accounted for. The last thing the Hawks really want to do is let him start getting hot because they’ve sagged too far off of him. His shooting has been too consistent all year long for this slump to last much longer. He’s due for a couple of those shots to fall.
Also on the positive side, the other adjustments the Celtics made with the lineups got Crowder some better looks than he’s gotten in the Games 1 and 2. I think if those looks come again in Game 4, you’ll see at least a few more fall. I don’t think Crowder’s got many 10% shooting games left in him.
The biggest key for Crowder is to let the past go. No amount of worrying is going to get any of those shots back. No matter how much anyone wishes he could have shot better, none of those misses will turn into makes, so he might as well just forget they ever happened and walk into the gym like the Jae Crowder who finished this season with the best true shooting percentage of his life.
The shots will fall again eventually. I know fans love to see him losing sleep over it and it’s nice that he’s got this passion to be as good as he can be. Now that he’s gotten that out of his system though, it’s time to forget the past and just go out there and be Jae Crowder, shoot the good shots that he’s taken and made all year long, and let things happen.
Related links: CSNNE: Crowder determined to fix shooting woes | WEEI: Crowder heads back to the gym after Game 3 to work on shot | Herald: Crowder works to get out of slump
Page 2: Flopping = just trying to make winning plays
Marcus Smart’s flop during the final minutes of Game 3 Friday night was egregious enough to inspire a wrestling meme on the internet, but the Boston Celtics guard had a simple explanation for what happened.
“I was just trying to make winning plays for my team,” Smart said after practice Saturday.
[…] “I believe every player that plays is just trying to do everything he can to help his team,” Smart said. “Just make the plays. You just go out there. You know you’re going out there and playing hard and giving it your all and you just try to do anything you can in your power that you can do to help your team.”
Let’s just review the footage for a moment…
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
… So yeah, Kyle Korver had 5 fouls and had been torching the Celtics when he was finally able to get into the game and get a rhythm going. Drawing that foul would have eliminated a big threat and made life a lot easier on the Celtics. So in that sense, sure, Smart was trying to make a winning play, I suppose.
But then there’s also the way you go about things like this. Even if “I’m going to flop here and try to draw the foul” is the decision you make, let’s at least try to make the flop a little more believable, huh? Smart looks like he just took a spinning heel kick in this video. They’d even re-shoot that scene in a campy kung fu flick to make it look more believable that whatever that things was Friday night. You got bumped going up for the rebound… react like you got bumped going up for a rebound not like you were just shot at close range by a bazooka.
And yes, the message I have for Smart isn’t “stop flopping” because apparently that’s like telling him to stop breathing. Floppers are going to flop and Marcus Smart is a flopper. He’s also doing a lot of really good things out there and he has the potential to be a very important piece to the team’s future, but he’s a flopper. So the message is “stop flopping in unbelievable ways” because it looks ridiculous and it lessens your ability to actually get those calls in the future.
At what point do refs look at Smart doing stuff like that and stop calling things in his favor? The good thing is that no one will want to be whacked $5,000 (or more at this point for Smart) for flopping so he might have to choice but to tone it down. In the meantime, enjoy your life as an internet meme, Marcus.
Related links: Globe: Smart fined $5k for flopping | CSNNE: Draper: Smart’s flopping cheapens the game
And Finally…
Kevin Durant might have an extra day off…
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q_3vg6QnbY]… the league is cracking down on the flagrants. I’m not sure I agreed with any of the flagrant 1 calls in Game 3, but this from the Thunder-Mavs game is pretty clearly a flagrant 2. Now the question is will Kevin Durant be suspended for Game 5?
C’s-Hawks is pretty physical, and it wouldn’t shock me to see someone lose it a little here too after what we saw Friday night. Let’s hope it’s not one of our guys.
The rest of the links:
Globe: Boldfacers fill the stands for Celtics-Hawks | Bazemore has found a warm spot for Atlanta | Schroder doesn’t mind being the bad guy | Shauhnessy: C’s caught a break with no Thomas suspension | CSNNE: Can C’s carry momentum into Game 4 | Blakely: C’s dodge a bullet with no suspension for Thomas | ESPN Boston: Should Thomas have been suspended | Thomas not suspended, Schroder unhappy | WEEI: Stevens on game 4 lineup: “would be hard not to start the same group” | Herald: Thomas good to go | Physical education exam
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