Celts Order a 6 Piece But Only Get 5! Loss vs Nuggets 3/7

[FlatearthZorro]

Considering White was invisible, Tatum had 15 pts and we shot 28.6 from 3.. that was a close game... We did alright.. I think the Nuggets played pretty close to their potential and we didn't. Decent signs for me(was way more upset with the CLE loss).

Denver shot 19% from three and scored 115 lol

We make the most 3s in the NBA this season(per game)... And have the best offense, 2nd best defense. Again, without sounding cocky or overconfident, I think we're far superior than what we showed and it was still a super close game.

[FlatearthZorro]

Considering White was invisible, Tatum had 15 pts and we shot 28.6 from 3.. that was a close game... We did alright.. I think the Nuggets played pretty close to their potential and we didn't. Decent signs for me(was way more upset with the CLE loss).

No offense, but this is the type of homerism that is going to get you completely blindsided in the playoffs.

I don't think it's homerism. It's what the guys have showed so far. 1st ranked offense, 2nd ranked defense- what are we talking about? yes, we lost the game, but I still feel as if we did well, cause we shot the ball pretty poorly and we make the most 3s in the NBA per game this season, White was invisible, still it was a 1 possession game with under a minute left. It's not like we got blown out.

[Deivork]

Tough loss. We almost won a game we had little business winning (Nuggets outplayed the Cs for the most part) just like we lost against the Cavs game that we had no business losing.

Hardly the end of the world, but not very encouraging. The Nuggets' defensive plan worked (handle Tatum, let Brown cook and limit the 3s) and we were out of sorts. Team had some good moments but they seemed to lose their identity when their Plan A wasn't working. That's on Joe, and it's hardly new. But it also speaks a lot about the team as a whole and our best player, Tatum, who looked mentally discouraged. He needs to keep working on that.

White was criminally underused today and has been for a little while. I'm sure his average shots per game are down in the last 2/3 weeks. The team lacked offensive composure and counters to a well thought, well executed Denver defense. Brown carried the team, but hardly played a perfect game. KP contributed too, but seemed a little out of sorts. Some bad turnovers by him, Tat and Brown. KP looked really outmatched against Jokic. Ok, who wouldn't, but man he's not very disciplined on man defense. Just move your feet and raise your arms and 70% is done, you're 7-3. Guy's skinny and flops. Good shot-blocker but hardly Rob-level defense, as some claim.

Our defense was not as crisp today. Some unusual mistakes I would say, or just more visible when your offense is not going as usual.
There's still some room for improvement, sure, with a month and a half before the play-offs and even against the Nuggets but as of today they're the more disciplined, more tested team.

Go Cs.

[GoCeltics123]

Considering White was invisible, Tatum had 15 pts and we shot 28.6 from 3.. that was a close game... We did alright.. I think the Nuggets played pretty close to their potential and we didn't. Decent signs for me(was way more upset with the CLE loss).

Denver shot 19% from three and scored 115 lol

We make the most 3s in the NBA this season(per game)... And have the best offense, 2nd best defense. Again, without sounding cocky or overconfident, I think we're far superior than what we showed and it was still a super close game.

Denver won a game where they shot 7-31 from 3 by 20 this year, this is what having Jokic affords you to do. When your best player is that good, the threes don't matter nearly as much.

It's time for Tatum to step up, period point blank

[The Corey's]

Keep searching Brad, Tatum isn't taking this group to the promised land.

Celtics are winning it all.

Horrible game and they barely lost.

Murray had an uncharacteristically inefficient game himself, in the Nuggets made four threes. In their own kind of ways, they were equally as bad. The reality is they've controlled late game situations both times we've played them, and they won twice.

Celtics have been too good at home to blow a 7 game series.

People are acting like they got destroyed last night.

[Deivork]

Just like Lebron in 2011.

That's why I keep saying 2025 is the year the Cs will have the biggest chance of winning it all.

But this year they're good enough.

They just have to get better as the playoffs progresses.

JT will be fine.

He's just going through what guys like Lebron and KD went through when they were 25-26 years old.

I believe can overcome it, but only time will tell if he will. In any case let’s hope you’re right.

From Jordan to Lebron to KD, all of them didn't win their first ring until 27 or 28 years old.

We've seen this movie before.

Yeah, ok, while you have a point it's not that simple. Cs are stacked and JT doesn't project as a Top 15 all-time player. He needs to prove whether he can step it up against an ATG like Jokic in the finals. Not saying he can't, just saying it remains to be seen.

[Lee Van Cleef]

Those who say it was a close game, it could go either way, are fooling themselves.
Lakers played 7 or 8 very close games against them in the last 2 years, and they lost them ALL. Do you think they were simply unlucky?
The home-court advantage you are talking about, I bet it will evaporate at the end of the first game.
Yesterday's game was important, at least to me. It was not a game, it was THE game. We failed.
I lost my motivation to watch the rest of the season tbh.

[165bows]

I love all the felger takes after every loss. We lost by 6 to the best player in the world on a night where JB missed 7 FTs and Tatum scored 15. We can beat these guys in a series...they're just really really good and it will be brutal.

Everyone pretending like we haven't seen Tatum score 47 or whatever it was on the road in an elimination game vs the Bucks. Or 50 in a game 7. We'll be fine

Exactly!

The Nuggets were playing at their best, championship basketball, and they were one Jayson Tatum 3-pointer away from losing this game.

Celtics played bad and they were as close as you can get from getting a win in Denver.

The Cs just need to get comfortable in big games.

That's why all those wanting the Cs to blow out every team they face is just wrong.

Cs need to practice clutch situations in actual games because clutch situations can never be simulated in practice.

Why are people saying we just barely lost to the Nuggets at their best?

Murray had an uncharacteristically bad game, and the Nuggets only made 4 3s, 28% from the field.

They weren't even close to their best.

As a team the Nuggets were very nearly their season average TS%, .577 v .585 (which is commendable against a top defense).

Celtics average as a team is .608 and barely cracked .500 TS% last night.

If the metric is who under performed offensively, it’s Boston by a mile.

[165bows]

Those who say it was a close game, it could go either way, are fooling themselves.
Lakers played 7 or 8 very close games against them in the last 2 years, and they lost them ALL. Do you think they were simply unlucky?
The home-court advantage you are talking about, I bet it will evaporate at the end of the first game.
Yesterday's game was important, at least to me. It was not a game, it was THE game. We failed.
I lost my motivation to watch the rest of the season tbh.

The Lakers suck.

Denver as the reigning champion is the team to beat, said the same all year. Great team.

But they had a cake walk to the title last year.

[Deivork]

Watch on YouTube

[CelticsPride18]

Those who say it was a close game, it could go either way, are fooling themselves.
Lakers played 7 or 8 very close games against them in the last 2 years, and they lost them ALL. Do you think they were simply unlucky?
The home-court advantage you are talking about, I bet it will evaporate at the end of the first game.
Yesterday's game was important, at least to me. It was not a game, it was THE game. We failed.
I lost my motivation to watch the rest of the season tbh.

The Lakers suck.

Denver as the reigning champion is the team to beat, said the same all year. Great team.

But they had a cake walk to the title last year.

Jamal Murray guard matchups last postseason were Conley/CP3/Reaves or DLO/Gabe Vincent. They were excellent, but yeah the competition was weak last season.

[Red2]

We need tatum to find his alpha

[Fierce1]

We need tatum to find his alpha

That's fantasy.

Celtic owner already said they're all in on this team.

The roster will not change for a while.

[robbie84]

Physicality was the name of the game here. And we were missing it. Missed free throws, some easy transition baskets just thrown away. Some questionable officiating and a poor night from our best player make this a good wake up call for the Celtics. We aren't invincible and we have to start getting ready for playoff physicality.

It's our physicality that must improve if we are going to win a championship.

[zoyathedestroya]

It might still not have mattered in the end, but I would've gone White-Tatum-KP in the non-Jokic smallball minutes instead of trotting out Tillman-Horford pairing + PP/Hauser/? who can't punish them enough on offense. Or even Kornet as lonesome big with four shooters.

This is 2nd straight game now that Mazzulla's rotation choice worked miserably. Horford-Tillman was -14 in 10 minutes in a 6-pt loss. Horford-Kornet was -10 in 10 minutes against the Cavs in a 1-pt loss. Probably in mad scientist mode this time of the season esp with new big in the mix, but hate that it cost us those games.

[Fencer reregistered]

Denver shot 19% from three and scored 115 lol

We make the most 3s in the NBA this season(per game)... And have the best offense, 2nd best defense. Again, without sounding cocky or overconfident, I think we're far superior than what we showed and it was still a super close game.

Denver won a game where they shot 7-31 from 3 by 20 this year, this is what having Jokic affords you to do. When your best player is that good, the threes don't matter nearly as much.

It's time for Tatum to step up, period point blank

When the Celtics recently shot 5-22 from 3, they won by 18.

[Mr_Mojo_Risin]

It might still not have mattered in the end, but I would've gone White-Tatum-KP in the non-Jokic smallball minutes instead of trotting out Tillman-Horford pairing + PP/Hauser/? who can't punish them enough on offense. Or even Kornet as lonesome big with four shooters.

This is 2nd straight game now that Mazzulla's rotation choice worked miserably. Horford-Tillman was -14 in 10 minutes in a 6-pt loss. Horford-Kornet was -10 in 10 minutes against the Cavs in a 1-pt loss. Probably in mad scientist mode this time of the season esp with new big in the mix, but hate that it cost us those games.

I’m not saying Joe didn’t want to win but it’s common practice to leave cards up your sleeve against possible playoffs opponents, especially when you can afford to lose a game in terms of seeding.

I’d imagine we wanted to win but more straight up with less wrinkles.

Or possibly Joe’s rotations just sucked ass.

[zoyathedestroya]

It might still not have mattered in the end, but I would've gone White-Tatum-KP in the non-Jokic smallball minutes instead of trotting out Tillman-Horford pairing + PP/Hauser/? who can't punish them enough on offense. Or even Kornet as lonesome big with four shooters.

This is 2nd straight game now that Mazzulla's rotation choice worked miserably. Horford-Tillman was -14 in 10 minutes in a 6-pt loss. Horford-Kornet was -10 in 10 minutes against the Cavs in a 1-pt loss. Probably in mad scientist mode this time of the season esp with new big in the mix, but hate that it cost us those games.

I’m not saying Joe didn’t want to win but it’s common practice to leave cards up your sleeve against possible playoffs opponents, especially when you can afford to lose a game in terms of seeding.

I’d imagine we wanted to win but more straight up with less wrinkles.

Or possibly Joe’s rotations just sucked ass.

Yep, refer to previous similar comments that this team and their coach will ultimately be judged on how they perform in the postseason. (So what we're seeing now in terms of coach/superstar bashing is nothing compared to if they lose in May/June lol.)

[Triple7]

If we just made a couple more 3’s, and most of our free throws, we would have won this game. Problem i see is Tatum being too inconsistent. Even when we went to the finals, he had awful games following a great game. Playera like Jokic and Giannis rarely had awful games. They just always deliver every game. Tatum relies too much on shooting, and when he drives to the basket, he’s not elite at shot making. Even missing layups. Doesn’t use the board well. A little bump, then he loses control of the ball and just throws it at the basket hoping for a foul. He doesn’t even have a strong mid range game. Players like KD, booker, kawhi, SGA, Antman, luka can all drive to the basket, and just stop for a mid range shot. Tatum doesn’t have that. It’s either he drives to the basket, or post up and take a fade away. Bottom line, he takes hard shots. Scoring isn’t easy for him. If his 3 ain’t falling he’s got almost nothing. Lately, he’s been lazy on D. Doesn’t even box out.

[GrandTheftRondo]

If you don't believe in the Celtics, believe in Jokic.

Read on Twitter

Just so happens they're a more well-oiled machine than us. Partly because they've been together (core four at least) for at least 3 seasons. But mostly because Jokic makes them go. Jokic rarely has nights off.

I don’t think anyone is doubting we are a really good team.

The doubt is over our best player continuing to have all kinds of bizarre and poor games when the lights are bright.

I’ve been willing to give him a bit of a pass before because he’s young and had to grow up a lot.

But this season it’s becoming a common theme with him.

He was flat out awful in the first matchup against Denver so I expected a bounce back game from him in this one.

Instead he was completely passive most of the time and when he was aggressive he was too sped up and missed gimme layups.

We simply cannot win a title with our best player becoming completely anonymous against the best teams.

I do not understand how someone with his height, strength and athletic ability can continually be locked out of games like he ends up being.

It is clear that teams understand Tatum has clear exploitable weaknesses, throw bodies in his way and he goes to **** mentally.

People keep talking about him growing as a player but I’ve seen zero improvement in big games since 2022 when these issues first popped up.

Golden State and Miami caused him issues then.

Last season it was Philly and Miami (late in the first two games).

We become a completely different and far easier team to defend when teams know they can keep weaker defenders out there because Tatum hates the sight of a few bodies in front of him.