Lately, my recap posts seem to be focusing on the intangibles; the story, rather than the Xs and Os. The Celtics' resilience and LeBron James' ability to rise to the occasion will no doubt play a part in determining who wins Saturday night, but there's actual basketball to be played, too. I want to spend a few minutes talking a little bit about some "basketball things" that I've got my mind on heading into Game 7. They're in no real order.
1. Paul Pierce is due for a big game. We showered him with praise after he that dagger in Game 5, so it's fair to say that he was awful in Game 6. I'm inclined to forgive him more for the defensive end (no one was stopping LeBron in that one) than for the offensive end, where he shot 4 for 18, including missed layups and clanged jumpers. The problem is that Pierce really hasn't been very good all series, with just two games of shooting that could even be considered decent. Given the shots he's getting, and missing, I assume that it's his knee, and I'm not bringing this up to criticize him. Rather, I mention it to say that anyone who expects him to come to our rescue with a huge game akin to Cleveland in 2008 is probably going to be disappointed.
2. With that said, Pierce is still a key component to our offense and one of the game's most clutch performers. To that end, we need to figure out a way to keep him on the floor. He's fouled out twice this series (in addition to getting DQ'd from Game 7 against Philly), and he picked up 3 fouls in the first half of Game 6. He's had success guarding James in the past, and he hasn't gotten any favors from the officials, but I think it's clear that the knee is hampering his performance on that end, as well, just as you'd expect it to. Some of this is on Pierce, who needs to play smart and not take bad fouls, but some of it is also on Doc. If you're willing to let Mickael Pietrus and Marquis Daniels and even Brandon Bass check James when Pierce is out of the game, then you have to be willing to put one of those guys on him to protect Pierce when he's in the game. For example, in Game 6, when Pierce came back into the game in the second quarter with two fouls, he went right back on James, picked up his third foul with like six minutes to go, and had to sit the rest of the half. To start the third, Doc put Bass on James, ostensibly to protect Pierce. But by waiting until Pierce was already in serious foul trouble before making a move, Doc kept Pierce off the court for a big chunk of the second quarter. The key is to start protecting him before it affects his playing time.
3. We only saw a possession or two of zone in Game 6, and absent truly exigent circumstances, I hope that means we've seen the last of it in this series. Miami was reasonably effective scoring against the zone in Game 5; what worked is that Boston was changing defenses and disguising what they were running, and that led to confusion and some wasted possessions when we went back to man-to-man. The element of surprise is gone, however, and Miami not only is ready for the zone, they are ready for us to switch it up. That particular trick isn't going to work anymore, and the zone itself isn't effective enough on its own.
4. Rajon Rondo has to be aggressive. He is charged with a nearly impossible task; he's the only Celtic who is able to consistently get easy baskets for himself, and yet he also has to get the other guys going, too. What Rondo must realize is that his offense opens up the floor for everyone else; when he is penetrating and getting into the lane, shots open up for others, whether it's Kevin Garnett on the pick and roll, Garnett and Bass on the pick-and-pop, or Pierce and Ray Allen spotting up along the perimeter. It's fine to run a few plays for Pierce and Allen early to try and get them a few jumpers, but if that isn't working, Rondo needs to shoulder a heavier scoring load himself, quickly. We can't afford to waste half a quarter trying to get the other guys going. If Rondo's attacking, then the rest of the offense should establish itself.
5. We need something from the bench. While a performance like the one we got from Pietrus in Game 5 would be nice, something to that degree isn't even necessary. I expect Rondo to play the full 48 minutes, and I expect that James will, as well. But Garnett won't, and neither will Pierce and Allen. Pietrus, Daniels, and Keyon Dooling must play their usual strong defense while scoring at least enough to keep us in striking distance.
6. I don't think that home court advantage will affect the players; we've played our two best games of the series in Miami's barn. I do worry that the home crowd will affect the refs. Officiating played a huge role in Boston's Game 2 loss. While I don't know who is assigned to Game 7, I do know that I don't want to see Eddie Malloy or Billy Kennedy, two officials who have shown anti-Boston proclivities and who seem overmatched by big games. And regardless of who is officiating, the players need to put any bad calls behind them quickly.
7. Finally, Boston must be resilient. Miami is a strong defensive team with a couple remarkably talented offensive players. It's nearly impossible to play a game against the Heat without them going on a couple of six- or eight-point runs. The key will be preventing them from turning those spurts into 12- and 14-point surges. Boston can win this game if they are down a few points entering the fourth quarter, but if they're down double-digits after the third, the task may be too hard. The Celtics were resilient in Game 5, and it paid off; Boston stayed in it when things weren't going right in the first half, then made their run when the shots started falling in the third quarter. They were resilient in Game 6, too; the difference is that we couldn't get anything to fall even as we continued to hang around. As long as we stay resilient, then we'll have a great shot at this. Fortunately, staying resilient is one of the things we do best.
Game 7 starts at 8:30 Eastern on ESPN. Let's do this!
Showing posts with label Mickael Pietrus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mickael Pietrus. Show all posts
Friday, June 8, 2012
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Boston 94, Miami 90
[recap] [box score]
You want to know when I knew the Celtics were going to win Game 5?
It was well before Kevin Garnett grabbed Dwyane Wade's desperation three-pointer and flung it downcourt as the final seconds ticked off the clock. It was well before Garnett hit a pair of free throws to keep the Boston lead at four points in those final seconds, and before Ray Allen knocked down a pair the possession before. It was even before Paul Pierce, his team clinging to a one-point lead with less than a minute left, shook off a 5-for-18 shooting night, stared down the MVP, and drilled perhaps the Truthiest shot of his career.
It was with 9:37 left in the game. Not a moment you remember? Read on.
With Boston leading 70-67, Garnett picked up his fourth foul on the offensive end, having allegedly thrown Dwyane Wade to the floor while fighting for post possession. KG took a few steps downcourt while cradling the basketball, raised it to his lips for a quick kiss, then flipped it to a referee.
I didn't know at that moment. I didn't know until a couple of seconds later, when they showed the replay, and I saw that Garnett hadn't touched Wade; Wade had gotten his feet tangled up with James as the latter was chasing a Celtic on the perimeter. It was a bad call at a crucial moment -- and Garnett didn't say a word.
"These guys are dialed in," I thought. And that's when I knew.
Really, I should have noticed it earlier. Doc Rivers did; at halftime, he said was proud of his guys for sticking it out in the first half, which was a nightmare of missed layups and clanked jumpers. (Despite shooting just 33% in the opening half, they went into the break down just two.) They survived two early fouls on Rajon Rondo and some quasi-foul trouble on other key players. Garnett had a monster dunk in the third quarter while getting fouled by James Jones, and didn't so much as look at Jones, never mind bark at him or brush shoulders as he walked to the free throw line -- the kind of stuff we've come to expect. There were some lapses -- Rajon Rondo's backcourt violation, Rondo allowing Norris Cole to chase him down from behind on a two-on-one break, Brandon Bass picking up a technical for spiking the ball in frustration -- but for the most part, this was the most focused the Celtics have been in this postseason.
This was in contrast to the Heat. They were once again preoccupied with the officials, though perhaps not as badly as in previous games, had some major lapses in transition defense, and at times seemed afraid to take shots or run any offense whatsoever.
Boston's focus culminated in what seemed like a postseason's worth of loose balls in the fourth quarter. The first, and the one that everyone's talking about, was the Rondo tap-out to Mickael Pietrus after Wade made an incredible block of a Bass dunk. It was an incredible play and gets a lot of attention because of it staved off a major momentum shift in favor of Miami -- the Heat were already up six, and Wade's block was so spectacular it would have taken the roof off the building. But the second Rondo deflection, this time off an Allen miss, was an even more remarkable play. Instead of simply tapping the ball to a nearby teammate, on this play Rondo -- while moving forward and slightly to his right -- essentially threw a tap bounce pass across his body to the left, past a Heat defender and into an open space where Pietrus could retrieve it. MP got the ball to Pierce, who penetrated and kicked to Garnett, whose jumper gave Boston a one-point lead.
The final loose ball that went our way was the luckiest. Pierce threw a bad pass to Allen that was deflected, bounced off a Heat player, then off Allen's leg. Allen dove on it, and from the floor, kicked it out to Pierce, who hit Pietrus in the corner. Pietrus hit his second huge three of the quarter, balancing out a Mario Chalmers three on the previous possession. These were plays that we simply hadn't made earlier in the playoffs.
This was a huge win, but the series isn't over yet, and Boston has to be ready to play a full 48 minutes of focused basketball on Thursday. There's always the chance, I suppose, that the Celtics can deliver an early knockout punch like they did in Game 6 of the 2008 Finals -- these Heat aren't mentally tough the same way those Lakers weren't mentally tough -- but huge games from James and Wade are a more likely scenario. Garnett was huge, again, but he may have his hands a bit more full in Game 6 with Chris Bosh, who inexplicably played just 12 minutes in his return to the corner. Pietrus had his best game of the postseason, on both ends of the court. Other than those two, however, no one could really get going, and the Celtics will have to find a way to get the offense going while being prepared, like they were tonight, for things to get cold again. They must anticipate that James and Wade will get every call in a close-out game, and keep their composure and play through any frustration. They can't count on Miami missing open looks, or being confused by Doc switching defenses the way they were in Game 5.
They can close it out at home, but to do so, they'll have to play their best game yet.
You want to know when I knew the Celtics were going to win Game 5?
It was well before Kevin Garnett grabbed Dwyane Wade's desperation three-pointer and flung it downcourt as the final seconds ticked off the clock. It was well before Garnett hit a pair of free throws to keep the Boston lead at four points in those final seconds, and before Ray Allen knocked down a pair the possession before. It was even before Paul Pierce, his team clinging to a one-point lead with less than a minute left, shook off a 5-for-18 shooting night, stared down the MVP, and drilled perhaps the Truthiest shot of his career.
It was with 9:37 left in the game. Not a moment you remember? Read on.
With Boston leading 70-67, Garnett picked up his fourth foul on the offensive end, having allegedly thrown Dwyane Wade to the floor while fighting for post possession. KG took a few steps downcourt while cradling the basketball, raised it to his lips for a quick kiss, then flipped it to a referee.
I didn't know at that moment. I didn't know until a couple of seconds later, when they showed the replay, and I saw that Garnett hadn't touched Wade; Wade had gotten his feet tangled up with James as the latter was chasing a Celtic on the perimeter. It was a bad call at a crucial moment -- and Garnett didn't say a word.
"These guys are dialed in," I thought. And that's when I knew.
Really, I should have noticed it earlier. Doc Rivers did; at halftime, he said was proud of his guys for sticking it out in the first half, which was a nightmare of missed layups and clanked jumpers. (Despite shooting just 33% in the opening half, they went into the break down just two.) They survived two early fouls on Rajon Rondo and some quasi-foul trouble on other key players. Garnett had a monster dunk in the third quarter while getting fouled by James Jones, and didn't so much as look at Jones, never mind bark at him or brush shoulders as he walked to the free throw line -- the kind of stuff we've come to expect. There were some lapses -- Rajon Rondo's backcourt violation, Rondo allowing Norris Cole to chase him down from behind on a two-on-one break, Brandon Bass picking up a technical for spiking the ball in frustration -- but for the most part, this was the most focused the Celtics have been in this postseason.
This was in contrast to the Heat. They were once again preoccupied with the officials, though perhaps not as badly as in previous games, had some major lapses in transition defense, and at times seemed afraid to take shots or run any offense whatsoever.
Boston's focus culminated in what seemed like a postseason's worth of loose balls in the fourth quarter. The first, and the one that everyone's talking about, was the Rondo tap-out to Mickael Pietrus after Wade made an incredible block of a Bass dunk. It was an incredible play and gets a lot of attention because of it staved off a major momentum shift in favor of Miami -- the Heat were already up six, and Wade's block was so spectacular it would have taken the roof off the building. But the second Rondo deflection, this time off an Allen miss, was an even more remarkable play. Instead of simply tapping the ball to a nearby teammate, on this play Rondo -- while moving forward and slightly to his right -- essentially threw a tap bounce pass across his body to the left, past a Heat defender and into an open space where Pietrus could retrieve it. MP got the ball to Pierce, who penetrated and kicked to Garnett, whose jumper gave Boston a one-point lead.
The final loose ball that went our way was the luckiest. Pierce threw a bad pass to Allen that was deflected, bounced off a Heat player, then off Allen's leg. Allen dove on it, and from the floor, kicked it out to Pierce, who hit Pietrus in the corner. Pietrus hit his second huge three of the quarter, balancing out a Mario Chalmers three on the previous possession. These were plays that we simply hadn't made earlier in the playoffs.
This was a huge win, but the series isn't over yet, and Boston has to be ready to play a full 48 minutes of focused basketball on Thursday. There's always the chance, I suppose, that the Celtics can deliver an early knockout punch like they did in Game 6 of the 2008 Finals -- these Heat aren't mentally tough the same way those Lakers weren't mentally tough -- but huge games from James and Wade are a more likely scenario. Garnett was huge, again, but he may have his hands a bit more full in Game 6 with Chris Bosh, who inexplicably played just 12 minutes in his return to the corner. Pietrus had his best game of the postseason, on both ends of the court. Other than those two, however, no one could really get going, and the Celtics will have to find a way to get the offense going while being prepared, like they were tonight, for things to get cold again. They must anticipate that James and Wade will get every call in a close-out game, and keep their composure and play through any frustration. They can't count on Miami missing open looks, or being confused by Doc switching defenses the way they were in Game 5.
They can close it out at home, but to do so, they'll have to play their best game yet.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Boston 93, Miami 91 (Overtime)
[recap] [box score]
This team really is unlike any other I've ever seen.
When it's clicking, Boston's offense is as pretty as anybody's in the NBA, unselfish, the ball flowing from the hands of a young point guard whose creativity and court vision is unmatched, to one of history's best passing big men, to the franchise's second-leading scorer, to the greatest outside shooter in the history of the game, ending in a jumper so pure you can feel the snap of the net even as you're sitting in your chair. In the same game -- hell, in the same quarter -- that same offense can deteriorate into what ESPN's Bill Simmons calls a clogged toilet, a series of forced isolations that are now in their fifth straight year of accomplishing nothing but letting the opponent back in the game. They've played more playoff games than any other team over the last five years -- more often than not getting the job done -- and yet they have inexplicable trouble closing out a game, or a playoff series. They do nothing easily, and watching them barely scrape by or hang on, you get the feeling that it's going to come back to bite them in the collective ass.
Watching this team, in essence, is an exercise in waiting for the other shoe to drop.
You'll forgive me, then, for thinking that Dwyane Wade -- standing alone, 24 feet from the home goal at the Garden, with Boston up two and the final seconds of overtime ticking away -- was that proverbial other shoe. You'll forgive me for thinking that his three-pointer was going in.
But it didn't. It was short -- just barely, maybe an inch (probably less) -- but short. And so Boston, which had given up all of an 18-point first half lead, was let off the hook. Doc Rivers was let off the hook for mismanaging the end game in regulation (more on this later). Paul Pierce was let off the hook for fouling out for the third time in five games. Kevin Garnett was let off the hook for the late offensive foul that gave Miami a chance to win it in regulation. Mickael Pietrus was leaving LeBron James wide open -- and I mean [i]wide open[/i] for the game-tying three with 37 seconds left. Rajon Rondo was let off the hook for his petulant kick at Shane Battier (and ensuing technical) late in the first half. Marquis Daniels was let off the hook for letting Wade shake him with a pump fake for that final look. I could go on, but I won't.
If you read the above, you're probably under the impression that the Celtics were lucky to win this game and go back to Miami tied 2-2 instead of in a 3-1 hole. And it's true: Boston was fortunate to win, as any team must be when it continually lives so close to the edge. But it's also true that you make your own luck, and for everyone in the above list (and everyone else who played, for that matter), I could point to something they did that was absolutely instrumental in this win, whether it was helping build the big first-half lead or recovering after Miami surged ahead. It was yet another mix of brilliance, horror, and resilience -- and everybody played a part in all of it.
A few scattered thoughts:
1. I mentioned earlier that I thought Doc blew the endgame in regulation. Specifically, when James hit that three to tie it up with 37 seconds left, Boston had two timeouts remaining. This was a perfect two-for-one opportunity; Doc could've called timeout to advance the ball, then drawn up one of his signature out-of-bounds plays for a quick shot, leaving enough time on the clock that they'd get the ball back after a Miami possession (after which they'd once again be able to advance the ball with a timeout). It's basic NBA strategy -- you get two possessions to your opponent's one -- and while I think it can be overused and teams often end up getting two bad shots, there was enough time to get something good on the first possession and still leave enough time for a good look on the second possession. And it would have been particularly appropriate in Sunday's game, when Boston had basically gotten nothing in the flow of the offense in the second half. But, to my shock, Doc let them go, and Garnett was called for a foul for trapping James' arm as a way of preventing him from challenging Rondo's drive. Boston was able to survive Miami's potential game-winning possession due to some strong defense and a really poor play on the part of the Heat and coach Erik Spoelstra, but had they been able to score and win the game there, Doc's error in the fourth would have the lead of this post.
2. Rondo turned in what is becoming a typical Rondo performance: brilliant first half, some dicey moments in the second half, big buckets when the team needed them down the stretch, and the frustrating, if momentary, loss of his cool (the Battier kick). He added something new: unprecedented candor during the halftime interview. After a 61-point outburst over the opening 24 minutes, Doris Burke asked him what holes the Celtics were exploiting. His response: "Them complaining and crying to the referees in transition."
I'm curious what the reaction will be. What he said was true: In what is becoming an annoyingly common occurrence in the NBA, the Heat actually were giving up buckets in transition because they were barking at the officials instead of getting back on D. The Heat players might try to use it as some sort of motivation, though I imagine Spoelstra wouldn't mind someone else pointing out to his guys that all the bitching actually hurts them. I also wonder if it was a calculated move on Rondo's part, or just him being honest. There certainly shouldn't be any fallout with the league -- he wasn't criticizing the officials.
3. I'm beginning to wonder if Boston's habit of slowing the pace down in the second half is an energy-conserving tactic. The Heat have been going to increasingly small lineups, which has shortened Doc's big man rotation (Greg Stiemsma played all of 32 seconds in Game 4 and Ryan Hollins didn't get off the bench). Garnett is playing too many minutes (43 on Sunday) and Pierce and Allen are battling injuries. I don't think we'll find out if that's the case -- it's not the kind of thing you admit during a series. But it's hard to find another rational explanation for why Boston goes to an offensive strategy that almost never works, then goes back to running their normal offense when they absolutely have to.
4. The officiating in the fourth quarter and in overtime was just bizarre. James flopped trying to deny a Garnett post-up, and the official -- Billy Kennedy, I think -- whistled a double foul. Pierce's sixth foul, a late call by Kennedy early in overtime, came on a minor bit of contact between him and Shane Battier, who flopped to the ground on the play. And James was disqualified with his sixth foul later in overtime by Joey Crawford for muscling Pietrus to the floor. I think that it was inconsistent enough that both teams had gripes and that you really couldn't say one team had the advantage over the other, but there were a bunch of weird calls, particularly late, that had me scratching my head once again.
5. Ray Allen looked more like himself on Sunday than he has since he came back. That's a great sign. I've got no doubt he's still hurting, but it's not affecting his shot as much as it was.
I think we should be feeling good heading back to Miami. Boston had some trouble closing out these last two games, but they outplayed Miami for big chunks of Games 2, 3, and 4. The Celtics seem to have figured out how to keep James and Wade out of the lane as much as possible, which is crucial to beating the Heat. Miami has been making big adjustments on what seems to be an almost constant basis -- playing different people at center, going small, trapping the pick-and-roll, switching the pick-and-roll, putting James on Rondo, etc. That makes them a little bit hard to game plan for, but it also suggests to me that we're a bit more comfortable than they are. There's also been some rumbling that Chris Bosh might return for some part of this series, which would be interesting -- I'm honestly not sure whether that'd be bad or good for Boston.
Game 5 is Tuesday night in Miami, at 8:30 Eastern on ESPN. We've got the momentum, but it's crucial to remember something that I keep reminding my girlfriend (an avid Spurs fan): Nothing's happened in this series yet. Both teams have held serve at home, and Miami has the advantage of being able to win the series without winning on the road. Boston, on the other hand, has to win at least once on South Beach. No better time than Tuesday -- if that's not too easy.
This team really is unlike any other I've ever seen.
When it's clicking, Boston's offense is as pretty as anybody's in the NBA, unselfish, the ball flowing from the hands of a young point guard whose creativity and court vision is unmatched, to one of history's best passing big men, to the franchise's second-leading scorer, to the greatest outside shooter in the history of the game, ending in a jumper so pure you can feel the snap of the net even as you're sitting in your chair. In the same game -- hell, in the same quarter -- that same offense can deteriorate into what ESPN's Bill Simmons calls a clogged toilet, a series of forced isolations that are now in their fifth straight year of accomplishing nothing but letting the opponent back in the game. They've played more playoff games than any other team over the last five years -- more often than not getting the job done -- and yet they have inexplicable trouble closing out a game, or a playoff series. They do nothing easily, and watching them barely scrape by or hang on, you get the feeling that it's going to come back to bite them in the collective ass.
Watching this team, in essence, is an exercise in waiting for the other shoe to drop.
You'll forgive me, then, for thinking that Dwyane Wade -- standing alone, 24 feet from the home goal at the Garden, with Boston up two and the final seconds of overtime ticking away -- was that proverbial other shoe. You'll forgive me for thinking that his three-pointer was going in.
But it didn't. It was short -- just barely, maybe an inch (probably less) -- but short. And so Boston, which had given up all of an 18-point first half lead, was let off the hook. Doc Rivers was let off the hook for mismanaging the end game in regulation (more on this later). Paul Pierce was let off the hook for fouling out for the third time in five games. Kevin Garnett was let off the hook for the late offensive foul that gave Miami a chance to win it in regulation. Mickael Pietrus was leaving LeBron James wide open -- and I mean [i]wide open[/i] for the game-tying three with 37 seconds left. Rajon Rondo was let off the hook for his petulant kick at Shane Battier (and ensuing technical) late in the first half. Marquis Daniels was let off the hook for letting Wade shake him with a pump fake for that final look. I could go on, but I won't.
If you read the above, you're probably under the impression that the Celtics were lucky to win this game and go back to Miami tied 2-2 instead of in a 3-1 hole. And it's true: Boston was fortunate to win, as any team must be when it continually lives so close to the edge. But it's also true that you make your own luck, and for everyone in the above list (and everyone else who played, for that matter), I could point to something they did that was absolutely instrumental in this win, whether it was helping build the big first-half lead or recovering after Miami surged ahead. It was yet another mix of brilliance, horror, and resilience -- and everybody played a part in all of it.
A few scattered thoughts:
1. I mentioned earlier that I thought Doc blew the endgame in regulation. Specifically, when James hit that three to tie it up with 37 seconds left, Boston had two timeouts remaining. This was a perfect two-for-one opportunity; Doc could've called timeout to advance the ball, then drawn up one of his signature out-of-bounds plays for a quick shot, leaving enough time on the clock that they'd get the ball back after a Miami possession (after which they'd once again be able to advance the ball with a timeout). It's basic NBA strategy -- you get two possessions to your opponent's one -- and while I think it can be overused and teams often end up getting two bad shots, there was enough time to get something good on the first possession and still leave enough time for a good look on the second possession. And it would have been particularly appropriate in Sunday's game, when Boston had basically gotten nothing in the flow of the offense in the second half. But, to my shock, Doc let them go, and Garnett was called for a foul for trapping James' arm as a way of preventing him from challenging Rondo's drive. Boston was able to survive Miami's potential game-winning possession due to some strong defense and a really poor play on the part of the Heat and coach Erik Spoelstra, but had they been able to score and win the game there, Doc's error in the fourth would have the lead of this post.
2. Rondo turned in what is becoming a typical Rondo performance: brilliant first half, some dicey moments in the second half, big buckets when the team needed them down the stretch, and the frustrating, if momentary, loss of his cool (the Battier kick). He added something new: unprecedented candor during the halftime interview. After a 61-point outburst over the opening 24 minutes, Doris Burke asked him what holes the Celtics were exploiting. His response: "Them complaining and crying to the referees in transition."
I'm curious what the reaction will be. What he said was true: In what is becoming an annoyingly common occurrence in the NBA, the Heat actually were giving up buckets in transition because they were barking at the officials instead of getting back on D. The Heat players might try to use it as some sort of motivation, though I imagine Spoelstra wouldn't mind someone else pointing out to his guys that all the bitching actually hurts them. I also wonder if it was a calculated move on Rondo's part, or just him being honest. There certainly shouldn't be any fallout with the league -- he wasn't criticizing the officials.
3. I'm beginning to wonder if Boston's habit of slowing the pace down in the second half is an energy-conserving tactic. The Heat have been going to increasingly small lineups, which has shortened Doc's big man rotation (Greg Stiemsma played all of 32 seconds in Game 4 and Ryan Hollins didn't get off the bench). Garnett is playing too many minutes (43 on Sunday) and Pierce and Allen are battling injuries. I don't think we'll find out if that's the case -- it's not the kind of thing you admit during a series. But it's hard to find another rational explanation for why Boston goes to an offensive strategy that almost never works, then goes back to running their normal offense when they absolutely have to.
4. The officiating in the fourth quarter and in overtime was just bizarre. James flopped trying to deny a Garnett post-up, and the official -- Billy Kennedy, I think -- whistled a double foul. Pierce's sixth foul, a late call by Kennedy early in overtime, came on a minor bit of contact between him and Shane Battier, who flopped to the ground on the play. And James was disqualified with his sixth foul later in overtime by Joey Crawford for muscling Pietrus to the floor. I think that it was inconsistent enough that both teams had gripes and that you really couldn't say one team had the advantage over the other, but there were a bunch of weird calls, particularly late, that had me scratching my head once again.
5. Ray Allen looked more like himself on Sunday than he has since he came back. That's a great sign. I've got no doubt he's still hurting, but it's not affecting his shot as much as it was.
I think we should be feeling good heading back to Miami. Boston had some trouble closing out these last two games, but they outplayed Miami for big chunks of Games 2, 3, and 4. The Celtics seem to have figured out how to keep James and Wade out of the lane as much as possible, which is crucial to beating the Heat. Miami has been making big adjustments on what seems to be an almost constant basis -- playing different people at center, going small, trapping the pick-and-roll, switching the pick-and-roll, putting James on Rondo, etc. That makes them a little bit hard to game plan for, but it also suggests to me that we're a bit more comfortable than they are. There's also been some rumbling that Chris Bosh might return for some part of this series, which would be interesting -- I'm honestly not sure whether that'd be bad or good for Boston.
Game 5 is Tuesday night in Miami, at 8:30 Eastern on ESPN. We've got the momentum, but it's crucial to remember something that I keep reminding my girlfriend (an avid Spurs fan): Nothing's happened in this series yet. Both teams have held serve at home, and Miami has the advantage of being able to win the series without winning on the road. Boston, on the other hand, has to win at least once on South Beach. No better time than Tuesday -- if that's not too easy.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Philadelphia 92, Boston 83
[recap] [box score]
I don't want to write about this game any more than you want to read about it, so this will be uncharacteristically brief. If you hadn't heard, Boston went up 14-0, had an 18-point lead in the third quarter, and lost.
Philly's execution was much better than Boston's in the fourth quarter, but this game was really lost in the third. Boston went cold, stopped going to Kevin Garnett in the post, and started forcing passes and turning the ball over. Meanwhile, some questionable calls against the Celtics allowed Philly's free throw advantage to balloon to something like 30 to 12, and Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley, and Brandon Bass all picked up their fourth fouls. With our short bench, and the fact that Bass was having his first good game in a while, having those guys sitting really hurt -- Garnett couldn't take his normal rest (which hurt in the fourth) and the offensive sparkplugs we so desperately needed were on the sidelines.
I thought Doc made some tactical errors in the fourth, too. Most importantly, I thought it was a big mistake to counter Philly's small lineup of Jrue Holiday-Louis Williams-Andre Iguodala-Thaddeus Young-Lavoy Allen with Rondo-Bradley-Ray Allen-Pierce-Garnett. Specifically, Allen instead of Bass or Mickael Pietrus made little sense to me. Allen is not a good defender, and this lineup has him trying to guard bigger men -- Iguodala or Young -- while dealing with bone spurs in his ankle that make it impossible for him to establish a strong, solid base.
Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't be so bad, because Allen, when healthy, poses obvious matchup problems on the other end. But Allen isn't healthy, and whether it's because he's out of game shape or because his ankles are really bothering him, he's been almost a complete non-factor in this series. Because he's not able to free himself up on offense, he doesn't balance out the liability on the other end of the court.
I get that Doc trusts Ray, and that Young, a combo forward, poses a tough matchup for Bass, as well. But if you have to live with a mismatch on the defensive end, you need to be able to balance it on the offensive end, and Bass does that better than Allen in Allen's current condition. And if not Bass, then how about Pietrus, who was a non-factor on offense but who at least has a chance of guarding someone.
The other mistake, I thought, was putting Rondo on Williams and Bradley on Holiday. The Sixers were playing through Williams, who came up with some big buckets. Rondo is no slouch defensively, but Bradley's supposed to be our lockdown guy, and Rondo was having problems with Williams.
We've got an extra day of rest before Game 5 on Monday, and it's one we need. Garnett played 40 minutes tonight, and this should give us some time to get Allen and Pierce (whose knee, for the second straight game, didn't appear to hamper him much) a little healthier. It does mean an extra day to stew while the Sixers have an extra day for their confidence to grow, something that could be a concern under certain circumstances. But the Celtics are veterans, familiar with this process, and used to not having things come easily. I expect they'll answer the bell yet again and win Game 5, and eventually, the series. But games like this, in addition to being frustrating to watch, may come back to haunt the team -- if not this series, then the next one.
I don't want to write about this game any more than you want to read about it, so this will be uncharacteristically brief. If you hadn't heard, Boston went up 14-0, had an 18-point lead in the third quarter, and lost.
Philly's execution was much better than Boston's in the fourth quarter, but this game was really lost in the third. Boston went cold, stopped going to Kevin Garnett in the post, and started forcing passes and turning the ball over. Meanwhile, some questionable calls against the Celtics allowed Philly's free throw advantage to balloon to something like 30 to 12, and Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley, and Brandon Bass all picked up their fourth fouls. With our short bench, and the fact that Bass was having his first good game in a while, having those guys sitting really hurt -- Garnett couldn't take his normal rest (which hurt in the fourth) and the offensive sparkplugs we so desperately needed were on the sidelines.
I thought Doc made some tactical errors in the fourth, too. Most importantly, I thought it was a big mistake to counter Philly's small lineup of Jrue Holiday-Louis Williams-Andre Iguodala-Thaddeus Young-Lavoy Allen with Rondo-Bradley-Ray Allen-Pierce-Garnett. Specifically, Allen instead of Bass or Mickael Pietrus made little sense to me. Allen is not a good defender, and this lineup has him trying to guard bigger men -- Iguodala or Young -- while dealing with bone spurs in his ankle that make it impossible for him to establish a strong, solid base.
Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't be so bad, because Allen, when healthy, poses obvious matchup problems on the other end. But Allen isn't healthy, and whether it's because he's out of game shape or because his ankles are really bothering him, he's been almost a complete non-factor in this series. Because he's not able to free himself up on offense, he doesn't balance out the liability on the other end of the court.
I get that Doc trusts Ray, and that Young, a combo forward, poses a tough matchup for Bass, as well. But if you have to live with a mismatch on the defensive end, you need to be able to balance it on the offensive end, and Bass does that better than Allen in Allen's current condition. And if not Bass, then how about Pietrus, who was a non-factor on offense but who at least has a chance of guarding someone.
The other mistake, I thought, was putting Rondo on Williams and Bradley on Holiday. The Sixers were playing through Williams, who came up with some big buckets. Rondo is no slouch defensively, but Bradley's supposed to be our lockdown guy, and Rondo was having problems with Williams.
We've got an extra day of rest before Game 5 on Monday, and it's one we need. Garnett played 40 minutes tonight, and this should give us some time to get Allen and Pierce (whose knee, for the second straight game, didn't appear to hamper him much) a little healthier. It does mean an extra day to stew while the Sixers have an extra day for their confidence to grow, something that could be a concern under certain circumstances. But the Celtics are veterans, familiar with this process, and used to not having things come easily. I expect they'll answer the bell yet again and win Game 5, and eventually, the series. But games like this, in addition to being frustrating to watch, may come back to haunt the team -- if not this series, then the next one.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Boston 90, Atlanta 84 (Overtime)
[recap] [box score]
Game 3 was ugly. That's all you can really say about it. Boston's defense was good throughout, but we only played well offensively for like a five-minute stretch at the beginning of the fourth quarter and then a few possessions in overtime. It was enough, though.
Rajon R-ndo is getting all the attention with a 17/14/12 triple-double in his return from a one-game suspension, but don't be fooled by the stat line or the headlines -- he didn't play that well. I was actually a little disappointed in him at the beginning of the game; I had hoped he'd come out with a lot of energy, determined to get his team off to a good start -- something like a "I've got this one, fellas" after his teammates picked him up in Game 2. Instead, he -- like the rest of them -- came out lackadaisical and uninspired on offense. There really wasn't any urgency from anyone, which bothered me, and given the circumstances, the lack of urgency from R-ndo bothered me the most.
With that said, R-ndo was the best player wearing white on Friday night and he's the reason Boston won. He was the catalyst for the aforementioned rare stretches where the Celtics played well offensively. And while Kevin Garnett sealed the game with a follow-up jam late in overtime that put the Celtics up, it was R-ndo who drew KG's defender, freeing the big fella up for the rebound.
Ray Allen came back, alleviating fears held by me, anyway, that he wouldn't suit up again this year. He made his first shot and finished with 13 points (despite uncharacteristically missing two free throws), but he definitely didn't look in rhythm with the offense. That'll come, though. What was encouraging was that he moved well out on the court and apparently held up well over 37 minutes of playing time (the extended burn necessitated, I guess, by Atlanta's "medium/small" lineup, discussed below). It's good to have Ray back; hopefully the ankle responds well and he'll be in the lineup moving forward.
Atlanta was without Josh Smith, making them even more shorthanded inside than they had been already due to injuries to Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia. When Jason Collins got into early foul trouble, they had really no choice but to go small, bringing in Tracy McGrady, who was surprisingly effective in the first half before spraining his ankle. With McGrady, though, Atlanta's "small" is really more of a "medium," which explains why Mickael Pietrus played as many minutes as Avery Bradley. As good of a defender as young Bradley is, he still struggles against guys who can shoot over him, fouling too often instead of making them make a tough shot. Joe Johnson got hot and hit a couple of big shots late in regulation, but Pietrus played well him well -- they were just really tough makes.
And while it's probably encouraging to the Hawks that they hung close despite missing so many key players inside, I'm still not that scared of them. Their offense has pretty much the same theme even when Smith is on the floor; it's just a lot of guys trying to do their own thing. Even when you have multiple guys who are having success getting their own on the same night, it's very hard to beat a very good defensive team like Boston. If you're not moving the ball and creating for others, the defense knows where to focus. On some nights, you'll make enough shots to win; in most games, you won't.
Smith promised he'll be back on Sunday for Game 4, so we'll see if he makes any difference. The game's at 7 p.m. Eastern on TNT.
I don't have any other place to write this, so I'm gonna write it here: Adam Yauch, the founding member of the Beastie Boys better known as MCA, died on Friday at the age of 47 after fighting cancer for three years. I love the Beastie Boys; while my musical tastes are mostly heavy metal these days, there was a time where I listened to almost nothing other than their first three albums. In fact, as I'm writing this, I'm playing Paul's Boutique and, despite the fact that I haven't listened to this album in years, I still know nearly every word.
Artists tend to be able to identify their influences. They know what they listened to growing up and know what inspired them to become musicians themselves. They know how their musical style. And outsiders, if they're paying attention, can figure it out, too; you can listen to Led Zeppelin and hear the way the blues are incorporated into their music, the way you can listen to countless rock bands these days and hear Zep's influence
As a non-artist, though, I've found that it's hard to pinpoint the influence that music in general and certain musicians have had on me, other than affecting the music I choose to listen to now. And so it wasn't until after the Celtics game last night, when I sat down for an hour or so to read some of the tributes that had been written in the aftermath of his death, that I thought, for the first time, about what effect the Beastie Boys had on me.
A lot, as it turns out. My love of wordplay and allusion, something I (mostly unsuccessfully) try to incorporate into my own writing from time to time, definitely comes from the Beastie Boys' whimsical, reference-laden lyrics. My love of alter egos -- I'm H.S. Slam, Ph.D on here for a reason -- no doubt is inspired by Nathaniel Hornblower, Yauch's alter ego who has several Beastie Boy video credits and who once stormed the stage at the MTV Awards to protest REM winning best video. Hell, even my hatred of Bill Laimbeer has remained bolstered all these years by "Tough Guy" (off of Ill Communication).
Mostly, though, I thought about MCA's transformation from arrogant kid to thoughtful activist. My life in no way parallels MCA's, but his (and the band's) maturation in some ways mirrors my own. It's too personal a story for someone of my limited writing ability to really articulate, and so I think I'll leave it at that.
I've spent my whole life quoting the Beastie Boys, and yet I can't think of one appropriate to pay tribute. And I think that's fitting. One thing that's great about the Beastie Boys is that they never took their music too seriously, and that they were always about the bigger picture, particularly later in their careers. To try to pay tribute to the man's life with some silly rhyme he wrote years ago is as inapt as it is futile.
That being said, I know that tomorrow, as I watch New York probably get swept by Miami, I'll hear his words from "Unite" in my head: "Will someone on the Knicks please drive the lane?"
Thanks, Adam. RIP.
Game 3 was ugly. That's all you can really say about it. Boston's defense was good throughout, but we only played well offensively for like a five-minute stretch at the beginning of the fourth quarter and then a few possessions in overtime. It was enough, though.
Rajon R-ndo is getting all the attention with a 17/14/12 triple-double in his return from a one-game suspension, but don't be fooled by the stat line or the headlines -- he didn't play that well. I was actually a little disappointed in him at the beginning of the game; I had hoped he'd come out with a lot of energy, determined to get his team off to a good start -- something like a "I've got this one, fellas" after his teammates picked him up in Game 2. Instead, he -- like the rest of them -- came out lackadaisical and uninspired on offense. There really wasn't any urgency from anyone, which bothered me, and given the circumstances, the lack of urgency from R-ndo bothered me the most.
With that said, R-ndo was the best player wearing white on Friday night and he's the reason Boston won. He was the catalyst for the aforementioned rare stretches where the Celtics played well offensively. And while Kevin Garnett sealed the game with a follow-up jam late in overtime that put the Celtics up, it was R-ndo who drew KG's defender, freeing the big fella up for the rebound.
Ray Allen came back, alleviating fears held by me, anyway, that he wouldn't suit up again this year. He made his first shot and finished with 13 points (despite uncharacteristically missing two free throws), but he definitely didn't look in rhythm with the offense. That'll come, though. What was encouraging was that he moved well out on the court and apparently held up well over 37 minutes of playing time (the extended burn necessitated, I guess, by Atlanta's "medium/small" lineup, discussed below). It's good to have Ray back; hopefully the ankle responds well and he'll be in the lineup moving forward.
Atlanta was without Josh Smith, making them even more shorthanded inside than they had been already due to injuries to Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia. When Jason Collins got into early foul trouble, they had really no choice but to go small, bringing in Tracy McGrady, who was surprisingly effective in the first half before spraining his ankle. With McGrady, though, Atlanta's "small" is really more of a "medium," which explains why Mickael Pietrus played as many minutes as Avery Bradley. As good of a defender as young Bradley is, he still struggles against guys who can shoot over him, fouling too often instead of making them make a tough shot. Joe Johnson got hot and hit a couple of big shots late in regulation, but Pietrus played well him well -- they were just really tough makes.
And while it's probably encouraging to the Hawks that they hung close despite missing so many key players inside, I'm still not that scared of them. Their offense has pretty much the same theme even when Smith is on the floor; it's just a lot of guys trying to do their own thing. Even when you have multiple guys who are having success getting their own on the same night, it's very hard to beat a very good defensive team like Boston. If you're not moving the ball and creating for others, the defense knows where to focus. On some nights, you'll make enough shots to win; in most games, you won't.
Smith promised he'll be back on Sunday for Game 4, so we'll see if he makes any difference. The game's at 7 p.m. Eastern on TNT.
I don't have any other place to write this, so I'm gonna write it here: Adam Yauch, the founding member of the Beastie Boys better known as MCA, died on Friday at the age of 47 after fighting cancer for three years. I love the Beastie Boys; while my musical tastes are mostly heavy metal these days, there was a time where I listened to almost nothing other than their first three albums. In fact, as I'm writing this, I'm playing Paul's Boutique and, despite the fact that I haven't listened to this album in years, I still know nearly every word.
Artists tend to be able to identify their influences. They know what they listened to growing up and know what inspired them to become musicians themselves. They know how their musical style. And outsiders, if they're paying attention, can figure it out, too; you can listen to Led Zeppelin and hear the way the blues are incorporated into their music, the way you can listen to countless rock bands these days and hear Zep's influence
As a non-artist, though, I've found that it's hard to pinpoint the influence that music in general and certain musicians have had on me, other than affecting the music I choose to listen to now. And so it wasn't until after the Celtics game last night, when I sat down for an hour or so to read some of the tributes that had been written in the aftermath of his death, that I thought, for the first time, about what effect the Beastie Boys had on me.
A lot, as it turns out. My love of wordplay and allusion, something I (mostly unsuccessfully) try to incorporate into my own writing from time to time, definitely comes from the Beastie Boys' whimsical, reference-laden lyrics. My love of alter egos -- I'm H.S. Slam, Ph.D on here for a reason -- no doubt is inspired by Nathaniel Hornblower, Yauch's alter ego who has several Beastie Boy video credits and who once stormed the stage at the MTV Awards to protest REM winning best video. Hell, even my hatred of Bill Laimbeer has remained bolstered all these years by "Tough Guy" (off of Ill Communication).
Mostly, though, I thought about MCA's transformation from arrogant kid to thoughtful activist. My life in no way parallels MCA's, but his (and the band's) maturation in some ways mirrors my own. It's too personal a story for someone of my limited writing ability to really articulate, and so I think I'll leave it at that.
I've spent my whole life quoting the Beastie Boys, and yet I can't think of one appropriate to pay tribute. And I think that's fitting. One thing that's great about the Beastie Boys is that they never took their music too seriously, and that they were always about the bigger picture, particularly later in their careers. To try to pay tribute to the man's life with some silly rhyme he wrote years ago is as inapt as it is futile.
That being said, I know that tomorrow, as I watch New York probably get swept by Miami, I'll hear his words from "Unite" in my head: "Will someone on the Knicks please drive the lane?"
Thanks, Adam. RIP.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Boston 88, Atlanta 86 (Overtime)
[recap] [box score]
Tuesday night's win in Miami told us something about this Celtics team's confidence and ability to play at a high level. Wednesday night's triumph over Atlanta back in Boston told us something about this Celtics team's guts.
After that incredible offensive display on South Beach, after all those minutes in a highly intense game, most people would have given the Cs a free pass tonight against the Hawks. But I liked something that Tommy Heinsohn said during the broadcast -- that if you lose this one, you undo all the good work you did the night before. So the Celtics, instead of resting their legs or resting on their laurels or both, came out and fought for this win every bit as hard as they had fought for the one the night before.
It wasn't pretty. The whole night, Boston seemed a half-step behind, physically or mentally. They committed 19 turnovers, a full handful of which were caused by a simple lack of concentration. Particularly in the second half, you could see our legs getting tired, and the results: a slower pace, and flat jump shots left short. But Boston dug deep and never gave up on the defensive end, getting just enough stops to pull out a big win.
Some notes:
* Ray Allen sat out with soreness in his ankle, the same one that kept him out earlier. I think the idea here is that Doc wants to make sure that Ray's healthy for the playoffs, and not that Ray suffered some kind of setback, but it's a little disconcerting that he apparently hasn't fully healed.
* The Celtics controlled the glass, outrebounding the Hawks 56-39 and grabbing 15 offensive boards. I always thought of the Hawks as a tough team to keep off the glass, but with Al Horford out, they really don't go to the boards that well. The Boston bigs rebounded well, but I thought a big key was the small guys rebounding down on the defensive glass. Rajon R-ndo had ten boards, Mickael Pietrus had six, and Paul Pierce had five.
* Speaking of Pietrus, this was his first game since his concussion on March 23. He looked pretty good, knocking down a couple long jumpers and playing some solid defense. His return is welcome, especially if Allen is going to miss a bunch of time.
* Despite shooting just 3-for-16, R-ndo was brilliant, again. His stats were gaudy; 10 points, 10 boards, 20 assists -- his sixth triple-double of the season (a league high) -- but I thought the big key was his energy. Boston's lost a lot of close games over the last several year's due to slowing the pace way down on offense, and R-ndo, after playing more than 40 minutes the night before, took each and every outlet pass and raced up floor, forcing his teammates to at least get into their stuff at a reasonable pace if not attack on the fast break. The kid played 47 minutes tonight and looked just as fresh at the end as he did at the beginning. Words cannot describe how much I love watching him play.
* Boston did a nice job shutting down Atlanta's attempt at a game-winner at the end of regulation. Jannero Pargo was inbounding the ball on the far side without about six seconds to go, and he tossed the ball to Joe Johnson. As Johnson caught it, Pargo started to cut across the floor to the opposite wing, and R-ndo left him to double. Pargo took a little while to figure out that he was open and that he should get to some place he could shoot from, and he ended up with a rushed three at the horn that missed. I'm not sure if R-ndo or Doc gets the credit for that decision, but it really caught the Hawks by surprise and might have saved the game.
* Scary moment near the end of the game when Brandon Bass came down awkwardly and spent several moments on the ground, holding his knee. He stayed in the game, however, and it looks like Boston dodged a bullet there.
* The officials made two of the worst calls I've ever seen in overtime, both resulting in Boston turnovers. I haven't been able to find a video of them, but I'll post one if I can later. Just another thing the Celtics had to overcome.
So, here's the deal. We've mercifully got a day off before embarking on our road back-to-back-to-back in Toronto, New Jersey, and Charlotte. We've got a three-game cushion on Philly for the Atlantic crown, which would mean dodging Chicago and Miami in the first round. The final five games of the season are tough: at New York, home to Orlando, at Atlanta, home to Miami and Milwaukee. A sweep of these three upcoming games would probably give Doc the luxury of resting a few guys before the playoffs.
A sweep is a big ask at the end of what will end up being a very long week. But at this point, I'm not saying anything's out of the realm of possibility.
Tuesday night's win in Miami told us something about this Celtics team's confidence and ability to play at a high level. Wednesday night's triumph over Atlanta back in Boston told us something about this Celtics team's guts.
After that incredible offensive display on South Beach, after all those minutes in a highly intense game, most people would have given the Cs a free pass tonight against the Hawks. But I liked something that Tommy Heinsohn said during the broadcast -- that if you lose this one, you undo all the good work you did the night before. So the Celtics, instead of resting their legs or resting on their laurels or both, came out and fought for this win every bit as hard as they had fought for the one the night before.
It wasn't pretty. The whole night, Boston seemed a half-step behind, physically or mentally. They committed 19 turnovers, a full handful of which were caused by a simple lack of concentration. Particularly in the second half, you could see our legs getting tired, and the results: a slower pace, and flat jump shots left short. But Boston dug deep and never gave up on the defensive end, getting just enough stops to pull out a big win.
Some notes:
* Ray Allen sat out with soreness in his ankle, the same one that kept him out earlier. I think the idea here is that Doc wants to make sure that Ray's healthy for the playoffs, and not that Ray suffered some kind of setback, but it's a little disconcerting that he apparently hasn't fully healed.
* The Celtics controlled the glass, outrebounding the Hawks 56-39 and grabbing 15 offensive boards. I always thought of the Hawks as a tough team to keep off the glass, but with Al Horford out, they really don't go to the boards that well. The Boston bigs rebounded well, but I thought a big key was the small guys rebounding down on the defensive glass. Rajon R-ndo had ten boards, Mickael Pietrus had six, and Paul Pierce had five.
* Speaking of Pietrus, this was his first game since his concussion on March 23. He looked pretty good, knocking down a couple long jumpers and playing some solid defense. His return is welcome, especially if Allen is going to miss a bunch of time.
* Despite shooting just 3-for-16, R-ndo was brilliant, again. His stats were gaudy; 10 points, 10 boards, 20 assists -- his sixth triple-double of the season (a league high) -- but I thought the big key was his energy. Boston's lost a lot of close games over the last several year's due to slowing the pace way down on offense, and R-ndo, after playing more than 40 minutes the night before, took each and every outlet pass and raced up floor, forcing his teammates to at least get into their stuff at a reasonable pace if not attack on the fast break. The kid played 47 minutes tonight and looked just as fresh at the end as he did at the beginning. Words cannot describe how much I love watching him play.
* Boston did a nice job shutting down Atlanta's attempt at a game-winner at the end of regulation. Jannero Pargo was inbounding the ball on the far side without about six seconds to go, and he tossed the ball to Joe Johnson. As Johnson caught it, Pargo started to cut across the floor to the opposite wing, and R-ndo left him to double. Pargo took a little while to figure out that he was open and that he should get to some place he could shoot from, and he ended up with a rushed three at the horn that missed. I'm not sure if R-ndo or Doc gets the credit for that decision, but it really caught the Hawks by surprise and might have saved the game.
* Scary moment near the end of the game when Brandon Bass came down awkwardly and spent several moments on the ground, holding his knee. He stayed in the game, however, and it looks like Boston dodged a bullet there.
* The officials made two of the worst calls I've ever seen in overtime, both resulting in Boston turnovers. I haven't been able to find a video of them, but I'll post one if I can later. Just another thing the Celtics had to overcome.
So, here's the deal. We've mercifully got a day off before embarking on our road back-to-back-to-back in Toronto, New Jersey, and Charlotte. We've got a three-game cushion on Philly for the Atlantic crown, which would mean dodging Chicago and Miami in the first round. The final five games of the season are tough: at New York, home to Orlando, at Atlanta, home to Miami and Milwaukee. A sweep of these three upcoming games would probably give Doc the luxury of resting a few guys before the playoffs.
A sweep is a big ask at the end of what will end up being a very long week. But at this point, I'm not saying anything's out of the realm of possibility.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Celts Tie Sixers Atop the Atlantic
Since I last posted:
Philadelphia 99, Boston 86
Boston 88, Washington 76
Boston 102, Charlotte 95
A lot's happened in those three games, but what's most important is really what hasn't happened: Ray Allen hasn't played. The veteran shooting guard has a sore right ankle, which he reportedly injured back on March 12, even though he didn't sit out til last Friday. I haven't seen any sort of timetable for Allen's return, but I take the fact that he was able to play with the injury for a while as a good sign, though there is of course the chance that in doing so, he injured it more seriously. Hopefully, the team and Allen are just being cautious.
Allen's absence from the lineup got even more serious in the second quarter of the Philly game, as his replacement, Mickael Pietrus, took a nasty spill and banged his head on the court, eventually being carried off on a stretcher as a precaution. (Side note: I was watching the NCAAs at the time and flipped over to ESPN to check on the Celtics game at pretty much the exact second that ESPN went to commercial. Because the medical personnel tending to Pietrus blocked much of the view, all I saw before the cameras cut away was an unidentifiable Celtic wearing a jersey with a last name that started "P-I-E". I'll cop to being a bit relieved when I found out that it was Pietrus, not Paul Pierce -- and then guilty, and then relieved -- both for Pietrus and for myself, for karma purposes -- when I learned that Pietrus had escaped serious injury and should return to action soon.)
All of this sets the stage as to why Avery Bradley has been in the starting lineup the last two games, playing 40 minutes a night. The second-year guard announced his presence in a big way against the Wizards, hitting his first seven shots on the way to a career-high 23 points. (Weird fact: the Celtics were up 19 at halftime against the Wizards, and Bradley and Greg Stiemsma were the team's leading scorers.) Bradley added 11 points against the Bobcats on Monday, and he's developed into a decent rotation player. His jumper still needs a lot of work, but one thing he's done well all year is move well without the basketball. I first noticed it when played in place of Rajon R-ndo for a few games in late January, and Pierce seemed to find him a lot on cuts to the basket. Bradley knocked down a couple of jumpers against the Wizards, but a lot of his points in the last couple of games have come on layups.
What else? Center Ryan Hollins made his Celtics debut in one of the weirdest ways I can imagine: as the bench player elected by Philly coach Doug Collins to take the free throws in place of Pietrus, who was fouled on the play he was injured. (Hollins missed the first and made the second.) The long, athletic Hollins hasn't contributed much in limited court time over his first three games, but while Stiemsma has been playing his best ball of the season of late, I expect he'll have a larger role as the season wears on, now that Jermaine O'Neal and Chris Wilcox are both done for the season.
Finally, Monday in Charlotte, Pierce put the team on his back, leading all scorers with 36 points and helping the Cs hold off the Bobcats after blowing most of yet another big first-quarter lead. The Captain is now averaging 25.5 ppg and nine boards over the last four games.
Thanks to Philly's loss to Tim Duncan-less San Antonio on Sunday, Monday's win over Charlotte puts Boston into a tie atop the Atlantic Division. Whichever team can break the tie will be rewarded with the fourth seed in the East and a likely playoff matchup with Indiana or Atlanta, rather than the seventh and a first-round battle with Miami or Chicago. While it's true that the path to the Finals will probably run through the Heat or Bulls anyway, you never know when a big upset or an untimely injury might change the playoff landscape. (Last year, for instance, #8 Memphis beat #1 San Antonio in the first round of the West playoffs.) So Boston would like to earn the Atlantic title, if possible.
So how likely is it that the Celtics can capture their fifth straight division crown? I wish I had some scientific, math-based approach that could spit out a probability, but I don't. But as the brief analysis below shows, the reality is that Boston probably is an underdog, at this point, to beat out Philadelphia.
Let's start, though, with the things that do line up in Boston's favor. First, the game on April 8th between the two teams (the third and final meeting of the season), will be played in Boston. Philly won the first two matchups, which gives them the tiebreaker, so this opportunity to pick up a full game on them will be very important. Second, while both teams have 17 games remaining, Philly has just six home games, while Boston has eight. And the Sixers (10-12 away from home so far this season), like the Celts (10-14), haven't been that great on the road.
When you dig a little deeper, though, you find things starting to swing in Philly's favor. Both teams have four back-to-backs as well as one back-to-back-to-back. Each team will be on the second night of a back-to-back when they play each other on the 8th, so advantage Boston there. But the Celtics have three tough games on the second night of their other back-to-backs -- at Chicago, vs. Atlanta, and vs. Orlando. The Sixers get Atlanta in Philly and then Toronto twice (one home, one road) on the second night of their other back-to-backs, a significantly easier configuration than Boston's. And the Cs' back-to-back-to-back also puts them at a disadvantage, I think, even though traveling to Toronto, New Jersey, and Charlotte is less daunting than at Orlando, vs. Indiana, then at Cleveland; having three of your most winnable games in a back-to-back-to-back increases the probability of a "bad" loss, something the Celtics can't afford.
The teams have six games in common: they both host Atlanta and Orlando and travel to Indiana, Miami, Toronto, and New Jersey. The teams share a seventh common opponent, Milwaukee, though Boston gets the Bucks at home and Philly has them on the road. Subtract those seven games and the one between Boston and Philadelphia, and you have nine remaining games.
Boston: Home against Utah, Miami (twice), and San Antonio; at Minnesota, Chicago, Charlotte, New York, and Atlanta.
Philadelphia: Home against Cleveland, Toronto, New Jersey, and Indiana; at Washington, Orlando, Cleveland, New Jersey, and Detroit.
To put a point on it, the combined win-loss record of the nine teams in Boston's list is currently 256-185, a winning percentage of .580. Philly's list is a combined 171-269, a winning percentage of .389. Two of the Sixers' nine opponents have a winning record; two of Boston's have a losing record.
Finally, these two teams are about to play 17 basketball games in 31 days, one final push at the end of an already grueling season. Deep and youthful, less injury prone and more able to survive injuries, Philadelphia is built far better than Boston for a a run like the one that's upcoming. Indeed, should the teams remain close, Doc Rivers may have to decide between going all-out for the division and resting the veterans, with the second alternative quite possibly being the correct one. The Celtics are still in the running, but it's going to take something remarkable -- a remarkable stretch of basketball for Boston, or a remarkable choke job by Philly -- for it to happen.
Philadelphia 99, Boston 86
Boston 88, Washington 76
Boston 102, Charlotte 95
A lot's happened in those three games, but what's most important is really what hasn't happened: Ray Allen hasn't played. The veteran shooting guard has a sore right ankle, which he reportedly injured back on March 12, even though he didn't sit out til last Friday. I haven't seen any sort of timetable for Allen's return, but I take the fact that he was able to play with the injury for a while as a good sign, though there is of course the chance that in doing so, he injured it more seriously. Hopefully, the team and Allen are just being cautious.
Allen's absence from the lineup got even more serious in the second quarter of the Philly game, as his replacement, Mickael Pietrus, took a nasty spill and banged his head on the court, eventually being carried off on a stretcher as a precaution. (Side note: I was watching the NCAAs at the time and flipped over to ESPN to check on the Celtics game at pretty much the exact second that ESPN went to commercial. Because the medical personnel tending to Pietrus blocked much of the view, all I saw before the cameras cut away was an unidentifiable Celtic wearing a jersey with a last name that started "P-I-E". I'll cop to being a bit relieved when I found out that it was Pietrus, not Paul Pierce -- and then guilty, and then relieved -- both for Pietrus and for myself, for karma purposes -- when I learned that Pietrus had escaped serious injury and should return to action soon.)
All of this sets the stage as to why Avery Bradley has been in the starting lineup the last two games, playing 40 minutes a night. The second-year guard announced his presence in a big way against the Wizards, hitting his first seven shots on the way to a career-high 23 points. (Weird fact: the Celtics were up 19 at halftime against the Wizards, and Bradley and Greg Stiemsma were the team's leading scorers.) Bradley added 11 points against the Bobcats on Monday, and he's developed into a decent rotation player. His jumper still needs a lot of work, but one thing he's done well all year is move well without the basketball. I first noticed it when played in place of Rajon R-ndo for a few games in late January, and Pierce seemed to find him a lot on cuts to the basket. Bradley knocked down a couple of jumpers against the Wizards, but a lot of his points in the last couple of games have come on layups.
What else? Center Ryan Hollins made his Celtics debut in one of the weirdest ways I can imagine: as the bench player elected by Philly coach Doug Collins to take the free throws in place of Pietrus, who was fouled on the play he was injured. (Hollins missed the first and made the second.) The long, athletic Hollins hasn't contributed much in limited court time over his first three games, but while Stiemsma has been playing his best ball of the season of late, I expect he'll have a larger role as the season wears on, now that Jermaine O'Neal and Chris Wilcox are both done for the season.
Finally, Monday in Charlotte, Pierce put the team on his back, leading all scorers with 36 points and helping the Cs hold off the Bobcats after blowing most of yet another big first-quarter lead. The Captain is now averaging 25.5 ppg and nine boards over the last four games.
Thanks to Philly's loss to Tim Duncan-less San Antonio on Sunday, Monday's win over Charlotte puts Boston into a tie atop the Atlantic Division. Whichever team can break the tie will be rewarded with the fourth seed in the East and a likely playoff matchup with Indiana or Atlanta, rather than the seventh and a first-round battle with Miami or Chicago. While it's true that the path to the Finals will probably run through the Heat or Bulls anyway, you never know when a big upset or an untimely injury might change the playoff landscape. (Last year, for instance, #8 Memphis beat #1 San Antonio in the first round of the West playoffs.) So Boston would like to earn the Atlantic title, if possible.
So how likely is it that the Celtics can capture their fifth straight division crown? I wish I had some scientific, math-based approach that could spit out a probability, but I don't. But as the brief analysis below shows, the reality is that Boston probably is an underdog, at this point, to beat out Philadelphia.
Let's start, though, with the things that do line up in Boston's favor. First, the game on April 8th between the two teams (the third and final meeting of the season), will be played in Boston. Philly won the first two matchups, which gives them the tiebreaker, so this opportunity to pick up a full game on them will be very important. Second, while both teams have 17 games remaining, Philly has just six home games, while Boston has eight. And the Sixers (10-12 away from home so far this season), like the Celts (10-14), haven't been that great on the road.
When you dig a little deeper, though, you find things starting to swing in Philly's favor. Both teams have four back-to-backs as well as one back-to-back-to-back. Each team will be on the second night of a back-to-back when they play each other on the 8th, so advantage Boston there. But the Celtics have three tough games on the second night of their other back-to-backs -- at Chicago, vs. Atlanta, and vs. Orlando. The Sixers get Atlanta in Philly and then Toronto twice (one home, one road) on the second night of their other back-to-backs, a significantly easier configuration than Boston's. And the Cs' back-to-back-to-back also puts them at a disadvantage, I think, even though traveling to Toronto, New Jersey, and Charlotte is less daunting than at Orlando, vs. Indiana, then at Cleveland; having three of your most winnable games in a back-to-back-to-back increases the probability of a "bad" loss, something the Celtics can't afford.
The teams have six games in common: they both host Atlanta and Orlando and travel to Indiana, Miami, Toronto, and New Jersey. The teams share a seventh common opponent, Milwaukee, though Boston gets the Bucks at home and Philly has them on the road. Subtract those seven games and the one between Boston and Philadelphia, and you have nine remaining games.
Boston: Home against Utah, Miami (twice), and San Antonio; at Minnesota, Chicago, Charlotte, New York, and Atlanta.
Philadelphia: Home against Cleveland, Toronto, New Jersey, and Indiana; at Washington, Orlando, Cleveland, New Jersey, and Detroit.
To put a point on it, the combined win-loss record of the nine teams in Boston's list is currently 256-185, a winning percentage of .580. Philly's list is a combined 171-269, a winning percentage of .389. Two of the Sixers' nine opponents have a winning record; two of Boston's have a losing record.
Finally, these two teams are about to play 17 basketball games in 31 days, one final push at the end of an already grueling season. Deep and youthful, less injury prone and more able to survive injuries, Philadelphia is built far better than Boston for a a run like the one that's upcoming. Indeed, should the teams remain close, Doc Rivers may have to decide between going all-out for the division and resting the veterans, with the second alternative quite possibly being the correct one. The Celtics are still in the running, but it's going to take something remarkable -- a remarkable stretch of basketball for Boston, or a remarkable choke job by Philly -- for it to happen.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Boston 91, Orlando 83
[recap] [box score]
What's worse? Losing by 31 on the road to a team missing its starting backcourt, or blowing a 27-point at home to that same team missing that same starting backcourt?
I'm guessing it's the latter, but only the Orlando Magic know for sure.
Orlando, which bounced back from that embarrassing loss in Boston on Monday by winning in Indiana on Tuesday, got off to a rough start Thursday as well. Dwight Howard picked up two fouls in the first three minutes, Boston led 8-2 and everyone was wondering if Monday actually was a fluke after all.
But after a Stan Van Gundy timeout, the Magic spent the next 20 minutes of game time threatening to run the Celtics out of the building. The went on a 30-8 run to close the quarter, taking a 32-16 lead behind 12 points from Ryan Anderson. The second quarter brought more of the same, the lead ballooning to 27 before settling in at a still-comfortable 21.
If you turned it off at that point, I don't blame you. The Celtics were listless in the first half. Paul Pierce, the only guy in uniform capable of creating any sort of offense for himself or others, had done almost nothing. Avery Bradley had done less than nothing, suffering through one of his nights where he can't seem to hang onto the ball, a Tony Allen-esque performance. Brandon Bass was hesitating on his jumper, the first time all season I've seen him look reluctant to shoot. Only Mickael Pietrus, who hit a few early jumpers, and Kevin Garnett, who slid over to the five with Jermaine O'Neal sidelined by sore knees and defended Howard very well, played even decently in the first half.
Towards the end of the second quarter, coming back from a timeout, TNT played a clip of one of Doc Rivers' huddles. They were down 25 at the time, and he told his team they were still in it, pleading with the players to cut into the lead, just a little bit. "At least Doc's trying," I said to myself. I remember being impressed at how convincing Doc forced himself to sound.
I did not necessarily expect the players to listen.
Look, I've watched enough of the NBA to know that no halftime lead is safe. And I know the kind of heart that beats deep in the chests of Pierce, Garnett, and Rivers. But the NBA season is a long, exhausting slog -- made even longer and more exhausting this year by the condensed schedule -- and there are nights when you just don't have it. Indeed, there are nights when saving your strength for the next night is probably the smart thing to do.
Thursday night could have been one of those nights. Down three starters and 21 points, in the first of three games in four nights (and 11 in 17 -- the Celtics don't have two consecutive off-days until February 17 and 18), no one would have been been surprised or complained if the Cs folded the tent early.
But they didn't. Even when the comeback seemed to die in its early stages as Boston squandered three possessions in the first half of the third quarter that would have cut the lead to 13 or 12, they persisted. Indeed, Orlando still led by 18 with about two minutes left in the third. But Boston finished the period on a 10-3 run, and Doc all but sprinted off the bench to encourage the guys as they came off the floor.
The fourth was stunning in the swiftness with which Boston took over the game. They ratcheted up the defense and started making shots on offense, and it took them just four-and-a-half minutes to complete a 15-1 run, taking the lead on an E'Twaun Moore three-pointer.
From there, the offense more or less stalled, but the defense never let up. Howard finally made his team's first field goal of the quarter with 5:56 remaining, cutting the lead to one, but the Magic wouldn't make another shot until Hedo Turkoglu buried a three-pointer with 39 seconds left to cut the Boston lead to 87-83. Orlando, which had scored 58 points in the first half -- one more than it got in the entire game on Monday -- managed just 25 in the second, including a mere seven in the final quarter. The Magic players let their frustrations boil over, forcing bad shots and earning two late technical fouls arguing a couple admittedly tough calls that didn't go their way.
As badly as Orlando imploded, however, Boston's defense was absolutely tenacious in the second half. With Bradley having such a nightmare evening offensively (and with Keyon Dooling lasting just a half before getting hurt in his return after seven missed games due to injury), Doc turned to the rookie Moore, who responded in a big way. He harassed Chris Duhon and a hobbled Jameer Nelson all over the court, forcing Orlando to get into its offense late. Garnett played Howard largely without the benefit of a double team and held him to 50 percent shooting and eight trips to the free throw line. Even Bass, who doesn't have much of a defensive reputation, got into the act, making a late steal and staying in front of Turkoglu on the perimeter as Hedo pounded the ball, looking for a driving lane.
Offensively, Pierce was the catalyst, getting hot early in the fourth against long-time antagonist Quentin Richardson before finding Bass for a couple 20-footers on the pick-and-pop when Orlando started running two defenders at him. But the revelation was Moore, without whom we simply would not have won the game. Moore had 16 points, including a perfect four-for-four on three-pointers. Three of his triples came at the end of the third and the first half of the fourth -- he accounted for points 3 through 5, 11 through 13, and 23 through 25 of the 25-4 run that saw Boston go from down 18 points to up three. His lone two-point field goal was just as crucial; Howard cut the Boston lead to one, Moore caught a hit-ahead pass and attacked the rim despite not having numbers. His soft floater over Jason Richardson and Jameer Nelson bounced all over the rim before dropping through, preserving the Celtic lead.
After the game, Boston celebrated about as much as you'll ever see from an NBA team during the regular season, at least in the absence of a buzzer-beating game-winner. Watching Doc and the guys hug and pound each other on the back as though they had just won a playoff series, I couldn't help but get a few goosebumps. For the last four years, we've been chasing championships, and when you have realistic expectations of winning the last game you play in June, nights like this one tend to be forgotten.
The NBA is a business, but at bottom, it's still basketball. And I fell in love with basketball long before I truly understood the NBA. So I don't feel at all bad for enjoying this win without worrying about whether Boston can turn around, or is turning around, its season. Of course I'm going to swell with pride watching a couple of veterans play their asses off to pick up their fallen teammates while their coach exhorts them from the sideline; I wouldn't be a fan if I didn't.
Maybe this season will be worth watching after all.
What's worse? Losing by 31 on the road to a team missing its starting backcourt, or blowing a 27-point at home to that same team missing that same starting backcourt?
I'm guessing it's the latter, but only the Orlando Magic know for sure.
Orlando, which bounced back from that embarrassing loss in Boston on Monday by winning in Indiana on Tuesday, got off to a rough start Thursday as well. Dwight Howard picked up two fouls in the first three minutes, Boston led 8-2 and everyone was wondering if Monday actually was a fluke after all.
But after a Stan Van Gundy timeout, the Magic spent the next 20 minutes of game time threatening to run the Celtics out of the building. The went on a 30-8 run to close the quarter, taking a 32-16 lead behind 12 points from Ryan Anderson. The second quarter brought more of the same, the lead ballooning to 27 before settling in at a still-comfortable 21.
If you turned it off at that point, I don't blame you. The Celtics were listless in the first half. Paul Pierce, the only guy in uniform capable of creating any sort of offense for himself or others, had done almost nothing. Avery Bradley had done less than nothing, suffering through one of his nights where he can't seem to hang onto the ball, a Tony Allen-esque performance. Brandon Bass was hesitating on his jumper, the first time all season I've seen him look reluctant to shoot. Only Mickael Pietrus, who hit a few early jumpers, and Kevin Garnett, who slid over to the five with Jermaine O'Neal sidelined by sore knees and defended Howard very well, played even decently in the first half.
Towards the end of the second quarter, coming back from a timeout, TNT played a clip of one of Doc Rivers' huddles. They were down 25 at the time, and he told his team they were still in it, pleading with the players to cut into the lead, just a little bit. "At least Doc's trying," I said to myself. I remember being impressed at how convincing Doc forced himself to sound.
I did not necessarily expect the players to listen.
Look, I've watched enough of the NBA to know that no halftime lead is safe. And I know the kind of heart that beats deep in the chests of Pierce, Garnett, and Rivers. But the NBA season is a long, exhausting slog -- made even longer and more exhausting this year by the condensed schedule -- and there are nights when you just don't have it. Indeed, there are nights when saving your strength for the next night is probably the smart thing to do.
Thursday night could have been one of those nights. Down three starters and 21 points, in the first of three games in four nights (and 11 in 17 -- the Celtics don't have two consecutive off-days until February 17 and 18), no one would have been been surprised or complained if the Cs folded the tent early.
But they didn't. Even when the comeback seemed to die in its early stages as Boston squandered three possessions in the first half of the third quarter that would have cut the lead to 13 or 12, they persisted. Indeed, Orlando still led by 18 with about two minutes left in the third. But Boston finished the period on a 10-3 run, and Doc all but sprinted off the bench to encourage the guys as they came off the floor.
The fourth was stunning in the swiftness with which Boston took over the game. They ratcheted up the defense and started making shots on offense, and it took them just four-and-a-half minutes to complete a 15-1 run, taking the lead on an E'Twaun Moore three-pointer.
From there, the offense more or less stalled, but the defense never let up. Howard finally made his team's first field goal of the quarter with 5:56 remaining, cutting the lead to one, but the Magic wouldn't make another shot until Hedo Turkoglu buried a three-pointer with 39 seconds left to cut the Boston lead to 87-83. Orlando, which had scored 58 points in the first half -- one more than it got in the entire game on Monday -- managed just 25 in the second, including a mere seven in the final quarter. The Magic players let their frustrations boil over, forcing bad shots and earning two late technical fouls arguing a couple admittedly tough calls that didn't go their way.
As badly as Orlando imploded, however, Boston's defense was absolutely tenacious in the second half. With Bradley having such a nightmare evening offensively (and with Keyon Dooling lasting just a half before getting hurt in his return after seven missed games due to injury), Doc turned to the rookie Moore, who responded in a big way. He harassed Chris Duhon and a hobbled Jameer Nelson all over the court, forcing Orlando to get into its offense late. Garnett played Howard largely without the benefit of a double team and held him to 50 percent shooting and eight trips to the free throw line. Even Bass, who doesn't have much of a defensive reputation, got into the act, making a late steal and staying in front of Turkoglu on the perimeter as Hedo pounded the ball, looking for a driving lane.
Offensively, Pierce was the catalyst, getting hot early in the fourth against long-time antagonist Quentin Richardson before finding Bass for a couple 20-footers on the pick-and-pop when Orlando started running two defenders at him. But the revelation was Moore, without whom we simply would not have won the game. Moore had 16 points, including a perfect four-for-four on three-pointers. Three of his triples came at the end of the third and the first half of the fourth -- he accounted for points 3 through 5, 11 through 13, and 23 through 25 of the 25-4 run that saw Boston go from down 18 points to up three. His lone two-point field goal was just as crucial; Howard cut the Boston lead to one, Moore caught a hit-ahead pass and attacked the rim despite not having numbers. His soft floater over Jason Richardson and Jameer Nelson bounced all over the rim before dropping through, preserving the Celtic lead.
After the game, Boston celebrated about as much as you'll ever see from an NBA team during the regular season, at least in the absence of a buzzer-beating game-winner. Watching Doc and the guys hug and pound each other on the back as though they had just won a playoff series, I couldn't help but get a few goosebumps. For the last four years, we've been chasing championships, and when you have realistic expectations of winning the last game you play in June, nights like this one tend to be forgotten.
The NBA is a business, but at bottom, it's still basketball. And I fell in love with basketball long before I truly understood the NBA. So I don't feel at all bad for enjoying this win without worrying about whether Boston can turn around, or is turning around, its season. Of course I'm going to swell with pride watching a couple of veterans play their asses off to pick up their fallen teammates while their coach exhorts them from the sideline; I wouldn't be a fan if I didn't.
Maybe this season will be worth watching after all.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Boston 100, Washington 94
[recap] [box score]
At least we can still beat the Wizards.
It wasn't as easy as you'd hope -- the Celtics coughed up all of a 15-point third quarter. But in an early Sunday game, on the road, missing two starters for much of the game, and given the team's early-season struggles, any win is a good win.
And yes, I said missing "starters," plural. Rajon R-ndo sat for the second straight game with his injured wrist, and Ray Allen left in the second quarter with an injury that the Boston Globe's Gary Washburn kept referring to as a "jammed" ankle, whatever the hell that is.
This game was won on the back of Paul Pierce, who matched his uniform number and obliterated his season-high with 34 points. This is the third time the Celtics have played the Wizards this season, and in the second matchup, Pierce was struggling offensively until early in the second quarter, when Washington coach Flip Saunders put Chris Singleton on him. Pierce looked offended that someone would dare put a rookie on him, no matter how strong that particularly rookie's defensive reputation happens to be.
Singleton has since moved into the starting lineup (and deservedly so; the kid is the most versatile defender I've ever seen at the college level and should be a really nice player for them), and Pierce wasted little time going to work. Eventually, Nick Young and Jordan Crawford entered the torture chamber and had similarly little success in stopping Pierce's familiar array of drives and clever maneuvering for mid-range jumpers. The Captain was coolly efficient, accumulating his bounty on just 15 shots, making 12 of 15 free throws, and dishing out ten assists. He ended Sunday's game just two rebounds shy of a triple-double.
Pierce was the leader, but he had a little help. Kevin Garnett missed his first three shots, but went 7-for-7 from the second quarter on, including two huge buckets down the stretch. On both of those, Garnett craftily used a ball fake to shake his defender, perhaps taking advantage of his reputation as someone who passes more than he should. Both hoops (a thunderous dunk and a 21-foot jumper) pushed a three-point Boston lead to five, helping ensure that the Wizards never took possession of the basketball with a chance to tie for the final 4:46.
KG finished with 17 points, and joining him in double figures were Mickael Pietrus (14 points) and Brandon Bass (13) off the bench. Bass had what has become a fairly typical game for him in a Boston uniform, hitting about half of the jumpers he takes and grabbing a bunch of rebounds. Pietrus, who probably would move into the starting lineup if Allen has to miss any further time, took as many two-point field goals as three-point field goals, the first game in seven as a Celtic in which his threes haven't outnumbered his twos. (Thirty-four of his 44 shot attempts this season have been from behind the arc.) It's good to see a little depth in his offensive game -- we need him to be more than just a shooter.
Avery Bradley took several steps backward after his solid performance on Friday, going 1-for-8 with six turnovers in more than 41 minutes of court time. (He did have seven assists, but I don't remember him doing a lot of creating for others -- sometimes guys just get assists by swinging the ball to open shooters.) He also did little to stop John Wall, who nearly matched Pierce's numbers with 27 points, ten rebounds, and seven assists. Stopping Wall is no easy task, but Bradley earns his paycheck on the defensive end of the court and he didn't seem to bother Wall at all. His backup, E'Twaun Moore, wasn't any more effective -- or any less ineffective, I should say -- than he's been all season, and so point guard is going to remain a concern for as long as R-ndo and Keyon Dooling are out with injuries.
It's a tough week for the Celtics, with the Magic visiting Monday, a return date in Orlando on Thursday, back home for the Pacers on Friday, and then the Cavs in the Garden on Sunday. The Magic haven't played since beating the Lakers on Friday, but they've got five games this week, including a four-in-five stretch, with Boston being the front end of both back-to-backs, so we'll see if Stan Van Gundy manages his guys' minutes bit this week.
Chris Wilcox's availability is rarely noteworthy, but against Dwight Howard, Boston will need as many bodies and fouls as possible. Wilcox hasn't played since January 13th due to a sore calf. I have no idea if Wilcox will be available at all this week, but I'd be surprised if Greg Stiemsma could guard Howard for more than eight minutes of game time without fouling out.
At least we can still beat the Wizards.
It wasn't as easy as you'd hope -- the Celtics coughed up all of a 15-point third quarter. But in an early Sunday game, on the road, missing two starters for much of the game, and given the team's early-season struggles, any win is a good win.
And yes, I said missing "starters," plural. Rajon R-ndo sat for the second straight game with his injured wrist, and Ray Allen left in the second quarter with an injury that the Boston Globe's Gary Washburn kept referring to as a "jammed" ankle, whatever the hell that is.
This game was won on the back of Paul Pierce, who matched his uniform number and obliterated his season-high with 34 points. This is the third time the Celtics have played the Wizards this season, and in the second matchup, Pierce was struggling offensively until early in the second quarter, when Washington coach Flip Saunders put Chris Singleton on him. Pierce looked offended that someone would dare put a rookie on him, no matter how strong that particularly rookie's defensive reputation happens to be.
Singleton has since moved into the starting lineup (and deservedly so; the kid is the most versatile defender I've ever seen at the college level and should be a really nice player for them), and Pierce wasted little time going to work. Eventually, Nick Young and Jordan Crawford entered the torture chamber and had similarly little success in stopping Pierce's familiar array of drives and clever maneuvering for mid-range jumpers. The Captain was coolly efficient, accumulating his bounty on just 15 shots, making 12 of 15 free throws, and dishing out ten assists. He ended Sunday's game just two rebounds shy of a triple-double.
Pierce was the leader, but he had a little help. Kevin Garnett missed his first three shots, but went 7-for-7 from the second quarter on, including two huge buckets down the stretch. On both of those, Garnett craftily used a ball fake to shake his defender, perhaps taking advantage of his reputation as someone who passes more than he should. Both hoops (a thunderous dunk and a 21-foot jumper) pushed a three-point Boston lead to five, helping ensure that the Wizards never took possession of the basketball with a chance to tie for the final 4:46.
KG finished with 17 points, and joining him in double figures were Mickael Pietrus (14 points) and Brandon Bass (13) off the bench. Bass had what has become a fairly typical game for him in a Boston uniform, hitting about half of the jumpers he takes and grabbing a bunch of rebounds. Pietrus, who probably would move into the starting lineup if Allen has to miss any further time, took as many two-point field goals as three-point field goals, the first game in seven as a Celtic in which his threes haven't outnumbered his twos. (Thirty-four of his 44 shot attempts this season have been from behind the arc.) It's good to see a little depth in his offensive game -- we need him to be more than just a shooter.
Avery Bradley took several steps backward after his solid performance on Friday, going 1-for-8 with six turnovers in more than 41 minutes of court time. (He did have seven assists, but I don't remember him doing a lot of creating for others -- sometimes guys just get assists by swinging the ball to open shooters.) He also did little to stop John Wall, who nearly matched Pierce's numbers with 27 points, ten rebounds, and seven assists. Stopping Wall is no easy task, but Bradley earns his paycheck on the defensive end of the court and he didn't seem to bother Wall at all. His backup, E'Twaun Moore, wasn't any more effective -- or any less ineffective, I should say -- than he's been all season, and so point guard is going to remain a concern for as long as R-ndo and Keyon Dooling are out with injuries.
It's a tough week for the Celtics, with the Magic visiting Monday, a return date in Orlando on Thursday, back home for the Pacers on Friday, and then the Cavs in the Garden on Sunday. The Magic haven't played since beating the Lakers on Friday, but they've got five games this week, including a four-in-five stretch, with Boston being the front end of both back-to-backs, so we'll see if Stan Van Gundy manages his guys' minutes bit this week.
Chris Wilcox's availability is rarely noteworthy, but against Dwight Howard, Boston will need as many bodies and fouls as possible. Wilcox hasn't played since January 13th due to a sore calf. I have no idea if Wilcox will be available at all this week, but I'd be surprised if Greg Stiemsma could guard Howard for more than eight minutes of game time without fouling out.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Phoenix 79, Boston 71
[recap] [box score]
You might be tempted to look at the box score of this game, note the absence of Rajon R-ndo's name, and assume that was the reason the Celtics managed just 71 points while just shooting just 40 percent from the floor. And it's probably true that R-ndo, who missed the game with the sprained wrist he suffered Wednesday night against Toronto, would have made a big enough difference to swing the outcome of this game from a Boston loss to a Boston win; he's much too quick for Steve Nash, and indeed registered his career high of 32 points in a matchup with Nash in the 2008-09 season, well before he became a consistent scoring threat.
Hell, even R-ndo's backup, Keyon Dooling, might have made the difference. It wouldn't have taken much: The Suns didn't exactly scorch the net themselves, and they turned the ball over 21 times. But Dooling sat this one out, too, sidelined for the fifth straight game with a sore knee.
What's really frustrating, though, is that Boston could have -- should have -- won this game, even without their first- or second-string point guard. It came down, as it has in each of the team's last seven losses, to the most basic fundamental in the game of basketball: making open shots.
At around 45 percent on the season, the Celtics are in the middle of the NBA pack when it comes to shooting. And yet, I'd bet that if you filtered the data for open, mid-range jumpers, Boston would rank at or near the bottom of the league. (There's a good chance such data is available, but I don't know where to get it.)
You really ought to be able to take an open jumper for granted in the NBA. I'd say that almost every team, at any given time, has at least three guys on the floor who you'd feel reasonably confident in taking a wide-open 15- or 17-footer. Right now, Boston has two guys on its entire roster who I feel confident seeing take those shots: The great Ray Allen, who hasn't exactly lit it up recently, and Brandon Bass, our backup power forward.
That's not good, and it gets worse, because so much of Boston's offense is predicated on that mid-range jumper. (Again, I'm sure the data to prove or disprove this claim is out there.) Sure, we'll run Allen off of screens to try and spring him for a three, and R-ndo will take matters into his own hands and penetrate on occasion, but there's no post-up game to speak of, and so many of R-ndo's forays into the lane end in a kick-out to a teammate whose defender has sloughed off to help.
Statistically speaking, an offense based around mid-range jump shots is not a good one: you're better off taking a contested three than a contested two, for example, because the added difficulty of making the longer shot is outweighed by the extra point when the shot is made. Boston has succeeded in recent years in part because it has some excellent mid-range shooters, in part because the shots they got were more open than is typical, and in part because their defense was so good that they didn't need to be outstanding offensively.
We're seeing now that the offense looks like when the shots aren't falling, and it isn't pretty. And with R-ndo on the sideline and Paul Pierce still not himself, the usual alternative sources of offense aren't available. There's little we can do at this point but hope that the shots start to get down.
On to some Phoenix-game-specific stuff:
* After Marcin Gortat went nuts with a 14-point first quarter, mostly off of pick-and-roll with Nash, the Celtics defense was pretty good the rest of the way. They forced something like ten turnovers in the third quarter alone, and by and large shut down Nash, both his scoring and his assists. There were a couple crucial errors in the fourth quarter by the new guys -- a missed rotation by Mickael Pietrus; Bass leaving Channing Frye to help Kevin Garnett with Gortat in the post -- but the Celtics were more than adequate on that end to win.
* Boston trailed 46-35 at halftime, then opened the second half by scoring 18 of the first 22 points, the team's lone offensive outburst of the game. From there, however, the offense sputtered, as the Suns quickly went on a 12-0 run to re-seize control. The Celtics, maddeningly, went away from the more fluid offensive sets that had been working, in favor of a series of clock-draining post-ups. When Pierce is healthy, these plays are annoying, but tolerable. When he's not, or when the guy posting up is Marquis Daniels, it's just stupid. Stick with what's working.
* Bradley probably had the best game of any Celtic. He had ten points on 5-of-9 from the field, even burying a couple of the open mid-range jumpers that have eluded him in his career (and his teammates this season). He also had three steals, including picking Nash clean as the veteran point guard dribble near midcourt. Only one assist, but only one turnover, too. It was his finest outing of the year.
* In contrast, Bradley's backup for this game, E'Twaun Moore, was terrible. He shot 1-for-6, including a bad miss on a wide-open three-pointer (supposedly his specialty), and he committed three turnovers in 12 minutes of action. Moore's a rookie, and the way he's playing reminds me a lot of a college freshman in his first couple weeks of game action. As you move up in levels, the game moves faster, and for many, it takes some time to adjust, for the game to slow down, as some are fond of saying. You don't see it as much in NBA rookies as you see it in college freshman, but it happens, and its happening with Moore. His lone bright moment came in the third quarter when, with the shot clock running down, he find himself in an isolation with Nash. Moore calmly backed Nash down, then swished a sweet turnaround.
* It's funny, because Doc Rivers has quite notably been terrible at developing rookies over the last several years by not giving them playing time. His hand is forced somewhat with Moore, but Doc seems willing to give Moore run even without the exigent circumstances of injuries and a crazy schedule. Whatever Doc has seen in Moore on the practice court hasn't translated to games.
You might be tempted to look at the box score of this game, note the absence of Rajon R-ndo's name, and assume that was the reason the Celtics managed just 71 points while just shooting just 40 percent from the floor. And it's probably true that R-ndo, who missed the game with the sprained wrist he suffered Wednesday night against Toronto, would have made a big enough difference to swing the outcome of this game from a Boston loss to a Boston win; he's much too quick for Steve Nash, and indeed registered his career high of 32 points in a matchup with Nash in the 2008-09 season, well before he became a consistent scoring threat.
Hell, even R-ndo's backup, Keyon Dooling, might have made the difference. It wouldn't have taken much: The Suns didn't exactly scorch the net themselves, and they turned the ball over 21 times. But Dooling sat this one out, too, sidelined for the fifth straight game with a sore knee.
What's really frustrating, though, is that Boston could have -- should have -- won this game, even without their first- or second-string point guard. It came down, as it has in each of the team's last seven losses, to the most basic fundamental in the game of basketball: making open shots.
At around 45 percent on the season, the Celtics are in the middle of the NBA pack when it comes to shooting. And yet, I'd bet that if you filtered the data for open, mid-range jumpers, Boston would rank at or near the bottom of the league. (There's a good chance such data is available, but I don't know where to get it.)
You really ought to be able to take an open jumper for granted in the NBA. I'd say that almost every team, at any given time, has at least three guys on the floor who you'd feel reasonably confident in taking a wide-open 15- or 17-footer. Right now, Boston has two guys on its entire roster who I feel confident seeing take those shots: The great Ray Allen, who hasn't exactly lit it up recently, and Brandon Bass, our backup power forward.
That's not good, and it gets worse, because so much of Boston's offense is predicated on that mid-range jumper. (Again, I'm sure the data to prove or disprove this claim is out there.) Sure, we'll run Allen off of screens to try and spring him for a three, and R-ndo will take matters into his own hands and penetrate on occasion, but there's no post-up game to speak of, and so many of R-ndo's forays into the lane end in a kick-out to a teammate whose defender has sloughed off to help.
Statistically speaking, an offense based around mid-range jump shots is not a good one: you're better off taking a contested three than a contested two, for example, because the added difficulty of making the longer shot is outweighed by the extra point when the shot is made. Boston has succeeded in recent years in part because it has some excellent mid-range shooters, in part because the shots they got were more open than is typical, and in part because their defense was so good that they didn't need to be outstanding offensively.
We're seeing now that the offense looks like when the shots aren't falling, and it isn't pretty. And with R-ndo on the sideline and Paul Pierce still not himself, the usual alternative sources of offense aren't available. There's little we can do at this point but hope that the shots start to get down.
On to some Phoenix-game-specific stuff:
* After Marcin Gortat went nuts with a 14-point first quarter, mostly off of pick-and-roll with Nash, the Celtics defense was pretty good the rest of the way. They forced something like ten turnovers in the third quarter alone, and by and large shut down Nash, both his scoring and his assists. There were a couple crucial errors in the fourth quarter by the new guys -- a missed rotation by Mickael Pietrus; Bass leaving Channing Frye to help Kevin Garnett with Gortat in the post -- but the Celtics were more than adequate on that end to win.
* Boston trailed 46-35 at halftime, then opened the second half by scoring 18 of the first 22 points, the team's lone offensive outburst of the game. From there, however, the offense sputtered, as the Suns quickly went on a 12-0 run to re-seize control. The Celtics, maddeningly, went away from the more fluid offensive sets that had been working, in favor of a series of clock-draining post-ups. When Pierce is healthy, these plays are annoying, but tolerable. When he's not, or when the guy posting up is Marquis Daniels, it's just stupid. Stick with what's working.
* Bradley probably had the best game of any Celtic. He had ten points on 5-of-9 from the field, even burying a couple of the open mid-range jumpers that have eluded him in his career (and his teammates this season). He also had three steals, including picking Nash clean as the veteran point guard dribble near midcourt. Only one assist, but only one turnover, too. It was his finest outing of the year.
* In contrast, Bradley's backup for this game, E'Twaun Moore, was terrible. He shot 1-for-6, including a bad miss on a wide-open three-pointer (supposedly his specialty), and he committed three turnovers in 12 minutes of action. Moore's a rookie, and the way he's playing reminds me a lot of a college freshman in his first couple weeks of game action. As you move up in levels, the game moves faster, and for many, it takes some time to adjust, for the game to slow down, as some are fond of saying. You don't see it as much in NBA rookies as you see it in college freshman, but it happens, and its happening with Moore. His lone bright moment came in the third quarter when, with the shot clock running down, he find himself in an isolation with Nash. Moore calmly backed Nash down, then swished a sweet turnaround.
* It's funny, because Doc Rivers has quite notably been terrible at developing rookies over the last several years by not giving them playing time. His hand is forced somewhat with Moore, but Doc seems willing to give Moore run even without the exigent circumstances of injuries and a crazy schedule. Whatever Doc has seen in Moore on the practice court hasn't translated to games.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Boston 96, Toronto 73
[recap] [box score]
The Raptors aren't very good, so I'm not going to pretend that this win means much of anything or that the Celtics are even on the road to being "back." But I will say that as a fan, it was nice to have a game against an inferior opponent go the way we've gotten used to around here for the last several years. Boston jumped out to a 29-14 first-quarter lead, then buried Toronto in the third quarter after the second unit let the Raps back in the game in the second.
The big news from this game, really, is that Rajon R-ndo left near the end of the third quarter after landing on his elbow/wrist trying to break his fall after being fouled by Linas Kleiza. (Kleiza is a tough customer and the refs called a flagrant on the play, but it didn't look to me like a dirty play at all.) He was down for a while, then got up to shoot his free throws -- a good sign, all things considered, because the game was well in hand at the time and he didn't need to take them (if he hadn't, he'd have not been allowed back in the game at any point). R-ndo is day-to-day and reportedly said he'll be ready to play Friday when the Suns come to town.
Up until his injury, R-ndo was excellent, scoring on a bunch of nifty drives and getting to the free throw line. So easily was he getting to the basket and scoring, in fact, that he didn't have his first assist until midway through the third quarter -- certainly the longest I ever remember seeing him going before dropping his first dime.
It's been a difficult early season for R-ndo, on whose shoulders a heavier offensive burden has been placed. To be effective, he needs teammates who can either knock down shots (to spread the floor and open up the lane) or who can get out on the fast break with him, where his vision and creativity can flourish. As has been well-documented, however, the Celtics are busy playing their way into shape, and no one is really knocking down many shots. This isn't something he's used to, and I think his production has suffered a bit as he tries to adjust.
Any win is a good win when you're struggling, but just as important as the result was the progress made on the court: The Celtics are starting to knock down some open looks, rebound, and get into shape. There's a long way to go, but on any journey, the first step is going to be small.
Notes:
* Mickael Pietrus hit four of seven three-pointers Wednesday night, the only seven shots he took. In five games this year, he's 11-for-27 behind the arc -- and three for five inside it. If he continues to hit at his current 40 percent clip, that's fine, but the guy is at 36 percent for his career from downtown and I'm not convinced he's a good enough outside shooter to justify such an imbalance. At least he contributes defensively, as well.
* E'Twaun Moore has gotten Avery Bradley's minutes the last couple of games. (Bradley only played in garbage time against the Raps.) Moore has not, in my eyes, played particularly well, and I wonder if his inclusion in the rotation has more to do with Keyon Dooling's absence than anything else. Without Dooling, the second unit has been badly hurting for offense, and Bradley is a disaster offensively. If Moore's not knocking down shots, however -- and he isn't -- the Celtics are probably better off with Bradley's defense on the floor. We'll see what happens when Dooling returns.
* Another position battle is that for backup center, between Greg Stiemsma and Chris Wilcox. Doc has said that neither has separated himself, and that he'd use them situationally: Stiemsma in physical games, Wilcox in more uptempo contests. Wilcox has been bothered by a sore calf and missed the last three games, and so Stiemsma got the backup pivot minutes against the Raptors. I prefer Stiemsma to Wilcox because of the rim protection he provides, but if he's gonna stick in the league, he'll need to learn to grab a rebound with two hands, rather than try to tip it to a teammate with one. Against the Raptors, Stiemsma rebounded as though he were trying to prevent the ball from touching his body, swatting it in the direction of his teammates on the perimeter. There are times where tipping a rebound is appropriate, but it seemed to be Stiemsma's default Wednesday.
The Raptors aren't very good, so I'm not going to pretend that this win means much of anything or that the Celtics are even on the road to being "back." But I will say that as a fan, it was nice to have a game against an inferior opponent go the way we've gotten used to around here for the last several years. Boston jumped out to a 29-14 first-quarter lead, then buried Toronto in the third quarter after the second unit let the Raps back in the game in the second.
The big news from this game, really, is that Rajon R-ndo left near the end of the third quarter after landing on his elbow/wrist trying to break his fall after being fouled by Linas Kleiza. (Kleiza is a tough customer and the refs called a flagrant on the play, but it didn't look to me like a dirty play at all.) He was down for a while, then got up to shoot his free throws -- a good sign, all things considered, because the game was well in hand at the time and he didn't need to take them (if he hadn't, he'd have not been allowed back in the game at any point). R-ndo is day-to-day and reportedly said he'll be ready to play Friday when the Suns come to town.
Up until his injury, R-ndo was excellent, scoring on a bunch of nifty drives and getting to the free throw line. So easily was he getting to the basket and scoring, in fact, that he didn't have his first assist until midway through the third quarter -- certainly the longest I ever remember seeing him going before dropping his first dime.
It's been a difficult early season for R-ndo, on whose shoulders a heavier offensive burden has been placed. To be effective, he needs teammates who can either knock down shots (to spread the floor and open up the lane) or who can get out on the fast break with him, where his vision and creativity can flourish. As has been well-documented, however, the Celtics are busy playing their way into shape, and no one is really knocking down many shots. This isn't something he's used to, and I think his production has suffered a bit as he tries to adjust.
Any win is a good win when you're struggling, but just as important as the result was the progress made on the court: The Celtics are starting to knock down some open looks, rebound, and get into shape. There's a long way to go, but on any journey, the first step is going to be small.
Notes:
* Mickael Pietrus hit four of seven three-pointers Wednesday night, the only seven shots he took. In five games this year, he's 11-for-27 behind the arc -- and three for five inside it. If he continues to hit at his current 40 percent clip, that's fine, but the guy is at 36 percent for his career from downtown and I'm not convinced he's a good enough outside shooter to justify such an imbalance. At least he contributes defensively, as well.
* E'Twaun Moore has gotten Avery Bradley's minutes the last couple of games. (Bradley only played in garbage time against the Raps.) Moore has not, in my eyes, played particularly well, and I wonder if his inclusion in the rotation has more to do with Keyon Dooling's absence than anything else. Without Dooling, the second unit has been badly hurting for offense, and Bradley is a disaster offensively. If Moore's not knocking down shots, however -- and he isn't -- the Celtics are probably better off with Bradley's defense on the floor. We'll see what happens when Dooling returns.
* Another position battle is that for backup center, between Greg Stiemsma and Chris Wilcox. Doc has said that neither has separated himself, and that he'd use them situationally: Stiemsma in physical games, Wilcox in more uptempo contests. Wilcox has been bothered by a sore calf and missed the last three games, and so Stiemsma got the backup pivot minutes against the Raptors. I prefer Stiemsma to Wilcox because of the rim protection he provides, but if he's gonna stick in the league, he'll need to learn to grab a rebound with two hands, rather than try to tip it to a teammate with one. Against the Raptors, Stiemsma rebounded as though he were trying to prevent the ball from touching his body, swatting it in the direction of his teammates on the perimeter. There are times where tipping a rebound is appropriate, but it seemed to be Stiemsma's default Wednesday.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Dallas 90, Boston 85
[recap] [box score]
After four days off, going against an opponent who had played the night before, the Celtics nonetheless looked like the more tired team Wednesday night against Dallas.
The explanation, it turns out, is rather simple: Boston was the more tired team. Word is that Doc has been pushing the guys in hard in practice in an effort to use this rare opportunity to get the team in shape after the shortened preseason. Paul Pierce even reportedly did an hour-long sprint workout on the treadmill after today's shootaround.
If this seems implausible to you, or if you're ticked at Doc for maybe costing us a win by pushing too hard, I urge you to consider the alternative. It's either this, or we get four months of the sluggish play we've seen so far from Pierce and Kevin Garnett, followed by an early playoff exit. (Remember how playing into shape worked for Rasheed Wallace two seasons ago?) And if not that, then a realization that is far more unpleasant, if one we're going to have to come to soon: these veterans don't have it anymore.
So, yeah, given these alternatives, I'm going to go with the most pleasant option, the options that affords the most reason for optimism. It's going to be a weird season, and it's too early to start worrying about our playoff spot. We're gonna have to be patient, particularly in the early-going.
We're gonna have to be patient even if the losses come due to infuriating things like the defensive glass and blown defensive assignments. The Pacers killed us with offensive rebounds on Friday; though it wasn't as big a factor Wednesday, especially in the second half, the Mavs did have 13 offensive rebounds (compared to two for the Celts). And while I think that Boston's defense has been quite good over the past six games, Pierce blew a crucial rotation on a late Dirk Nowitzki drive (a mistake he atoned for by drilled the game-tying three with 25 seconds left). And then, on Dallas' game-winning possession, Garnett was in Nowitzki's shorts with no help behind him. Dirk easily drove around KG and made a circus shot while being hammered by Brandon Bass, who was waaaaaaaaaaaaay late on the play. Either Bass blew it or KG did -- there's no way the plan was to defend Nowitzki that way.
So I'm remaining patient, even as we sit a game below .500, having not yet beat a playoff-bound team with three games against such teams (Chicago, Indiana, and Oklahoma City) in four days looming on the weekend, starting on Friday.
Notes:
Rajon R-ndo has been brilliant this season, and on Wednesday (Ray Allen's first off-night of the young season), his aggressive offense has been the only consistently good thing for Boston so far. Yet he's made some crucial mistakes, as well; he's already committed a couple of rally-crushing turnovers this year, and Wednesday night he made a bad gamble for a steal on a Nowitzki drive, leaving Jason Terry wide open for a three-pointer at the end of the shot clock. He also threw away Boston's last shot at a tie by delivering an inbounds pass to Ray too low; Ray couldn't corral it and it went out of bounds, sealing the game ... Avery Bradley has shown that he's one of the most tenacious on-ball defenders in the league, but he also has the worst jumper of any guard I can think of. He had a wide-open 20-footer from the top of the key on Wednesday that he rocketed off the backboard, a foot high and a foot right. It's almost inconceivable that he could miss a shot that badly ... Mickael Pietrus made his Celtics debut against the Mavs, making the first shot he took in the green and white, a three-pointer. He made some nice defensive plays but also took a very bad three-pointer in the fourth quarter. Still, it'll be nice to have a more competent offensive player to spell Pierce ... Marquis Daniels didn't play, though I think it was because he's recovery from some sort of bug as much as it was the presence of Pietrus ... ESPN's announcers noted that part of Boston's rebounding woes are due to the fact that the guards aren't going to get the ball off the glass. That's true, but it's only part of the story. Our bigs are being pushed around by the other team's big bodies ... Dallas coach Rick Carlisle was ejected in the third quarter, charging out onto the court to protest a play in which Garnett grabbed Nowitzki as the big German tried to free himself up around a screen. It's the second time this season an opposing coach has elected the rather unusual remedy of storming onto the parquet to protest a relatively innocuous play at a non-crucial moment; Flip Saunders was tossed less than two minutes in to Boston's home win over the Wizards earlier this month.
After four days off, going against an opponent who had played the night before, the Celtics nonetheless looked like the more tired team Wednesday night against Dallas.
The explanation, it turns out, is rather simple: Boston was the more tired team. Word is that Doc has been pushing the guys in hard in practice in an effort to use this rare opportunity to get the team in shape after the shortened preseason. Paul Pierce even reportedly did an hour-long sprint workout on the treadmill after today's shootaround.
If this seems implausible to you, or if you're ticked at Doc for maybe costing us a win by pushing too hard, I urge you to consider the alternative. It's either this, or we get four months of the sluggish play we've seen so far from Pierce and Kevin Garnett, followed by an early playoff exit. (Remember how playing into shape worked for Rasheed Wallace two seasons ago?) And if not that, then a realization that is far more unpleasant, if one we're going to have to come to soon: these veterans don't have it anymore.
So, yeah, given these alternatives, I'm going to go with the most pleasant option, the options that affords the most reason for optimism. It's going to be a weird season, and it's too early to start worrying about our playoff spot. We're gonna have to be patient, particularly in the early-going.
We're gonna have to be patient even if the losses come due to infuriating things like the defensive glass and blown defensive assignments. The Pacers killed us with offensive rebounds on Friday; though it wasn't as big a factor Wednesday, especially in the second half, the Mavs did have 13 offensive rebounds (compared to two for the Celts). And while I think that Boston's defense has been quite good over the past six games, Pierce blew a crucial rotation on a late Dirk Nowitzki drive (a mistake he atoned for by drilled the game-tying three with 25 seconds left). And then, on Dallas' game-winning possession, Garnett was in Nowitzki's shorts with no help behind him. Dirk easily drove around KG and made a circus shot while being hammered by Brandon Bass, who was waaaaaaaaaaaaay late on the play. Either Bass blew it or KG did -- there's no way the plan was to defend Nowitzki that way.
So I'm remaining patient, even as we sit a game below .500, having not yet beat a playoff-bound team with three games against such teams (Chicago, Indiana, and Oklahoma City) in four days looming on the weekend, starting on Friday.
Notes:
Rajon R-ndo has been brilliant this season, and on Wednesday (Ray Allen's first off-night of the young season), his aggressive offense has been the only consistently good thing for Boston so far. Yet he's made some crucial mistakes, as well; he's already committed a couple of rally-crushing turnovers this year, and Wednesday night he made a bad gamble for a steal on a Nowitzki drive, leaving Jason Terry wide open for a three-pointer at the end of the shot clock. He also threw away Boston's last shot at a tie by delivering an inbounds pass to Ray too low; Ray couldn't corral it and it went out of bounds, sealing the game ... Avery Bradley has shown that he's one of the most tenacious on-ball defenders in the league, but he also has the worst jumper of any guard I can think of. He had a wide-open 20-footer from the top of the key on Wednesday that he rocketed off the backboard, a foot high and a foot right. It's almost inconceivable that he could miss a shot that badly ... Mickael Pietrus made his Celtics debut against the Mavs, making the first shot he took in the green and white, a three-pointer. He made some nice defensive plays but also took a very bad three-pointer in the fourth quarter. Still, it'll be nice to have a more competent offensive player to spell Pierce ... Marquis Daniels didn't play, though I think it was because he's recovery from some sort of bug as much as it was the presence of Pietrus ... ESPN's announcers noted that part of Boston's rebounding woes are due to the fact that the guards aren't going to get the ball off the glass. That's true, but it's only part of the story. Our bigs are being pushed around by the other team's big bodies ... Dallas coach Rick Carlisle was ejected in the third quarter, charging out onto the court to protest a play in which Garnett grabbed Nowitzki as the big German tried to free himself up around a screen. It's the second time this season an opposing coach has elected the rather unusual remedy of storming onto the parquet to protest a relatively innocuous play at a non-crucial moment; Flip Saunders was tossed less than two minutes in to Boston's home win over the Wizards earlier this month.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
The Next Lamb: The Orlando Magic
Game 28: Boston (23-4) at Orlando (17-12)
Turkoglu was a key part of Orlando's Finals run two years ago, then bolted to Toronto for a hefty contract. He was miserable as a Raptor (both in mood and in performance), lobbied for and got a trade in the offseason, and was basically as ineffective in 25 games in Phoenix as he was in Toronto. He's moved into the starting lineup in Lewis' place in three games with the Magic, going 3-for-15 in his first two outings before bouncing back with a respectable 5-for-10 against the Spurs.
Saturday, December 25
2:30 p.m. Eastern
ABC
If you are but a casual observer of the NBA, you are probably surprised to see the 17-12 record next to the Orlando Magic. Over the past few seasons, the Magic have emerged as an Eastern Conference rival, reaching the conference finals last season and beating Boston and Cleveland on the way to an NBA Finals loss to the Lakers the season before. When this current season opened, not much had changed, and Orlando was expected to make another deep playoff run. After consecutive wins at Chicago and Detroit in the first three days of December, the Magic were 15-4, and everything seemed hunky-dory.
But Orlando lost its next four games, beat the Clippers, then lost to Denver, and the front office decided to shake things up. They sent Vince Carter, Mickael Pietrus, and Marcin Gortat to Phoenix for Jason Richardson, Hedo Turkoglu, and Earl Clark, and shipped Rashard Lewis off to Washington for Gilbert Arenas. They promptly dropped three more -- to Philly (the day of the trades, so they were shorthanded), at Atlanta, and to Dallas -- before snapping San Antonio's ten-game winning streak Thursday night.
More thoughts on this rather shocking attempt to rebuild on the fly in a moment. In terms of the Christmas Day game, it's tough to know what to expect. Sure, the Magic still have Dwight Howard, who has put up gaudy numbers the last four games and looks to have developed a little bit more of an offensive game in the offseason, and they still have Jameer Nelson, their sharpshooting point guard. But Carter and Lewis were starters, and Pietrus and Gortat were rotation players. It's going to take some time for them to jell, and so it's hard to use Saturday's matchup as any sort of measuring stick. They certainly looked impressive in putting up 123 points against San Antonio, but the Spurs were on the second night of a back-to-back and haven't been nearly as good defensively this season as we're accustomed to.
Looking toward the rest of the season and beyond, it's certainly a bold move. Frankly, it seemed to me that the front office panicked a bit: No one likes to lose five out of six, but four of those losses came on the road to possible playoff teams (Milwaukee, Portland, Utah, and Denver) and the fifth was to a solid division rival (Atlanta). Obviously, the goal in Orlando is a championship and you have to be able to beat those types of teams, even on the road, to win a title, but it seems like an over-reaction to turn over so much of the roster in response to a little slide. My hunch is that Orlando perhaps wasn't happy with its roster heading into the season and had been looking to make moves, and that this is the time that a deal to their liking materialized.
From an Xs and Os perspective, one glaring hole this leaves on the Magic roster is backup center, of which Gortat was one of the league's most effective (and highest-paid). It's especially glaring given the makeup of the various title contenders. That is, if the Magic are to win the title, then they have to plan, at least, on beating Boston and the Lakers. That means going through Kendrick Perkins, Shaquille O'Neal, and Jermaine O'Neal (who should return to action Saturday, by the way) in the former case, and Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and Lamar Odom in the latter case. The loss of Gortat leaves Howard and the undersized Brandon Bass (a Glen Davis-ish player) as Orlando's only viable bigs, which you have to think isn't going to be sufficient to beat the Celtics or Lakers. The team has said that it will look to add another big via trade before the trade deadline in a couple of months, but one would be justified in wondering where that player will come from and at what price he will come.
As for the other losses and additions, Richardson should fill in reasonably well for Carter. A little more consistent, perhaps, a little less injury prone, but not as dynamic as Vince, and not as a good a passer. He can fill it up, though, and is a threat beyond the arc. Clark is a non-factor for the foreseeable future; Phoenix didn't pick up his contract option for next year and it's hard to see him breaking into the rotation this season. The key to this deal is Turkoglu and Arenas, and how well they make up for the departure of Lewis and Pietrus (plus whatever they have to give up to get a replacement for Gortat).
Turkoglu was a key part of Orlando's Finals run two years ago, then bolted to Toronto for a hefty contract. He was miserable as a Raptor (both in mood and in performance), lobbied for and got a trade in the offseason, and was basically as ineffective in 25 games in Phoenix as he was in Toronto. He's moved into the starting lineup in Lewis' place in three games with the Magic, going 3-for-15 in his first two outings before bouncing back with a respectable 5-for-10 against the Spurs.
When he's at his best, Turkoglu is a catalyst. He would take some of the ballhandling responsibilities away from Nelson the way he did in 2008-09, when Nelson shot a career-best 50.3 percent from the floor and 45.3 percent from three. (Recall, too, that Orlando made its big postseason run that year with Nelson out of the lineup due to late-season shoulder injury). I, for one, am not at all sure that Turkoglu is, or ever will be, close to his best, but it's possible that his decline in effectiveness over the past season-plus was due to unhappiness. Even if his best days are behind him, he won't be much of a downgrade over Lewis, a fairly one-dimensional three-point shooter with similar career percentage behind the arc to Turkoglu.
Arenas is a huge x-factor. With his recent injury history, it's easy enough to think of him as washed up, but he's only 28, and if he regains his form, he's instantly one of the most dangerous men in the NBA with the basketball in his hands. It appears that he's taking on a role with the second unit, and that strategy has to be right: No matter what you think of Nelson, both Turkoglu and Arenas need the ball to be effective, and they cancel each other out a little bit if they have to share it. But if he is playing well, he's a sixth man of the year candidate type player, injury/foul insurance for Richardson and Nelson, and another option late in the game. Of course, who knows how often he'll play well. I've only seen him once this year, when the Celtics pasted the Wizards, and I wrote then that Arenas did nothing but stand around shooting three-pointers all night. Gil was clearly unhappy with his situation in Washington, though, and perhaps his play will change with a change of scenery. Orlando's certainly counting on it.
As for Arenas' much-publicized off-court issues (you know, the gun in the locker room thing), most reports suggest that once the hammer came down, he put that stuff behind him. (Indeed, it may have contributed to his melancholy demeanor this season). Still, Arenas has always been a peculiar, unique character, and a guy like that -- particularly one who likes to shoot as often as he does -- is always capable of disrupting a locker room. I'm not saying that I think Arenas will try to stir things up, but if he does, I'm not sure Orlando has the personalities required to prevent it from becoming a big distraction. I think Stan Van Gundy is a good coach, but he's high-strung; Dwight Howard is an easy-going guy, but he's young and sensitive. No one in that locker room has won anything, and Arenas was brought in as part of a plan to put the team over the top. The ingredients are present for a bit of a meltdown, though I expect Arenas to behave.
I haven't even addressed defense, in part because it's always a little difficult to tell how individual defenders will fit in with specific defensive schemes. I can say with certainty that Turkoglu's a pretty bad on-ball defender and that while Arenas has been a big steals guy throughout his career, he's not a lockdown type of guy. Howard is perhaps the league's premier shotblocker and he can erase a lot of mistakes, but he's also foul-prone, a characteristic that is magnified by the fact that he doesn't have a backup, at least while the team looks for a replacement for Gortat. Pietrus was a pretty good defender, too, and there isn't anyone on the roster that immediately comes to mind as someone to fill that role.
In short, the Magic have taken a big risk here. Once the team gets acclimated with itself, they've probably done no worse than tread water offensively -- with a chance at great improvement on that end -- but they've probably gotten worse defensively, a big deal for a team coached by Van Gundy that has hung its hat on defense. In theory, they're less reliant on jumpshots -- a big criticism I've had with them -- but now they're more reliant on "outscoring" opponents, as opposed to winning games on the defensive ends. They've also taken some risks with their team makeup.
Moreover, it's unclear whether this team will come together fully this season, and, if it does, whether it's even enough to beat the league's elite. The best they can hope for is probably something akin to their 2008-09 team, and that squad needed seven games to beat the Kevin Garnett-less Celtics in the Eastern semis and never really challenged the Lakers in the Finals. With the Celtics certainly better this year and the Lakers, Spurs, and Heat hanging around as well, it's tricky to see this team getting it done -- particularly if it needs to sacrifice a player like J.J. Redick to pick up a backup pivot. While some may applaud the Magic for making this kind of bold move in the middle of the season, it says here that it won't be enough to push them over the top.
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