Betrayer

Watching Boston choke away two games in a row by settling for bad three attempt after bad three attempt is just hilarious.

What a finish to that Denver/OKC game!

That's cool. We have bad luck with guys who've won Coach of the Year anyway.

Boston just isn't fun to watch under Mazzulla. Dribble up, take the first three you see. Sure, when the threes are going they'll blow teams out but it's just boring basketball. Analytics say to get up as many threes as you can, but watching a team clang bad shot after bad shot is so ugly. Jalen Brown tried to drive a couple times in the 4th, but mostly it was just clanging bad threes for everyone on the team. As ugly as NYK's offense can be watching Brunson flop around like a fish, it was still more fun to watch than what the Celtics were doing.

I was thinking the exact same thing watching that game.

To be fair, he's not actually being paid to be a superstar just yet. That starts next season 😄 Maybe that's being silly, but it really is the primary point here. He's 23 years old just finishing his rookie contract. To act like he should match or outplay Brunson in his first playoff series is ridiculous on many levels. First, Brunson is 28 years old on team that has the gravity of KAT, OG, and Bridges to help him remain in 1-on-1 coverage. The Pistons weren't blitzing him with doubles and traps all series like the Knicks were able to do to Cade. It was just Ausar or Shroeder on an island. Even with that, Cade averaged 25 pts, 8 rebounds, 9 assists, and 3 stocks on 43% shooting compared to Brunson's 32 pts, 4 rebounds, 8 assists, and .5 stocks on 44% shooting. Sure, Brunson is a better scorer in the clutch right now and his points are there to show it, but they aren't light years apart and Cade has him on all of the other numbers while playing both ends of the court unlike Brunson. And I'll repeat, he did that in his first NBA playoff appearance while still on his rookie contract with no real help. It's no surprise he ran out of gas in the 4th on most nights. Meanwhile Brunson is 28 years old having been to the playoffs for the past 5 seasons, while on a team stacked full of high gravity players built to contend for a championship. What Cade did in these playoffs was actually quite remarkable and should be commended.

I'm OK with Beasley depending upon what he costs and what else is out there for us (I haven't really looked yet). I like his fit in the locker room, his availability, his desire to be here and play hard, and you simply need guys that can get buckets off the bench in the regular season. We may be salty about his playoff performance, but the dude was a legitimate 6th man of the year candidate for good reason. Still, I'd wait to see what the market bears before pulling a Troy Weaver with Bagley and bidding against yourself to sign him for a much larger contract than you need to. As for THJ...good locker room guy, good availability, plays hard, but he's even more streaky and a worse defender than Beasley (crazy, I know). Maybe I wouldn't mind so much if he was the 9th or 10th guy on your team, but I have to imagine he's not looking to do that after a season as a starter so it might just be best to move on from him. Schroder is an interesting one. I know the fans love him, but it feels a lot like a Fontecchio situation where we had nothing before so he looks like a Godsend on this team. I don't love the archetype of a small guard on defense that's also a poor three point shooter on offense. And for a fast guard, he doesn't penetrate and kick as much as I thought/hoped he would. He's a solid vet and a pesky defender though, so I guess it depends on what he costs. If you're paying him very little to be your Corey Joseph on the bench, fine. But if you're thinking he's going to play 20-30 mpg even after Ivey comes back then I want someone who can shoot and/or defend at least 2 positions on the court (maybe someone like Brogdon if he was ever healthy).

Discussion of Ausar's impact on this game and mind-boggling decision by JB to take him out. Second segment is about Cade for those who are doubting him after his first playoff series:

This was the game right here. Called it as soon as I saw it happen. And it wasn’t just this game either. Ausar has been mishandled by JB for most of the series.

Agreed. Great post and kudos for getting over the emotions of the loss faster than most of us, lol. But you’re dead on. This season was a smashing success and more than even the most insane homer could have hoped for. And this team is very young in their first playoff series without Stew and their second scoring option. Next year should be real fun

A lot of players didn’t have it tonight. Can’t deny that, but this game was still close and I put the loss on JB. Lineups were mind boggling for most of the game and then when you have it in your hand you let them go on a run to end the game by taking out the guy who was making everything happen for you in the 4th. Idiocy. that said, what hurts the most is that this series is actually 3-3 now and we should be heading to Madison Square Garden for game 7. We won game 4. The NBA knows it. The refs know it. The Knicks know it. But they’re getting their Boston/NYK series so it doesn’t matter.

That was painful. They had a wide open shot for Beasley if he didn’t fumble it.

KAT grabbed his leg!

JB just throwing this game by taking out Ausar with 3 minutes left. Lead gone. He was part of everything good happening in the 4th and you sit him? Wtf.

I’m running Cade, Ausar, Beasley, Harris, and Duren the rest of the way. Maybe you can get something rolling with a defender and a shooter out there to compliment Cade, Duren and Harris. We don’t need Schroeder’s lack of size right now and THJ doesn’t have it.