Nothing Spoils The Return Of Robert Williams Quite Like Losing To The Goddamn Magic

Brian Babineau. Getty Images.

There's nothing quite like finally returning home for a nice little 7 game homestand after a successful 4-2 West Coast trip and…….losing to the Orlando Magic. Yikes. On a night where everyone was hyped for Rob's return and the possibility that the Celts could extend their lead in the top spot in the East, I wouldn't exactly say things went according to plan. Well, not the Rob part. That ruled. But everything else? Woof. 

I know the Magic are playing well at the moment, now winners of 5 in a row, and there is talent on this roster, but guess what? The Celts had been playing well and also have talent on their roster. Many, myself included, would say they have more talent at their disposal, so what the hell happened?

Easy. The Magic were better. They were the ones who dictated the pace of this game and imposed their will. Outside of the first 5 minutes, I can honestly say the Magic were playing harder, and last time I checked the Basketball Gods usually reward the team that plays with energy and effort. This wasn't the same type of loss as GS where there's maybe some sort of mental hurdle for the Celts to get past. This wasn't like the Clippers loss where Kawhi never missed a shot. What makes this one way more pathetic in my opinion was the fact that for 95% of this game, the Celts weren't just outworked, they were outclassed. Yes, there were Xs and Os issues that we're going to talk about, but at a high level while you watched this game was there ever a point where you said to yourself 

"OK, the Celts are clamping down and imposing their will"

I sure as shit never said that to myself last night. The best way I can describe it is it felt like after things got to 14-4, the Celts became reactionary. You can't play like that against a young team that has talent and isn't afraid. The Magic are rolling right now and playing a confident style of basketball, and it was obvious pretty early in that first quarter that this wasn't going to be some sort of game where the Magic rolled over. The Celts were going to have to establish themselves and impose their will, and it never really happened.

Bad losses happen. Look around the league and everyone has them. It's OK to acknowledge that and still be annoyed at the Celts performance last night. It's not as if they are immune to having bad losses, but it was the way in which they lost last night that bothers me. The Magic should never out-work or out-hustle you. Period. Have some pride for me one time.

Now, as we do no matter what happens, let's talk about this shit sandwhich of a game.

The Good

- I can't imagine starting off with anything else. Not only did Rob return, he looked EXACTLY like the Rob we remembered and love

A few things stood out to me with Rob's 18 minutes of action. First, he looked bouncy as hell. Almost immediately once he stepped on the floor he was jumping/contesting shots like the surgery never happened. His first stint you could tell he was WAY too excited so he had some tough fouls, but after that every time he came back in it was vintage Rob shit. Blocking shots, catching lobs, OREB tap outs and putbacks, it was all glorious. If you were maybe someone who might have been nervous that maybe Rob wasn't ready, I think last night put those fears to bed.

The second thing I noticed was not only does Rob look healthy physically, but he also looks healthy mentally. What I mean by that is he trusts his knee and wasn't trying to protect it. Remember when Hayward came back and it took him a while to look like himself? Sometimes the mental aspect of a recovery is just as tough as the physical one. The fact that you couldn't even tell Rob was ever out tells us that he's not even thinking about it, he's just playing. That is AWESOME to see.

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- Normally this is where I'd probably talk about Tatum and Brown considering they had a combined 57 points, but if we were all being honest with ourselves I think we would agree that really the only positive from last night was Rob. 

No need to force things just to fill out this section, let's move on to the meat of the issues.

The Bad

- If you think back to the Clippers game, aside from Kawhi going full basketball cyborg, one of the bigger issues in that loss was play of the starting backcourt. You may remember, Marcus Smart and Derrick White combined for just 6 points on dogshit shooting.

Well, fast-forward 2 games and what did we see?

Marcus Smart: 10 points on 3-9 (1-7)

Derrick White: 3 points 1-5 (0-3)

So often we hear about pecking order and roles and all that shit, but this game was a clear example of even on a night where Tatum and Brown have 57 and you get 15 points off the bench from Malcolm Brogdon, getting solid guard play from Smart/White is still very important to the overall success of this team. 

We see it all the time with Smart. When the Celts get "Good Smart" they are unstoppable. When they get "Bad Smart", it really doesn't matter what else happens. This was a game in which he finished with 8 assists and 1 TO, numbers I think we all would say are more than acceptable. The issue was he wasn't anywhere close to the level of aggressiveness we need him to be, especially in a game where shots aren't falling. I'm not sure if it was because he's sick or what, but 7 of his 9 FGA were 3PA, and even though 5 were "wide open", he was short on pretty much everything. We know he can be effective when he uses his size to get to the rim/in the paint, but that never really happened. 

With White, his defense was pretty solid, I'll give him credit there. But offensively it was the same thing. He took his open looks, and that was pretty much it. In a game where they lost Al, getting that type of production from 40% of your starting lineup is a tough way to win.

- When you're struggling to make shots, it's even more important that you are locked in defensively. The easiest way to get momentum is to get stops, get out in transition and get some easy buckets. 

The Celtics had 6 fastbreak points last night. That's it. Despite the Magic turning the ball over 17 times. That's awful. Instead of doing shit like this

I dunno, just play normal. Those are the type of momentum swings that can change a game. Instead of potentially being a 4 point game heading into the break, the Celts were down 8, all because they were careless. 

With the defense, we saw WAY too many situations where guys like Jaylen fell asleep off ball. It's pretty obvious that the Magic love to use Franz Wagner as an off ball cutter. I'd say there were at least 2-3 times where the Celts lost their man on off ball cuts for easy layups, and those are the mental mistakes that start to add up in a game like this. It's how a Magic team gets confidence. Watching them play, the Magic knew they were going to get any shot they wanted, and they knew that if they didn't just stand around and made the Celts defend that eventually someone would fall asleep for an easy bucket. That's bad.

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- If you noticed a certain trend with the Celts last 3 losses, you're not going crazy. They basically all followed the same blueprint

When this team doesn't rebound, gives up a shit ton of 2nd chance points, and then can't make a three to save their lives, losses are what you get. 

Think back to what we know the main boxes are for this team to check if they want to win. They have to rebound, they have to defend, and they can't turn the ball over. Well, last night they didn't do any of those things as you can see above, and in terms of the TOs the Celts finished with 14 TOs which led to 15 points.

So, when you add up the 20 2nd chance points and 15 points off turnovers, that's 35 points from self-inflicted wounds, or said another way, 29.9% of the Magic's total points. If you want to know why the Celtics lost this game, who gives a shit about the offensive end. It was the defensive end of the floor that did them in.

The inability to keep the Magic off the glass was an effort thing. Giving up 117 points to a team that's at the bottom of the league in scoring (109) is a much bigger issue. The Celtics should be able to win games in which they score 109 points. But when you allow easy 2nd chance buckets and you don't finish defensive possessions, it only makes your shooting issues feel that much worse. When Mo Wagner is outworking your entire team, that's a fucking problem.

- I'd say it's pretty excusable that after the first half Tatum had (20 points on 6-13), that he took 1 FGA in the 3rd quarter. That's a failure for everybody. It's a failure on Joe for not realizing that he should probably get his best player some shots. It's a failure on Smart as the floor general for not recognizing that Tatum hadn't shot the ball in a long time. It's a failure on Tatum for not being more demanding, especially as things started to get out of hand.

Meanwhile, as a team, the Celts shot 30/10% in the 3rd quarter. Woof.

- Do I think Al should have been tossed for this?

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Not really. Do I understand why he was? Absolutely. You can't punch/elbow people in the dick. The league is pretty clear-cut with that, and let's be honest, Al elbowed Wagner right in the dick. My problem isn't that Al felt he had to react, my problem is with the execution. You can't go north/south with that elbow. You instead have to go East/West. Throw that elbow in Wagner's chest, and it's probably just a foul/flagrant 1. But the second you go down and hammer a guy's dick, you're going to get tossed pretty much every time.

I think it's also fair to say they desperately missed Al in this game, so really not the best move by him. 

- Didn't really feel like the Celts were all that good at playing through some bullshit. Whether it was no calls on the offensive end. or whatever the hell all that shit was to start the 3rd quarter, you could tell they were maybe frustrated by how they were shooting the ball and then once calls didn't go their way it sent them over the edge. Would prefer to see some better mental composure.

- When it came time to enter the 4th quarter with the game still winnable, the Celts couldn't get a stop to save their lives. Then Magic shot 57% in the final 12 minutes and you'll never believe this but they also had 4 OREB. If we're going to tell the truth about this ending, both Markelle Fultz and Cole Anthony were the best players on the floor. 

The Jays did all they could (22 points on 6-11 shooting), but Brogdon's tough 1-5 (1-4) was what they needed. Smart only took 1 FGA in the fourth (1-1), White only took 1 FGA in the 4th (1-1), so not getting that 3rd scoring from Brogdon which were essentially all wide open looks was tough.

The Ugly

- Of course, the shooting is going to live here. Where else would you put a 41/23% performance? The crazy part is that 23% is a little misleading. Shit was actually worse

The issue last night wasn't too different compared to the GS and LAC losses. You gotta make your open looks

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11-46 just isn't going to cut it. Not when 41 of them are either open or wide open. Just be below average and you win this game pretty convincingly, that's the frustrating part. Not shooting under 25% should be pretty attainable given the shooters on this roster.

Where people tend to lose me is suddenly declaring the Celts need to stop only shooting threes and that they do nothing else. That is not what happened last night. As a team, the Celts took 34 FTA. They were aggressive/driving to the rim. They matched ORL's points in the paint at 46. The issue was the lack of shotmaking and then the OREB/2nd chance points on the other end. The reason the Celts were in this hole is because the Magic ended with 7 more FGA (was double digits for most of the game). 

The issue wasn't the Celts offensive approach, it was their execution. They don't need to change their offense when shots aren't falling, they need to wake the fuck up and play some defense. That's how you find a way to win when your 3s aren't dropping. That didn't happen, and the Celts paid the price. 

Who knows, maybe this was just one of those things that happen in a first game back from a long trip. OK, well then let's see what happens on Sunday against this very same Magic team. If you thought they were confident last night, how do you think they'll be tomorrow? The Celts need to handle their business on this homestand as we build up to the Christmas showdown with the Bucks, and I think we can all agree they will not be doing that if we see more games like last night. That shit was gross.