Picks 'n Pops: Simons praise, a little respect, and booing your own fans

Every week, I've gathered some thoughts about the Celtics, the NBA, and beyond and dumped them here. Because it's something unpredictable, but in the end was right. I hope you had the time of your life.

- Miami’s biggest lead Thursday night was 19, which they hit at the 5:11 mark of the first quarter. Boston answered with a 14-5 run to make it a 10-point game at the 1:59 mark, and from that point to the end of the third quarter, the teams played even, ending it at 93-83.

When you look at it that way, it doesn’t seem so bad, does it? Big Miami run, Boston answered to keep it close, and they took that 10-point game all the way into the fourth quarter. Then the Celtics got hot, Miami went cold, and Boston won the game. 

It’s like watching a boxer get flattened early in the first round and eventually realizing that he’s kept up on points, and suddenly it’s the final round of a close fight. They held their own pretty well, all things considered, until Anfernee Simons could throw the knockout punch.

- Joe Mazzulla will NEVER praise Anfernee Simons without including his defense. 

“I thought he was great,” Mazzulla said. “The scoring is what he's done most of his career, but to me, it's just the way he defended. He had a blindside block, had a couple in traffic rebounds, was physical at the point of attack, just a complete game.”

Positive reinforcement works, and the message is clear. If you want to hear your coach praise you, it’s going to be for these specific things. 

- You KNOW you’re doing something special when you look over at your teammates on the bench and this is the reaction: 

- There have been 525 members of the Boston Celtics so far. You could have given me 500 guesses to answer the question, “Who held the record for most points off the bench,” and I wouldn’t have come up with Billy Knight. Probably because he only played 40 games in Boston as part of his 11-year career. 

- RIP Derrick White’s 77-game streak of hitting at least one 3-pointer. 

- If the Celtics got partial credit for all the shots that were halfway down in this game, they might have had the lead at the end of the third quarter.

- Hugo Gonzalez is a smooth finisher. 

He leads ALL rookies in plus/minus. 

- Jaylen Brown on getting fined $35,000 for criticizing officials: “Ask and you shall receive.” 

- Brown expanded on his officiating rant at the team’s practice at the University of Miami on Wednesday.

“Something had to be said,” he told reporters. “I think as a team, we get to the free throw line the least in the league, so just protecting our guys and myself. I think that we deserve a little bit more respect.” 

That's fine. I’m all for a player advocating for his team. At the same time, the Celtics are last in the league at shots within five feet of the rim and in the middle of the pack in drives per game. That doesn’t scream shot profile that will result in free throws. 

However, Brown does have a point. According to Synergy, they are in the bottom third in and-1 percentage at the rim. I suppose someone has to be at the bottom, but the Lakers drive 6.5 times less per game but they draw two more free throws per game on their drives, and their and-1 percentage at the rim is .5% higher. 

“I study all the top guys who get to the free throw line at a high rate and do the same things that they do,” Brown said. “They just pick and choose who they like to call it on. That's the part that pisses me off, because it should just be everybody should just get reffed evenly and consistently, but it just seems like there's an agenda where some guys they choose to call certain fouls for, and some guys they don't. 

“I don't know what goes into that decision-making, but it's kind of clear that certain guys on certain teams, certain markets, or certain profiles get preferential treatment versus others, and it should just be basketball.”

- Joe Mazzulla insisted that despite all the ref talk on the outside, that's not what the team is talking about internally. 

“At the end of the day, that's not the message to our team,” he said. “The message to our team was the that run that they went on, coming out of timeouts, not turning the ball over, making sure we make our two-on-one reads, and situational rebounding.” 

I’m glad none of it spilled into this game. If there's any reason to be thankful for Simons going off the way he did, it’s that the refs stuff got flushed quickly during this game.

- Welcome back Grant Williams, who returned this week after missing more than a year with a torn ACL. 

- The Bucks went into halftime down 31 Tuesday night against Minnesota, so the fans let them hear it. Giannis Antetokounmpo booed back in the third quarter.

“I was definitely booing back,” Antetokounmpo said after the game. “When I get booed, I boo back. I’ve been doing that all season. You guys haven’t been with me on the road. Whenever I get booed, I boo back.”

He added, “It does not matter … I play basketball for my teammates. I play basketball for myself and my family. When people don’t believe in me, I don’t tend to be with them. I tend to be against them. I tend to do what I’m here to do, what I’m good at. I think I’m like a maverick. I’ve always been that way, so it won’t change now. It doesn’t matter if I’m at home or away. But yeah, I’ve never been a part of something like that before and I don’t think it’s fair. I don’t.”

Giannis to Dallas! Book it!

This looks bad, but I’m actually not going to make too big a deal of it. As a, ahem, fiery Greek myself sometimes, I understand the reaction. Greeks have a way of fighting with each other all night and then hugging and saying “I love you” when it’s time to go home. 

At the same time, this doesn’t help things. Fans don’t tend to love confrontational, emotional outbursts from their stars, especially as that team is sliding out of the playoff picture. 

As of this writing, the Bucks are 17-24 and they’ve lost three in a row.

- I’m not sure who could have predicted Jonathan Kuminga asking for a trade the instant he was eligible to be moved. No one at all saw this coming. It comes as a complete shock to the whole league. 

… Was that convincing? Did you believe me? Should I try that again? Okay, hold on. 

[deep breath]

- I can’t believe Anthony Davis is going to miss significant time with another injury. He’s on the verge of being a game-changer this season, and his return from torn ligaments in his hand will make whichever team has him very dangerous. 

… Better? Did it come off as sincere? I’m working on something here and would love to nail this down. 

- Rich Paul, an NBA agent, openly discussing on a podcast which players in the league need to be traded is beyond absurd. He’s out there talking about the Lakers trading Austin Reaves.

How can you say something like that without explicitly trying to torpedo the locker room chemistry? 

Call me crazy, but I think LeBron James and Paul are angry at the Lakers and they're plotting some sort of revenge. Maybe it’s just my brain making that leap in the middle of the night, but I know they're not stupid people. They're very smart and calculating. This not making sense means there's more to it than just ‘oh that Rich Paul is such a scamp with the things he says.’

- Speaking of crazy, Dennis Schröder was suspended three games for trying to fight Luka Dončić after a game.

- Congrats Zdeno Chara on the number retirement. I know you’re done with hockey, but if you ever wanted to move down the hall, the Celtics could use a guy your size. It’s still pretty cool to see another 33 go into the rafters. 

- It’s Anfernee Simons’ night. Actually, it’s been his week, his month, and maybe even his year. 

Let’s stick with the short term, where he’s averaged 17.9 points on 48.8% shooting from 3 over his last 10 games. I never thought he’d play a game for the Celtics when the Jrue Holiday trade happened. Now I’m thinking he could be a long-term fit if he wants to stick around at mid-level money. That's the kind of performance that earns you the Best Week Ever!

- Here’s my latest podcast, if you’re bored.