Viewing Alert

Hey gang...I hope to keep posting regularly now. I'm studying for the Nevada bar exam but should be able to watch most games and at least put up a few words every time I do between now and the end of February.

Dallas at Boston, 8 p.m. Eastern, ESPN.

After dropping three straight to start the season, the Celtics won four in a row. That's the good news. The bad news is that the teams they beat -- the Pistons, the Wizards twice, and New Jersey -- are hardly world-beaters; they're a combined 5-25 on the season. And in Boston's last outing, a sluggish home loss last Friday night, they lost to the Pacers.

This means, of course, that Boston still hasn't beaten a playoff-caliber team. Dallas, the defending champs, would qualify, but at 5-5 and winners of two straight, they're just now rounding into form.

Boston's had four days off, while Dallas played Tuesday night. But the Mavs got plenty of rest in easily dispatching Detroit -- ten players played at least 17 minutes, but no one played more than Dirk Nowitzki's 28. Nowitzki, by the way, was 9-of-10 from the floor and was a +42 on the night (meaning that the Mavs outscored the Pistons by 42 points when Action Dirk was on the floor, and were outscored by 28 with him on the bench).

By the way, former Celtic (twice over) Delonte West hooked up with Dallas in the offseason, and has started every game other than the season opener. With Jason Kidd sidelined with a bad back, West has been starting at point guard, with the newly-acquired Vince Carter playing the two. Dallas also added Lamar Odom in the offseason, LO having demanded a trade from the Lakers after he was included in the Chris Paul deal that was squashed by the league.

I haven't really seen Dallas this year, and so I can only speculate as to whether integrating the new pieces has been a source of Dallas' struggles. I do know that Tuesday night notwithstanding, Nowitzki's shooting has been terrible this year, as has Shawn Marion's, and that Odom has been more or less a non-factor thus far. Dallas is deep, but they may still be figuring out how to put the pieces together.

Catching Up On The Preseason Moves

I generally don't like to post about rumored moves, because I can't keep up with the news and you're better off getting your information somewhere else. This year, especially, has been difficult to follow, with the whole offseason and preseason condensed into like three weeks. I think the below information is accurate, but I'm seeing all sorts of conflicting reports and can't be sure.

Let me start with the moves we didn't make:

We didn't trade for Chris Paul. I laid out how I felt about trading Rajon Rondo for Paul in this post, but it really turned out to be a moot point: If what the Lakers and Clippers were willing to give up wasn't enough to satisfy David Stern, then no package the Celtics put together would have. Rondo reportedly has been upbeat at camp thus far, so it appears we've avoided the whole mess and kept everyone reasonably happy.

We didn't trade for David West. Before he signed with the Pacers, we were rumored to be sending Jermaine O'Neal and an unnamed player to the Hornets in a sign-and-trade for West. It ultimately fell through, and I know a few people are a little bummed out that it did. I'm glad we couldn't get it to work, though. I've always liked West, but he's 31 and had ACL surgery in April, and his preferred mid-range game doesn't make him a good fit alongside Kevin Garnett. That meant that at best, we would have been getting a sixth-starter type who poses some lineup challenges for Doc. At worst, we'd have been getting a veteran who needed more than eight months to recover from a knee injury and was more or less useless in perhaps our last push for a championship. Not the kind of guy you want to throw $20 million at, especially at the expense of the only decent center on our roster, as unreliable as his health may be.

We didn't sign Delonte West. This is the one that bugs me a little bit. A wrist injury derailed his return to Boston last season, but the guy is a proven combo guard who can help at both ends of the floor. I don't exactly know what went down, but I'm guessing Delonte wanted more money or more years than we were willing to give him. I'll be interested to see, when he does sign (the Lakers are a possibility, by the way), how much it's for, because I think we're going to regret not ponying up for him.

Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Jermaine O'Neal were under contract and are back, as is Avery Bradley. We also signed our two draft picks, JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore. Here's how we've filled out the rest of the roster:

We traded Glen Davis to Orlando for Brandon Bass. I like this move. Baby is a likable guy and a serviceable player, but his love affair with his inconsistent jumper was infuriating. In Bass, the Celtics get a similar player (Bass loves the mid-range game, too), but one who shoots a bit better and can score at the rim -- where Baby would get his shot blocked inside because he lacked the athleticism to get off the ground and explode through defenders, Bass should be able to finish those plays. Bass is also a more consistent offensive rebounder than Davis, and better on the defensive glass, as well. If I have one reservation about this trade, it's that Bass was highly-coveted by the Magic, who signed him to a four-year, $18 million contract in 2009, then almost immediately soured on him. He averaged just 13 minutes per game in his first year in Orlando, averaging twice that last year when the Magic shook up their team with various trades. Magic coach Stan Van Gundy is a defense-oriented guy, and so it's hard for me to imagine that he'd sign off on this swap if unless he thought he was getting an upgrade on that end of the floor. The defensive metrics seem to point to Bass being a downgrade from Davis, whose major contribution on defense was taking charges in help defense situations. So I guess we'll see how Bass holds up on D, though a good scheme can do a lot to hide deficiencies in that area.

We signed Jeff Green to a one-year deal. Jeff Clark over at Celtics Blog has some good insight as to what this specific contract means for Boston's financial future (though I don't know where he gets the $9 million figure -- I haven't seen it confirmed anywhere), but here's what it means to me: Danny blew up the core of the 2008 title team, the team with the best record in the East at the time, for a guy who is going to be an unrestricted free agent after this season. I know I shouldn't live in the past and that you shouldn't throw good money after bad, but it just doesn't make sense to me. What could Danny have seen during Green's three-month tenure with Boston last season that made him second-guess his opinion? Don't get me wrong; I'm not a huge fan of Green's. But it's unreasonable to expect a guy to come to Doc River's Celtics in the middle of the season and expect him to integrate in right away. It hasn't happened at all in the past four seasons. Either you believe in the guy or you don't. To me, this contract is just another sign of how bad the Perk trade was, even if the contract is actually fine for the Celtics.

We signed Chris Wilcox, Marquis Daniels, Sasha Pavlovic, Keyon Dooling, and Greg Stiemsma. Along with Bass and Green, this is the crew that's going to make up the second unit. Wilcox is a journeyman center who is capable of decent numbers when he's healthy, but his 57 games with Detroit last year were the most he's played in a season since 2007-08. In his prime, he was putting up like a 13/7, but it's unlikely he's capable of that now. Daniels was finding his rhythm as a Celtic last year before a spine injury in early February ended his season and led to a trade to Sacramento. Especially with Delonte gone, it'll be good to have him back to spell Ray Allen. Pavlovic signed at the trade deadline last year to fill one of the roster spots left open by Daniels' move to the Kings. He played 17 games for the Celtics last year, and through the first 16, he made exactly four shots. In the 17th, the regular season finale against the Knicks, with all of Boston's starters resting, he came off the bench to make seven of ten shots (including four of five threes). I wouldn't expect him to play a lot of minutes, but he's the best shooter on the bench. Dooling is another journeyman, a point guard who excels on the defensive end but shoots too much, given how bad he is at it. His career three-point percentage is decent (35 percent), but his overall shooting percentage has been below 40 in each of the last two seasons. He's also the one new guy I know I'm going to have trouble rooting for, and that's especially true since we apparently chose him over Delonte. Stiemsma is a big body who was the D League defensive player of the year last season. I saw him on the USA team that won a bronze medal at the Pan-Am Games in October, and he did little to stand out.

Boston 92, Indiana 80

Boston's season is (hopefully) back on track, but not without a few "here we go again" moments early against the Pacers.

[recap] [box score]

Thanks to Monday's loss to the Nets, the Celtics found themselves in need of a win over the Pacers just to keep pace with the Bulls atop the Eastern Conference. And despite a fierce Paul Pierce dunk for the game's first bucket that I hoped would set the tone, Boston reverted back to the uninspired offensive ball it had played in the last several games, trailing by as many as seven points.

Enter Jeff Green and Glen Davis, who injected energy and, more importantly, offense into Boston. In his finest game in his short Celtics career, Green had 17 first-half points, keeping the home team a few points ahead of the visitors throughout much of the second quarter.

And then, the key sequence, the one that gave the Cs a comfortable lead: two Ray Allen threes sandwiched around a Paul Pierce triple, extending the Boston advantage from four points to eleven in less than a minute. The Garden crowd went crazy; timeout, Indy; but the Pacers wouldn't get closer than five the rest of the way.

Granted, the offense didn't keep rolling that way all night -- in fact, it was a fairly middling offensive performance, aside from that one minute. But that one minute is the kind of minute we'd gotten used to this season, a stretch where Boston's starters played with energy and purpose and rhythm and knocked down some shots as a result. Those are things that have been missing from Boston's offense lately, and hopefully it's back to stay.

Notable

• The Celtics organization honored Mike Gorman and Tommy Heinsohn before the game. They've been talking about "30 years of Mike & Tommy" on all the broadcasts this season, but this was the big evening, so to speak, as far as I could tell. A nice simple ceremony for a couple of guys who I think would rather not have had one at all.
• Perhaps as part of the festivities, Celtics "celebrity" fan Donnie Wahlberg joined them at the broadcast table for most of the second quarter. I was actually pretty impressed with his basketball knowledge; he seemed to understand the game, rather than just know it as a fan. One exception: He kept mentioning that he liked the Perkins trade because Andrew Bynum was the difference-maker in last year's Finals. Ignoring the fact, first of all, that Boston was ahead three games to two before Perk got hurt, it makes no sense at all to say that replacing Perkins with Shaquille O'Neal or Nenad Krstic is going to help Boston handle Bynum.
• Delonte West returned after missing eight games or so with a sprained ankle. Forced to sit the majority of the season due to a couple of injuries, West hopefully can find his rhythm before the postseason. It occurs to me, however, that his role maybe has changed somewhat. In training camp, which is really when he was able to get the majority of his work in, he was handling second-team point guard duties alongside Nate Robinson. Now, Robinson is gone, and West's likely backcourt partner is Carlos Arroyo, a true point guard who isn't suited to play the two. That means that West will probably slide over to shooting guard. On the one hand, it's his more natural position. On the other, it's another adjustment to be made in a season in which he probably hasn't yet felt comfortable.
• Troy Murphy had a two-handed reverse dunk in this basketball game. I can't find video of it, but I promise you that it happened.

I'll probably be tweeting a lot over the next few days, about the NCAA Tournament. My handle there is, of course, @HSSlamPhD.

Boston 89, New Jersey 83 - Delonte Breaks Wrist

[recap] [box score]

Sad news tonight for the Celtics despite the win, as Delonte West broke his right wrist in the second quarter trying to brace himself. As of this writing, I don't know of a timetable for his return. However, the wire story has Doc Rivers saying it's a compound fracture. I'm not a doctor, but I think that means that Delonte's bone broke through his skin. (If you're at all squeamish, do not Google "compound fracture.") Sports announcers always say they hate to speculate, but I, as a blogger, love to speculate -- it's part of why I blog -- and I'm speculating that Delonte's season could be over. Even if it isn't, it'll be a long while before we see him in uniform again.

It's difficult to say what the effect of losing Delonte for the foreseeable future will be, given that he'd only played a few games this season and hadn't had a chance to really gel yet with the second unit. I, and everyone else, hoped that he'd become our most valuable bench player, someone to come in and organize the offense, letting Nate Robinson play off the ball while our starting backcourt sat. I hoped he'd come in and be able to defend both guard positions and knock down the three when the defense left him open. Delonte West is capable of doing all of these things. Whether or not he actually was going to do them, of course, remains an open question, but it's safe to say that this is no minor loss.

Short term, things appear bleaker than they actually are, because Rajon Rondo missed his third straight game with a hamstring injury. That leaves Robinson and rookie Avery Bradley as our only healthy point guards, though Rondo's expected back soon. Even when he does return, however, West's absence will likely mean increased minutes for our starting perimeter guys as they take turns running with the second unit -- unless Doc has unreasonable confidence in Von Wafer or uncharacteristic confidence in Bradley. The other option would be to go out and get someone, but I don't know who that someone would be.

So sad. Delonte seemed on the verge of rejuvenating his career, then breaks his wrist four and a half games into his season. (Recall that he sat out the first ten games on a suspension.) There is, of course, a big elephant in the room that I feel neither comfortable nor qualified to address -- let's just say that I hope that whatever physical therapy program awaits him, it keeps him busy. Time for the Celtics family to look after one of its own.

Touching ever-so-briefly on the game itself, Shaquille O'Neal was a monster tonight, playing better than I've seen him play in years and much better than I ever thought I'd see him play in a Celtics uniform. I'm still worried a bit about his defense, but he's really throwing his weight around on offense and his teammates have been great at finding him.

The other player who merits attention for his performance Wednesday night is Marquis Daniels. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen put this game away down the stretch -- with a surprising assist from Shaq at the free throw line -- but Daniels, pressed into extra duty due to the West and Rondo injuries and the fact that Robinson was in foul trouble, had a strong game. His stat line was modest, but he did a lot of the little things on a night where Boston couldn't find a rhythm. If he can consistently play well, it will go a long way toward easing the sting from the loss of Delonte.

Oklahoma City 89, Boston 84

The game was on ESPN, but for those of you who missed it, you missed perhaps the worst fourth quarter in NBA history.

[recap] [box score]

The statistics are almost too graphic to post: by my count, according to the ESPN.com play-by-play, the teams combined to miss their last 22 shots from the floor -- 13 for Oklahoma City, nine for Boston. No one on either side made a basket during the final 9:27. The Thunder spent the final 12 minutes watching Russell Westbrook pound the ball and launch contested, ill-conceived jump shots. Boston was hardly much better, taking turns clanging shots, missing free throws, and turning the ball over.

For what it's worth, I thought Boston's defense was good enough to win -- not just in the fourth quarter, but for the whole game. Sure, the Thunder shot 57 percent from the field, but many of those makes were exactly the kind of shots the Celtics were inviting them to take: lightly-contested jumpshots. With Kevin Durant a late scratch due to an ankle injury, Boston perhaps didn't need to pack it in quite as much as they did, but credit Oklahoma City for making shots they don't usually make. Boston forced some turnovers -- and, after all, conceded only 49 points in the half.

In the third quarter, the Thunder extended its lead -- but mainly due to over-aggressive defense, not necessarily bad defense. Oklahoma City was shooting the penalty with over eight minutes to go in the period, and made 12 of 16 free throws. Boston should have eased up on the pressure a bit once they started the quarter committing so many fouls, but they weren't taking a bunch of stupid fouls or getting beat off the dribble all the time. OKC's shooting started to cool down, though they did make all three three-pointers they took in the period: two by Westbrook with Rajon Rondo's hand right in his face (keep in mind that Westbrook was 2-for-14 behind the arc on the season heading into this game), and a late-in-shot-clock heave by Royal Ivey that went in off the glass after the ball squirted to him when Rondo picked Westbrook twice as Westbrook was trying to drive.

This one, in my view, was lost on offense, and there were a ton of things the Celtics could have done differently to win this game on that end. They started the game out of synch for no particular reason, and never seemed to find any sort of flow. Shaquille O'Neal was a perfect five-for-five when he left the floor with 1:07 remaining in the first; he didn't get another opportunity in the post until 5:18 of the fourth -- a span that included 15 minutes of court time for Shaq, and this despite the fact that no Celtic was having a great game offensively. Ray Allen never got involved, and Glen Davis was so bad that we would have been better off if he hadn't gotten involved. Davis missed three free throws late in the fourth quarter (he was 2-of-6 for the game) and was the major part of a bench unit that was 1-for-10 from the line before making its final three attempts).

Even with all that, Boston still had chances. Allen had a good look at the go-ahead bucket with 30 seconds to go, but it was just a hair short. Delonte West got a great look at the game-tying three from the right corner on Boston's final possession, but couldn't knock it down. It was just one of those nights.

That's what it was, actually: just one of those nights. No lessons to be learned. No shame in losing to a Durant-less Thunder team. Just one of those nights.

Accordingly, here are just some of those bullets with a few discussion points that may be of interest:

• The Thunder opened the game with Westbrook playing several feet off Rondo. This defense is designed to keep Rondo out of the lane and to make it harder for him to get the ball to guys like Allen coming off screens. I think it's silly, but we've seen it before. What we haven't seen before, and what is totally inexplicable in my view, is Westbrook switching off of Rondo when Boston ran its 1-3 pick-and-roll to post Paul Pierce at the free throw line. If you're so unconcerned with Rondo's jumper, then just go behind the screen, hold Pierce up for a count so his man can get back to him, and go back to just chilling out ten feet off of Rondo. This play resulted in at least one ridiculous sequence which culminated in a Rondo layup after James Harden left him completely alone under the basket (presumably to double team, though Harden was basically standing in the middle of the lane, equi-distant from Rondo at the rim and Pierce at the line), and could have resulted in several more baskets on a night that Pierce had it going (he hits that 15-foot jumper over opposing point guards with regularity).
• I think the days of team's leaving Rondo that wide open may be numbered, however. He's been looking for his jumper more this season, taking it with confidence, and making it at what seems like an acceptable rate. My favorite play of this game came late in the second quarter, after Westbrook had just hit a pull-up jumper on Rondo at the other end. Rondo came down and came off a Kevin Garnett screen on the right side of the floor. KG popped to the opposite elbow, which is where he always goes on this play, and Rondo almost always passes him the ball. KG was open, but Rondo stopped and drilled the J. (In real time, I could've sworn that Rondo came off the screen, turned his head and look at a wide-open KG, then turned back and nailed the jumper -- take that, Russell! After rewinding and watching it again, I wasn't so sure that Rondo actually demonstratively looked in KG's direction, but make no mistake -- Rondo knew KG was open. It's not often that I'll praise a point guard for taking a shot when a teammate has a good look, but I loved the moxie and Rondo does need to punish teams for leaving him open.)
• Boston had a few minor injuries. Garnett took an elbow to the head on Boston's first possession, stayed on the floor after a quick 20-second timeout, came out after about three minutes, and then returned to the floor with a cartoon-like lump on the back of his noggin. Pierce left the floor briefly in the third quarter with some sort of leg problem, and could be seen limping in the waning minutes. And Rondo sat out most of the final six minutes after suffering some sort of leg injury in a collision with Ivey. Hopefully, none of these injuries are serious and the affected players won't miss any time.
• Officiating question: In the second quarter, Nick Collison drove to the bucket, drew contact from Semih Erden as he was going up for a shot, then clearly discarded Kevin Garnett with his off arm while laying the ball in. Does anyone know if the refs can wave the basket off in that spot, awarding Collison two shots (since Erden got him in the act of shooting) but not giving him the bucket that he got by virtue of committing an offensive foul? I'm not saying Collison should have been called for a foul -- but you can't just do whatever you want after you've been fouled and still get the continuation, can you?
• Westbrook was more or less a one-man band tonight. As such, he'll get all the credit for the win. Maybe I'm being too hard on the kid given that he didn't have Durant tonight or Jeff Green in either game against the Celtics, but I'm glad he's not on my team -- at least right now. He's a great defender and terrific athlete, and he can score some, but all I've seen him do in two games is pound the ball, take terrible shots, and turn the ball over at a prolific rate. In the eyes of many observers, he's already made a big leap this year, but he won't be elite in my eyes until he learns he has limitations and plays within himself.
• Then again, his teammates (those who played tonight, anyway) should be ashamed of themselves for being the biggest bunch of shrinking violets I've ever seen in the fourth quarter Friday night. You guys are NBA players, for chrissakes. Do something.

Boston 114, Washington 83

Just a few bullets on a night the Celtics made two-thirds of their shots and the opposition was without its best player.

[recap] [box score]

• Shaquille O'Neal, who had 16 points and six rebounds on Saturday against Memphis, had a second straight strong game, slapping up 13 and 6 in 22 minutes. As much trouble as he gave the undersized JaVale McGee on the offensive end, however, he gave up a number of offensive rebounds to McGee on the other end, especially in the first quarter. He did seem to be making a better effort to box out later in the game, however, so perhaps he simply didn't want to expend the effort early on.
• Delonte West saw his first action of the season and didn't look he missed a beat. The second team didn't play that well during its first stretch on the court, however, coming together only after the starters had put the game out of reach. Nate Robinson was still running the point the majority of the time, something that surprised me and that I hope will change. Robinson's few high points Wednesday night came when West and Marquis Daniels initiated the offense.
• Semih Erden played well, but he needs to do a better job of going and getting the ball with two hands, especially on rebounds. He's been wearing a brace on his left shoulder for the last several games, and I thought that perhaps the injury was causing the problem. But he took two lefty hooks in the second half, and I remember him fumbling a few one-armed rebounds in his first action this season (before he started sporting the brace), so I don't think that's it.
• Glen Davis had eight rebounds, added to his league-leading total of charges drawn (16 now), and had a couple of great assists, but he did way more facing up and driving than I'm comfortable with.
• Rajon Rondo had another 13 assists. The guy always puts the ball exactly where it needs to be. Always.
• 30 minutes for Rondo, 27 for Ray Allen, 27 for Paul Pierce, 23 for Kevin Garnett, and 22 for Shaq. That's more like it.
• Washington isn't very good with John Wall, and without him, they're terrible. I have no idea how they beat Toronto by 15 the night before. Gilbert Arenas seems content to drift around the perimeter launching three-pointers, and their bigs are erratic, to put it kindly. They have some one-dimensional scorers like Nick Young and Al Thornton -- and those guys are surely more effective with a playmaker like Wall in the lineup, but there just aren't that many good basketball players there.
• I do like the way Washington coach Flip Saunders seems to be holding everyone accountable and won't let the team get away with uninspired play. He kicked the whole team out of practice some days ago, and tonight, he called a timeout two minutes and 15 seconds into the third quarter after a defensive lapse by his team -- then called another 34 seconds later after another defensive lapse on the Celtics' next possession.

Boston 109, Detroit 86

For the first time in this young season, Boston played pretty well on both ends of the court.

[recap] [box score]

Shaquille O'Neal didn't play tonight, which means we got our first extended look at two Celtics newcomers in the post: veteran Jermaine O'Neal and rookie Semih Erden.

Offensively, Jermaine is a known quantity. He got a couple dunks rolling to the basket -- a good sign the Celtics offense was clicking -- but at this point in his career, he's a jump shooter. His shot wasn't falling at first, but came around in the second half. His line, 5-for-8 for 12 points, is probably around what we can hope for from him.

It was at the defensive end where I noticed Jermaine the most, probably because he's such an improvement over Shaq at that end. Twice in the first quarter, JON helped as Austin Daye blew past Kevin Garnett. On the first, Daye crashed into Jermaine, getting away with the charge while scoring, but on the second, JON registered the block.

I still think that Jermaine should (and will) start at center even when Shaq is healthy. His help defense is a much better fit with what the starting unit is used to playing alongside Kendrick Perkins. Even if he doesn't start, however, I'd expect to see him on the floor in crunch time a fair amount -- mostly because of his defense, but also because he's not a liability at the free throw line. He needs to rebound better than he did against the Pistons, but that's my only real criticism.

The defensive end is also where I most noticed Erden. The Turkish rookie wasn't always in the right spot, but often recovered in time to challenge the shot. The best example came at the end of the first quarter, just a few minutes after Erden entered the game and blocked a Jason Maxiell shot on his very first defensive possession. On this trip, the Pistons ran a pick-and-roll with Rodney Stuckey dribbling left over the screen at the top of the key. Erden jumped out to hedge, but jumped too far, giving Stuckey the daylight he needed to cross over and drive to the basket. But Erden stuck out his long left arm and jarred the ball loose momentarily. Stuckey recovered and continued his drive, but Erden recovered and blocked the shot out of bounds.

Offensively, Erden showed flashes of his ability. His lone basket -- his lone attempt -- came on a breakaway dunk after a Von Wafer steal (the first positive thing Wafer has done as a Celtic, by the way). Erden took off down the court as soon as Wafer had the ball, corralled a long pass, took one dribble, and dunked relatively smoothly. Then, late in the game, Erden was in the left corner when an offense rebound came to him. He turned to back his man down, but saw Marquis Daniels cutting toward the basket. Erden fired a quick pass over his right shoulder that hit Daniels in the perfect spot, a spot where only he could catch the ball. Layup.

On the whole, I thought Erden acquitted himself well. He certainly looked less lost than you'd expect from a foreign rookie center playing his first NBA game. All he needs to do is get rid of those white sneakers he was wearing, and he'll be on his way.

Bullets:

• Not only did Wafer assist on the first basket of Erden's career, he also assisted on the first basket of Luke Harangody's career, a fast break layup that came after Daniels stripped Daye on the other end. Wafer also assisted on Harangody's other basket, a 17-foot jumper.
• Seventeen more assists for Rajon Rondo, and a much smarter floor game this time out: He had zero turnovers. As a team, Boston coughed it up only eight times, and assisted on 33 of its 42 field goals.
• Boston had the ball at the end of the second and third quarters, and I don't have too much of a problem with either play, though neither was spectacular. At the end of the first half, Rondo fed Pierce posting up at the foul line. Pierce drew the double and kicked to Rondo for the three at the horn. That's not necessarily the shot we're looking for, but Rondo nailed it. At the end of the third quarter, Pierce took a three. Not the best shot in the world, but we didn't have a lot of time to develop anything and I think the Captain was feeling it a little bit.
• Speaking of Rondo and shooting, on one first-half possession, he dribbled upcourt, casually went around a screen on the wing, and buried a soft 17-footer that looked oh-so-comfortable. There's a decent shot hiding in that kid somewhere, I know it.
• The one downside about this game was that Doc Rivers had to play the starters a bit more than could have been necessary had the second team taken care of business to start the fourth quarter. Boston was ahead by 20 after three, but a quick 8-2 Piston run brought Ray Allen and Garnett off the bench. (Pierce and Rondo followed shortly thereafter.) The minutes weren't out of control -- 36 for Rondo, 34 for Allen, 33 for Garnett, 32 for Pierce -- but the Celtics play again Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday and the fourth quarter added 3-5 minutes on the starters' odometers.
• Part of the reason Doc had to re-insert the starters was because the second team lacked organization on offense. When Nate Robinson tries to take on that role, he subordinates his offense too much, and the bench mob needs Nate's scoring ability. Marquis Daniels tried to do it against Detroit, but he forced a bunch of shots. Hopefully, when Delonte West gets back, we'll see the second unit really gel.

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.

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.

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.

Preseason: Boston 96, New Jersey 92

The NBA Preseason: Where Marquis Daniels nailing a game-sealing three-pointer happens.

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

The big thing I took from this game is that as things stand now, Shaquille O'Neal should not be our starting center except in emergencies, for a number of reasons.

For one, he's a defensive liability. I knew that, but it's worse than I thought. In the first quarter last night, he gave up an easy bucket on the pick and roll, allowed something like nine quick points to Brook Lopez, and picked up three fouls in just over four minutes (though as Mike Fratello pointed out during the broadcast, the officials tend to call more fouls in the preseason than they do once the games start to count).

With the other positions on the starting unit solid defensively, opponents would attack Shaq. In addition to easy buckets, this would likely lead to foul trouble for the big fella, which throws the rotation out of whack and puts the Celtics in the penalty early. If Shaq comes off the bench, he'd be going up against the other team's second-string, which is typically less capable of exploiting defensive weaknesses.

Second, he fits well with the second team, or at least I think he does, because I haven't actually seen him play with the second team. But he's still a force to be reckoned with offensively (he backed down Lopez for about 12 feet on one first-quarter basket) and I imagine he'd wreak even more havoc against second-stringers. Moreover, with Nate Robinson and Delonte West the likely backcourt off the bench, we've got some real shooters to surround Shaq in the post.

Third, he doesn't fit perfectly with the starting unit. One of the things we heard coming out of training camp is that Kevin Garnett seemed to have a new commitment to working in the post, which is something we all want to see from him. But he can't really do that with Shaq in the game, since the other team isn't going to pay attention to Shaq unless he's near the basket. In contrast, a KG-JON high-low (in either permutation) is something for the other team to worry about.

I still think Shaq was a great signing and will be a valuable player for us this year. But I think Jermaine O'Neal should be the starter, once he gets healthy.

Some bullets:

• One caveat to what I said above about Shaq with the second team is that the current bench unit seems to have a very nice chemistry with each other. As I mentioned before, Robinson and West are shooters, but they aren't just spot-up guys, and Marquis Daniels' value is in his movement without the ball. There's room on the court for all of them and Shaq and Glen Davis; we just need to be conscious about getting too stagnant on O.
• I still have concerns about their size, but I hope Doc plays Robinson, West, and Daniels to start the second and fourth quarters (once Delonte gets back from his ten-game suspension to start the season, of course). They seem to play well together, and just as importantly, it'd save Paul Pierce and Ray Allen a significant amount of minutes over the course of the season.
• Garnett really does look better. His shot isn't falling, but watching him run up and down the court, you can just tell that his leg isn't bothering him the way it was.
• Semih Erden didn't have as good a game against the Nets as he did against the Sixers, but I really like what I've seen so far. He moves well enough, understands the game, and has skills. Most importantly, he's comfortable on the court, despite his youth and relative inexperience. I still don't expect to see a whole lot of him unless injuries hit, but I feel a lot more comfortable about the team if injuries to the big men do become a problem.
• Davis showed some decent variety in his offensive game.
• Pierce looked good attacking the basket.
• None of the guys vying for the 15th spot on the roster did anything to distinguish themselves in a positive way.