Celtic Chalk Talk: Episode 4 - Celtics Rebounding Woes and Key Player Performances

Untitled project from SquadCast === Steve: [00:00:00] Welcome to Celtic Chalk Talk another week. Week four, we're gonna look at the four games they played and have some observations about them. We're gonna be on each Monday throughout the season. My name's Steve Perello. I'm a lifelong Celtic fan rooted for them since the Bill Russell days. Tells you a little bit about my age, but this week we're gonna talk about a little bit about the Celtics in their week. First thing they did, they lost to Utah by three in a very upsetting game. Couple things went on. First thing I you saw if you watched it, the Utah, you had a big lineup. It took Boston right outta their game. They couldn't rebound. We're gonna talk more about that like I do every week. The other thing that was glaring was Boston shot 10 for 51 from three. Now I have a definite feel about three point shots. I believe this. If you're open, shoot the ball. And they were open. There were good shots. They just were ice cold. And when you think [00:01:00] about that three point shot allows a bad team to beat a good team on a given night, which is great. Also a good team to lose to a bad team. Boston was better than Utah. They didn't shoot well. It's a very good fact. And I based something on years ago, I went to see the Celtics play. In New Orleans, and they, Marcus Smart was out before the game. And I really think everybody, if you go to a game, sh watch the guys come out before a game, go through a little workout. Marcus Smart was shooting threes. Now, Marcus Smart was not a good shooter. He missed, he made 10 straight threes from various areas on the court. The realization was these guys are great shooters when they're open. So that's why I use my thought that if you are open, shoot the ball, and depending on the context of the offense, but most times you should shoot the ball. That's just how it works. The game against [00:02:00] Utah was one of the most frustrating losses of all time. JB Jaylen Brown had a great game. 36 points. Boston opened the game leading 14 two and it looked like a blowout win 'cause Utah's on the road, they just got blown out the night before and so on. What hurt them was the defensive rebounding. Put a put back at the end of the game. We're gonna talk more about the rebounding situation. It seems like I'm talking about it every week, but ultimately the Celtics lost. The game because it had put back at the end. One other thing I wanna mention, there was a call where Jalen Brown, somebody fell in front of Jalen and he went flying with about 30, 40 seconds left in the game. There was no call now in the NBA list, the two minute report, they said the foul was missed. That was a big call that helped cost him the game. But when you go through it, if you don't rebound and you don't shoot, you're gonna have trouble winning anytime. The next game during the week was against [00:03:00] Washington. Now Washington's hurting. I was impressed with Alex Sarr and his ability to shoot and play, but the Wizards they're in a long rebuild. That's the nicest thing you could say. They won it by 30. It was really easy. JB Jalen Brown had 35 and 26 minutes only. What was impressive? Cada played very well. A double Minot played well, and Jordan Walsh, a guy we didn't hear much about and seemed to be buried as the last man on the team. He played well. And the bench was great. The Celtics got off to a horrible first quarter, but from that moment on, they just took over the game and just really blew out the the Wizards. So that evened it off then they went Friday night, they went over to Orlando for a two game series. Friday, Sunday, the Friday game was quite a frustrating game. The, celtics played, and it was an even game, fairly even till down the stretch. And [00:04:00] Orlando just put it away. Boston didn't execute at the end of the game, which is a very upsetting thing. The other thing that Boston did was they foul too much. They constantly foul and they're always putting the other team in the bonus and giving away points. That goes with the defense. That is aggressive and pressuring and so on, and it's something you gotta live with unless they can change and become bigger team and a better team in that way. Hugo Minot Josh Minot and Jordan Walsh again. Jordan Walsh played well, but the three of them were good disruptors and they played a very good game. Now they lose the game down the stretch, as I said. But. They played well. JB Jalen Brown had 32 and he continued his onslaught over everybody. Last night they played Orlando again and it looked like it was gonna be the same result down the stretch. There was an E one point game back and forth. Good game to [00:05:00] watch. And what happened? It was really interesting what went on there. All of a sudden, Boston put in the end of third, they put UO and Jared Walsh into the game. Huh? They came in and they were great. Hugo hit a big three. Walsh hit two threes, including one with about 30 seconds, 20 seconds left to put the game away. Put Boston up by about, I believe five. And that was a big shot of the game. The energy that those guys bring changes games. And the other guy I can't say enough about was Luca Garza. He had 16 and eight rebounds. He's a wider body that helps Boston with their lack of size, strength, and size. So he really came in and after Kada fouled out, he really was a key down the stretch. The other thing I have to mention, Anthony Simons Boston played the first quarter. Joe Missoula used two timeouts in the first six minutes. Why? Because there was no energy. [00:06:00] Boston wasn't playing hard. In the second quarter, Anthony Simons came in and in the second quarter, now again, I'm gonna repeat this in just the second quarter, Anthony Simons went off for 25 points and he single-handedly bought Boston back from a 14 point deficit early to a tie at halftime down the stretch. Boston this time eight was able to execute, including Jordan Walsh's Big three, Jalen Brown. Again, over 20 points in the game. Jalen Brown hit a big three, down to stretch two, and about a minute left or so, and that kept Boston going. But Jordan Walsh's energy steals all the little things he did help Boston. Now you could talk about Jordan Walsh for a while. I never saw this coming. He's playing great basketball now. He's playing so well that Joe Missoula played him for the fourth quarter, the whole fourth [00:07:00] quarter. He didn't take him out. Think about that. This is a guy that was the last guy on the team, has moved himself into one of the five guys at the end of a game. His energy. He had his hands around the ball. He was stealing helping flicking balls to fish steals and getting everything going. And the big knock on Walsh has always been, he can't shoot hit a big three at the end of the game. Jordan Walsh moved himself up into a better situation for the Celtics and you will see him get playing time, more time. Couple observations on the week. Boston goes on their defensive rebounding. I know I've said it numerous times. They need to get a wide body. Big Cada is a nice player developing, but he's not wide. If you go back to the Utah game, Celtics lead by one. Utah has the ball with a [00:08:00] few seconds left. They miss a shot. Keyshawn. George misses about a 10 footer he could have made, but the rebound comes off. There's Joseph Nage now. Kada was inside him, but Nage got the rebound and put it back. That loses the game. This stuff goes on all the time. Now, I wanna point out a fa a statistic that might be of interest when Boston. Better yet, between 75 and 80% you should get in rebounds. Defensive rebounds, meaning if you combine defensive rebounds with the other teams, rebounding, their offensive rebounding, you should get 75 to 80% at least, or usually in the game against Utah, 68%. It was all Boston got in the defensive rebounding some of the shots taken against Washington, 77%. See what, what happens when you rebound 73% in the [00:09:00] first Orlando game? Boston lost and 75% last night. So you're seeing a pattern here and that's the thing. Now, if you are a Celtic fan, which I hope most of us are here, you'll realize. When Boston plays a wide body team, they're in trouble. Go back to a week before against Houston, they got blown out. Stephen Adams and Shang Goon Boston can't compete with that. That's a factor. Boston and I don't know what they wanna do, but if they go out and they go out and get somebody who can, a wide body, this team is pretty good and they can do much better. The key here is that I talked a little bit about the three point shooting. And that's, a, an important piece and Boston has to shoot better. Derek White and Peyton Prichard have to up their [00:10:00] percentage to where it was last year. If it doesn't happen, we got a problem. The energy guys, I call them Hugo and Walsh. We need them. They are good. And they're developing a bench. Now, Luca Garza, if he could continue what he did last night, it'll just make that bench better. Don't forget, Anthony Simons is on the bench. So look at what you have here. You've got a nice little bench developing. Those are big things. And again, to reiterate. Walsh was on the court at the end of the game, says something, Peyton Prichard. I'm gonna call him a mini Jalen Brunson. Now he's not in Jalen Brunson's class, but he can get into the paint. The smallest guy on the court gets in the paint and. With his footwork and his ability to play off somebody meaning bumping and pushing back and falling back away, he can get more open jumpers in the [00:11:00] pain than most players. Somewhat like Jalen Brunson, not nearly as good. F Pritchard's footwork is outstanding and he's a really good shooter, so that's good. A negative. Another negative would be that Boston fouls too often. I mentioned it earlier. It's gonna be a part of being an aggressive defensive team, but it is frustrating to look at the fouls and notice that Boston is putting the other team in the bonus for the last six minutes of a quarter that's gonna hurt you. And it does hurt them because that team is shooting two on common fouls. That's gotta it, it's gotta get better for Boston to continue to improve. So that's it for this week. Those are some of the things, some of the observations. We'll be back at it next week and it's really great to, to talk about the Celtics thing that we all love. Thank you.