The Celtics followed a familiar pattern Saturday night, squeaking by a lesser opponent after blowing out Philadelphia the night before.
[recap] [box score]
Quick thoughts, since I'm in the middle of my contracts outline.
-League Pass Broadband cut out the first nine or so minutes of this one, so I didn't see Paul Pierce's quick six points in the first quarter. I did, however, see him score only five in the second and third quarters combined, only to notch eight in the final period. Even on a night where the offense wasn't coming easily to him, the fourth quarter is still his domain.
-Tony Allen played really well tonight. He was unselfish and made good decisions all night long. I was particularly pleased with his play at the start off the fourth. After Charlotte cut it to 68-67, Tony protected the lead by driving for a layup, and then, after a Raymond Felton turnover, kicked it to Eddie House for the three-pointer that made it a six-point game. It's always important to protect the lead like that. The starters would eventually lose that lead, but Tony really stepped up at the right time.
-I kind of like these Bobcats. The level of intensity and athleticism that Gerald Wallace plays with makes him a joy to watch; he's the kind of guy, like Detroit's Allen Iverson and Miami's Dwyane Wade, whose mix of talent and almost reckless effort makes basketball fun. This loss puts them at 5-11, but they've had a number of close losses this year. While they aren't constructed well enough to be a team about which you'd say that they are "almost there" and there problems go beyond needing to "learn how to win," they play hard and have some talented guys. If Felton had scored the ball better -- he had just four points on 2-of-15 from the field -- they might well have picked up win number six.
Three home games for the Celtics next week, starting with Orlando on Monday. The game is at 7:30 p.m. Eastern on NBATV, which means I won't be able to watch. That's probably good, since I have a lot of studying to do, but I'll peruse the box score and weigh in with a thought or two. Then comes the rematch with Indiana on Wednesday night, and then the fascinating Portland Trailblazers come to town on Friday. That one's on ESPN, so make sure you clear some time to watch.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Boston 102, Philadelphia 78
An outstanding performance on both ends from the defending champs. The Celtics held the Sixers to 28 points in the first half -- our best defensive half of the season, and Philly's worst offensively -- and the 76ers final total is only somewhat respectable thanks to the work of Louis Williams and Marreese Speights in a 31-point fourth quarter against our second- and third-stringers.
[recap] [box score]
Scoring in the NBA really doesn't get any more balanced than this. We scored 102 points tonight despite having just four guys in double figures, and no one had more than Ray Allen's 23. But all 11 guys who played scored -- Patrick O'Bryant's sweet jump hook on the second-to-last possession took care of that. Four guys off the bench had at least eight points: ten each for Leon Powe and Tony Allen; nine for Glen Davis, and eight for Eddie House.
Rajon Rondo again played great; he set the tone with three quick steals and finished with 12 assists. Kendrick Perkins also got off to a fast start, and had four blocks. Ray continued his torrid shooting, and Pierce didn't force anything (he shot just 1-for-6 in 27 minutes).
A few quick thoughts:
-Doc used a new substitution pattern in the first quarter tonight -- at least, I don't remember seeing it before. The first sub off the bench was Glen Davis, and he came in for Garnett. Usually, Doc removes Perk from the lineup with a few minutes remaining in the first, leaving KG out there to finish the quarter. That very well could be because Perkins is often in foul trouble, but I like the idea of resting Garnett in the first quarter if possible. It manages his minutes a bit better and gives us the option to go to him earlier in the second if the bench gets in trouble.
-Brian Scalabrine looks like he's made his way into the regular rotation. He's been playing pretty well, and I commend him for playing within himself despite the fact that every time he touches the ball the crowd yells for him to shoot. Still, if he's going to play meaningful minutes, he needs to be a little more aggressive, a little more like an NBA player. Too often, he's playing without conviction offensively. (On the defensive end, he's always playing hard).
-Tommy Heinsohn was back on the broadcast tonight, and late in the game, he mentioned the importance of the Celtics not being complacent when they play in Philly, because the Sixers were bound to be steamed about this blowout. He made reference to the next game being in Philadelphia, but it's actually back in Boston on December 23rd (look for me in section 312!). I think Speights' bush-league flagrant-two on Scalabrine in the waning moments took care of any concerns about complacency. Scalabrine was driving to the bucket for a reverse layup when Speights just reached out and shoved him in the back. It led to an ejection for Speights and a jawing match between Powe and Reggie Evans (this incident reminded of how much I hate Evans, by the way). I'm sure Boston will be plenty fired up on the 23rd.
-Tony played well tonight, but again he made the boneheaded play of the game. With time winding down in the third quarter, Boston was holding for one shot, though the shot and game clocks weren't quite synched; there was maybe a second and a half difference between the two. Tony drove for a layup and missed, and as the ball was coming off the rim, the shot clock buzzer -- which is quite discernible from the game clock horn -- sounded. Tony, who was in a great position to grab the rebound and lay it back in, apparently heard the buzzer and thought the quarter had ended, as he grabbed the ball and sort of tossed it over his head while walking backward. No harm, no foul, but it still bugs me to see stuff like that.
-Next game is Saturday night in Charlotte (7 p.m. Eastern, no national TV). Despite the fact that Friday's 115-108 overtime win at Indiana moved them to just 5-10 on the year, the Bobcats should have our attention. Though we went 3-1 against them last year, the one loss was in Boston in January, and we needed that miraculous House steal and Ray three at the horn to beat them in Charlotte in November. Of the other two wins, one was closeish and the other wasn't. And the Bobcats only had Gerald Wallace for one of those games due to various injuries.
In addition to Wallace, there are two Bobcats who are most concerning. The first is point guard Raymond Felton. Rondo has some trouble against quicker point guards, and Felton is one of the quickest. He averaged 17 points and nine assists in the four games against us last year, a few ticks above his season averages in each category.
The other is Jason Richardson, who averaged nearly 30 points per game in the first three contests with Boston last year (he was held to nine in the final game in April). Richardson is the brand of two-guard (think the Hawks' Joe Johnson) that Ray Allen has trouble with: a decent shooter with a good mid-range game who can get to the rim. That's the key matchup.
With Sean May and Adam Morrison continuing to disappoint, Bobcats coach Larry Brown has been going to some small lineups, with rookie D.J. Augustin joining Felton and Richardson on the perimeter. The selection of Augustin in this summer's draft left many scratching their heads, as Augustin and Felton are similar players and there aren't too many NBA teams who have been successful playing two guys who are each six feet tall, if that, alongside each other. I'm looking forward to seeing this lineup, and not a little bit because I have something of a financial interest in Augustin's development (I need him to average 24 mpg or more in a full NBA season after his fourth year in the league).
Perhaps the best news for the Cs is that while Ray Allen was the only starter to play more than 30 minutes against Philly, the Bobcats' big guns logged heavy mileage in the overtime win at Indiana. Felton played about 48 minutes; Richardson and Wallace each played around 42.
[recap] [box score]
Scoring in the NBA really doesn't get any more balanced than this. We scored 102 points tonight despite having just four guys in double figures, and no one had more than Ray Allen's 23. But all 11 guys who played scored -- Patrick O'Bryant's sweet jump hook on the second-to-last possession took care of that. Four guys off the bench had at least eight points: ten each for Leon Powe and Tony Allen; nine for Glen Davis, and eight for Eddie House.
Rajon Rondo again played great; he set the tone with three quick steals and finished with 12 assists. Kendrick Perkins also got off to a fast start, and had four blocks. Ray continued his torrid shooting, and Pierce didn't force anything (he shot just 1-for-6 in 27 minutes).
A few quick thoughts:
-Doc used a new substitution pattern in the first quarter tonight -- at least, I don't remember seeing it before. The first sub off the bench was Glen Davis, and he came in for Garnett. Usually, Doc removes Perk from the lineup with a few minutes remaining in the first, leaving KG out there to finish the quarter. That very well could be because Perkins is often in foul trouble, but I like the idea of resting Garnett in the first quarter if possible. It manages his minutes a bit better and gives us the option to go to him earlier in the second if the bench gets in trouble.
-Brian Scalabrine looks like he's made his way into the regular rotation. He's been playing pretty well, and I commend him for playing within himself despite the fact that every time he touches the ball the crowd yells for him to shoot. Still, if he's going to play meaningful minutes, he needs to be a little more aggressive, a little more like an NBA player. Too often, he's playing without conviction offensively. (On the defensive end, he's always playing hard).
-Tommy Heinsohn was back on the broadcast tonight, and late in the game, he mentioned the importance of the Celtics not being complacent when they play in Philly, because the Sixers were bound to be steamed about this blowout. He made reference to the next game being in Philadelphia, but it's actually back in Boston on December 23rd (look for me in section 312!). I think Speights' bush-league flagrant-two on Scalabrine in the waning moments took care of any concerns about complacency. Scalabrine was driving to the bucket for a reverse layup when Speights just reached out and shoved him in the back. It led to an ejection for Speights and a jawing match between Powe and Reggie Evans (this incident reminded of how much I hate Evans, by the way). I'm sure Boston will be plenty fired up on the 23rd.
-Tony played well tonight, but again he made the boneheaded play of the game. With time winding down in the third quarter, Boston was holding for one shot, though the shot and game clocks weren't quite synched; there was maybe a second and a half difference between the two. Tony drove for a layup and missed, and as the ball was coming off the rim, the shot clock buzzer -- which is quite discernible from the game clock horn -- sounded. Tony, who was in a great position to grab the rebound and lay it back in, apparently heard the buzzer and thought the quarter had ended, as he grabbed the ball and sort of tossed it over his head while walking backward. No harm, no foul, but it still bugs me to see stuff like that.
-Next game is Saturday night in Charlotte (7 p.m. Eastern, no national TV). Despite the fact that Friday's 115-108 overtime win at Indiana moved them to just 5-10 on the year, the Bobcats should have our attention. Though we went 3-1 against them last year, the one loss was in Boston in January, and we needed that miraculous House steal and Ray three at the horn to beat them in Charlotte in November. Of the other two wins, one was closeish and the other wasn't. And the Bobcats only had Gerald Wallace for one of those games due to various injuries.
In addition to Wallace, there are two Bobcats who are most concerning. The first is point guard Raymond Felton. Rondo has some trouble against quicker point guards, and Felton is one of the quickest. He averaged 17 points and nine assists in the four games against us last year, a few ticks above his season averages in each category.
The other is Jason Richardson, who averaged nearly 30 points per game in the first three contests with Boston last year (he was held to nine in the final game in April). Richardson is the brand of two-guard (think the Hawks' Joe Johnson) that Ray Allen has trouble with: a decent shooter with a good mid-range game who can get to the rim. That's the key matchup.
With Sean May and Adam Morrison continuing to disappoint, Bobcats coach Larry Brown has been going to some small lineups, with rookie D.J. Augustin joining Felton and Richardson on the perimeter. The selection of Augustin in this summer's draft left many scratching their heads, as Augustin and Felton are similar players and there aren't too many NBA teams who have been successful playing two guys who are each six feet tall, if that, alongside each other. I'm looking forward to seeing this lineup, and not a little bit because I have something of a financial interest in Augustin's development (I need him to average 24 mpg or more in a full NBA season after his fourth year in the league).
Perhaps the best news for the Cs is that while Ray Allen was the only starter to play more than 30 minutes against Philly, the Bobcats' big guns logged heavy mileage in the overtime win at Indiana. Felton played about 48 minutes; Richardson and Wallace each played around 42.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Boston 119, Golden State 111
Another game, another second-half comeback from a double-digit deficit.
[recap] [box score]
CelticsBlog will tell you that Rajon Rondo was the hero tonight, and they're right. Of course, it's easy to look like you're moving "twice as fast as everyone else" when that "everyone else" is "the Golden State Warriors on the defensive end." If Charles Barkley's mother drops 45 on the Mavericks, she hangs 60 on the Warriors for sure.
My viewing of this one was disjointed, as NBA League Pass Broadband, due to "technical difficulties," couldn't show me the second half live. But despite my flowing being thus upset, it was clear to see that Rondo was the difference-maker, with 15 of a season-high 22 coming in the pivotal third quarter. The box score bears this out, too: 9-of-15, eight boards, seven assists, two steals, no turnovers.
Law school is monopolizing the time and creative impulse I need to write the way I want to write about the way Rondo is playing right now. He's at the absolute top of his game: confidently probing the defense and asserting himself on offense; peskily clogging passing lanes on defense; materializing to corral loose balls, appearing in the right spot before the ball has even been knocked free.
Rondo's second half saved a game where we were badly outplayed in the second quarter. After scoring 35 points and taking a seven-point lead after one, we were outscored 39-19 in the second. Give credit to Golden State, but also blame our bench, who came in and did absolutely nothing -- Tony Allen's bucket with nine minutes to go in the game was the first field goal of the night for our subs. And for their part, when the starters came back in, they looked like they thought they'd be able to cruise the whole way like they had at the start. They settled for jumpers and showed no intensity. Golden State got 67 in the first half, probably the worst defensive half of basketball for the Cs in the Tom Thibodeau era.
On a somber note, my thoughts and the thoughts of so many others continue to be with Tommy Heinsohn, whose wife, Helen, passed away on Monday after a prolonged battle with cancer. Thanks to my buddy Rusty for passing along this Globe story from 2001. Take however long you need, Tommy, but we're looking forward to getting you back on broadcasts when the time is right.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving, everyone. Celts are back in action on Friday, hosting Philly at 7:30 Eastern (no national TV). They close out a busy holiday weekend in Charlotte on Saturday night (7 p.m. Eastern, no national TV).
[recap] [box score]
CelticsBlog will tell you that Rajon Rondo was the hero tonight, and they're right. Of course, it's easy to look like you're moving "twice as fast as everyone else" when that "everyone else" is "the Golden State Warriors on the defensive end." If Charles Barkley's mother drops 45 on the Mavericks, she hangs 60 on the Warriors for sure.
My viewing of this one was disjointed, as NBA League Pass Broadband, due to "technical difficulties," couldn't show me the second half live. But despite my flowing being thus upset, it was clear to see that Rondo was the difference-maker, with 15 of a season-high 22 coming in the pivotal third quarter. The box score bears this out, too: 9-of-15, eight boards, seven assists, two steals, no turnovers.
Law school is monopolizing the time and creative impulse I need to write the way I want to write about the way Rondo is playing right now. He's at the absolute top of his game: confidently probing the defense and asserting himself on offense; peskily clogging passing lanes on defense; materializing to corral loose balls, appearing in the right spot before the ball has even been knocked free.
Rondo's second half saved a game where we were badly outplayed in the second quarter. After scoring 35 points and taking a seven-point lead after one, we were outscored 39-19 in the second. Give credit to Golden State, but also blame our bench, who came in and did absolutely nothing -- Tony Allen's bucket with nine minutes to go in the game was the first field goal of the night for our subs. And for their part, when the starters came back in, they looked like they thought they'd be able to cruise the whole way like they had at the start. They settled for jumpers and showed no intensity. Golden State got 67 in the first half, probably the worst defensive half of basketball for the Cs in the Tom Thibodeau era.
On a somber note, my thoughts and the thoughts of so many others continue to be with Tommy Heinsohn, whose wife, Helen, passed away on Monday after a prolonged battle with cancer. Thanks to my buddy Rusty for passing along this Globe story from 2001. Take however long you need, Tommy, but we're looking forward to getting you back on broadcasts when the time is right.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving, everyone. Celts are back in action on Friday, hosting Philly at 7:30 Eastern (no national TV). They close out a busy holiday weekend in Charlotte on Saturday night (7 p.m. Eastern, no national TV).
Monday, November 24, 2008
Technical Difficulties
Some non-fatal computer problems are keeping me from blogging these days. For the millions of you who rely on this site for all your Celtics information, we won at Minnesota on Friday [recap] [box score] and at Toronto yesterday [recap] [box score].
There. You're caught up.
Our next game is Wednesday vs. Golden State (7:30 pm Eastern, no national TV). Hopefully my computer will be better by then and I can watch and report (I'm writing this entry from the law school computer lab, where I watched the second half of yesterday's game).
There. You're caught up.
Our next game is Wednesday vs. Golden State (7:30 pm Eastern, no national TV). Hopefully my computer will be better by then and I can watch and report (I'm writing this entry from the law school computer lab, where I watched the second half of yesterday's game).
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Boston 98, Detroit 80
Another trouncing of the Pistons, again keyed by our bench. This one wasn't even as close as the final score.
[recap] [box score]
I don't really know why our bench steps up in the games it does. The second unit was great against Detroit like two weeks ago, fairly ineffective in five intervening games, and then again the deciding factor tonight. But I love the fact that we're winning these big games against quality oppenents while getting rather pedestrian efforts from the Big Three. I don't like that we are relying so much on Pierce and Ray and KG to beat the Atlantas and Torontos, but as long as our bench is there when we need it to be, we should be okay.
Rajon Rondo has been fantastic the last two nights. I want to write a longer post about him sometime soon, so I'll keep my comments relatively short, but we're so much better when he's playing like he has the last couple times out, aggressive on offense, testing the defense, distributing. 15/8/7 the other night against the Knicks, and then 18 points and eight assists tonight against the Pistons. When he's playing like this, we're very tough to beat. How we can get him to assert himself every night out remains a mystery, but it should be a priority.
Next game is Friday night at Minnesota (8 p.m. Eastern, no national TV). I love when we play the Timberwolves. So many of their players are former Celtics, so it's fun to see those guys play. Al Jefferson is blossoming into the elite power forward we thought he could be, and Ryan Gomes is one of my favorite Celtics of all-time. I even like Sebastian Telfair. Looking forward to this one.
[recap] [box score]
I don't really know why our bench steps up in the games it does. The second unit was great against Detroit like two weeks ago, fairly ineffective in five intervening games, and then again the deciding factor tonight. But I love the fact that we're winning these big games against quality oppenents while getting rather pedestrian efforts from the Big Three. I don't like that we are relying so much on Pierce and Ray and KG to beat the Atlantas and Torontos, but as long as our bench is there when we need it to be, we should be okay.
Rajon Rondo has been fantastic the last two nights. I want to write a longer post about him sometime soon, so I'll keep my comments relatively short, but we're so much better when he's playing like he has the last couple times out, aggressive on offense, testing the defense, distributing. 15/8/7 the other night against the Knicks, and then 18 points and eight assists tonight against the Pistons. When he's playing like this, we're very tough to beat. How we can get him to assert himself every night out remains a mystery, but it should be a priority.
Next game is Friday night at Minnesota (8 p.m. Eastern, no national TV). I love when we play the Timberwolves. So many of their players are former Celtics, so it's fun to see those guys play. Al Jefferson is blossoming into the elite power forward we thought he could be, and Ryan Gomes is one of my favorite Celtics of all-time. I even like Sebastian Telfair. Looking forward to this one.
Detroit Looks For Revenge
The Pistons come to town tonight (8 p.m. Eastern, TNT). You may recall that we beat them badly at their barn a week and a half ago, so they'll be even hungrier than they usually are when they play us. I suspect we're going to need more than 15 combined points from Pierce and Garnett to win this time around.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Boston 110, New York 101
Stagnant, pre-Big Three-style fourth-quarter offense made this one closer than it should have been, but it's nice to win a game over a decent team without KG -- and without Paul Pierce having to play Superman.
[recap] [box score]
Quick hit thoughts:
-I'm the first to criticize Brian Scalabrine, so I should give him some praise when he actually plays well. Starting in place of the suspended Kevin Garnett, Scal contributed, and not just with Scal contributions like rebounds and fouls. He actually hit three jumpers, two at the end of the third quarter, and the game-icer late in the fourth. He hasn't exactly earned all the money we've given him, but it's nice to see he has a good game in him once in a while.
-The bench played great in the second quarter; so great, in fact, that unless I'm mistaken, Pierce and Rajon Rondo sat the entire period. Particularly high marks go to Leon Powe, who I think got all 14 of his points in the second, mostly against everyone's favorite backup power forward, David Lee. Eddie House actually did some point guard-type stuff, including a few nice assists on fast breaks. I believe that the bench players hit their first ten field goal attempts. It helps, of course, that the Knicks have no interest whatsoever in playing defense.
-Nice to see Kendrick Perkins play as aggressively and as well as he did. The Knicks are basically playing without a center, and for all his offensive limitations, Perkins can score over guys like Lee and Zach Randolph. He even channeled KG a few times: hitting a wide-open Rondo for an easy layup; running the pinch post play with Rondo for another easy assist; and then a three-possession stretch where he kicked it out to Pierce for a three, blocked Wilson Chandler on the other end, and then hit an eight-foot turnaround bank shot over his right shoulder on the left side of the court. Not sure where it comes from, but I'll take it whenever we can get it.
-Defense wasn't great tonight, but the Knicks did only shoot 43 percent, and they're a team that likes to push the ball and put pressure on your defense. Considering we were without our best defensive player, I think we acquitted ourselves pretty well on that end.
-Even in victory, I'm not sparing Tony Allen. Tonight's example that he simply has no feel for the game of basketball: Up 12 early in the fourth, Tony gets the ball, wide-open, 17 feet from the basket, with two seconds left on the shotclock. This isn't exactly his shot, and he's been criticized for being a little selfish this year, but this is a time where no one would complain if he put it up. Instead, he kicks it to Glen Davis, 19 feet from the basket at the other elbow, who can barely catch the ball before the shot clock expires.
You can almost see what's going through Tony's head during plays like this: "I'm open, and the shotclock is running down, but Coach told me not to take so many jumpers. Baby's open. I'll pass it to him and show everyone that I'm not selfish."
Generally speaking, good basketball players "get it." There are obviously different degrees of this, but most good basketball players at least show a modicum of savvy about the game. Tony doesn't.
-Last thing: Does everyone on the Knicks have to be a punk now? This post from the weekend mentions the Jamal Crawford-Ray Allen skirmish from last preseason. It also mentions the Crawford-Pierce double ejection last MLK Day, but that was as much Pierce's fault as it was Crawford's. But it's not just Crawford. Nate Robinson is like the quintessential guy who shows up at the playground who no one wants to play with. Always complaining about a foul, always looking for a fight. Some might say it's a short-man thing, but being of rather diminutive stature myself, I'm not going to go there. Randolph started something with Powe in the first half tonight that led to double techs. Later, Randolph had words for Pierce for no discernible reason.
Those guys have always had that edge, though. What surprised me tonight was watching Chris Duhon drain a wide-open three, then turn and say something to the Celtics bench. He hit another wide-open three later, and again was talking smack.
Hey, Chris, I know you're not very used to hitting jumpers, but there's a reason we're letting you shoot: Compared to your average NBA guard, you suck at shooting. Talk all you want; we're not sending anyone out to guard you, because we don't think you can beat us -- and guess what? We're right?
Is this what happens when you let Isiah Thomas near a franchise? Everyone -- even Chris Duhon -- becomes a jerk? You're in the house of the defending champions, fellas, and the champs whipped you four times last year. You also play on a team that, despite a good start this year, has been the laughingstock of the league for the previous couplefew seasons. I'm not saying you have to genuflect, but maybe you shut up long enough to win a game.
EDIT: After I made this post, I saw this Ball Don't Lie post, which refers to this Boston.com blog post, which refers to some interesting post-game comments from Quention Richardson. Okay, Q.
[recap] [box score]
Quick hit thoughts:
-I'm the first to criticize Brian Scalabrine, so I should give him some praise when he actually plays well. Starting in place of the suspended Kevin Garnett, Scal contributed, and not just with Scal contributions like rebounds and fouls. He actually hit three jumpers, two at the end of the third quarter, and the game-icer late in the fourth. He hasn't exactly earned all the money we've given him, but it's nice to see he has a good game in him once in a while.
-The bench played great in the second quarter; so great, in fact, that unless I'm mistaken, Pierce and Rajon Rondo sat the entire period. Particularly high marks go to Leon Powe, who I think got all 14 of his points in the second, mostly against everyone's favorite backup power forward, David Lee. Eddie House actually did some point guard-type stuff, including a few nice assists on fast breaks. I believe that the bench players hit their first ten field goal attempts. It helps, of course, that the Knicks have no interest whatsoever in playing defense.
-Nice to see Kendrick Perkins play as aggressively and as well as he did. The Knicks are basically playing without a center, and for all his offensive limitations, Perkins can score over guys like Lee and Zach Randolph. He even channeled KG a few times: hitting a wide-open Rondo for an easy layup; running the pinch post play with Rondo for another easy assist; and then a three-possession stretch where he kicked it out to Pierce for a three, blocked Wilson Chandler on the other end, and then hit an eight-foot turnaround bank shot over his right shoulder on the left side of the court. Not sure where it comes from, but I'll take it whenever we can get it.
-Defense wasn't great tonight, but the Knicks did only shoot 43 percent, and they're a team that likes to push the ball and put pressure on your defense. Considering we were without our best defensive player, I think we acquitted ourselves pretty well on that end.
-Even in victory, I'm not sparing Tony Allen. Tonight's example that he simply has no feel for the game of basketball: Up 12 early in the fourth, Tony gets the ball, wide-open, 17 feet from the basket, with two seconds left on the shotclock. This isn't exactly his shot, and he's been criticized for being a little selfish this year, but this is a time where no one would complain if he put it up. Instead, he kicks it to Glen Davis, 19 feet from the basket at the other elbow, who can barely catch the ball before the shot clock expires.
You can almost see what's going through Tony's head during plays like this: "I'm open, and the shotclock is running down, but Coach told me not to take so many jumpers. Baby's open. I'll pass it to him and show everyone that I'm not selfish."
Generally speaking, good basketball players "get it." There are obviously different degrees of this, but most good basketball players at least show a modicum of savvy about the game. Tony doesn't.
-Last thing: Does everyone on the Knicks have to be a punk now? This post from the weekend mentions the Jamal Crawford-Ray Allen skirmish from last preseason. It also mentions the Crawford-Pierce double ejection last MLK Day, but that was as much Pierce's fault as it was Crawford's. But it's not just Crawford. Nate Robinson is like the quintessential guy who shows up at the playground who no one wants to play with. Always complaining about a foul, always looking for a fight. Some might say it's a short-man thing, but being of rather diminutive stature myself, I'm not going to go there. Randolph started something with Powe in the first half tonight that led to double techs. Later, Randolph had words for Pierce for no discernible reason.
Those guys have always had that edge, though. What surprised me tonight was watching Chris Duhon drain a wide-open three, then turn and say something to the Celtics bench. He hit another wide-open three later, and again was talking smack.
Hey, Chris, I know you're not very used to hitting jumpers, but there's a reason we're letting you shoot: Compared to your average NBA guard, you suck at shooting. Talk all you want; we're not sending anyone out to guard you, because we don't think you can beat us -- and guess what? We're right?
Is this what happens when you let Isiah Thomas near a franchise? Everyone -- even Chris Duhon -- becomes a jerk? You're in the house of the defending champions, fellas, and the champs whipped you four times last year. You also play on a team that, despite a good start this year, has been the laughingstock of the league for the previous couplefew seasons. I'm not saying you have to genuflect, but maybe you shut up long enough to win a game.
EDIT: After I made this post, I saw this Ball Don't Lie post, which refers to this Boston.com blog post, which refers to some interesting post-game comments from Quention Richardson. Okay, Q.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Stephon Marbury
I write once a week for a blog called iVoryTowerz. It's a blog that tackles politics, music, media, and occasionally sports, and it was started by a great journalism professor I had while at American University. It's definitely worth bookmarking and seeing if you like what it has to offer.
Every so often, I write about the NBA over there, and when I do, I'll mention it here. This week, I wrote about Stephon Marbury's situation in New York. Bear in mind that the audience there isn't necessarily full of NBA die-hards, so we explain in a little greater detail things like the salary cap.
Every so often, I write about the NBA over there, and when I do, I'll mention it here. This week, I wrote about Stephon Marbury's situation in New York. Bear in mind that the audience there isn't necessarily full of NBA die-hards, so we explain in a little greater detail things like the salary cap.
San Antonio 86, Los Angeles Clippers 83
On a whim, I joined some law school friends in taking advantage of $10 tickets at Staples Center for the lesser of the LA teams tonight. Snuck down to the 100 level for the second half, which was sweet.
It was a pretty uninteresting game, save for the last few minutes, in which the Spurs blew a seven-point lead. San Antonio had three possessions during the Clips' 7-0 run. Total number of Tim Duncan touches: 0. Remember, the Spurs are without Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili due to injuries. I thought Gregg Popovich was supposed to be some sort of coaching genius.
The last of those possessions resulted in a blocked Roger Mason layup, followed by a terrible inbounds pass by Michael Finley where he just threw the ball to Marcus Camby. Cuttino Mobley badly missed a wide-open three on the other end, and the Spurs -- finally! -- called timeout to draw something up, presumably for Duncan.
Of course, the resulting play was Mason dribbling the shotclock down -- there was like a seven-second differential -- with Duncan racing out to the top of the key at about six left. Mason dribbled right, saw daylight, and drained the three. I guess they didn't want to go to Duncan in the post because Camby guards him so well, but I'm not sure how many games you win with Roger Mason shooting 24-footers.
The Clippers then exhibited their own mismanagement, calling one timeout to advance the ball, then another for some as-yet unexplained reason. That was their last timeout, which meant they did not have one to advance the ball on a subsequent possession, which meant they couldn't go for a quick two and then foul, which meant they needed a three.
Inbounding with eight seconds left, the Clips basically ran a nine-second play. They inbounded to Baron Davis -- who incidentally was horrible tonight -- who ran a pick and pop with Steve Novak at the top of the key. Novak was covered, so Baron, moving left, pitched it behind him to Ricky Davis moving right. Baron then went all the way down the left wing to the baseline, across the baseline, and off a screen to the right corner, while Davis dribbled right. The pass got to Baron with just enough time to catch and shoot -- no time to set his feet -- and he missed badly.
So an exciting finish, but only due to some really bad basketball. Ah, the NBA.
It was a pretty uninteresting game, save for the last few minutes, in which the Spurs blew a seven-point lead. San Antonio had three possessions during the Clips' 7-0 run. Total number of Tim Duncan touches: 0. Remember, the Spurs are without Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili due to injuries. I thought Gregg Popovich was supposed to be some sort of coaching genius.
The last of those possessions resulted in a blocked Roger Mason layup, followed by a terrible inbounds pass by Michael Finley where he just threw the ball to Marcus Camby. Cuttino Mobley badly missed a wide-open three on the other end, and the Spurs -- finally! -- called timeout to draw something up, presumably for Duncan.
Of course, the resulting play was Mason dribbling the shotclock down -- there was like a seven-second differential -- with Duncan racing out to the top of the key at about six left. Mason dribbled right, saw daylight, and drained the three. I guess they didn't want to go to Duncan in the post because Camby guards him so well, but I'm not sure how many games you win with Roger Mason shooting 24-footers.
The Clippers then exhibited their own mismanagement, calling one timeout to advance the ball, then another for some as-yet unexplained reason. That was their last timeout, which meant they did not have one to advance the ball on a subsequent possession, which meant they couldn't go for a quick two and then foul, which meant they needed a three.
Inbounding with eight seconds left, the Clips basically ran a nine-second play. They inbounded to Baron Davis -- who incidentally was horrible tonight -- who ran a pick and pop with Steve Novak at the top of the key. Novak was covered, so Baron, moving left, pitched it behind him to Ricky Davis moving right. Baron then went all the way down the left wing to the baseline, across the baseline, and off a screen to the right corner, while Davis dribbled right. The pass got to Baron with just enough time to catch and shoot -- no time to set his feet -- and he missed badly.
So an exciting finish, but only due to some really bad basketball. Ah, the NBA.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Boston 102, Milwaukee 97 (OT)
Hey, a win's a win. So what if we blew a 12-point fourth-quarter lead? So what if the Bucks didn't have Michael Redd and Charlie Villanueva?
[recap] [box score]
I'm a couple days late with this post, mainly because this wasn't a very important game. As I've said before, the success of our season will not be measured by how well we do against Milwaukee. We'll be measured by how well we do against the Clevelands and Torontos and Detroits, and so far, we've passed all those tests.
In fact, the big story from Saturday is that a late skirmish that saw Bucks center Andrew Bogut head to the showers with his second technical has also gotten Kevin Garnett suspended for Tuesday night's game vs. the Knicks (7:30 pm Eastern).
This is a good time to point out that this sort of situation is precisely why I am always critical of Doc when he leaves KG in too long at the end of games that are well in hand. Because of his competitiveness and intensity, Garnett is susceptible to incidents like this one. That's not to say Garnett should not have been on the floor Saturday night against Milwaukee when this happened; he should have been, as the game was close. But one day, he's going to do this at the end of a game that is effectively over, and he's going to be hit with a suspension that could be easily avoided.
Now, our next opponent, New York.
The Knicks have been one of the surprise teams of the young season, as new head coach Mike D'Antoni has led them to a 6-4 record. Like all D'Antoni teams, they like to go up and down, and so it's a tough game in which to be shorthanded. Leon Powe and Glen Davis are going to need to come up big, particularly defensively and on the boards. We're also going to need to find a third scorer somewhere.
We played the Knicks six times last year; twice in the preseason, which I mention only because after we blew them out in the first one, the second one got exceedingly chippy after a very hard foul by Jamal Crawford on Ray Allen.
We got our revenge in the first meeting of the regular season, a 104-59 -- yes, you read that right -- win which provided one of my favorite moments of the season: a fan taking off his Knicks jersey and casting it away during a timeout while the Boston crowd went wild.
The next matchup came on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a game I distinctly remember watching in the middle of the day because I was home from work for the holiday. We won 109-93, and the game was memorable for two reasons: Crawford and Paul Pierce got ejected in the third quarter for yapping at each other, and Kendrick Perkins played completely out of his mind.
Perk had 15 of our first 17 (he also assisted on the other bucket), on an array of jumpers and layups and even free throws. He finished with 24 points. We could use that sort of scoring Tuesday night.
[recap] [box score]
I'm a couple days late with this post, mainly because this wasn't a very important game. As I've said before, the success of our season will not be measured by how well we do against Milwaukee. We'll be measured by how well we do against the Clevelands and Torontos and Detroits, and so far, we've passed all those tests.
In fact, the big story from Saturday is that a late skirmish that saw Bucks center Andrew Bogut head to the showers with his second technical has also gotten Kevin Garnett suspended for Tuesday night's game vs. the Knicks (7:30 pm Eastern).
This is a good time to point out that this sort of situation is precisely why I am always critical of Doc when he leaves KG in too long at the end of games that are well in hand. Because of his competitiveness and intensity, Garnett is susceptible to incidents like this one. That's not to say Garnett should not have been on the floor Saturday night against Milwaukee when this happened; he should have been, as the game was close. But one day, he's going to do this at the end of a game that is effectively over, and he's going to be hit with a suspension that could be easily avoided.
Now, our next opponent, New York.
The Knicks have been one of the surprise teams of the young season, as new head coach Mike D'Antoni has led them to a 6-4 record. Like all D'Antoni teams, they like to go up and down, and so it's a tough game in which to be shorthanded. Leon Powe and Glen Davis are going to need to come up big, particularly defensively and on the boards. We're also going to need to find a third scorer somewhere.
We played the Knicks six times last year; twice in the preseason, which I mention only because after we blew them out in the first one, the second one got exceedingly chippy after a very hard foul by Jamal Crawford on Ray Allen.
We got our revenge in the first meeting of the regular season, a 104-59 -- yes, you read that right -- win which provided one of my favorite moments of the season: a fan taking off his Knicks jersey and casting it away during a timeout while the Boston crowd went wild.
The next matchup came on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a game I distinctly remember watching in the middle of the day because I was home from work for the holiday. We won 109-93, and the game was memorable for two reasons: Crawford and Paul Pierce got ejected in the third quarter for yapping at each other, and Kendrick Perkins played completely out of his mind.
Perk had 15 of our first 17 (he also assisted on the other bucket), on an array of jumpers and layups and even free throws. He finished with 24 points. We could use that sort of scoring Tuesday night.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Denver 94, Boston 85
All that falling behind and catching up finally caught up with us.
[recap] [box score]
I missed most of the first half -- yay, exam review! -- and so I didn't see Ray Allen's big first quarter or us lose the lead. I did see us dig ourselves into a huge hole and then climb out of it, which has become standard recently.
I'll admit that once we got going in the second half, I thought we had it wrapped up. Eddie was hitting, the crowd was going crazy, and Denver appeared to be coming unglued. But we couldn't score the big bucket that we needed to make it a two-possession lead.
Frankly, I think we just wore out. It's been a long week, starting with the win in Detroit on Sunday., We had to expend tremendous energy to come back from big deficits to beat the Raptors on Monday and the Hawks on Wednesday. Paul Pierce, who played 90 of a possible 96 minutes in those two contests, looked especially beat: Down two with eight minutes to play, Pierce had the ball on the left wing. Denver brought Kenyon Martin over to double, and Pierce just didn't have the energy to protect the ball. Martin swiped it from him, Linas Kleiza converted the three-point play on the other end, and we never got any closer.
Of course, Denver was finishing up a three-games-in-four-days road trip, so all credit to them. They got the job done and we didn't.
I said before the game that I didn't care too much about the outcome of this one, and I still don't. We won the games we needed to this week. Sure, it's discouraging to lose a first-quarter lead and not put the game away when we were in position to do so late. But it's a long NBA season, and nights like this happen.
We're in Milwaukee tonight. The Bucks are terrible, but we've got to be exhausted. This is a game I could easily see us losing if we hadn't lost to Denver Friday night -- a trap or letdown game, if you will. Dropping one to the Nugs may have caught our attention, however, so I expect a stronger effort than one might expect from a team playing it's fifth game in seven days. The bench played very well against Milwaukee in a win earlier this year, but after a strong game in Detroit, has gone pretty much AWOL over the last three (with the exception of House finally finding his stroke last night). House, Leon Powe, Tony Allen, and Glen Davis are going to be important if the Cs are to win tonight.
[recap] [box score]
I missed most of the first half -- yay, exam review! -- and so I didn't see Ray Allen's big first quarter or us lose the lead. I did see us dig ourselves into a huge hole and then climb out of it, which has become standard recently.
I'll admit that once we got going in the second half, I thought we had it wrapped up. Eddie was hitting, the crowd was going crazy, and Denver appeared to be coming unglued. But we couldn't score the big bucket that we needed to make it a two-possession lead.
Frankly, I think we just wore out. It's been a long week, starting with the win in Detroit on Sunday., We had to expend tremendous energy to come back from big deficits to beat the Raptors on Monday and the Hawks on Wednesday. Paul Pierce, who played 90 of a possible 96 minutes in those two contests, looked especially beat: Down two with eight minutes to play, Pierce had the ball on the left wing. Denver brought Kenyon Martin over to double, and Pierce just didn't have the energy to protect the ball. Martin swiped it from him, Linas Kleiza converted the three-point play on the other end, and we never got any closer.
Of course, Denver was finishing up a three-games-in-four-days road trip, so all credit to them. They got the job done and we didn't.
I said before the game that I didn't care too much about the outcome of this one, and I still don't. We won the games we needed to this week. Sure, it's discouraging to lose a first-quarter lead and not put the game away when we were in position to do so late. But it's a long NBA season, and nights like this happen.
We're in Milwaukee tonight. The Bucks are terrible, but we've got to be exhausted. This is a game I could easily see us losing if we hadn't lost to Denver Friday night -- a trap or letdown game, if you will. Dropping one to the Nugs may have caught our attention, however, so I expect a stronger effort than one might expect from a team playing it's fifth game in seven days. The bench played very well against Milwaukee in a win earlier this year, but after a strong game in Detroit, has gone pretty much AWOL over the last three (with the exception of House finally finding his stroke last night). House, Leon Powe, Tony Allen, and Glen Davis are going to be important if the Cs are to win tonight.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Boston 103, Atlanta 102
You gotta hand it to the Hawks. Those guys are legit.
[recap] [box score]
Atlanta had every reason to give up in the second half Wednesday night. Already without starting power forward Josh Smith, they lost backup Zaza Pachulia to a shoulder injury in the second quarter. A 44-28 second quarter lead had turned into a 51-51 halftime deadlock. Undersized and in the second night of a West-to-East road back-to-back, nobody would have blamed them for packing it in. Instead, they matched the defending champs shot for shot, and after Marvin Williams coolly banged in his fourth three-pointer of the game with seven seconds left, they looked poised to finally do what they couldn't manage last playoff season: win a game in Boston.
Of course, in the end, The Truth had the last word. (How does Pierce's buzzer-beater not make this list of the Top Ten plays from the night's NBA action? Here are the highlights. Pierce's shot is near the end, obviously.)
I said during the playoffs that if it weren't our run at a championship at stake, I'd love what the Hawks were doing. A #8 seed with a 37-45 regular season record, they pushed us to seven games, and did so with swagger and attitude, a disposition that they weren't going to be intimidated. (Remember Zaza getting after KG in Game 6? And just for the sake of nostalgia, remember KG's revenge in Game 7?)
Same story this year. Atlanta came in undefeated, but I don't think too many thought they were capable of playing as well as they did, at least under the circumstances. Joe Johnson, the former Celtics first-rounder who terrorized us in the playoffs, was at it again. He had 28 points, including two impossibly difficult shots late (as well as the drive and pass that found Williams for the go-ahead three-pointer). Williams, Maurice Evans, and Flip Murray poured in long jumper after long jumper.
The Hawks are no joke.
-Boston's gotta start making open jumpers. That was the difference between the Atlanta game being a blowout or being a nailbiter; Atlanta made their threes and Boston didn't. Eddie House and Ray Allen combined to go 2-for-16 from deep, and trust me when I say that they weren't particularly difficult looks. Atlanta hit far tougher ones in going 13-for-22 from the arc.
-The officiating was universally awful in this one. The late foul call on Pierce blocking a Johnson drive was an absolute joke, but it made up for a Boston possession a few minutes earlier when Pierce didn't get a shot up before the shot clock buzzer, but the refs let it go, and the play resulted in an offensive rebound and a bucket. Boston shot a few more freebies than Atlanta did, but given their size advantage, that's no surprise. The officiating was bad, but it didn't favor one team over the other.
-I'm debating whether to start a regular feature in this blog called "What I Hate Tony Allen." Tonight's exhibits:
A)End of the first quarter, we're holding for one. Tony starts his move too early, putting up his shot with six seconds left. It misses, and Atlanta has enough time to get the rebound and toss it upcourt to Murray, who drained a 26-footer at the horn.
B)Early in the fourth, Boston's up 81-80, as the lead has been going back and forth. Eddie gets a steal and Tony's bringing it up on the break. About ten feet from the basket, with no defender pressuring him at all, Tony, without leaving the ground, flips the ball, underhanded, at the rim, squandering an easy two. It was honestly the weirdest shot I've ever seen in the flow of a basketball game. Tony wasn't being pressured; he didn't go up in the air with the intention to pass and then, realizing his target was covered, throw up a shot. He simply decided that a finger roll without jumping from 10 feet was the right shot for the situation. Okay, Tony. Seriously, where do these 23-point games like the one he had against Detroit come from?
-I know I already criticized Ray for his shooting, but I'll criticize him for his poor defensive rotation on the possession that gave Atlanta the late lead. As Johnson drove under the basket, Ray was in position to step in front of Williams in the corner. Instead, he stood between Williams and Maurive Evans, who was out on the wing. It's possible he could have been trying to guard both of them, but Johnson was already up in the air and it was going to be very difficult for him to see Evans. Ray failing to step in the passing lane could have cost us the game.
-Pierce is an absolute joy to watch right now. He's on the short list of guys in the league you want to have the ball in their hands with the game on the line.
-Next game is on Friday, against Denver (8 p.m. Eastern, ESPN). I'd like a win, but I honestly don't care all that much what happens. Denver's a Western team we likely won't have to worry about in the playoffs. We did what we needed to do this week: Beat Eastern contenders Detroit, Toronto, and Atlanta in the span of four days.
I probably won't watch this one live, as I've got an exam review past tipoff and then I'm hanging out with a few folks to celebrate the occasion of an out of town friend being in town for work. I should be able to get to the Denver game (and the Milwaukee game on Saturday -- 8:30 p.m. Eastern, no national TV) at some point, and I'll post some thoughts late Saturday or Sunday.
[recap] [box score]
Atlanta had every reason to give up in the second half Wednesday night. Already without starting power forward Josh Smith, they lost backup Zaza Pachulia to a shoulder injury in the second quarter. A 44-28 second quarter lead had turned into a 51-51 halftime deadlock. Undersized and in the second night of a West-to-East road back-to-back, nobody would have blamed them for packing it in. Instead, they matched the defending champs shot for shot, and after Marvin Williams coolly banged in his fourth three-pointer of the game with seven seconds left, they looked poised to finally do what they couldn't manage last playoff season: win a game in Boston.
Of course, in the end, The Truth had the last word. (How does Pierce's buzzer-beater not make this list of the Top Ten plays from the night's NBA action? Here are the highlights. Pierce's shot is near the end, obviously.)
I said during the playoffs that if it weren't our run at a championship at stake, I'd love what the Hawks were doing. A #8 seed with a 37-45 regular season record, they pushed us to seven games, and did so with swagger and attitude, a disposition that they weren't going to be intimidated. (Remember Zaza getting after KG in Game 6? And just for the sake of nostalgia, remember KG's revenge in Game 7?)
Same story this year. Atlanta came in undefeated, but I don't think too many thought they were capable of playing as well as they did, at least under the circumstances. Joe Johnson, the former Celtics first-rounder who terrorized us in the playoffs, was at it again. He had 28 points, including two impossibly difficult shots late (as well as the drive and pass that found Williams for the go-ahead three-pointer). Williams, Maurice Evans, and Flip Murray poured in long jumper after long jumper.
The Hawks are no joke.
-Boston's gotta start making open jumpers. That was the difference between the Atlanta game being a blowout or being a nailbiter; Atlanta made their threes and Boston didn't. Eddie House and Ray Allen combined to go 2-for-16 from deep, and trust me when I say that they weren't particularly difficult looks. Atlanta hit far tougher ones in going 13-for-22 from the arc.
-The officiating was universally awful in this one. The late foul call on Pierce blocking a Johnson drive was an absolute joke, but it made up for a Boston possession a few minutes earlier when Pierce didn't get a shot up before the shot clock buzzer, but the refs let it go, and the play resulted in an offensive rebound and a bucket. Boston shot a few more freebies than Atlanta did, but given their size advantage, that's no surprise. The officiating was bad, but it didn't favor one team over the other.
-I'm debating whether to start a regular feature in this blog called "What I Hate Tony Allen." Tonight's exhibits:
A)End of the first quarter, we're holding for one. Tony starts his move too early, putting up his shot with six seconds left. It misses, and Atlanta has enough time to get the rebound and toss it upcourt to Murray, who drained a 26-footer at the horn.
B)Early in the fourth, Boston's up 81-80, as the lead has been going back and forth. Eddie gets a steal and Tony's bringing it up on the break. About ten feet from the basket, with no defender pressuring him at all, Tony, without leaving the ground, flips the ball, underhanded, at the rim, squandering an easy two. It was honestly the weirdest shot I've ever seen in the flow of a basketball game. Tony wasn't being pressured; he didn't go up in the air with the intention to pass and then, realizing his target was covered, throw up a shot. He simply decided that a finger roll without jumping from 10 feet was the right shot for the situation. Okay, Tony. Seriously, where do these 23-point games like the one he had against Detroit come from?
-I know I already criticized Ray for his shooting, but I'll criticize him for his poor defensive rotation on the possession that gave Atlanta the late lead. As Johnson drove under the basket, Ray was in position to step in front of Williams in the corner. Instead, he stood between Williams and Maurive Evans, who was out on the wing. It's possible he could have been trying to guard both of them, but Johnson was already up in the air and it was going to be very difficult for him to see Evans. Ray failing to step in the passing lane could have cost us the game.
-Pierce is an absolute joy to watch right now. He's on the short list of guys in the league you want to have the ball in their hands with the game on the line.
-Next game is on Friday, against Denver (8 p.m. Eastern, ESPN). I'd like a win, but I honestly don't care all that much what happens. Denver's a Western team we likely won't have to worry about in the playoffs. We did what we needed to do this week: Beat Eastern contenders Detroit, Toronto, and Atlanta in the span of four days.
I probably won't watch this one live, as I've got an exam review past tipoff and then I'm hanging out with a few folks to celebrate the occasion of an out of town friend being in town for work. I should be able to get to the Denver game (and the Milwaukee game on Saturday -- 8:30 p.m. Eastern, no national TV) at some point, and I'll post some thoughts late Saturday or Sunday.
Hawks Shipping Up To Boston
I'm not much of a fan of modern punk music or the Dropkick Murphys specifically, but I can't help but get a shot of adrenaline when they play "I'm Shipping Up To Boston" in the fourth quarter of games at the TD Banknorth Boston Garden (you might also recognize the song from the movie "The Departed").
The Hawks are the surprise team of the young NBA season, being the only undefeated team left in the East and the only unblemished NBA team other than the Los Angeles Lakers. After a long night of law school reading, I decided to unwind with a TaB while watching some of Tuesday night's 113-108 victory in Chicago, the first I've seen of the Hawks this season.
Atlanta made headlines in May by pushing Boston to seven games in the first round of the playoffs. Wednesday night, as they were Tuesday, they'll be without power forward Josh Smith. However, they will have Joe Johnson, who absolutely torched Ray Allen and the Celtics in the spring, including a 35-point effort at home in a 97-92 Hawks win in Atlanta. Doc (rightfully) took a lot of criticism for leaving Ray on JJ for most of the fourth despite the fact that Ray had no chance of stopping him (the same way Raptors coach Sam Mitchell took flak for leaving an overmatched Jason Kapono on Paul Pierce in Monday night's Celtics victory). The Celtics will need to do a better job of containing Johnson Wednesday night (7:30 p.m. Eastern; no national TV).
In Smith's absence, Zaza Pachulia has been starting, with Al Horford sliding over to the four spot, which may be his more natural position. Horford is the more dangerous offensively of the two, and it will be interesting to see which of those two Kendrick Perkins starts out on and which Kevin Garnett takes. (Bulls coach Vinnie Del Negro opted to start power forward Tyrus Thomas on Pachulia, with center Joakim Noah checking Horford, his old friend and college teammate). The Celtics are better defensively when Garnett is assigned to someone who isn't much of an offensive threat, so he can roam around and wreak havoc. If it were me, I'd put KG on Pachulia and be ready to switch if Horford proves too quick for Perk.
For what it's worth, the Hawks did not hesitate to go to either Horford or Pachulia in the post against the Bulls, though it was Horford, with 27 points to go along with 17 rebounds, who had the much better game. In some ways, Smith's absence helps them offensively; for all his athleticism and talent, Smith fancies himself a much better shooter than he actually is, and you can put him down for a few wasted possessions a night as he tries to find the shooting "touch" he displayed in 2005-2006 (a modest 30.9 percent mark from behind the arc, but he's a career 26.6 percent guy from that distance).
It's a different story on the defensive end, where Smith is one of the league's elite. He's good for a couple of blocks and a couple of steals per game. The Hawks came into the game against Chicago giving up something like 86 points per game; the Bulls -- who haven't been a particularly potent offensive team this year -- got 108 on Tuesday. That number is inflated a bit by the pace of the game, as both the Hawks and Bulls like to push the ball up the court, but Atlanta didn't look to be anything special defensively. Rookie point guard Derrick Rose was the biggest beneficiary, putting up 26 points -- are you paying attention, Rajon Rondo? -- but the Hawks gave up a lot of open looks and didn't get back particularly well.
Boston's bench is better than Atlanta's, although Maurice Evans' 17 points may have been the key to Atlanta's win on Tuesday. Evans is about all the Hawks have on the second team, however, and that may prove important in the second night of a back-to-back, particularly since Horford played 41 and a half minutes Tuesday and Johnson played a tick under 42.
Unlike the Lakers, who haven't really been tested, the Hawks have already shown their mettle against stiff competions, with wins in Orlando and New Orleans and home triumphs over Philly and Toronto. Atlanta was far from winning a game in Boston in last season's playoff series -- Boston's average margin of victory in the four games was more than 25 points -- but even without Smith, this seems like a different, more confident team. The Celtics will have to bring everything they've got if they want to win.
The Hawks are the surprise team of the young NBA season, being the only undefeated team left in the East and the only unblemished NBA team other than the Los Angeles Lakers. After a long night of law school reading, I decided to unwind with a TaB while watching some of Tuesday night's 113-108 victory in Chicago, the first I've seen of the Hawks this season.
Atlanta made headlines in May by pushing Boston to seven games in the first round of the playoffs. Wednesday night, as they were Tuesday, they'll be without power forward Josh Smith. However, they will have Joe Johnson, who absolutely torched Ray Allen and the Celtics in the spring, including a 35-point effort at home in a 97-92 Hawks win in Atlanta. Doc (rightfully) took a lot of criticism for leaving Ray on JJ for most of the fourth despite the fact that Ray had no chance of stopping him (the same way Raptors coach Sam Mitchell took flak for leaving an overmatched Jason Kapono on Paul Pierce in Monday night's Celtics victory). The Celtics will need to do a better job of containing Johnson Wednesday night (7:30 p.m. Eastern; no national TV).
In Smith's absence, Zaza Pachulia has been starting, with Al Horford sliding over to the four spot, which may be his more natural position. Horford is the more dangerous offensively of the two, and it will be interesting to see which of those two Kendrick Perkins starts out on and which Kevin Garnett takes. (Bulls coach Vinnie Del Negro opted to start power forward Tyrus Thomas on Pachulia, with center Joakim Noah checking Horford, his old friend and college teammate). The Celtics are better defensively when Garnett is assigned to someone who isn't much of an offensive threat, so he can roam around and wreak havoc. If it were me, I'd put KG on Pachulia and be ready to switch if Horford proves too quick for Perk.
For what it's worth, the Hawks did not hesitate to go to either Horford or Pachulia in the post against the Bulls, though it was Horford, with 27 points to go along with 17 rebounds, who had the much better game. In some ways, Smith's absence helps them offensively; for all his athleticism and talent, Smith fancies himself a much better shooter than he actually is, and you can put him down for a few wasted possessions a night as he tries to find the shooting "touch" he displayed in 2005-2006 (a modest 30.9 percent mark from behind the arc, but he's a career 26.6 percent guy from that distance).
It's a different story on the defensive end, where Smith is one of the league's elite. He's good for a couple of blocks and a couple of steals per game. The Hawks came into the game against Chicago giving up something like 86 points per game; the Bulls -- who haven't been a particularly potent offensive team this year -- got 108 on Tuesday. That number is inflated a bit by the pace of the game, as both the Hawks and Bulls like to push the ball up the court, but Atlanta didn't look to be anything special defensively. Rookie point guard Derrick Rose was the biggest beneficiary, putting up 26 points -- are you paying attention, Rajon Rondo? -- but the Hawks gave up a lot of open looks and didn't get back particularly well.
Boston's bench is better than Atlanta's, although Maurice Evans' 17 points may have been the key to Atlanta's win on Tuesday. Evans is about all the Hawks have on the second team, however, and that may prove important in the second night of a back-to-back, particularly since Horford played 41 and a half minutes Tuesday and Johnson played a tick under 42.
Unlike the Lakers, who haven't really been tested, the Hawks have already shown their mettle against stiff competions, with wins in Orlando and New Orleans and home triumphs over Philly and Toronto. Atlanta was far from winning a game in Boston in last season's playoff series -- Boston's average margin of victory in the four games was more than 25 points -- but even without Smith, this seems like a different, more confident team. The Celtics will have to bring everything they've got if they want to win.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Celtics 94, Raptors 87
In his NBA preview column from October 28, ESPN's Bill Simmons -- the Sports Guy -- predicted that "[t]he Celtics will put the word 'defending' back into 'defending champs.'" Down 15 to Toronto midway through the third quarter Monday night in Boston, the Celtics proved him right. Paul Pierce reprised the fourth-quarter cold-blooded assasin role we've become accustomed to over the past year-plus, and a big nod to Kevin Garnett for keeping the team and crowd emotionally involved.
[recap] [box score]
A friend of mine who's a Lakers fan -- I know, I know -- sent me an email after the game. It read, in part, "Doc is hell-bent on killing the Celts [sic] repeat chances," illustrated by him playing Pierce/KG/Ray a combined 117 minutes tonight. His point is completely legit: The season's long, this one seemed out of hand, we just beat Detroit last night, we've got Atlanta on Wednesday. Plenty of coaches would have packed it up for the night and played the bench the rest of the way. Indeed, that's what Doc did in Indiana earlier this year.
There's something to be said, however, for sending a message, even this early in the season. Toronto's on the short list of Eastern Conference contenders. If we face them in the playoffs, they're surely going to remember this game, and how difficult it is to win in Boston.
That's a good thing for us. I don't expect Doc to pull out all the stops every time we put ourselves in this spot (and here's hoping it's not that often), but I do think he's tuned in to which teams are worth fighting against.
A couple of general thoughts about the game:
-Even in the first half, our defense wasn't that bad. Jermaine O'Neal had 19 at halftime -- he finished with just 23 and Kendrick Perkins ate his lunch on a few key possessions in the fourth -- but Chris Bosh was held in check, scoring just nine points in 40 minutes. Bosh came into this game with the third-highest scoring average in the league, at 26.7 per game.
Most of the damage was done by the Raps role players from the outside; Jason Kapono, Anthony Parker, and Joey Graham. Those three combined for 37 points.
Remember, though, our defensive success has been predicated around keeping people out of the lane and forcing the other team to make jumpers -- a lot of jumpers -- if they want to beat us. Graham scored eight points in the second quarter on a free throw and about 64 feet worth of jump shots. I guarantee that if you had told Doc and Tom Thibodeau that Joey Graham was going to be shooting 20-footers, they'd have been fine with it.
-71-70 Raps, eight minutes and change to go. We had three possessions to take the lead, and we got a contested three from Eddie House (blocked); an open three from Tony Allen (which he missed, rebounded, and committed an offensive foul trying to get to the basket); and a 19-footer from Glen Davis (predictably missed).
Garnett and Ray Allen weren't in the game and therefore were unavailable as options, but these can't be the guys taking the shots for us in those moments, at least not those specific shots. If Eddie gets a clean look, that's one thing, but Tony and Baby need to remember why the defense has left them open in those situations.
Next game is Wednesday night, 7:30 p.m. Eastern, in Boston against Atlanta. The Hawks -- the same Hawks who pushed us to seven games in the first round of the playoffs last year -- are 5-0, the last undefeated team in the East as of this writing (they are playing in Chicago Tuesday night). Atlanta's already won in Orlando and New Orleans this year, so they're a formidable opponent. However, they'll be without Josh Smith, who sprained his ankle Friday against Toronto and is expected to miss two to four weeks.
Atlanta, like Toronto, is one of these teams that will be gunning for Boston, and in turn, Boston will want to keep them from winning in the Garden. Boston will need to come out of the gate a lot faster than they did against the Raps.
[recap] [box score]
A friend of mine who's a Lakers fan -- I know, I know -- sent me an email after the game. It read, in part, "Doc is hell-bent on killing the Celts [sic] repeat chances," illustrated by him playing Pierce/KG/Ray a combined 117 minutes tonight. His point is completely legit: The season's long, this one seemed out of hand, we just beat Detroit last night, we've got Atlanta on Wednesday. Plenty of coaches would have packed it up for the night and played the bench the rest of the way. Indeed, that's what Doc did in Indiana earlier this year.
There's something to be said, however, for sending a message, even this early in the season. Toronto's on the short list of Eastern Conference contenders. If we face them in the playoffs, they're surely going to remember this game, and how difficult it is to win in Boston.
That's a good thing for us. I don't expect Doc to pull out all the stops every time we put ourselves in this spot (and here's hoping it's not that often), but I do think he's tuned in to which teams are worth fighting against.
A couple of general thoughts about the game:
-Even in the first half, our defense wasn't that bad. Jermaine O'Neal had 19 at halftime -- he finished with just 23 and Kendrick Perkins ate his lunch on a few key possessions in the fourth -- but Chris Bosh was held in check, scoring just nine points in 40 minutes. Bosh came into this game with the third-highest scoring average in the league, at 26.7 per game.
Most of the damage was done by the Raps role players from the outside; Jason Kapono, Anthony Parker, and Joey Graham. Those three combined for 37 points.
Remember, though, our defensive success has been predicated around keeping people out of the lane and forcing the other team to make jumpers -- a lot of jumpers -- if they want to beat us. Graham scored eight points in the second quarter on a free throw and about 64 feet worth of jump shots. I guarantee that if you had told Doc and Tom Thibodeau that Joey Graham was going to be shooting 20-footers, they'd have been fine with it.
-71-70 Raps, eight minutes and change to go. We had three possessions to take the lead, and we got a contested three from Eddie House (blocked); an open three from Tony Allen (which he missed, rebounded, and committed an offensive foul trying to get to the basket); and a 19-footer from Glen Davis (predictably missed).
Garnett and Ray Allen weren't in the game and therefore were unavailable as options, but these can't be the guys taking the shots for us in those moments, at least not those specific shots. If Eddie gets a clean look, that's one thing, but Tony and Baby need to remember why the defense has left them open in those situations.
Next game is Wednesday night, 7:30 p.m. Eastern, in Boston against Atlanta. The Hawks -- the same Hawks who pushed us to seven games in the first round of the playoffs last year -- are 5-0, the last undefeated team in the East as of this writing (they are playing in Chicago Tuesday night). Atlanta's already won in Orlando and New Orleans this year, so they're a formidable opponent. However, they'll be without Josh Smith, who sprained his ankle Friday against Toronto and is expected to miss two to four weeks.
Atlanta, like Toronto, is one of these teams that will be gunning for Boston, and in turn, Boston will want to keep them from winning in the Garden. Boston will need to come out of the gate a lot faster than they did against the Raps.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
I am not sad.
The only thing better than a night on which we kick Detroit's ass is a night on which we kick Detroit's ass while Rip Hamilton shoots 0-for-8, and then the Giants beat the Eagles in Philly. Given that I went 3-1 in fantasy football this week and I've got a case of TaB in my apartment, I'd say I'm having a good evening.
[recap] [box score]
Even fully recognizing that Detroit is still adjusting to Iverson and that Rip Hamilton's mind might be elsewhere, the Pistons are still not the kind of team you whip on their home floor, particularly when your two best players combine to go 7-for-25 and score 15 points between them. But that's exactly what the Celtics did Friday night against the Pistons at the Palace. Tony Allen scored 23 points to pick up Pierce, who was whistled for three fouls (and a tech) in the first quarter. Pierce didn't play at all in the second quarter, because we didn't need him. We outscored Detroit 30-10 in that period, turning a two-point deficit into a comfortable lead. Tony had 12 in the second, and Leon Powe had six. Hats off to Ray Allen, too, who scored 17 points. We've played two big road games thus far this year (Houston and Detroit) and Ray has come up biggest of the Big Three in both.
Doc called this one the best defensive effort of the year, and it's hard to disagree with him. The boxscore tells most of the story, but keep in mind that Detroit's final numbers are actually quite a bit better than they were for most of the game. The Pistons were 10-of-40 in the first half, and scored 29 points (our bench had 24 points by halftime).
Eddie House also hit three jumpers tonight, which means I can stop keeping track of how many games he goes without hitting more than one jumper. Hopefully this gets him going for good.
We've got Toronto Monday night in Boston (7:30 Eastern, no national TV), and the blowout tonight helps in that Pierce played just 28 minutes tonight and Garnett 33. That could be crucial, as this is just a brutal week, with Atlanta coming to town Wednesday, Denver in on Friday, and then a road date at Miwaukee Saturday night. The Raptors will be in the second night of a road back-to-back, as they beat Charlotte 89-79 Sunday afternoon behind 30 points and 15 rebounds in 43 minutes from Chris Bosh. I haven't had a chance to scout the Raps yet, but if I do, I'll post some thoughts. If not, I'll see you after the game.
[recap] [box score]
Even fully recognizing that Detroit is still adjusting to Iverson and that Rip Hamilton's mind might be elsewhere, the Pistons are still not the kind of team you whip on their home floor, particularly when your two best players combine to go 7-for-25 and score 15 points between them. But that's exactly what the Celtics did Friday night against the Pistons at the Palace. Tony Allen scored 23 points to pick up Pierce, who was whistled for three fouls (and a tech) in the first quarter. Pierce didn't play at all in the second quarter, because we didn't need him. We outscored Detroit 30-10 in that period, turning a two-point deficit into a comfortable lead. Tony had 12 in the second, and Leon Powe had six. Hats off to Ray Allen, too, who scored 17 points. We've played two big road games thus far this year (Houston and Detroit) and Ray has come up biggest of the Big Three in both.
Doc called this one the best defensive effort of the year, and it's hard to disagree with him. The boxscore tells most of the story, but keep in mind that Detroit's final numbers are actually quite a bit better than they were for most of the game. The Pistons were 10-of-40 in the first half, and scored 29 points (our bench had 24 points by halftime).
Eddie House also hit three jumpers tonight, which means I can stop keeping track of how many games he goes without hitting more than one jumper. Hopefully this gets him going for good.
We've got Toronto Monday night in Boston (7:30 Eastern, no national TV), and the blowout tonight helps in that Pierce played just 28 minutes tonight and Garnett 33. That could be crucial, as this is just a brutal week, with Atlanta coming to town Wednesday, Denver in on Friday, and then a road date at Miwaukee Saturday night. The Raptors will be in the second night of a road back-to-back, as they beat Charlotte 89-79 Sunday afternoon behind 30 points and 15 rebounds in 43 minutes from Chris Bosh. I haven't had a chance to scout the Raps yet, but if I do, I'll post some thoughts. If not, I'll see you after the game.
I am sad.
I had it all set up. I bought my new 32" flat screen TV yesterday (hat tip to Mom, Dad, and Nana for the overly generous financing). I bought a VGA cable to run my computer through it. I did all my school work for tomorrow early this morning (before I went to bed last night -- long story).
I launched NBA League Pass. Blacked out.
I signed into the live chat support to see if they could fix the problem. My customer service rep, Merlin, tells me that the game is on NBATV, and therefore blacked out on League Pass. I check the schedule. He's right. I don't get NBATV with my basic cable package, and since I'm in a utilities-included apartment owned by USC, I can't pay to get it. I'm stuck watching football instead.
:(
I launched NBA League Pass. Blacked out.
I signed into the live chat support to see if they could fix the problem. My customer service rep, Merlin, tells me that the game is on NBATV, and therefore blacked out on League Pass. I check the schedule. He's right. I don't get NBATV with my basic cable package, and since I'm in a utilities-included apartment owned by USC, I can't pay to get it. I'm stuck watching football instead.
:(
Celtics Take On The Pistons
The Detroit Pistons made headlines this season by trading franchise mainstay Chauncey Billups and power forward Antonio McDyess to Denver for Allen Iverson. So far, the results haven't been great, as the Pistons lost Iverson's debut Friday night, a 103-96 decision at New Jersey. Detroit is finally watchable again: Iverson is just one of those guys you simply have to see play to fully appreciate.
It's difficult to assess how the Pistons are going to play with Iverson, since Friday's game seemed to be an off-night for the team. After a typically stingy first quarter in which they gave up just 14 points, they allowed the Nets to score 25 in the second and then 64 after halftime. New Jersey point guard Devin Harris ran absolutely roughshod over them in the second, scoring a career-high 38 points and shooting an incredible 24 free throws. Detroit just wasn't sharp defensively. Of course, Rajon Rondo is not going to present the offensive threat that Harris did in single-handedly winning that game for New Jersey.
Offensively, Iverson looked extremely comfortable assimilating into the Piston offense. He seemed to defer a bit to his teammates, at least until the fourth quarter. In that last period, he started looking for his shot more, but it's worth noting that Rip Hamilton was not on the court during that time.
Rip actually was the one who looked least comfortable with Iverson, or perhaps more accurately, without Billups. He took 20 shots and appeared to force a few more than he typically does.
The big problem seemed to be initiating the offense. New Jersey played a lot of zone -- a look that Boston probably won't give -- and the Pistons spent most of the time just tossing the ball around the perimeter, occasionally shooting at the basket. Iverson has taken Billups' spot in the starting lineup, but he's not a true point. Neither is Rodney Stuckey, frankly, and the three-guard lineup they went to (with Hamilton sliding over to small forward) didn't really work yet. Detroit justified trading Billups by insisting that Stuckey was ready for major minutes, and while he certainly showed his mettle against Boston in the playoffs last year and he has been fine this year, he's not -- at least not yet -- the kind of player you can give the ball to and count on him to distribute to Iverson and Hamilton, and when he's on the court with AI and Rip, there's just not enough orange to go around.
That said, Detroit is still a major player in the East and I expect this game to be a tough one, particularly since it's at the Palace at Auburn Hills.
It's difficult to assess how the Pistons are going to play with Iverson, since Friday's game seemed to be an off-night for the team. After a typically stingy first quarter in which they gave up just 14 points, they allowed the Nets to score 25 in the second and then 64 after halftime. New Jersey point guard Devin Harris ran absolutely roughshod over them in the second, scoring a career-high 38 points and shooting an incredible 24 free throws. Detroit just wasn't sharp defensively. Of course, Rajon Rondo is not going to present the offensive threat that Harris did in single-handedly winning that game for New Jersey.
Offensively, Iverson looked extremely comfortable assimilating into the Piston offense. He seemed to defer a bit to his teammates, at least until the fourth quarter. In that last period, he started looking for his shot more, but it's worth noting that Rip Hamilton was not on the court during that time.
Rip actually was the one who looked least comfortable with Iverson, or perhaps more accurately, without Billups. He took 20 shots and appeared to force a few more than he typically does.
The big problem seemed to be initiating the offense. New Jersey played a lot of zone -- a look that Boston probably won't give -- and the Pistons spent most of the time just tossing the ball around the perimeter, occasionally shooting at the basket. Iverson has taken Billups' spot in the starting lineup, but he's not a true point. Neither is Rodney Stuckey, frankly, and the three-guard lineup they went to (with Hamilton sliding over to small forward) didn't really work yet. Detroit justified trading Billups by insisting that Stuckey was ready for major minutes, and while he certainly showed his mettle against Boston in the playoffs last year and he has been fine this year, he's not -- at least not yet -- the kind of player you can give the ball to and count on him to distribute to Iverson and Hamilton, and when he's on the court with AI and Rip, there's just not enough orange to go around.
That said, Detroit is still a major player in the East and I expect this game to be a tough one, particularly since it's at the Palace at Auburn Hills.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Boston 101, Milwaukee 89
I missed the first six-and-a-half minutes of this one, and while Boston was down 21-10 when I joined the broadcast (the first of the season for Tommy and Mike on League Pass!) and we didn't really blow this one open until the fourth quarter, it never really seemed like we were in trouble.
[recap] [box score]
-The second unit really changed the course of this one, as a 30-23 first-quarter deficit became a 55-47 halftime lead, with a lot of the work done against Milwaukee's starters. One thing that I really like about our bench is how well they get to the line. Leon Powe and Tony Allen combined to shoot 14 free throws, and while Powe had an off-night from the stripe -- he made just four of nine attempts tonight -- getting those freebies makes up for whatever limitations the two might have offensively.
-Kendrick Perkins tonight showed what close watchers of the Celtics have insisted on for a while, to much scoffing around the league: When he applies himself, Perk can be a serious defensive force. He had a career-high seven blocked shots tonight, and there was a stretch at the end of the first quarter where he disrupted three or four consecutive Milwaukee possessions. He lacks the consistency and the ability to stay out of foul trouble to be a truly elite post defender, and he may never get there, given that this is his sixth year in the league. Then again, he's only 23, so there's hope.
-Powe plays bigger guys pretty well, but we need to give him help when he's guarding guys like Andrew Bogut. Powe can play someone like Bogut perfectly and still give up buckets because Bogut is simply too tall for him.
-Milwaukee's point guards, Luke Ridnour and Ramon Sessions, were pretty awful tonight, combining for nine turnovers, many of which were live-ball and led to open-court layups. Tony Allen, Eddie House, and Rajon Rondo did a nice job shooting the gaps when those two tried to drive and kick, but the fact is that Ridnour and Sessions simply weren't drawing the defense before giving up the rock.
-House had 11 points of five-for-seven, but four of his buckets were layups in the open floor, several off the aforementioned turnovers. He still hasn't hit two jumpers in the same game this year.
-We got our first look of the season at Billy Sky. His first two touches were pretty big failures, as he drove recklessly into traffic, getting his shot blocked the first time and getting whistled for an offensive foul on the second occasion. Still, he hit a nice 15-footer from the right baseline, displaying good form and a much quicker release than I expected.
-Minute allocation for the Big Three was pretty good tonight, although Pierce still played 38 minutes as he continued his work with the second team. But Ray Allen played 31 minutes, Kevin Garnett only 30, and all three were on the bench with four minutes to go.
Next game is Sunday night at 6 p.m. Eastern in Detroit, which kicks off a ridiculous five-games-in-seven-days stretch where we face three likely Eastern conference playoff teams -- Detroit, Toronto, and Atlanta -- by Wednesday. I had planned on doing some scouting tonight, thanks to the archives on League Pass broadband -- Allen Iverson's Piston debut and the Hawks blowing out the Raps in the dirty dirty -- but I think I'm going to see Zack and Miri Make a Porno, my first trip to the movies since I saw Thank You For Smoking in 2005. If time allows, I'll post some thoughts on these three upcoming opponents later in the weekend, then get ready for a tough week.
[recap] [box score]
-The second unit really changed the course of this one, as a 30-23 first-quarter deficit became a 55-47 halftime lead, with a lot of the work done against Milwaukee's starters. One thing that I really like about our bench is how well they get to the line. Leon Powe and Tony Allen combined to shoot 14 free throws, and while Powe had an off-night from the stripe -- he made just four of nine attempts tonight -- getting those freebies makes up for whatever limitations the two might have offensively.
-Kendrick Perkins tonight showed what close watchers of the Celtics have insisted on for a while, to much scoffing around the league: When he applies himself, Perk can be a serious defensive force. He had a career-high seven blocked shots tonight, and there was a stretch at the end of the first quarter where he disrupted three or four consecutive Milwaukee possessions. He lacks the consistency and the ability to stay out of foul trouble to be a truly elite post defender, and he may never get there, given that this is his sixth year in the league. Then again, he's only 23, so there's hope.
-Powe plays bigger guys pretty well, but we need to give him help when he's guarding guys like Andrew Bogut. Powe can play someone like Bogut perfectly and still give up buckets because Bogut is simply too tall for him.
-Milwaukee's point guards, Luke Ridnour and Ramon Sessions, were pretty awful tonight, combining for nine turnovers, many of which were live-ball and led to open-court layups. Tony Allen, Eddie House, and Rajon Rondo did a nice job shooting the gaps when those two tried to drive and kick, but the fact is that Ridnour and Sessions simply weren't drawing the defense before giving up the rock.
-House had 11 points of five-for-seven, but four of his buckets were layups in the open floor, several off the aforementioned turnovers. He still hasn't hit two jumpers in the same game this year.
-We got our first look of the season at Billy Sky. His first two touches were pretty big failures, as he drove recklessly into traffic, getting his shot blocked the first time and getting whistled for an offensive foul on the second occasion. Still, he hit a nice 15-footer from the right baseline, displaying good form and a much quicker release than I expected.
-Minute allocation for the Big Three was pretty good tonight, although Pierce still played 38 minutes as he continued his work with the second team. But Ray Allen played 31 minutes, Kevin Garnett only 30, and all three were on the bench with four minutes to go.
Next game is Sunday night at 6 p.m. Eastern in Detroit, which kicks off a ridiculous five-games-in-seven-days stretch where we face three likely Eastern conference playoff teams -- Detroit, Toronto, and Atlanta -- by Wednesday. I had planned on doing some scouting tonight, thanks to the archives on League Pass broadband -- Allen Iverson's Piston debut and the Hawks blowing out the Raps in the dirty dirty -- but I think I'm going to see Zack and Miri Make a Porno, my first trip to the movies since I saw Thank You For Smoking in 2005. If time allows, I'll post some thoughts on these three upcoming opponents later in the weekend, then get ready for a tough week.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Boston 96, Oklahoma City 83
That's how a possible "trap" or "letdown" game should go.
[recap] [box score]
A slow start, no doubt brought on by the big win last night, mixed with the enthusiasm of an upstart team taking on the defending champs. A fourth quarter with a turnover here, a blown defensive assignment there, a few garbage-time buckets for the opponent. But in between -- in the second and third quarters -- punishing basketball that puts the game out of reach.
Good stuff all around, though nobody played spectacularly. Four starters in double figures, 11 assists for Rondo, 11 first-half points off the bench for Leon Powe, stifling defense. Just takin' care of business on a Wednesday night in the Association.
Got what I asked for from Doc tonight, too, as Pierce played with the second team. Trailing 29-21 after one, Pierce started the second with House, Tony Allen, Powe, and Glen Davis.
That fivesome went on a 17-4 run over the first five-and-a-half minutes of the quarter, and while Pierce got it going with a tough three-pointer as the shot clock wound down, the rest of the scoring came from the second-stringers: nine for Powe on a combination of layups and free throws; a Tony Allen bucket in transition; a pair at the line from House; 1 of 2 from the stripe from Davis.
Pierce, however, was the catalyst, initiating the offense on every possession. He had but one assist during the stretch, but he ran the pick and roll with Davis that sent Baby to the line; he fed Leon for what should have been an easy layup (Leon missed but got the putback); and he penetrated and created opportunities for Davis and House that those guys missed.
Pierce is more comfortable and more effective initiating the offense than Ray Allen is, and as I've said, I think it's important to take primary ball-handling duties away from Tony Allen. Tony played much more within himself tonight, and he's clearly more comfortable playing off the ball in the halfcourt.
The rub is that this meant 40 minutes for Pierce on the second night of a road back-to-back. At this point, I'm not sure we can cut any meaningful minutes from any of the Big Three, but I do think that Doc should be quicker to get them out of games that are in hand. All three of them -- in fact, all five starters -- were on the court at the final horn, despite the fact that Boston led by 15 with 4:37 to go (and OKC never got closer than 12 the rest of the way).
This was a problem last year, too. I don't know why Doc does it: If he just forgets; if he wants the starters to be able to have the feeling of finishing the job; or if some ideal of professionalism prevents him from playing the bomb squad. Whatever it is, he needs to get over it. It's tiring these guys out, someone could get hurt, and I'm just waiting for the always-competitive KG to get into a fight under two minutes with the game well in hand.
[recap] [box score]
A slow start, no doubt brought on by the big win last night, mixed with the enthusiasm of an upstart team taking on the defending champs. A fourth quarter with a turnover here, a blown defensive assignment there, a few garbage-time buckets for the opponent. But in between -- in the second and third quarters -- punishing basketball that puts the game out of reach.
Good stuff all around, though nobody played spectacularly. Four starters in double figures, 11 assists for Rondo, 11 first-half points off the bench for Leon Powe, stifling defense. Just takin' care of business on a Wednesday night in the Association.
Got what I asked for from Doc tonight, too, as Pierce played with the second team. Trailing 29-21 after one, Pierce started the second with House, Tony Allen, Powe, and Glen Davis.
That fivesome went on a 17-4 run over the first five-and-a-half minutes of the quarter, and while Pierce got it going with a tough three-pointer as the shot clock wound down, the rest of the scoring came from the second-stringers: nine for Powe on a combination of layups and free throws; a Tony Allen bucket in transition; a pair at the line from House; 1 of 2 from the stripe from Davis.
Pierce, however, was the catalyst, initiating the offense on every possession. He had but one assist during the stretch, but he ran the pick and roll with Davis that sent Baby to the line; he fed Leon for what should have been an easy layup (Leon missed but got the putback); and he penetrated and created opportunities for Davis and House that those guys missed.
Pierce is more comfortable and more effective initiating the offense than Ray Allen is, and as I've said, I think it's important to take primary ball-handling duties away from Tony Allen. Tony played much more within himself tonight, and he's clearly more comfortable playing off the ball in the halfcourt.
The rub is that this meant 40 minutes for Pierce on the second night of a road back-to-back. At this point, I'm not sure we can cut any meaningful minutes from any of the Big Three, but I do think that Doc should be quicker to get them out of games that are in hand. All three of them -- in fact, all five starters -- were on the court at the final horn, despite the fact that Boston led by 15 with 4:37 to go (and OKC never got closer than 12 the rest of the way).
This was a problem last year, too. I don't know why Doc does it: If he just forgets; if he wants the starters to be able to have the feeling of finishing the job; or if some ideal of professionalism prevents him from playing the bomb squad. Whatever it is, he needs to get over it. It's tiring these guys out, someone could get hurt, and I'm just waiting for the always-competitive KG to get into a fight under two minutes with the game well in hand.
Boston 103, Houston 99
Okay, so it was the second-most important victory in the country last night. I'll take it.
[recap] [box score]
Didn't get to watch anything but the final minute of this one -- the apartment where I was watching the election results come in also had NBATV, so I caught the waning moments -- but I love everything about the box score. The big game by Ray. Perk badly outplaying Yao. Rondo's Jason Kidd-like stat line. Nine points off the bench from Big Baby (it looks like Powe might have gotten into some foul trouble?)
Anyone panicking after the debacle in Indy over the weekend was obviously overreacting, but a win like this one has to be reassuring to even those who brushed off that ugly loss to the Pacers. This early in the season, with question marks surrounding the bench and a team that hadn't yet hit its stride offensively, a loss like Saturday's can make you a wee bit nervous. The next time we play a game like that -- and over the course of an 82-game season, there will be a few nights where nothing seems to go right -- let's make a point to remember this victory. It's proof that, even without Posey and another year of tread on the tires, we're still by and large the same team that won big game after big game last year.
We're in Oklahoma City to face the FormerSonics and Kevin Durant (8 p.m. Eastern). No national TV for this one, but I think NBA League Pass free preview is still running, and for those of you without satellite TV or digital cable, League Pass Broadband's free preview runs to Nov. 11, so you can catch the game online (like I'll be doing).
[recap] [box score]
Didn't get to watch anything but the final minute of this one -- the apartment where I was watching the election results come in also had NBATV, so I caught the waning moments -- but I love everything about the box score. The big game by Ray. Perk badly outplaying Yao. Rondo's Jason Kidd-like stat line. Nine points off the bench from Big Baby (it looks like Powe might have gotten into some foul trouble?)
Anyone panicking after the debacle in Indy over the weekend was obviously overreacting, but a win like this one has to be reassuring to even those who brushed off that ugly loss to the Pacers. This early in the season, with question marks surrounding the bench and a team that hadn't yet hit its stride offensively, a loss like Saturday's can make you a wee bit nervous. The next time we play a game like that -- and over the course of an 82-game season, there will be a few nights where nothing seems to go right -- let's make a point to remember this victory. It's proof that, even without Posey and another year of tread on the tires, we're still by and large the same team that won big game after big game last year.
We're in Oklahoma City to face the FormerSonics and Kevin Durant (8 p.m. Eastern). No national TV for this one, but I think NBA League Pass free preview is still running, and for those of you without satellite TV or digital cable, League Pass Broadband's free preview runs to Nov. 11, so you can catch the game online (like I'll be doing).
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Celtics Take On Rockets
I was going to write a bit more about our next opponent, the Houston Rockets (8:30 p.m. Eastern, NBATV), but I needed to write about the Iverson trade first, and before I did that, I needed a nap, because I was up til 5 a.m. Pacific Monday morning doing homework. Between my nap and the Iverson post, I got distracted, first by Grizzlies-Warriors (27 and 16 for the Spanish Flea!), then by the Monday Night Football game (which had big implications for two of my fantasy teams), then by dinner (cheese ravioli and frozen veggies), then by an entire episode of The Sarah Connor Chronicles (happy that I finally watched the show that ran those ads with Danzig's "Mother" during last year's Finals!).
So you get a long Iverson post and a short note on the Rockets. Whatever. It's Election Day; none of you people are reading anyway.
Houston made a big splash this offseason, adding Ron Artest to Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, thus giving them a Big Three -- if an oft-injured Big Three -- of their own. Early returns (political term, +1) are mixed: The Rockets looked dreadful offensively in beating the Grizzlies 82-71 on opening night in Houston; put up 62 points -- more than they scored through three quarters against Memphis -- the next night in Dallas; then moved to 3-0 on Saturday with a listless 89-77 home win over Oklahoma City.
So the good news is that Houston has hardly been dominant, barely sliding by hapless opponents like Memphis and Oklahoma City. The bad news is that the Rockets came to play the one night they had to, and the Celtics count as an opponent against whom you have to come to play.
This is likely one of the games where our role players are going to decide if we win or not. Pierce is going to have his work cut out for him on both ends of the floor against Artest; ditto Ray with McGrady; and KG is going to have his hands full with the seemingly endless string of energetic, physical big men the Rockets can run out there. (Luis Scola, Carl Landry, Chuck Hayes -- why did this team draft Joey Dorsey? How many of the same guy do you need?)
So a key matchup comes at the point guard slot, where Rondo should have a big advantage over Rafer Alston. It's not so big an advantage, however, to overcome the mismatch at center, where Yao has a big edge over Perkins even when Perk is playing well. For the record, Perk isn't playing well, or at least he hasn't yet; he had trouble with Roy Hibbert against the Pacers on Saturday, so I'm not terribly optimistic about how he'll handle Yao.
Houston's bench is good, too, with point guard Aaron Brooks complementing the aforementioned depth up front. It actually should be pretty fun to watch Powe and Big Baby go up against the likes of Landry and Hayes -- you aren't going to see many guys who play harder than that crew.
Actually, I'm not going to see it at all; with no digital cable and no sports bars I know of -- never mind feel particularly safe walking to -- nearby, I'm in the dark on this one, since it's on NBATV and therefore blacked out on League Pass Broadband (which I don't really understand). Depending on how the game goes, how much work I get done, and whether or not the presidential election ends with rioting in the streets outside my apartment, I'll give some thoughts on what I can ascertain from the boxscore. If not, I'll be back with you on Wednesday, when we face Oklahoma City and Kevin Durant.
So you get a long Iverson post and a short note on the Rockets. Whatever. It's Election Day; none of you people are reading anyway.
Houston made a big splash this offseason, adding Ron Artest to Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, thus giving them a Big Three -- if an oft-injured Big Three -- of their own. Early returns (political term, +1) are mixed: The Rockets looked dreadful offensively in beating the Grizzlies 82-71 on opening night in Houston; put up 62 points -- more than they scored through three quarters against Memphis -- the next night in Dallas; then moved to 3-0 on Saturday with a listless 89-77 home win over Oklahoma City.
So the good news is that Houston has hardly been dominant, barely sliding by hapless opponents like Memphis and Oklahoma City. The bad news is that the Rockets came to play the one night they had to, and the Celtics count as an opponent against whom you have to come to play.
This is likely one of the games where our role players are going to decide if we win or not. Pierce is going to have his work cut out for him on both ends of the floor against Artest; ditto Ray with McGrady; and KG is going to have his hands full with the seemingly endless string of energetic, physical big men the Rockets can run out there. (Luis Scola, Carl Landry, Chuck Hayes -- why did this team draft Joey Dorsey? How many of the same guy do you need?)
So a key matchup comes at the point guard slot, where Rondo should have a big advantage over Rafer Alston. It's not so big an advantage, however, to overcome the mismatch at center, where Yao has a big edge over Perkins even when Perk is playing well. For the record, Perk isn't playing well, or at least he hasn't yet; he had trouble with Roy Hibbert against the Pacers on Saturday, so I'm not terribly optimistic about how he'll handle Yao.
Houston's bench is good, too, with point guard Aaron Brooks complementing the aforementioned depth up front. It actually should be pretty fun to watch Powe and Big Baby go up against the likes of Landry and Hayes -- you aren't going to see many guys who play harder than that crew.
Actually, I'm not going to see it at all; with no digital cable and no sports bars I know of -- never mind feel particularly safe walking to -- nearby, I'm in the dark on this one, since it's on NBATV and therefore blacked out on League Pass Broadband (which I don't really understand). Depending on how the game goes, how much work I get done, and whether or not the presidential election ends with rioting in the streets outside my apartment, I'll give some thoughts on what I can ascertain from the boxscore. If not, I'll be back with you on Wednesday, when we face Oklahoma City and Kevin Durant.
Iverson for Billups
Of course, the big news from yesterday is that Detroit sent Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess to Denver for Allen Iverson. Everyone's got an opinion on this one, but the consensus seems to be -- and I'm sorry to give only ESPN links here, but I'm lazy these days -- that it's win-win: Denver gets better; Detroit clears cap space to make a run at the big-name free agents this summer and next.
Since this blog is Celtics-themed, a quick word on how this affects the Celtics. As word of the trade spread, I talked briefly to a lot of friends and read a lot of blog posts and comments, and the prevailing wisdom seemed to be that this trade helped the Celtics, since Billups was such a matchup problem for Rondo.
I'll give you a second to digest that, because it took me a second to digest it myself.
I know, right?
People are actually saying that Rondo will have an easier time guarding the Pistons now that he "gets" to check Allen Iverson instead of Chauncey Billups.
Allen Iverson. Allen fucking Iverson. AI. The Answer. The nine-time All-Star. The 2000-2001 NBA MVP. He of the 27.7 ppg scoring average. ALLEN IVERSON!
Okay, so Iverson won't have the size mismatch that Billups had on Rondo. And okay, maybe Rondo's quick enough and Iverson's old enough that Iverson doesn't have the edge in quickness the way he might have a few years ago. But there's one mismatch he does have: He's Allen Iverson, and Rajon Rondo isn't.
As tough as Billups was for Rondo to check, he wasn't the kind of guy you were terrified of, at least not these last couple of years. Iverson still is that guy. He's one of the most hard-nosed and competitive players the league has seen in years, and one of its more remarkable athletes and talents, too.
We played Denver, Iverson's old team, twice last year. In the two games (both Celtics victories), Iverson shot 31 free throws. 31! That's a Dwyane-Wade-in-the-Finals kind of statistic. Iverson's not going to abuse Rondo in the post the way Billups did, but the idea that Rondo will be more effective defensively on Iverson than he was on Billups just seems wrong.
***
As a basketball fan, I'm really excited to see how Iverson works out in Detroit. Iverson has never played on a team like these Pistons. It's been said that you can't play Iverson alongside another star, because of the way he clashed with Jerry Stackhouse early in his career in Philadelphia and never found the right rhythm with Carmelo Anthony in Denver.
At the same time, when Iverson's teams have had success, it's been almost solely by virtue of his effort. Quiz time: The second-best player on the Philly team that went to the Finals and took Game 1 from the Lakers in 2001 was ...
I'm waiting...
Aaron McKie -- who, get this, won the Sixth Man of the Year award that season.
The present-day Pistons are different, a team of veterans that doesn't care who does the scoring, as long as somebody is. Rip Hamilton led the team with 17.3 points per game last year; Billups, Tayshaun Prince, and Rasheed Wallace were all in double figures. All told, ten Pistons averaged at least 6.5 per last year. Shots were almost evenly distributed among the starters; Rip got 14 a game, but Billups, Prince, and Wallace each hoisted 11 times per contest. There's no current Piston whose style Iverson will cramp.
And yet, these guys are hardly a team of role players. They are Eastern Conference finalists from last year, the only team to beat the Celtics in Boston during the playoffs. They aren't Aaron McKie and Eric Snow and George Lynch and Matt Geiger. (Betcha hadn't thought about Matt Geiger in a while!) Wallace is a four-time All-Star. Hamilton's been named to the All-Star team three times. Both he and Prince have championship rings. Iverson's got plenty of help in his new city.
The composition of the league's elite has changed even since the Pistons won their championship in 2003-2004, and certainly since Iverson took his Sixers to the Finals in 2000-2001. You probably need more than one star (or, alternatively, one star whose name is LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, or maybe Chris Paul) to be a serious contender for the chip these days, and Iverson is far enough past his prime that he won't be able to lift his team the way LeBron or Kobe can. We'll probably never know, but maybe Joe Dumars has found, too late, the right formula for success with Iverson, and these Pistons are built the way those Sixers should have been.
Since this blog is Celtics-themed, a quick word on how this affects the Celtics. As word of the trade spread, I talked briefly to a lot of friends and read a lot of blog posts and comments, and the prevailing wisdom seemed to be that this trade helped the Celtics, since Billups was such a matchup problem for Rondo.
I'll give you a second to digest that, because it took me a second to digest it myself.
I know, right?
People are actually saying that Rondo will have an easier time guarding the Pistons now that he "gets" to check Allen Iverson instead of Chauncey Billups.
Allen Iverson. Allen fucking Iverson. AI. The Answer. The nine-time All-Star. The 2000-2001 NBA MVP. He of the 27.7 ppg scoring average. ALLEN IVERSON!
Okay, so Iverson won't have the size mismatch that Billups had on Rondo. And okay, maybe Rondo's quick enough and Iverson's old enough that Iverson doesn't have the edge in quickness the way he might have a few years ago. But there's one mismatch he does have: He's Allen Iverson, and Rajon Rondo isn't.
As tough as Billups was for Rondo to check, he wasn't the kind of guy you were terrified of, at least not these last couple of years. Iverson still is that guy. He's one of the most hard-nosed and competitive players the league has seen in years, and one of its more remarkable athletes and talents, too.
We played Denver, Iverson's old team, twice last year. In the two games (both Celtics victories), Iverson shot 31 free throws. 31! That's a Dwyane-Wade-in-the-Finals kind of statistic. Iverson's not going to abuse Rondo in the post the way Billups did, but the idea that Rondo will be more effective defensively on Iverson than he was on Billups just seems wrong.
***
As a basketball fan, I'm really excited to see how Iverson works out in Detroit. Iverson has never played on a team like these Pistons. It's been said that you can't play Iverson alongside another star, because of the way he clashed with Jerry Stackhouse early in his career in Philadelphia and never found the right rhythm with Carmelo Anthony in Denver.
At the same time, when Iverson's teams have had success, it's been almost solely by virtue of his effort. Quiz time: The second-best player on the Philly team that went to the Finals and took Game 1 from the Lakers in 2001 was ...
I'm waiting...
Aaron McKie -- who, get this, won the Sixth Man of the Year award that season.
The present-day Pistons are different, a team of veterans that doesn't care who does the scoring, as long as somebody is. Rip Hamilton led the team with 17.3 points per game last year; Billups, Tayshaun Prince, and Rasheed Wallace were all in double figures. All told, ten Pistons averaged at least 6.5 per last year. Shots were almost evenly distributed among the starters; Rip got 14 a game, but Billups, Prince, and Wallace each hoisted 11 times per contest. There's no current Piston whose style Iverson will cramp.
And yet, these guys are hardly a team of role players. They are Eastern Conference finalists from last year, the only team to beat the Celtics in Boston during the playoffs. They aren't Aaron McKie and Eric Snow and George Lynch and Matt Geiger. (Betcha hadn't thought about Matt Geiger in a while!) Wallace is a four-time All-Star. Hamilton's been named to the All-Star team three times. Both he and Prince have championship rings. Iverson's got plenty of help in his new city.
The composition of the league's elite has changed even since the Pistons won their championship in 2003-2004, and certainly since Iverson took his Sixers to the Finals in 2000-2001. You probably need more than one star (or, alternatively, one star whose name is LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, or maybe Chris Paul) to be a serious contender for the chip these days, and Iverson is far enough past his prime that he won't be able to lift his team the way LeBron or Kobe can. We'll probably never know, but maybe Joe Dumars has found, too late, the right formula for success with Iverson, and these Pistons are built the way those Sixers should have been.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Indiana 95, Boston 79
So, yeah, that's the last time I refer to a future opponent as a sacrificial lamb.
[recap] [box score]
Nobody expected us to win them all, but the Celtics' performance in this one put the "ugh" in "ugly." I actually didn't think we played too badly defensively (save Danny Granger's fast start and a few drives by T.J. Ford) but we were just lethargic offensively. Ray Allen didn't look interested in playing. Paul Pierce didn't assert himself -- there were a couple times he ended up with Ford on him, and rather than take him into the post, he gave it up instead. Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins combined for ... two points. Eddie House finally hit his first three pointer of the year, but he missed all nine of the other shots he took, which makes him 3-for-18 on the season.
Nights like this will happen, although hopefully not that often. But there a couple of things that concerned me that we will need to address. Both involve the bench.
-One thing Doc Rivers did a lot last year that I never understood was to play Ray Allen with the second-team. I didn't like it because it increased Ray's minutes, which we need to be careful of, and because he's the least capable of carrying the second team. He did it again against Cleveland to start off this season.
Tonight, he left the second unit to its own devices, and the results weren't good. I'm just not convinced that Tony Allen is mentally capable of being both the main scoring option and a primary ballhandler. He does one thing well, and that's get the ball on the wing, put his head down, and go to the basket. While I'm not sure Ray is the best option, either, I wouldn't mind seeing Pierce spend some time with that group, if only to see how it works out.
-I am convinced that Leon Powe can be an effective scorer with the ball in his hands, but he needs to understand who is guarding him. Powe is strong enough to score through many fours who are a couple of inches taller than. However, if he's playing center and is going against the opposing team's five, he's got to recognize that it doesn't matter how strong he is -- he's not creating enough space for himself to get a shot over a seven-footer. Powe tried to back down both Jeff Foster and Roy Hibbert tonight, and the results were predictable.
As I've said, I don't think we can go all season with Powe playing center and Glen Davis playing power forward on the second team, but that's the situation we're stuck with at the moment. When Powe is up against a seven-footer, he should step out after receiving the pass in the post and face the bucket.
Next game is Tuesday, against the Rockets. It's on NBATV, which means I don't get it and can't watch it because it's blacked out on League Pass Broadband. We're going to need to be a lot sharper if we want to avoid falling to 2-2.
[recap] [box score]
Nobody expected us to win them all, but the Celtics' performance in this one put the "ugh" in "ugly." I actually didn't think we played too badly defensively (save Danny Granger's fast start and a few drives by T.J. Ford) but we were just lethargic offensively. Ray Allen didn't look interested in playing. Paul Pierce didn't assert himself -- there were a couple times he ended up with Ford on him, and rather than take him into the post, he gave it up instead. Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins combined for ... two points. Eddie House finally hit his first three pointer of the year, but he missed all nine of the other shots he took, which makes him 3-for-18 on the season.
Nights like this will happen, although hopefully not that often. But there a couple of things that concerned me that we will need to address. Both involve the bench.
-One thing Doc Rivers did a lot last year that I never understood was to play Ray Allen with the second-team. I didn't like it because it increased Ray's minutes, which we need to be careful of, and because he's the least capable of carrying the second team. He did it again against Cleveland to start off this season.
Tonight, he left the second unit to its own devices, and the results weren't good. I'm just not convinced that Tony Allen is mentally capable of being both the main scoring option and a primary ballhandler. He does one thing well, and that's get the ball on the wing, put his head down, and go to the basket. While I'm not sure Ray is the best option, either, I wouldn't mind seeing Pierce spend some time with that group, if only to see how it works out.
-I am convinced that Leon Powe can be an effective scorer with the ball in his hands, but he needs to understand who is guarding him. Powe is strong enough to score through many fours who are a couple of inches taller than. However, if he's playing center and is going against the opposing team's five, he's got to recognize that it doesn't matter how strong he is -- he's not creating enough space for himself to get a shot over a seven-footer. Powe tried to back down both Jeff Foster and Roy Hibbert tonight, and the results were predictable.
As I've said, I don't think we can go all season with Powe playing center and Glen Davis playing power forward on the second team, but that's the situation we're stuck with at the moment. When Powe is up against a seven-footer, he should step out after receiving the pass in the post and face the bucket.
Next game is Tuesday, against the Rockets. It's on NBATV, which means I don't get it and can't watch it because it's blacked out on League Pass Broadband. We're going to need to be a lot sharper if we want to avoid falling to 2-2.
Next Lamb: Indiana Pacers
We've got Indiana tonight in the second game of a back-to-back. I didn't get a chance to see any of the Pacers' opening-night 100-94 loss to the Detroit Pistons. It appears that the Pacers kept within striking distance until early in the fourth quarter, where Detroit went up 14 before Indy made it close.
Danny Granger (33 points vs. Detroit) is their star. Mike Dunleavy Jr., who scored 19 points per game last year, is probably out with a knee injury (as he was against Detroit), and his replacement, Marquis Daniels, isn't nearly as potent a scorer. Without Dunleavy, Indiana isn't great offensively, and we'll be able to give Paul Pierce help on Granger the way we've done recently with LeBron James.
The only real concern I have with Indiana offensively other than Granger is new point guard T.J. Ford. With the Toronto Raptors last year in the second game of our season, Ford absolutely torched Rajon Rondo, going for 32 points in what was a 98-95 Boston win. (Championship season flashback: The Celts won that game thanks to this Ray Allen three-pointer with the clock winding down. Keep an eye on Pierce in the lower right-hand corner of the screen, after he inbounds the ball. Love the confidence that PP has in Jesus Shuttlesworth!) Rondo simply could not stay in front of the uber-quick Ford that day, although Ford was held to just 12 points in the teams' second matchup a month later (the oft-injured Ford missed the other two games between the teams). If we can keep Ford in check, we should win handily. The Pacers' defense is hardly a concern -- dating back to last year, they've surrendered 100 points or more in 23 of their last 30 games (thanks, ESPN!)
The only other concern I have is that this is the second game of a back-to-back, and it involves travel, two things which can often conspire to make would should be an easy victory more of a nailbiter. However, Boston did extremely well in these situations last year. Of the 19 back-to-backs they played, they lost the second game only thrice; twice at Washington (our bugaboo opponent last year after a season-opening blowout), and once at Golden State. Included in the successful back-to-backs was a stretch where Boston won at Sacramento, what was then Seattle, Utah, and the Lakers in a span of five days (in the traditional post-Christmas western swing).
Helping matters is the relatively easy time we had with the Bulls. Pierce played 34 minutes, but no one else played more than 30. And Paul didn't really look like he was trying all that hard out there (he had a bucket or two late that he got with such ease that I think he could have scored a bit more last night had he applied himself). So we should be relatively fresh.
This one isn't on national TV, but I'll fire it up on NBA League Pass Broadband and try to give a detailed report, if it merits one, afterwards.
Danny Granger (33 points vs. Detroit) is their star. Mike Dunleavy Jr., who scored 19 points per game last year, is probably out with a knee injury (as he was against Detroit), and his replacement, Marquis Daniels, isn't nearly as potent a scorer. Without Dunleavy, Indiana isn't great offensively, and we'll be able to give Paul Pierce help on Granger the way we've done recently with LeBron James.
The only real concern I have with Indiana offensively other than Granger is new point guard T.J. Ford. With the Toronto Raptors last year in the second game of our season, Ford absolutely torched Rajon Rondo, going for 32 points in what was a 98-95 Boston win. (Championship season flashback: The Celts won that game thanks to this Ray Allen three-pointer with the clock winding down. Keep an eye on Pierce in the lower right-hand corner of the screen, after he inbounds the ball. Love the confidence that PP has in Jesus Shuttlesworth!) Rondo simply could not stay in front of the uber-quick Ford that day, although Ford was held to just 12 points in the teams' second matchup a month later (the oft-injured Ford missed the other two games between the teams). If we can keep Ford in check, we should win handily. The Pacers' defense is hardly a concern -- dating back to last year, they've surrendered 100 points or more in 23 of their last 30 games (thanks, ESPN!)
The only other concern I have is that this is the second game of a back-to-back, and it involves travel, two things which can often conspire to make would should be an easy victory more of a nailbiter. However, Boston did extremely well in these situations last year. Of the 19 back-to-backs they played, they lost the second game only thrice; twice at Washington (our bugaboo opponent last year after a season-opening blowout), and once at Golden State. Included in the successful back-to-backs was a stretch where Boston won at Sacramento, what was then Seattle, Utah, and the Lakers in a span of five days (in the traditional post-Christmas western swing).
Helping matters is the relatively easy time we had with the Bulls. Pierce played 34 minutes, but no one else played more than 30. And Paul didn't really look like he was trying all that hard out there (he had a bucket or two late that he got with such ease that I think he could have scored a bit more last night had he applied himself). So we should be relatively fresh.
This one isn't on national TV, but I'll fire it up on NBA League Pass Broadband and try to give a detailed report, if it merits one, afterwards.
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