Official Playoff Game Thread: Celtics at Hawks -- GAME 6 (8:30 PM Tip!)

[Spud2nique]

We finished as the 5th remaining team left in the playoffs in the East.

Only 

NY

Miami

Philly

Boston

remained…

Glass half full type stuff..

We showed up, we came up short, I’m encouraged about how we finished the season, it started out rocky but after the Nate thing, it’s like we started back in training camp with Quin. Not an excuse just how things went, it takes time to learn a completely brand new system from a brand new coach.

We do good things here, and we will moving forward with Quin. 
 

This is like the 38th playoff exit I’ve witnessed…  none are easy and they all hurt with questions of 

what if?

what could have been?

I’d like to think we took our hits as a franchise but now it seems as though the front office, coach and players are all turning to the same page. 
 

With a superstar like Trae, anything is possible. 
 

Go Hawks!

[Peoriabird]

15 minutes ago, REHawksFan said:

So the 5 games vs Miami last year negate the other 76 he played?  That's not logical.  

Aren't we talking about this years playoff results?  That would be apple to apples right?

[Final_quest]

8 minutes ago, JeffS17 said:

@Peoriabird is failing to apply any context to his black and white criticism and citations of stats.  It's not worth the effort going back and forth -- it never is.

NEVER.  

[Atlantaholic]

I don't really have any issues with Trae's shot selection in the second half. He took the ball to the hole, pulled up for threes when he was guarded by Horford and those were good looks. Problem is, nothing dropped. Probably the effects of playing 44 mins and a super high intensity first half catching up with him. Fact is we need a #2. We can't have Trae be the initiator of all of our offense, our main distributor every game and also ask him to drop 40. That's just not a feasable way to go through a playoff run. Murray was playing his part before the suspension but laid a pretty ugly egg this game. Overall I don't think he can be the guy. We need a Jaylen, or at least get a really deep team full of shooters like we had in 2021. 

[Peoriabird]

17 minutes ago, AHF said:

While we are being literal, Trae is literally the 424th ranked player out of 539 in EFG% this year. 

You are including free throws and even when I clarify that I'm not using free throws you still include them.  I just don't know what to tell you...Worst EFG% on the team.  It speaks for itself

4 minutes ago, Atlantaholic said:

I don't really have any issues with Trae's shot selection in the second half.

this is where the problem lies!

[Diesel]

24 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

Did Atlanta have floor spacers last year against Miami?  Did it help or did he perform even worst than this year.  Even if you look at his percentages in the playoffs 2 years ago, they weren't great.

No.

Bogi, Lou, CC, & JC were all injured in that series. 

 

[AHF]

17 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

You are including free throws and even when I clarify that I'm not using free throws you still include them.  I just don't know what to tell you...Worst EFG% on the team.  It speaks for itself

I'm having trouble being polite since I didn't reference TS% at all.  I'll just put this out there:

REGULAR SEASON

PLAYOFFS

In the playoffs, Bey had a 42.5% EFG% while Trae had a 43.1% EFG%.

BOTTOMLINE - YOU ARE LITERALLY WRONG

In neither the regular season nor the post-season did Trae Young have the lowest EFG% on the team.

[Peoriabird]

16 minutes ago, Diesel said:

No.

Bogi, Lou, CC, & JC were all injured in that series. 

 

I thought CC and John were the problems and Lou couldn't shoot at that stage in his career.  Bogi played.  What about 2 years ago in the playoffs...What was his EFG% then with all the shooting?

[Peoriabird]

1 minute ago, AHF said:

I'm having trouble being polite since I didn't reference TS% at all.  I'll just put this out there:

REGULAR SEASON

PLAYOFFS

In the playoffs, Bey had a 42.5% EFG% while Trae had a 43.1% EFG%.

BOTTOMLINE - YOU ARE LITERALLY WRONG

In neither the regular season nor the post-season did Trae Young have the lowest EFG% on the team.

Lol you are like a child at times.  You really going to count players not on the team anymore or ones who barely played!  Just lol!

[AHF]

43 minutes ago, AHF said:

While we are being literal, Trae is literally the 424th ranked player out of 539 in EFG% this year. 

 

26 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

You are including free throws and even when I clarify that I'm not using free throws you still include them.  I just don't know what to tell you...Worst EFG% on the team.  It speaks for itself

this is where the problem lies!

 

1 minute ago, Peoriabird said:

Lol you are like a child at times.  You really going to count players not on the team anymore or ones who barely played!  Just lol!

Do you know what the word "literal" means?  Honest question.

[Peoriabird]

3 minutes ago, AHF said:

PLAYOFFS

In the playoffs, Bey had a 42.5% EFG% while Trae had a 43.1% EFG%.

 

What?  That can't be...Isn't this the guy who is suppose to send Hunter into retirement? @Diesel

1 minute ago, AHF said:

 

 

Do you know what the word "literal" means?

Please...You're hurting your credibility

[AHF]

1 minute ago, Peoriabird said:

What?  That can't be...Isn't this the guy who is suppose to send Hunter into retirement? @Diesel

Please...You're hurting your credibility

I'm going to take that as a "no."

Here is a useful reference for the next time you want to use that word:

Don't feel bad.  Many people use the word "literally" when they mean "figuratively" or something else.  You have plenty of company on this.  If you say "my head is literally going to explode if I have to listen to this song one more time" then you are saying the exact opposite of what you actually mean.

On this topic, on our roster of 20 people this season Trae literally ranked:

12th in FG%

10th in 3pt%

15th in EFG%

3rd in FT%

10th in TS%

[Peoriabird]

8 minutes ago, AHF said:

12th in FG%

10th in 3pt%

15th in EFG%

3rd in FT%

10th in TS%

These shooting numbers kinda agree with what I've been saying seeing that only 9-10 are in the rotation

[Peoriabird]

Look guys...I know its hard having these conversations about Trae young.  For some reason there is an emotional attachment with him when constructive criticism is offered regarding his play.  My only point is that Trae Young problems are his own...Just like y'all have no mercy on any other player when they perform poorly and justifiably so blame that particular player for his own poor performance, Young needs to be held accountable also.  I think he is a better shooter than he is displaying mainly because his ongoing poor Judgement at times during the game.  He either thinks he is a better shooter than he is or he trying to make too many spectacular plays which would result in him getting the attention he craves.  Trae definitely has the Hero complex!  Until he becomes a more cerebral player and less instinctual, he will continue to shoot poorly regardless of who is on his team.  Now I'll readily admit that Murray is the absolute wrong fit on offense and defense and now Capela on defense.  Also Capela hurts the team's offense over all because he has zero offensive skill.  This is a good team that will only get better as some of the Young pieces mature and the longer a team plays together, the better they play together.  I know many fan just don't understand that concept.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

1 hour ago, REHawksFan said:

I'm not saying FTs aren't important to make.  Of course they are.  I'm saying in the playoffs the refs are less likely to call as many fouls as in the regular season so relying on FTs to increase your scoring is a fools errand, imo.  

Consider this:

• Giannis regular season 12.3 /gm - Playoffs 10.3 (-2)
• Embiid reg season 11.7 / playoffs 8.0 (-3.7)
• Trae reg season 8.8 / playoffs 7.2 (-1.6)
• Butler reg season 8.7 / playoffs 9.6 (+0.9)
• Tatum reg season 8.4 / playoffs 4.8 (-3.6)
• Ja reg season 8.1 / playoffs 5.5 (-3.6)

That's the top 6 players in FTA from the regular season that made the playoffs.  All of them except Butler are down significantly in FTA.  And his are highly skewed by Game 4 where he went to the line 18 times.  Otherwise, he's avg 7.5 which is -1.2.  

The point isn't that FTs don't matter.  It's just that employing a strategy of trying to draw a foul instead of working your actual offense doesn't seem to work in the playoffs like it does in the regular season.  

 

Unless you're Jimmy Butler, who gets rewarded for being aggressive and going to the basket, while others arent.

[SalvorMallow]

1 hour ago, REHawksFan said:

I'm not saying FTs aren't important to make.  Of course they are.  I'm saying in the playoffs the refs are less likely to call as many fouls as in the regular season so relying on FTs to increase your scoring is a fools errand, imo.  

Consider this:

• Giannis regular season 12.3 /gm - Playoffs 10.3 (-2)
• Embiid reg season 11.7 / playoffs 8.0 (-3.7)
• Trae reg season 8.8 / playoffs 7.2 (-1.6)
• Butler reg season 8.7 / playoffs 9.6 (+0.9)
• Tatum reg season 8.4 / playoffs 4.8 (-3.6)
• Ja reg season 8.1 / playoffs 5.5 (-3.6)

That's the top 6 players in FTA from the regular season that made the playoffs.  All of them except Butler are down significantly in FTA.  And his are highly skewed by Game 4 where he went to the line 18 times.  Otherwise, he's avg 7.5 which is -1.2.  

The point isn't that FTs don't matter.  It's just that employing a strategy of trying to draw a foul instead of working your actual offense doesn't seem to work in the playoffs like it does in the regular season.  

How does that mean that TS% is less valuable than eFG%? I guess that is the connection that is missing for me. Ben Simmons has a great eFG% and a much less impressive TS%. That differential is exploitable by smart teams in the playoffs (e.g. fouling on purpose to make the player earn the points on the line). 

[JeffS17]

21 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

Look guys...I know its hard having these conversations about Trae young.  For some reason there is an emotional attachment with him when constructive criticism is offered regarding his play.  My only point is that Trae Young problems are his own...Just like y'all have no mercy on any other player when they perform poorly and justifiably so blame that particular player for his own poor performance, Young needs to be held accountable also.  I think he is a better shooter than he is displaying mainly because his ongoing poor Judgement at times during the game.  He either thinks he is a better shooter than he is or he trying to make too many spectacular plays which would result in him getting the attention he craves.  Trae definitely has the Hero complex!  Until he becomes a more cerebral player and less instinctual, he will continue to shoot poorly regardless of who is on his team.  Now I'll readily admit that Murray is the absolute wrong fit on offense and defense and now Capela on defense.  Also Capela hurts the team's offense over all because he has zero offensive skill.  This is a good team that will only get better as some of the Young pieces mature and the longer a team plays together, the better they play together.  I know many fan just don't understand that concept.

I don't even really disagree with your overall point that Trae needs to work on shot selection and not forcing stuff.  You just are unable to acknowledge any of the nuances that contribute to that situation which is off putting to people.  This is a discussion board, not a hammer a point home until everyone agrees with me in writing self-indulgence board.

[SalvorMallow]

43 minutes ago, AHF said:

I'm going to take that as a "no."

Here is a useful reference for the next time you want to use that word:

Don't feel bad.  Many people use the word "literally" when they mean "figuratively" or something else.  You have plenty of company on this.  If you say "my head is literally going to explode if I have to listen to this song one more time" then you are saying the exact opposite of what you actually mean.

On this topic, on our roster of 20 people this season Trae literally ranked:

12th in FG%

10th in 3pt%

15th in EFG%

3rd in FT%

10th in TS%

The best part of this is the subtle diss incorporated with the "middle school level" categorization in the definition LOL!

[shakes]

2 minutes ago, JeffS17 said:

I don't even really disagree with your overall point that Trae needs to work on shot selection and not forcing stuff.  You just are unable to acknowledge any of the nuances that contribute to that situation which is off putting to people.  This is a discussion board, not a hammer a point home until everyone agrees with me in writing self-indulgence board.

I would add that this is also a board where people have the decency to use paragraph breaks @Peoriabird

[Peoriabird]

Glad we are all finally in agreement!  Feels good to be one big happy family again!