Stat Line: 29 minutes, 7-14 FG, 1-3 3FG, 2-2 FT, 17 pts, 1 reb, 2 assts, 2 TOs.
San Antonio, behind a brilliant performance from Manu Ginobili, was in control of this one early. Jonny Flynn's scoring got a boost in the fourth quarter, when he had seven of his 17 points. This seems like a trend with Flynn. I don't have numbers to back it up, but there have been several games this year where he's piled on the points in the fourth.
While there have been one or two games where his late scoring binges, such as they are, have come in close contests, the majority come when the Wolves seem hopelessly behind. As far as I can tell, it's not something that Kurt Rambis ever wants Flynn to do. My hunch is that Flynn's competitive streak takes over in those spots; he's willing to play a minimal scoring role up to a certain point, but when the game is slipping out of reach, he'll do everything he can to bring it back. That doesn't appear to be anything Rambis wants, either, as Flynn was yanked with about three minutes to go after taking a long jumper early in the shot clock.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
Golden State 103, Boston 99
[recap] [box score]
"Annoying" is the word I will use to describe this loss. It was annoying for several reasons. First, it came the day after another annoying loss to a bad team, the Clippers. Second, we've now lost six in a row at Oracle Arena. Third, the officials in this one matched Delta Airlines employees in terms of incompetence. Fourth, we turned the ball over 25 times. And fifth, we blew an 18-point lead.
I'll try to tackle these one by one in reverse order. I'm not going to do bullets, because I have too much to say. Then again, I have to be up early to go to the dentist, so maybe I should do bullets. Nah, I'm too fired up to sleep at the moments. Narrative it is.
Blowing an 18-point lead. So, yeah, we had a big lead in the first quarter, gave up a few buckets to end the period, and then the second team came in and by halftime the lead was gone. The second team does this a lot; comes in with a big lead, decides to take the quarter off, and pisses the whole thing away. (You'll recall that this is what had Kevin Garnett yelling at Glen Davis in the famous crying incident last season). Oddly, the bench often brings us back in games after a sluggish first quarter. It's like they are paid by the NBA to keep games close, no matter what. Hmmmm. I probably shouldn't joke about that, or David Stern will revoke my League Pass and have my family killed.
Also, we shouldn't just blame the bench for blowing the lead. We should additionally blame the starters for not taking the lead back. Ray Allen hit something like six of his first eight shots and ended up finishing 10-for-21; Kevin Garnett never really established himself in the post against Vlad Radmanovic, of all people; and except for a flurry of threes in the fourth quarter from Eddie House and Rasheed Wallace (among a much larger hailstorm of misses), we didn't get much of anything out of the bench. House and 'sheed are bench guys, but hey, I was rollin'.
According to the Golden State broadcast, we had gone something like 88 straight games in which we had a 16-point lead at some point. I guess we were due.
25 turnovers. That's a season-high, thank God. The Warriors lead the league in steals, but some of that is due to the pace of their games and the relatively high number of possessions that result. They aren't a good defensive team, and yet at one point, it was as if C.J. Watson was wearing a green jersey, we were throwing him the ball that often. He had something like six steals in his first ten minutes of action and finished with seven. Also, when Tony Allen moves into your starting lineup, you are just going to turn the ball over more. That's a given. Five turns for Tony in 28 minutes, one fewer cough-up than team leader Rajon Rondo, but Rondo was so bloody masterful offensively (more later) that we are giving him a pass.
The officials. Just comically bad-slant-weird stuff from the crew tonight. Hard to say which team, if any, was favored. I'm obviously biased, but I had the Golden State broadcast on League Pass Broadband and the Warriors announcers spent as much time being mystified by calls against Boston as they did griping about calls against Golden State. I recognize that not everyone is Tommy Heinsohn, but when the your opponent's announcers ackowledge questionable officiating in their favor, that's generally a sign you're getting screwed.
A few things stood out. We got called for at least two and I think three offensive foul calls for pushing off with the off-arm while shooting a layup, a fairly high number considering this call didn't really exist five years ago. Monta Ellis actually got called for what my father has always referred to as "up-and-down," which was technically the correct call on the play, but I literally cannot remember ever seen it called in an NBA game. Davis left the game with a knee injury in the fourth quarter on a play where he was both dragged to the ground by his arms and body blocked by another player below the waist; no call. And Kendrick Perkins got called for the most ridiculous technical foul I have ever seen: Perk caught the ball in the post, went up for the shot, and made it despite being fouled (no call). While this was happening, Rony Turiaf came over to block Perk's shot from behind, only he was too late, and he ended up off balance, hanging on Perk's back, elbowing Perk in the head in the process (no call). Perk then shrugged his shoulders ever so slightly, a fairly natural reaction for someone who suddenly finds himself with a 260-pound Martinican hanging on his back (you're damn right I Googled "What are people from Martinique called?"). Turiaf went crashing to the floor, which was his own fault, and Perk gets rung up for ... what? Who knows? The point that Golden State got on the ensuing free throw might have come in handy.
(Also, I know Ronny is listed at 247, but this was the first game he's played all month, and this is the holidays. Plus, he's added at least three or four pounds to his beard since the preseason. I'm sticking by 260.)
Losing to bad teams. I spent a lot of time talking about this last year, too much time probably, but in the big picture, losses to non-contenders like the Clips and the Woyas don't really matter. They happen every season, and they frankly just aren't a big deal. We don't need to send a message to these teams, we don't have to worry about them gaining confidence against us. They are horseflies to be swatted away by our thoroughbred tail.
With that being said, home court advantage could be really important this year, and the freaking Kings just lost consecutive home games in which they first failed to score a single point in overtime against Cleveland and then blew a seven-point overtime lead to the Lakers before falling in double OT. With other teams giving away games to our chief competition, it'd be nice if we won most of the games we should win and all of the ones in which we have an 18-point first-quarter lead. And while I'm not panicking at all about this, you'd like to see us play with the same crunch-time killer instinct that guys like Lebron James and Kobe Bryant always have. I'm not saying we don't have it, just that I'd like to see it a little more often.
Now we're ready for some bullets, for the denouement. This post is a masterpiece.
"Annoying" is the word I will use to describe this loss. It was annoying for several reasons. First, it came the day after another annoying loss to a bad team, the Clippers. Second, we've now lost six in a row at Oracle Arena. Third, the officials in this one matched Delta Airlines employees in terms of incompetence. Fourth, we turned the ball over 25 times. And fifth, we blew an 18-point lead.
I'll try to tackle these one by one in reverse order. I'm not going to do bullets, because I have too much to say. Then again, I have to be up early to go to the dentist, so maybe I should do bullets. Nah, I'm too fired up to sleep at the moments. Narrative it is.
Blowing an 18-point lead. So, yeah, we had a big lead in the first quarter, gave up a few buckets to end the period, and then the second team came in and by halftime the lead was gone. The second team does this a lot; comes in with a big lead, decides to take the quarter off, and pisses the whole thing away. (You'll recall that this is what had Kevin Garnett yelling at Glen Davis in the famous crying incident last season). Oddly, the bench often brings us back in games after a sluggish first quarter. It's like they are paid by the NBA to keep games close, no matter what. Hmmmm. I probably shouldn't joke about that, or David Stern will revoke my League Pass and have my family killed.
Also, we shouldn't just blame the bench for blowing the lead. We should additionally blame the starters for not taking the lead back. Ray Allen hit something like six of his first eight shots and ended up finishing 10-for-21; Kevin Garnett never really established himself in the post against Vlad Radmanovic, of all people; and except for a flurry of threes in the fourth quarter from Eddie House and Rasheed Wallace (among a much larger hailstorm of misses), we didn't get much of anything out of the bench. House and 'sheed are bench guys, but hey, I was rollin'.
According to the Golden State broadcast, we had gone something like 88 straight games in which we had a 16-point lead at some point. I guess we were due.
25 turnovers. That's a season-high, thank God. The Warriors lead the league in steals, but some of that is due to the pace of their games and the relatively high number of possessions that result. They aren't a good defensive team, and yet at one point, it was as if C.J. Watson was wearing a green jersey, we were throwing him the ball that often. He had something like six steals in his first ten minutes of action and finished with seven. Also, when Tony Allen moves into your starting lineup, you are just going to turn the ball over more. That's a given. Five turns for Tony in 28 minutes, one fewer cough-up than team leader Rajon Rondo, but Rondo was so bloody masterful offensively (more later) that we are giving him a pass.
The officials. Just comically bad-slant-weird stuff from the crew tonight. Hard to say which team, if any, was favored. I'm obviously biased, but I had the Golden State broadcast on League Pass Broadband and the Warriors announcers spent as much time being mystified by calls against Boston as they did griping about calls against Golden State. I recognize that not everyone is Tommy Heinsohn, but when the your opponent's announcers ackowledge questionable officiating in their favor, that's generally a sign you're getting screwed.
A few things stood out. We got called for at least two and I think three offensive foul calls for pushing off with the off-arm while shooting a layup, a fairly high number considering this call didn't really exist five years ago. Monta Ellis actually got called for what my father has always referred to as "up-and-down," which was technically the correct call on the play, but I literally cannot remember ever seen it called in an NBA game. Davis left the game with a knee injury in the fourth quarter on a play where he was both dragged to the ground by his arms and body blocked by another player below the waist; no call. And Kendrick Perkins got called for the most ridiculous technical foul I have ever seen: Perk caught the ball in the post, went up for the shot, and made it despite being fouled (no call). While this was happening, Rony Turiaf came over to block Perk's shot from behind, only he was too late, and he ended up off balance, hanging on Perk's back, elbowing Perk in the head in the process (no call). Perk then shrugged his shoulders ever so slightly, a fairly natural reaction for someone who suddenly finds himself with a 260-pound Martinican hanging on his back (you're damn right I Googled "What are people from Martinique called?"). Turiaf went crashing to the floor, which was his own fault, and Perk gets rung up for ... what? Who knows? The point that Golden State got on the ensuing free throw might have come in handy.
(Also, I know Ronny is listed at 247, but this was the first game he's played all month, and this is the holidays. Plus, he's added at least three or four pounds to his beard since the preseason. I'm sticking by 260.)
Losing to bad teams. I spent a lot of time talking about this last year, too much time probably, but in the big picture, losses to non-contenders like the Clips and the Woyas don't really matter. They happen every season, and they frankly just aren't a big deal. We don't need to send a message to these teams, we don't have to worry about them gaining confidence against us. They are horseflies to be swatted away by our thoroughbred tail.
With that being said, home court advantage could be really important this year, and the freaking Kings just lost consecutive home games in which they first failed to score a single point in overtime against Cleveland and then blew a seven-point overtime lead to the Lakers before falling in double OT. With other teams giving away games to our chief competition, it'd be nice if we won most of the games we should win and all of the ones in which we have an 18-point first-quarter lead. And while I'm not panicking at all about this, you'd like to see us play with the same crunch-time killer instinct that guys like Lebron James and Kobe Bryant always have. I'm not saying we don't have it, just that I'd like to see it a little more often.
Now we're ready for some bullets, for the denouement. This post is a masterpiece.
- 30 points and 15 assists for Rajon Rondo one night after missing two potential game-winning free throws against the Clippers. A friend and I had a brief conversation before the game, as we wondered how Rondo would respond to the situation. With 12 points and seven assists in the first quarter, apparently. The old Rondo sulks, maybe refuses to shoot, and certainly avoids drives to the basket so he doesn't have to step to the stripe. The new Rondo goes for 30 and 15 and knocks down seven of nine free throws. I actually thought there were two occasions where Rondo sought out contact in numbers-up situations where he normally would have (correctly) given up the pill. It was as though he wanted to shake those free throw demons right away. Man, I love this kid.
- Wallace has stopped going inside. 'sheed started the season only shooting from the outside, and shooting well; he quickly moved to only shooting from the outside, but shooting poorly; then, after Doc Rivers apparently begged him to do so, he went inside for several games and was going great. He's now back to shooting almost exclusively from the outside, but he skipped the stage where he makes them. He hit a couple wide-open ones tonight, but he missed three that he shouldn't have taken. All five of his shots came from beyond the arc.
- On a related note, I hate that we took 19 threes against a team like Golden State, which has so little in the post. Turiaf was in just his second game back after a month-long hiatus, and Andris Biedrins played just 14 minutes in his first action since November 8. No one else on their team is a legitimate player in the post (and Turiaf is barely that). And yet we didn't pound it into the paint, even without Paul Pierce.
- Down 101-98 with 44 seconds left, Doc called a timeout and drew up a play for a Ray Allen three-pointer, which he always does in those situations. I generally hate that call, especially since Ray hadn't hit anything in a while. Forty-four seconds is too much time to force a three. Two points aren't exactly guaranteed, but defenses are generally so concerned about not giving up the three (especially with Ray and Eddie House on the court) that it's pretty easy to get to the bucket. A Rondo penetrate-and-kick probably results in a cleaner look anyway.
- Ray missed that three, but we got a stop on the other end and Golden State ended up fouling intentionally. Ray went to the line down three with under five ticks left. He made the first and then missed the second on purpose. What's noteworthy about this, for me anyway, is that Ray did what I've been saying for years that people should do in this situation: Throw a line drive at the front rim without going through your usual pre-shot routine or shot motion. The other team isn't expecting you to shoot out of rhythm; the element of surprise will be enough to get the rebound, if not often, then at least more often than taking a conventional shot with the intent to miss. Ray's execution was lacking -- his fastball was a little high and rocketed off the backboard without scraping the rim, resulting in a dead ball and Golden State possession -- but the idea was right.
Next game is Wednesday at Phoenix, where the Lakers just got their faces melted by the Suns tonight. A win in the desert would avenge an early-season home loss, but without Pierce, Boston's going to have to play awfully well to avoid a third straight defeat.
Catching Up
It's been...two weeks since you heard from me.
(Did I really just mark my return by paraphrasing a Barenaked Ladies song?)
Yes, two weeks without a post, part of which time coincided with a stretch where I was actually too busy to watch basketball, a concept I heretofore didn't think was possible (which may explain my poor GPA from the previous year). We've gone 4-2 in my blogging hiatus:
Boston 110, Memphis 105 (12/14) - Paul Pierce's 19 points led six Celtics who scored at least 13 in what I was told was a very entertaining game with a Grizzlies squad that is on the rise.
Philadelphia 98, Boston 97 (12/18) - The final two of Elton Brand's 23 points off the bench came on a tip-in with 7.7 seconds left, snapping Boston's 11-game win streak. I didn't get a chance to watch this one, either, but we had a 15-point lead in the third quarter, not the kind of margin we typically blow at home. Also, Rasheed Wallace was ejected for the first time this season.
Boston 122, Minnesota 104 (12/20) - I was supposed to watch this one in person but, as the folks at Delta/Northwest are about to find out, I missed it due to some serious ineffeciencies and incompetencies in their systems. Pierce had 29 points to lead seven Celtics in double figures, and made all six of his three-point attempts. Minnesota's leading scorer on the night? Jonny Flynn, with 21 points.
Boston 103, Indiana 94 (12/22) - I was able to get to Beantown in time for this game, and for a while, it hardly seemed worth my effort: The Cs trailed by 15 at the break. Despite playing without Kevin Garnett, who suffered a thigh bruise in the Minnesota game and was a late scratch, Boston need just more than seven minutes to erase that entire deficit, then put the game away in the fourth. It was a truly dominant second half, as Indiana scored just 37 points in the final 24 minutes. (This was one of those games were Indy was throwing in everything for the first half, then got cold in the second.) Ray Allen led Boston with 23 points, and Pierce scored 21 despite missing his first ten field goals.
Boston 86, Orlando 77 (12/25) - Christmas Day 2009 was better than the 2008 version (when the Celtics lost to the Lakers). Boston avenged an early-season home loss to the Magic with this road win. Offensively, Orlando was about as bad as you'll ever see a legitimate title contender be, scoring just eight second-quarter points. Boston was only marginally better, grabbing a 38-27 lead, but it was enough to hold on when things returned more to "normal" in the second half.
A little bit of good news/bad news for Boston. The good news was that they won this game without Paul Pierce; the bad news was that they won this game without Paul Pierce. The Celtics captain has a knee infection and is supposed to miss a couple of weeks. That we won such a big game without Pierce is encouraging, but we missed him two days later (see below) and it's a little unfortunate that we go into one of our big West Coast trips without our closer.
This was the second straight game with the Magic that could be called an abomination offensively for both teams (or, more charitably, a masterpiece defensively for both teams), which stands in sharp contrast to games 6 and 7 of last year's Eastern Conference semifinals, when Orlando made just about everything they put up on their way to stealing the series. I don't have an explanation for it, other than that these are the two best defensive teams in the East.
This game was huge, though, in terms of home court advantage (never too early to start thinking about that).
Los Angeles Clippers 92, Boston 90 (12/27) - A frustrating, annoying loss, sure, but one that probably doesn't matter. For the second straight year, Boston lost to the other team from L.A. in an eminently winnable game. (Walking out of the Staples Center last year while being taunted by Clippers fans is a low point in my life.)
Rajon Rondo will end up shouldering most of the blame here: Tied at 90 with 1.5 seconds to go, he missed two free throws, then allowed Baron Davis to catch the ball too easily on LA's ensuing inbounds play (though Baron still made a very difficult fallaway for the win).
Offensively, I'm still deciding whether I liked the call on our final possession, an isolation for Rondo at the top of the key with the shot clock off. The issue wasn't whether he was going to beat Davis off the dribble; he had been doing it all night. The issue is what happens once he does.
What happened on this occasion was that Rondo found himself in the clear, the Clippers' help arriving late. As he went to the bucket, Davis reached back and grabbed his right arm, smartly preferring to send the 53% free throw shooter to the line than give him a relatively uncontested layup.
What might have happened is that Rondo, after beating Davis, encounters one or more Clipper defenders, and kicks to an open teammate on the perimeter (Boston had four decent-to-excellent options from outside on the floor at the time: Garnett, Wallace, Eddie House, and Ray Allen).
The problem with what did happen is that Rondo is a 53% free throw shooter and has not, to my recollection, ever found himself in a spot where he was shooting potentially game-winning free throws. The problem with what might have happened is that NBA players tend to waste too much of the clock before making their move in these situations, and NBA defenses are usually pretty good about rotating to the first open man (it's the second pass that usually gets them). So Rondo, having started his move late, might have found a temporarily open teammate, but their shot might not have been a good one, and they wouldn't have had time to make the second pass to someone who was wide open. A high pick-and-pop with Garnett or something for Ray Allen coming off screens is SOP for us here, without Pierce.
On the other hand, Rondo is our point guard and our future, and at some point, he'll have the ball in his hands more often than not in these spots. On the road against the Clippers in mid-December, with no Pierce and the score tied, isn't a bad time to start breaking him in.
It's a shame that Rondo missed those free throws, because he had played a very strong game to that point, and it came on the heels of a 17/13/8 performance against the Magic (he had points/assists double-doubles against Philly and Minnesota, his fifth and sixth in the first nine games in December). He's playing more consistently aggressively than we've ever seen him, and I hope this isn't a setback in his mindset.
A couple of notes on other players:
Tony Allen has now played nine games on the season, starting each of the last two with Pierce and Marquis Daniels out. While he still has caused me to roll my eyes at times -- he's almost always in the wrong place on offense, and left two midrange jumpers against Orlando short before rocketing a third off the backboard -- he's acquitted himself pretty well, averaging eight points and four rebounds, and hitting double figures four times. Last night against the Clippers was his best game back: 10 points and 10 rebounds in nearly 40 minutes, with four steals, including two late in the fourth quarter that really should have saved the game for us. I still think we're betting off trading him once Daniels is close to coming back (Pierce should be back by then), but I need to give him his due when he deserves it.
Glen Davis made his return to the lineup against Orlando, prompting my buddy Joel to send this sarcastic text message (I'm paraphrasing): "Glad Big Baby has stayed in shape while he was out. He looks like he ate Eddie House." Davis did nothing noteworthy against the Magic, but had eight points and six boards -- five on the offensive glass -- against the Clippers. He also threw in a running left-handed hook which, it goes without saying, is not what I expected.
In a related story, Shelden Williams got the DNP-CD against the Clips, his second in three games, which means it looks like his run as a rotation player may be coming to an end. He's still around to help out in case of foul trouble/injury/Wallace suspension, but with Davis likely to get more minutes and he gets back into playing shape (has Big Baby ever been in playing shape?), I wouldn't expect to see Williams take his warmups off before garbage time too often.
TMJF:
The Wolves have played seven times since the last time I blogged, and have gone 4-3 in those games. They're also on a two-game winning streak, their first of the year. I haven't had a chance to see any of it, except the 110-108 win at Utah in which Jonny Flynn wasted Deron Williams on Minny's final posssession for the game-winning bucket.
Stat lines from the seven games are below:
Wolves 110, Jazz 108: 29 minutes, 11-19 FG, 4-6 3FG, 2-3 FT, 28 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts. 1 stl, 4 TOs
Clippers 120, Wolves 95: 30 minutes, 3-12 FG, 0-3 3FG, 3-4 FT, 9 pts, 3 rebs, 3 assts, 3 TOs
Wolves 112, Kings 96: 26 minutes, 5-8 FG, 2-2 FT, 12 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts, 1 stl, 2 TOs
Celtics 122, Wolves 104: 31 minutes, 8-15 FG, 1-3 3FG, 4-4 FT, 21 pts, 2 rebs, 2 assts, 1 stl, 4 TOs
Hawks 112, Wolves 87: 27 minutes, 5-13 FG, 1-2 3FG, 5-6 FT, 16 pts, 1 reb, 2 assts, 1 stl, 4 TOs
Wolves 103, Nets 99: 37 minutes, 9-19 FG, 1-5 3FG, 3-4 FT, 22 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts, 4 stls, 3 TOs
Wolves 101, Wizards 89: 25 minutes, 2-12 FG, 1-2 3FG, 3-4 FT, 8 pts, 3 rebs, 6 assts.
(Did I really just mark my return by paraphrasing a Barenaked Ladies song?)
Yes, two weeks without a post, part of which time coincided with a stretch where I was actually too busy to watch basketball, a concept I heretofore didn't think was possible (which may explain my poor GPA from the previous year). We've gone 4-2 in my blogging hiatus:
Boston 110, Memphis 105 (12/14) - Paul Pierce's 19 points led six Celtics who scored at least 13 in what I was told was a very entertaining game with a Grizzlies squad that is on the rise.
Philadelphia 98, Boston 97 (12/18) - The final two of Elton Brand's 23 points off the bench came on a tip-in with 7.7 seconds left, snapping Boston's 11-game win streak. I didn't get a chance to watch this one, either, but we had a 15-point lead in the third quarter, not the kind of margin we typically blow at home. Also, Rasheed Wallace was ejected for the first time this season.
Boston 122, Minnesota 104 (12/20) - I was supposed to watch this one in person but, as the folks at Delta/Northwest are about to find out, I missed it due to some serious ineffeciencies and incompetencies in their systems. Pierce had 29 points to lead seven Celtics in double figures, and made all six of his three-point attempts. Minnesota's leading scorer on the night? Jonny Flynn, with 21 points.
Boston 103, Indiana 94 (12/22) - I was able to get to Beantown in time for this game, and for a while, it hardly seemed worth my effort: The Cs trailed by 15 at the break. Despite playing without Kevin Garnett, who suffered a thigh bruise in the Minnesota game and was a late scratch, Boston need just more than seven minutes to erase that entire deficit, then put the game away in the fourth. It was a truly dominant second half, as Indiana scored just 37 points in the final 24 minutes. (This was one of those games were Indy was throwing in everything for the first half, then got cold in the second.) Ray Allen led Boston with 23 points, and Pierce scored 21 despite missing his first ten field goals.
Boston 86, Orlando 77 (12/25) - Christmas Day 2009 was better than the 2008 version (when the Celtics lost to the Lakers). Boston avenged an early-season home loss to the Magic with this road win. Offensively, Orlando was about as bad as you'll ever see a legitimate title contender be, scoring just eight second-quarter points. Boston was only marginally better, grabbing a 38-27 lead, but it was enough to hold on when things returned more to "normal" in the second half.
A little bit of good news/bad news for Boston. The good news was that they won this game without Paul Pierce; the bad news was that they won this game without Paul Pierce. The Celtics captain has a knee infection and is supposed to miss a couple of weeks. That we won such a big game without Pierce is encouraging, but we missed him two days later (see below) and it's a little unfortunate that we go into one of our big West Coast trips without our closer.
This was the second straight game with the Magic that could be called an abomination offensively for both teams (or, more charitably, a masterpiece defensively for both teams), which stands in sharp contrast to games 6 and 7 of last year's Eastern Conference semifinals, when Orlando made just about everything they put up on their way to stealing the series. I don't have an explanation for it, other than that these are the two best defensive teams in the East.
This game was huge, though, in terms of home court advantage (never too early to start thinking about that).
Los Angeles Clippers 92, Boston 90 (12/27) - A frustrating, annoying loss, sure, but one that probably doesn't matter. For the second straight year, Boston lost to the other team from L.A. in an eminently winnable game. (Walking out of the Staples Center last year while being taunted by Clippers fans is a low point in my life.)
Rajon Rondo will end up shouldering most of the blame here: Tied at 90 with 1.5 seconds to go, he missed two free throws, then allowed Baron Davis to catch the ball too easily on LA's ensuing inbounds play (though Baron still made a very difficult fallaway for the win).
Offensively, I'm still deciding whether I liked the call on our final possession, an isolation for Rondo at the top of the key with the shot clock off. The issue wasn't whether he was going to beat Davis off the dribble; he had been doing it all night. The issue is what happens once he does.
What happened on this occasion was that Rondo found himself in the clear, the Clippers' help arriving late. As he went to the bucket, Davis reached back and grabbed his right arm, smartly preferring to send the 53% free throw shooter to the line than give him a relatively uncontested layup.
What might have happened is that Rondo, after beating Davis, encounters one or more Clipper defenders, and kicks to an open teammate on the perimeter (Boston had four decent-to-excellent options from outside on the floor at the time: Garnett, Wallace, Eddie House, and Ray Allen).
The problem with what did happen is that Rondo is a 53% free throw shooter and has not, to my recollection, ever found himself in a spot where he was shooting potentially game-winning free throws. The problem with what might have happened is that NBA players tend to waste too much of the clock before making their move in these situations, and NBA defenses are usually pretty good about rotating to the first open man (it's the second pass that usually gets them). So Rondo, having started his move late, might have found a temporarily open teammate, but their shot might not have been a good one, and they wouldn't have had time to make the second pass to someone who was wide open. A high pick-and-pop with Garnett or something for Ray Allen coming off screens is SOP for us here, without Pierce.
On the other hand, Rondo is our point guard and our future, and at some point, he'll have the ball in his hands more often than not in these spots. On the road against the Clippers in mid-December, with no Pierce and the score tied, isn't a bad time to start breaking him in.
It's a shame that Rondo missed those free throws, because he had played a very strong game to that point, and it came on the heels of a 17/13/8 performance against the Magic (he had points/assists double-doubles against Philly and Minnesota, his fifth and sixth in the first nine games in December). He's playing more consistently aggressively than we've ever seen him, and I hope this isn't a setback in his mindset.
A couple of notes on other players:
Tony Allen has now played nine games on the season, starting each of the last two with Pierce and Marquis Daniels out. While he still has caused me to roll my eyes at times -- he's almost always in the wrong place on offense, and left two midrange jumpers against Orlando short before rocketing a third off the backboard -- he's acquitted himself pretty well, averaging eight points and four rebounds, and hitting double figures four times. Last night against the Clippers was his best game back: 10 points and 10 rebounds in nearly 40 minutes, with four steals, including two late in the fourth quarter that really should have saved the game for us. I still think we're betting off trading him once Daniels is close to coming back (Pierce should be back by then), but I need to give him his due when he deserves it.
Glen Davis made his return to the lineup against Orlando, prompting my buddy Joel to send this sarcastic text message (I'm paraphrasing): "Glad Big Baby has stayed in shape while he was out. He looks like he ate Eddie House." Davis did nothing noteworthy against the Magic, but had eight points and six boards -- five on the offensive glass -- against the Clippers. He also threw in a running left-handed hook which, it goes without saying, is not what I expected.
In a related story, Shelden Williams got the DNP-CD against the Clips, his second in three games, which means it looks like his run as a rotation player may be coming to an end. He's still around to help out in case of foul trouble/injury/Wallace suspension, but with Davis likely to get more minutes and he gets back into playing shape (has Big Baby ever been in playing shape?), I wouldn't expect to see Williams take his warmups off before garbage time too often.
TMJF:
The Wolves have played seven times since the last time I blogged, and have gone 4-3 in those games. They're also on a two-game winning streak, their first of the year. I haven't had a chance to see any of it, except the 110-108 win at Utah in which Jonny Flynn wasted Deron Williams on Minny's final posssession for the game-winning bucket.
Stat lines from the seven games are below:
Wolves 110, Jazz 108: 29 minutes, 11-19 FG, 4-6 3FG, 2-3 FT, 28 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts. 1 stl, 4 TOs
Clippers 120, Wolves 95: 30 minutes, 3-12 FG, 0-3 3FG, 3-4 FT, 9 pts, 3 rebs, 3 assts, 3 TOs
Wolves 112, Kings 96: 26 minutes, 5-8 FG, 2-2 FT, 12 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts, 1 stl, 2 TOs
Celtics 122, Wolves 104: 31 minutes, 8-15 FG, 1-3 3FG, 4-4 FT, 21 pts, 2 rebs, 2 assts, 1 stl, 4 TOs
Hawks 112, Wolves 87: 27 minutes, 5-13 FG, 1-2 3FG, 5-6 FT, 16 pts, 1 reb, 2 assts, 1 stl, 4 TOs
Wolves 103, Nets 99: 37 minutes, 9-19 FG, 1-5 3FG, 3-4 FT, 22 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts, 4 stls, 3 TOs
Wolves 101, Wizards 89: 25 minutes, 2-12 FG, 1-2 3FG, 3-4 FT, 8 pts, 3 rebs, 6 assts.
Monday, December 14, 2009
TMJF: Kings 120, Wolves 100
Stat Line: 28 minutes, 4-14 FG, 0-1 3FG, 8 pts, 2 rebs, 4 assts, 2 TOs.
I think this game was played on Saturday. It might have been 8 billion years ago.
Terrible performance from the Wolves, playing their fourth game in five nights. Jonny Flynn wasn't good, but neither was anyone else in a blue jersey not named Al Jefferson, and Flynn wasn't particularly bad. My big complaint with his game this time around was not settling the offense in the third quarter, when the Kings made their big run to put it out of reach. The team needed to slow down and find Big Al J inside, and Flynn, as the point guard, is in charge of that. It's not so much that he rushed or forced things offensively; he just didn't calm the team down. But he's a rookie, and he'll grow into that.
I think this game was played on Saturday. It might have been 8 billion years ago.
Terrible performance from the Wolves, playing their fourth game in five nights. Jonny Flynn wasn't good, but neither was anyone else in a blue jersey not named Al Jefferson, and Flynn wasn't particularly bad. My big complaint with his game this time around was not settling the offense in the third quarter, when the Kings made their big run to put it out of reach. The team needed to slow down and find Big Al J inside, and Flynn, as the point guard, is in charge of that. It's not so much that he rushed or forced things offensively; he just didn't calm the team down. But he's a rookie, and he'll grow into that.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Boston 106, Chicago 80
Saturday, December 12, 2009
TMJF: Lakers 104, Wolves 92
Stat Line: 25 minutes, 3-8 FG, 0-1 3FG, 4-6 FT, 10 pts, 2 rebs, 4 assts, 3 stls, 4 TOs.
Reduced minutes for Jonny Flynn because Ramon Sessions was red-hot from the field. Not much noteworthy from Flynn in this one, although his teammates did blow a few of his assists.
Reduced minutes for Jonny Flynn because Ramon Sessions was red-hot from the field. Not much noteworthy from Flynn in this one, although his teammates did blow a few of his assists.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Boston 104, Washington 102
[recap] [box score]
This game probably deserves more coverage than I'm going to give it. Here's my summar: Awesome first half; terrible third quarter where we looked disorganized and got absolutely no help from the officials; and then a better performance in the fourth quarter, where I never really felt we were in danger of losing, even though the score was tied.
Rajon Rondo played as aggressively as I've ever seen him play. His 20 FG attempts were as many as he's ever taken in a regular season game (matching his high game from last year against Miami). He took a mix of jumpers and drives, and hit enough that I think teams will at least start to think twice about completely ignoring him, particularly if he continues to take advantage of these opportunities. He picked it up on a night when Paul Pierce couldn't seem to get going, which is exactly the time we need it. Oh yeah, and he had an awesome jam over Andray Blatche late that I surprisingly can't find video of. I can, however, find video (it's at the end) of Ray Allen dunking over Blatche, which means that Andray may be the first player in history to get posterized by Allen and Rondo in the same game.
Just because I can't resist a dig at Gilbert Arenas: Agent Zero went 1-for-6 from the line, and missed two big FTs that would have tied the game with like 26 seconds left.
Fun stat: In the entire second quarter, not a single Wizard got a rebound.
Sorry I can't write more, gang, although perhaps brevity is best for you all. Next game is Saturday.
This game probably deserves more coverage than I'm going to give it. Here's my summar: Awesome first half; terrible third quarter where we looked disorganized and got absolutely no help from the officials; and then a better performance in the fourth quarter, where I never really felt we were in danger of losing, even though the score was tied.
Rajon Rondo played as aggressively as I've ever seen him play. His 20 FG attempts were as many as he's ever taken in a regular season game (matching his high game from last year against Miami). He took a mix of jumpers and drives, and hit enough that I think teams will at least start to think twice about completely ignoring him, particularly if he continues to take advantage of these opportunities. He picked it up on a night when Paul Pierce couldn't seem to get going, which is exactly the time we need it. Oh yeah, and he had an awesome jam over Andray Blatche late that I surprisingly can't find video of. I can, however, find video (it's at the end) of Ray Allen dunking over Blatche, which means that Andray may be the first player in history to get posterized by Allen and Rondo in the same game.
Just because I can't resist a dig at Gilbert Arenas: Agent Zero went 1-for-6 from the line, and missed two big FTs that would have tied the game with like 26 seconds left.
Fun stat: In the entire second quarter, not a single Wizard got a rebound.
Sorry I can't write more, gang, although perhaps brevity is best for you all. Next game is Saturday.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
TMJF: Hornets 97, Wolves 96
Stat Line: 33 minutes, 4-9 FG, 1-3 3FG, 5-7 FT, 14 pts, 2 rebs, 9 assts, 1 stl, 2 TOs.
For the second straight night, Jonny Flynn had to go to bed thinking about a late crucial play that may have cost his team the game.
Unlike Tuesday's crucial turnover, however, last night mis-step was almost entirely Flynn's fault. Just a tick under four seconds remaining, the Wolves up, and the Hornets inbounding the ball on the sideline. Chris Paul was the trigger man, and given that he's the Bees' best playmaker (indeed, one of the NBA's best), you just knew the ball was going back to him. Paul inbounded to David West, took a step like he was going to go around West to take a handoff, then cut to the basket.
The wire story says that Flynn turned his head to look at West; I don't think he did. I think Flynn was, for whatever reason, unconcerned with Paul cutting to the basket and was concentrating on keeping the ball out of hands up top. Maybe he thought he had help behind him (which he should have). I don't know. It was just a bad defensive play, and the Wolves lost.
It's too bad, too, because it overshadowed a very nice defensive play that Flynn made a few possessions earlier on a New Orleans fast break that preserved the would-be victory. Flynn stripped Peja Stojakovic and then saved the ball to a teammate while flying out of bounds.
For a while, Flynn had his first double-double, but a late Corey Brewer jumper was (correctly) taken off the board because it came a split-second after the shot clock buzzer went off. Flynn's seven first-half assits included a beautiful, one-handed forty-foot bounce pass -- probably the toughest pass to throw in basketball -- to a streaking Ryan Hollins. Flynn also paid homage to Paul on a pick-and-roll with Hollins, arcing a lob between two defenders that Hollins, every bit the leaper Tyson Chandler was with New Orleans when he and Paul ran this play to perfection over and over, skied for and rammed home.
For the second straight night, Jonny Flynn had to go to bed thinking about a late crucial play that may have cost his team the game.
Unlike Tuesday's crucial turnover, however, last night mis-step was almost entirely Flynn's fault. Just a tick under four seconds remaining, the Wolves up, and the Hornets inbounding the ball on the sideline. Chris Paul was the trigger man, and given that he's the Bees' best playmaker (indeed, one of the NBA's best), you just knew the ball was going back to him. Paul inbounded to David West, took a step like he was going to go around West to take a handoff, then cut to the basket.
The wire story says that Flynn turned his head to look at West; I don't think he did. I think Flynn was, for whatever reason, unconcerned with Paul cutting to the basket and was concentrating on keeping the ball out of hands up top. Maybe he thought he had help behind him (which he should have). I don't know. It was just a bad defensive play, and the Wolves lost.
It's too bad, too, because it overshadowed a very nice defensive play that Flynn made a few possessions earlier on a New Orleans fast break that preserved the would-be victory. Flynn stripped Peja Stojakovic and then saved the ball to a teammate while flying out of bounds.
For a while, Flynn had his first double-double, but a late Corey Brewer jumper was (correctly) taken off the board because it came a split-second after the shot clock buzzer went off. Flynn's seven first-half assits included a beautiful, one-handed forty-foot bounce pass -- probably the toughest pass to throw in basketball -- to a streaking Ryan Hollins. Flynn also paid homage to Paul on a pick-and-roll with Hollins, arcing a lob between two defenders that Hollins, every bit the leaper Tyson Chandler was with New Orleans when he and Paul ran this play to perfection over and over, skied for and rammed home.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Boston 98, Milwaukee 89
[recap] [box score]
I was excited for this matchup because it was my first look at Brandon Jennings, the point guard for the Bucks who hung a double-nickel on the Warriors last month, the most points by a rookie in a single game in more than 40 years. Jennings was decent, but his opposite number stole the show. Rajon Rondo did a nice job of keeping the clamps on Jennings, spent three quarters setting the table for his teammates -- my favorite was a no-look feed to Kendrick Perkins after an offensive rebound on which three Bucks defenders bit on Rondo's ball fake -- and then scored all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter, including going 5-for-7 from the free throw line. Rondo's fell one rebound short of a triple-double, adding five steals to go with 13 assists.
Kevin Garnett continued his torrid shooting, and Rasheed Wallace came up with big offensive contributions off the bench.
Marquis Daniels missed this game, and it appears it was the first of what will be quite a few more: He had thumb surgery today and the Boston Globe is reporting that Daniels will be out about eight weeks. I didn't even notice that Daniels wasn't playing, only that the Rondo-Eddie House-Ray Allen combination Doc Rivers ran out there for a while was a little odd. These are the kind of details you miss when you are watching a game at 4 in the morning, having spent the past 12 hours staring at law review articles about Christian political realism.
Losing Daniels hurts, for all the reasons that we got him in the first place: He can handle the ball and let House play the two with the second unit; he can guard both big guards and small forwards; he gives us someone other than Tony Allen to spell Ray Allen and Paul Pierce on the wing. Daniels' contributions aren't apparent from the box scores, but he'll be missed. His absence will probably cost us a game or two down the line, and Doc should be advised to ensure those losses come while Daniels is still out, rather than in the playoffs (due to Ray and Pierce being worn out from playing more minutes during the regular season in Daniels' absence).
Speaking of Tony Allen, he played for the first time all season, and picked up where he left off: Canceling out roughly every positive play he made with a negative one. Relatively early into his brief return to the court, he went up and gathered a very tough defensive rebound over two Bucks. The carom took him towards the left sideline, and while falling ever so slightly backwards, with the Bucks retreating back downcourt, he whipped a chest pass towards the Celtics basket that missed an understandably surprised Brian Scalabrine (he is, after all, a power forward, and had no reason to think that Tony would be passing him the ball) by about three feet. Tony just never looks comfortable with the rock in his hands. I'd like to be able to say that this was just rust, but I know better. It's Tony being Tony.
Next game is a TV game; Thursday on TNT at 8 p.m. Eastern against the Wizards.
Muy Beno: A quick note on Brandon Jennings. I saw him play in Summer League in Vegas, and while you could tell he had talent, he seemed like he was a ways away from being a positive contributor. Moreover, this was when all the stuff about him being brash and undisciplined was coming out. I was sitting fairly close to Bucks coach Scott Skiles and general manager John Hammond in the Vegas crowd, and Skiles -- a notoriously tough, no-nonsense guy as both a point guard and a coach -- had this look on his face the entire time that read: "This is the asshole you drafted to be my point guard?" If you could bet on stuff like Skiles performing a reverse Sprewell and strangling Jennings by season's end, I would have.
It wasn't enough to keep me from drafting Jennings late in one of my fantasy leagues, on the theory that he was going to play a lot and guys who play a lot put up decent fantasy stats (this worked very well with Oklahoma City's Russeell Westbrook last season). It was enough, however, to get me to drop Jennings before the season when I discovered that Andray Blatche would be starting the first several games for Washington while Antawn Jamison recovered injury. Jennings was quickly scooped up, and now I'm starting T.J. Ford in one of my "utility" slots on a team that is one good assist man away from being about as close to a lock as you can get in a semi-competitive league.
I overlooked a lot of things about Jennings, particularly the fact that the guy was perhaps the best point guard in his high school class, and that his modest averages (something like six points and two assist per game) in his one year playing professionally in Italy could be explained by many things: Transition to a foreign culture; playing a different style of basketball (an adjustment for any player, but particularly a point guard); the fact that European teams give sparse minutes to young guys, particularly those who they know will be jumping to the NBA soon. (Spanish phenom Ricky Rubio, the 19-year-old point guard whom the Wolves made the fifth pick in the NBA Draft this past summer, continues to make NBA mouths water despite averaging around 20 minutes, five points, and five assists in 17 games for DKV Joventut in Serie A and EuroLeaugue competition.)
Anyway, Jennings is quick and wiry, with a very mature-looking floater and a jumper that looks decent but wasn't falling last night. Moreover, he seems to have won over the Milwaukee organization. So, yeah, I was wrong about him.
I was excited for this matchup because it was my first look at Brandon Jennings, the point guard for the Bucks who hung a double-nickel on the Warriors last month, the most points by a rookie in a single game in more than 40 years. Jennings was decent, but his opposite number stole the show. Rajon Rondo did a nice job of keeping the clamps on Jennings, spent three quarters setting the table for his teammates -- my favorite was a no-look feed to Kendrick Perkins after an offensive rebound on which three Bucks defenders bit on Rondo's ball fake -- and then scored all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter, including going 5-for-7 from the free throw line. Rondo's fell one rebound short of a triple-double, adding five steals to go with 13 assists.
Kevin Garnett continued his torrid shooting, and Rasheed Wallace came up with big offensive contributions off the bench.
Marquis Daniels missed this game, and it appears it was the first of what will be quite a few more: He had thumb surgery today and the Boston Globe is reporting that Daniels will be out about eight weeks. I didn't even notice that Daniels wasn't playing, only that the Rondo-Eddie House-Ray Allen combination Doc Rivers ran out there for a while was a little odd. These are the kind of details you miss when you are watching a game at 4 in the morning, having spent the past 12 hours staring at law review articles about Christian political realism.
Losing Daniels hurts, for all the reasons that we got him in the first place: He can handle the ball and let House play the two with the second unit; he can guard both big guards and small forwards; he gives us someone other than Tony Allen to spell Ray Allen and Paul Pierce on the wing. Daniels' contributions aren't apparent from the box scores, but he'll be missed. His absence will probably cost us a game or two down the line, and Doc should be advised to ensure those losses come while Daniels is still out, rather than in the playoffs (due to Ray and Pierce being worn out from playing more minutes during the regular season in Daniels' absence).
Speaking of Tony Allen, he played for the first time all season, and picked up where he left off: Canceling out roughly every positive play he made with a negative one. Relatively early into his brief return to the court, he went up and gathered a very tough defensive rebound over two Bucks. The carom took him towards the left sideline, and while falling ever so slightly backwards, with the Bucks retreating back downcourt, he whipped a chest pass towards the Celtics basket that missed an understandably surprised Brian Scalabrine (he is, after all, a power forward, and had no reason to think that Tony would be passing him the ball) by about three feet. Tony just never looks comfortable with the rock in his hands. I'd like to be able to say that this was just rust, but I know better. It's Tony being Tony.
Next game is a TV game; Thursday on TNT at 8 p.m. Eastern against the Wizards.
Muy Beno: A quick note on Brandon Jennings. I saw him play in Summer League in Vegas, and while you could tell he had talent, he seemed like he was a ways away from being a positive contributor. Moreover, this was when all the stuff about him being brash and undisciplined was coming out. I was sitting fairly close to Bucks coach Scott Skiles and general manager John Hammond in the Vegas crowd, and Skiles -- a notoriously tough, no-nonsense guy as both a point guard and a coach -- had this look on his face the entire time that read: "This is the asshole you drafted to be my point guard?" If you could bet on stuff like Skiles performing a reverse Sprewell and strangling Jennings by season's end, I would have.
It wasn't enough to keep me from drafting Jennings late in one of my fantasy leagues, on the theory that he was going to play a lot and guys who play a lot put up decent fantasy stats (this worked very well with Oklahoma City's Russeell Westbrook last season). It was enough, however, to get me to drop Jennings before the season when I discovered that Andray Blatche would be starting the first several games for Washington while Antawn Jamison recovered injury. Jennings was quickly scooped up, and now I'm starting T.J. Ford in one of my "utility" slots on a team that is one good assist man away from being about as close to a lock as you can get in a semi-competitive league.
I overlooked a lot of things about Jennings, particularly the fact that the guy was perhaps the best point guard in his high school class, and that his modest averages (something like six points and two assist per game) in his one year playing professionally in Italy could be explained by many things: Transition to a foreign culture; playing a different style of basketball (an adjustment for any player, but particularly a point guard); the fact that European teams give sparse minutes to young guys, particularly those who they know will be jumping to the NBA soon. (Spanish phenom Ricky Rubio, the 19-year-old point guard whom the Wolves made the fifth pick in the NBA Draft this past summer, continues to make NBA mouths water despite averaging around 20 minutes, five points, and five assists in 17 games for DKV Joventut in Serie A and EuroLeaugue competition.)
Anyway, Jennings is quick and wiry, with a very mature-looking floater and a jumper that looks decent but wasn't falling last night. Moreover, he seems to have won over the Milwaukee organization. So, yeah, I was wrong about him.
TMJF: Raptors 94, Wolves 88
Stat Line: 32 minutes, 6-14 FG, 2-4 3FG, 3-4 FT, 17 pts, 4 rebs, 8 assts, 3 stls, 3 TOs.
Nice all-around game from Jonny Flynn, mostly against Jarrett Jack, as regular Raps starter Jose Calderon sat out this game with an injury. Given Calderon's weaknesses on defense, that may have actually hurt Flynn's production.
Flynn's eight assists included three of his most spectacular passes this season: a looping, three-quarter-court flick that hit Damien Wilkins for a layin and a foul; a soft bouncer threaded between two defenders that found Wayne Ellington for an easy two on a fast break; and a left-handed no-look from the right corner that found Wilkins alone under the basket. He also made two very pretty left-handed post feeds to Al Jefferson off the dribble that led Big Al J perfectly for easy buckets.
The dish to Ellington, along with a pass-that-led-to-an-assist to Corey Brewer, are particularly noteworthy. Toronto's color guy on the broadcast, Leo Rautins -- the Canadian national team coach -- mentioned this in connection with the pass to Brewer, and it's what got me all excited about Flynn the first time I saw him play. Flynn is one of the few point guards who leads his teammates with passes to where they should be. Rautins, whose son, Andy, is a sharpshooter for Syracuse, would know about this, having followed Flynn's two-year career with the Orange rather closely. (Leo himself is a 'cuse grad.)
Unfortunately for Flynn and the Wolves, one such pass didn't work out, and it cost them a chance to take the lead late. With the score tied at 84, Flynn ran the pick-and-pop out high on the right wing, and Flynn flipped a blind, behind-the-back bounce pass to where he thought Love would be. However, Love had, for whatever reason, faded all the way to the opposite wing. Flynn's pass bounced twice before being picked off by Hedo Turkoglu, who coasted in and gave the Raps a lead they didn't relinquish.
Because the pass was thrown behind his back, I was worried that Flynn was going to take some heat for it at such a crucial time. But this post over at Canis Hoopus, despite the title, lets Flynn off the hook, and quotes T-Wolves coach Kurt Rambis as more or less doing the same. I didn't rewind the play to see whether Love made a mistake, but when they've run that set in the previous two games, Love has been right there to catch and fire. It was just an unfortunate time for a missed connection.
Nice all-around game from Jonny Flynn, mostly against Jarrett Jack, as regular Raps starter Jose Calderon sat out this game with an injury. Given Calderon's weaknesses on defense, that may have actually hurt Flynn's production.
Flynn's eight assists included three of his most spectacular passes this season: a looping, three-quarter-court flick that hit Damien Wilkins for a layin and a foul; a soft bouncer threaded between two defenders that found Wayne Ellington for an easy two on a fast break; and a left-handed no-look from the right corner that found Wilkins alone under the basket. He also made two very pretty left-handed post feeds to Al Jefferson off the dribble that led Big Al J perfectly for easy buckets.
The dish to Ellington, along with a pass-that-led-to-an-assist to Corey Brewer, are particularly noteworthy. Toronto's color guy on the broadcast, Leo Rautins -- the Canadian national team coach -- mentioned this in connection with the pass to Brewer, and it's what got me all excited about Flynn the first time I saw him play. Flynn is one of the few point guards who leads his teammates with passes to where they should be. Rautins, whose son, Andy, is a sharpshooter for Syracuse, would know about this, having followed Flynn's two-year career with the Orange rather closely. (Leo himself is a 'cuse grad.)
Unfortunately for Flynn and the Wolves, one such pass didn't work out, and it cost them a chance to take the lead late. With the score tied at 84, Flynn ran the pick-and-pop out high on the right wing, and Flynn flipped a blind, behind-the-back bounce pass to where he thought Love would be. However, Love had, for whatever reason, faded all the way to the opposite wing. Flynn's pass bounced twice before being picked off by Hedo Turkoglu, who coasted in and gave the Raps a lead they didn't relinquish.
Because the pass was thrown behind his back, I was worried that Flynn was going to take some heat for it at such a crucial time. But this post over at Canis Hoopus, despite the title, lets Flynn off the hook, and quotes T-Wolves coach Kurt Rambis as more or less doing the same. I didn't rewind the play to see whether Love made a mistake, but when they've run that set in the previous two games, Love has been right there to catch and fire. It was just an unfortunate time for a missed connection.
Monday, December 7, 2009
TMJF: Wolves 108, Jazz 101
Stat Line: 34 minutes, 7-12 FG, 2-3 3FG, 16 pts, 1 reb, 4 assts, 1 stl, 1 TO.
This game was played two days ago and I didn't watch it until this morning, half-awake after three hours of sleep. Really just posting to keep anyone interested updated.
Best game of the season for Jonny Flynn. Career-low in turnovers despite playing the second-most minutes he's played in a single game this year; his lone transgression was an overly fancy dish on a three-on-one that he zipped through the hands of a teammate. Other than a heat check three-pointer in the first quarter after having drained a couple, he didn't do anything else that made you shake your head.
He didn't get to the line (the second time this season it's happened) but that's not for lack of aggressiveness. The three three-pointers he attempted to start the game aside, Flynn took just one shot outside of ten feet in the other nine attempts. He's going to the basket more and more.
This game was played two days ago and I didn't watch it until this morning, half-awake after three hours of sleep. Really just posting to keep anyone interested updated.
Best game of the season for Jonny Flynn. Career-low in turnovers despite playing the second-most minutes he's played in a single game this year; his lone transgression was an overly fancy dish on a three-on-one that he zipped through the hands of a teammate. Other than a heat check three-pointer in the first quarter after having drained a couple, he didn't do anything else that made you shake your head.
He didn't get to the line (the second time this season it's happened) but that's not for lack of aggressiveness. The three three-pointers he attempted to start the game aside, Flynn took just one shot outside of ten feet in the other nine attempts. He's going to the basket more and more.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Boston 105, Oklahoma City 87
Ok, so, I was wrong.
[recap] [box score]
I thought we might struggle coming off of the tough win against San Antonio the night before, but we jumped out quickly on the Thunder and never really had much of a problem. Paul Pierce, who had struggled against the Spurs, got off to a good start, and the rest of the team sort of fell in behind him. Kevin Garnett, by the way, made 10 of 11 shots. He's made 41 of 52 field goal attempts over the last five games. In all, seven Celtics scored in double figures, with Eddie House and Rasheed Wallace supplementing the starting five.
I apologize for the dull recap here; I was more than a little asleep while watching, having not finished studying last night til north of 4 a.m. before getting to this one on DVR. I'm afraid this is how it's gonna be for the next few weeks.
Off til Tuessday, when we host the Bucks and rookie sensation Brandon Jennings. The next national TV game is Thursday at Washington on TNT.
[recap] [box score]
I thought we might struggle coming off of the tough win against San Antonio the night before, but we jumped out quickly on the Thunder and never really had much of a problem. Paul Pierce, who had struggled against the Spurs, got off to a good start, and the rest of the team sort of fell in behind him. Kevin Garnett, by the way, made 10 of 11 shots. He's made 41 of 52 field goal attempts over the last five games. In all, seven Celtics scored in double figures, with Eddie House and Rasheed Wallace supplementing the starting five.
I apologize for the dull recap here; I was more than a little asleep while watching, having not finished studying last night til north of 4 a.m. before getting to this one on DVR. I'm afraid this is how it's gonna be for the next few weeks.
Off til Tuessday, when we host the Bucks and rookie sensation Brandon Jennings. The next national TV game is Thursday at Washington on TNT.
TMJF: Hornets 98, Wolves 89
Stat Line: 27 minutes, 2-8 FG, 1-2 3FG, 1-2 FT, 6 pts, 2 rebs, 4 assts, 1 stl, 2 TOs.
Frustrating night, I'm sure, for Jonny Flynn, who had a relatively quiet game against one of the players he says he looks up to, New Orleans' Chris Paul. Flynn wasn't bad in this game, he just didn't do much. He gave Paul a little too much space on defense, perhaps over-reacting to Paul's cold start from outside (which may be attributable to his having missed the previous eight games with an ankle injury). Paul ended up with a ridiculous line -- 16/6/15 with eight steals -- but it's not like he just abused Flynn or anything.
(You can tell Flynn has borrowed from Paul's game, particularly on the pick and roll, where Paul leans in to the recovering defender to keep him on his back. Flynn does the same thing, although he needs to work on protecting the ball better and making quicker decisions.)
I thought Kurt Rambis would've gone to his two-point-guard lineup with Flynn and Ramon Sessions when the Bees went small with Paul and rookie Darren Collison. Wayne Ellington was having the best game of his rookie season, however, so it's understandable that Rambis wanted to ride him.
Last night marked the return of Kevin Love to the Timberwolves' lineup, and the difference is easy to see. Love had a double-double, and Al Jefferson had his best game in a while.
Frustrating night, I'm sure, for Jonny Flynn, who had a relatively quiet game against one of the players he says he looks up to, New Orleans' Chris Paul. Flynn wasn't bad in this game, he just didn't do much. He gave Paul a little too much space on defense, perhaps over-reacting to Paul's cold start from outside (which may be attributable to his having missed the previous eight games with an ankle injury). Paul ended up with a ridiculous line -- 16/6/15 with eight steals -- but it's not like he just abused Flynn or anything.
(You can tell Flynn has borrowed from Paul's game, particularly on the pick and roll, where Paul leans in to the recovering defender to keep him on his back. Flynn does the same thing, although he needs to work on protecting the ball better and making quicker decisions.)
I thought Kurt Rambis would've gone to his two-point-guard lineup with Flynn and Ramon Sessions when the Bees went small with Paul and rookie Darren Collison. Wayne Ellington was having the best game of his rookie season, however, so it's understandable that Rambis wanted to ride him.
Last night marked the return of Kevin Love to the Timberwolves' lineup, and the difference is easy to see. Love had a double-double, and Al Jefferson had his best game in a while.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Boston 90, San Antonio 83
[recap] [box score]
Spurs fans were left grumbling over their team's performance last night. I think Boston can take credit, to an extent, for San Antonio's shooting (42 percent from the field, 2-of-16 from deep), as well as a great number of their 18 turnovers. Boston can't take assert that they had any influence on San Antonio's free throw shooting (an awful 7-for-17), and had the Spurs knocked down a few more freebies, it might have had a different outcome.
Of course, it might have been an easier win for Boston if not for Spurs rookie DeJuan Blair, who threw up an 18/11 on 9-for-11 shooting, with five offensive boards. Like many people, I was stunned when he fell as far as he did in the draft this summer, and he's proved all of us right. He's going to be a handful, if not a beast, in this league for as long as his problematic knees hold out. I might be able to forgive passing on using a first-round pick on him and thereby giving him guaranteed money, because of his injury history, but there's no excuse for not snapping him up immediately in the second. San Antonio's other major offseason acquisition, Richard Jefferson, hasn't found a rhythm with the team yet, but Blair was the Spurs best player, hands down, Thursday night. If I have one critique of him, it's that he doesn't use his strength enough to go through people with the ball on the way up for his shot. He's very short for a post player, and he does a lot of double-clutching to avoid shotblockers. I'd like to see him seek out that contact more and get a few more and-ones, but man, that guy is going to be good. Super relentless on the O-glass, too.
A couple of you pointed out to me, before I noticed, that Brian Scalabrine and Matt Bonner spent a lot of their court time guarding each other. Quite a treat to watch these two red-haired, perimeter-oriented-despite-being-six-foot-nine-and-unathletic-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-NBA veteran forwards go at each other, even exchanging baskets during one sequence. Really, switch these guys' uniforms and I don't think anyone notices.
Next game is tonight at Oklahoma City in a really tricky second game of a back-t0-back. I haven't gotten to watch a ton of the Thunder this year. I saw them play the Clippers live here in LA, and they seemed to content to stand around and throw up jumpers, making just enough to win in a very listless performance. On the other hand, they've blown out Orlando at home and have road wins in Orlando, San Antonio, and Utah already this year. It's going to take a hell of an effort to beat Kevin Durant & Co. tonight on tired legs.
Spurs fans were left grumbling over their team's performance last night. I think Boston can take credit, to an extent, for San Antonio's shooting (42 percent from the field, 2-of-16 from deep), as well as a great number of their 18 turnovers. Boston can't take assert that they had any influence on San Antonio's free throw shooting (an awful 7-for-17), and had the Spurs knocked down a few more freebies, it might have had a different outcome.
Of course, it might have been an easier win for Boston if not for Spurs rookie DeJuan Blair, who threw up an 18/11 on 9-for-11 shooting, with five offensive boards. Like many people, I was stunned when he fell as far as he did in the draft this summer, and he's proved all of us right. He's going to be a handful, if not a beast, in this league for as long as his problematic knees hold out. I might be able to forgive passing on using a first-round pick on him and thereby giving him guaranteed money, because of his injury history, but there's no excuse for not snapping him up immediately in the second. San Antonio's other major offseason acquisition, Richard Jefferson, hasn't found a rhythm with the team yet, but Blair was the Spurs best player, hands down, Thursday night. If I have one critique of him, it's that he doesn't use his strength enough to go through people with the ball on the way up for his shot. He's very short for a post player, and he does a lot of double-clutching to avoid shotblockers. I'd like to see him seek out that contact more and get a few more and-ones, but man, that guy is going to be good. Super relentless on the O-glass, too.
A couple of you pointed out to me, before I noticed, that Brian Scalabrine and Matt Bonner spent a lot of their court time guarding each other. Quite a treat to watch these two red-haired, perimeter-oriented-despite-being-six-foot-nine-and-unathletic-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-NBA veteran forwards go at each other, even exchanging baskets during one sequence. Really, switch these guys' uniforms and I don't think anyone notices.
Next game is tonight at Oklahoma City in a really tricky second game of a back-t0-back. I haven't gotten to watch a ton of the Thunder this year. I saw them play the Clippers live here in LA, and they seemed to content to stand around and throw up jumpers, making just enough to win in a very listless performance. On the other hand, they've blown out Orlando at home and have road wins in Orlando, San Antonio, and Utah already this year. It's going to take a hell of an effort to beat Kevin Durant & Co. tonight on tired legs.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
TMJF: Grizzlies 97, Wolves 95
Stat Line: 30 minutes, 5-12 FG, 1-4 3FG, 1-2 FT, 12 pts, 2 rebs, 9 assts, 2 TOs.
A career-high in assists for Jonny Flynn, mainly because his teammates knocked down a few jumpers. Flynn's averaging around four assists per game, but I think it could easily be six if Minnesota could shoot it a little better as a club.
Only two turnovers for Flynn, and they came on back-to-back possessions in the third quarter. He missed a tough layup that would have given the Wolves the lead with about 30 seconds to go, but other than that, this was a solid game for the rookie. He played most of the fourth quarter alongside Ramon Sessions, who kept the Wolves in the game with his offense in the second half. Kurt Rambis has for the most part resisted deploying his two point guards at the same time despite the fact that they are probably the team's two most dangerous offensive players not named Al Jefferson, probably for defensive reasons. Memphis' dimunitive -- but effective -- backcourt of Mike Conley and O.J. Mayo let Rambis go small. As productive as the Flynn-Sessions combo was, I wouldn't expect to see it too often.
A career-high in assists for Jonny Flynn, mainly because his teammates knocked down a few jumpers. Flynn's averaging around four assists per game, but I think it could easily be six if Minnesota could shoot it a little better as a club.
Only two turnovers for Flynn, and they came on back-to-back possessions in the third quarter. He missed a tough layup that would have given the Wolves the lead with about 30 seconds to go, but other than that, this was a solid game for the rookie. He played most of the fourth quarter alongside Ramon Sessions, who kept the Wolves in the game with his offense in the second half. Kurt Rambis has for the most part resisted deploying his two point guards at the same time despite the fact that they are probably the team's two most dangerous offensive players not named Al Jefferson, probably for defensive reasons. Memphis' dimunitive -- but effective -- backcourt of Mike Conley and O.J. Mayo let Rambis go small. As productive as the Flynn-Sessions combo was, I wouldn't expect to see it too often.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Boston 108, Charlotte 90
[recap] [box score]
I watched this game on League Pass Broadband in the basement of the law school, where the connection isn't great. The feed kept freezing and I never got a great feel for the rhythm of what was going on. We jumped on 'em early, though, and didn't really let up.
I did manage to catch Rasheed Wallace's antics, which included picking up a technical foul while walking to the bench, then yelling his trademark "Ball don't lie!" when Charlotte's Flip Murray missed the ensuing free throw. This was the third straight game that 'sheed's picked up a T, and its his eighth on the year after going his first four games in Boston without one. I believe he is now halfway to the 16-tech threshold, after which you start getting docked a game for each infraction.
As much as I like what Wallace brings to this team, I'm already tired of his act vis-a-vis the referees. He doesn't just argue with them; he actively antagonizes him. When he got rung up against Charlotte, it was after a play on which not he, but Marquis Daniels, was whistled for a foul. Though I didn't catch what he was saying at that particular moment, I earlier had heard him chastise an offical with a comment along the lines of "Wait for me to foul him before you blow that whistle." In other words, 'sheed was not arguing that he didn't foul the guy; rather, he was arguing that the call came too early.
There's only so much of this the refs can and will put up with. Even without 'sheed last year, we got a rep for woofing to our opponents and barking at the refs, and Wallace's behavior exacerbates that. To their credit, I haven't noticed the officials treating us more harshly because of all this, but it's not absurd to think that might happen. Moreover, we really don't want Wallace suspended when push comes to shove in the spring.
I watched this game on League Pass Broadband in the basement of the law school, where the connection isn't great. The feed kept freezing and I never got a great feel for the rhythm of what was going on. We jumped on 'em early, though, and didn't really let up.
I did manage to catch Rasheed Wallace's antics, which included picking up a technical foul while walking to the bench, then yelling his trademark "Ball don't lie!" when Charlotte's Flip Murray missed the ensuing free throw. This was the third straight game that 'sheed's picked up a T, and its his eighth on the year after going his first four games in Boston without one. I believe he is now halfway to the 16-tech threshold, after which you start getting docked a game for each infraction.
As much as I like what Wallace brings to this team, I'm already tired of his act vis-a-vis the referees. He doesn't just argue with them; he actively antagonizes him. When he got rung up against Charlotte, it was after a play on which not he, but Marquis Daniels, was whistled for a foul. Though I didn't catch what he was saying at that particular moment, I earlier had heard him chastise an offical with a comment along the lines of "Wait for me to foul him before you blow that whistle." In other words, 'sheed was not arguing that he didn't foul the guy; rather, he was arguing that the call came too early.
There's only so much of this the refs can and will put up with. Even without 'sheed last year, we got a rep for woofing to our opponents and barking at the refs, and Wallace's behavior exacerbates that. To their credit, I haven't noticed the officials treating us more harshly because of all this, but it's not absurd to think that might happen. Moreover, we really don't want Wallace suspended when push comes to shove in the spring.
Monday, November 30, 2009
TMJF: Wolves 106, Nuggets 100
I'm as surprised as you are. Minnesota gave up 40 points in the first quarter and then only 60 the rest of the way, jumping on Denver in a 31-12 third period that gave them the lead for good. A lot had to go right for Minnesota -- Denver missed a bunch of shots, basically stopped trying for a while, while Ryan Gomes was white-hot and Corey Brewer made about four shots that had no business going in -- but when you snap a 15-game losing streak, against one of the league's best teams, no less, you don't worry about such things.
This game really turned me off on Denver, by the way. After the 40-25 first quarter, after which it appeared to everyone (including me, and including, apparently, the Nuggets) that it would be an easy victory for the home team, they just basically turned off their effort and assumed that victory would take care of itself. The entire third quarter, as they were imploding, they acted entitled to foul calls that weren't really there, barked at officials even more than a typical NBA club, and did a bunch of cheap physical stuff that I thought was out of line.
Now, on to Mr. Flynn
Stat Line: 29 minutes, 7-17 FG, 0-4 3FG, 2-3 FT, 16 pts, 4 rebs, 6 assts, 1 stl, 2 TOs.
Great game for Jonny. The shooting numbers aren't great, but at least two were legitimately in and out, with another two just a fraction of an inch off. He got past his man most of the night, finishing well at the rim (especially with his left hand) and finding teammates.
Moreover, he only committed two turnovers, matching his season (and career) low. And you can see that he's becoming more comfortable running an NBA team; directing his teammates on the court, calling for the ball after a rebound, picking his spots to be aggressive more judiciously.
A big step forward for a player and a team that needed it. Next up is Memphis, which just got outscored 33-7 -- yes, you read that right -- in the fourth quarter to lose 98-88 at the Clips. Too early to talk about a winning streak?
This game really turned me off on Denver, by the way. After the 40-25 first quarter, after which it appeared to everyone (including me, and including, apparently, the Nuggets) that it would be an easy victory for the home team, they just basically turned off their effort and assumed that victory would take care of itself. The entire third quarter, as they were imploding, they acted entitled to foul calls that weren't really there, barked at officials even more than a typical NBA club, and did a bunch of cheap physical stuff that I thought was out of line.
Now, on to Mr. Flynn
Stat Line: 29 minutes, 7-17 FG, 0-4 3FG, 2-3 FT, 16 pts, 4 rebs, 6 assts, 1 stl, 2 TOs.
Great game for Jonny. The shooting numbers aren't great, but at least two were legitimately in and out, with another two just a fraction of an inch off. He got past his man most of the night, finishing well at the rim (especially with his left hand) and finding teammates.
Moreover, he only committed two turnovers, matching his season (and career) low. And you can see that he's becoming more comfortable running an NBA team; directing his teammates on the court, calling for the ball after a rebound, picking his spots to be aggressive more judiciously.
A big step forward for a player and a team that needed it. Next up is Memphis, which just got outscored 33-7 -- yes, you read that right -- in the fourth quarter to lose 98-88 at the Clips. Too early to talk about a winning streak?
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Boston 92, Miami 85
[recap][box score]
This was a strange game in which both teams found a nice rhythm offensively in the first half despite too many whistles from the officials, then hit a bit of a lull at various points throughout the third quarter before picking it up again. In the end, the Heat had some key misses and the Celtics made just enough shots to win.
Things to like:
This was a strange game in which both teams found a nice rhythm offensively in the first half despite too many whistles from the officials, then hit a bit of a lull at various points throughout the third quarter before picking it up again. In the end, the Heat had some key misses and the Celtics made just enough shots to win.
Things to like:
- Kevin Garnett making 11 of 12 shots. He's now 17 of 18 over his last two games.
- Rajon Rondo playing assertively on the road, which he doesn't always do. Rondo was a blur offensively on Sunday. He didn't always make the right decision, but the offense is so much better when he's attacking.
- Rasheed Wallace taking his game to the low post for the second straight outing.
- A strong final four-and-a-half minutes on the road against one of the game's best closers, Dywane Wade. Boston trailed 82-78 with 4:26 to play, and then turned it up on both ends in closing on a 14-3 run.
Things not to like:
- Another game where we played almost no defense in the first half.
- Letting Miami back into it immediately after grabbing an 11-point lead. We scored the first four points of the second half and two minutes in, it really looked like it was going to be the kind of third quarter we saw a lot during the championship season. But this team seems to lose its concentration with a lead, and it only took six minutes for Miami to tie the score.
Next game is Tuesday at Charlotte against a Bobcat team that a) almost always plays us tough and b) has won four straight, including an impressive win over Cleveland. Though we held them to 59 points in their season-opener at the end of October, it's not the team I want to see in the middle of a four-game road trip that takes us to San Antonio on Thursday (8 pm Eastern on TNT) and Oklahoma City on Friday. Tough week.
Boston 116, Toronto 103
[recap] [box score]
This game happened Friday. Posts to this blog may come in delayed and abbreviated form over the next few weeks, as I buckle down and study for finals.
The Raptors are awful defensively. I had been told how awful, and yet, when I watched the game, I was taken by surprise at how true the assessment was. After two turnovers, a missed layup, and a Ray Allen jumper on their first four possessions, the Celtics scored on the next seven trips down the court. Each one of those buckets was a layup. Not a little bunny shot in the post, but a layup off a drive or a drive and a pass. My only issues with the offense were too many turnovers and that we didn't devote the whole game to dribble penetration. The second team was most guilty of that; then again, the second team doesn't have a lot of guys take the ball to the basket.
This game happened Friday. Posts to this blog may come in delayed and abbreviated form over the next few weeks, as I buckle down and study for finals.
The Raptors are awful defensively. I had been told how awful, and yet, when I watched the game, I was taken by surprise at how true the assessment was. After two turnovers, a missed layup, and a Ray Allen jumper on their first four possessions, the Celtics scored on the next seven trips down the court. Each one of those buckets was a layup. Not a little bunny shot in the post, but a layup off a drive or a drive and a pass. My only issues with the offense were too many turnovers and that we didn't devote the whole game to dribble penetration. The second team was most guilty of that; then again, the second team doesn't have a lot of guys take the ball to the basket.
TMJF: Suns 120, Minnesota 95
Stat Line: 29 minutes, 5-13 FG, 2-5 3FG, 6-6 FT, 3 rebs, 6 assts, 2 stls, 4 TOs
What I liked about this game is that it re-enforces that, at least without Kevin Love, Minnesota's point guards are their most dangerous offensive players not named Al Jefferson. Jonny Flynn played alongside Ramon Sessions quite a bit once the game got out of hand. Sessions was on fire, hitting 10 of his first 11 shots on his way to 23 points. Meanwhile, Corey Brewer went 1-for-11.
What I liked about this game is that it re-enforces that, at least without Kevin Love, Minnesota's point guards are their most dangerous offensive players not named Al Jefferson. Jonny Flynn played alongside Ramon Sessions quite a bit once the game got out of hand. Sessions was on fire, hitting 10 of his first 11 shots on his way to 23 points. Meanwhile, Corey Brewer went 1-for-11.
Friday, November 27, 2009
TMJF: Nuggets 124, Minnesota 111
Stat Line: 38 minutes, 6-15 FG, 2-5 3FG, 6-8 FT, 20 pts, 2 assts, 5 TOs.
Don't be fooled by the final score; this one was over by halftime. Jonny Flynn's stat line is a little misleading, too; he had nine points and two turnovers in the meaningless fourth quarter.
Denver's in the middle of what has to be the easiest four-game stretch in the NBA this year, and maybe league history: New Jersey (0-15), at Minnesota (1-14) , New York (3-12), and Minnesota again. They then host 5-9 Golden State before their schedule gets tougher.
Don't be fooled by the final score; this one was over by halftime. Jonny Flynn's stat line is a little misleading, too; he had nine points and two turnovers in the meaningless fourth quarter.
Denver's in the middle of what has to be the easiest four-game stretch in the NBA this year, and maybe league history: New Jersey (0-15), at Minnesota (1-14) , New York (3-12), and Minnesota again. They then host 5-9 Golden State before their schedule gets tougher.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Boston 113, Philadelphia 110
[recap] [box score]
I was tired and not feeling particularly well while watching this game, so I don't have too many observations. Rasheed Wallace is still shooting terribly from deep; Rajon Rondo needs to exert his influence more consistently; and teams are knocking down a lot of jump shots against the Celtics.
I don't have data, but it's seemed to me over the past couple of years that the Boston defense forces opponents to shoot from the outside. This year, those shots seem to be going in more consistently. Whether that's due to a defensive deficiency or just a run of bad luck, I can't say. Philly was red-hot from deep until the fourth quarter, when they cooled off just enough. I will say that all is clearly not right with the defense; Wednesday, we gave up more uncontested layups than I remember seeing in a single game in quite a while.
Quick strategy note to pay attention to moving forward: Up three with 3.7 seconds left, the Celtics employed the intentional foul strategy, denying the Sixers an opportunity to tie the game with a three. This tactic is often urged and yet rarely implemented.
For me, I like it a lot better in the college game. In the pros, the combination of the continuation rule and the rule that a team can advance the ball to midcourt with a timeout make it much harder to pull off. Fouling essentially extends the game -- which is what the trailing team is trying to do -- and requires you to shoot FTs at least as well as your opponent.
Anyway, we did it, and it worked. I don't ever recall seeing Doc do this before; I wonder if it's something we'll do moving forward, or if Philly's performance from three-point land on Wednesday made it more attractive than usual.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
I was tired and not feeling particularly well while watching this game, so I don't have too many observations. Rasheed Wallace is still shooting terribly from deep; Rajon Rondo needs to exert his influence more consistently; and teams are knocking down a lot of jump shots against the Celtics.
I don't have data, but it's seemed to me over the past couple of years that the Boston defense forces opponents to shoot from the outside. This year, those shots seem to be going in more consistently. Whether that's due to a defensive deficiency or just a run of bad luck, I can't say. Philly was red-hot from deep until the fourth quarter, when they cooled off just enough. I will say that all is clearly not right with the defense; Wednesday, we gave up more uncontested layups than I remember seeing in a single game in quite a while.
Quick strategy note to pay attention to moving forward: Up three with 3.7 seconds left, the Celtics employed the intentional foul strategy, denying the Sixers an opportunity to tie the game with a three. This tactic is often urged and yet rarely implemented.
For me, I like it a lot better in the college game. In the pros, the combination of the continuation rule and the rule that a team can advance the ball to midcourt with a timeout make it much harder to pull off. Fouling essentially extends the game -- which is what the trailing team is trying to do -- and requires you to shoot FTs at least as well as your opponent.
Anyway, we did it, and it worked. I don't ever recall seeing Doc do this before; I wonder if it's something we'll do moving forward, or if Philly's performance from three-point land on Wednesday made it more attractive than usual.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
TMJF: Clippers 91, Wolves 87
Stat Line: 29 minutes, 6-12 FG, 2-2 3FG, 3-3 FT, 17 pts, 5 assts, 1 stl, 2 TOs.
Due to a class review session, I didn't attend this one as I had planned. Law school is no fun around this time. Last year, I missed a Metallica concert to study for my Civil Procedure exam; this year, I missed one of Jonny Flynn's best games to study for Bankruptcy.
Flynn was absolutely masterful in the first quarter, with ten points, three assists, and a steal. One of those dimes was perhaps his finest pass of the season, a perfect little behind-the-back bouncer in tight quarters to Oleksiy Pecherov. Flynn also made up for a couple of mistakes -- a turnover and a play in which he ran into traffic while streaking for an outlet pass that was ultimatley intercepted -- by draining a 26-foot three-pointer on the next possession. It was his second three of the quarter, and he also scored on a floater and a pair of free throws.
The second quarter was evidence of how frustrating rookies can be, however. After sitting the first five minutes or so of the second period after playing all but a few seconds of the first, Flynn returned to the court for three minutes, recording two fouls, a turnover, and a wild shot in the process.
He scored five points in seven minutes to start the third quarter on a drive, a jumper, and a technical free throw. He was replaced, as he always is, by Ramon Sessions, who did nothing notable offensively while repeatedly getting torched on the defensive end by Sebastian Telfair. Bassy scored on four straight Clipper possessions at one point, as the Wolves went up from three up to three down with Flynn on the bench.
Flynn re-entered at the 10:26 mark and scored on a lightning-quick drive with 8:45 left, Minnesota's only points over a six-and-a-half minute stretch. Perhaps because of Minnesota's offensive struggles, perhaps because of one tough shot he took, Flynn was yanked in the middle of that stretch and didn't re-enter (this time for Corey Brewer) until 1:12 remained, about 40 seconds after Sessions burned a key Wolves possession by jumping in the air with no real plan, and throwing the ball to LA's Marcus Camby. On the possession immediately following Flynn's re-entry, he sliced through two defenders on a high pick and found Ryan Gomes for a wide-open that cut the lead to two.
Forgive me for the play-by-play, but this was a night where coach Kurt Rambis' substitution patterns with regard to his point guards made less sense than it usually does. After a hot-shooting first half, the Wolves had gone cold; their main offensive threat, Al Jefferson, was struggling, and Flynn was the only guy creating offense for himself. And yet he sat crucial minutes. It's true that the Clips extended their fourth quarter lead from three to eight with Flynn on the floor, but there's no way that the kid was responsible for that.
Frustrating night for Flynn fans in that regard, and frustrating for Wolves fans, whose team has now lost 13 straight. Los Angeles, a mediocre club at their best, was bad tonight and Minnesota played relatively well, at least for them, and they still lost. They could play for a long time without Kevin Love and not win again. Hopefully, Love will be back in the two weeks he says it will be.
Due to a class review session, I didn't attend this one as I had planned. Law school is no fun around this time. Last year, I missed a Metallica concert to study for my Civil Procedure exam; this year, I missed one of Jonny Flynn's best games to study for Bankruptcy.
Flynn was absolutely masterful in the first quarter, with ten points, three assists, and a steal. One of those dimes was perhaps his finest pass of the season, a perfect little behind-the-back bouncer in tight quarters to Oleksiy Pecherov. Flynn also made up for a couple of mistakes -- a turnover and a play in which he ran into traffic while streaking for an outlet pass that was ultimatley intercepted -- by draining a 26-foot three-pointer on the next possession. It was his second three of the quarter, and he also scored on a floater and a pair of free throws.
The second quarter was evidence of how frustrating rookies can be, however. After sitting the first five minutes or so of the second period after playing all but a few seconds of the first, Flynn returned to the court for three minutes, recording two fouls, a turnover, and a wild shot in the process.
He scored five points in seven minutes to start the third quarter on a drive, a jumper, and a technical free throw. He was replaced, as he always is, by Ramon Sessions, who did nothing notable offensively while repeatedly getting torched on the defensive end by Sebastian Telfair. Bassy scored on four straight Clipper possessions at one point, as the Wolves went up from three up to three down with Flynn on the bench.
Flynn re-entered at the 10:26 mark and scored on a lightning-quick drive with 8:45 left, Minnesota's only points over a six-and-a-half minute stretch. Perhaps because of Minnesota's offensive struggles, perhaps because of one tough shot he took, Flynn was yanked in the middle of that stretch and didn't re-enter (this time for Corey Brewer) until 1:12 remained, about 40 seconds after Sessions burned a key Wolves possession by jumping in the air with no real plan, and throwing the ball to LA's Marcus Camby. On the possession immediately following Flynn's re-entry, he sliced through two defenders on a high pick and found Ryan Gomes for a wide-open that cut the lead to two.
Forgive me for the play-by-play, but this was a night where coach Kurt Rambis' substitution patterns with regard to his point guards made less sense than it usually does. After a hot-shooting first half, the Wolves had gone cold; their main offensive threat, Al Jefferson, was struggling, and Flynn was the only guy creating offense for himself. And yet he sat crucial minutes. It's true that the Clips extended their fourth quarter lead from three to eight with Flynn on the floor, but there's no way that the kid was responsible for that.
Frustrating night for Flynn fans in that regard, and frustrating for Wolves fans, whose team has now lost 13 straight. Los Angeles, a mediocre club at their best, was bad tonight and Minnesota played relatively well, at least for them, and they still lost. They could play for a long time without Kevin Love and not win again. Hopefully, Love will be back in the two weeks he says it will be.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Boston 107, New York 105
[box score] [recap]
One of the nice things about being a fan of an NBA team is that you can watch your team struggle against an inferior opponent, watch them blow a 14-point third quarter lead just as quickly as they got it, and still get that rush of adrenaline when your power forward drills a 20-footer at the horn to win it.
We all know that there's a lot that's not right with this team, and all the places the Celtics struggled Sunday were familiar. It all needs to get sorted out. But I've got too much going on to worry about it. Tonight, I'm relishing an entertaining, hard-fought win, even if it wasn't pretty.
One of the nice things about being a fan of an NBA team is that you can watch your team struggle against an inferior opponent, watch them blow a 14-point third quarter lead just as quickly as they got it, and still get that rush of adrenaline when your power forward drills a 20-footer at the horn to win it.
We all know that there's a lot that's not right with this team, and all the places the Celtics struggled Sunday were familiar. It all needs to get sorted out. But I've got too much going on to worry about it. Tonight, I'm relishing an entertaining, hard-fought win, even if it wasn't pretty.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
TMJF: Portland 106, Minnesota 78
Stat Line: 33 minutes, 3-11 FG, 3-3 FT, 9 pts, 3 assts, 3 TOs.
Flynn got all his points going to the basket in the second half, including one very nice reverse layup. I had the Portland feed for this game on League Pass, and the Blazers' announcers, of all people, were practically begging Kurt Rambis to let Flynn loose. Even if you don't think Minny is sitting on a goldmine with him, almost everyone recognizes that the system they're playing now minimizes everything: Flynn's effectiveness, Sessions' effectiveness, the team's chances of winning, etc. Everyone but the coach.
Flynn got all his points going to the basket in the second half, including one very nice reverse layup. I had the Portland feed for this game on League Pass, and the Blazers' announcers, of all people, were practically begging Kurt Rambis to let Flynn loose. Even if you don't think Minny is sitting on a goldmine with him, almost everyone recognizes that the system they're playing now minimizes everything: Flynn's effectiveness, Sessions' effectiveness, the team's chances of winning, etc. Everyone but the coach.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Orlando 83, Boston 78
I pity the beat writer who has to come up with a recap for this one. It was a game without a lede.
[recap][box score]
We on the Boston side can play the "What if..." game, although it's more accurately the "How often..." game: How often are we going to shoot 2-for-19 from three-point range? Those on the Orlando side, however, can respond with "How often are we going to make just 15 of 26 free throws and commit 20 turnovers?" The statistical anomalies more or less balance each other out.
Really, it boiled down to the fact that Orlando had a stretch where their shots were falling (the first quarter), whereas Boston never really got going. That's it, plain and simple. Even as Boston cut a 16-point first quarter deficit to one just before halftime, I never felt confident in our ability to score on a given possession. Nor could I really say how we ended up scoring 29 points in that period. Some free throws here, a basket in transition there, a jumper or two sprinkled in. The offense just never was clicking. The same was true after we went down 66-57 late in the third. We came back to tie the score at 78, but it took nearly a whole quarter to do it. Holding a team as good as the Magic to 12 points in 11 minutes is a terrific defensive effort, but scoring just 21 points during that stretch wasted it.
There are a couple of positive things to take from the game. Other than the first period, the defense was very good, which it hasn't been at all recently. Additionally, our two big off-season acquistions, Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels, were arguably our best players tonight. Despite his terrible shooting night, Wallace had a major positive effect, grabbing 13 rebounds and making three steals in a season-high 33:38 of court time (he played the last 19 and a half minutes after Kendrick Perkins went to the bench with his fifth foul 4:30 in to the third quarter). Daniels' stat line wasn't nearly as full, but he made a lot of little plays that helped us get back in it.
Some quick bullets:
[recap][box score]
We on the Boston side can play the "What if..." game, although it's more accurately the "How often..." game: How often are we going to shoot 2-for-19 from three-point range? Those on the Orlando side, however, can respond with "How often are we going to make just 15 of 26 free throws and commit 20 turnovers?" The statistical anomalies more or less balance each other out.
Really, it boiled down to the fact that Orlando had a stretch where their shots were falling (the first quarter), whereas Boston never really got going. That's it, plain and simple. Even as Boston cut a 16-point first quarter deficit to one just before halftime, I never felt confident in our ability to score on a given possession. Nor could I really say how we ended up scoring 29 points in that period. Some free throws here, a basket in transition there, a jumper or two sprinkled in. The offense just never was clicking. The same was true after we went down 66-57 late in the third. We came back to tie the score at 78, but it took nearly a whole quarter to do it. Holding a team as good as the Magic to 12 points in 11 minutes is a terrific defensive effort, but scoring just 21 points during that stretch wasted it.
There are a couple of positive things to take from the game. Other than the first period, the defense was very good, which it hasn't been at all recently. Additionally, our two big off-season acquistions, Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels, were arguably our best players tonight. Despite his terrible shooting night, Wallace had a major positive effect, grabbing 13 rebounds and making three steals in a season-high 33:38 of court time (he played the last 19 and a half minutes after Kendrick Perkins went to the bench with his fifth foul 4:30 in to the third quarter). Daniels' stat line wasn't nearly as full, but he made a lot of little plays that helped us get back in it.
Some quick bullets:
- Perkins picked up his fourth foul trying to draw a charge on Rashard Lewis with 8:47 on the clock in the third quarter. As mentioned above, he picked up his fifth a minute later, with Wallace at the scorer's table waiting to check in for him. Why do I mention it? Because Doc Rivers had two opportunities to get Perk out of there before he picked up his fifth (immediately after the foul, and when Rajon Rondo commited a loose-ball foul on the other end) and didn't do it. It probably didn't hurt us because Wallace filled in so well, but it's still a mistake that shouldn't be made.
- For the second time this year, Eddie House played the crunch time minutes in place of Rondo. I've been thinking about it for an hour or so, and I still can't decide how I feel about it. On the one hand, Rondo wasn't having much of an effect on the game and House's defense, normally a reason for Rondo over House, wasn't a problem. On the other hand, the big reason to play House over Rondo is House's outside shooting, which wasn't there at all tonight. The other argument for House is that his presence forces the opposition to play honest defense, and the rest of the Celtics got some good looks at three-pointers as Orlando ran at House on ball reversals; they just didn't knock them down. But House can't break down his man like Rondo can, and Rondo taking the ball to the basket often results in an open look for a teammate. Maybe I'd be singing a different tune if Wallace had knocked down a couple of the threes he took off of House passes, but I would've gone back to Rondo a bit sooner. We weren't hitting our jumpers and a still-hobbled Paul Pierce was having a tough time getting his own shot. We needed someone to create.
- On a related note, some of you are no doubt saying something to the effect of "No team should ever shoot 2-for-19 from three-point range" -- the idea being that if you're that cold, you should look for a different way to score. There's some truth to that, but the looks Boston got were by and large good ones. Orlando played pretty good defense, Rondo wasn't playing down the stretch, and Pierce really struggled to create for himself. Those were the shots that were available, and on a normal night, they knock enough down that it's not an issue.
- I thought Pierce did a very nice job of battling Dwight Howard on several defensive rotations, keeping the big guy out of scoring position while our bigs recovered.
- During the broadcast, ESPN's Jeff Van Gundy noted that Kevin Garnett tonight surpassed 40,000 career minutes. I hopped on to Basketball Reference to see where that ranked all-time (25th) and discovered something a little unsettling; among active players, Boston has four of the top 12 in minutes played. I knew we were old, but that was still pretty unsettling.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Boston 109, Golden State 95
[recap] [box score]
Bullets!
Bullets!
- I don't have a good explanation for why Boston's half-court defense was so bad in the first half. One theory bouncing around in my head was that Golden State is full of good, willing shooters, and our defense is predicated on helping and forcing teams to take jumpers they don't want to take. For the Warriors, the concept of a shot that they don't want to take doesn't exist. But there were a fair number of uncontested drives to the basket can't be explained away, unless the Celtics over-adjusted and stayed too close to the shooters.
- I know that our top offensive weapons prefer to play away from the basket, but we need to start punishing teams for playing small. The Warriors, like the Pacers, were undersized, but the only player who seemed interested in feeding Kendrick Perkins in the post was Kevin Garnett. It surely feels weird to pound the ball into Perk with the other options available, but we needed to exploit that mismatch more.
- Paul Pierce still looks hampered by the knee injury he suffered late last week.
- Rajon Rondo took this game over in the third quarter, scoring something like 12 of his 18 points in the period. During one stretch, he drove for a three-point play, then found Pierce for a three-pointer on the next possession. Tommy Heinsohn: "That's Rondo being Rondo!"
- On the Warriors' very next possession, Rondo gambled on a Monta Ellis crossover, and Ellis blew by him for an easy layin. QED.
- By converting the aforementioned three-point play, Rondo broke a streak of ten consecutive missed free throws. The NBA record, in case you're wondering, is 13. The camera caught him yelling an expletive in relief. His confidence at the line has clearly been shaken recently, and I've heard and read some reports that his work with shooting coach Mark Price has him uncomfortable with his shot. If that's true, it hasn't shown in live action: He stroked a very confident looking three-pointer tonight, his first of the year. I've long felt that the problem with Rondo's shot is that he's so unwilling to take it, not that it's bad. Sure, his mechanics are messed up, but the ball goes up to the rim reasonably softly, and he hits enough jumpers that it wouldn't be an issue if a)he took more of them; and b)teams didn't magnify that reluctance to fire by playing off of him.
- As a team, Boston was just 17-of-27 from the charity stripe.
- J.R. Giddens played seven minutes tonight, and not all in garbage time: He got it in the first quarter. One point, one rebound, one assist, and one turnover. His most notable play was biting on a Corey Maggette shot fake at the end of the first half, sending Maggette to the line with a chance to tie the game heading into the break. (Maggette hit one of two, and Garnett's spinning, one-handed 70-footer after grabbing the rebound was waved off because it came after the horn.)
- Giddens was also far too late on a rotation at the end of the third period, as Ellis coasted in for an easy two.
- After Chris Douglas-Roberts' career-high 27 points last night against Indiana, I mentioned to a buddy that I wouldn't at all be surprised if Giddens' career point total never exceeded CDR's single-game best. Giddens' free throw tonight gave him seven points in 15 career games. (To be fair, that's in only about 41 minutes of court time.) Douglas-Roberts, meanwhile, set a new career mark of 31 points tonight in a loss to Milwaukee, adding 10 rebounds for his second straight double-double. I compare these two, of course, because Douglas-Roberts was the player Boston should have taken with the pick it used on Giddens. That was true the day it happened, and it's looking more and more true by the game.
- Because I wasn't blogging over the summer, I didn't get a chance to write about the draft and what I saw at Summer League. Allow me, then, a few words about Golden State rookie Stephen Curry. My concern about Curry coming out of Davidson was that he was simply too small to get his shot off consistently at this level. Those concerns were put to rest in Vegas, as I saw Curry bounce his way free for the same looks he got in college. The surprising problem, however, was that he wasn't knocking them down, hitting right around a third of his attempts. A shooting slump, perhaps, but nothing to worry about. He wasn't much better in the preason, however, and I began to get concerned. Thankfully, though he was a rather pedestrian 4-for-10 against Boston, he seems to be on track, shooting just below 49 percent from the field on the season, an outstanding percentage for a guard. His ballhandling and/or decision-making still needs a lot of work, as evidenced by the six turnovers he committed against the Cs. At least three more of his passes were deflected, too, so that total could have been much worse. He may simply not have adjusted yet to the pro game as it relates to quickness and length of defenders.
- I'll leave you with this Curry story: Friday night, the same buddy mentioned above went to MSG with a bunch of Davidson grads specifically to see the kid. After playing his prized rookie just under 30 minutes a game through the season's first seven games. Woyas coach Don Nelson sat Curry for all but 2:35 of the game against the Knicks. Curry went scoreless and shotless in his brief time on the court. On the bright side, my friend and his crew got to see Curry's first career blocked shot.
TMJF: Rockets 97, Wolves 84
Stat Line: 24 minutes, 4-12FG, 0-2 3FG, 1-1 FT, 9 pts, 1 reb, 2 assts, 3 TOs.
Blah.
My enthusiasm for writing about Minnesota is waning. I still have faith in Flynn, but he's in for a long year.
Blah.
My enthusiasm for writing about Minnesota is waning. I still have faith in Flynn, but he's in for a long year.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
TMJF: Grizzlies 97, Wolves 87
Stat Line: 30 minutes, 5-14 FG, 0-3FG, 2-2FT, 10 pts, 3 rebs, 3 assts, 1 blk, 6 TOs.
I had to watch this game on League Pass broadband and it was a frustrating experience for a variety of reasons and I didn't really finish it. Here's his stat line. I think this was probably his worst game as a pro.
I had to watch this game on League Pass broadband and it was a frustrating experience for a variety of reasons and I didn't really finish it. Here's his stat line. I think this was probably his worst game as a pro.
Indiana 113, Boston 104
Hey. A losing streak.
[recap] [box score]
This game was frustrating, not just because we lost, but because there was a relatively simple way we could have won this game, and we didn't do it.
Two, actually. Due to injury to Troy Murphy, current Indiana coach and former Celtics boss Jim O'Brien started a small lineup of Earl Watson, Brandon Rush, Dahntay Jones, Danny Granger, and Roy Hibbert. That created an obvious mismatch of Granger on Kevin Garnett. It's a mismatch on both ends, but Garnett should have the advantage because there's really nothing Granger can do to stop his shot.
The simplest way to win would have been to ride Garnett all evening. The Celtics went to him early and went to him effectively (he shot better than 63 percent for the game), but they didn't go to him often enough (he only took 11 shots). The Pacers, on the other hand, rode Granger to 29 points and the victory. What's frustrating is that Boston knows how to exploit a mismatch; they just only seem to do it when Paul Pierce is involved.
The other way would have been to counter with a small lineup, replacing one of the bigs with Marquis Daniels. I don't like this as much, as it lets the other team dictate the game and takes one of our top defenders off the court. But if we weren't going to exploit our size mismatch, at least trying a lineup of Daniels, Pierce, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo, and, say, Garnett (or Kendrick Perkins or Rasheed Wallace) would have made sense.
[recap] [box score]
This game was frustrating, not just because we lost, but because there was a relatively simple way we could have won this game, and we didn't do it.
Two, actually. Due to injury to Troy Murphy, current Indiana coach and former Celtics boss Jim O'Brien started a small lineup of Earl Watson, Brandon Rush, Dahntay Jones, Danny Granger, and Roy Hibbert. That created an obvious mismatch of Granger on Kevin Garnett. It's a mismatch on both ends, but Garnett should have the advantage because there's really nothing Granger can do to stop his shot.
The simplest way to win would have been to ride Garnett all evening. The Celtics went to him early and went to him effectively (he shot better than 63 percent for the game), but they didn't go to him often enough (he only took 11 shots). The Pacers, on the other hand, rode Granger to 29 points and the victory. What's frustrating is that Boston knows how to exploit a mismatch; they just only seem to do it when Paul Pierce is involved.
The other way would have been to counter with a small lineup, replacing one of the bigs with Marquis Daniels. I don't like this as much, as it lets the other team dictate the game and takes one of our top defenders off the court. But if we weren't going to exploit our size mismatch, at least trying a lineup of Daniels, Pierce, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo, and, say, Garnett (or Kendrick Perkins or Rasheed Wallace) would have made sense.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
TMJF: Mavs 89, Wolves 77
Stat Line: 30 minutes, 4-9 FG, 0-2 3FG, 3-6 FT, 11 pts, 2 rebs, 4 assts, 3 stls, 4 TOs.
The stats show a rather unremarkable night, but tonight we saw a little more of the real Jonny Flynn than we have all season. More of the most part, he was assertive without being overly aggressive, snapping one-handed bounce passes to open jump shooters, flipping the pill behind his back to a cutting Ryan Hollins on a fast break, even mixing it up with Dirk Nowitzki when the German got tangled up with Hollins in the third quarter. Flynn's 11 points and four assists were team-highs, and he would have had two or three more helpers if his teammates had hit shots and finished plays that you would expect NBA players to finish.
I'm too tired to do the research on this and I'll be gone all day tomorrow, but it seems that coach Kurt Rambis is playing Flynn alongside Ramon Sessions more in recent games, with Sessions handling the point guard duties and Flynn playing off the ball a bit more. Flynn's future in the Association is as a point guard, but Rambis may be realizing that in the absence of Al Jefferson (out due to an illness and his family) and Kevin Love (injury), Flynn is his most dangerous scoring option.
The stats show a rather unremarkable night, but tonight we saw a little more of the real Jonny Flynn than we have all season. More of the most part, he was assertive without being overly aggressive, snapping one-handed bounce passes to open jump shooters, flipping the pill behind his back to a cutting Ryan Hollins on a fast break, even mixing it up with Dirk Nowitzki when the German got tangled up with Hollins in the third quarter. Flynn's 11 points and four assists were team-highs, and he would have had two or three more helpers if his teammates had hit shots and finished plays that you would expect NBA players to finish.
I'm too tired to do the research on this and I'll be gone all day tomorrow, but it seems that coach Kurt Rambis is playing Flynn alongside Ramon Sessions more in recent games, with Sessions handling the point guard duties and Flynn playing off the ball a bit more. Flynn's future in the Association is as a point guard, but Rambis may be realizing that in the absence of Al Jefferson (out due to an illness and his family) and Kevin Love (injury), Flynn is his most dangerous scoring option.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Atlanta 97, Boston 86
There haven't been too many nights over the past two-plus seasons where I've been disappointed in this team's effort. Tonight was one of them.
[recap] [box score]
I don't expect 100% effort every night; I know enough about the modern NBA to understand that you're not getting guys to play all-out 82 nights a year. So I understand when we have games like last week against New Jersey. What I don't understand is not coming to play from the start against an opponent worth paying attention to, and then not showing any fight as you get shown up on your home floor.
Almost from the getgo, Boston didn't seem interested in doing the work that would be necessary to win this game. On the Hawks' second possession, Atlanta got the first two of its 16 offensive rebound on the night, with Al Horford tipping in a Marvin Williams putback for the night's first points. It was a recurring theme for the evening.
It was not, lest you be misled, one of those nights where a younger, more athletic team simply beat a hard-working Boston club. The Celtics actually played pretty good "first-shot" defense, but simply stood around and watched the Hawks go around them for rebounds once that shot was missed.
Offensively, the only guy who was at all assertive was Paul Pierce, who by the end was fighting through a bruised knee suffered in the third quarter. (Pierce also played excellent defense on Joe Johnson when matched up against him). When Pierce went out for a few minutes in the third, no one stepped up. I'm particularly frustrated with Rajon Rondo, whose four shot attempts included a half-court heave at the end of the first half, as well as a driving layup with 4:30 left after the Hawks had taken their biggest lead of 12 points. Rondo blew by Bibby on that play, like he should have been doing all night. Rondo seems overly concerned with his assist totals and getting other players shots early in this season. Tonight was a night we needed his offense, and he never even tried.
That's all from me on this one. No use spending too much time in a game like this wondering "What went wrong?" The answer is obvious, and Boston will look to do better tomorrow night vs. Indiana (no national TV).
[recap] [box score]
I don't expect 100% effort every night; I know enough about the modern NBA to understand that you're not getting guys to play all-out 82 nights a year. So I understand when we have games like last week against New Jersey. What I don't understand is not coming to play from the start against an opponent worth paying attention to, and then not showing any fight as you get shown up on your home floor.
Almost from the getgo, Boston didn't seem interested in doing the work that would be necessary to win this game. On the Hawks' second possession, Atlanta got the first two of its 16 offensive rebound on the night, with Al Horford tipping in a Marvin Williams putback for the night's first points. It was a recurring theme for the evening.
It was not, lest you be misled, one of those nights where a younger, more athletic team simply beat a hard-working Boston club. The Celtics actually played pretty good "first-shot" defense, but simply stood around and watched the Hawks go around them for rebounds once that shot was missed.
Offensively, the only guy who was at all assertive was Paul Pierce, who by the end was fighting through a bruised knee suffered in the third quarter. (Pierce also played excellent defense on Joe Johnson when matched up against him). When Pierce went out for a few minutes in the third, no one stepped up. I'm particularly frustrated with Rajon Rondo, whose four shot attempts included a half-court heave at the end of the first half, as well as a driving layup with 4:30 left after the Hawks had taken their biggest lead of 12 points. Rondo blew by Bibby on that play, like he should have been doing all night. Rondo seems overly concerned with his assist totals and getting other players shots early in this season. Tonight was a night we needed his offense, and he never even tried.
That's all from me on this one. No use spending too much time in a game like this wondering "What went wrong?" The answer is obvious, and Boston will look to do better tomorrow night vs. Indiana (no national TV).
Viewing Alert
The Hawks come to town tonight in a game that will be televised on ESPN at 8 p.m., Eastern.
Other than opening night in Cleveland, this game is unsurpassed in importance by any other thus far in this young season. Ever since the Hawks took us to seven games in the 2008 playoffs, they've loomed as a potential thorn in our side, if not a real contender. However, they have yet to make that leap against us, getting swept during the last two regular seasons and losing nine in a row in our barn.
At 6-2, Atlanta is off to a fast start and is the favorite to be the fourth seed in the East (behind us, Orlando, and Cleveland). A victory in Boston might start to give them ideas that they can beat the Celtics in a playoff series. That's why a win is important tonight.
Other than opening night in Cleveland, this game is unsurpassed in importance by any other thus far in this young season. Ever since the Hawks took us to seven games in the 2008 playoffs, they've loomed as a potential thorn in our side, if not a real contender. However, they have yet to make that leap against us, getting swept during the last two regular seasons and losing nine in a row in our barn.
At 6-2, Atlanta is off to a fast start and is the favorite to be the fourth seed in the East (behind us, Orlando, and Cleveland). A victory in Boston might start to give them ideas that they can beat the Celtics in a playoff series. That's why a win is important tonight.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
RwH Wednesday Night Mashup
Apologies for posting this a day late. I had a ton of basketball on my plate last night and didn't get all the away through it. I don't know how Kelly Dwyer does it. It was a bit like being drunk: I don't remember parts of the evening; I fell asleep in my chair; at one point, I made a sandwich but didn't bother using a plate, resting it on my chest in between bites.
This afternoon, though, I caught up. Brief thoughts on everything I watched.
Boston 105, Utah 86 [recap] [box score]
I DVRed this game and watched it after getting home from Clips-Thunder (see below). It seems like it was one of these games where no one and nothing in particular stands out, except for the fact that one team seems overmatched. I supposed Rajon Rondo's night stands out, statistically, but it wasn't one of those games that he just controls; his 14 points and 11 assists came rather quietly. In all, Boston had seven guys in double figures, led by Kevin Garnett's 18. The Jazz, now 3-5, certainly don't look like a playoff team right now.
TMJF: Blazers 107, Wolves 84
Stat Line: 25 minutes, 5-11 FG, 1-2 3FG, 4-4 FT, 15 pts, 6 rebs, 1 asst, 2 TOs.
I sorta zoomed through this one this afternoon because I already knew the score (it turns out that trying to avoid learning the score of three NBA games while attending another NBA game is a fairly pointless exercise). Jonny Flynn had what is becoming his usual game, playing solidly until he felt the game slipping away, then trying to force the action a little too much. Coach Kurt Rambis gave him an early hook after a few poor trips before the half and to start the third quarter. Flynn's replacement, Ramon Sessions, had his best game of the year (1o points, 5 assists), and I guess we'll soon see how steep Rambis expects Flynn's learning curve to be.
Muy Beno: Oklahoma City 83, Los Angeles Clippers 79
Wow, this was an ugly game. The Thunder seemed content to shoot jumpers all night, missing most of them, while LA's Chris Kaman, perhaps upset by being left off the All-Star ballot despite being the reigning Western Conference player of the week, missed a variety of bunnies on his way to a nice little 9-for-26.
At this point, you're probably wondering, "What did you expect?" And it's fair to wonder why I'd even bother going to a Thunder-Clips game. The answer, of course, is Kevin Durant. KD is liable to put on a show every time he steps on the hardwood, and so when he comes to town, you go see him, particularly if you can get tickets for $2.99 on Ticket Exchange.
Durant had a relatively quiet 30 points on 12-of-20 shooting, but it's really jarring to see this guy in person. He's a peculiar mix of tall, long, and thin, a unique combo of lanky and gangly and athletic and smooth. Of course, you know this from his reputation and from watching him on TV. But until you see him live, you can't appreciate just how odd it is to see a guy built like him operate the way he does, draining long jumpers, gliding in for dunks, putting the ball on the deck, pulling up, and shooting in what seems like one continuous motion, the ball at the bottom of the net before you even realize it's left his hand. He's still one-dimensional, all offense, but what a spectacular dimension it is.
I love his nickname -- The Durantula -- but while his phsyique is vaguely insectual (!), his long, thin body and vast wingspan does nothing to recall the meaty, plodding arachnid from which the moniker is derived. It's a great nickname, but it's so inapt. Think I can drum up any public support for calling him The Praying Durantis?
Muy Beno: Cleveland 102, Orlando 93
This was by far the best performance of the season by a Cavs team that has struggled in the early going. The difference between this game and last season's Eastern Conference finals is that last night, Lebron James had some help from his teammates. Heading into last year's playoffs, all the talk was that James finally had the supporting cast he needed to win a title. But that cast, after playing so well all year as Cleveland amassed the league's best record, turned into a bouquet of shrinking violets in losing four out of six to the Magic last summer. Quite frankly, the rest of the Cavs looked afraid to create anything for themselves during that series, as though they feared that if they shot and missed, they'd be criticized for not getting the ball to the league's most dominant force.
Last night, the Cavs went to new acquisition Shaquille O'Neal early and often, drawing two quick fouls on Dwight Howard. Mo Williams, whose disappearance in the Eastern Conference finals was probably most notable because of how effective he had been during the regular season, was assertive from the outset. His confidence was no doubt buoyed by the fact that he was white-hot, hitting his first nine shots. Cleveland shot absurdly well for the stretch of the game that mattered, settling in at 48 percent for the night only after cooling off considerably in the last half of the third quarter and all of the fourth (with the game well in hand).
This wasn't on display last night, but it's been clear through the season's first couple of weeks that Cleveland and Orlando are both struggling to consistently incorporate new players into their attacks, though injuries and suspensions and other absences have no doubt contributed. That had to be expected, though, and it's worth noting in these pages only because it's in contrast to the entire KG-Ray Allen era in Boston. Two seasons ago, everyone expected the new-look Celtics to take some time to gel, but they hit the ground running on the way to league's best record and the franchise's 17th championship.
This year, a completely revamped second unit has meshed extremely well, despite losing a key component (Glen Davis) to injury on the eve of the season. Eddie House is still a chucker, and no one (including me) has a problem with it. Not even Rasheed Wallace, a guy who -- while he's never had an alpha dog complex -- is something of a volume shooter himself. No one seems to care that Wallace spends most of his time hoisting threes on the perimeter. Marquis Daniels has subordinated his playing time and statistics (he was a starter in Indiana, remember), gladly playing the role of facilitator for the bench guys. As a unit, they seem to have the same sort of chemistry that the starting group has.
Credit the coaching staff, I guess, as well as the leadership of the veterans that set the tone for the team. In a year where the race for best record in the East promises to be tight and homecourt advantage just might tip the scales in the playoffs, little things like a fast or slow start to the season just might make the difference.
Housekeeping: Please see the important update to Tuesday night's post on timing issues in the Denver-Chicago game.
This afternoon, though, I caught up. Brief thoughts on everything I watched.
Boston 105, Utah 86 [recap] [box score]
I DVRed this game and watched it after getting home from Clips-Thunder (see below). It seems like it was one of these games where no one and nothing in particular stands out, except for the fact that one team seems overmatched. I supposed Rajon Rondo's night stands out, statistically, but it wasn't one of those games that he just controls; his 14 points and 11 assists came rather quietly. In all, Boston had seven guys in double figures, led by Kevin Garnett's 18. The Jazz, now 3-5, certainly don't look like a playoff team right now.
TMJF: Blazers 107, Wolves 84
Stat Line: 25 minutes, 5-11 FG, 1-2 3FG, 4-4 FT, 15 pts, 6 rebs, 1 asst, 2 TOs.
I sorta zoomed through this one this afternoon because I already knew the score (it turns out that trying to avoid learning the score of three NBA games while attending another NBA game is a fairly pointless exercise). Jonny Flynn had what is becoming his usual game, playing solidly until he felt the game slipping away, then trying to force the action a little too much. Coach Kurt Rambis gave him an early hook after a few poor trips before the half and to start the third quarter. Flynn's replacement, Ramon Sessions, had his best game of the year (1o points, 5 assists), and I guess we'll soon see how steep Rambis expects Flynn's learning curve to be.
Muy Beno: Oklahoma City 83, Los Angeles Clippers 79
Wow, this was an ugly game. The Thunder seemed content to shoot jumpers all night, missing most of them, while LA's Chris Kaman, perhaps upset by being left off the All-Star ballot despite being the reigning Western Conference player of the week, missed a variety of bunnies on his way to a nice little 9-for-26.
At this point, you're probably wondering, "What did you expect?" And it's fair to wonder why I'd even bother going to a Thunder-Clips game. The answer, of course, is Kevin Durant. KD is liable to put on a show every time he steps on the hardwood, and so when he comes to town, you go see him, particularly if you can get tickets for $2.99 on Ticket Exchange.
Durant had a relatively quiet 30 points on 12-of-20 shooting, but it's really jarring to see this guy in person. He's a peculiar mix of tall, long, and thin, a unique combo of lanky and gangly and athletic and smooth. Of course, you know this from his reputation and from watching him on TV. But until you see him live, you can't appreciate just how odd it is to see a guy built like him operate the way he does, draining long jumpers, gliding in for dunks, putting the ball on the deck, pulling up, and shooting in what seems like one continuous motion, the ball at the bottom of the net before you even realize it's left his hand. He's still one-dimensional, all offense, but what a spectacular dimension it is.
I love his nickname -- The Durantula -- but while his phsyique is vaguely insectual (!), his long, thin body and vast wingspan does nothing to recall the meaty, plodding arachnid from which the moniker is derived. It's a great nickname, but it's so inapt. Think I can drum up any public support for calling him The Praying Durantis?
Muy Beno: Cleveland 102, Orlando 93
This was by far the best performance of the season by a Cavs team that has struggled in the early going. The difference between this game and last season's Eastern Conference finals is that last night, Lebron James had some help from his teammates. Heading into last year's playoffs, all the talk was that James finally had the supporting cast he needed to win a title. But that cast, after playing so well all year as Cleveland amassed the league's best record, turned into a bouquet of shrinking violets in losing four out of six to the Magic last summer. Quite frankly, the rest of the Cavs looked afraid to create anything for themselves during that series, as though they feared that if they shot and missed, they'd be criticized for not getting the ball to the league's most dominant force.
Last night, the Cavs went to new acquisition Shaquille O'Neal early and often, drawing two quick fouls on Dwight Howard. Mo Williams, whose disappearance in the Eastern Conference finals was probably most notable because of how effective he had been during the regular season, was assertive from the outset. His confidence was no doubt buoyed by the fact that he was white-hot, hitting his first nine shots. Cleveland shot absurdly well for the stretch of the game that mattered, settling in at 48 percent for the night only after cooling off considerably in the last half of the third quarter and all of the fourth (with the game well in hand).
This wasn't on display last night, but it's been clear through the season's first couple of weeks that Cleveland and Orlando are both struggling to consistently incorporate new players into their attacks, though injuries and suspensions and other absences have no doubt contributed. That had to be expected, though, and it's worth noting in these pages only because it's in contrast to the entire KG-Ray Allen era in Boston. Two seasons ago, everyone expected the new-look Celtics to take some time to gel, but they hit the ground running on the way to league's best record and the franchise's 17th championship.
This year, a completely revamped second unit has meshed extremely well, despite losing a key component (Glen Davis) to injury on the eve of the season. Eddie House is still a chucker, and no one (including me) has a problem with it. Not even Rasheed Wallace, a guy who -- while he's never had an alpha dog complex -- is something of a volume shooter himself. No one seems to care that Wallace spends most of his time hoisting threes on the perimeter. Marquis Daniels has subordinated his playing time and statistics (he was a starter in Indiana, remember), gladly playing the role of facilitator for the bench guys. As a unit, they seem to have the same sort of chemistry that the starting group has.
Credit the coaching staff, I guess, as well as the leadership of the veterans that set the tone for the team. In a year where the race for best record in the East promises to be tight and homecourt advantage just might tip the scales in the playoffs, little things like a fast or slow start to the season just might make the difference.
Housekeeping: Please see the important update to Tuesday night's post on timing issues in the Denver-Chicago game.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Muy Beno: Quibbling Over Tenths of a Second
Denver beat Chicago 90-89 tonight after Brad Miller's last-second shot was (correctly) deemed to have left his hand a split-second after the horn. Miller sank a long two after catching an inbounds pass with three-tenths of a second left on the clock, but my argument with the referees and how these situations are handled in general actually starts with the play before.
With the score tied at 89, Denver's Chauncey Billups drove and was fouled with six tenths of a second remaining. He made the first free throw, and missed the second. Chicago's Joakim Noah grabbed the rebound, the horn sounded, and the game was apparently over.
The officials, however, ordered three tenths of a second put back on, ruling that the Bulls had called a timeout prior to the horn sounding. They did this without consulting the tape. By rule, Chicago had the right to advance the ball to midcourt, setting the stage for its last-ditch play.
Why three tenths? I can't say for sure, but I can make a good guess, because it's what first seemed proper to me, before I took a moment to think about it: The NBA has a rule that a player can catch and shoot in three tenths of a second -- anything less, and the player must tip the ball. Presumably, then, it takes as long to catch the ball and call timeout.
But hang on. If it takes three tenths to catch and shoot, it can't possibly take the same amount of time to catch and call timeout. Catching and shooting involves two distinct actions that must be taken by the same player; namely, gaining possession of the ball, and shooting it. Because you can call timeout verbally and because the officials presumably awarded the timeout to the Bulls on the basis of coach Vinny Del Negro alerting the officials prior to Billups' second shot that his team wanted a timeout as soon as they grabbed the rebound. The gaining of possession and the timeout occurred contemporaneously. Noah didn't bobble the ball. He presumably caught it as fast as anyone can or would have. There's nothing about the "catch" of a rebound that is different from the "catch" in the three-tenths-to-catch-and-shoot rule. Because the officials didn't consult the tape and therefore weren't measuring the time it took Noah to control the ball, the catch couldn't logically have taken three tenths to complete. Given the league's current rules, then, the refs should have put more time back on the clock.
On to the final play, where the three-tenths-to-catch-and-shoot rule again factors in. If we accept, as I think we have to, the premise that some players have quicker releases than other players, then for this rule to make any sense at all, three tenths of a second has to be the absolute minimum amount of time it takes to catch and shoot. If someone can do it faster, then it's unfair to take that skill away from them with the rule. In order for Miller to have gotten his shot off in time, his release would have to be at least as fast as any other player's in the league, something that isn't terribly plausible.
There are a number of other problems with this rule, and precision timing in the end-game in general. For instance, the rule -- at least in its application -- doesn't seem to contemplate where the receiver catches the ball. We've all probably seen instances of a player catching a ball away from his release point, moving it to said point, and releasing it, allegedly within the three tenths of a second time limit. Moving the ball from catch point to release point takes some amount of time, however small, and if you can catch, move, and release in three tenths of a second, you therefore can catch and release, without moving to a release point, in less time.
The way these situations are handled also treat human reaction time oddly, or at least inconsistently. Back when I played high school ball (without tenths of a second on our clocks or the benefit of replay), I learned from my father, a ref, that the rules allowed for one second of reaction time from the moment of the occurrence that triggered the stopping of the clock. For example, on a simple play where the ball goes out of bounds, there's no sensor in the physical basketball that automatically stops the clock the moment the ball hits the floor. The official has to notice that the ball has gone out of bounds and blow his whistle, and the scorer has to similarly react to the whistle. That takes time; hence, the one-second allowance for human reaction time. That time is "made up," so to speak, when the ball is inbounded, and the scorer re-starts the clock a fraction of a second after it has been touched (which is what triggers time beginning to run again).
Today, replay and tenths of a second eliminate this reaction time for stoppages, but it doesn't for restarts. By going to the tape, the officials can see a freeze-frame of the precise moment the ball hits the floor out of bounds, and can reset the clock accordingly, eliminating the reaction time. They cannot similarly do so when the ball is touched by a player on an inbounds pass, and the result is that teams get more time than they technically should.
I do not, at the moment, have a solution that preserves the precision timing an entire generation of basketball fans has become accustomed to. I think it's important, however, to understand the problems with the current system.
(UPDATE: My father, the former ref, did the research I should have done and discovered that, by rule, "no less than :00.3 must expire on the game clock when a player secures possession of an unsuccessful free throw attempt and immediately requests a timeout." This strikes me as kind of silly and arbitrary, as I see no reason why it should take as long to call a timeout as it does to shoot a basketball. But it appears that the officials were right, and I apologize to the officials, as well as anyone who may have been swayed by my argument. It's a good thing hardly anyone reads this blog.)
With the score tied at 89, Denver's Chauncey Billups drove and was fouled with six tenths of a second remaining. He made the first free throw, and missed the second. Chicago's Joakim Noah grabbed the rebound, the horn sounded, and the game was apparently over.
The officials, however, ordered three tenths of a second put back on, ruling that the Bulls had called a timeout prior to the horn sounding. They did this without consulting the tape. By rule, Chicago had the right to advance the ball to midcourt, setting the stage for its last-ditch play.
Why three tenths? I can't say for sure, but I can make a good guess, because it's what first seemed proper to me, before I took a moment to think about it: The NBA has a rule that a player can catch and shoot in three tenths of a second -- anything less, and the player must tip the ball. Presumably, then, it takes as long to catch the ball and call timeout.
But hang on. If it takes three tenths to catch and shoot, it can't possibly take the same amount of time to catch and call timeout. Catching and shooting involves two distinct actions that must be taken by the same player; namely, gaining possession of the ball, and shooting it. Because you can call timeout verbally and because the officials presumably awarded the timeout to the Bulls on the basis of coach Vinny Del Negro alerting the officials prior to Billups' second shot that his team wanted a timeout as soon as they grabbed the rebound. The gaining of possession and the timeout occurred contemporaneously. Noah didn't bobble the ball. He presumably caught it as fast as anyone can or would have. There's nothing about the "catch" of a rebound that is different from the "catch" in the three-tenths-to-catch-and-shoot rule. Because the officials didn't consult the tape and therefore weren't measuring the time it took Noah to control the ball, the catch couldn't logically have taken three tenths to complete. Given the league's current rules, then, the refs should have put more time back on the clock.
On to the final play, where the three-tenths-to-catch-and-shoot rule again factors in. If we accept, as I think we have to, the premise that some players have quicker releases than other players, then for this rule to make any sense at all, three tenths of a second has to be the absolute minimum amount of time it takes to catch and shoot. If someone can do it faster, then it's unfair to take that skill away from them with the rule. In order for Miller to have gotten his shot off in time, his release would have to be at least as fast as any other player's in the league, something that isn't terribly plausible.
There are a number of other problems with this rule, and precision timing in the end-game in general. For instance, the rule -- at least in its application -- doesn't seem to contemplate where the receiver catches the ball. We've all probably seen instances of a player catching a ball away from his release point, moving it to said point, and releasing it, allegedly within the three tenths of a second time limit. Moving the ball from catch point to release point takes some amount of time, however small, and if you can catch, move, and release in three tenths of a second, you therefore can catch and release, without moving to a release point, in less time.
The way these situations are handled also treat human reaction time oddly, or at least inconsistently. Back when I played high school ball (without tenths of a second on our clocks or the benefit of replay), I learned from my father, a ref, that the rules allowed for one second of reaction time from the moment of the occurrence that triggered the stopping of the clock. For example, on a simple play where the ball goes out of bounds, there's no sensor in the physical basketball that automatically stops the clock the moment the ball hits the floor. The official has to notice that the ball has gone out of bounds and blow his whistle, and the scorer has to similarly react to the whistle. That takes time; hence, the one-second allowance for human reaction time. That time is "made up," so to speak, when the ball is inbounded, and the scorer re-starts the clock a fraction of a second after it has been touched (which is what triggers time beginning to run again).
Today, replay and tenths of a second eliminate this reaction time for stoppages, but it doesn't for restarts. By going to the tape, the officials can see a freeze-frame of the precise moment the ball hits the floor out of bounds, and can reset the clock accordingly, eliminating the reaction time. They cannot similarly do so when the ball is touched by a player on an inbounds pass, and the result is that teams get more time than they technically should.
I do not, at the moment, have a solution that preserves the precision timing an entire generation of basketball fans has become accustomed to. I think it's important, however, to understand the problems with the current system.
(UPDATE: My father, the former ref, did the research I should have done and discovered that, by rule, "no less than :00.3 must expire on the game clock when a player secures possession of an unsuccessful free throw attempt and immediately requests a timeout." This strikes me as kind of silly and arbitrary, as I see no reason why it should take as long to call a timeout as it does to shoot a basketball. But it appears that the officials were right, and I apologize to the officials, as well as anyone who may have been swayed by my argument. It's a good thing hardly anyone reads this blog.)
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
TMJF: Warriors 146, Wolves 105
Stat Line: 34 minutes, 8-17 FG, 1-6 3FG, 3-3 FT, 20 pts, 5 rebs, 6 assts, 1 stl, 6 TOs.
It's hard to analyze an individual player performance in a game that got so out of hand so quickly. Jonny Flynn took too many three-pointers, but can you blame him for jacking a few up when his team trailed by 19 by halftime, 34 at the end of the three, and as many as 45 in the fourth? Six turnovers is certainly ghastly, but that's what happened when a hyper-competitive rookie point guard finds himself quarterbacking a sinking ship.
Other than Al Jefferson, Flynn is Minnesota's most dangerous offensive weapon right now (and with Big Al J hardly looking like himself in the early going, Flynn may be tops on that list). The threes and the turnovers aren't going to make coach Kurt Rambis happy, but Flynn's presumed replacement, Ramon Sessions, has been as careless with the ball without being as much of a scorer on a team that needs points. It looks like Flynn's burn is safe, at least for the foreseeable future.
I have a feeling that watching the Wolves 82 nights this year is going to be more soul-crushing than enjoyable. I've never seen a team play as badly on both ends of the floor as they did last night: Sloppy with the ball, despite not running anything terribly intricate on offense; and absolutely clueless defensively. Lack of respect for the rock and low basketball IQ are two of my pet peeves, and the Wolves seem to have both in spades. I don't mean to pile on, but the scoreline and the boxscore really don't do justice as to just how bad Minnesota was last night.
It's hard to analyze an individual player performance in a game that got so out of hand so quickly. Jonny Flynn took too many three-pointers, but can you blame him for jacking a few up when his team trailed by 19 by halftime, 34 at the end of the three, and as many as 45 in the fourth? Six turnovers is certainly ghastly, but that's what happened when a hyper-competitive rookie point guard finds himself quarterbacking a sinking ship.
Other than Al Jefferson, Flynn is Minnesota's most dangerous offensive weapon right now (and with Big Al J hardly looking like himself in the early going, Flynn may be tops on that list). The threes and the turnovers aren't going to make coach Kurt Rambis happy, but Flynn's presumed replacement, Ramon Sessions, has been as careless with the ball without being as much of a scorer on a team that needs points. It looks like Flynn's burn is safe, at least for the foreseeable future.
I have a feeling that watching the Wolves 82 nights this year is going to be more soul-crushing than enjoyable. I've never seen a team play as badly on both ends of the floor as they did last night: Sloppy with the ball, despite not running anything terribly intricate on offense; and absolutely clueless defensively. Lack of respect for the rock and low basketball IQ are two of my pet peeves, and the Wolves seem to have both in spades. I don't mean to pile on, but the scoreline and the boxscore really don't do justice as to just how bad Minnesota was last night.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
TMJF: Blazers 116, Wolves 93
Stat Line: 30 minutes, 4-10 FG, 1-4 3FG, 2-3 FT, 11 pts, 3 assts, 2 stls, 2 TOs.
Six straight losses for Minnesota, after the opening night, come-from-behind victory over (still winless) New Jersey. Jonny Flynn is looking for his offense more and more; he took ten shots against Portland, right on his average, but eight of those came in the first half. Clearly, the Timberwolves' offensive ineptitude is getting to Flynn, as it would to any young point guard who consistently sees his teammates miss open jumpers and play out-of-control offensively (see Brewer, Corey). This will probably have a negative impact on Flynn's playing time -- coach Kurt Rambis seems most concerned with getting Flynn to quarterback the offense, even if it comes at the expense of empty possessions. To his credit, Rambis seems to treat each game as a clean slate, and Flynn's mis-steps associated with trying to create something out of nothing do not seem to carry over in his coach's eyes.
The Wolves play Golden State on Monday night, and the Warriors' uptempo style should provide Flynn with the most comfortable environment of his short career. Flynn should look to get to the basket and get to the line, and could easily set a career-high in assists against Golden State's rather lax defense.
Six straight losses for Minnesota, after the opening night, come-from-behind victory over (still winless) New Jersey. Jonny Flynn is looking for his offense more and more; he took ten shots against Portland, right on his average, but eight of those came in the first half. Clearly, the Timberwolves' offensive ineptitude is getting to Flynn, as it would to any young point guard who consistently sees his teammates miss open jumpers and play out-of-control offensively (see Brewer, Corey). This will probably have a negative impact on Flynn's playing time -- coach Kurt Rambis seems most concerned with getting Flynn to quarterback the offense, even if it comes at the expense of empty possessions. To his credit, Rambis seems to treat each game as a clean slate, and Flynn's mis-steps associated with trying to create something out of nothing do not seem to carry over in his coach's eyes.
The Wolves play Golden State on Monday night, and the Warriors' uptempo style should provide Flynn with the most comfortable environment of his short career. Flynn should look to get to the basket and get to the line, and could easily set a career-high in assists against Golden State's rather lax defense.
Boston 86, New Jersey 76
Ugh.
[recap] [box score]
[recap] [box score]
- First of all, poor New Jersey. The only regular starter who played was center Brook Lopez. They started Rafer Alston (filling in for Devin Harris), Trenton Hassell (Courtney Lee), Bobby Simmons (Chris Douglas-Roberts), and Josh Boone (Yi Jianlian). They played their guts out -- just as they did in a narrow loss the night before in Philadelphia -- but you aren't going to win starting three career journeymen and Rafer Alston. The Nets are 0-7, and with a Wednesday home date against Philly followed by a weekend back-to-back in Florida, it looks very likely that they'll have to wait at least another full week before they get their first win.
- Doc Rivers again tried an all-bench lineup to start the second quarter, but House, Giddens, Wallace, Scalabrine, and Shelden Williams couldn't get anything going. Without Marquis Daniels, who missed this game while tending to personal matters, the second unit needs Pierce or Ray Allen to spark the offense. That three-minute stretch was the best indicator we've had of how good Daniels has been thus far.
- I won't be at all surprised if Giddens doesn't have a job in the NBA next year.
- The Nets committed 23 turnovers, an incredible 20 of which were Boston steals. Rajon Rondo led the way with 5 thefts, but in all, six other Celtics got at least one: Rasheed Wallace (4 steals), Kevin Garnett (3), Brian Scalabrine (3), Paul Pierce (2), Eddie House (2), and J.R. Giddens (1). Boston had active hands and jumped passing lanes all night, but New Jersey also threw quite a few balls directly to men wearing green jerseys.
- One such steal by Eddie House was basically an outlet pass, and House turned it into a two-on-one break down the right side, with Scalabrine filling the left lane. House dropped a perfect bounce pass that caught Scal in stride; for a great number of NBA players, this was a catch, two steps, and a jam. Scal being who he is, however, stopped more or less on a dime and backed the ball out. Seeing it teed up so perfectly for Scal, I was led to contemplate whether he could still dunk. I know what you're thinking: "He's 6'9", of course he can dunk." Well, I played with a guy in high school who was 6'8", and he could only throw it down if he could take one step, gather, and jump off of two feet; in other words, he could only really do it in practice. Again, I know what you're thinking: "Okay, but he was an NBA player?" No, he wasn't, but he also wasn't a 31-year-old with a bad back, an extra 20 pounds or so on his frame, and a nickname ("Veal") that isn't just a play on words. It's entirely possible that he can't. Even if you disagree with me, you wouldn't feel very comfortable betting on it, would you?
- Scal did give us the lead for good by burying a three (our first successful attempt from long distance) on the first possession of the fourth quarter. He hit a long two a couple trips later. I can't believe I'm saying it, but we may want to keep him around all year, rather than trade his expiring contract for another piece.
- Boston's lineup for the final four minutes: House, Allen, Pierce, Garnett, Kendrick Perkins. Rondo sat the entire fourth quarter and didn't look terribly amused about it while sitting on the bench.
- They mentioned on the broadcast that this was the 50th anniversary of the first meeting between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. Ironic for me, because I just finished the Russ v. Wilt chapter of Bill Simmons' new book, The Book of Basketball. I'm no Sports Guy fanboy, but I'm excited for the rest of this book. Simmons has bitten off a lot -- he defines his purpose as "evaluating why certain players and teams mattered more than others" -- but as an NBA fanatic first and a journalist (I use that term loosely) second, he seems up to the task. I'll have a full report once I finish the nearly 700-page treatise.
Off 'til Wednesday, when the Jazz come to town. Three days off should be a welcome break for the Cs, who have played a league-leading eight games in the season's first twelve days (a few teams have only played five games, and Golden State has played just four). This should be a chance for the team to get back in the practice gym to work out some of the kinks from the last two games, as well as to get some well-deserved rest.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
TMJF: Bucks 87, Wolves 72
Stat Line: 9-17 FG, 0-3 3FG, 2-3 FT, 20 pts, 4 reb, 1 asst, 3 stls, 3 TOs.
This game was touted by some as Jonny Flynn vs. Brandon Jennings, the two lottery point guards. Flynn got the better of Jennings in their one-on-battle, but Jennings got the win.
Flynn scored 12 of his game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter, going against Luke Ridnour as Jennings sat the whole fourth quarter. Minnesota is so offensively inept right now that I have to believe Kurt Rambis is going to give Flynn more of a leash in the first three periods.
Flynn got many of his buckets on pull-up jumpers, but he also got five points on breakaways that were the highlights of his game.
The first came when the Bucks posted up Andrew Bogut on the right block. Flynn snuck around the big man and knocked the ball loose, then went hard to the basket. He was met there by Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who tried to wrap Flynn up. Flynn absorbed the contact, then flipped up a little seven-footer that crawled in. Flynn then drained the free throw.
On the second play, the steal was the highlight. Bogut set a high screen for Ridnour, who dribbled right. Flynn managed to avoid getting swallowed up by the pick, but he was rubbed enough for Ridnour to gain a half-step on him. Nevertheless, Flynn, off balance from the contact with Bogut, managed to reach out and pick Ridnour cleanly, retrieving the ball and going in uncontested for an emphatic, if ultimately meaningless, jam.
This game was touted by some as Jonny Flynn vs. Brandon Jennings, the two lottery point guards. Flynn got the better of Jennings in their one-on-battle, but Jennings got the win.
Flynn scored 12 of his game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter, going against Luke Ridnour as Jennings sat the whole fourth quarter. Minnesota is so offensively inept right now that I have to believe Kurt Rambis is going to give Flynn more of a leash in the first three periods.
Flynn got many of his buckets on pull-up jumpers, but he also got five points on breakaways that were the highlights of his game.
The first came when the Bucks posted up Andrew Bogut on the right block. Flynn snuck around the big man and knocked the ball loose, then went hard to the basket. He was met there by Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who tried to wrap Flynn up. Flynn absorbed the contact, then flipped up a little seven-footer that crawled in. Flynn then drained the free throw.
On the second play, the steal was the highlight. Bogut set a high screen for Ridnour, who dribbled right. Flynn managed to avoid getting swallowed up by the pick, but he was rubbed enough for Ridnour to gain a half-step on him. Nevertheless, Flynn, off balance from the contact with Bogut, managed to reach out and pick Ridnour cleanly, retrieving the ball and going in uncontested for an emphatic, if ultimately meaningless, jam.
Phoenix 110, Boston 103
Phoenix was good. Boston wasn't.
[recap] [box score]
That's not really even accurate. Defensively, they were disorganized, but Boston's offense was fine, although the uncharacteristically poor three-point shooting (4-of-18) probably cost them the game. Even with that horrible showing from deep, the Celtics still shot better than 51 percent from the field. They also only committed 12 turnovers, a nice number for them.
But they couldn't stop Jason Richardson, and they couldn't stop Amar'e Stoudemire, and they couldn't stop Channing Frye when it mattered.
Even with all of that, Boston had a shot at this game. Rajon Rondo was alone under the basket with the score 104-100, but Stoudemire blocked his shot. Boston got a stop and Rasheed Wallace got a good look at a three, but it rimmed out. Steve Nash drained a three on the other end and that was that.
I've been ruminating on this one for a while now and I really can't think of anything to say. (I guess I'm a lot better when we win.) We didn't play good defense, they did a nice job on Pierce. We missed threes, they hit threes. We missed a bunch of free throws, they didn't. We lost, they won.
Oh well. Who knew Brian Scalabrine was so important?*
*Scalabrine didn't play because of back spasms. In a game last year against Phoenix, however, Scal held Stoudemire to three points while scoring four himself. Clearly, that was the problem on Friday.
[recap] [box score]
That's not really even accurate. Defensively, they were disorganized, but Boston's offense was fine, although the uncharacteristically poor three-point shooting (4-of-18) probably cost them the game. Even with that horrible showing from deep, the Celtics still shot better than 51 percent from the field. They also only committed 12 turnovers, a nice number for them.
But they couldn't stop Jason Richardson, and they couldn't stop Amar'e Stoudemire, and they couldn't stop Channing Frye when it mattered.
Even with all of that, Boston had a shot at this game. Rajon Rondo was alone under the basket with the score 104-100, but Stoudemire blocked his shot. Boston got a stop and Rasheed Wallace got a good look at a three, but it rimmed out. Steve Nash drained a three on the other end and that was that.
I've been ruminating on this one for a while now and I really can't think of anything to say. (I guess I'm a lot better when we win.) We didn't play good defense, they did a nice job on Pierce. We missed threes, they hit threes. We missed a bunch of free throws, they didn't. We lost, they won.
Oh well. Who knew Brian Scalabrine was so important?*
*Scalabrine didn't play because of back spasms. In a game last year against Phoenix, however, Scal held Stoudemire to three points while scoring four himself. Clearly, that was the problem on Friday.
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