What if teams glue IT and challenge the rest to beat 'em

[Ogaju]

would we still thrive?

Seems to me that right now teams are stubbornly playing IT one-on-one though he leads the East in scoring.

What if teams take the ball out of his hands, will Cs still be as effective on offense?

I think the answer is yes, what do you think?

[Ilikesports17]

Assuming health, I think we'd be fine. You can't leave Bradley Crowder and Horfors alone. They are all good enough to kill you if you ask them to.

[Phantom255x]

That's what Atlanta did to Boston last April, and they won the playoff series.

Yes, the C's lost Bradley to injury and Crowder played mostly injured.

But there are two major needs for this team:
   - #2 Scoring Wing to go alongside IT
   - BIG who can score and rebound (emphasis on rebounding)

If teams contain IT, then guys like Bradley and Horford have to step up.

Hopefully we are healthy come playoff time.

[jpotter33]

That's what Atlanta did to Boston last April, and they won the playoff series.

Yes, the C's lost Bradley to injury and Crowder played mostly injured.

But there are two major needs for this team:
   - #2 Scoring Wing to go alongside IT
   - BIG who can score and rebound (emphasis on rebounding)

If teams contain IT, then guys like Bradley and Horford have to step up.

Hopefully we are healthy come playoff time.

Eh, the Atlanta series isn't a good example of this though.

He dipped in efficiency a bit, but he still scored 24 per game, along with a 43 point outburst.

Further, in addition to Bradley being gone, Crowder was also essentially gone and worthless due to a significant ankle injury, and KO didn't hardly play either due to injury. That's three of our best shooters right there that were rendered useless, so I think a healthy squad is a different story if they try to shut down IT, especially with the addition of Al.

Hell, this just happened the other night with either the Wizards or Pelicans, iirc. They stopped IT from scoring, but he was effectively passing it off when they rotated over to stop him or doubled him on the penetration.

[Phantom255x]

That's what Atlanta did to Boston last April, and they won the playoff series.

Yes, the C's lost Bradley to injury and Crowder played mostly injured.

But there are two major needs for this team:
   - #2 Scoring Wing to go alongside IT
   - BIG who can score and rebound (emphasis on rebounding)

If teams contain IT, then guys like Bradley and Horford have to step up.

Hopefully we are healthy come playoff time.

Eh, the Atlanta series isn't a good example of this though.

He dipped in efficiency a bit, but he still scored 24 per game, along with a 43 point outburst.

Further, in addition to Bradley being gone, Crowder was also essentially gone and worthless due to a significant ankle injury, and KO didn't hardly play either due to injury. That's three of our best shooters right there that were rendered useless, so I think a healthy squad is a different story if they try to shut down IT, especially with the addition of Al.

Hell, this just happened the other night with either the Wizards or Pelicans, iirc. They stopped IT from scoring, but he was effectively passing it off when they rotated over to stop him or doubled him on the penetration.

Fair points, I did acknowledge Bradley/Crowder were injured that Hawks series.

But the fact remains if this team wants to become legit contenders within the next 2-3 years, they need another reliable scorer with IT. Championship teams usually have two "premium" scorers.

[Moranis]

That's what Atlanta did to Boston last April, and they won the playoff series.

Yes, the C's lost Bradley to injury and Crowder played mostly injured.

But there are two major needs for this team:
   - #2 Scoring Wing to go alongside IT
   - BIG who can score and rebound (emphasis on rebounding)

If teams contain IT, then guys like Bradley and Horford have to step up.

Hopefully we are healthy come playoff time.

Eh, the Atlanta series isn't a good example of this though.

He dipped in efficiency a bit, but he still scored 24 per game, along with a 43 point outburst.

Further, in addition to Bradley being gone, Crowder was also essentially gone and worthless due to a significant ankle injury, and KO didn't hardly play either due to injury. That's three of our best shooters right there that were rendered useless, so I think a healthy squad is a different story if they try to shut down IT, especially with the addition of Al.

Hell, this just happened the other night with either the Wizards or Pelicans, iirc. They stopped IT from scoring, but he was effectively passing it off when they rotated over to stop him or doubled him on the penetration.

take out the 43 point game and what did he average on the series?

[Phantom255x]

That's what Atlanta did to Boston last April, and they won the playoff series.

Yes, the C's lost Bradley to injury and Crowder played mostly injured.

But there are two major needs for this team:
   - #2 Scoring Wing to go alongside IT
   - BIG who can score and rebound (emphasis on rebounding)

If teams contain IT, then guys like Bradley and Horford have to step up.

Hopefully we are healthy come playoff time.

Eh, the Atlanta series isn't a good example of this though.

He dipped in efficiency a bit, but he still scored 24 per game, along with a 43 point outburst.

Further, in addition to Bradley being gone, Crowder was also essentially gone and worthless due to a significant ankle injury, and KO didn't hardly play either due to injury. That's three of our best shooters right there that were rendered useless, so I think a healthy squad is a different story if they try to shut down IT, especially with the addition of Al.

Hell, this just happened the other night with either the Wizards or Pelicans, iirc. They stopped IT from scoring, but he was effectively passing it off when they rotated over to stop him or doubled him on the penetration.

take out the 43 point game and what did he average on the series?

20.4, which is still pretty good. His season average was around 22.

Obviously not elite level production, but again, IT was being contained by the Hawks completely and the rest of the team was shooting bricks.

For perspective, the Hawks best scorer that series was Teague, who averaged 16.5 PPG. Millsap also averaged 16.5 PPG but had that 45 point game in there as well. Bazemore averaged 14 PPG.

For the Celtics, after Thomas, the #2 scorer was Turner averaging 13 PPG, and Smart 12 PPG (And Smart had that 20 point game in Game 4). C's missed Bradley and a healthy Crowder that series.

[RockinRyA]

That's what Atlanta did to Boston last April, and they won the playoff series.

Yes, the C's lost Bradley to injury and Crowder played mostly injured.

But there are two major needs for this team:
   - #2 Scoring Wing to go alongside IT
   - BIG who can score and rebound (emphasis on rebounding)

If teams contain IT, then guys like Bradley and Horford have to step up.

Hopefully we are healthy come playoff time.

Eh, the Atlanta series isn't a good example of this though.

He dipped in efficiency a bit, but he still scored 24 per game, along with a 43 point outburst.

Further, in addition to Bradley being gone, Crowder was also essentially gone and worthless due to a significant ankle injury, and KO didn't hardly play either due to injury. That's three of our best shooters right there that were rendered useless, so I think a healthy squad is a different story if they try to shut down IT, especially with the addition of Al.

Hell, this just happened the other night with either the Wizards or Pelicans, iirc. They stopped IT from scoring, but he was effectively passing it off when they rotated over to stop him or doubled him on the penetration.

take out the 43 point game and what did he average on the series?

Thats dumb. Should we take out Klay's 60 pter when telling his average? How about Harden's 53? or the 55 of Cousins?

Doesnt matter though. he still averaged almost 21 even after you take out that 1 game. That is with basically everyone outside of Marcus Smart was hitting their shots. Bradley was out, Crowder was injured, we had Sullinger instead of Al. Doesnt take a genius to understand what's going on.

[saltlover]

That's what Atlanta did to Boston last April, and they won the playoff series.

Yes, the C's lost Bradley to injury and Crowder played mostly injured.

But there are two major needs for this team:
   - #2 Scoring Wing to go alongside IT
   - BIG who can score and rebound (emphasis on rebounding)

If teams contain IT, then guys like Bradley and Horford have to step up.

Hopefully we are healthy come playoff time.

Eh, the Atlanta series isn't a good example of this though.

He dipped in efficiency a bit, but he still scored 24 per game, along with a 43 point outburst.

Further, in addition to Bradley being gone, Crowder was also essentially gone and worthless due to a significant ankle injury, and KO didn't hardly play either due to injury. That's three of our best shooters right there that were rendered useless, so I think a healthy squad is a different story if they try to shut down IT, especially with the addition of Al.

Hell, this just happened the other night with either the Wizards or Pelicans, iirc. They stopped IT from scoring, but he was effectively passing it off when they rotated over to stop him or doubled him on the penetration.

take out the 43 point game and what did he average on the series?

Firstly it was 42, not 43.

Secondly the answer is 20.6 over the other 5 games.

But thirdly, and most importantly, he scored 25 or more in 4 of the six games -- if you go by median point total instead of mean, he scored 26 points per game, instead of a mean of 24.  Since the median is higher than the mean, we can see that it's actually the 7 point game 5 that was the outlier more than the 42 point game 3, so hopefully we can end this "Isaiah got shut down in the playoffs" myth. 

He had a bad game and the team had no one else capable of stepping into the breach.  I don't know if this year's team does, but I do know that Bradley is shooting better than ever, Crowder is shooting better than ever, Olynyk is shooting better than ever, and Al Horford exists, so the likelihood is there that, if healthy (like they weren't last year), there should be enough of a release valve such that IT (who is also scoring better than ever) can't be hounded mercilessly.

[Ogaju]

That's what Atlanta did to Boston last April, and they won the playoff series.

Yes, the C's lost Bradley to injury and Crowder played mostly injured.

But there are two major needs for this team:
   - #2 Scoring Wing to go alongside IT
   - BIG who can score and rebound (emphasis on rebounding)

If teams contain IT, then guys like Bradley and Horford have to step up.

Hopefully we are healthy come playoff time.

Eh, the Atlanta series isn't a good example of this though.

He dipped in efficiency a bit, but he still scored 24 per game, along with a 43 point outburst.

Further, in addition to Bradley being gone, Crowder was also essentially gone and worthless due to a significant ankle injury, and KO didn't hardly play either due to injury. That's three of our best shooters right there that were rendered useless, so I think a healthy squad is a different story if they try to shut down IT, especially with the addition of Al.

Hell, this just happened the other night with either the Wizards or Pelicans, iirc. They stopped IT from scoring, but he was effectively passing it off when they rotated over to stop him or doubled him on the penetration.

take out the 43 point game and what did he average on the series?

Firstly it was 42, not 43.

Secondly the answer is 20.6 over the other 5 games.

But thirdly, and most importantly, he scored 25 or more in 4 of the six games -- if you go by median point total instead of mean, he scored 26 points per game, instead of a mean of 24.  Since the median is higher than the mean, we can see that it's actually the 7 point game 5 that was the outlier more than the 42 point game 3, so hopefully we can end this "Isaiah got shut down in the playoffs" myth. 

He had a bad game and the team had no one else capable of stepping into the breach.  I don't know if this year's team does, but I do know that Bradley is shooting better than ever, Crowder is shooting better than ever, Olynyk is shooting better than ever, and Al Horford exists, so the likelihood is there that, if healthy (like they weren't last year), there should be enough of a release valve such that IT (who is also scoring better than ever) can't be hounded mercilessly.

TP Saltlover great analysis.

[86MaxwellSmart]

Which is why we need another scorer for the Playoffs....IT is great in the regular season--but the Clamps will be put on, come the post season...Jimmy Butler would be helpful here.

[chilidawg]

Utah tried to double him a lot and he ended up with 15 assists.  Trust the little guy to make the right play.

[Phantom255x]

Which is why we need another scorer for the Playoffs....IT is great in the regular season--but the Clamps will be put on, come the post season...Jimmy Butler would be helpful here.

Jimmy Butler would also be extremely expensive. I agree he fills a big need, but the C's need to stay patient with IT (Likely gets extended), Brown, Smart, these upcoming Nets picks, and likely a FA signing this summer (Noel/Millsap/Ibaka probably).

http://www.celticsblog.com/2017/1/16/14291114/love-him-but-going-after-jimmy-butler-is-a-big-mistake