With Bradley out, the Celtics experimented with rookie Terry Rozier to not very much success, and it was clear they weren’t the same without Bradley. Bradley often had joined that group, too. MANDATORY CREDITThe NBA playoffs are supposed to be the time when the casual approach many teams take in the regular season goes out the window. Crowder is arguably Boston’s second-best player, but the veteran forward scored just two points in 35 minutes of action in Game 2. While it’s clear Isaiah is our best playmaker and creator out of the pick and roll, his outside shooting allows someone like Turner or Smart to have more space to operate if they’re the primary ball handler. “It’s on the players – we’ve got to do a better job executing”. While the 67 win San Antonio team are fully rested and are playing a full squad, Memphis is playing without it’s two best players in Marc Gasol and Mike Conley. The starting forwards have also struggled, with Jae Crowder in particular not contributing much on offense.
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“There’s a lot of pride just in the Celtics, in the logo, in the uniform, in the history”, said Korver, who finished 5 of 7 on 3s and, along with Al Horford, led the Hawks with 17 points. The Celtics own an offensive rating of 98.6 with Jerebko on the floor, which isn’t all that glitzy, but it’s the third highest mark on the team at the moment. -5 series. It’s more like a regular-season game between the Warriors and the 76ers. That number has plummeted to 76 (and he’s a minus-17.1 in net rating) in the playoffs. The Celtics were without Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynyk on Tuesday and they simply couldn’t keep up with a Hawks team that was at full strength.
“I’m always ready. I don’t care if that’s starting or coming off the bench first or coming off the eighth man, ninth man – no matter what it is”, said Jerebko.
“If there’s anyone in this locker room that has confidence in him, I’m probably the ringleader”, Bazemore said.
“I’m not Brad. I can’t speak for Brad”.
Korver said the team has faith in Hinrich if he has to come into the game.
Sullinger, however, noted the team’s issues at the start of games might go beyond personnel.
Speaking of mobile bigs from Atlanta, Paul Millsap was just downright fantastic tonight.
“We’ve got to figure it out”. We kept talking about, ‘We can’t keep doing this.’.
The Celtics roster should get upgrades during the upcoming free agency period and NBA Draft, in which the Celtics have three first-round selections.
Stevens stressed to his players that a better start won’t necessarily ensure a better result.
“Those guys gotta step up – including myself – and we all just have to put one good game together to give us some confidence”, said leading scorer Isaiah Thomas, who had 16 points – more than six below his season average – and shot 4 of 15 on Tuesday.
“That’s that. Sully and Smart are still going to play, still going to play big parts for us”. “The other night it was one of those nights where we didn’t shoot it (well at first), like we had done some really good things and then once we started making shots we felt really good about our chances”. They have used as many as 28 players during the regular season, a National Basketball Association record.
“It never felt like we were playing at their level”. “I can’t wait. Probably going to be loud and energized”.
A sense of urgency will be needed on Friday for the Celtics to win and avoid the dreaded 0-3 hole.
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Here’s eight thoughts I had on the game and how I think they can change some things up for Games 3 & 4.
