Well that sucked

The Celtics lost their matinee game agains the New York Knicks

That sucked.

Plain and simple.

The Celtics are 1-1 since the Anfernee Simons trade became official and Nikola Vucevic entered the rotation. And, in both of those games, they look every inch a team trying to find its way.

“Playing is a little different,” Derrick White said after the game. “Obviously, got some new guys, new spots. And so, I want to say we’re not as crisp as we were maybe a few weeks ago, and we’ve had offseason and the beginning of the year to kind of figure those parts out. But it’s exciting that we can continue to learn and grow and just understand it’s going to take day by day and get guys comfortable, get guys in the right spots, and we got a lot of guys that know how to play. So, I think it will be quick. We’ll be able to pick it up quickly.”

The double big is part of the problem.

I’d go as far as to say it’s 75% of the problem.

I’m not a fan.

Not by a long shot.

It’s no secret that in recent years, I preferred to run lineups with one big. However, the league has started leaning toward double bigs, and if you have the right personnel, I’m all for it.

A duo of Neemias Queta and Luka Garza is not the right personnel.

Far from it.

Neither can provide ball-handling. Neither has great off-ball mobility as far as cutting, shifting, lifting, and sinking go.

Defensively, I get the allure. You can run Garza in drop and have Neemy on the weakside, offering secondary rim protection. He’s done well in that roamer role for stretches of the season.

But on offense?

Where’s the value?

You’re not exactly running split actions with those two, maximizing the shooting and rim-running that the duo provides. They lack the burst for that.

Even when you run screening actions, both Neemy and Garza are still a work in progress as far as decision-making goes.

I’m hoping that once Sam Hauser comes back, these double-bigs are a thing of the past. At least for now.

Revisit it once Neemy and/or Garza’s development has reached another level.

However, even with the double big issues, it was the shooting that let the Celtics down. 17.1% on 41 three-point attempts is absurd.

“I think we got a bunch of, created a bunch of open looks,” Jaylen Brown said after the game. “We just got to step in with confidence and knock them down. I think on offense, we did a good job creating advantages. We just got to make some shots we couldn’t make today. It happens, they made shots and I think that was the difference.”

Part of that is the Knicks’ defense; the way they hassled Boston on the perimeter was relentless. They fought over/under and straight-up denied screens.

They got into bodies.

They suffocated.

When you don’t have that fourth release valve, who can at least attack off the bounce, everything else becomes sped up. The ball seems to move quicker. Decisions feel rushed.

For the most part, the Celtics took open threes. I lost count of how many rattled the rim before coming back out.

How many times did we see a shot like this? Wide Open. On target. Side to side and back out again.

It’s cliché at this point, but shot variance is a real thing. Sometimes, you gotta eat the L despite having good process and shot selection. It is what it is.

You know what I liked about the above play, though? The ball moved. Everyone on the floor could realistically attack a close-out. Yes, that includes Vucevic, even if it wouldn’t be ideal.

And what is different about that possession? Only one big is on the floor.

It’s the same in this action.

Boston runs a 77 action (stagger screen) with Derrick White looking to initiate a “get” action (throw the ball to someone, and then go get it back).

Neemy sees that the Knicks defense is reacting well, with White’s man going under the screens, leading Neemy to “keep” the rock. So, what happens next? Both Baylor Scheierman and Queta flow into a “Zoom” action for Jaylen Brown.

Neemy slips the action. The Knicks keep their hands high and get to the pass. Things go a bit awry from that point.

Still, there was movement. Decision making. Reactive play calling. Double-sided offense.

And what do both of those actions have in common?

Yup…there was only one big on the court…

Now, I’m not saying Boston didn’t have good possessions when the double big lineup was out there. It’s easy for me to pull clips and paint a picture. It’s disingenuous of me to avoid acknowledging that some good stuff happened with two bigs.

It was just far less frequent.

Easier to guard (at times).

And most importantly…clunky.

I take solace in the fact that Hauser will be back soon. Tatum could be back at some point, too — just today, Shams Charania reported that he’s been working through some five-on-five activity.

The roster, its lineups, and its combinations remain subject to change. But that doesn’t make a loss to the Knicks any less of a gut punch. After all, gap year or not, the Celtics are right there with them in the standings.

And lets face it, if the Celtics made their shots, we’re having a different discussion right now. Make or miss league.

The Celtics missed more than they made.

It’s not all on the double lineup.

But I sure as hell don’t want to see that become a staple.

Oh…and got Pats!