Rockets (32-14) at Celtics (16-28) Game #45 1/30/15

[ViolentGhandi]

bad shooting continues - guess those 6 road games took their toll. They were allready having a bad night against MIN - all those open shots not going in - they looked really tired in that game and they didnt had much time off yet

still good effort - never giving up - we havent lost many games by 10 or more this season - on the road they got good rep by the media. Thats something if you consider that we don't have much talent at all.

[Surferdad]

team goes in desperation 3 mode way to early - I don'T want Sulli to shoot 3s in the 4th - with the win still in reach and still 3-5 minutes to play - actuallly I don't want him to shoot 3s at all.

Yeah he was pulling the 3 trigger too early too often.

The other problem with those shots is Stevens was going small with a lineup of Sully, Prince, Thornton, Bradley and Smart. By Sully hoisting up three's there were no big rebounders in position.

[jpotter33]

Harden: 4-21 shooting.

I look forward to seeing similar performances from Harden in the playoffs.  2nd round is as far as the Rockets go.

Wow! That really gives credit to Turner, Smart, and Crowder who guarded him most of the night. That's an insanely bad shooting night for someone like Harden.

I agree. He impacted other areas of the game, and it didn't matter a lot because Demo played like an all star but this kept them in the game till the end

Alright this is going to sound stupid, but who are you referring to as Demo? lol I haven't heard that before.

[SHAQATTACK]

Yeah they played hard ...hats off .......Celtics are bringing knifes to a gun fight .

They have to play way above their heads to stay with the star studded teams and compete


Celtics need an elite shooter and rim protector .....then they have a least a 50% chance of winning against anybody.

[ViolentGhandi]

yeah Sulli has to stay close to the basket. his mass makes all the balls come to him on their own. He can bend light for gods sake - and no he can and should not shoot from his event horizon. That fool obv. never read Einstein or he would have learned ho to play effectivly by now. He can bend space time - he should abuse that skill close to the basket!

[Surferdad]

yeah Sulli has to stay close to the basket. his mass makes all the balls come to him on their own. He can bend light for gods sake - and no he can and should not shoot from his event horizon. That fool obv. never read Einstein or he would have learned ho to play effectivly by now. He can bend space time - he should abuse that skill close to the basket!

TP for the astrophysics. Needs to be in the black hole of post position where he can operate at will.

[Eja117]

Harden: 4-21 shooting.

I look forward to seeing similar performances from Harden in the playoffs.  2nd round is as far as the Rockets go.

Wow! That really gives credit to Turner, Smart, and Crowder who guarded him most of the night. That's an insanely bad shooting night for someone like Harden.

I agree. He impacted other areas of the game, and it didn't matter a lot because Demo played like an all star but this kept them in the game till the end

Alright this is going to sound stupid, but who are you referring to as Demo? lol I haven't heard that before.

People call Donatas Motiejunas that because....well there's just so many letters.

[jpotter33]

Harden: 4-21 shooting.

I look forward to seeing similar performances from Harden in the playoffs.  2nd round is as far as the Rockets go.

Wow! That really gives credit to Turner, Smart, and Crowder who guarded him most of the night. That's an insanely bad shooting night for someone like Harden.

I agree. He impacted other areas of the game, and it didn't matter a lot because Demo played like an all star but this kept them in the game till the end

Alright this is going to sound stupid, but who are you referring to as Demo? lol I haven't heard that before.

People call Donatas Motiejunas that because....well there's just so many letters.

Gotcha, TP for the info.

[jambr380]

So, Prince, Bass, and Thornton score 47 of Boston's 87 points. While I love the veteran leadership, none of them are in the 'star' class (or even close) and getting wins with these guys forcing the issue just isn't worth it. Now, luckily Houston was able to come back in this one, but I don't want to make the playoffs unless it's our young players doing the majority of the damage.

[Celtics4ever]

Demo looked like an all star with Sluginer on him.   Jared shot us right out of this game.

Bass was hot and CBS sat him down, I didn't get that.

[makaveli]

Sully...........
IMHO he has this next 40 games to prove if he is a player to keep or not. I can't believe that HE decided to take 3 3pt, after the rest of the guys played their gut out to make this a ball game, after Motejunas or whatever raped him all game long.
A lot blame goes to CBS, Bass should never sit down.
Bass, Prince, Thorton, Smart, and Jay/Turner would bring this game home for us.

[SHAQATTACK]

Demo looked like an all star with Sluginer on him.   Jared shot us right out of this game.

Bass was hot and CBS sat him down, I didn't get that.

Or leave Zeller in to play Demo till he fouled out .

CBS ......needs to let his young guys FOUL out ...they will learn

CBS called a very very poor coaching game ....IF ?   His goal was to actually win.......I don't take him for a tanker at all .......but his coaching was either that or otherwise mighty suspect.

[Ogaju]

Demo looked like an all star with Sluginer on him.   Jared shot us right out of this game.

Bass was hot and CBS sat him down, I didn't get that.

CBS is a Smart tanker!!

[Ogaju]

Sully...........
IMHO he has this next 40 games to prove if he is a player to keep or not. I can't believe that HE decided to take 3 3pt, after the rest of the guys played their gut out to make this a ball game, after Motejunas or whatever raped him all game long.
A lot blame goes to CBS, Bass should never sit down.
Bass, Prince, Thorton, Smart, and Jay/Turner would bring this game home for us.

Bass is being showcased enough to increase his trade value, not to get us wins.

At some point yall have to embrace the tank.

[Ogaju]

Demo looked like an all star with Sluginer on him.   Jared shot us right out of this game.

Bass was hot and CBS sat him down, I didn't get that.

Or leave Zeller in to play Demo till he fouled out .

CBS ......needs to let his young guys FOUL out ...they will learn

CBS called a very very poor coaching game ....IF ?   His goal was to actually win.......I don't take him for a tanker at all .......but his coaching was either that or otherwise mighty suspect.

CBS may not be a tanker, and I do not think any coach worth his salt will coach to lose a game unless... well unless he had orders from above on who to play and who not to play. There are many plausible reasons that an order would come from above about roster assignments and not all are about tanking.  There is discipline, exhibition for trade purposes, protection from fatigue and injury.

It also very possible that there are spot substitutions to test how some particular player plays in certain pressure situations that may cause the coach to sit the better player in order to evaluate the 'lesser' player.

As we all know CBS is a statistics guy.

There is not much expected of this team this year.

If Sully is a keeper, what other time is it better to evaluate him in real game time than in this season of development.

This is a very plausible reason for sitting Bass in favor of Sully in crunch time just to see how Sully responds to the pressure of battling in crunch time and to either evaluate his prowess or to develop his prowess and give him much needed experience in real game situations going forward.

This has both the benefit of developing the player and also increasing his trade value if you wan to trade the player.

It is difficult to tell which of the above reasons drive the substitution patterns of CBS on any given night.

Suffice it to say that DA is well respected across the league with what he has been able to amass in assets for this Celtic team.

It only remains to be seen how adept he will be in turning the assets into productive players and a winning team.