We are going to be better than people think

[Chris22]

Our post defense is bad, watching the game, I saw Sully get beat numerous times.   He is ok in other aspects of the game.

Brad did not play Zeller in the second half.

I thought that was stupid.

Well that's why he's the coach and you're not.  He must've saw something we didn't see.

Brad agrees with me....
Focusing on the 10 players that saw floor time on Wednesday, Stevens lamented not playing Tyler Zeller more, but said he got too caught up trying to match up with Brooklyn and trying to stem any late-game rally.

"I should have played Tyler Zeller in the second half and I didn’t do that," said Stevens. "Because I was trying to match up with [the Nets] because I was just worried about the 3-point shot, because that was the only way, I felt like, they could get back in it. And we still didn't guard it, so I should have just played him."

Zeller still put up six points in six minutes and should see increased minutes when the Celtics visit Dwight Howard and the Houston Rockets on Saturday.

[get_banners]

I expect performances like last night often during the season. I also expect a bunch of terrible games. We almost certainly won't be consistent b/c we're so young. But last night's game is what we can do when we play well, and it wasn't a fluke. I see us competing for the playoffs. We may not make it, but we'll probably be a respectable and scary team (in that, if we play well, we can compete with good teams).

[LooseCannon]

On the flip side, the way this offense is constructed scares me a bit in the last 6 minutes of a tight game.  When the game slows down, who is going to be the go-to guy?  Can they pound it inside or are they going to struggle with that?  Are they going to be too reliant on guys trying to make the jumper down the stretch of games.  Dribble/drive type of stuff?  I can certainly see this roster makeup being problematic in that aspect.

I don't think Stevens believes in pounding the ball inside.  He is aware that advanced analytics finds the post-up shot to be inefficient and believes that a post-up is " a vehicle for playing inside-out".  He probably doesn't believe in shifting to iso-ball, whether in the post or the perimeter, at the end of games.  He probably prefers to stick to the emphasis on ball movement and not have a single go-to guy.

[BballTim]

I simply don't believe Rajon Rondo has "severe" shooting issues...just don't.

I don't believe you do, either.

I've seen too many statistics posted on here to believe what you said.

C'mon now.

Rondo's career shooting numbers: 40% on 2s from outside 10 feet, 25% from three, 65% from the foul line. That's not "severe" to you?

  The foul shooting's obviously poor and he's not a great 3 point shooter but 40% on 2s from outside 10 feet is no worse than average for a point guard.