Links of the Day (October 31, 2010)

• Here's a look at all 24 of Rajon Rondo's assists on Friday against the Knicks. At 1:15 and 2:00 of the video, you can see the double screen set I mentioned in the fourth bullet point of my game recap. By the way, a lot of folks are mentioning that Rondo was the beneficiary of a generous scorekeeper; by my count, there were four I wouldn't have given him. Still a pretty strong night distributing the basketball. (A/S MrTripleDouble10 from Red's Army for the vid.)
• Yet another reason I love Rondo: At the end of that video, Celtics sideline reporter Greg Dickerson interviews Rondo. The first question: "Why were you so effective in distributing the basketball tonight?" Rondo's response: "To who -- them or us?" The dude gets it.
• Big Baby singing "Tik Tok" = too funny not to repost.
• One thing I really like about the proliferation of blogs and other "new media" is that you see a lot of interviews and conversations with folks you wouldn't otherwise get to see. With regards to basketball, I particularly enjoy reading interviews of basketball writers. It would be weird, I think, to read about Bob Ryan interviewing Jackie MacMullan. But when Celtics Blog's Jeff Clark does it, it seems right.
• ESPN.com has a nice article that discusses the NBA's oversight of its officials.
• I think it's too early to panic about Houston's 0-3 start, but I do agree with J.A. Adande: If you're going to limit Yao to 24 minutes per game, you need to use him more during those 24 minutes.

Metal Monday: The Misfits

I know what you're thinking: It's not Monday, and the Misfits aren't metal. Both of these things are true. But it's Halloween, and that means I'm listening to the horror punk band led by Glenn Danzig. And if I don't somehow tie it in to a regular feature, then RwH turns into "Stuff I Like" and I'll get even fewer readers than I already have.

Danzig left the Misfits after a couple of albums and formed Samhain and then eventually Danzig.

I was a fan of Danzig, the band, before I knew about the Misfits (and I recommend that everyone give Danzig's first two albums, "Danzig" and "Lucifuge" a try). The first Misfits song I ever heard, actually, was "Last Caress," which I found while putting together a CD of the original versions of all the songs featured on Metallica's "Garage Inc." -- a double album of covers and medleys that pays homage to the metal giants' influences. (Oh, how I miss Napster.) I eventually picked up a copy of "Walk Among Us" and was hooked; punk really isn't my thing, but there's just something about Danzig's voice and the Misfits' themes that I really enjoy.

The Misfits released some stuff after Danzig left, but it isn't very good, and it's particularly not good if you don't like punk music.

Like most punk bands, the Misfits have short songs. So you get a trio in today's post: "Halloween," a good song that is clearly appropriate; a cover of "Monster Mash" in an effort to provide some familiarity to those for whom this isn't their particular brand of vodka; and "Skulls," my favorite Misfits track.

Happy Halloween, all.

Links of the Day (October 29, 2010)

• The Celtics aren't cutting Delonte West. If you're at all interested in the Von Wafer-West stuff, read this excellent post from Jay King at Celtics Town. I agree with just about everything in there, and would also have no problem if the Cs decided to get rid of Wafer instead.
• I only caught a few moments of Miami's big win over Orlando tonight, but it was enough to notice that there was something funky going on with LeBron James' mouthguard. I couldn't quite tell at the time, but it appears that James was simply getting into the Halloween, uh, spirit.
• Speaking of the Magic and the Heat, something of a statement by Miami, no? I'm not surprised they won, even as well as Orlando had played in the preseason, because the Magic were on the second game of a back-to-back, having destroyed Washington in the season-opener the night before. But win by 26 while holding Orlando to just 70 points? Can't say I expected that. I'm not ready to say it tells us anything new about either team, though. This was a close game at halftime, with Miami up just six points. That changed quickly in the third quarter, during which period Orlando made two of 20 shots. We knew that Miami was a good defensive team, but no defense is ever completely responsible for 2-for-20 in the NBA. Part of this was Orlando having one of the games they have occasionally had over the last few seasons, where they can't throw it into the ocean. That's a risk you run as a jumpshooting team.
• I don't know if the game eventually sold out, but the morning of the Heat's home opener (against in-state rival and co-title contender Orlando), tickets were still available. More fuel for the argument that the Miami fans don't deserve the caliber of team they've been given. Laker fans might show up to games late, but at least they sell out their games.
• Free agent center Erick Dampier has chosen to sign a one-year deal with the Rockets. Houston already has Yao Ming, Brad Miller, and Chuck Hayes at center. Yao's limited to 24 minutes per game, and he's not playing back-to-backs this year, so they certainly can use the depth. The Celtics were never in the conversation for Dampier's services as far as I know, but the Houston situation is a good illustration of the value of frontcourt depth. When Boston signed Shaquille O'Neal and Jermaine O'Neal this offseason, there was a lot of talk about how deep they had gotten in the post. But with Kendrick Perkins out for several months and both O'Neals already hampered by nagging injuries, we're reminded how easily a point of strength can become a point of weakness.

Boston 105, New York 101

[recap] [box score]

Rajon Rondo stole the headlines with his gaudy stat line, so we might as well start by talking about him. Ten points, ten boards, and a personal-best 24 assists is certainly an active night. But he's played better games in his NBA career. I've never been shy about showering praise on Boston's fifth-year point guard, but he turned it over seven times, made just four of 12 shots, and was just two-for-six from the foul line.

Just throwing out stats is probably a little harsh. He started out shaky, with five turnovers in the first 19 minutes of the game. He then went about 22 minutes of game action without coughing it up again, during which time he had no fewer than 13 assists. The two turnovers he had in the fourth quarter don't really bug me, but his decision to challenge Amar'e Stoudemire at the rim with an 11-point lead, 1:45 to go, and 18 on the shot clock was a terrible one. (Stoudemire easily blocked the attempt and Landry Fields hit a three on the other end to start the Knicks' comeback.)

Additionally, with Boston up four and about 30 seconds left, Ray Allen threw a high pass to Rondo in an attempt to break the Knicks' full-court pressure. Rather than go up and secure the ball, Rondo tried to grab it and move quickly. It went through his hands and the Knicks had a chance to cut the lead to two or one. I understand the thought; Rondo's not a good free throw shooter and I'm sure he was eager to find a teammate, either for an easy bucket or to get the ball to someone more solid from the stripe. But ball security was the more important concern given the game situation. While Allen was charged with the turnover on this play, I thought Rondo could have saved it.

Look, there's a pretty good chance that Rondo leads the league in assists this season. He's going to play a ton of minutes, and he's going to play the majority of them joined by one teammate, at most, who is capable of consistently creating his own shot. He also plays 41 games in front of a scorekeeper who thinks that tossing the ball into Kevin Garnett in the post and watching KG pause, face up, pause, drive right, and then throw in a short jump hook counts as an assist (which Rondo did for his 21st assist against the Knicks). And there's no doubt that Rondo's an elite playmaker. But stats don't always tell the whole story, and tonight, despite 24 assists, the story was that Rondo wasn't brilliant.

Bullets:

• Paul Pierce was really good tonight, with a pretty gaudy stat line of his own: 25 points, 14 rebounds, and five assists. He's been shooting the three-pointer very well to start the season, and he hit four of six shots from behind the arc against the Knicks.
• Garnett also had a double-double with 24 points and ten boards. His 12-for-17 shooting night is particularly encouraging.
• Glen Davis had a third straight outstanding game to start the season. He's really been terrific on both ends of the floor. Particularly noteworthy tonight was his on-ball defense of Stoudemire, which called to memory the defense he played on Miami's Chris Bosh in the opener. Baby seems like he's really dedicated himself to defense; after fouling out while trying to stop a Raymond Felton drive late in the fourth quarter, he could be seen chastising teammates for not getting back on D.
• Twice in the first half, Boston ran a nice little set I'm not sure I had seen them run before. It's a staggered screen for Rondo on the wing, with the first screener waiting until the second screener rolls to the bucket before popping out. The first time they ran it, Davis was the first screener and Shaq the second; Rondo found Davis for a 15-foot jumper (and probably could have hit Shaq for a dunk. The second time they ran it, Pierce was the initial screener and Davis set the second one; Rondo looked at Pierce just long enough to get the Knick defender leaning that way, then zipped a pass to Baby underneath for a bucket. If I have time, I'm going to try and find some video of it over the weekend.
• Shaquille O'Neal hurt his knee in an awkward collision with Stoudemire in what I thought was the third quarter but what the play-by-play suggests was the fourth. The wire story says it's a bruise and isn't serious. Even so, it's probably a good thing the Celtics don't play again until Tuesday.
• Doc ran out a few small lineups tonight, in part because the Knicks played pretty small, and in part out of necessity -- Jermaine O'Neal was inactive with soreness in his left knee, the same injury that bothered him at the end of last year. I don't think it's serious and hopefully JON will be ready by Tuesday. If either O'Neal isn't ready for that game against Detroit, we'll probably get our first regular season look at rookie Semih Erden.
• I'm going to try to track our end-of-quarter plays all season. We only had one real possession to end a quarter against New York, and it went okay. The set wasn't anything special, just Pierce beating someone off the dribble. That made a Knick defender leave Rondo open on the perimeter, and Pierce found him. The key was that Pierce started his move early enough that Rondo -- not a great three-point shooter -- had time to shovel the ball to Von Wafer, who is allegedly a three-point marksman. Wafer was open as the defense had rotated to Rondo, but alas, he took far too much club from the corner and his shot sailed over the rim.

The Next Lamb: The New York Knicks

Game 3: New York (1-0) at Boston (1-1)

Date: Friday, October 29, 2010

Time: 7:30 p.m. (Eastern)

TV: NBA League Pass (still free! Also free for the time being on League Pass Broadband!)

The Knicks have not been very good for the last several years, and Boston has had little trouble with them recently. New York plays the uptempo style that coach Mike D'Antoni ran with success in Phoenix, but he hasn't had the horses in the Big Apple that he had out in the desert.

During the offseason, however, the Knicks went out and got him one of those horses -- Amare Stoudemire -- from the Suns. They were hoping for LeBron James or Chris Bosh (actually, they were hoping for James and Bosh), but Stoudemire is a great consolation prize. Their other big move in free agency was to go out and get Charlotte's Raymond Felton to run the point. Felton is far from Stoudemire and D'Antoni's running mate in Phoenix, Steve Nash, but he's a significant upgrade over Chris Duhon and Toney Douglas at what is a very important position in the D'Antoni system.

The first look in the regular season at New York's new pieces was not terribly encouraging. The Knicks won, yes, and it was on the road, but it was against what is probably going to be a pretty bad Toronto team. And despite their frenetic pace, they scored just 98 points. Blame 43 percent shooting, including 7-for-24 from deep, for that. I didn't watch the game so I can't be sure, but last season, at least, the Raptors were not good defensively. So this may have just been a case of the Knicks missing shots.

Boston has not been a model of offensive efficiency in the early season, managing just 88 and 87 points in its first two games. The Knicks, however, will be a much easier team to unlock than the Heat and the Cavs were. Honestly, I think scoring against New York for a team like Boston comes down to things like mindset, energy, and effort. I'd like to think that after dropping that game to Cleveland, Boston will be hungry, particularly returning home. At the same, it is the third game in four nights at the very start of the season. We don't play again until Tuesday, however, so if it's necessary, Doc may play the starters a bit more than he normally would.

Defensively, Boston perhaps catches a break with Anthony Randolph's ankle injury keeping him out. Randolph, who came over from Golden State this offseason in the David Lee sign-and-trade, has only flashed potential in the early part of his career, but he's a skilled, mobile tall guy who would really put Boston in a tough spot if paired with Stoudemire up front. Instead of having to deal with Stoudemire while Kevin Garnett checks Randolph, Shaquille O'Neal will get the Russian rookie Timofey Mozgov, a banger who is more his style. (That's a great matchup for the Cs on both ends and I would expect to see us pound it to O'Neal in the post early.)

A quick note on the Celtics: As I was writing this, I got a flood of items to my RSS feed indicating that Delonte West punched Von Wafer after practice today. It's a developing story, and one you might hear about on tonight's broadcast if you watch the game. To be fair to Delonte, according to Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski, Delonte believes that Wafer was responsible for a comment, published by Alex Kennedy from an anonymous Celtic, that it was easy to tell when Delonte hadn't been taking his medication. (Delonte, if you don't remember, is bipolar.)

Links of the Day (October 28, 2010)

• I'm slowing down on my Timberwolves blogging until TMJF returns from hip surgery, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to blast Kurt Rambis. Last night in Minnesota's opener against Sacramento, Rambis sat Kevin Love for the final eight and a half minutes of a one-point loss to the Tyreke Evans-less Kings. Rambis pulled similar stunts last year, claiming that Love and Al Jefferson couldn't play together. Jefferson was shipped out of town at a relative bargain, and now, in the opener, Love gets 24 minutes, the same number as Darko Milicic and four fewer than Anthony Tolliver. Rambis claims that the reason Love sat was because Tolliver was playing well defensively, but as Tom Ziller points out in that link, a bunch of Sacto's late points came from guys Tolliver was supposed to be guarding. I really have no respect for Rambis as a coach, and it bothers me when he does stuff like this and then reacts like it isn't a big deal, like because he assisted Phil Jackson with the Lakers he's some sort of Zen master by association. No, he's just a bad coach. Not playing the best player on a bad team because Anthony Tolliver -- Anthony Tolliver! -- is allegedly playing great defense (Sacramento did score 117 points without its best player, so I'm not sure how good the defense actually was) is just embarrassing.
• If any Wolves fans read this blog, perhaps this will make you feel better. I know McHale's involved and he's public enemy number one up there in T-Wolf land, but maybe just focus on Rambis falling on his ass. I love McHale, of course, so it definitely makes me feel better.
• Zach Lowe breaks down Boston's turnover problems. Lowe puts a lot of the blame on Rondo's shoulders, particularly in transition. I've noticed that Rondo's "feel" for the game, which is usually outstanding, disappears in transition. I'm not sure what it is; sometimes, it feels like he's too busy processing his options to make a decision.
• Everyone's talking about Blake Griffin's debut last night, with video of two spectacular one-handed jams in a loss to Portland. I link to Hardwood Paroxysm above all others because I like them best, and because Rob Mahoney's caption is clever. Oh, and because they want page views.
• Tracy McGrady was allegedly on a 15-minute cap in Detroit's opener last night, and will be for the immediate future. First of all, what investment are we trying to protect by limiting his minutes? And secondly, why would Tracy McGrady play more than 15 minutes in a professional basketball game?
• The Heat-Celtics opener was the most-watched NBA regular season game of all-time.
• I didn't notice this until this morning, but Zydrunas Ilgauskas was a game-high +17 in 10:39 of playing time against Boston on Tuesday night. Big Z's stat line: No shots from the field, 1-2 from the line, three boards (two offensive), three steals, a block, two turnovers, and four personal fouls. Not a bad contribution, but +17? That's what being on the court when LeBron James decides to take over earns you. I know +/- hardly counts as an advanced metric these days, but it's things like this that have made me slow to embrace the statistical revolution.
• DNP-CD for RwH fave Greg Monroe in Detroit's opener last night. Let's hope this doesn't become a pattern.
• Someone better bring me the head of the person responsible for this.

Cleveland 95, Boston 87

To paraphrase Dwyane Wade, apologies to anyone who thought we were going 82-0.

[recap] [box score]

For the first time since April, the Boston Celtics played a meaningless meaningful basketball game (meaningless in that it was against an opponent that doesn't figure to be in the title hunt, but meaningful in that the game counted, unlike preseason). And coming off the high of the opener against Miami the night before, this loss to the Cavs was a reminder of how frustrated a regular season basketball game can make yours truly.

In truth, I shouldn't be surprised, and I wasn't really. Coming off an intense game the night before, in Cleveland against a Cavaliers team eager to prove itself without LeBron James, it stands to reason that the Celtics might have a little bit of a letdown. And I expect us to struggle with back-to-backs early in the season, as everyone -- but particularly Jermaine O'Neal and Shaquille O'Neal -- finds his sea legs.

Still, this was frustrating. We had an 11-point lead in the third quarter, but were outscored 27-14 in the fourth.

Good bullets:

• Glen Davis and Marquis Daniels both played well off the bench for the second consecutive night. It is going to take some getting used to, but those guys seem to be becoming legitimate offensive options, guys you can isolate or throw it to in the post.
• Rajon Rondo had another superb game. Against Miami, he was primarily a distributor, racking up 17 assists. Against Cleveland, he still set the table with nine assists, but he looked for his own offense more, particularly early, and finished with 18 points.
• Kevin Garnett still looks healthy, though it's not showing up in his stat line. The one thing you can point to as a negative from KG are his turnovers; he had seven against the Heat and another three against the Cavs. Quite a few of those have been travels or plays where his brain doesn't seem to be moving at the same speed his body is. It's interesting, because last year, the thing about KG was that he had to learn how to play with the bad knee. Now, it seems like he has to re-learn how to play unhurt. He'll be fine.
• On one play in the third quarter, Rondo led the break and pitched it to KG trailing. Garnett was running at full speed and caught the ball in stride at the foul line. Aware of the defense sliding over and clogging his lane to the bucket, KG hit Rondo, who had continued to the rim, with a perfect give-and-go pass for an easy layup. Every other power forward in the history of the game goes to the rim in that spot and either travels, throws up a wild shot, or commits a charge -- and the point guard gets criticized for setting up his big man for failure. KG is a treasure.

Bad bullets:

• Boston commits its share of fouls, but one thing that has been key to their defensive success over the past three seasons is allowing the opposition to take difficult, contested shots. At least once tonight, Shaq committed a needless foul that bailed out the opposition. We know he's a liability defending the pick and roll, but he needs to realize that he's so massive that he can disrupt a shot without blocking it. The play I'm thinking of was when Anthony Parker came off a screen and drove across the lane to the basket. Shaq was right there, and Parker would have had to take a very difficult running shot over O'Neal. But Shaq bailed him out with the foul.
• Nate Robinson still looks like he's pressing a little bit. I noticed it mostly in the second quarter. I think a big part of why we're seeing Rondo play more with the second team (as opposed to Ray Allen or Paul Pierce) is to try to get Nate comfortable, at least until Delonte West comes back. Robinson was paired with Von Wafer in the second quarter, but made a positive contribution when sharing the backcourt with Rondo.
• Our end of quarter offense is still terrible. Against Miami, I think we had two bad possessions and one good one. Against Cleveland, we just had two bad ones. At the end of the first quarter, Rondo dribbled in place at the top of the key as the clock wound down, juking himself more than any Cleveland defender, trying to get a good rhythm to step into a jumper (which isn't his shot anyway). At the last second, he thought better of it and threw a shot pass to Davis, who actually drilled a three-pointer. Glen Davis from 23 feet is not what we want in that situation, first of all, and second of all, Rondo wasted so much time that after reviewing the play during the commercial break, the officials determined the shot had come after the horn and took the points off the board. At the end of the third quarter, Nate more or less walked the ball upcourt despite there being only four or so seconds left in the period. The only shot he could muster was a long, awkward three-pointer. We need to find something better at the end of periods, and our guys need to be more aware of the clock.
• We became, as we are wont to do, needlessly obsessed with the three-pointer late in the fourth quarter. Down 89-84 with 2:17 remaining, our next possession revolved around finding Ray Allen for a three-pointer, which he missed. After a stop on the other end, Boston was lucky that a loose ball found Davis, and Baby laid it just as the shot clock buzzer went off. Garnett rebounded a Parker miss with 1:04 remaining, and on the resulting possession, Allen missed another three. Boston got yet another stop, and this time Pierce missed a 15-foot jumper, after which Cleveland put the game away at the free throw line. This happens a lot; we get enough stops to come back and win games down the stretch, but we don't execute offensively and end up taking low percentage shots. Going for three too early is a lot like going for two too early in football; if you fail, you force yourself into going for it again.

Cavaliers bullets:

• The game was on NBA League Pass, and the feed was of the Cleveland broadcast. It was interesting, though perhaps not that surprising, to hear little mention of James -- who would obviously been the major storyline had the game been covered by a national, unbiased broadcast team. The franchise really seems to be rallying around James' departure; the team's slogan this year, judging by its intro video, is "All for One, One for All." Not a bad start.
• J.J. Hickson, Cleveland's young power forward, reminds me a bit of Garnett. He moves well and has a great stroke. He's several inches shorter than Garnett and therefore can't hit turnaround jumpers with quite as large a degree of difficulty as KG can, but he seems ready to become a real solid player. He also has some of KG's little tricks, like jumping the point guard after a made basket to slow the opposition down.
• Ramon Sessions, who started tonight in place of the injured Mo Williams, had 14 points, but he also had four turnovers and took a game-high 16 shots. The fourth-year guard out of Nevada really came onto everyone's radar screen at the end of his rookie season with the Bucks, when he closed the campaign with five consecutive double-digit assist games, including an incredible 24 dimes in a 151-135 loss to the Bulls. But he really hasn't lived up to that potential. I have it out for Sessions a little bit, because he backed up Jonny Flynn in Minnesota last year, and as Flynn struggled to learn a system that didn't fit him or his teammates particularly well, many were calling for Sessions to get more minutes. But Sessions' decision-making wasn't any better then than it was tonight against the Celtics. He goes up in the air too much without a plan, and plays very out of control. His turnover rate would be higher, but he often just flips the ball at the basket when he finds himself in trouble. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but he gets himself into that spot too often. I'm beginning to doubt he'll ever be more than a streaky role player.

Back at it on Friday against the Knicks. The free preview of League Pass will still be running then, so check your local cable schedule for the channel.

The Next Lamb: The Cleveland Cavaliers

Date: October 27, 2010

7 p.m. Eastern

TV: NBA League Pass (free preview going on this week!)

Last night's opponent wasn't the only franchise transformed by LeBron James' decision to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. The King's departure from the Cleveland Cavaliers instantly turned a title contender into what appears to be one of the league's worst teams.

Many believe that LeBron's inability to win a championship in Cleveland was not his fault, but was a byproduct of the players around him simply not being good enough. Whether or not you subscribe to that particular theory, you have to admit that a team built around LeBron's former "help" -- Mo Williams, 34-year-old Antawn Jamison, J.J. Hickson, and Anderson Varejao -- promises to be a pretty sorry outfit.

We really have little indication as to how the Cavs are going to play. Like most NBA teams, they were idle Tuesday night, so Wednesday night's game is their opener. Additionally, Byron Scott takes over this season as head coach, and it remains to be seen what changes he'll make from Mike Brown's tenure. Williams was a scoring point guard in Milwaukee during the early part of his career, and I suspect we'll see him back in that role this year, though he should pile up a fair number of assists simply by virture of being the one who initiates the offense, as he did with the Bucks. Hickson is a promising young power forward, and Jamison may play a lot of three to make room for Hickson at the four. Beyond that, there's very little to talk about re: the Cavs, at least until we see them play a few games.

Celtics-Cavs was very recently a marquee matchup, the opening game of the NBA season each of the last two seasons. With James' departure, it's now nothing more than a trap game for a contender, coming on the road the night after an adrenaline-sapping win over, of all teams, James' new squad. For the the Cavs and the city of Cleveland, it's the chance to show LeBron -- and the rest of the basketball world, but mainly LeBron -- that life goes on without him, at least for a night. There will be nights this season that a half-assed effort will beat the Cavs. Tonight is not likely to be one of them.

Muy Beno: Yao's Minutes Cap, Getting Technical, and Links

(As a reminder, when I wish to write about NBA topics that are general in nature, I tag the post "Muy Beno" in honor of the best Slovenian point guard the league has ever seen.)

Yao's Minutes Cap

After the Celtics game, I caught the Lakers' narrow win over the Rockets. It marked Yao Ming's return to the court after missing the last season and a half with a foot injury. Due to that injury (really, due to an accumulation of such injuries over his career), it's been widely reported that Yao will be on a strict minutes limit this season: No more than 24 minutes per game, with no "carryover" minutes if he doesn't play his full allotment one night, and no back-to-backs.

Last night, Yao fouled out after 23 minutes and 21 seconds of court time, so the minutes limit didn't become an issue. What I found interesting, however, was how coach Rick Adelman chose to allocate those minutes. Yao started the game and played the first seven minutes before giving way for Brad Miller. Yao then returned for Miller at the 8:25 mark of the second quarter, playing five minutes before yielding to Miller again. The second half saw a similar pattern; Yao played the first six minutes of the third quarter and the first five and a half minutes of the fourth quarter before fouling out.

If this pattern continues, it means that Yao will not be on the court at the end of games, which is unusual for a starter and almost unheard of for one of Yao's abilities. Miller is a decent fill-in; a skilled big man who excelled in Adelman's system in Sacramento and every bit the free throw shooter Yao is. But Yao's a better shotblocker and commands more attention from opposing defenses, or at least he does when he's healthy. It may be that Adelman is simply planning to ease Yao back in, and will change up the rotation as the big man re-gains his conditioning. It might mean changing up the rotations -- perhaps starting Miller in the third quarter so he doesn't have to play a double shift in between Yao's stints -- but the Rockets probably will want Yao on the court at the end of games.

Getting Technical

Another big story this offseason was the NBA's new guidelines for technical fouls. The new rules in essence prescribe a technical foul for demonstrative reactions towards officials.

The Lakers' Derek Fisher and the Rockets' Kevin Martin were the only two players to receive technicals on the NBA's opening night. Fisher got rung up for a forearm or elbow to the chest of a Rockets player who was setting a screen, but Martin's was clearly a product of the new guidelines: after being whistled for a foul on a Kobe Bryant jumper, Martin turned and took a few steps downcourt, swiping his arm rather tamely through the air while uttering a few choice words.

Martin's tech was certainly justified within the letter and spirit of the new guidelines. However, it was considerably less demonstrative than the reaction Dwyane Wade had to a no-call on a late drive against Boston; Wade actually jumped and clapped right in front of the official after that play, the kind of reaction that garnered techs last year, before the new guidelines.

I was against this new emphasis on curbing player behavior entering the season because I was afraid too many games, players, and teams would be plagued with technicals. However, I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of demonstrative behavior from the players during the games I watched on Tuesday. A game that included not only Wade but LeBron James and the Boston Celtics would have almost certainly resulted in multiple techs last year. The sample size is too small to say that the players have got the message, but David Stern may be on to something here.

With that said, we need consistency. If Martin deserved a tech, so did Wade; if Wade deserved to get off scot-free, so did Martin. While a single technical foul may be trivial to the outcome of a game, it starts to matter when you consider the suspensions that accompany technicals once players reach 16 for the season. Substantial inconsistency from officials in the implementation of these guidelines could result in some serious inequity as the season goes on. (While officials' dispositions certainly varied widely last year, now that a wider range of conduct will presumably be punished by a technical foul, more players might be affected by the rules that set suspensions for accumulation of technicals over the season.)

Links of the Day

• The New York Knicks may have violated NBA rules regarding workouts of college players, according to Yahoo! Sports. Check out the story for the details of the allegations; what I'm most interested in are the possible penalties. The linked article mentions that penalties for similar infractions in the past have been fines for the organizations involved and suspensions for the team officials involved. However, the article also indicates that there may be factors in this case that make the Knicks' conduct more severe than those past incidents, which raises the question of whether additional organization penalties might be handed down. When the Minnesota Timberwolves were caught tampering with Joe Smith back in 2000-01, it cost them three-first rounders and hamstrung their franchise for years. The Knicks have traded away a bunch of their upcoming first-rounders, and I'm sure the NBA would be reluctant to really stick it to one of its flagship franchises, particularly since New York seems to be climbing out of the hole it's been in over the past several seasons. However, it seems worth mentioning as a possibility.
• SLAM Online has a nice little question-and-answer session with veteran NBA play-by-play guy Mike Breen.

Boston 88, Miami 80

What did we learn about the Miami Heat last night? Absolutely nothing.

[recap] [box score]

In fact, the only thing we really learned is that anyone who thought that a team of three All-Stars could join up with a group of more or less replacement-level players and turn into a historically good team -- one capable of winning 73 games and beating the defending Eastern Conference champs on the road -- overnight doesn't understand, or temporarily forgot, how basketball works. Sure, injuries played a role -- Mike Miller and Mario Chalmers missed the game due to them, and Dwyane Wade's leg injury stole away most of his preseason and thus the chance to mesh with his new teammates. But so did the fact that the Heat starters basically had to play 3-on-5 on offense, and so did the fact that LeBron James and Wade have played such similar roles over their careers that a period of adjustment was inevitable, and so did the fact that Chris Bosh's perimeter-oriented game isn't necessarily the best complement to James and Wade.

Even when the Heat cut an 18-point third-quarter deficit to six by the end of the period (and eventually shaved it to three) we weren't witnessing a glimpse of the Heat's potential. We were witnessing something we've seen so many times before; James taking over a game. We've seen him do this before, with Cleveland, and it didn't work then, and it won't work now. Wade and Bosh were horrible tonight and played well below what is expected of them, but them playing at their best wouldn't have improved the team's production during that particular stretch. When you score on nearly every possession, there's little room for improvement.

Look, Miami was bad tonight. It was mentioned during the telecast that the Heat's nine-point first quarter and 30-point first half were worse than any quarter or half the team played last year (pre-James/Bosh). They'll get better. But they are not going to be as good as quickly as so many expected them to be.

Enough about the Heat. What did we learn about the Celtics?

Well, first, we learned that a lot of things haven't changed. We still lose focus once we get out to what appears to be a comfortable lead. We're still dependent on Rajon Rondo to create the majority of our offense. We're still an elite defensive team. Doc still only has the one in-game huddle speech ("If you trust each other, we'll win").

But we also learned -- or had confirmed for us -- a few new things.

First, Kevin Garnett's healthier than he was last year. He struggled in the opener, committing seven turnovers, but to me, it looked like he was just jittery -- not unusual for KG.

Second, we learned that Glen Davis might be ready to be a big contributor off the bench. This one comes with a caveat, because Davis historically puts on his best performances when the cameras are shining brightest. But beyond his performance on the offensive end (where he had 13 points), Davis turned in a really good defensive effort. He drew a couple of charges, which is fairly standard for him. But he also played some terrific on-ball, one-on-one defense against Bosh in the second quarter.

Third, our bench is going to be a major asset this season. In addition to Davis, I thought Marquis Daniels had a great game, looking aggressive on offense and nothing like the player he was at the end of last year. I'm a little worried that Nate Robinson still hasn't found a comfortable role in the offense, but hopeful that Delonte West's return will help with that. And while Jermaine O'Neal looked really rusty after an injury-plagued preseason, he had a couple blocked shots tonight and I think he'll be a perfectly serviceable player (either off the bench or with the starting unit.

Some bullets:

• I thought Shaquille O'Neal had a strong debut, even after missing two easy layups at the start of the game. The jury's still out on his defense, because the Heat decided not to attack him on the screen and roll with Joel Anthony. But he's still something of a force to be reckoned with on offense and on the glass, and he'll draw his fair share of fouls. That has value, even if he doesn't convert at the line.
• With that said, I thought Shaq didn't get rid of the ball quickly enough on a couple of occasions after grabbing a defensive rebound. We're a lot better in transition and on the secondary break than we are in the halfcourt, and Shaq will need to do a better job of getting the rock to Rondo quickly.
• Although the Celtics ultimately had a rebounding edge, they gave up a bunch of offensive rebounds in the first half. We weren't a great rebounding team with Kendrick Perkins; without him, we'll need to do a better job of finding bodies first, then going and getting the ball.
• Until West gets back, we'll probably see one of the starters playing with the second team. Last year, that guy was often Ray Allen. Tonight, it was Paul Pierce at first, and later, Rajon Rondo. Rondo makes sense in that it allows Robinson to play off the ball (the way he would when West is in the game), but I was surprised to see Pierce out there, mainly because he and Daniels are our only small forwards. It worked, though; Boston broke the game open in the second.

Win one is in the books, and with it, perhaps a small statement to the Heat and the rest of the Eastern Conference. There's a long way to go, of course, and I, for one, am glad to start the journey.

Links of the Day (October 25, 2010)

• This is really pretty nasty, but it's also something of a good sign for Celtics fans: Pierce wasn't at full strength last year, which leads me to a point I wanted to make before the season started. There are a lot of "predictions" posts from experts and bloggers this time of year, and while the Celtics are getting plenty of respect in terms of the postseason, a lot of people seem to think that last year's sleepwalk through the regular season is the aging Celtics' new strategy. I disagree, and not only because Doc has come out and said as much. Maybe it's just the optimism inherent in any preseason, but the team just seems to have an attitude similar to the 2007-08 squad, which came out with guns blazing and never really let up. They have a deeper chance, healthier starters (except for Perk), and no Rasheed Wallace. I really believe they could challenge for the top record in the East.
• Yesterday, I linked to a breakdown of the flex offense. Here's one of the triangle.
• I grew up in the state of Vermont, and the university thereof hasn't produced many NBA products. Er, any NBA products. Taylor Coppenrath got a cursory look after UVM shocked Syracuse in the first round of the 2005 tournament, and Kevin Roberson went to training camp in 1992 with the Charlotte Hornets. (I don't care what this article says, by the way; Roberson was the best Catamount ever.) Anyway, I mention all this because Marqus Blakely just missed becoming the first player in school history to make an NBA roster. Blakely's a terrific athlete, who, at 6-5, played power forward in college. Obviously, his future in the NBA, if he has one, is on the wing. I'm keeping an eye on him; hopefully some NBA team is, too.

The First Lamb: The Miami Heat

Date: Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Time: 7:30 pm (Eastern)

TV: TNT

(Editor's Note: Historically, I haven't talked very much on RwH about upcoming opponents. This season, it's my intention to change that, and to try to preview each game, not in the sense of making predictions or anything like that, but to give more casual fans some idea of what to expect from the opposition. Future editions of "The Next Lamb" will be a lot shorter and may be in a "data dump" sort of format. However, given that Miami was the story of the offseason and I haven't given my thoughts on the new-look Heat yet, I figured I'd take this opportunity to do so.)

The last time we saw the Heat, the Celtics were shrugging off upset talk in dispatching Miami in five relatively easy games in the first round of last year's playoffs. Of course, this year's Heat bear little resemblance to last year's Heat; the team gutted its roster in the offseason, brought in Lebron James and Chris Bosh to play alongside Dwyane Wade, then supplemented its new "Big Three" by signing role players to small contracts.

On the one hand, this development disappointed me. Surveying the landscape of the league, it appeared we were headed for widespread parity. Sure, the Lakers are the two-time defending champs, but the Celtics showed that they were title contenders for at least another year, and Orlando won 59 games a year after reaching the Finals. We also had Kevin Durant leading the young Oklahoma City Thunder, Carmelo Anthony on the Nuggets, Amare' Stoudemire making the Knicks relevant again, and the cagey Spurs still lurking. If James stayed in Cleveland (or went to Chicago, or New York) and Bosh joined Wade in Miami, the league would have been in great shape for years to come.

Instead, we're looking at a league where the talent looks like it may be concentrated in just a few cities for the foreseeable future. If the Miami experiment works, other superstars will try to join forces the way James and Wade and Bosh did, figuring it would be their only shot at a ring as long as the Miami Big Three were around. (You may recall that soon after LeBron and Bosh announced they'd be joining Wade in South Beach, there was talk about Anthony and Chris Paul joining Stoudemire in New York after the season -- and now Anthony seems sure to leave Denver, either via trade or free agency). As much fun as it is to watch a really talented basketball team -- and the Heat are certainly that, at least at the very top end -- I'd rather watch teams fight for home court advantage than see one or two trying to steamroll its way to the league record for most wins in a season. (For the record, I don't think this year's Heat are going to be a serious threat to the Bulls' mark of 72-10.)

It occurred to me, as I was contemplating writing this, that it may appear a bit hypocritical of me to feel this way. After all, the Celtics arguably started this trend by bringing in Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to join Paul Pierce prior to the 2007-08 season. The difference, I think, is that Boston's front office orchestrated that team via trade, whereas the Heat came together on the impetus of the players. It almost feels like an antitrust violation, like the Heat shouldn't be able to have a monopoly on all the good free agents.

On the other hand, while the Heat have me worried about the long-term future of the league, the short-term is extremely enticing. We've never really seen anything like this, and I'll admit that I'm fascinated to see how it turns out. Will James defer to Wade since Miami has always been Wade's city, or will Wade defer to Lebron because, well, because he's Lebron? Will the moody Bosh really be cool with being the third option -- and if he's not, how far will James and Wade go to placate him? How good can a team really be with two dead spots in the starting lineup? How many games can a team win without much of a bench? How will the role players react to all the attention showered on their far more famous teammates? Really, the questions go on and on and on.

We got answers to precious few of those questions in the preseason. Wade hurt a leg muscle within the first three minutes of the first preseason game, and hasn't played in a game since. He'll be back for Tuesday's opener, but he hasn't had much chance to gel with James and Wade, and we haven't been able to see any progress they may have made since Wade returned to practice.

Additionally, Mike Miller -- a sharpshooting wing who does everything that you'd want from a bench player -- broke his thumb in practice last week and won't be available for the next couple of months. Many think that Wade-James-Bosh-Miller-Udonis Haslem is Miami's best unit, and would be the Heat's crunch-time lineup in many circumstances. James Jones, Eddie House, and the newly-signed Jerry Stackhouse will cover Miller's minutes, but with Miller out until January, we won't know what the Heat are capable of until at least then.

With that said, there are still several storylines I'm very interested in tracking during the opening weeks of the regular season, some of which are more applicable to Tuesday night against Boston than others:

• Chemistry. Boston's "Big Three" gelled extremely quickly, at least in part because Pierce, Allen, and Garnett each played different positions. While Wade is technically a shooting guard and James is technically a small forward, both have always been responsible for generating the bulk of their teams' offenses. They are both ball-dominating wings who historically have initiated the offense and set up their teammates, in addition to looking for their own shot. Whether one emerges as the leader or they alternate depending on how the opposition defends them, at least one of them -- and most likely both -- will have to make some pretty major adjustments.
• Point guard. On paper at least, third-year point Mario Chalmers is the perfect complement to Wade/James/Bosh; he's a good three-point shooter with a reputation as a great defender. However, he's been something of a disappointment in his first two seasons in the league. The other option, Carlos Arroyo, is more accomplished as a floor general, but his skill set isn't necessarily a great fit; with defenses keying so heavily on Wade and James (and to a lesser extent, Bosh), the other players will need to be able to knock down shots form the outside, which isn't Arroyo's strong suit. Regardless, the Heat will need to get something out of the point guard position. Boston wouldn't have had the success it has had over the last few seasons without the development of Rajon Rondo, and while Wade/James/Bosh trump Pierce/Allen/Garnett given that the latter trio is so far along in their careers, three guys cannot win a championship on their own.
• Bosh. It's easy to forget about this guy, since he's overshadowed by his two superstar teammates. But Bosh is a very effective player in his own right, a decent rebounder with a deadly mid-range jumper. Defenses will likely focus on Bosh and Wade, which means that their will be opportunities for Bosh. However, he doesn't seem to like playing in the post, which is where he seems to "fit" best with this team, especially since his running mates up front either are non-factors offensively (Anthony) or thrive on high-post play (Haslem and Zydrunas Ilgauskas). Bosh also is a bit of a headcase who has always been "the man," and while he surely knew what he was signing up for, he could bristle at being the third offensive option.
• Center. In 95 minutes over six preseason games, Joel Anthony grabbed just 16 rebounds. Anthony is not an offensive threat and is best described as a shotblocking specialist, so expectations are low for him. And while Wade and James both rebound well for their positions, Anthony will need to clear the glass better than he did in preseason to make his presence on the court anything more than a liability.
• Defense. Like most superstars, Wade and James are most effective playing a "free safety" role on defense. Their athleticism and understanding of basketball allow them to disrupt the other team's offense by leaving their man and roaming around on D. Moreover, not having big on-ball defensive responsibilities allows them to conserve energy for the offensive end. However, I'm not sure the Heat can beat good teams with both wings ignoring their man-to-man responsibilities. I watched a few minutes of the Heat's preseason opener against the Pistons, and saw James lose track of his man twice on defense, resulting in easy baskets.
• Rotations. To me, Miami's bench is so weak, and James and Wade are so duplicative of each other, that it makes sense to split them up a bit more than you typically would split up a starting lineup. I'm not suggesting that coach Erik Spoelstra do something radical like bring James or Wade off the bench. But I do think he should give serious thought to sitting one of them after about six minutes, and having that guy start the second quarter with the second unit while the other rests. Otherwise, I think the Heat will spend a ton of time playing from behind, especially at the beginning of the season, and that's going to wear on them over the course of 82 games.
• Officiating. One thing that really worries me, looking forward to a potential matchup with the Heat in the playoffs, is that Miami now has two guys who are among the officials' favorites. James shot ten free throws per game last year, Wade nine, and Bosh more than eight. While those individual numbers might go down a touch simply because the ball will be spread around a bit more, there's a real danger that they'll win games -- and possibly entire playoff series' -- because of the protection they get from the officials. Additionally, I'm not terribly excited at the prospect of watching a team shoot 40 free throws a game.
• Chasing history. There's been a ton of talk about this team possibly being the greatest in NBA history. As I've said, I think this talk is premature. However, there's no denying that the Heat are capable of winning a ton of games. To do so, however, Wade, James, and Bosh are going to have to play a ton of minutes. If Spoelstra decides to go after the record, those guys will have a lot of mileage on them by the time the playoffs roll around. With that said, the Heat have not only Boston, but also Orlando, on their schedule during the seasons first week. I'm sure they don't want to start the season with losses to both of their main competitors for the East crown, so we may see more minutes from the stars this week than we will later in the season.

And a few quick notes on the Celtics:

• Shaq's the starting center, at least for now. I've said before that I'd prefer Jermaine, but he's been banged up this preseason and I guess he hasn't had enough reps yet. As mentioned above, Anthony isn't someone to worry about on offense, but I imagine the Heat will try to use him as a screener and attack Shaq via the pick and roll. The only other thing that bothers me about this is that it means Garnett has to play Bosh, whereas Jermaine probably could have handled that assignment if Doc had so chosen, allowing KG to anchor the defense.
• As a reminder, Delonte West is not available for this game -- nor the next nine after that -- due to the suspension he's serving for the gun possession incident last year. Apparently, the Celtics must keep him on their active roster -- effectively giving us 11 active guys for the first few weeks of the season.
• In addition to Delonte, Avery Bradley and Kendrick Perkins are unavailable, due to injury. Rumor is that Semih Erden has a sore shoulder and may be inactive; if he can go, the other guy in street clothes will almost certainly be Luke Harangody.

I've been waiting for this day for months. Here's to a great NBA season, and hopefully championship banner number 18 at the end.

Introducing...Metal Monday

So, this is kind of goofy, or probably really goofy, but I've decided to start a new feature on RwH called, you guessed it, Metal Monday. Many of you know my musical tastes, and I thought I'd use this space to introduce you to some of the stuff I listen to. I'm hardly an authority on heavy metal, but I've got a list of bands -- a long list of bands -- to check out, and when I come across ones I like, I'll post them here. I won't, I don't think, feature much (or any) of the old standbys that everyone knows about. Rather, I'll try use it to introduce you to a band I've only recently heard of (even if they are actually quite old), with the hope that you'll find some stuff that you like.

This first installment is a band called Ensiferum, a Finnish folk metal outfit. I discovered them some time last year, through Pandora, and found myself listening to playlists on YouTube as I studied for exams. I don't plan on trying to link every Metal Monday post to basketball and the Celtics, but I thought that on the eve of a new season, "Victory Song," from the 2007album, titled "Victory Songs," would be a good way to kick this off. Folk metal is kind of a wonky genre and the songs tend to sound the same, but give this a shot. Tthe headbanging starts around the two-minute mark of the video:

FIGHT!

Fight with the rage of a bear!

DEFEND!

Our homeland!

CRUSH!

Crush every enemy!

AND SEAL!

Our victory!

Links of the Day (October 24, 2010)

• Ever wondered what, exactly, a flex offense is? Wonder no more.
• I was never a big comic book fan as a kid, but I'm sure some of you were. ESPN.com's NBA preview last week had a Marvel superhero theme to it. It's (of course) available for ESPN Insiders only, but Celtics Life had the most comprehensive look at the artwork that I saw.
• Pick and Scroll simulated a season on NBA 2k11. The end result: Celtics in six (over the Spurs).
• The top ten dunks of the preseason.
• Celtics links: Celtics Hub breaks down Rajon Rondo's jumper, Celtics Blog's Greg Payne gives his thoughts on the preseason, and Von Wafer gets into it with Delonte West, perhaps illustrating why Wafer has the reputation he has.
• I'm not sure whether the argument between West and Wafer stemmed from this game, but here's a minute-long clip of West and Semih Erden playing two-on-two against Wafer and Luke Harangody. I link to it separately because it reminds me of the two-on-two games between the garbage time players on my team my junior year in high school. My coach always had a "roll the ball out and let 'em play" philosophy, and the result was a lot of five-on-five in practice, with no burn for the end of the bench. Those four guys would play intense games of twos on a side court while the other ten scrimmaged. The day before the state championship game, at the end of practice, our coach had us gather round and watch one final two-on-two game at one of the main baskets, a liter of Pepsi to each winner. Maybe it's because I just turned 30, but these are the memories I seem to be cherishing lately.

Links of the Day (October 21, 2010)

• Mike Miller, perhaps the top player on a thin Miami Heat bench, injured his thumb and could be out six weeks or more.
• John Wall preseason highlight reel. I'm not as high on him as most are, but he's been impressive and at the very least, he'll be fun to watch. Until further notice, if he's in your city, buy a ticket and watch him play. (A/S Truth About It)
• Cool interview with Tommy Heinsohn from Red's Army.
• Oh, Shaq.
• The league has expanded the use of replay this season. It doesn't look like this will change much, other than to expand the time during which officials can use replay beyond the last two minutes. Let's hope it doesn't result in a significant increase in the length of games.
• The latest development in the looming labor dispute.

Preseason: Boston 107, New Jersey 92

[recap] [box score] [highlights from Red's Army]

I haven't had time to read the recaps from all the Celtics blogs, but it looks like a fairly solid all-around performance, as the Cs got contributions from just about everyone who suited up. That closes the preseason slate, and the Celtics' next game counts: the season opener next Tuesday against Miami.

Recaps: Celtics Blog; Celtics Town

Other Celtics links:

• Looks like Von Wafer's the 15th man for now. Stephane Lasme and Mario West have been cut. Apparently, Lasme's headed to Maine to play with the D-League Red Claws.
• More good news about Kevin Garnett's improved knee.

Links of the Day (October 20, 2010)

• Congratulations to Rhymes with Hondo on its 300th post!
• An anonymous scout tells ESPN's Chris Broussard that the worst-case scenario for the Celtics, barring injury, is 53 wins and taking the Lakers to seven games before losing in the Finals. I think the latter part of that probably underestimates the Magic and the possibility that the officials will hand a series to a team that has both LeBron James and Dwyane Wade on it, but I join in him in being very high on the Cs heading into the regular season. I'm not going to do a wins prediction post this year, but I'm counting on the team competing for the best record in the league this year.
• The guys at Hardwood Paroxysm, a really smart basketball site, have started a new weekly podcast project called the Voice on the Floor. I listened to the first issue, or part of it, this morning, and while it seems a bit self-indulgent (Matt Moore's conversations with Michael Lee of the Washington Post and Wizards blogger Mike Prada push an hour in combined length), it has the potential to be interesting -- if not all the time, at least on occasion. Plus, Moore's voice is vaguely similar to the guild leader's in the famous Leeeeeeeeeroy Jenkins video, and it tickles me to pretend that they're the same guy.
• Here's something fun to scare Lakers fans with, should you be unfortunate enough to know any.*
• The NBA banned performance-enhancing sneakers yesterday; might a ban on performance-enhancing protective mouthwear be next? There's no indication that the league is looking into it, but Under Armour now has a mouthguard that supposedly holds your jaw in such a way to prevent your body from releasing cortisol, which apparently saps your energy. If you want to read the overly wordy article that tipped me off to this technology, including a narrative of the world's least scientific experiment, click here.

*I actually consider a few Lakers fans to be close friends. Byproduct of living in LA, I guess.

Links of the Day (October 19, 2010)

• With so much talk surrounding the Heat, Celtics, and the defending champion Lakers, Zach Lowe reminds us not to forget the Magic. They're doing their best not to let us by eviscerating opponents in the preseason: New Orleans by 54, Chicago by 38, Atlanta by 29. They're big enough to bang with LA, deep enough to match up with Boston, and both those things give them a good chance to wear out Miami. Of course, they had that talent and size and depth last season, and the season before that. For me, it's always been psychological with Orlando; Dwight Howard's still maturing, and guys like Vince Carter and Rashard Lewis don't seem to embrace the moment. We're a long way from finding out if anything's changed, but it will be an interesting thing to look for come playoff time.
• Doc Rivers doesn't have cancer. Neither do I, but I didn't have a biopsy on lesions found in my throat.
• More Celtics news: The team signed Milwaukee draftee-turned-waivee (!) Keith "Tiny" Gallon to a non-guaranteed contract. Gallon is almost certainly headed to the Developmental League, where the team will be able to keep an eye on him with the Maine Red Claws. The ironically-nicknamed Gallon (he's pushing 300 pounds) was part of a dysfunctional Oklahoma team last year in his sole college season, but he's compared by many to Glen Davis because he's skilled and not quite tall enough to be as wide as he is.
• This clip isn't likely to turn into an NBA Read to Achieve ad.
• I know very little about advanced statistics, but over at Pick and Scroll, you can now calculate them yourself.
• The NBA has banned shoes it says enhance vertical leap. The manufacturer -- who, to be fair, isn't exactly eager to dispute that claim -- is certainly taking advantage of the publicity. For any public relations students that may be reading, here is the company's press release. At least they'll save money on endorsement contracts.
• This Blake Griffin jam is why I'm excited to be living in Los Angeles this season, but why must the Clippers suffer the indignity of playing a home game, even in preseason, with the Lakers floor at Staples? Because the Lakers hosted a preseason game immediately after, that's why.

Links of the Day (October 18, 2010)

• This piece is as much about departed Celtics assistant (and new Chicago head coach ) Tom Thibodeau as it is about Lawrence Frank (the man replacing Thibs alongside Doc Rovers), but it's still a good read.
• The Nuggets fan blog Denver Stiffs has some sort of reverse Hall of Fame thing going on. Pretty entertaining, and it includes a few former Celtics, too.
• TMJF: I plan on doing a long Jonny Flynn post some time before his return from hip surgery (which is looking like late November). For now, though, here are a couple interviews with him: Dime magazine and the T-Wolves Web site.
• JaVale McGee, another RwH favorite, flashing some potential.
• Every time I think that I could not be more annoyed by the Heat, I come across something like this. I hope all the hype won't have a negative effect on my appreciation for what they do on the court.

Links of the Day (October 17, 2010)

• Interesting article about Phil Jackon's psychological treatment of Pau Gasol. They'd get plenty out of him if they went to him more. If Jackson, the supposed genius, wants more from Gasol, he'll need to get Kobe to give up the rock. LA would not have had to squeak out Game 7 against Boston had they not waited until the fourth quarter to recognize where the biggest mismatch on the floor was.
• Zach Lowe lists 11 duos (well, ten duos and a trio) to pay special attention to as they run the pick-and-roll, RwH's favorite play.
• Canis Hoopus borrows from George Karl in suggesting how to get the most out of Michael Beasley.
• LeBron's new shoe isn't exactly modern-looking. Looks like something Larry Johnson/Grandmama might've hawked 15 years ago.
• Pepperdine's Keion Bell dunks over seven people at Midnight Madness. As impressive as that is, it's actually my third favorite thing in that video. The second is his 360 with the pass between the legs at around the 20 second mark. The first? "Club Can't Handle Me" playing in the background during the first dunk. That's right; RwH is a closet Flo Rida fan.

Preseason: Boston 97, New York 84

[recap] [box score] [highlights from Red's Army]

I'm sick of writing about games I can't watch, so just a few brief bullets:

• All the chatter after this one is about Kevin Garnett: 20 points on 9-for-11 from the field in just 20 minutes (though I should note that Amare' Stoudemire didn't play for the Knicks).
• A night after talking about being more aggressive offensively, Rajon Rondo scored two points on three shot attempts and didn't get to the line. Yet he led the team in rebounding (with eight) and committed just one turnover. He also had nine assists, including this beauty to Semih Erden. (If you watch that clip long enough, Tommy Heinsohn exclaims during the replay that Rondo has invented a new "gender" of passing. I'm assuming he meant "genre.")
• I'm close to declaring the battle for the 15th roster spot over. Von Wafer played another good game, and while Stephane Lasme made all three of his shots and also grabbed four rebounds, he committed five turnovers. As I said yesterday, Wafer basically just needed to show Doc he wasn't going to throw up on himself every time out to get a job. These last two games, he's done that.
• Nagging injuries kept the following players out: Marquis Daniels (sore shoulder); Jermaine O'Neal (hand bruise); and Delonte West (back spasms).
• Rookie Avery Bradley's ankle, the one that was surgically repaired over the summer, hasn't healed the way the team would like, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the shelf for a while. It's a shame he missed Summer League and most of the preseason, but he wasn't going to be a contributor this year anyway and his long-term health is important.

Here are a couple other recaps, if you want to read people who watched the game: Celtics Blog and Red's Army. There's some more detail about KG's night in there.

Preseason: Boston 117, Toronto 112

[recap] [box score] [highlights from Red's Army]

From what I understand, Boston had this one in the bag through three quarters before our bench (basically the third-string plus Nate Robinson) gave up most of a 28-point lead to many of Toronto's starters plus, incredibly, Marcus Banks.

The best nugget from the box score is 12-of-15 from the free throw line from Rajon Rondo. I take nothing from the 15 attempts, even though he says he's looking to get to the line more; it's preseason, it's the defensively-challenged Raptors, his career-high is 16 attempts, and he's only reached double-digits in attempts 14 times in his career. The 12 makes raise eyebrows, though. I'm not holding my breath, but if Rondo could become just a decent free throw shooter, it'd be huge for this team.

For what it's worth, Rondo's a 69 percent free throw shooter when he takes ten or more free throws in a game in his career (he hits at 61.6 percent in other games). I don't know if this is common, and, either way, what the explanation is: confidence, rhythm, statistically insignificant sample size are all possibilities. Just something I noticed when I was looking up Rondo's free throw stats.

Now, a few bullets:

• Marquis Daniels has apparently been working on his three-point range, which would be huge for a second unit that already has Nate Robinson and Delonte West as long-distance shooters. The box score shows 2-for-2 from range for Daniels last night, but one of them was a 45-footer just before the halftime horn. That's probably not the shot he's been working on.
• There's some talk that KG went up with two hands and finished an alley-oop from Rondo (see around 25 seconds into that link, although the footage before it is worth watching for a vicious jam from Toronto's DeMar DeRozan). Probably because the Rondo-to-KG alley-oop was kind of a signature play prior to Garnett's knee injury, it's something of a measuring stick for Celtics fans re: Garnett's health, and so this is an encouraging sign. Talk as camp broke was that Garnett was back to pre-injury form, but we haven't seen too much of that yet.
• Shaq and Delonte sat out as they continue to rest nagging injuries, and Pierce missed this one with a stomach bug. Doc Rivers told Stephane Lasme, a Gabon native, to stay home due to some sort of potential issue with his visa. That's kind of a rough thing for a guy who's fighting to make an NBA roster.
• It's especially harsh because his competition, Von Wafer, finally had a good game, or at least a good shooting night (he did have three turnovers and was a -15 on the game). Given Lasme's limited skill set, the team's frontcourt depth, and the need for a backup small forward, there is probably nothing Lasme can do to win the job if Wafer plays merely reasonably well. He hadn't done even that -- until last night, with Lasme sitting at home.

Links of the Day (October 15, 2010)

• When are you glad your team just missed out on drafting Dirk Nowitzki? When the guy who falls to them is Paul Pierce. I'd like to think I would have said that before the championship, but I can't say for sure that I would have.
• I'm not ready to go this far, but I do expect that the Lakers won't be as good as they were last year, nor as good as many are expecting them to be. It's a weird thing to say about the defending champs who are bringing every key player back, but Kobe and Bynum already have injury concerns, Odom played all summer, and their big free-agent splash was Matt Barnes. Dismiss it as a hunch, but that's the way I feel. I wonder, though, if last season had ended differently, would I perceive LA as hungry for revenge and Boston as the team who had had its last hurrah, instead of vice versa?
• Bill Simmons ranks NBA teams based must-seeability. I bring it up because my buddy Dave, a possible RwH reader, asked me a similar question recently: He was contemplating a Wizards five-game season ticket package (he lives in D.C.), and only one of the games could be from the Celtics-Lakers-Heat trio. As a Celtics fan, Boston was a no-brainer, but he wanted my opinion on the other four. My list: Oklahoma City (Kevin Durant is the kind of player who makes you contemplate having children just so they will have a chance to see him), Chicago (mainly for Derrick Rose, but also to heckle Joakim Noah), New York (should be a ton of fun to watch this year), and the Los Angeles Clippers (for Blake Griffin). My personal list would have Minnesota on it instead of the Clippers (obviously) and I think I would have mentioned Washington if Dave lived in another city (for John Wall). I also contemplated Houston, simply because I've never seen an NBA team play consistently hard as last year's Rockets did. Throwing Yao back in the mix will slow their pace down a bit, but who doesn't like watching Yao? He Tingting, Lin Jie, and Han Bin, that's who.
• CBS wants to improve "One Shining Moment." Easy fix: Bring back the Teddy Pendergrass version. I know Luther Vandross is a legend, but no one sang it like Teddy.

Links of the Day (October 14, 2010)

• The NBA needs to get cheerleaders and photographers away from the baseline before this turns into something much worse. A few years ago, I was watching a Celtics-Rockets game from the '80s on NBATV, and one of the things that stuck out was how much room there was between the baseline and the photographers. At least a foot more than we have today. Given advances in camera technology, this seems unnecessary, and I can only assume that photogs and cheerleaders are squeezed so that the fans can get closer to the action. I'm afraid it's going to take a serious injury to an important player before this rules gets changed, though.
• Interesting post by Zach Harper (guest-editing TrueHoop) regarding building a team around point guards. I, of course, have an affinity for ones, but I agree that size trumps, at least where the size in question's "greatness" is more or less equal (relative to other size) to a point guard's "greatness" (relative to other point guards). In other words, yeah, I'd take a a great pivot over a great point. But, especially in today's NBA, there are a bunch of good-to-great point guards, and not so many great posts. (Just ask Shaq.) Not that I think that Harper was saying any differently, but I would never pass up a great point guard for a less-great big man.
• I think the above is one of the more incoherent paragraphs I've ever written. Fortunately, someone named Joe Gerrity over at Hornets 24/7 has a more eloquent riposte to Harper. Of course, the Hornets have Chris Paul; I'll let you draw your own conclusions about what effect, if any, this has on Gerrity's opinion.

Preseason: Boston 104, New York 101

Paul Pierce, for the win. On his birthday. And Jermaine O'Neal's birthday. And Doc Rivers'. (Weirdish, right?)

[recap] [box score] [highlights from Red's Army]

Actually, as Red's Army points out, it was Pierce for the lead, and Rondo for the win. But Rondo was apparently the only Celtic not celebrating a birthday yesterday, so the lede goes to the Captain and the Truth.

Looking at the box score, one thing jumps out: 40 minutes for Rondo? 39-plus for Ray? 36 for Pierce?

Apparently, Pierce convinced Doc to play the starters the whole way. And since I pointed out the other night that our bench hung with Philly, I should point out that the Knicks bench hung with our first unit, or at least part of it. (30 points from Amare Stoudemire certainly helped).

I don't mind too much, just because these guys will need to be able to play those type of minutes at some point this year, and because they had all sat the night before, and because KG only got 11 minutes before getting ejected.

Only other thing worth noting from the box score is 16 and 12 from Luke Harangody.

Glen Davis, Shaquille O'Neal, and Delonte West sat out with nagging injuries.

Let's get to the regular season already.

Links of the Day (October 13, 2010)

• So, I thought Gilbert Arenas was just playing around when he said that he faked an injury so teammate Nick Young could some more burn. Apparently not.
• It's safe to say that Tommy Heinsohn is not a fan of the new technical foul rules. I tend to share Kelly Dwyer's view: It's annoying, but it'll be a non-issue once the regular season starts.
• Boston links: A conversation with Ray Allen about last season, and an article about a charge-taking competition between Glen Davis and Jermaine O'Neal.
• New blog on the blogroll: Zach Lowe of Celtics Hub has moved on to SI.com as the author of The Point Forward
• Finally, someone named Steve Gansey has been named as an assistant coach for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. Why is this notable? His brother, Mike "Street" Gansey*, was a RwH favorite while at West Virginia.

*To my knowledge, I'm the only one who calls him "Street."

Preseason: Philadelphia 103, Boston 92

[recap] [box score]

Bullets gleaned from the box score and recaps around the Web:

• Pierce, KG, Ray, and Rondo all sat this game out to rest, and Shaq and Delonte were out to rest some nagging injuries. Even so, the Cs hung in until the fourth quarter, despite the fact that Philly played their starters most of the game.
• Jermaine O'Neal had a poor shooting night (1-of-6) but grabbed 12 rebounds in 19 minutes. I still think he's gotta run with the first team while Perk is out.
• First run for rookie Avery Bradley. An inauspicious start offensively (two points on 1-of-6 shooting and three turnovers), but reportedly a good showing defensively against Sixers starting point guard Jrue Holiday. Good to see the kid get his feet wet.
• Doc seems to be giving Von Wafer every opportunity to win a job. Wafer got the start and played 39 minutes, but his stat line isn't impressive, and neither are the reviews from Celtics bloggers who were able to watch the game. Stephane Lasme, on the other hand, seems to have made the most of his 28 minutes. He didn't put up gaudy numbers, either, but is being praised for his strong defense on Andre Iguodala.
• Mario West seems to be the odd man out of the battle for the last spot, playing just seven minutes. Oddly, I randomly came upon a two-year-old link earlier today, which indicates that this shouldn't be a surprise.
• Luke Harangody had 11 points, including eight in a row in the second quarter. He also went 2-of-2 from deep, his three-point shot being a surprise development from Summer League.

Recaps from other bloggers: Celtics Town, Celtics Hub

Links of the Day (October 12, 2010)

• SB Nation ranks NBA coaches. Not that SB Nation is any sort of authority on these things, but it's a fairly detailed treatment. What I like most about it is Minnesota's Kurt Rambis being ranked 26th, ahead only of four first-year head coaches. The front office takes a lot of heat for the Wolves' terrible situation, and rightfully so, but Rambis made it worse last year with his impatience and refusal to use his personnel in a way that made sense, given their strengths.
• I love seeing stuff like Wizards assistant Sam Cassell playing one-on-one with John Wall.
• Cool video of Lamar Odom back in the day. As an aside, the streetball culture is something that I don't profess to understand, even a little, but it fascinates me nonetheless and is one of the things I really like about the game.
• Here's the first of what seems to be monthly journal entries from Delonte West. Delonte's an interesting, insightful guy; this should be a good regular read.

Links of the Day (Media Overkill Edition)

• Today marked the launch of the Heat Index, an obnoxious, all-Miami, all-the-time Web page that only ESPN has the hubris to pull off. I haven't yet weighed in on the Heat in these pages, and I will in advance of the season-opener against them in Boston, but for now, it suffices to say that both the basketball fan and the journalist in me are fairly disgusted by this development.
• I'll check in on the Heat Index from time to time, but I'd much rather read intelligent, non-self-interested commentary on the team.
• Spurs blog 48 Minutes of Hell suggests (indirectly, anyway) that Boston's 3-0 preseason record portends well for the regular season.
• Cool video of Kevin Garnett instructing the Celtics' young bigs on defending the pick-and-roll.
• Poignant story on NBA Fanhouse about former NBA player Ray Williams (who did his best work with the Knicks but also was on the Celtics roster for the 1984-85 season). Every so often you hear about guys having these sorts of financial problems, but a lack of financial sophistication is probably more pervasive than most people realize. Through the grapevine, I've heard a number of stories about NBA players that I simply could not believe.
• The closing quote of that Williams story is the stuff journalists dream of.

Preseason: Boston 91, Toronto 87

[recap] [box score] [highlights at Red's Army]

This one wasn't televised here in Los Angeles (shocking), so just a bullet or two based on what I can glean from what I've read.

• Jermaine O'Neal made his Celtics debut on Sunday, recording three rebounds and two blocked shots in about seven-and-a-half minutes. He did not attempt a shot. With Doc resting Shaq on Tuesday, JON should get some reps with the first team.
• It's only preseason, and it's only Toronto, but I can't help but point out that our bench closed this one out against what is more or less the Raptors' first team. The Celtics were up three heading into the fourth quarter, and didn't play a single starter for the final 12 minutes. Toronto, on the other hand, brought in Andrea Bargnani, DeMar DeRozan, and Joey Dorsey with 6:20 remaining and the score 79-78, Boston. That trio finished the game alongside Jarrett Jack and Leandro Barbosa, who came in later for Jose Calderon and Sonny Weems, respectively. Our second unit is pretty good, folks.
• Continuing the 15th man watch: Mario West got the DNP-CD, Von Wafer did nothing notable in 4:12 of playing time, and Stephane Lasme's only real contribution in 9:35 was this jam over Bargnani.
• More on the 15th man: Jay King over at Celtics Town proposes cutting Luke Harangody to make room for Lasme in addition to Wafer or West. As King himself acknowledges, it's highly unlikely for financial reasons (Harangody's salary is guaranteed). That aside, I don't really agree with the idea. Sure, Harangody's been unimpressive in camp and in preseason and his Summer League performance may have been meaningless, but he's inexperienced. The other guys aren't exactly hardened vets, but Wafer and West have played full NBA seasons, and Lasme's kicked around in a few training camps. I haven't seen anything that suggests that those three are more likely to improve than Harangody is. Moreover, Doc has shown time and again that he's not going to play guys he doesn't trust. I recognize that Wafer and West "fill a need" and they and Lasme may be more ready to contribute now than Harangody is, but the likelihood that any of them play meaningful minutes is so small that it would be foolish to make room for them by cutting a rookie who has shown some potential, however short-lived that potential was.

Celtics Blog has some more bullets, if you're interested.

Links of the Day (New Corporate Sponsor? Edition)

• From this Chris Sheridan post on TrueHoop, we find the official dessert of RwH.
• I hate how everyone associates the "throw powder in the air" pre-game ritual with LeBron (Kevin Garnett, at least, did it before him), but I have to admit that this picture is pretty cool.

Links of the Day (I'm Guessing It Was Pepperoni Edition)

• Tommy Heinsohn breaks down Boston's transition game against Philadelphia while eating a slice of pizza.
• Considering sports non-fiction is basically the only genre I read for pleasure these days and my family is always hassling me about a Christmas list, I figured I'd share this list of basketball books being released this year, courtesy of The Painted Area. The Free Darko book is particularly intriguing; The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac was really great and I expect this one to be equally good. I've generally resisted the advanced stats movement, but it's part of the dialog about the game now, so I may just pick up the Basketball Prospectus, as well. And the Whelliston book is right in the wheelhouse of stuff I like.
• Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Doc may stick around after this year. It doesn't seem like something worth talking about at the moment, but it's bound to get mentioned here and there.