IT Complaints: Fallout & Future (merged IT kvetching threads)

[Roy H.]

After a couple of his teammates took their turns in front of the cameras and microphones, Thomas eventually entered the scrum and was asked why he appeared so frustrated.

"Everything," he said. "We should have won this game. We should have won [Sunday] night [in Phoenix]. We can't be experimenting in Game 63."

Added Thomas: "It's just the way we lost tonight was unacceptable. We lost the game in the last 15 minutes of the game. We played a really good game up until the last 15 minutes. And that's the players' fault, the coaches' fault, that's everybody in this locker room's fault. We could have done a lot better."

Thomas seemed irked, in part, by the small-ball lineups that Boston was forced to resort to while playing without two frontcourt rotation players in Al Horford (elbow strain) and Jonas Jerebko (flu). The Celtics built a 13-point lead early in the second half only to watch the Clippers embark on a dominating run in which they outscored Boston 41-14 over an 11-minute stretch spanning into the fourth quarter.

Asked what he meant by being frustrated with experimenting in Game 63, Thomas said only, "You can watch film. You know what it is." Pressed on whether it was the lineups, he remained silent until the next question came.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/18842098/isaiah-thomas-sounds-boston-celtics-blow-second-straight-double-digit-lead

I didn't watch the game. Were the rotations screwy?

Calling out the coaching staff in a game where Horford and Jerebko were out just seems weird.

[Darío SpanishFan]

Stevens is not God. His rotation at the end of the third quarter, when he set a team where nobody could score, was the key to losing our comfortable advantage. He should have called a time out as well, which he didn't.

I hope he learns you can't experiment against good teams. Even against bad teams, I would dare to say.

[cltc5]

The whole team is flubbed.  Ainge has done nothing to solidify a starting 5 that is legit and Stevens can't make up his freakin mind who to put in.  If it's not evident that this team is not ready as constructed to take the next step I don't know what is

[Celtics4ever]

This could be frustration that we did not get him any help at the deadline, too or our bench being thin.

IT4 is a passionate man and sometimes the heat of the moment gets to him.

[JSD]

Overreaction central. Team will be fine, just missing Horford.


Mickey, Young, Brown, Rozier and Smart trotted out at the end of 3rd, I believe, when lead was given up. That's pretty bad...

[Roy H.]

Stevens is not God. His rotation at the end of the third quarter, when he set a team where nobody could score, was the key to losing our comfortable advantage. He should have called a time out as well, which he didn't.

I hope he learns you can't experiment against good teams. Even against bad teams, I would dare to say.

Ok. I looked it up, and you're right. With about two minutes left in the 3rd, the lineup included Mickey, Young, Brown, Smart and Rozier. The team went from a 6 point lead to 4 point deficit in two minutes.

That's a funky lineup, even while shorthanded.

[apc]

I wish IT would shut up after losses.
He would still be on the bench without Stevens .
4 guys have to make up for him in defense while he goes to the allstar game.
Just stop talking.

[MBunge]

There's not a lot Stevens can do when Al and Jerebko are out and nobody can make a shot, but the turning point in the game was clearly when he went with a line up where Jae was the tallest guy on the court for us.  I literally have no idea what Stevens was thinking.

Mike

[Sketch5]

Problem with IT, is he's not looking at the bit picture. If the rumors are true DA tried to get TWO big names to come and help, they didn't pan out, and thats why there is no additional help.  DA tied all his efforts into two guys and when the teams backed out, there was no time left. He did an all or nothing this time around. And thats fine.

Other thing is Stevens is still a young coach, and has a team over achieving. But he WILL make mistakes, and yest some times you have to see how a line up may work in a game that may have worked in practice. Plus with two bigs out, you don't have much of a choice, and you still need to try to keep guys rested for the playoffs.

DA and Stevens are just trying to improve this season, they aren't playing for anything more that that. Get a better record, and make a stronger run in the playoffs. Anything more than that is gravy.

I like IT, he's great on the offensive end of the floor, but he's still have a lot to learn about leading a team. Between that and him not being able to be on the defensive end of the floor at crunch time of tight games, makes me wonder if he's worth the full MAX. But maybe thats the old school mentality. 

[KGBirdBias]

I just don't know what Stevens was thinking last night. Sometimes I wonder does he over coach.

This was a game we had in total control. I've been saying it all season THIS TEAM SHOOTS TOO MANY 3s. They don't know that when they aren't hitting to stop shooting and Stevens does nothing.

Please DO NOT play KO\Zeller or Jerebko together for any long stretches. The leads just dwindle when they're on the floor.

I think we need to sign Sanders and take Mickey completely out the rotation. If Stevens can play Sanders with one of the other guys then we still have some defensive presence.

We're going to regret p---ing away all these games.

[iadera]

I wish IT would shut up after losses.
He would still be on the bench without Stevens .
4 guys have to make up for him in defense while he goes to the allstar game.
Just stop talking.

Yeah, right! He should just keep the mouth shut and watch us dropping our double-digit lead for who knows which time this year, and all just because he was let by Stevens to be in a starting lineup.
Thank God that finaly someone is angry because the lost games that we should have won.

[Humble G]

I wish IT would shut up after losses.
He would still be on the bench without Stevens .
4 guys have to make up for him in defense while he goes to the allstar game.
Just stop talking.

If no one got upset after losing 2 winnable games....we would be the BKN Nets.
I am fine with him being passionate and upset, he didn't cross the line imo.

Oh, and no way IT would have stayed on the bench  this entire time. Yes guys have to make up for his defense BUT he is making up for 7.5 guys' offense(half the team). Take away IT and we would be much better defensively but would lose more games because the offensive power of today's NBA

[apc]

I wish IT would shut up after losses.
He would still be on the bench without Stevens .
4 guys have to make up for him in defense while he goes to the allstar game.
Just stop talking.

If no one got upset after losing 2 winnable games....we would be the BKN Nets.
I am fine with him being passionate and upset, he didn't cross the line imo.

Oh, and no way IT would have stayed on the bench  this entire time. Yes guys have to make up for his defense BUT he is making up for 7.5 guys' offense(half the team). Take away IT and we would be much better defensively but would lose more games because the offensive power of today's NBA

Non of that is an excuse to criticize your coach in front of the media. A day after you blamed your teammate of a TO.
Says what you have to say in the locker room.

[saltlover]

Stevens is not God. His rotation at the end of the third quarter, when he set a team where nobody could score, was the key to losing our comfortable advantage. He should have called a time out as well, which he didn't.

I hope he learns you can't experiment against good teams. Even against bad teams, I would dare to say.

Ok. I looked it up, and you're right. With about two minutes left in the 3rd, the lineup included Mickey, Young, Brown, Smart and Rozier. The team went from a 6 point lead to 4 point deficit in two minutes.

That's a funky lineup, even while shorthanded.

Part of the problem was that Amir and KO were both in foul trouble the entire game.  Zeller had not proved useful either.  The Clippers had quickly figured out how to get him on switches and exploit him.  The lineup Stevens tried didn't work, but options were somewhat limited.  The Clippers are not a team you want to be out two of your top four bigs against.

[Clench123]

Danny Ainge's fault