Knicks (0-0) at Celtics (1-0) Preseason Game #2 10/8/14

[SHAQATTACK]

There is a HUGE overall increase preparedness this season compared to last .

Credit to BS and staff for doing the homework


Smart is going to be a special player.   The game comes easy for him.  He likes the contact .

The Knicks were stuffed ......without Green and Rondo and Young.

With all the first round picks .....we are bound to get the center we need to go to the next step

[crimson_stallion]

He didn't look active to me his first stint, then he just went ham after that. We have a MOSTLY good team of defenders, passers, and people who can get hot shooting. It's like everyone brings something. That's without RR and Green, imagine them back and guys shifted to do damage against 2nd units like MS and Turner will.

Been saying that for a long time now.

Our second unit is composed almost exclusively of guys who could start on mediocre teams.  Marcus Smart, Marcus Thornton, Evan Turner, Brandon Bass, Tyler Zeller - pretty much every one of those guys (with the possible exception of Zeller) could be a start on a lot of teams.

Very young roster (Aside from Anthony I think Rondo is our oldest player at 27-28) with a lot of defensive talent and a decent amount of offensive balance.

I've been saying for some time now that I think this team will compete very seriously for that 8th seed in the East.  The East is incredibly weak right now.

The way I see it you have 4 teams that are basically guaranteed playoff teams (in order):

* Cleveland
* Chicago
* Washington
* Miami

Then you have 2 teams that are probable playoff teams:

* Brooklyn
* Charlotte

Then you have 4 teams who have very little-to-no hope of making the playoffs:

* Philly
* Milwaukee
* Orlando
* Indiana

That basically leaves 5 teams fighting over those last two playoff spots in the east:

* Atlanta
* Toronto
* Boston
* Detroit
* New York

IMO our starting 5 matches up pretty well with any one of those teams, yet I don't think any of those teams can come close to matching out depth. 

The way I see it we have a very seriously opportunity to sneak in to the playoffs (even though Toronto and Atlanta are probably the favourites at this point). 

[TheFlex]

He didn't look active to me his first stint, then he just went ham after that. We have a MOSTLY good team of defenders, passers, and people who can get hot shooting. It's like everyone brings something. That's without RR and Green, imagine them back and guys shifted to do damage against 2nd units like MS and Turner will.

Been saying that for a long time now.

Our second unit is composed almost exclusively of guys who could start on mediocre teams.  Marcus Smart, Marcus Thornton, Evan Turner, Brandon Bass, Tyler Zeller - pretty much every one of those guys (with the possible exception of Zeller) could be a start on a lot of teams.

Very young roster (Aside from Anthony I think Rondo is our oldest player at 27-28) with a lot of defensive talent and a decent amount of offensive balance.

I've been saying for some time now that I think this team will compete very seriously for that 8th seed in the East.  The East is incredibly weak right now.

The way I see it you have 4 teams that are basically guaranteed playoff teams (in order):

* Cleveland
* Chicago
* Washington
* Miami

Then you have 2 teams that are probable playoff teams:

* Brooklyn
* Charlotte

Then you have 4 teams who have very little-to-no hope of making the playoffs:

* Philly
* Milwaukee
* Orlando
* Indiana

That basically leaves 5 teams fighting over those last two playoff spots in the east:

* Atlanta
* Toronto
* Boston
* Detroit
* New York

IMO our starting 5 matches up pretty well with any one of those teams, yet I don't think any of those teams can come close to matching out depth. 

The way I see it we have a very seriously opportunity to sneak in to the playoffs (even though Toronto and Atlanta are probably the favourites at this point).

You're really, really underrating the Raptors and the Hawks. It's easy to get excited about what we've seen these past two games against hot garbage teams. We have a ton of talent. What we don't have is continuity, experience, and balance. An example of our mismatched roster: Kelly Olynyk is a supremely talented offensive player and a passable defender when playing the 4. He is incapable of keeping up defensively at center, however.

We still have a bit of maneuvering and, most importantly, waiting to do before we can say we're on the level those teams are. Toronto will easily take the Atlantic (as they are even better than they were last year) and Atlanta should see at least an equal amount of wins as last year, given that they've improved themselves over the offseason and their division got slightly weaker.

Cleveland
Chicago
Washington
Toronto
Miami
Charlotte
Brooklyn
Atlanta

Then I think it's fair to say the Knicks and Detroit are better than us as of right now. That could change, but no reason to believe otherwise right now.

Then us.

Then Indiana, Orlando, Milwaukee, Philly. Don't underestimate the possibility of Indiana offering us a protected pick for Jeff Green, though. That could launch them ahead of us.

[j804]

Tommy is hilarious tonight.  He's on a roll.

He let out some screechy howl that my grandpa makes made me bust out laughing rofl

[Celtics4ever]

Good to see Sull,y knock some down, although it seems like the top of the key was the main area he shot it from.   Hopefully, he can hit in other spots or other teams will defend the area.    Great scoring but his rebounding was down.   K. Love whom optimists compare him too, often hits threes and still gets double digit rebounds.


Nice to see Smart hitting some as well.   I hope these guys are not guys who play better on the road than home but it seemed that way.

[Csfan1984]

Here are my thoughts on how each C's player did.

Smart B, Good, shooting, handles, D and passing. Nice game no complaints.
Pressey B, Did a bunch of things well, growing on me. Out shined Knick's backup PGs.
Turner B, Great handles but over dribbles into trouble. Rest solid.

Bradley B, Looked like he was more at last years form this game.
Thornton B, Good shooting and timely D. Looks like a 10 year bench/ 6thman vet.

Wallace C+, Played his usual game he is a ok bench guy IMO too bad he is pay doesnt reflect.


Sully B, Played like his last year form. Guy can't guard Centers too much length problems.
Bass C+, He did okay typical Bass game.
Powell C, He looks like a poor man's +"Rookie year" Manimal. Interesting player.

Olynyk C+, He often looks like he has the potential to be the 2nd best player on the court but is always fourth. Saw a post about the guy needing to be more assertive I kind of agree. Well at least till we know what is offensive load limits are. What limit we do know is his defensive limit, guy can't guard 4s.
Zeller C, Looked better think he was more under control and a much better player when looking for his own offense first then passing out.
Anthony C-, Moved well throwing himself into the mix at times. Didn't get to do much.

[2short]

He didn't look active to me his first stint, then he just went ham after that. We have a MOSTLY good team of defenders, passers, and people who can get hot shooting. It's like everyone brings something. That's without RR and Green, imagine them back and guys shifted to do damage against 2nd units like MS and Turner will.

Been saying that for a long time now.

Our second unit is composed almost exclusively of guys who could start on mediocre teams.  Marcus Smart, Marcus Thornton, Evan Turner, Brandon Bass, Tyler Zeller - pretty much every one of those guys (with the possible exception of Zeller) could be a start on a lot of teams.

Very young roster (Aside from Anthony I think Rondo is our oldest player at 27-28) with a lot of defensive talent and a decent amount of offensive balance.

I've been saying for some time now that I think this team will compete very seriously for that 8th seed in the East.  The East is incredibly weak right now.

The way I see it you have 4 teams that are basically guaranteed playoff teams (in order):

* Cleveland
* Chicago
* Washington
* Miami

Then you have 2 teams that are probable playoff teams:

* Brooklyn
* Charlotte

Then you have 4 teams who have very little-to-no hope of making the playoffs:

* Philly
* Milwaukee
* Orlando
* Indiana

That basically leaves 5 teams fighting over those last two playoff spots in the east:

* Atlanta
* Toronto
* Boston
* Detroit
* New York

IMO our starting 5 matches up pretty well with any one of those teams, yet I don't think any of those teams can come close to matching out depth. 

The way I see it we have a very seriously opportunity to sneak in to the playoffs (even though Toronto and Atlanta are probably the favourites at this point).

add rondo and green to our core group and I can 't see how we don't make the playoffs
our defensive wings are really really good and we have depth at all positions except center (and there aren't many centers left in league)

pg-rondo, smart, turner/pressey
sg-bradley,turner, thornton, smart, young
sf-green, turner, wallace
pf-sully, bass, ko
c-ko, zeller, fav?, anthony

deep team, sure we have less top quality guys than other teams but we should be able to apply amazing defensive pressure and run the ball every time

[BudweiserCeltic]

Here are my thoughts on how each C's player did.

Smart B, Good, shooting, handles, D and passing. Nice game no complaints.
Pressey B, Did a bunch of things well, growing on me. Out shined Knick's backup PGs.
Turner B, Great handles but over dribbles into trouble. Rest solid.

Bradley B, Looked like he was more at last years form this game.
Thornton B, Good shooting and timely D. Looks like a 10 year bench/ 6thman vet.

Wallace C+, Played his usual game he is a ok bench guy IMO too bad he is pay doesnt reflect.


Sully B, Played like his last year form. Guy can't guard Centers too much length problems.
Bass C+, He did okay typical Bass game.
Powell C, He looks like a poor man's +"Rookie year" Manimal. Interesting player.

Olynyk C+, He often looks like he has the potential to be the 2nd best player on the court but is always fourth. Saw a post about the guy needing to be more assertive I kind of agree. Well at least till we know what is offensive load limits are. What limit we do know is his defensive limit, guy can't guard 4s.
Zeller C, Looked better think he was more under control and a much better player when looking for his own offense first then passing out.
Anthony C-, Moved well throwing himself into the mix at times. Didn't get to do much.

Not going to bother with the rest of your grades... but Sully's needs to be severely revisited.