Category: Celtics

On the Road Again? No Better Place to Be for Game 7

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NOTE FROM BIG Z: I wrote this piece almost five years ago. Tonight is the first Game 7 in any sport since I wrote this piece. I think it holds up quite well. One nugget to add – road teams across the NHL, NBA and MLB have won six straight Game 7’s going back to the 2014 World Series. The road team has won the last three Stanley Cup Final Game 7’s. The last home team to hoist the Cup after a Game 7 was the 2006 Hurricanes.

As I’m sure you heard last night, this 2019 World Series was the first best-of-seven postseason series in the history of major North American sports where the road team won all seven games. Pretty remarkable. What’s also remarkable is how well road teams have fared in winner-take-all Game 7’s over the past decade. Not all that long ago you could bet your house on the home team in Game 7. Not any more.

When the Pittsburgh Penguins won Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final they were the first team in any of the North American major men’s sports leagues to win a Game 7 of a championship round on the road since, fittingly, the Pittsburgh Pirates won Game 7 of the World Series on the road in 1979. For nearly 30 years, no road team won a championship round Game 7 on the road.

For the Penguins, they were the first NHL team to win a Stanley Cup Final Game 7 on the road since 1971. During the 38 years in between, road teams were 0-6 in Stanley Cup Final Game 7’s. Since 2009, road teams are 3-0 in Stanley Cup Final Game 7’s.

The San Francisco Giants got Major League Baseball road teams off the Game 7 schneid in 2014, when they defeated the Kansas City Royals in Game 7 of the World Series in Kansas City. In between the 1979 Pirates and 2014 Giants, road teams were 0-9 in World Series Game 7’s. Since 2014, road teams are 4-0 in Game 7 of the World Series.

More recently, the Cleveland Cavaliers got NBA teams of the Game 7 schneid when they defeated the Golden State Warriors in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals. The last NBA team to win Game 7 of the Finals on the road had been the Washington Bullets in 1978. In the 38 years between, road teams went 0-6 in Game 7’s. The 2016 NBA Finals was the last NBA Finals to go seven games.

Across all three leagues (because the NFL, obviously, does not play series), no road team won a Game 7 in the 1980s (0-for-7) or the 1990s (0-for-4). Road teams were nearly blanked in the 2000s (1-for-8), too, until the 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins won the Cup in Detroit. That means road teams lost a mind boggling 18-straight winner-take-all Game 7’s. They’re 7-3 this decade, and have won the most recent Game 7’s in all three leagues. That includes the last NBA Finals Game 7, the last three Stanley Cup Final Game 7’s and the last four World Series Game 7’s.

After losing 18-straight Game 7’s from 1982-2006, road teams in all three leagues are 8-3 in championship round Game 7’s since.  So what changed? Some ideas:

  • Air travel is much easier today than it was in 1984 when the Lakers had to fly to Boston for a Game 7 in the (presumably 94°) Boston Garden (the NBA still followed a 2-2-1-1-1 format at that time). The Cleveland Cavaliers probably had a bit of an easier time flying to the Bay Area in 2016 when they defeated the Warriors on the road in Game 7.
  • With more players changing teams more frequently, there may be less of a home-field advantage. Justin Verlander didn’t pitch in Game 7 on the road in in 2017, but hear me out. He got traded from Detroit to Houston on August 31st that year. If he had pitched in Game 7 of the World Series in LA, would it have been much different for him than if he had pitched in a Game 7 in Houston? He was traded there less than two months earlier. I know that athletes don’t live like us, but his pad in Houston in October 2017 was probably more like Ryan Bingham’s condo than he would care to admit. He probably wasn’t rolling out of bed in a mansion in Houston at that time before he rolled up to the ballpark. Derek Jeter, on the other hand, had quite the home field advantage. In 80 career playoff games at home he hit .332 in with 12 home runs and 29 RBI in 322 at bats. In 78 road playoff games, he hit .284 with just 8 home runs and 27 RBI in 328 at bats. Playing for one team for 20 years gets you a really nice routine, I suppose.
  • It seems as if home teams have been awfully tight at home in Game 7’s recently. The Bruins at home against the Blues just four months ago seems like a pretty good example of that. I don’t know how/why the psychology of playing at home would change over the last decade, but maybe fans tweeting on their phones all game and taking selfies has changed the energy levels in these venues? That would certainly seem to hurt the home teams more than the road teams.
  • A combination of point #1 and #3. With air travel being easier (and cheaper) than ever, maybe more fans are following their teams on the road for Game 7? I bet the Boston Garden was 98% Celtics fans in 1984’s Game 7. What percentage of Minute Maid Park last night was Nationals fans? I’m not sure, but I bet it was substantially more than 2%. That could certainly change the vibe of a building, too.

Whatever the reason, one thing is certain. Boy am I glad I don’t bet on baseball.

 

As Kevin Durant Trade Speculation Drags On Celtics Should Stay the Course With Core

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While the Kevin Durant soap opera drags on, it seemed like any interest the Celtics may have had in the Slim Reaper evaporated once they started bolstering the current roster with legit rotation guys like Malcolm Brogdon and Danilo Gallinari. These are the exact kind of moves that seemingly fill the holes that the 2021-22 team had. But then a late night Woj bomb said the C’s were still in on KD. In retrospect it looks like Woj and/or Shams may have been doing the bidding of Nets GM Sean Marks looking to drum up a better return, who 4 weeks after the initial trade request has “failed” to find a new home for Durant. Whether that’s by design or not is debatable because it’s impossible to get equal value for a player like Durant. The Jazz getting FOUR first rounders for Rudy Gobert didn’t do teams hoping to lowball the Nets any favors either. Hence, the trade speculation continuing into its third month which is unheard of in today’s NBA.

Either way the question will not go away as there have been reports of specific trade offers the Celtics have made to Brooklyn as well as counter offers by the Nets. (Tatum completely sidestepped the question when asked if he wants the team to keep Brown or go after Durant so that must be confidence inspiring for Jaylen.) My original point remains though, the Celtics need to stay the course rather than blow up their core to bring in Kevin Durant, who is without a doubt an all-time talent, but will also be 34 when the season starts with a significant injury history. As tempting as it is to chase the dragon here after years of the Celtics promising fireworks (and Kevin Durant is the Drogon of NBA trade bait), if I’m the Celtics I am standing pat.

The Celtics literally just got to the NBA Finals and lost to a once in a generation type dynasty. Disappointing, but losing to a team that has won four of the last eight NBA championships is hardly a reason to blow up your entire roster. If I could get Durant without giving up Tatum or Brown then yes absolutely 100%, but that’s only happening in NBA2K after you turn off the fair trade feature.

The Nets super team experiment clearly has imploded with some going so far as to call it “the biggest disappointment in NBA history.” I’m not ready to give it that lofty title quite yet, but it is the kind of calamity that people will write books about. After Kyrie hemmed and hawed about whether he even wanted to come back to Brooklyn (all while trying to secure that max deal from the very same employer), he finally decided to opt in for the last year of his deal. Not long after Kyrie hit send on the tweet, Kevin Durant decided he’d had enough of the clown show and wants off the ride.

While the internet mockery of the Nets has died down in recent weeks, it still seems like just a matter of time until Durant is dealt. With a young team on the verge of a title and having just brought in key reinforcements, I hope Brad Stevens doesn’t try to move up the timeline and make a trade that could derail the whole thing.

PS – With all that being said, it would be high quality entertainment if the Celtics were to trade for Durant and then win a championship at the expense of yet another Brooklyn trade. Nets fans would be screaming at their TVs like Obi-Wan on Mustafar.

Kendrick Perkins Reveals Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo Legit Threw Hands in 2008

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I live for stories like this about old championship winning teams and the late 2000s Celtics are one of my favorite teams of all time. Just a group of aging veterans/hyper competitive alpha males/future Hall of Famers all chasing their first ring, thrown together with a no bullshit head coach and a capricious young point guard infamous for destroying children in games of Connect Four.

Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen when you say it like that.

Rondo was like the younger brother picking fights with all the biggest guys in the neighborhood, which at times made him more Tommy Devito than John Stockton. So it’s no surprise that Allen, who always seemed to be wanting more credit for the Celtics’ dominance, butted heads with a vocal and at times volatile young Rondo.

Rondo vs Ray was never a well kept secret, but I had no idea they actually, physically came to blows. That’s the kind of shit we did in our high school locker room to blow off some steam or settle a score so I get it, but I’m describing a group of 17-year-olds. This little parquet fight club was taking place when Rondo was 22 and Ray was a fully grown man at 32-years-old!

I can only imagine Doc Rivers and his gravelly voice in the background just reminding everyone about the first (and second) rule of Fight Club, which Perk finally broke all these years later.

This only adds to the legendary stories of just how unhinged that 2008 Celtics team truly was including Kevin Garnett’s arm wrestling dominance:

“KG tops it all off with a classic Garnett moment, screaming I’m the Alpha Male in this bitch. This guy is the most competitive person in the history of the world and I don’t think thats an exaggeration”

Jayson Tatum’s (Probably) Favorite Rapper Nelly to Perform at Halftime of Game 3. Celtics By a Million Tonight.

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Jayson Tatum’s fellow son of St. Louis, the one and only Nelly, is performing at halftime of Game 3 of the NBA Finals in Boston tonight. I don’t know if Tatum requested a little pump up music from (probably) his favorite rapper or if Wyc think JT and the team needs a little extra juice going into the 3rd quarter, but I like it. If I’m the Celtics I’m letting Nelly put on a 45 minute set like it’s the Super Bowl halftime show. Just let Nelly play “Heart of a Champion” 12x in a row like he’s Jay-Z and Kanye in Paris, solely to get Tatum fired up.

It’s impossible to not wanna run through a wall after hearing that absolute banger, even though Tatum was like Deuce’s age when the Sweatsuit album dropped back in 2004…

True story: “Heart of a Champion” was the Power Song on my Nike+ app back in 2007. And if you don’t know what a Power Song or a Nike+ app are then I have successfully flooded this blog with enough 10-15 year old references for one day.

Jayson Tatum is Officially All-NBA First Team

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NBC Sports – For the first time in his young career, Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum has been named to the All-NBA First Team. Tatum was voted to the exclusive club alongside Milwaukee Bucks center Giannis Antetokounmpo, Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker, Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Dončić, and Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić. He received 49 first-team votes, 47 second-team votes, and three third-team votes for a total of 390 points.

The 24-year-old is the first Celtics player to be selected to the All-NBA First Team since Kevin Garnett in 2008.

I have been calling this since 2017, just *weeks* into his rookie season, but Jayson Tatum can now officially call himself an All-NBA First Team player. Superstar. Is an MVP trophy next? He’ll be going head to head with Luka Doncic for that trophy over the next decade, but I’d be shocked if he doesn’t put at least one up on his mantle if not more. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves since we’re just a few days removed from Tatum having more turnovers than baskets like he did in Game 3. Granted he followed that up with 3`1/8/5 and is averaging 27.2 points per game in the playoffs thus far.

If the Celtics don’t take care of business though and get bounced in the Eastern Conference Finals by the Heat for the second time in three years then this all becomes kind of hollow. So hopefully this motivates Tatum to show out and ride his greatest personal accolade ever into his greatest team accomplishment ever; a trip to the NBA Finals.

Now, let’s check some receipts!

Don’t Look Now, But the Celtics Are…Good?

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Watching the Celtics roll to 9-1 in their last 10 games (including a complete dismantling of the Sixers) with their only loss coming by one point, has me feeling like Austin in Not Another Teen Movie when he sees Janey Briggs’s “makeover.” Complete and utter shock. The makeover in this analogy being the Celtics’ renewed focus and tenacity on defense. After months of up and down play, has this team finally figured it out?

The Celtics are….good?

ESPN’s Zach Lowe seems to think so:

“Boston is about to overtake the Golden State Warriors for No. 1 in defensive efficiency. Their starting five has allowed a bonkers 88.8 points per 100 possessions — easily the stingiest mark among lineups that have logged 100-plus minutes…Smaller groups with Time Lord as the only traditional big have been impenetrable; Boston’s potential new closing lineup — Smart, White, Brown, Tatum, Robert Williams — might be a problem…They are a threat to beat any conference rival in the playoffs..”

Anybody can cherry pick specific stats and point to a winning streak as reasons to be optimistic, but the Celtics weren’t exactly playing the Warriors and Bucks every night. The Ringer says the Celtics recent success goes beyond that though:

Sure, a favorable recent schedule helps, but point differential is a stronger predictor of future success than record, and the streaking Celtics now boast the best point differential in the conference, at plus-4.8 per game.

Already a defensively oriented team—the Celtics are up to second in the league in defensive rating, per CtG—Boston doubled down at the trade deadline. Individual defensive stats are squishy, but trade acquisition Derrick White ranks fourth in the entire league in defensive impact this season, according to estimated plus-minus. Boston now employs two guards who rank in the top 10. Good luck scoring against the Celtics’ new closing five.

I know the NBA is worlds different than it was back in 2007-08, but seeing the Celtics return to one of the toughest defenses in the league to play against has me clutching my beer stained Kevin Garnett jersey.

This team needs more than just a hot streak to turn their season around because we’ve seen chemistry issues for a couple of years now. It’s put up or shut up time for this group or else Brad Stevens will have every justification he needs to shake this team up in the offseason. But, can we please put to bed the narrative that Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown don’t want to play together? Can they improve their ability to consistently play well at the same time rather than just watching each other go off for 30+ in alternating games? 100 percent. But splitting them up? Unless you’re getting an elite elite level talent like KAT then splitting up the Jays makes this team worse, and not in one of those addition by subtraction kind of ways. Most players in the league leave their current team so they can link up with another All-Star. That’s exactly what Tatum and Brown have here in each other. Even Tatum scoffed at the notion on JJ Reddick’s podcast recently.

Speaking of the chemistry issues this team has seen bubble to the surface, Tatum, also on Reddick’s podcast, addressed the comments Marcus Smart made early in the season calling out him and Jaylen Brown.

While Tatum didn’t address the comments for several days in the aftermath, he said a meeting with Marcus Smart at the practice facility ended up getting everyone on the same page.

“I wasn’t angry or mad or anything,” Tatum said. “I just waited to the next day. I saw Marcus at the facility and we sat down and talked. It was a great talk actually. We had some time to sleep. The adrenaline was gone from the game. He apologized for what he said and that was something he shouldn’t have said in the media and that they got his words mixed up. I didn’t take offense.

“I started it off by saying, ‘Bro I’m not perfect. I make mistakes. I still got a long way to go from where I’m trying to get to.’ I think we ended the conversation on, we are in this together, we are all on the same team and we are trying to figure it out. Trying to say things like that in the media doesn’t help anyone’s case because that’s all they talk about for the next week or so when referring to the Celtics. It wasn’t the end of the world. No harm, no foul, we are past it now. “ – via MassLive

Smart can be a loose cannon at times. The man still has glass in his hand from punching a picture frame a couple years ago, but if you tell me that you’ve never punched an inanimate object, then you’re a liar and we can’t be friends. So yes, he can be…let’s say…hot headed, and the words “Marcus Smart for three” keep me up at night, but this team is simply better when he’s engaged and playing his role. Easier said than done, but it’s true. And Tatum knows that.

With that said, I have been incredibly wary of truly investing in this team because the Celtics really have been like Lucy ripping the football away from Charlie Brown the last couple of years. Now I always take advanced analytics with a grain of salt because you can paint any picture you want with the right numbers, but when their core four are all healthy and playing together this team is GOOD.

This season Tatum has missed time, Brown has missed time, Williams has missed time so naturally Marcus Smart left the Sixers game the other night with a hobbling ankle injury. With the All-Star break though he’ll have had plenty of time to rest up. So hopefully, hopefully the Celtics can soon get their core four together on the court all at once and with the addition of Derrick White finally make the deep playoff run we all know they’re capable of making.

The Celtics are back in action on Thursday night to take on the new look Brooklyn Nets with James Harden getting swapped out for Ben Simmons at the deadline.

Celtics Re-sign Robert Williams for 4 Years So Time Lord Shirts Are Now Essential

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The Celtics have been anything but idle this offseason so it’s hard to fault them for not at least trying to improve after last season’s flameout. Among those moves is the 4-year $54 million contract extension for Robert Williams III, which means Time Lord shirts are now essential. (Swipe swipe)

Time Lord really has become a cult figure amongst fans in Boston as you either stan for the freakishly athletic, rebound grabbing big man with silky smooth passing skills or you rail against the undersized, oft injured backup center.

I fall into the former category and so do a lot of our readers, evidenced by the fact that the Time Lord shirt is by far our best selling shirt.

While it may seem like splitting atoms to fans, the contract isn’t fully guaranteed with a portion of the deal based on incentives tied to playing time (something that has eluded Williams due to injuries).

Williams can earn just over a $1 million each season if he hits those incentives, which mostly hinge on his playing time. The big man can earn $446,000 per year if he plays 69 or more games, according to Brian Robb of MassLive. Should he hit that mark, Williams can earn even more if the Celtics make it to the conference semifinals and/or conference finals.

Hitting the 69 game mark is no guarantee for Williams, considering the 23-year-old has never played in more than 52 games over his three NBA seasons. Injuries have long been his nemesis, and he’ll have to shake that to earn the maximum value over the life of his extension with Boston. – via CBS Boston

I admit I was a bit surprised at the size of this deal when I first saw it, $10 million +/- a couple mil for a big man that can run the floor is not outrageous. If Williams can continue to improve, both his game and his 18.9 minutes per game, then this contract will end up being a solid deal for the Celtics.

Obviously if he continues getting hurt and playing less than 52 games a season then this deal could end up being a problem. The one thing I will say though is this is an easily tradable contract because of William’s potential as a player, but more importantly the relatively low average annual value. So while this does eat into the Celtics cap space, it does not preclude them from making a deal for someone like Bradley Beal should that opportunity present itself.

Not to mention the benefit of keeping your best player happy by re-signing guys he actually wants to play with.

As I’ve said here in the past, I am a huge jersey guy and as part of that I refuse to buy any player’s jersey unless they’ve recently signed a contract extension because I’ve been burned before. Robert Williams III is now locked into the C’s long terms plans so if you haven’t done so already, go get yourself a Time Lord shirt and get ready for the season.

Marcus Smart Isn’t Going Anywhere and That’s a Good Thing

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As Phil Jackson once told Toni Kukoc when the Bulls were trying to sign the Euro amidst a lot of waffling and hesitation, “shit or get off the pot kid.” Reports recently surfaced that the Celtics had offered Marcus Smart a contract extension earlier this month and the team had not heard back from the point guard’s agent. I’m sure there were some hurt feelings with all of the trade speculation being thrown around, but this deal solidifies Smart as a part of the Celtics plan for the (at least immediate) future.

The Celtics have had a rocky past year with a gigantic missed opportunity in the NBA bubble playoffs, followed up by a .500 season and getting dusted in the first round by Brooklyn, then their biggest offseason move being a salary dump of their oft injured point guard, Kemba Walker. So the C’s needed some good news, or at least some sense of stability, and thats what the Marcus Smart signing is right now.

There have been tons of reports over the last couple of years that Smart rubs some of his teammates the wrong way or that he even butts head with former head coach turned GM Brad Stevens, but it would appear much of that was overblown. Sure the Celtics could be thinking a bird in the hand is better as their reasoning for re-signing Smart, but I cannot fathom Stevens with all of his intimate knowledge of the Celtics roster and team dynamics would bring Smart back if he was such a problem. His teammates seem to be happy about the deal too so there’s that.

Does he jack up too many shots he has no business taking? Yup. Does he think he’s just as important as future MVP Jayson Tatum? Probably. And is he an emotional roller coaster of a player? 100% But sometimes a team needs that fiery, get in your face type guy, especially on a team who’s best player in Tatum is just not an emotional leader. Enter, Marcus Smart.

The money might seem like a lot at first glance (4 years at $77 million), but when you see the stupid money getting thrown around the NBA then this deal is practically frugal in comparison. Especially if Smart makes the majority of starts at PG or even ends up splitting duties with Dennis Schroder (who in an all-time mental lapse turned down said stupid money in the form of an $80+ million offer from LA and is now playing for the C’s on a 1-year midlevel exception).

The average annual value of Smart’s extension will range from $17-$21 million over the 4 years of the deal, which this past season wouldn’t have even cracked the Top 50 highest paid players in the NBA. Smart averaged a career high in points at 13.1 per game with 5.7 assists and 3.5 rebounds last year, not to mention is a 2x All-Defensive first team selection as arguably the best defender in the game at times. So this deal is far from outrageous.

Are this the fireworks that fans were hoping for? No of course not, but it’s a…smart…move that also allows the Celtics to keep their financial flexibility heading into the big ticket summer of 2022.

That is if you buy into the hype of a superstar signing in Boston, which I am less than certain on. I’m a little tired of always looking ahead to *next* summer for the real monster moves the Celtics never make. Sure they signed Al Horford, Gordon Hayward, and Kemba Walker to max contracts in the last handful of years, but 2/3rds of those relationships had ignominious endings. Hopefully Brad taking over for Danny Ainge in the front office and Horford returning helps, at the minimum, improve the Celtics’ public perception problem around the league.

The 2021-22 Celtics may not be better on paper, but I think this is a situation where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. You now have Smart, Tatum, and Jaylen Brown all signed long term for big money so in theory all should be comfortable in their roles. You have culture building locker room veterans in Horford and Enes Kanter, added scoring off the bench in Schroder, and brought in a new coach that seemingly will be better equipped to connect with players as a youngish black man in Ime Udoka with the credibility of being a former player and coming from the Gregg Popovich coaching tree (whom Tatum just played for at the Olympics). Could this team end up being nothing more than another likable, plucky, 7 seed based on talent alone? For sure. But if Tatum and Brown continue to improve and this team can actually have defined roles for guys with consistent scoring off the bench, then I think Celtics could surprise a lot of people next season.

The Celtics Are Even Getting Ripped by Team Broadcaster Mike Gorman Now

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The Celtics are officially a sub .500 team and things have gotten so bad that even team broadcaster Mike Gorman is now ripping them on the radio. Last night’s loss to the Mavericks was an absolute heart breaker, but at least you got beat by Luka Doncic, who is arguably the best player in the league right now.

The Celtics nearly came back and showed some balls making it a game in the final 5 minutes, but it was ultimately another display of miserable basketball down the stretch that sunk this team yet again as they fell to 15-16. In the last month the Celtics have lost to some of the worst teams in the league including the Kings, Pistons, Hawks, Wizards, and not to mention blowing a 24 point lead in New Orleans.

And now they’ve pissed off local legend Mike Gorman. During his weekly appearance on Toucher and Rich, Gorman came in hot right out of the gate.

“The All-Star game is a perfect showcase for [Tatum and Brown] because they have an abundance of individual skills and that’s what the All-Star game is all about, individuals going one on one. Unfortunately last time I looked basketball is a team game, it’s not tennis, it’s a team game, and we just played like we met on the bus on the way over. It’s really sad to watch these guys right now.”

The Celtics have been playing middling defense the last few weeks and are statistically one of the worst 4th quarter teams in the league. Gorman ripped the players for not owning up to their own failures and even had to get dumped by T&R for swearing, which was hilarious and something I’ve never heard from the always even-keeled broadcaster.

“We have a tendency in all sports to always point at the manager or the coach and fire him. How about the players stepping up and taking some responsibility here? How about these guys stepping up and saying hey look I know we didn’t play well, or we came out flat, we weren’t ready to play. That is such a bullshit excuse. You gotta be ready to play, it’s your job…The players need to be accountable. “

With all of that the Celtics are now a sub .500 team nearly halfway through the season, which is not something I would have ever expected. Yes, Marcus Smart has been out a couple of weeks and Kemba is hobbled by a knee injury, but Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are both All-Stars and the Celtics have one of the best coaches in the league. Yet they’re now 15-16 and are currently the No. 6 seed. How??

“Am I saying Tatum and Brown are responsible for the Celtics current record? Yea I am, I really believe that to be the case because when you’re the best player on a team you also get the glory and you also get the gas,” Gorman said. “You also have to lead by example, if you expect your teammates to be unselfish, you need to be unselfish. If you expect your teammates to play hard, you gotta play hard ALL THE TIME. It’s terrific that you can get 27 a night, but how about 22 and the C’s win the game? Enough with the one on one at the end of every quarter, enough with no assists over the course of a half. It’s really tough to watch these guys play right now, they do really play like they just met.”

With Kemba hobbled and Smart out, the C’s are basically Brown and Tatum and then just a bunch of guys. You’d think two All-Stars would be able to feast on basement dwelling competition, but that has not been the case. It was another thing that jumped out at me from the Gorman interview. When T&R asked if he thought Brown and Tatum have the killer instinct that someone like Luka Doncic showed in spades last night, here was his response:

“I think they have the game for it, I don’t know if they have the personality for it.”

That is concerning.

In fairness, after Tatum and Brown there’s no real scoring threat on this team. The bench is comprised of young unproven guys and disappointing veterans. There’s not a single guy on that bench who could threaten to be a starter, which I know is a delicate balance (see Terry Rozier) but the C’s just don’t have much firepower after the Jays.

Attitude has been an issue at times too. Jaylen Brown is a smart, thoughtful guy, but he was asked about the team’s ball movement recently and his response was no comment.

Not a good look.

Then we have Danny Ainge on Toucher and Rich saying maybe this just isn’t their year. WHAT? I appreciate the honesty and the pragmatism, but it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. I understand it would be stupid to rush into a trade and massively overpay for anyone, but we also have to realize that this team needs to be continuously improving or at least trying to improve. For the past few years the C’s have mainly stood pat at the trade deadline, which is fine when you’re building towards something. You have to remember though that even though Tatum and Brown are only 22 and 24, these guys aren’t on lifetime contracts. The clock is ticking and I think there needs to be a sense of urgency that this team hasn’t faced in a while. If another year or two goes by without the C’s improving and making progress towards winning a title what’s to stop Tatum from saying ya know I’ve always wanted to play in LA like my idol Kobe Bryant? Or god forbid this team gets worse and your two stars start lining up their next spot like half the league’s best players seem to do routinely these days.

The Celtics have trusted the process and stuck to their guns and been rewarded with two under 25 all-stars that could very easily become superstars, but they can’t afford to just sit on their hands.