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April TO’s and Three’s – Celtics Column

Posted on April 21, 2024 by TheIntern15 Leave a comment

By Vinny Jace, Special to the15net dot com:

(written prior to Game One)

There are two kinds of superstar players in the NBA, those who can get it down in crunch time and those who can get you to their critical moments but needs someone else to finish the job.

For every Jordan, LeBron, Bird, there’s a Ewing, Drexler, and Paul George. You can win divisions, playoff series, maybe even sneak into the finals once or twice, but you’ll never win the title for what ever their shortcoming be.

Thus lay the greater mystery of this sport: what does it take to cross that threshold? Previous test cases like LeBron suggest it is mostly mental, the growth and maturity that comes from failure. Deep down we knew LeBron was always capable of winning the big one. The sensationalist drivel expounded by reporters and fans added theatrics to a rather anti-climactic finale.

The real “we didn’t think he could do it until he did” example is Dirk Nowitzki. Outmuscled in the 2006 NBA Finals. Mentally deconstructed in the 2007 1st round series vs Golden State. Nowitzki was labeled soft, a poor defender, and someone who wilted under the pressure. From 2008 to 2011 he continued to play at a high level, even though the interest for him waned. The story was written and ready for publishing; another superstar with all the potential unable to take that final step.

The Germans probably have a word for what Dirk Nowitzki accomplished.

Until the faithful day he rewrote said story. Now the lasting imagine of Nowitzki is not him kicking the ball into the stands as his team implodes to an inferior Miami team. It’s him so overcome with emotion as the seconds trickle down in the Miami arena, LeBron and Wade standing forlorn, the impossible victor retreating from the spotlight to shed a tear in solitude.

But for every Dirk, there’s players similar to him who are the nail to the superior player’s hammer. Drexler couldn’t beat MJ. Ewing couldn’t beat Olajuwon. Paul George couldn’t overcome himself.

Can Jayson Tatum overcome the Miami Heat? He did it once before. An underrated gem is his Game 7 in Miami in the 2022 East Finals series. Jimmy Butler being the lone Heat with a pulse for 40 of the first 48 minutes keeping their chances alive, Tatum quietly notched an efficient 26 point effort, including a sick turnaround on Butler before a last ditch comeback by Miami fell so short. It was the most clutch Tatum’s ever been. On the road, all the momentum on the opposing side, and the Celtics led wire-to-wire.

Yet, they almost blew it. The ball continuously found their weakest link (Sorry, Marcus) and the Celtics ran the basketball equivalent of victory formation for the final 3 minutes and 20 seconds. Five of the final six Celtics shots came from Smart, not because of his selfishness, but because of Tatum’s fecklessness. Not wanting to step on anyone else’s toes, not wanting to be the guy everyone looked at for why things went wrong.

There is no malice in Tatum’s heart when he does this. I sense fear and it extends like the plague to the others. Basketball is a game most akin to spreading a diseases and cures. A good bench is a symptom of an established hierarchy setting the backups to carry the load for the needed respite for the starters. That’s the cure. The disease is if your superstar falters it’s unlikely anyone will save the team.

The numbers regarding the Celtics in the clutch aren’t initially concerning. Teams tend to slow the pace down and milk the clock when they’re up by a substantial amount. For Boston, the victory cigar is lit up either prematurely or their drop in effort leads to a heart stopping comeback attempt from the opponent.

Over the years the Celtics have fielded different teams, capable and incapable of certain things. The numbers don’t reflect in a vacuum how they responded to gut check situations, but the situations they often found themselves in.

The Isaiah Thomas-era Celtics have better numbers in clutch situations than the Tatum-era Celtics, but they rarely ran away with contests and often found themselves going 100% against teams either in their tier of “plucky, but not real contenders” or below. For the past three years the Celtics have found themselves considered top of the heap and they meet that criteria by smashing lesser teams into oblivion.

So does Boston rank at the bottom of pace in the clutch because opposing defenses up the tension forcing their best players into compromising positions, off balanced shots leading to fast break opportunities? Or is it because they’re bored and we shouldn’t overly react to a game serving little relevance to the standings.

As a first-round matchup with Miami looms it seems we’ll learn soon enough.

Vinny Jace appears on the Entitled Weekend podcast. He does not live on an island in the Quabbin Reservoir.

March – TO’s & Three’s – Celtics Column

Posted on March 4, 2024 by TheIntern15 Leave a comment

Very rarely can you accurately pinpoint when a team is in the middle of something extremely special. Yes, the Celtics have not won the title – yet. But they are winning in such a dominating fashion they aren’t just the favorites to win the championship, but to be a team we hold in high regard for decades after the fact.

Boston’s net rating sit at 11.6, sandwiched between the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors and 2015-16 San Antonio Spurs for fourth best in the history of the league. For even more context the 2007-08 Celtics net rating was 11.2. But let’s focus on the fact the Celtics have compiled a team that statistically rivals the Kevin Durant GSWarriors. They won 67-games that year and everyone still believes they were pacing themselves, they were that good – and the Celtics are in their company for this regular season.

Sit back and really bask in this glory for the fleeting moments we have it. For even if it does not end the way we wish it to, you’ll kick yourself for focusing only on the destination and ignoring the fruits of the journey.

If they are able to close the deal then I can say not only was this the best Celtics team of my life time, but perhaps of all-time. While Jayson Tatum is no Larry Bird, and Kristaps Porzingis is no Bill Russell, what this team provides is the best elements of the 1986 and 1962 teams and super charges them and even makes the greats look human by comparison.

The ability to go five-out and have your only non floor spacer be Luke Kornet is embarrassing. Having Jrue Holiday, the No. 3 option on a title team act as your No. 5 is embarrassing. Having 2nd Team All-NBAer Jaylen Brown as your No. 3 is embarrassing. The fact Jayson Tatum doesn’t even have to force his hand and can walk into any shot he wants is embarrassing. Brad Stevens found his Dennis Johnson in Holiday. He couldn’t find his Bill Russell, but Yao Ming with a 3-point shot in Porzingis will suffice.

Normal teams don’t get to survive slumps from their player and still win by 20. They don’t spank a Warriors team rediscovering their mojo by 52. They don’t go 12-4 over the first 49-games, then win 11 in a row. Speaking of the win streak, some fun stats to put into perspective this recent stretch of excellence: Top average margin of victory ever during a win streak of at least 10 games (+22.1 during 11-game streak); Top average scoring margin over any six-game span in NBA history (+29.8) – Per Marc D’Amico on Twitter/X.

Brown is making a case for All-NBA, his post-All Star break run averaging 27.2/5.8/3.4 on 59.5/45.2/73 shooting splits averaging 9.6 points in the frst quarter. He may not be Tommy Heinsohn, or Kevin McHale, but rich man’s Vinnie Johnson is more than enough for me.

Porzingis’ All-NBA case grows by the day, as it is becoming increasingly evident, he is the No. 2 behind Tatum. He is averaging 20/7/2 on 66 True Shooting %. His net ratings are nearly identical to Tatum (+11 ON +8 OFF) only behind White with a crazy (+13.3 ON, + 5 OFF) much higher than Brown (+8.7 ON, +13.3 OFF) Add to that he’s also having one of his best defensive seasons in his career on top of this great offensive season.

It’s an embarrassment of riches and the reason I implore you to put your fears aside is even if they do hurt you in the end, the feeling of loss will remain the same regardless you brace for it now or later.

This team is TOO TALENTED for even a willing-to-spend owner to keep together. When the time comes to break them up it’s likely that Brown will be replaced by an in-house player or someone from the bargain bin because that’s what happens when your best players are making “too much”. It’s not bad cap management, it’s just the God’s honest truth; great teams cost money. The Warriors are on the back end of their run because their best players are on the back-nine eating up a large sum of the pie. And that’s not a bad thing. It’s the natural cycle of contention. What matters is you make the right bets in the end.

Vinny Jace appears on the Entitled Weekend podcast. He does not live in mortgage-free Western Mass.

TO’s & Three’s – Celtics Column

Posted on January 2, 2024 by TheIntern15 Leave a comment

By Vinny Jace, Special to the15net dot com:

Modern sports media and its consumption is tightly wound in a disingenuous ball, trust fund kids acting as rats in a race searching for the angle that’ll get them the most attention. A cross to nail someone or themselves on, with the secret knowledge there is a chance they’ll be proven right incidentally regardless of what their overall point was.

The “Celtics shoot too many threes” accusation makes the rounds via Twitter, various podcasts and columnists, and it’s not like Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla is willing to play grab ass with the media to dull the knives. He’s a steely-eyed psycho who acknowledges the limited effect(s) he has on the game and can only help to taxi the flight back to the runway in one piece.* If the Celtics win the title this year, they’ll be no parade for Mazzulla, no vindication, only “You were supposed to, and these aren’t even your plays – they’re Udoka’s”, but it they fall short via Jimmy Butler and his playoff bullshit, or Caleb Martin and the Heat enjoying another outlier series shooting the ball, then he’ll be vilified as the man who screwed the Celtics out of a title. After all, the narrative pushed by “Celtics fan” Bill Simmons is Mazzulla didn’t get along with Marcus Smart, and the Celtics doubled down on their coach over their heart and soul, and this is how he repaid them???

“Um, *did YOU write The Book of Basketball, caller? You did not write The Book of Basketball.”*

Mazzulla is not doing anything that goes against the grain to earn this sort of scrutiny, and his coaching habits are par for the course. Every team “plays like the Warriors” nowadays, in fact, the Celtics are probably the most diverse team currently in how they mix in inside action with Kristaps Porzingis. Many teams do not have the ability to shoot and make the high variant of threes like the Celtics and enjoy the splendor of the added dimension Porzingis has brought in, and Mazzulla deserves credit for integrating him so smoothly given the issues Rick Carlisle had in Dallas doing the same thing. Sadly, no one ever says that.

*If the Golden State Warriors went and jumped off a bridge, would Mazzulla tell the Celtics to do that too?*

Because this is the NBA, where players win games and coaches lose them. Only Erik Spoelstra as of now can make the argument he can strategize around certain defeat. Mazzulla cannot go toe-to-toe with Spoelstra, and the hope is he won’t have to. It’s not uncommon for the better coach to lose because the lesser one had the better team. And for all intents and purposes the Celtics appear to be the better team. They just have to play like it and that all rests on the shoulders of Jayson Tatum. The evolutionary Paul George. Defensive switchblade, underrated court vision, can score from all three levels with a coolness Celtics fans haven’t seen since Larry Joe Bird.

But there is one fabled test No. 0 must pass in order to truly get over the hump. The stage is set for him to do it, like it was for Bird in ‘81, LeBron James in ‘12, Giannis in ‘21. The team is a well-oiled machine, chock full of talent whose positive attributes are infectious even to the marginal bench players enjoying fruitful stints on the hardwood. It’s an environment you want for your superstar entering his prime. The athleticism is there, the experience is there, he’s gone toe-to-toe with the best the league has to offer and has no reason not to hold his head up high.

Yet… something is missing and that something is assertiveness. That something is when the world is crumbling all around you, the momentum is no longer on your side and your teammates aren’t getting their shots to go in due to the moment consuming them, can Tatum rise up, take the rock and barrel into contact like even a Butler with the full confidence in his ability to finish or at least draw a foul?

That’s what’s going to be the real moment of truth for the Celtics. Not Mazzulla and his timeouts, or if the three-point well runs dry – that last point is expected because it happens virtually to every team except the one who wins the championship. It’s how will Tatum respond when the team is up against it — and the breaks are beating the boys will No. 0 win one for Lucky?