https://youtu.be/fxKf3UYSEto
The Boston Celtics looked pretty good to start this game. It felt a bit unsustainable, in the face of the Nets and their ill-fitting-but-they’re-so-good-it-doesn’t-actually-matter big-three, but there were big chunks of this game where a Celtics victory seemed totally feasible. But it didn’t happen, and I know the reason why:
They didn’t play Jabari Parker enough.
They also didn’t play Robert Williams enough. But mostly Jabari Parker.
I’ve analyzed my motivations and I’m pretty sure that I’m not being sarcastic or anything right now. I think that I legitimately think that more Parker minutes in this game would’ve led to a Celtics win. For real. This is an odd position to hold about a player who racked up endless DNPs with the Kings (who suck), but if you do your own analysis perhaps you will find that is not so strange after all. I mean, he was plus 7 on the court in this one, and I know single game plus-minus is garbage, but sometimes it makes a point.
The position that Williams didn’t play enough is not so outlandish. He pretty much utterly dominated the Nets while he was in the game. It was LAUGHABLE the kind of stuff the Nets midgets were throwing up in his vicinity. I was literally laughing at those littlekins. 9 blocks is apparently a franchise playoff record for that stat (only because while Bill Russell was playing blocks weren’t a recorded stat, you just know he had a game with 20), and he only played 22 minutes. The Celtics are at a disadvantage when it comes to talent in this series, so why would they exacerbate that disadvantage by starting Tristan Thompson and playing him real minutes? Maybe he’s a more fundamental player or whatever, but fundamentals aren’t going to win this series. Williams should be playing until he fouls out every game.
And when he does foul out (which might happen pretty quick if he’s going for blocks nonstop), that’s when you put in Luke Kornet. Again, not being sarcastic or making some sort of joke. He’s been hosting his own mini block parties in his short time with the Celtics, and he has the added bonus of being able to pretend to be a three-point shooter. Just remove Thompson from the lineup entirely.
I should remind Brad Stevens that this advice is not free; if he uses any of it, I will be sending him an invoice for 100,000 dollars, payable to Mr. Down To Buck. A small price to pay for knocking out the Nets in the first round, if I do say so myself.