On this episode, Ben, Jake, and I lament one other loss marred by the Celtics’ lack of urgency and focus on the elephant within the room: the play of Marcus Good. Good’s profession has been wrought with ebbs and flows, all through seasons, months, and, oftentimes, video games themselves. One minute he’s bricking a wide-open three, the following he’s drawing back-to-back offensive fouls. His impression has at all times gone past the normal field rating, and that’s led to Good changing into a beacon of divisiveness for the fanbase. The naive love and trusters on one aspect, the doomtastic haters and losers on the opposite.
Personally, I’ve lengthy held that Good’s constructive impression outweighs his apparent faults, and the superior stats and Celtics’ success have confirmed that time again and again. Effectively, at the least since Good’s return from damage, this has not been the case. The fragile balancing act between profitable performs and missed pictures that’s stored Good a constructive participant for his profession has launched off the cliff and plummeted into the nice past. His web score since his return is -4.2. That’s worst on the group of the blokes that play extra then 10 minutes per recreation. The Celtics web score when Good sits throughout this timeframe is +15.3. That’s greater than 5 factors per 100 possessions increased than the following participant, Jayson Tatum. In different phrases, the Celtics are nearly 20 factors per 100 possessions higher with Marcus Good on the courtroom within the final 11 video games. They’ve misplaced two additional time video games and a recreation by 2 factors throughout that stretch.
It’s laborious to parse out precisely what’s mistaken with Good. He didn’t immediately turn out to be the participant his worst critics have been attempting to warn us about, but it surely’s been troublesome to look at. He simply doesn’t appear significantly engaged within the recreation, and there’s no excuse for that, not even accidents.
I do know Marcus might be nice within the playoffs, but it surely’s fairly powerful to look at proper now. Bricks a large open three then will get beat up the ground regardless of being given a 2 second head begin to get again on protection. pic.twitter.com/3bD8vB1wRX
— Wayne Spooney (@WSpooney) March 14, 2023
Not getting again on protection is inexcusable on this state of affairs. If he’s so harm he can’t flip and run again on protection, he shouldn’t be enjoying.
He had a very horrible run within the Hawks recreation that nearly allowed the Hawks again into the sport that ended with him getting ejected.
I’ve lengthy been a Good defender and advocate, however I’ll totally admit I used to be considerably relieved Good was now not within the recreation. That’s a novel expertise for many people who imagine in Good and what he brings a basketball group.
All his offensive stats are down massively since his return, most notably his help proportion and assists per recreation. At one level, Good was aiding on 30% of his possessions and was top-10 in assists per recreation, each profession highs. Since his return, his help proportion has continued to tumble and is at 16.4% for this stretch, and he’s averaging 3.8 assists, a far cry from the 7 or so he’d been averaging this season. That’s not a drop off, that’s the markings of a essentially completely different participant.
You can also make a reasonably compelling argument that the one factor mistaken with the Celtics throughout this latest poor stretch is the play of Marcus Good. I believe the one cheap rationalization is that he’s nonetheless harm. NBA gamers don’t simply morph into the worst variations of themselves halfway by a season at 28 years outdated. Good merely must be harm, and if he’s harm, he shouldn’t be enjoying. For the primary time in his profession, Good sitting on the bench might be the most effective factor for the Celtics, as a lot as that pains me to say.
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