Jules

Hoping Dipo will be okay too. Seems mysterious and I hope it's just a matter of resting enough to be back later. In the meantime the Pacers depth looks pretty good though.

History was made tonight, congrats to the Chicago Bulls.

I still got Boston winning the east by years end, seedings be damned. Their ceiling is HIGH. They won the last 3 when Marcus Smart/Marcus Morris were inserted into the starting lineup. Gives them a tougher starting 5 with Horford/Tatum/Morris/Smart/Irving. Now Brown says he is okay if he has to come off the bench too since he missed 3 games with a back injury and knows Smart fits better right now. Gordon Hayward offered to come off the bench a few weeks ago and ripped off 30 points the other night. It's just a strange process with Boston, you got like 9 starters on this team. Finding the roles and who goes where etc. has been a painful process... But when this thing clicks (and I believe it will) it's going to be electric later. Not everyone can pull a Golden State and have their best players as starters IMO. Irving plays better with Smart since then he can play off the ball more like he did in Cleveland and then Smart can guard the other teams best guard. This is still a work in progress.......but I still never gave up on this team despite blowing games this year and some ugly stuff. This isn't a Boston friendly forum but damn this C's team is fascinating with all those guys.

Friendly Celtics update. I changed my mind. Scratch anything I said about Gordon Hayward! He got the minutes restrictions taken off this week and it's starting to click. Don't get me wrong, he's got a few months to go I think till he is back and perhaps even until the playoffs begin......but this dude's brains and play making is ABSURD. He knows where to pass the ball, when and he is really good at making reads now. He's a smart smart guy who seems to be getting it better now. Kyrie was unreal tonight beating the Raptors with 43 points and 11 assists. I mean unreal. I think this Celtics team is starting to "get it" now. It was just a matter of being patient. And nobody in Boston sports has patience lol. If I have concerns it's the trash brothers in the background; Rozier and Smart. And sometimes Jaylen Brown. But I think Gordon Hayward is the type of player who makes those around him better. And I think I overreacted. Gordon isn't going to light up the scoreboard but he's the type that does all those little things and believe me this C's team will go where he goes......

Agree but Covington sucks IMO. Well at least vs. the Celtics he does. I think it's upgrade unless Butler/Embiid butt heads on the team. And then the team has to get another shooter. Spacing and shooting looks weird on paper.

Realistically, Philly should pick up Korver. They need shooting bad with how the roster is currently set up. They were talking to Korver in the summer. The east last year was a damn patty cake walk outside of Lebron. This year it looks like everyone has teeth. On a side note I am still predicting the Celtics make a trade this season, even if they move someone (Hayward or Rozier or both) for someone you never heard of. Or in the offseason at least......

MY GOD. Yep this dude. Basically he was shooting like Reggie Miller last night, especially in the first half. I will say Gordon Hayward is a great free throw shooter though, I really do trust him at the line. The free throws are smooth and sharp.

This bugs me with Philly. I don't know how this will work well with a hot head like Butler on Philly and also spacing/shooting. But I was secretly hoping the Celtics would swap Butler for Haywashed since Irving/Butler are tight. At this point a few orange security cones can defend better then Gordon Hayward. I still think the odd man out is Gordon sadly and I can't always deny this. I mean last night Irving had to go to a family funeral so he misses the game. Celtics without Irving actually got WORSE on defense. This is not even a joke, Irving has played good defense in a lot of games this year. I don't want Philly to get better, the C's own them but still I hate how the east is making all these nice trades for stars like Kawhi and Butler while last night Joe freaking Ingles made Gordon Hayward look bad in Utah. And ex Celtic Jae Crowder lit up the C's "defense" too. My goodness gracious..... Anyway thats my friendly Celtics rant of the day. Carry on.....

Reminds me of Irving at times with Dipo. Irving dropped 30 vs. Denver nights ago and the C's still lose. Just have to try to find a way to get more guys on the team hot, shots don't always fall in. Dipo though man, the only reason I admit I sometimes try to catch the Pacers..... You caught Philly at the wrong time though, they were in a slump and were desperate for a statement game.

Friendly Celtics update. Rozier and Ainge said the reports are untrue and he is not unhappy. But we'll see. Last night the Celtics were on the brink of losing in Phoenix. In the first half only one starter by halftime scored for real (Irving). C's were down 22 points to a bad Suns team. I saw mystical trades happening before my very eyes.... Then Kyrie went bananas. 39 points, magical shots, stealing balls and he managed to get Jaylen Brown hot again. He even passed the ball to Marcus Morris for the game tying shot to win in OT. I saw visions again for the first time of "Cleveland Kyrie" when he used to go nuts with Lebron on the court scoring like a crazy person with his jersey untucked. God I love that Kyrie..... Kyrie said the team will be OK and he will make sure of this. I won't lie though, Kyrie+Lebron used to be pure magic at times on the court.....I had visions of this again. Anyway my point is if you get bored late tonight Gordon Hayward makes his return to Utah *gulp*. And Kyrie is not playing since his grandfather died and he had to attend his memorial today. So Gordon sans Kyrie in Utah, should be great. I think? Brad did the unthinkable last night too btw. He BENCHED Jayson Tatum, golden boy Tatum. And he even BENCHED Gordon at the end of the game for Marcus Morris. Wowww this Boston team is a trip this year.

Might sound odd but it's extremely cool to hear. I am sure Brad Stevens hooked this up being he is from Indy and the Celtics were recently in Denver for a few days. https://www.celticsblog.com/2018/11/7/18071402/peyton-manning-joins-the-boston-celtics-for-some-film-room-work

I think I been too tough on Gordon. He's still trying to feel things out and in my mind I have noticed some of the backups not meshing with him well since they might feel Gordon didn't earn his starting spot after missing the entire season. One thing about Gordon, despite his lack of impact on the court in stats, he is running the offense well when he is out there. He's a smart smart guy. It's going to be tough to move Gordon due to how much money his contract is. Against Denver the other night, the starters actually had a 19 point lead vs. the Nuggets. The bench and weird rotations then blew the game wide open......since Brad has too many issues IMO trying to keep everyone happy and get them out there. The deep playoff run wasn't the best thing in the world since it gave a lot of guys an agenda. We'll see how this all works out though.

The problem might very well be Terry Rozier and not Gordon Hayward.

Done. You can have him for free along with a first rounder (Celtics have several from other teams). He loves the Pacers so much he even passed you the ball to end the game the other night. Okay just wanted to rant. I feel better now. I mean I don't hate Hayward but my goodness for 30 million dollars it can make me feel a bit icky......thats a lot of money!!!!