Query 1: Say the Boston Celtics misplaced to an Orlando Magic crew with no gamers on it. It was… (select one response)
- …a statistical fluke!
- …pathetic!
- …deeply regarding and justification for widespread alarm — gentle the lantern in Outdated North Church!
- …completely regular. All groups lose often.
More often than not, possibility 1 and 4 are fairly and measured responses. Often you must fireplace up reply 2, like when Boston blows a recreation at full energy to the Anthony Davis-LeBron Jamesless Los Angeles Lakers, and I actually attempt to keep away from going full Paul Revere with possibility 3. We attempt to preserve it easy and rational round right here (many individuals chuckle backstage).
Tonight’s loss, although, necessitates a better look. The Magic had been taking part in with virtually no one, loses all three of Mo Wagner, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner to damage and beginning two gamers named Tristan Da Silva and Trevelin Queen. The Celtics had been at full energy aside from one, super-seriously-important caveat: a last-second Jayson Tatum absence resulting from an sickness.
A majority of these issues have unmeasurable influence on NBA video games: on one hand, you may say the Celtics bought smacked within the face by a freak-Tatum illness pregame and had been unable to regulate their recreation plan; alternatively, the Celtics have a lot expertise and are skilled NBA gamers, in order that most likely shouldn’t have mattered.
And it didn’t matter for the primary half. The Celtics had been assertive, dominant and performed larger. However the Tatum absence was felt big-time down the stretch, with Boston going full I-got-this mode with isolation and no passing by any means dragging the Celtics down the pit of mediocrity. The Magic proceeded to drag themselves up by their bootstraps and ascended to the identical degree of mediocrity, giving themselves an opportunity in opposition to this no matter Celtics efficiency.
I’m not mad. I’m simply dissatisfied. It might have and may have been higher, however Boston performed themselves proper right into a funk and had been unable to bop out of it. The late-game execution was every little thing this crew used to battle with, and underscored how necessary Tatum has grow to be for this crew. Every little thing runs by way of him within the clutch, and the Celtics are liable to interrupt down with out him. It’s not an excuse, however it’s a cheap rationalization.
If you happen to’re tempted to smash possibility 1 and say it was a statistical fluke — the Celtics had been 8-32 from three, which is… not precisely nice — I might advise in opposition to that. Boston performed themselves out of the sport schematically, not simply numerically. There was no motion, no intentionality and no one was taking and making threes confidently. On paper, it is sensible, nevertheless it didn’t cross the attention check. The Celtics’ failure couldn’t be defined with “oh, simply make one!”; it was deeper than that.
The Payton Pritchard quotient can also be one thing to actively monitor. He struggled to attain all night time, notching a team-low -12 and sitting out the stretch even when the Celtics wanted a bucket, one thing he’s often nice at. There appears to be a creating correlation between Pritchard taking part in nicely and the Celtics taking part in nicely, so let’s keep watch over that one as we get nearer to the playoffs.
Last reply? I’ll go for a mixture of 3 and 4. These losses occur, and I’m not practically as freaked out by them as I might have been pre-Banner 18. However I’m guessing the Celtics gamers had been additionally not as freaked out, which paradoxically freaks me out a bit extra. They’re not going to have the identical desperation obtainable, so motivation to not do the stand-around-and-iso-ball factor must be discovered elsewhere.
Query 2 is… from the place?
