Celts Avoid Cav-tastrophe! Game 4 Victory Cigar vs CLE 5/13 (BOS leads 3-1)

[BK_2020]

We won and are up 3-1, but Al is on a list of things to be worried about. Al is worn out. Derrick White's scoring is down, but also isn't playmaking like his usual self. The ball isn't swinging around in general. Celtics late game offense was waste 18 seconds and then go 1 on 1. They're at their best swinging the ball around.

There was not a single 1 on 1 possession in the final 5 minutes. Every possession was a high pnr where either the screener or the ballhandler got free and put the defense in rotation. We didn't waste 18 seconds either, mainly because the Cavs were forced to show double 40 feet from the basket to prevent us from wasting 18 seconds.

Yeah fine, but not PnR to get an open shot, pick and roll to force a switch and then one of the Jay's slowly tries to beat the switching player one on one. They were running PnR to dictate matchups but it still devolved into one player being guarded by another and trying to take him off the dribble or shoot a fade away. Not good offense.

Actually none of the PnRs played out the way you described it. I posted stills of all crunchtime plays earlier in the thread. In every play we ran, we either had driving lane or open shot or both.

[celticgreenie]

This probably improved after last night.

Read on Twitter

It did improve. Still after watching SGA putting on a mid range clinic against the Mavs last night to close out the last few minutes of the game or Jamal Murray's midrange proficiency in the playoffs even in the closing seconds of two games against the Lakers, makes me wonder what is Tatum's go to move that strikes fear in the heart of opponents. I know Paul Pierce once said Tatum is better than him. Not sure about that. Pierce was a handful in a close game with his midrange prowess and that counts for something big. A prime Pierce replacing Tatum with Jaylen Brown wins a championship in spite of the current coach.

Prime Pierce with Jaylen Brown is like recreating the Pierce - Toine partnership.
Let's look at some Pierce highlights in 4th quarters of close playoff games.
2002 ECF G1 - 1 for 4 from field, 5 of 11 from the line
2002 ECF G2 - 0 for 6 from field
2002 ECF G4 - After a good G3, goes 1-4 from the field in the 4th
2002 R2 G3 - 2 for 7 from field, 2-3 from the line
2002 R1 G3 - 1 for 5 from field
Another good 4th in R1.

2003 R1. Had a great 4th quarter of G1 but in the other close game (G5) went 3 - 10 in the 4th.
2003 R2G1. 5 points on 4 shots. Decent enough but we needed more. Scored just 20 in the 4th and lost by 4.

2004 - got swept in the 1st round by average of like 20 points per game. To Indiana.

2005 R1 G5 - 8 points on 7 shots and 2 free throws, which is decidedly mid.
2005 R1 G6 - 1 for 3 for just 2 points.

2008 R1 G4 - 0 for 3, 1 for 2 from the line. Bro had 1 point.
2008 R1 G6 - 1 for 2 for 2 points.
2008 R2 G1 - 0 for 2. 0 points
2008 R2 G5 - 4 shots and 10 free throws for 10 points. That is really bad efficiency but at least he wasn't a zero.
2008 R2 G6 - 1 for 3. 4 points on 3 FGs and 2 FTs.
Had an efficient G7 but very low volume of only 6 points.
2008 ECF G1 - 4 points on 4 shots.
2008 ECF G5 - 0 for 1. 1 of 2 FTs for 1 point.

2008 Finals G2 - efficient 5 points but got outscored by Leon Powe
2008 Finals G3 - 1 for 5 from field, 2 for 3 from the line
2008 Finals G4 - 1 for 4 from the field, 3 for 4 from the line
2008 Finals G5 - 1 for 4 from the field but shot 10 of 10 from the line for decent volume, bad efficiency 4th.

The verdict? Prime Pierce might be one of the worst 4th quarter performers of all time.

I would never compare Walker to Brown, but if we had to, Brown is better. Pierce would have had considerably better spacing on this current team especially with no Rondo.

[BK_2020]

So we are not even talking about what Pierce actually did but some theoretical Pierce who could, unlike in real life, score a lot of points efficiently when it counted. At that point, what even is the point of bringing up Pierce.

[Mr_Mojo_Risin]

We are up 3-1, averaging 119.3 points per 100, and have a net rating of +5.3. There's no reason to panic and play the 15th guy on the depth chart.

But they are saying mean things on the other boards they even claimed this team isn't perfect.