Your Morning Dump... Where there are no heroes on this Celtics team

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.

“We have to get to the point where we’re so good at controlling what we can for 48 minutes,” Stevens said. “We have to get better more consistently for that full 48 and to be successful against this caliber of team.”

So how do the Celtics do that?

First, they have to value possessions when the situation may allow for them to take a few more chances. That means they need to build on big leads, stop with the hero ball, such as below-average 3-point shooters taking 3-pointers off the fast break.

The Celtics want so badly to please the home crowd and create excitement at the Garden that they are prone to give away sizable leads at home because of hero ball. They continue to launch 3-pointers. Open threes are acceptable but the Celtics not only take unnecessary 3-pointers when they have leads, they make too many extra passes.

Globe: The Celtics need to be more consistent for 48 minutes, but how?

There’s a Jae Crowder three that stuck out in my mind when I read this. It was open shot on the fast break, and it would have brought the house down. The only problem was that the situation didn’t call for that shot at that time. Crowder had the ball with 20 seconds left on the clock and he heaved the first shot that was available.

I hate to single Crowder out like this because he’s not a below average shooter. He’s shooting 38% from 3 this year, which is ok. He was 1-6 from 3 against the Raptors, but generally we can count on Crowder to hit at at least an average rate.

Marcus Smart is probably the biggest offender here, but I think most of these guys have a tendency to do something like this from time to time. And the fact is… aside from Isaiah Thomas, there are no real heroes on this team.

Isaiah Thomas is the only guy on this team really capable of carrying the team offensively when it matters. The rest of these guys need to run a clean, crisp offense to make it work the way it’s supposed to.

There is still an element of guys finding their niche in the offense. Al Horford needs to figure out when to shoot instead of pass. His unselfishness is an amazing trait but sometimes it gets to be too much. Horford needs to understand that he’s probably no worse than the second scoring option whenever he’s on the floor. As much as we need him to create offense for other guys, we need him to create baskets.

But there’s an unmistakable need for some players to adjust their mentality. Smart needs to be MUCH more selective. When he’s taking shots in the flow of the offense, especially the threes in the corner, he’s a much more productive player. When he’s heat-checking his way to 29% shooting, then he becomes problematic. Yeah, he has this weird tendency to hit that shot late in games, but as I’ve said before, important clutch shots can happen in the third quarter if they stem the advancing tide of a team climbing back into a game.

Knockout punches are great for fans. As Gary Washburn noted in that piece, the Celtics are struggling a little more at home than on the road, suggesting that the hero ball is leading to these poor choices in an effort to make the crowd go nuts. A lot of these guys on the team have such extreme confidence, they feel like they can make all of these shots. I like that level of belief in themselves, but they have to be smarter about the shots they take.

This isn’t an easy thing for Brad Stevens to manage. As I’ve said often, part of what makes Smart so good is what also makes him take the shots that he does. The thing that makes him so great defensively also fuels the things that make him suffer offensively. So how does Stevens manage that?

Ultimately the way this offense will run well, with or without Isaiah Thomas, is when everyone is working in sync. Hero ball 3’s when you’re up 8, just got a stop, and are out in transition might work well for Klay Thompson or Steph Curry, but that’s not who the Celtics are. They need to turn those stops into baskets almost every time if they’re going to put teams away. That’s what they were doing last season when they got onto a roll, and that’s the single biggest missing element to this year’s team. The stops aren’t coming as often, and the Celtics aren’t turning them into layups.

I’m on board with this evolution that’s turned the league into a bunch of long-range bombers. I understand the math behind that and I accept that this is how the league works. But within that framework there is still room to be selective and make smarter plays.

Page 2: Someone called in a bomb threat on the Celtics team plane

The Boston Celtics received a bomb threat to their team plane Saturday during a flight to Oklahoma City, but have landed at their destination and everything is considered “all fine,” according to a team spokesman.

The Celtics became aware of the threat during the flight, but were still able to proceed to Oklahoma City as planned. After landing, the proper steps were taken to ensure the safety of everyone on the aircraft. A search of the plane and luggage turned up nothing ominous, according to the Celtics spokesman, and the players, coaches and staffers were taken off the plane by a bus.

Mass Live

Jae Crowder shared this short video from the scene…

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Luckily everyone is OK and this wasn’t a big deal. I can’t imagine how that felt, though.

Related Links: Globe: Celtics arrive safely after threat | CSNNE: Team plane receives bomb threat | ESPN Boston: Team plane lands safely after bomb threat hoax