Query 1: Say the Boston Celtics misplaced to an Orlando Magic workforce with no gamers on it. It was… (select one response)
…a statistical fluke!
…pathetic!
…deeply regarding and justification for widespread alarm — mild the lantern in Previous North Church!
…completely regular. All groups lose often.
More often than not, choice 1 and 4 are fairly and measured responses. Sometimes you must hearth up reply 2, like when Boston blows a sport at full power to the Anthony Davis-LeBron Jamesless Los Angeles Lakers, and I actually attempt to keep away from going full Paul Revere with choice 3. We attempt to maintain it easy and rational round right here (many individuals chuckle backstage).
Tonight’s loss, although, necessitates a more in-depth look. The Magic have been enjoying with virtually no person, 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 have been at full power aside from one, super-seriously-important caveat: a last-second Jayson Tatum absence as a result of an sickness.
A lot of these issues have unmeasurable influence on NBA video games: on one hand, you can say the Celtics bought smacked within the face by a freak-Tatum illness pregame and have been unable to regulate their sport plan; alternatively, the Celtics have a lot expertise and are skilled NBA gamers, in order that in all probability shouldn’t have mattered.
And it didn’t matter for the primary half. The Celtics have been assertive, dominant and performed greater. However the Tatum absence was felt big-time down the stretch, with Boston going full I-got-this mode with isolation and no passing in any way dragging the Celtics down the pit of mediocrity. The Magic proceeded to drag themselves up by their bootstraps and ascended to the identical stage of mediocrity, giving themselves an opportunity towards this no matter Celtics efficiency.
I’m not mad. I’m simply dissatisfied. It might have and will have been higher, however Boston performed themselves proper right into a funk and have been unable to bounce out of it. The late-game execution was the whole lot this workforce used to battle with, and underscored how necessary Tatum has change into for this workforce. Every little thing runs by means 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 affordable rationalization.
When you’re tempted to smash choice 1 and say it was a statistical fluke — the Celtics have been 8-32 from three, which is… not precisely nice — I’d advise towards that. Boston performed themselves out of the sport schematically, not simply numerically. There was no motion, no intentionality and no person was taking and making threes confidently. On paper, it is smart, however it didn’t move 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 growing correlation between Pritchard enjoying properly and the Celtics enjoying properly, so let’s regulate 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’d have been pre-Banner 18. However I’m guessing the Celtics gamers have been additionally not as freaked out, which paradoxically freaks me out a bit extra. They’re not going to have the identical desperation out there, so motivation to not do the stand-around-and-iso-ball factor must be discovered elsewhere.
Query 2 is… from the place?
