[recap] [box score]
As many of you know, when Paul Pierce is introduced to the home crowd, the announcer refers to him as "The Captain, and the The Truth." The former is, of course, a nod to the fact that he is the long-time captain of the Celtics, and the latter is the nickname bestowed on Pierce early in his career by a very impressed Shaquille O'Neal.
It doesn't get much more Captain-y, or much Truthier, than the way Pierce has played over the last couple of games.
The night after Pierce's 24 points, six rebounds, and ten assists led his team to an improbable comeback victory over the Magic, Pierce's 28/10/8 helped his team avenge avenge two earlier losses to the youthful Pacers. Playing a dual role as main ballhandler and primary scoring option, there's hardly been a Celtics possession lately with #34 on the floor that hasn't gone through him. Pierce is averaging more than eight assists per game in the five that Rajon R-ndo has missed with a wrist injury, all while raising his season scoring average from 14.9 to 17.7. On Friday night, after a relatively quiet first half, he went off for 17 points in the third quarter, picking apart Danny Granger and the Pacers in the second half with a series of crafty left-handed drives and long-range jumpers.
There's no question that Pierce is being asked to do too much. The 34 minutes he was asked to play against the Pacers are one or two too many; the 44 he played on Thursday against Orlando are absolutely horrifying. Doc hasn't had much choice but to play Pierce a ton of minutes, given all the injuries, and in some ways, perhaps it's good -- maybe it has gotten Pierce into shape. But as fun as it's been to watch Pierce put this team -- his team -- on his back, it'll be good to get some of the cavalry back.
Not that Pierce has been alone. Kevin Garnett has really elevated his play in the last two games, especially on the defensive end. With Jermaine O'Neal out with sore knees, Garnett has had to slide over to the starting five spot, and he has kept two of the game's best young centers, Dwight Howard and Roy Hibbert, well under control on consecutive nights.
And in each of the last three wins, Pierce and Garnett have gotten help from an unheralded teammate. In the first Orlando win, the home blowout on Monday, it was Avery Bradley and his fantastic pressure defense; in the Orlando comeback, it was rookie E'Twaun Moore clutch sharpshooting. On Friday, it was backup center Chris Wilcox, who, after scoring 15 points all season, erupted for 14 against the Pacers.
All these guys helped Boston to what was a pretty comfortable win, despite the fact that Indiana shot 31 free throws (making 30) to the Celtics' 14 (we hit 12).
Doc, by the way, is coaching his ass off. He's been working the sideline with more energy than I've seen him before, keeping his team fighting through injuries and an awful start to the season. And on Friday, he used his timeouts brilliantly to stem any momentum shifts in Indiana's favor. Three times during the game he used a timeout after Indiana went on a five- or six-point run; after two of those, Boston scored on the ensuing possession, and in all three situations, the Celtics regained control soon thereafter. He also drew up a great little high pinch post variation coming out of the under 3 timeout that led to a Mickael Pietrus dunk and a 90-80 lead.
The opponents on the schedule get a little easier this week, but Boston has now started a stretch in which they play at least as frequently as every other night for more than two weeks. They've got the Cavs at home on Sunday, the return date in Ohio on Tuesday, and the Raptors at home on Wednesday, three winnable games before the Knicks and Grizzlies visit over the weekend.
Showing posts with label Indiana Pacers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indiana Pacers. Show all posts
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Boston 92, Indiana 80
Boston's season is (hopefully) back on track, but not without a few "here we go again" moments early against the Pacers.
Thanks to Monday's loss to the Nets, the Celtics found themselves in need of a win over the Pacers just to keep pace with the Bulls atop the Eastern Conference. And despite a fierce Paul Pierce dunk for the game's first bucket that I hoped would set the tone, Boston reverted back to the uninspired offensive ball it had played in the last several games, trailing by as many as seven points.
Enter Jeff Green and Glen Davis, who injected energy and, more importantly, offense into Boston. In his finest game in his short Celtics career, Green had 17 first-half points, keeping the home team a few points ahead of the visitors throughout much of the second quarter.
And then, the key sequence, the one that gave the Cs a comfortable lead: two Ray Allen threes sandwiched around a Paul Pierce triple, extending the Boston advantage from four points to eleven in less than a minute. The Garden crowd went crazy; timeout, Indy; but the Pacers wouldn't get closer than five the rest of the way.
Granted, the offense didn't keep rolling that way all night -- in fact, it was a fairly middling offensive performance, aside from that one minute. But that one minute is the kind of minute we'd gotten used to this season, a stretch where Boston's starters played with energy and purpose and rhythm and knocked down some shots as a result. Those are things that have been missing from Boston's offense lately, and hopefully it's back to stay.
Notable
- The Celtics organization honored Mike Gorman and Tommy Heinsohn before the game. They've been talking about "30 years of Mike & Tommy" on all the broadcasts this season, but this was the big evening, so to speak, as far as I could tell. A nice simple ceremony for a couple of guys who I think would rather not have had one at all.
- Perhaps as part of the festivities, Celtics "celebrity" fan Donnie Wahlberg joined them at the broadcast table for most of the second quarter. I was actually pretty impressed with his basketball knowledge; he seemed to understand the game, rather than just know it as a fan. One exception: He kept mentioning that he liked the Perkins trade because Andrew Bynum was the difference-maker in last year's Finals. Ignoring the fact, first of all, that Boston was ahead three games to two before Perk got hurt, it makes no sense at all to say that replacing Perkins with Shaquille O'Neal or Nenad Krstic is going to help Boston handle Bynum.
- Delonte West returned after missing eight games or so with a sprained ankle. Forced to sit the majority of the season due to a couple of injuries, West hopefully can find his rhythm before the postseason. It occurs to me, however, that his role maybe has changed somewhat. In training camp, which is really when he was able to get the majority of his work in, he was handling second-team point guard duties alongside Nate Robinson. Now, Robinson is gone, and West's likely backcourt partner is Carlos Arroyo, a true point guard who isn't suited to play the two. That means that West will probably slide over to shooting guard. On the one hand, it's his more natural position. On the other, it's another adjustment to be made in a season in which he probably hasn't yet felt comfortable.
- Troy Murphy had a two-handed reverse dunk in this basketball game. I can't find video of it, but I promise you that it happened.
I'll probably be tweeting a lot over the next few days, about the NCAA Tournament. My handle there is, of course, @HSSlamPhD.
Monday, December 20, 2010
The Garden Has A Championship Feel
Back in November, I attended a wedding at which Jeff Clark, founder of Celtics Blog, was also a guest. Jeff was kind enough to spend a few minutes talking blogging and ball with me, and one of the things he had to say was, essentially, that there was a different vibe around the Celtcs this year than there was last year. (See this post from earlier this month, particularly the last three paragraphs.) I had sensed it, too, but hearing it from someone who has actually spent some time around the team affirmed it. Maybe it's hard to put a finger on it, but Boston doesn't seem like they are going to let off the accelerator the way they have after fast starts in each of the past two seasons. It just feels like these guys are out to prove a point -- to make a statement -- every time out. It's the same sort of attitude the 2007-08 team took on its way to the franchise's 17th title banner.
Sunday marked the fourth consecutive year I've made the trip to Boston to catch a Celtics game the weekend before Christmas, and I can tell you that the fans at the TD Garden are also in championship form.
Full disclosure: I didn't grow up in Boston and never made it to the old Garden. In fact, I've only been to seven Celtics games in Boston that I can recall. I've therefore never experienced a true "Garden" crowd, and of all the Celtics bloggers out there, I'm perhaps the least qualified to testify as to what a true Celtics championship crowd is (though I was fortunate to be part of the crowd at Game 1 in the 2008 Finals). But I can tell you that the Boston fans know that something special is happening on the hardwood in their series.
The place was packed, well before tip, for a 1 o'clock start on a Sunday against the Pacers. (Okay, maybe it helped that the Patriots were playing the Sunday night game.) When Shaquille O'Neal jogged out of the tunnel as the rest of the team warmed up -- signifying he was going to play for the first time in five games -- the place went bananas (thought not as bananas as when Shaq caught an alley-oop from Paul Pierce in the first quarter, slammed it through with one hand while being fouled by Jeff Foster, then covered the distance between the bucket and the sideline in four giant strides -- "Fee Fi Fo Fum!") The players were met with thunderous chants of "DE-FENSE! DE-FENSE" in the third quarter despite a listless, disjointed performance from the Cs on the offensive end during the entire period. And the crowd, like the team, rose to the occasion in the crucial fourth quarter, helping to put the Pacers away by creating an overwhelming atmosphere.
I know how good Boston fans are, and I'm not saying that the crowd was "bad" in each of the last two seasons when I want to see a game. But it's different this year; it's like it was in 2007-08.
I'm not guaranteeing that we'll win the title. I'm not even guaranteeing that we won't suffer through the same mediocre stretch of mid-season basketball we saw last season and the one before. But our current 13-game winning streak will end, perhaps sooner rather than later, and at some point, we'll lose a couple in a row and people will start to talk about how it's the same old thing from the same old Celtics. But I'm here to say that I think things are different this year -- and that the fans in Boston do, too.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Links of the Day (November 9, 2010)
(Programming note: Links posts have already slowed down in frequency, and they will continue to do so and may even die out. This is the busy time of the semester for me, and I'm trying to do more with the blog than I ever have before. The links get the short end of the stick because I want to make sure I'm getting enough of my own content up.)
- It was a great night in the NBA, not that I saw any of it. But my man Paul Millsap dropped 46 on the Heat to lead an improbable Jazz comeback in Miami, and Indiana hung 54 points on Denver in the third quarter, making 20 of 21 shots in the process.
- It looks like the Rockets are re-thinking the limitations they placed (no more than 24 minutes per game, no back-to-backs) on Yao at the beginning of the season. I wonder if Houston's tough start -- a 1-5 record and an injury to point guard Aaron Brooks -- has anything to do with it.
- I can't get enough stories like this one about Al Jefferson. Everything I've ever heard suggests that Big Al J is a great teammate and a real easy guy to coach.
- Lamar Odom is suing the IRS. Without doing any research, it seems to me that he at least has a colorable argument.
- The above paragraph is not legal advice.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Catching Up
It's been...two weeks since you heard from me.
(Did I really just mark my return by paraphrasing a Barenaked Ladies song?)
Yes, two weeks without a post, part of which time coincided with a stretch where I was actually too busy to watch basketball, a concept I heretofore didn't think was possible (which may explain my poor GPA from the previous year). We've gone 4-2 in my blogging hiatus:
Boston 110, Memphis 105 (12/14) - Paul Pierce's 19 points led six Celtics who scored at least 13 in what I was told was a very entertaining game with a Grizzlies squad that is on the rise.
Philadelphia 98, Boston 97 (12/18) - The final two of Elton Brand's 23 points off the bench came on a tip-in with 7.7 seconds left, snapping Boston's 11-game win streak. I didn't get a chance to watch this one, either, but we had a 15-point lead in the third quarter, not the kind of margin we typically blow at home. Also, Rasheed Wallace was ejected for the first time this season.
Boston 122, Minnesota 104 (12/20) - I was supposed to watch this one in person but, as the folks at Delta/Northwest are about to find out, I missed it due to some serious ineffeciencies and incompetencies in their systems. Pierce had 29 points to lead seven Celtics in double figures, and made all six of his three-point attempts. Minnesota's leading scorer on the night? Jonny Flynn, with 21 points.
Boston 103, Indiana 94 (12/22) - I was able to get to Beantown in time for this game, and for a while, it hardly seemed worth my effort: The Cs trailed by 15 at the break. Despite playing without Kevin Garnett, who suffered a thigh bruise in the Minnesota game and was a late scratch, Boston need just more than seven minutes to erase that entire deficit, then put the game away in the fourth. It was a truly dominant second half, as Indiana scored just 37 points in the final 24 minutes. (This was one of those games were Indy was throwing in everything for the first half, then got cold in the second.) Ray Allen led Boston with 23 points, and Pierce scored 21 despite missing his first ten field goals.
Boston 86, Orlando 77 (12/25) - Christmas Day 2009 was better than the 2008 version (when the Celtics lost to the Lakers). Boston avenged an early-season home loss to the Magic with this road win. Offensively, Orlando was about as bad as you'll ever see a legitimate title contender be, scoring just eight second-quarter points. Boston was only marginally better, grabbing a 38-27 lead, but it was enough to hold on when things returned more to "normal" in the second half.
A little bit of good news/bad news for Boston. The good news was that they won this game without Paul Pierce; the bad news was that they won this game without Paul Pierce. The Celtics captain has a knee infection and is supposed to miss a couple of weeks. That we won such a big game without Pierce is encouraging, but we missed him two days later (see below) and it's a little unfortunate that we go into one of our big West Coast trips without our closer.
This was the second straight game with the Magic that could be called an abomination offensively for both teams (or, more charitably, a masterpiece defensively for both teams), which stands in sharp contrast to games 6 and 7 of last year's Eastern Conference semifinals, when Orlando made just about everything they put up on their way to stealing the series. I don't have an explanation for it, other than that these are the two best defensive teams in the East.
This game was huge, though, in terms of home court advantage (never too early to start thinking about that).
Los Angeles Clippers 92, Boston 90 (12/27) - A frustrating, annoying loss, sure, but one that probably doesn't matter. For the second straight year, Boston lost to the other team from L.A. in an eminently winnable game. (Walking out of the Staples Center last year while being taunted by Clippers fans is a low point in my life.)
Rajon Rondo will end up shouldering most of the blame here: Tied at 90 with 1.5 seconds to go, he missed two free throws, then allowed Baron Davis to catch the ball too easily on LA's ensuing inbounds play (though Baron still made a very difficult fallaway for the win).
Offensively, I'm still deciding whether I liked the call on our final possession, an isolation for Rondo at the top of the key with the shot clock off. The issue wasn't whether he was going to beat Davis off the dribble; he had been doing it all night. The issue is what happens once he does.
What happened on this occasion was that Rondo found himself in the clear, the Clippers' help arriving late. As he went to the bucket, Davis reached back and grabbed his right arm, smartly preferring to send the 53% free throw shooter to the line than give him a relatively uncontested layup.
What might have happened is that Rondo, after beating Davis, encounters one or more Clipper defenders, and kicks to an open teammate on the perimeter (Boston had four decent-to-excellent options from outside on the floor at the time: Garnett, Wallace, Eddie House, and Ray Allen).
The problem with what did happen is that Rondo is a 53% free throw shooter and has not, to my recollection, ever found himself in a spot where he was shooting potentially game-winning free throws. The problem with what might have happened is that NBA players tend to waste too much of the clock before making their move in these situations, and NBA defenses are usually pretty good about rotating to the first open man (it's the second pass that usually gets them). So Rondo, having started his move late, might have found a temporarily open teammate, but their shot might not have been a good one, and they wouldn't have had time to make the second pass to someone who was wide open. A high pick-and-pop with Garnett or something for Ray Allen coming off screens is SOP for us here, without Pierce.
On the other hand, Rondo is our point guard and our future, and at some point, he'll have the ball in his hands more often than not in these spots. On the road against the Clippers in mid-December, with no Pierce and the score tied, isn't a bad time to start breaking him in.
It's a shame that Rondo missed those free throws, because he had played a very strong game to that point, and it came on the heels of a 17/13/8 performance against the Magic (he had points/assists double-doubles against Philly and Minnesota, his fifth and sixth in the first nine games in December). He's playing more consistently aggressively than we've ever seen him, and I hope this isn't a setback in his mindset.
A couple of notes on other players:
Tony Allen has now played nine games on the season, starting each of the last two with Pierce and Marquis Daniels out. While he still has caused me to roll my eyes at times -- he's almost always in the wrong place on offense, and left two midrange jumpers against Orlando short before rocketing a third off the backboard -- he's acquitted himself pretty well, averaging eight points and four rebounds, and hitting double figures four times. Last night against the Clippers was his best game back: 10 points and 10 rebounds in nearly 40 minutes, with four steals, including two late in the fourth quarter that really should have saved the game for us. I still think we're betting off trading him once Daniels is close to coming back (Pierce should be back by then), but I need to give him his due when he deserves it.
Glen Davis made his return to the lineup against Orlando, prompting my buddy Joel to send this sarcastic text message (I'm paraphrasing): "Glad Big Baby has stayed in shape while he was out. He looks like he ate Eddie House." Davis did nothing noteworthy against the Magic, but had eight points and six boards -- five on the offensive glass -- against the Clippers. He also threw in a running left-handed hook which, it goes without saying, is not what I expected.
In a related story, Shelden Williams got the DNP-CD against the Clips, his second in three games, which means it looks like his run as a rotation player may be coming to an end. He's still around to help out in case of foul trouble/injury/Wallace suspension, but with Davis likely to get more minutes and he gets back into playing shape (has Big Baby ever been in playing shape?), I wouldn't expect to see Williams take his warmups off before garbage time too often.
TMJF:
The Wolves have played seven times since the last time I blogged, and have gone 4-3 in those games. They're also on a two-game winning streak, their first of the year. I haven't had a chance to see any of it, except the 110-108 win at Utah in which Jonny Flynn wasted Deron Williams on Minny's final posssession for the game-winning bucket.
Stat lines from the seven games are below:
Wolves 110, Jazz 108: 29 minutes, 11-19 FG, 4-6 3FG, 2-3 FT, 28 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts. 1 stl, 4 TOs
Clippers 120, Wolves 95: 30 minutes, 3-12 FG, 0-3 3FG, 3-4 FT, 9 pts, 3 rebs, 3 assts, 3 TOs
Wolves 112, Kings 96: 26 minutes, 5-8 FG, 2-2 FT, 12 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts, 1 stl, 2 TOs
Celtics 122, Wolves 104: 31 minutes, 8-15 FG, 1-3 3FG, 4-4 FT, 21 pts, 2 rebs, 2 assts, 1 stl, 4 TOs
Hawks 112, Wolves 87: 27 minutes, 5-13 FG, 1-2 3FG, 5-6 FT, 16 pts, 1 reb, 2 assts, 1 stl, 4 TOs
Wolves 103, Nets 99: 37 minutes, 9-19 FG, 1-5 3FG, 3-4 FT, 22 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts, 4 stls, 3 TOs
Wolves 101, Wizards 89: 25 minutes, 2-12 FG, 1-2 3FG, 3-4 FT, 8 pts, 3 rebs, 6 assts.
(Did I really just mark my return by paraphrasing a Barenaked Ladies song?)
Yes, two weeks without a post, part of which time coincided with a stretch where I was actually too busy to watch basketball, a concept I heretofore didn't think was possible (which may explain my poor GPA from the previous year). We've gone 4-2 in my blogging hiatus:
Boston 110, Memphis 105 (12/14) - Paul Pierce's 19 points led six Celtics who scored at least 13 in what I was told was a very entertaining game with a Grizzlies squad that is on the rise.
Philadelphia 98, Boston 97 (12/18) - The final two of Elton Brand's 23 points off the bench came on a tip-in with 7.7 seconds left, snapping Boston's 11-game win streak. I didn't get a chance to watch this one, either, but we had a 15-point lead in the third quarter, not the kind of margin we typically blow at home. Also, Rasheed Wallace was ejected for the first time this season.
Boston 122, Minnesota 104 (12/20) - I was supposed to watch this one in person but, as the folks at Delta/Northwest are about to find out, I missed it due to some serious ineffeciencies and incompetencies in their systems. Pierce had 29 points to lead seven Celtics in double figures, and made all six of his three-point attempts. Minnesota's leading scorer on the night? Jonny Flynn, with 21 points.
Boston 103, Indiana 94 (12/22) - I was able to get to Beantown in time for this game, and for a while, it hardly seemed worth my effort: The Cs trailed by 15 at the break. Despite playing without Kevin Garnett, who suffered a thigh bruise in the Minnesota game and was a late scratch, Boston need just more than seven minutes to erase that entire deficit, then put the game away in the fourth. It was a truly dominant second half, as Indiana scored just 37 points in the final 24 minutes. (This was one of those games were Indy was throwing in everything for the first half, then got cold in the second.) Ray Allen led Boston with 23 points, and Pierce scored 21 despite missing his first ten field goals.
Boston 86, Orlando 77 (12/25) - Christmas Day 2009 was better than the 2008 version (when the Celtics lost to the Lakers). Boston avenged an early-season home loss to the Magic with this road win. Offensively, Orlando was about as bad as you'll ever see a legitimate title contender be, scoring just eight second-quarter points. Boston was only marginally better, grabbing a 38-27 lead, but it was enough to hold on when things returned more to "normal" in the second half.
A little bit of good news/bad news for Boston. The good news was that they won this game without Paul Pierce; the bad news was that they won this game without Paul Pierce. The Celtics captain has a knee infection and is supposed to miss a couple of weeks. That we won such a big game without Pierce is encouraging, but we missed him two days later (see below) and it's a little unfortunate that we go into one of our big West Coast trips without our closer.
This was the second straight game with the Magic that could be called an abomination offensively for both teams (or, more charitably, a masterpiece defensively for both teams), which stands in sharp contrast to games 6 and 7 of last year's Eastern Conference semifinals, when Orlando made just about everything they put up on their way to stealing the series. I don't have an explanation for it, other than that these are the two best defensive teams in the East.
This game was huge, though, in terms of home court advantage (never too early to start thinking about that).
Los Angeles Clippers 92, Boston 90 (12/27) - A frustrating, annoying loss, sure, but one that probably doesn't matter. For the second straight year, Boston lost to the other team from L.A. in an eminently winnable game. (Walking out of the Staples Center last year while being taunted by Clippers fans is a low point in my life.)
Rajon Rondo will end up shouldering most of the blame here: Tied at 90 with 1.5 seconds to go, he missed two free throws, then allowed Baron Davis to catch the ball too easily on LA's ensuing inbounds play (though Baron still made a very difficult fallaway for the win).
Offensively, I'm still deciding whether I liked the call on our final possession, an isolation for Rondo at the top of the key with the shot clock off. The issue wasn't whether he was going to beat Davis off the dribble; he had been doing it all night. The issue is what happens once he does.
What happened on this occasion was that Rondo found himself in the clear, the Clippers' help arriving late. As he went to the bucket, Davis reached back and grabbed his right arm, smartly preferring to send the 53% free throw shooter to the line than give him a relatively uncontested layup.
What might have happened is that Rondo, after beating Davis, encounters one or more Clipper defenders, and kicks to an open teammate on the perimeter (Boston had four decent-to-excellent options from outside on the floor at the time: Garnett, Wallace, Eddie House, and Ray Allen).
The problem with what did happen is that Rondo is a 53% free throw shooter and has not, to my recollection, ever found himself in a spot where he was shooting potentially game-winning free throws. The problem with what might have happened is that NBA players tend to waste too much of the clock before making their move in these situations, and NBA defenses are usually pretty good about rotating to the first open man (it's the second pass that usually gets them). So Rondo, having started his move late, might have found a temporarily open teammate, but their shot might not have been a good one, and they wouldn't have had time to make the second pass to someone who was wide open. A high pick-and-pop with Garnett or something for Ray Allen coming off screens is SOP for us here, without Pierce.
On the other hand, Rondo is our point guard and our future, and at some point, he'll have the ball in his hands more often than not in these spots. On the road against the Clippers in mid-December, with no Pierce and the score tied, isn't a bad time to start breaking him in.
It's a shame that Rondo missed those free throws, because he had played a very strong game to that point, and it came on the heels of a 17/13/8 performance against the Magic (he had points/assists double-doubles against Philly and Minnesota, his fifth and sixth in the first nine games in December). He's playing more consistently aggressively than we've ever seen him, and I hope this isn't a setback in his mindset.
A couple of notes on other players:
Tony Allen has now played nine games on the season, starting each of the last two with Pierce and Marquis Daniels out. While he still has caused me to roll my eyes at times -- he's almost always in the wrong place on offense, and left two midrange jumpers against Orlando short before rocketing a third off the backboard -- he's acquitted himself pretty well, averaging eight points and four rebounds, and hitting double figures four times. Last night against the Clippers was his best game back: 10 points and 10 rebounds in nearly 40 minutes, with four steals, including two late in the fourth quarter that really should have saved the game for us. I still think we're betting off trading him once Daniels is close to coming back (Pierce should be back by then), but I need to give him his due when he deserves it.
Glen Davis made his return to the lineup against Orlando, prompting my buddy Joel to send this sarcastic text message (I'm paraphrasing): "Glad Big Baby has stayed in shape while he was out. He looks like he ate Eddie House." Davis did nothing noteworthy against the Magic, but had eight points and six boards -- five on the offensive glass -- against the Clippers. He also threw in a running left-handed hook which, it goes without saying, is not what I expected.
In a related story, Shelden Williams got the DNP-CD against the Clips, his second in three games, which means it looks like his run as a rotation player may be coming to an end. He's still around to help out in case of foul trouble/injury/Wallace suspension, but with Davis likely to get more minutes and he gets back into playing shape (has Big Baby ever been in playing shape?), I wouldn't expect to see Williams take his warmups off before garbage time too often.
TMJF:
The Wolves have played seven times since the last time I blogged, and have gone 4-3 in those games. They're also on a two-game winning streak, their first of the year. I haven't had a chance to see any of it, except the 110-108 win at Utah in which Jonny Flynn wasted Deron Williams on Minny's final posssession for the game-winning bucket.
Stat lines from the seven games are below:
Wolves 110, Jazz 108: 29 minutes, 11-19 FG, 4-6 3FG, 2-3 FT, 28 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts. 1 stl, 4 TOs
Clippers 120, Wolves 95: 30 minutes, 3-12 FG, 0-3 3FG, 3-4 FT, 9 pts, 3 rebs, 3 assts, 3 TOs
Wolves 112, Kings 96: 26 minutes, 5-8 FG, 2-2 FT, 12 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts, 1 stl, 2 TOs
Celtics 122, Wolves 104: 31 minutes, 8-15 FG, 1-3 3FG, 4-4 FT, 21 pts, 2 rebs, 2 assts, 1 stl, 4 TOs
Hawks 112, Wolves 87: 27 minutes, 5-13 FG, 1-2 3FG, 5-6 FT, 16 pts, 1 reb, 2 assts, 1 stl, 4 TOs
Wolves 103, Nets 99: 37 minutes, 9-19 FG, 1-5 3FG, 3-4 FT, 22 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts, 4 stls, 3 TOs
Wolves 101, Wizards 89: 25 minutes, 2-12 FG, 1-2 3FG, 3-4 FT, 8 pts, 3 rebs, 6 assts.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Indiana 113, Boston 104
Hey. A losing streak.
[recap] [box score]
This game was frustrating, not just because we lost, but because there was a relatively simple way we could have won this game, and we didn't do it.
Two, actually. Due to injury to Troy Murphy, current Indiana coach and former Celtics boss Jim O'Brien started a small lineup of Earl Watson, Brandon Rush, Dahntay Jones, Danny Granger, and Roy Hibbert. That created an obvious mismatch of Granger on Kevin Garnett. It's a mismatch on both ends, but Garnett should have the advantage because there's really nothing Granger can do to stop his shot.
The simplest way to win would have been to ride Garnett all evening. The Celtics went to him early and went to him effectively (he shot better than 63 percent for the game), but they didn't go to him often enough (he only took 11 shots). The Pacers, on the other hand, rode Granger to 29 points and the victory. What's frustrating is that Boston knows how to exploit a mismatch; they just only seem to do it when Paul Pierce is involved.
The other way would have been to counter with a small lineup, replacing one of the bigs with Marquis Daniels. I don't like this as much, as it lets the other team dictate the game and takes one of our top defenders off the court. But if we weren't going to exploit our size mismatch, at least trying a lineup of Daniels, Pierce, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo, and, say, Garnett (or Kendrick Perkins or Rasheed Wallace) would have made sense.
[recap] [box score]
This game was frustrating, not just because we lost, but because there was a relatively simple way we could have won this game, and we didn't do it.
Two, actually. Due to injury to Troy Murphy, current Indiana coach and former Celtics boss Jim O'Brien started a small lineup of Earl Watson, Brandon Rush, Dahntay Jones, Danny Granger, and Roy Hibbert. That created an obvious mismatch of Granger on Kevin Garnett. It's a mismatch on both ends, but Garnett should have the advantage because there's really nothing Granger can do to stop his shot.
The simplest way to win would have been to ride Garnett all evening. The Celtics went to him early and went to him effectively (he shot better than 63 percent for the game), but they didn't go to him often enough (he only took 11 shots). The Pacers, on the other hand, rode Granger to 29 points and the victory. What's frustrating is that Boston knows how to exploit a mismatch; they just only seem to do it when Paul Pierce is involved.
The other way would have been to counter with a small lineup, replacing one of the bigs with Marquis Daniels. I don't like this as much, as it lets the other team dictate the game and takes one of our top defenders off the court. But if we weren't going to exploit our size mismatch, at least trying a lineup of Daniels, Pierce, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo, and, say, Garnett (or Kendrick Perkins or Rasheed Wallace) would have made sense.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Boston 104, Indiana 99
The Stephon Marbury era in Boston is off to a good start.
[recap] [box score]
His stat line won't blow you away: 13 minutes, eight points on 4 of 6 shooting, two assists, a rebound, a steal, and a +/- of -7. (For those of you not familiar with the +/- stat, this means that the Pacers outscored the Celtics by seven points when Marbury was on the floor.) But from the moment he entered the game, with 16 seconds left in the first quarter, his impact was noticeable. The home crowd rose to give the newest Celtic a standing ovation, and Steph drank it in, with a grin from ear to ear.
Pressed into playing time without even a practice under his belt thanks to the Tony Allen injury and Gabe Pruitt suspension, and playing in his first NBA game in more than a year, Marbury showed little of the rust that might be expected from someone who has taken so much time off. Marbury's ballhandling will allow Eddie House to move to his preferred position of off-guard with the second team, and Stephon's jumper and ability to get to the basket will provide the second unit with some much needed offense.
Marbury was also on the court during the most important stretch of the game, the first few minutes of the fourth quarter, when Boston extended its 80-75 leads to 92-79. Marbury played a crucial role during that stretch, too, assisting on two Ray Allen jumpers, drilling a 17-footer of his own, sliding over on defense to force Rasho Nesterovic to badly miss a layup, and then hitting a driving layup at the other end. If he plays the way he did tonight for the rest of the season, he will be what the doctor ordered -- exactly what Sam Cassell was supposed to do last year when we signed him.
Of course, the media hate Marbury. This column by Adrian Wojnarowski, for example, calls Marbury a loser, and while most NBA writers prefer to mince their words, there's no doubt that many of them have a similar opinion of Marbury. He's an easy target, the poster child for greedy professional athlets in a time of national economic crisis, a man who was paid $20 million by his former team to stay away -- not just not play, not just not practice, but to completely disassociate himself from the franchise. And now he'll be paid an additional $1.2 million to, as many think, ride the coattails of the defending champions to the ring he craves and one more lucrative contract before his NBA clock strikes midnight.
Marbury will wear Antoine Walker's number 8 as a Celtic, the green-and-white version of his preferred number 3 hanging from the TD Banknorth Boston Garden rafters in honor of the late Dennis Johnson. Whatever digit hangs on his back, however, Marbury will forever be number 3, that number being tattooed on the left side of his head. It's a stylized number 3, the logo of Starbury, his athletic shoe and apparel company. Marbury's detractors can perhaps point to it as a sign of his ego and me-first mentality.
But perhaps it can be something to rally around for these Celtics, a group that, now that it has a target on its back, needs something around which to rally. Those outside the team hope or expect (or both) that Marbury's famous ego will destroy the team's chemistry, a chemistry built by three superstars putting aside their individual accolades for Ubuntu and the good of the team. The challenge this season is to mesh with the unmeshable, to humble he who seems incapable of that feeling. In short, to prove everyone wrong.
So far, so good.
VIEWING ALERT: Next game is Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern on ABC. The opponent is Detroit, which snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 93-85 win in Orlando Friday night. Rip Hamilton, returning to the starting lineup in place of the injured Allen Iverson, keyed the victory with 31 points. Iverson went to Detroit Friday for treatment of his bad back, and his status is uncertain for Sunday.
[recap] [box score]
His stat line won't blow you away: 13 minutes, eight points on 4 of 6 shooting, two assists, a rebound, a steal, and a +/- of -7. (For those of you not familiar with the +/- stat, this means that the Pacers outscored the Celtics by seven points when Marbury was on the floor.) But from the moment he entered the game, with 16 seconds left in the first quarter, his impact was noticeable. The home crowd rose to give the newest Celtic a standing ovation, and Steph drank it in, with a grin from ear to ear.
Pressed into playing time without even a practice under his belt thanks to the Tony Allen injury and Gabe Pruitt suspension, and playing in his first NBA game in more than a year, Marbury showed little of the rust that might be expected from someone who has taken so much time off. Marbury's ballhandling will allow Eddie House to move to his preferred position of off-guard with the second team, and Stephon's jumper and ability to get to the basket will provide the second unit with some much needed offense.
Marbury was also on the court during the most important stretch of the game, the first few minutes of the fourth quarter, when Boston extended its 80-75 leads to 92-79. Marbury played a crucial role during that stretch, too, assisting on two Ray Allen jumpers, drilling a 17-footer of his own, sliding over on defense to force Rasho Nesterovic to badly miss a layup, and then hitting a driving layup at the other end. If he plays the way he did tonight for the rest of the season, he will be what the doctor ordered -- exactly what Sam Cassell was supposed to do last year when we signed him.
Of course, the media hate Marbury. This column by Adrian Wojnarowski, for example, calls Marbury a loser, and while most NBA writers prefer to mince their words, there's no doubt that many of them have a similar opinion of Marbury. He's an easy target, the poster child for greedy professional athlets in a time of national economic crisis, a man who was paid $20 million by his former team to stay away -- not just not play, not just not practice, but to completely disassociate himself from the franchise. And now he'll be paid an additional $1.2 million to, as many think, ride the coattails of the defending champions to the ring he craves and one more lucrative contract before his NBA clock strikes midnight.
Marbury will wear Antoine Walker's number 8 as a Celtic, the green-and-white version of his preferred number 3 hanging from the TD Banknorth Boston Garden rafters in honor of the late Dennis Johnson. Whatever digit hangs on his back, however, Marbury will forever be number 3, that number being tattooed on the left side of his head. It's a stylized number 3, the logo of Starbury, his athletic shoe and apparel company. Marbury's detractors can perhaps point to it as a sign of his ego and me-first mentality.
But perhaps it can be something to rally around for these Celtics, a group that, now that it has a target on its back, needs something around which to rally. Those outside the team hope or expect (or both) that Marbury's famous ego will destroy the team's chemistry, a chemistry built by three superstars putting aside their individual accolades for Ubuntu and the good of the team. The challenge this season is to mesh with the unmeshable, to humble he who seems incapable of that feeling. In short, to prove everyone wrong.
So far, so good.
VIEWING ALERT: Next game is Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern on ABC. The opponent is Detroit, which snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 93-85 win in Orlando Friday night. Rip Hamilton, returning to the starting lineup in place of the injured Allen Iverson, keyed the victory with 31 points. Iverson went to Detroit Friday for treatment of his bad back, and his status is uncertain for Sunday.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Boston 122, Indiana 117 (Overtime)
Man, I am sick of Indiana. Twice in five days, and three times already in the young season. At least we don't have to face them again until the end of February.
[recap] [box score]
This is one we probably should have lost. We didn't play any defense until the final minutes of the fourth quarter, and as well as Indiana shot -- 50.6% for the game, and that includes a 4-for-17 finish -- they would have blown us out had Danny Granger hit a few jumpers.
As it was, we needed a clutch Paul Pierce three -- after a huge offensive rebound by Eddie House that he probably won't get enough credit for -- just to send it to overtime, where the Pacers' shooting percentage finally regressed toward the mean. Credit Ray Allen and his 35 points the most for this one (Ray's been shooting the hell out of the ball lately), but in reality, a lot of people chipped in. That happens when you score 122 points.
The thing I liked most about this win was that we stuck with it. On the road against an opponent that doesn't really matter, we hung in, despite the fact that they were throwing everything in (including Marquis Daniel's halfcourt shot that beat the halftime buzzer). A lot of teams would have packed it in, and while I'm sure no one is satisfied with the overall performance, we got a win.
A rare three days off for Boston now, followed by a back-to-back Thursday and Friday at Washington and against New Orleans. I went to many a Celtics-Wizards game when I was living in DC, and I can remember us coming away with a win like once. We never seem to play well there, at least when I'm in attendance. Now that I'm out in California, maybe things will be different. Or maybe things will be different because the Wizards suck. This one's on TNT, so mark it down in case I forget to remind you later in the week.
Friday against the Hornets should be good, even though the Bees have played well below expectations this year. It'll also be the return of James Posey to Boston -- an emotional night to be sure. This game wil be televised on ESPN.
[recap] [box score]
This is one we probably should have lost. We didn't play any defense until the final minutes of the fourth quarter, and as well as Indiana shot -- 50.6% for the game, and that includes a 4-for-17 finish -- they would have blown us out had Danny Granger hit a few jumpers.
As it was, we needed a clutch Paul Pierce three -- after a huge offensive rebound by Eddie House that he probably won't get enough credit for -- just to send it to overtime, where the Pacers' shooting percentage finally regressed toward the mean. Credit Ray Allen and his 35 points the most for this one (Ray's been shooting the hell out of the ball lately), but in reality, a lot of people chipped in. That happens when you score 122 points.
The thing I liked most about this win was that we stuck with it. On the road against an opponent that doesn't really matter, we hung in, despite the fact that they were throwing everything in (including Marquis Daniel's halfcourt shot that beat the halftime buzzer). A lot of teams would have packed it in, and while I'm sure no one is satisfied with the overall performance, we got a win.
A rare three days off for Boston now, followed by a back-to-back Thursday and Friday at Washington and against New Orleans. I went to many a Celtics-Wizards game when I was living in DC, and I can remember us coming away with a win like once. We never seem to play well there, at least when I'm in attendance. Now that I'm out in California, maybe things will be different. Or maybe things will be different because the Wizards suck. This one's on TNT, so mark it down in case I forget to remind you later in the week.
Friday against the Hornets should be good, even though the Bees have played well below expectations this year. It'll also be the return of James Posey to Boston -- an emotional night to be sure. This game wil be televised on ESPN.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Next Lamb: Indiana Pacers
We've got Indiana tonight in the second game of a back-to-back. I didn't get a chance to see any of the Pacers' opening-night 100-94 loss to the Detroit Pistons. It appears that the Pacers kept within striking distance until early in the fourth quarter, where Detroit went up 14 before Indy made it close.
Danny Granger (33 points vs. Detroit) is their star. Mike Dunleavy Jr., who scored 19 points per game last year, is probably out with a knee injury (as he was against Detroit), and his replacement, Marquis Daniels, isn't nearly as potent a scorer. Without Dunleavy, Indiana isn't great offensively, and we'll be able to give Paul Pierce help on Granger the way we've done recently with LeBron James.
The only real concern I have with Indiana offensively other than Granger is new point guard T.J. Ford. With the Toronto Raptors last year in the second game of our season, Ford absolutely torched Rajon Rondo, going for 32 points in what was a 98-95 Boston win. (Championship season flashback: The Celts won that game thanks to this Ray Allen three-pointer with the clock winding down. Keep an eye on Pierce in the lower right-hand corner of the screen, after he inbounds the ball. Love the confidence that PP has in Jesus Shuttlesworth!) Rondo simply could not stay in front of the uber-quick Ford that day, although Ford was held to just 12 points in the teams' second matchup a month later (the oft-injured Ford missed the other two games between the teams). If we can keep Ford in check, we should win handily. The Pacers' defense is hardly a concern -- dating back to last year, they've surrendered 100 points or more in 23 of their last 30 games (thanks, ESPN!)
The only other concern I have is that this is the second game of a back-to-back, and it involves travel, two things which can often conspire to make would should be an easy victory more of a nailbiter. However, Boston did extremely well in these situations last year. Of the 19 back-to-backs they played, they lost the second game only thrice; twice at Washington (our bugaboo opponent last year after a season-opening blowout), and once at Golden State. Included in the successful back-to-backs was a stretch where Boston won at Sacramento, what was then Seattle, Utah, and the Lakers in a span of five days (in the traditional post-Christmas western swing).
Helping matters is the relatively easy time we had with the Bulls. Pierce played 34 minutes, but no one else played more than 30. And Paul didn't really look like he was trying all that hard out there (he had a bucket or two late that he got with such ease that I think he could have scored a bit more last night had he applied himself). So we should be relatively fresh.
This one isn't on national TV, but I'll fire it up on NBA League Pass Broadband and try to give a detailed report, if it merits one, afterwards.
Danny Granger (33 points vs. Detroit) is their star. Mike Dunleavy Jr., who scored 19 points per game last year, is probably out with a knee injury (as he was against Detroit), and his replacement, Marquis Daniels, isn't nearly as potent a scorer. Without Dunleavy, Indiana isn't great offensively, and we'll be able to give Paul Pierce help on Granger the way we've done recently with LeBron James.
The only real concern I have with Indiana offensively other than Granger is new point guard T.J. Ford. With the Toronto Raptors last year in the second game of our season, Ford absolutely torched Rajon Rondo, going for 32 points in what was a 98-95 Boston win. (Championship season flashback: The Celts won that game thanks to this Ray Allen three-pointer with the clock winding down. Keep an eye on Pierce in the lower right-hand corner of the screen, after he inbounds the ball. Love the confidence that PP has in Jesus Shuttlesworth!) Rondo simply could not stay in front of the uber-quick Ford that day, although Ford was held to just 12 points in the teams' second matchup a month later (the oft-injured Ford missed the other two games between the teams). If we can keep Ford in check, we should win handily. The Pacers' defense is hardly a concern -- dating back to last year, they've surrendered 100 points or more in 23 of their last 30 games (thanks, ESPN!)
The only other concern I have is that this is the second game of a back-to-back, and it involves travel, two things which can often conspire to make would should be an easy victory more of a nailbiter. However, Boston did extremely well in these situations last year. Of the 19 back-to-backs they played, they lost the second game only thrice; twice at Washington (our bugaboo opponent last year after a season-opening blowout), and once at Golden State. Included in the successful back-to-backs was a stretch where Boston won at Sacramento, what was then Seattle, Utah, and the Lakers in a span of five days (in the traditional post-Christmas western swing).
Helping matters is the relatively easy time we had with the Bulls. Pierce played 34 minutes, but no one else played more than 30. And Paul didn't really look like he was trying all that hard out there (he had a bucket or two late that he got with such ease that I think he could have scored a bit more last night had he applied himself). So we should be relatively fresh.
This one isn't on national TV, but I'll fire it up on NBA League Pass Broadband and try to give a detailed report, if it merits one, afterwards.
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