This is probably what Danny Ainge had in mind this offseason, when he assembled his deepest Celtics team as a GM. After a sluggish first period that ended with the visiting Suns up one, Boston built a 12-point lead by halftime, largely on the back of reserves. (Paul Pierce left the game for Jeff Green with 1:53 remaining in the first quarter and didn't re-enter until there was 1:16 left in the second.) Then, after the first unit surrendered a 17-2 run to start the third, the bench was again there to rescue them. Jason Terry and Jared Sullinger more or less finished the game alongside Pierce, Rajon Rondo, and Kevin Garnet, making many of the key plays down the stretch.
The star of the night in my eyes was Sullinger, who played 34 minutes and recorded 12 points and 16 rebounds. Green led a balanced attack with 14 points, most of the in the second quarter, marking the one-year anniversary of his heart surgery with three powerful dunks: a one-dribble drive around Michael Beasley followed by a monster one-handed stuff over a late-arriving Jermaine O'Neal; a two-handed rim-rocker off of a lob from Avery Bradley on the fast break; and another two-hander, in the second half, off of a backdoor cut, thanks to a nifty feed from Garnett out at the top of the key. Terry had 13 points (to go along with five rebounds and five assists) and was the first bench guy to get his offense going on the night.
That means, of course, that it was a quiet night for the starters, only one of whom -- Garnett -- finished in double figures. Other than KG, the first unit really struggled. Pierce was unusually quiet, finishing with seven points (on ten shots) in just 24 minuts, though he did have a big bucket to stem the third-quarter tide, as well as a key assist to Sullinger as Phoenix appeared to be closing in on the Cs late. Bradley started the game well, but fizzled out a bit and Doc limited him to just 18 minutes. Brandon Bass went 2-for-8 and saw much of his playing time fall to Sullinger.
Rajon Rondo finished with eight points and eight assists -- including a long one to a streaking Jason Terry late that left me marveling, again, at is court vision and feel for the game -- but it was a fairly uninspiring performance from him. He had four turnovers and never really got the starting unit going. What I loved, though, was that at the end of the third quarter (or perhaps the start of the fourth quarter), Rondo was standing up on the bench, coaching the defense -- on the broadcast, you could specifically hear him talking to Terry. That's the kind of leadership you want to see from your point guard, but Rondo hasn't always shown it, particularly on nights when he's not as involved in the game on the court. (Rondo also picked up a technical during that stretch for exchanging words with P.J. Tucker, who had some words for him after scoring on a drive early in the fourth.)
Boston's now on a four-game winning streak and sits at 18-17, with the majority of a five-game homestand still in front of it. The Rockets, coached by Kevin McHale, visit on Friday.
Showing posts with label Jason Terry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jason Terry. Show all posts
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Celtics Split Four in Five Days
It might have to be this way moving forward -- I'm just not sure I'm going to have time to write after every game. Boston just wrapped up a stretch of four games in five nights that went thusly: a close win over Utah; a narrow loss in Brooklyn without Rajon Rondo, who sprained his ankle early in the second half of the Jazz game; a rout of Toronto; and then a blowout loss at the Palace at the hands of the woeful Pistons. I'm going to try to not let the fact that I just watched the embarrassment that was the Detroit game color what I'm going to say too much.
Rather than go game by game, I'm just going to throw out some random thoughts here. Like bullet points, only I can't figure out how to do bullet points on the "new" Blogger platform that came about a couple of years ago. Instead, I'll just use bold italics to signal my topic headings. If this technique is effective, then this explanation was completely unnecessary.
Last year, Doc Rivers put Kevin Garnett on the "5/5/5" plan, limiting KG's minutes to the first five of each of the first three quarters. The idea was to keep him fresh for the fourth quarter. Doc didn't really stick to it (Garnett averaged 31 minutes per game), probably in part because of how good Garnett was last year and in part because we didn't have much depth.
This year, it's been shortened to the 4/4/4 plan, and Doc seems to be committed to it, at least for now. With the frontcourt depth we have, he might able to get away with it, if he can keep Kevin on the bench that long. It's a little alarming to me, though, because we're talking about a goal of 25 minutes or so for a guy who, while he is in his 18th NBA season, averaged about 16 points and eight boards last year while anchoring one of the league's best defenses. Especially since Doc hasn't been shy about riding his horses (to his detriment, in my opinion) in previous seasons, it makes me worry that there's some nagging injury that we don't know about.
Jaston Terry hit six of 11 three-point attempts in the Brooklyn and Toronto games, sandwiching those performances between a terrible effort on Sunday and the Jazz game where he only took one shot. He's found his rhythm a bit, which is great. But I wish he was doing this in his customary sixth man role and not as a starter. A game like Sunday, with the first unit struggling, is the kind of game that you really need a scoring punch off the bench, a burst of energy, and Terry wasn't there to provide it. I suppose that Leandro Barbosa can be that guy, but when Barbosa comes in the game, the ball hardly goes to anyone else. Not that Terry is a great table-setter or anything like that, but Barbosa just dominates the rock. That kind of thing is bad for guys like Jeff Green, another guy we're counting on for bench scoring, and a guy whose attention seems to wander if he's not getting the pill.
Speaking of Jeff Green, I think if he were, say, Gerald Green, you'd hear a lot more people complaining about his lack of effort and basketball IQ. But we know that he's thoughtful and a great guy, and because of that, and perhaps because of the heart problem he had last year, he gets a bit of a break from a lot of Celtics fans. But right now, he's demonstrating a disturbing lack of effort and engagement that is a bigger problem than his limited offensive game and suspect defense and rebounding.
Brandon Bass is 10 for 30 over the past three games. He's gotten the same looks at jumpers that we are used to him making with regularity. At this point, some of it is psychological; he's hesitating on a lot of looks he'd normally pop right away. I assume that he'll get his mind right between now and Wednesday, when the Celts take the floor next.
Jared Sullinger keeps reinforcing my belief that we got a steal when we drafted him at 21 in this summer's draft. He had his first career double-double against the Raptors, then set a career-high in scoring with 16 against the Pistons. Most importantly, it wasn't until he took on Detroit's Jason Maxiell that he went up against someone who could push him around underneath -- and by the end of the night, he was moving Maxiell and Andre Drummond around. His strength is a huge asset for a guy his height who plays inside. Offensively, he's shown that he at least has Bass' range, and likely can step out a bit farther. He hit a couple 20-footers late against Detroit to keep Rondo's assist streak going.
Ah, the streak. With ten dimes on Sunday, Rondo now has 34 consecutive games with 10 or more assists. (He had 20 against the Raps, by the way.) That's the third-longest such streak of all time, just a few back of John Stockton's longest streak and a dozen short of Magic Johnson's all-time mark. He had to work to get it today, though, playing to the final seconds despite the game being well out of hand. Doc even called a random timeout under two minutes to set something up.
The streak is fun, and really it shouldn't have been an issue tonight (his teammates missed a bunch of open looks), but I don't love that he and Doc seem to be actively pursuing it. I mean, there's really no harm in going after it once the game is already in hand, but if it's something they're aware of deep in a blowout, how likely is it that it's not on Rondo's mind when the game is still in reach. On Sunday, we certainly could have used more scoring, something we know Rondo is capable of. Did he hold back to try and set up his teammates? It's not a huge problem -- generally, it's a good idea for a point guard to be most concerned with getting his struggling teammates going. But Rondo is already pass-happy to a fault; having the streak in the back of his mind, if he does, could turn his unselfishness into selfishness, actually, and a positive into a negative.
Rather than go game by game, I'm just going to throw out some random thoughts here. Like bullet points, only I can't figure out how to do bullet points on the "new" Blogger platform that came about a couple of years ago. Instead, I'll just use bold italics to signal my topic headings. If this technique is effective, then this explanation was completely unnecessary.
Last year, Doc Rivers put Kevin Garnett on the "5/5/5" plan, limiting KG's minutes to the first five of each of the first three quarters. The idea was to keep him fresh for the fourth quarter. Doc didn't really stick to it (Garnett averaged 31 minutes per game), probably in part because of how good Garnett was last year and in part because we didn't have much depth.
This year, it's been shortened to the 4/4/4 plan, and Doc seems to be committed to it, at least for now. With the frontcourt depth we have, he might able to get away with it, if he can keep Kevin on the bench that long. It's a little alarming to me, though, because we're talking about a goal of 25 minutes or so for a guy who, while he is in his 18th NBA season, averaged about 16 points and eight boards last year while anchoring one of the league's best defenses. Especially since Doc hasn't been shy about riding his horses (to his detriment, in my opinion) in previous seasons, it makes me worry that there's some nagging injury that we don't know about.
Jaston Terry hit six of 11 three-point attempts in the Brooklyn and Toronto games, sandwiching those performances between a terrible effort on Sunday and the Jazz game where he only took one shot. He's found his rhythm a bit, which is great. But I wish he was doing this in his customary sixth man role and not as a starter. A game like Sunday, with the first unit struggling, is the kind of game that you really need a scoring punch off the bench, a burst of energy, and Terry wasn't there to provide it. I suppose that Leandro Barbosa can be that guy, but when Barbosa comes in the game, the ball hardly goes to anyone else. Not that Terry is a great table-setter or anything like that, but Barbosa just dominates the rock. That kind of thing is bad for guys like Jeff Green, another guy we're counting on for bench scoring, and a guy whose attention seems to wander if he's not getting the pill.
Speaking of Jeff Green, I think if he were, say, Gerald Green, you'd hear a lot more people complaining about his lack of effort and basketball IQ. But we know that he's thoughtful and a great guy, and because of that, and perhaps because of the heart problem he had last year, he gets a bit of a break from a lot of Celtics fans. But right now, he's demonstrating a disturbing lack of effort and engagement that is a bigger problem than his limited offensive game and suspect defense and rebounding.
Brandon Bass is 10 for 30 over the past three games. He's gotten the same looks at jumpers that we are used to him making with regularity. At this point, some of it is psychological; he's hesitating on a lot of looks he'd normally pop right away. I assume that he'll get his mind right between now and Wednesday, when the Celts take the floor next.
Jared Sullinger keeps reinforcing my belief that we got a steal when we drafted him at 21 in this summer's draft. He had his first career double-double against the Raptors, then set a career-high in scoring with 16 against the Pistons. Most importantly, it wasn't until he took on Detroit's Jason Maxiell that he went up against someone who could push him around underneath -- and by the end of the night, he was moving Maxiell and Andre Drummond around. His strength is a huge asset for a guy his height who plays inside. Offensively, he's shown that he at least has Bass' range, and likely can step out a bit farther. He hit a couple 20-footers late against Detroit to keep Rondo's assist streak going.
Ah, the streak. With ten dimes on Sunday, Rondo now has 34 consecutive games with 10 or more assists. (He had 20 against the Raps, by the way.) That's the third-longest such streak of all time, just a few back of John Stockton's longest streak and a dozen short of Magic Johnson's all-time mark. He had to work to get it today, though, playing to the final seconds despite the game being well out of hand. Doc even called a random timeout under two minutes to set something up.
The streak is fun, and really it shouldn't have been an issue tonight (his teammates missed a bunch of open looks), but I don't love that he and Doc seem to be actively pursuing it. I mean, there's really no harm in going after it once the game is already in hand, but if it's something they're aware of deep in a blowout, how likely is it that it's not on Rondo's mind when the game is still in reach. On Sunday, we certainly could have used more scoring, something we know Rondo is capable of. Did he hold back to try and set up his teammates? It's not a huge problem -- generally, it's a good idea for a point guard to be most concerned with getting his struggling teammates going. But Rondo is already pass-happy to a fault; having the streak in the back of his mind, if he does, could turn his unselfishness into selfishness, actually, and a positive into a negative.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Boston 101, Chicago 95
[recap] [box score]
Been a long time since I last updated -- after starting 0-2, Boston beat Washington twice, lost to Philly, and then beat Milwaukee in a rematch on Saturday night to even their record at 3-3. Tonight against the Bulls was probably the teams best performance of the young season, at least until the fourth quarter.
On a macro level, Doc Rivers seems to have settled on a starting lineup. After experimenting for a few games with Jared Sullinger as our starting four, Brandon Bass has been opening the game up front alongside Kevin Garnett the last two times out. As much as I was lobbying to play the kid with the first team, I agree with this move. Sullinger wasn't getting going with the first unit, and Bass was struggling to find his offense, as well. The other big change has been Jason Terry starting at two over Courtney Lee, which seems to have gotten Terry off the schneid after a slow start to the season. This one may not be permanent -- Terry has a long track record of success in the sixth man role, and while the Celtics might be able to get away with Terry and Rondo in the backcourt against Brandon Jennings/Monta Ellis and Nate Robinson/Rip Hamilton, some bigger guard pairings could make Lee's size and defense important to have in the starting lineup.
One thing everyone has been talking about since the preseason is how Boston wants to run more this year, and indeed, our pace is way above what we're used to. What's interesting about it is that the Celtics are not, at least to my eye, getting a ton of fast break points. What they are doing, however, is getting a lot of early offense. It's a smart move and a welcome change from the bogged down offensive sets we've seen in recent years. I've noticed that it's particularly beneficial to Bass, whose bread-and-butter shot is the mid-range jumper. Instead of beating the ball downcourt, Bass has been trailing the plays a bit as Rondo rushes upcourt. Bass' defender, meanwhile, has to worry about Rondo (a threat to get to the basket at any time) and isn't used to picking up power forwards above the free throw line, so he sets up down low and waits for Bass. All Bass has to do, then, is stop at whatever spot he's most comfortable and await the feed from Rondo for the wide-open jumper. Once teams start to pick Bass up earlier, you can expect to see more layups for Rondo, whose Inspector Gadget arms and crafty finishing have befuddled many a back-pedaling would-be shotblocker.
The Cs were pretty much in control of this one until the fourth quarter, when they went ice-cold from the floor (Kevin Garnett in particular). It also coincided with increased playing time for rookie point guard Marquis Teague and power forward Taj Gibson, who shored up a defense that was surprisingly vulnerable to penetration over the first three quarters given that they are coached by Tom Thibodeau. Ultimately, the Celtics sealed the game with a couple nifty screen-and-roll plays with Rondo and Garnett that led to KG alley-oop dunks (the play involves staggered ball screens on the side, with the first screener, a shooter, flaring to the three-point line and KG, the second screener, rolling to the bucket).
This is a busy week for Boston, which is about to embark on one of those grueling four-games-in-five-nights stretches. We host Utah on Wednesday before playing Brooklyn on Thursday (that one's a national TV game), then play Toronto and at Detroit on the weekend. Those latter two opponents are currently a combined 1-14, but the Jazz and Nets are the team's toughest games since the opener against the Heat. These upcoming games should be a good bellwether for how the team is coming together.
Been a long time since I last updated -- after starting 0-2, Boston beat Washington twice, lost to Philly, and then beat Milwaukee in a rematch on Saturday night to even their record at 3-3. Tonight against the Bulls was probably the teams best performance of the young season, at least until the fourth quarter.
On a macro level, Doc Rivers seems to have settled on a starting lineup. After experimenting for a few games with Jared Sullinger as our starting four, Brandon Bass has been opening the game up front alongside Kevin Garnett the last two times out. As much as I was lobbying to play the kid with the first team, I agree with this move. Sullinger wasn't getting going with the first unit, and Bass was struggling to find his offense, as well. The other big change has been Jason Terry starting at two over Courtney Lee, which seems to have gotten Terry off the schneid after a slow start to the season. This one may not be permanent -- Terry has a long track record of success in the sixth man role, and while the Celtics might be able to get away with Terry and Rondo in the backcourt against Brandon Jennings/Monta Ellis and Nate Robinson/Rip Hamilton, some bigger guard pairings could make Lee's size and defense important to have in the starting lineup.
One thing everyone has been talking about since the preseason is how Boston wants to run more this year, and indeed, our pace is way above what we're used to. What's interesting about it is that the Celtics are not, at least to my eye, getting a ton of fast break points. What they are doing, however, is getting a lot of early offense. It's a smart move and a welcome change from the bogged down offensive sets we've seen in recent years. I've noticed that it's particularly beneficial to Bass, whose bread-and-butter shot is the mid-range jumper. Instead of beating the ball downcourt, Bass has been trailing the plays a bit as Rondo rushes upcourt. Bass' defender, meanwhile, has to worry about Rondo (a threat to get to the basket at any time) and isn't used to picking up power forwards above the free throw line, so he sets up down low and waits for Bass. All Bass has to do, then, is stop at whatever spot he's most comfortable and await the feed from Rondo for the wide-open jumper. Once teams start to pick Bass up earlier, you can expect to see more layups for Rondo, whose Inspector Gadget arms and crafty finishing have befuddled many a back-pedaling would-be shotblocker.
The Cs were pretty much in control of this one until the fourth quarter, when they went ice-cold from the floor (Kevin Garnett in particular). It also coincided with increased playing time for rookie point guard Marquis Teague and power forward Taj Gibson, who shored up a defense that was surprisingly vulnerable to penetration over the first three quarters given that they are coached by Tom Thibodeau. Ultimately, the Celtics sealed the game with a couple nifty screen-and-roll plays with Rondo and Garnett that led to KG alley-oop dunks (the play involves staggered ball screens on the side, with the first screener, a shooter, flaring to the three-point line and KG, the second screener, rolling to the bucket).
This is a busy week for Boston, which is about to embark on one of those grueling four-games-in-five-nights stretches. We host Utah on Wednesday before playing Brooklyn on Thursday (that one's a national TV game), then play Toronto and at Detroit on the weekend. Those latter two opponents are currently a combined 1-14, but the Jazz and Nets are the team's toughest games since the opener against the Heat. These upcoming games should be a good bellwether for how the team is coming together.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Miami 120, Boston 107
[recap] [box score]
Pretty entertaining season-opener. For posterity's sake, let the record show that Miami broke this game open in the third quarter, leading by as many as 18. But LeBron James had to sit the final nine minutes due to muscle cramps, and Boston was able to cut the lead to four before going scoreless over the final 2:09.
Given the unique composition and playing style of these two teams -- no true center played a single second of this game, for either side -- it's pointless to draw any real conclusions about lineups and how Doc Rivers is planning on using all of his newfound depth. At one point in the fourth quarter, Jeff Green and Paul Pierce were in the frontcourt with Rajon Rondo, Jason Terry, and Leandro Barbosa in the backcourt. I don't expect we'll see much of the three-point guard, two-small forward lineup this year.
The defense was awful, too, as bad as it has been in the last five seasons. For now, I'm going to chalk that up to all the fresh faces, and offseason rust. I'd be surprised if defense was a major problem with this team all season. (With that said, I do wish we'd stop giving up so many easy transition buckets to the Heat, something we could do simply by paying a little more attention as we run back on defense.)
I don't want to get too far ahead of things and read too much about the team into one game. But I do think it's appropriate to give some quick thoughts on how particular players looked in this one.
Courtney Lee, replacing the departed Ray Allen and the injured Avery Bradley in the starting lineup, looked very good guarding Dwyane Wade in the early going. He got into foul trouble, though, for the same reason that Bradley often found himself in trouble with the referees last year: Neither has a good feel for when, on a given play, to dial down the physicality. Bradley is young enough to develop that instinct and to earn some more respect from the officials as his career goes on; Lee's already got several years in the league under his belt, so it's a concern worth keeping an eye on. Offensively, Lee was pretty passive, but did find a couple of open jumpers by running the floor.
Rondo put up another gaudy stat line, picking up where he left off last season. His aggressiveness on offense in looking for his own shot was good to see; he rarely took an ill-advised, and we're so much more effective offensively when the defense has to respect his scoring ability. He was a little sloppier with the ball than I'm comfortable with, but at this point, I think that's just something we'll have to live with.
Leandro Barbosa exploded for all 16 of his points in the fourth quarter, looking like the Brazilian Blur of old. Barbosa clearly can still fill it up off the bench, the kind of player we've been lacking the last several years. Barbosa was basically an afterthought this offseason, signed solely for depth. He showed in his first game in green, however, that he's more than that. He's one of several players we supposedly have who will bring much-needed scoring punch to the second unit.
I say "supposedly" because the other two -- Jason Terry and Jeff Green -- were uniformly awful. Terry's shot was off all night, and when he's not hitting, he's not effective. I'm not worried about him. Green, on the other hand, still worries me. The ball just stops when it gets to him. It's not that he's selfish -- at least, I don't think he is. He honestly looks like he just doesn't know what to do with the ball once he gets it. He's too indecisive, which allows the defense to recover. Even his on-court demeanor is disconcerting -- facially, he looks meek and overwhelmed out there. Given that this is the same stuff I was worried about when I saw him during his first half-season after he came over from Oklahoma City for Kendrick Perkins (he missed all of last year), I'm worried. I'm not hitting the panic button yet, but I'm worried.
Not to alarm anyone, but I didn't think that KG looked right. Nothing noticeable like a limp; it simply looked like that he maybe didn't have his legs under him yet. Hopefully, that's all it is. But he was mostly a non-factor on offense, and he let Chris Bosh beat him for a huge bucket down the stretch after the Celtics had cut the lead to four. Boston would do well to remember how effective Garnett was offensively last year against Miami in the Eastern Conference finals. Even when we're playing small-ball, we shouldn't forget the favorable matchups we might have underneath.
Brandon Bass turned in a typical Brandon Bass game. And that's a good thing.
Pierce had a strong first half but faltered a bit in the second. He looked like a different player than the one who limped to the finish line last year. It sounds like he doesn't have any lingering injuries.
Due to the unique circumstances of the game, rookie Jared Sullinger didn't get a lot of action in his regular season NBA debut. I didn't see much to report on, other than I think he found himself in a switch situation matched up against James, and he actually forced James into a jumper. Given that defense is the biggest concern around Sullinger (well, that and his health), I'd consider this a good sign, too.
Two other quick notes. First, Wade said that Rondo's flagrant foul on him in the waning seconds was a "punk move." That's up for the individual to decide; Rondo did get him around the head and neck area from behind. Either way, though, I find it ironic that Wade would speak out, given that he basically did the same thing to Kobe Bryant last year -- in the All-Star game (breaking Kobe's nose in the process). And isn't it some fundamental principle of basketball that if you take the ball to the basket in the waning seconds of a game you already have in hand, against perhaps your chief rival, you're gonna get hit?
Secondly, damn you, Ray Allen, for making it so hard to quit you. After saying all the wrong things in the weeks leading up to the game, he said all the right things in the post-game interview with Craig Sager. I was all set to write him off, and then he has to go and talk about how much he loves his former teammates and how he's a New Englander for life. I know I' being played for a sucker here, that he's just telling me what I want to hear. But I guess I'm not ready to hate Ray yet. (Although if he consistently plays as well against us as he did on Tuesday, that day will come soon. Also, how jarring is this? Say it ain't so, Flo!)
Don't despair. It's one game out of 82, and we have a lot of new pieces to integrate. Plus, at least we're not the Lakers, who marked the debut of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash with a listless loss to the Dirk Nowitzki-less Dallas Mavericks.
Milwaukee's up next, on Friday, and their deep front line should be an interesting contrast to Miami's small lineup. That should afford us our first extended look at Sullinger, as well as give an idea of how Doc plans to use Darko Milicic and Jason Collins. (I don't think Chris Wilcox will be ready.) Heck, we might even see Darko in the starting lineup. Anyway, NBA League Pass is running its annual free preview week to start the season, so check this one out. And if you're in the Washington Metro area, we're at the Wizards on Saturday.
Pretty entertaining season-opener. For posterity's sake, let the record show that Miami broke this game open in the third quarter, leading by as many as 18. But LeBron James had to sit the final nine minutes due to muscle cramps, and Boston was able to cut the lead to four before going scoreless over the final 2:09.
Given the unique composition and playing style of these two teams -- no true center played a single second of this game, for either side -- it's pointless to draw any real conclusions about lineups and how Doc Rivers is planning on using all of his newfound depth. At one point in the fourth quarter, Jeff Green and Paul Pierce were in the frontcourt with Rajon Rondo, Jason Terry, and Leandro Barbosa in the backcourt. I don't expect we'll see much of the three-point guard, two-small forward lineup this year.
The defense was awful, too, as bad as it has been in the last five seasons. For now, I'm going to chalk that up to all the fresh faces, and offseason rust. I'd be surprised if defense was a major problem with this team all season. (With that said, I do wish we'd stop giving up so many easy transition buckets to the Heat, something we could do simply by paying a little more attention as we run back on defense.)
I don't want to get too far ahead of things and read too much about the team into one game. But I do think it's appropriate to give some quick thoughts on how particular players looked in this one.
Courtney Lee, replacing the departed Ray Allen and the injured Avery Bradley in the starting lineup, looked very good guarding Dwyane Wade in the early going. He got into foul trouble, though, for the same reason that Bradley often found himself in trouble with the referees last year: Neither has a good feel for when, on a given play, to dial down the physicality. Bradley is young enough to develop that instinct and to earn some more respect from the officials as his career goes on; Lee's already got several years in the league under his belt, so it's a concern worth keeping an eye on. Offensively, Lee was pretty passive, but did find a couple of open jumpers by running the floor.
Rondo put up another gaudy stat line, picking up where he left off last season. His aggressiveness on offense in looking for his own shot was good to see; he rarely took an ill-advised, and we're so much more effective offensively when the defense has to respect his scoring ability. He was a little sloppier with the ball than I'm comfortable with, but at this point, I think that's just something we'll have to live with.
Leandro Barbosa exploded for all 16 of his points in the fourth quarter, looking like the Brazilian Blur of old. Barbosa clearly can still fill it up off the bench, the kind of player we've been lacking the last several years. Barbosa was basically an afterthought this offseason, signed solely for depth. He showed in his first game in green, however, that he's more than that. He's one of several players we supposedly have who will bring much-needed scoring punch to the second unit.
I say "supposedly" because the other two -- Jason Terry and Jeff Green -- were uniformly awful. Terry's shot was off all night, and when he's not hitting, he's not effective. I'm not worried about him. Green, on the other hand, still worries me. The ball just stops when it gets to him. It's not that he's selfish -- at least, I don't think he is. He honestly looks like he just doesn't know what to do with the ball once he gets it. He's too indecisive, which allows the defense to recover. Even his on-court demeanor is disconcerting -- facially, he looks meek and overwhelmed out there. Given that this is the same stuff I was worried about when I saw him during his first half-season after he came over from Oklahoma City for Kendrick Perkins (he missed all of last year), I'm worried. I'm not hitting the panic button yet, but I'm worried.
Not to alarm anyone, but I didn't think that KG looked right. Nothing noticeable like a limp; it simply looked like that he maybe didn't have his legs under him yet. Hopefully, that's all it is. But he was mostly a non-factor on offense, and he let Chris Bosh beat him for a huge bucket down the stretch after the Celtics had cut the lead to four. Boston would do well to remember how effective Garnett was offensively last year against Miami in the Eastern Conference finals. Even when we're playing small-ball, we shouldn't forget the favorable matchups we might have underneath.
Brandon Bass turned in a typical Brandon Bass game. And that's a good thing.
Pierce had a strong first half but faltered a bit in the second. He looked like a different player than the one who limped to the finish line last year. It sounds like he doesn't have any lingering injuries.
Due to the unique circumstances of the game, rookie Jared Sullinger didn't get a lot of action in his regular season NBA debut. I didn't see much to report on, other than I think he found himself in a switch situation matched up against James, and he actually forced James into a jumper. Given that defense is the biggest concern around Sullinger (well, that and his health), I'd consider this a good sign, too.
Two other quick notes. First, Wade said that Rondo's flagrant foul on him in the waning seconds was a "punk move." That's up for the individual to decide; Rondo did get him around the head and neck area from behind. Either way, though, I find it ironic that Wade would speak out, given that he basically did the same thing to Kobe Bryant last year -- in the All-Star game (breaking Kobe's nose in the process). And isn't it some fundamental principle of basketball that if you take the ball to the basket in the waning seconds of a game you already have in hand, against perhaps your chief rival, you're gonna get hit?
Secondly, damn you, Ray Allen, for making it so hard to quit you. After saying all the wrong things in the weeks leading up to the game, he said all the right things in the post-game interview with Craig Sager. I was all set to write him off, and then he has to go and talk about how much he loves his former teammates and how he's a New Englander for life. I know I' being played for a sucker here, that he's just telling me what I want to hear. But I guess I'm not ready to hate Ray yet. (Although if he consistently plays as well against us as he did on Tuesday, that day will come soon. Also, how jarring is this? Say it ain't so, Flo!)
Don't despair. It's one game out of 82, and we have a lot of new pieces to integrate. Plus, at least we're not the Lakers, who marked the debut of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash with a listless loss to the Dirk Nowitzki-less Dallas Mavericks.
Milwaukee's up next, on Friday, and their deep front line should be an interesting contrast to Miami's small lineup. That should afford us our first extended look at Sullinger, as well as give an idea of how Doc plans to use Darko Milicic and Jason Collins. (I don't think Chris Wilcox will be ready.) Heck, we might even see Darko in the starting lineup. Anyway, NBA League Pass is running its annual free preview week to start the season, so check this one out. And if you're in the Washington Metro area, we're at the Wizards on Saturday.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Busy Week
I'm back home after a long golf weekend in Louisville and then a quick trip to Vegas to see a good friend and check out some summer league basketball. I am, quite frankly, exhausted, and I'm completely daunted by the idea that in a month, I'll be starting in a new job in a new city. It's going to be an even busier few weeks, and so now is probably my best (only?) opportunity to write a bit about the Celtics' offseason.
Boston has had a pretty busy couple of weeks themselves, actually. They sent their summer league squad to both Orlando and Vegas. And then today, they finalized a sign-and-trade deal for Houston's Courtney Lee.
We'll start with Lee, since that's the big news. The problem is that I haven't paid much attention to him during his NBA career. From what I understand, though, everyone is pretty excited about it. He can shoot -- not as well as Ray Allen, but he can shoot -- and he can defend, which was one of Allen's weak spots. And he's 26. That sounds pretty good for four years and $21.5 million, which is the contract we gave him. He'll likely settle into a backup role in the backcourt alongside the newly-acquired Jason Terry, but if Avery Bradley's shoulders haven't healed, he'll begin the season as our starting two-guard, with Terry remaining in the sixth-man role in which he thrived in Dallas.
Lee, while not a star, is clearly an NBA rotation player, and that's something we sorely needed last year. The money's good, so the signing is good. The only other factor to be considered is what we gave up for him, because it was a sign-and-trade. I don't know all the details, and it sounds like Portland is involved somehow, but the bottom line appears to be that we gave up JaJuan Johnson, E'Twaun Moore, Sean Williams, Sasha Pavlovic, and a 2nd-round pick for him.
I don't care about Williams and Pavlovic, two guys who don't fit into anyone's long-term plans. Picks are always nice to have, but what is likely to be a late second-rounder shouldn't at all be a deterrent to add a guy who will be an integral piece to what hopefully is a deep playoff run. That leaves Johnson and Moore, the two kids we took out of Purdue two drafts ago and who played very limited minutes in their first NBA seasons.
The funny thing about this trade from a RwH perspective is that other than Jared Sullinger, the guy I had planned on writing most about based on my observation of one summer league game in Vegas was Moore. I thought Moore was better in the few opportunities he had last season than Johnson was in his, and Moore was clearly the more advanced player against the Bulls in summer league action on Tuesday. Moore was on fire from the outside, but he also did a nice job running the team from the lead guard position. Lee is clearly an upgrade, but I wouldn't have been totally uncomfortable entering the season with Moore as our fourth guard. With that said, the Rockets are reportedly releasing Moore (as a second-round pick in 2011, his contract isn't guaranteed) so I think there's a chance we could eventually get him back, were we so inclined.
As for Johnson, I doubt very much that we'll be regretting this trade a couple of years from now. He's a long, tall kid with good range and athleticism, but he doesn't seem like a guy who is going to develop into a post threat, and as an inconsistent stretch 4 his value is limited. He obviously didn't get much of a chance to make a splash in his one season in green, but there isn't a lot of evidence that he'll be any good down the road.
In other words, I'm pretty happy with this deal. With Lee, Terry, Bradley, and Rajon Rondo, we've got a deep, versatile backcourt that is strong defensively.
Onto the rookies, the only guys now worth talking about at summer league. Kris Joseph didn't do anything to impress, but like most second-rounders, he wasn't likely to be a big part of the team's plans. Fab Melo didn't do anything to alleviate my concerns about him -- he wasn't a disaster, but the only positive thing I can say about him is that he runs the floor better than most guys his size.
That leaves Sullinger. The guy is a load, no question -- he's got a huge lower body. He doesn't necessarily look like an NBA player because his arms aren't defined and he looks a little flabby up top, but you could say the same thing about Charles Barkley and Glen Davis and those guys didn't have any problems from a strength perspective. Sullinger proved all he needed to prove to me with regards to his strength, in fact, by repeatedly holding off Leon Powe in the post and on rebounds. Say what you want about Powe, who was playing for Chicago's summer league squad in an attempt to find an NBA job somewhere, but Celtics fans know how strong he is and how hard he plays. If you are strong enough to handle Powe, you are strong enough to handle just about anyone at the four position.
Offensively, the game I saw was not his best of the summer, but judging his offensive ability on one summer league game would be foolish. Defensively, a big concern with him has been his pick-and-roll defense. I didn't notice him getting exploited, but similarly, defending during summer league and defending a pick-and-roll run by actual NBA players is something else entirely. We'll have to wait-and-see about him, although all the evidence points to him being able to hack it at the NBA level. The other thing that jumped out at me was his second jumpability; he got off the ground a lot more quickly than you'd expect from a guy his size. This had me pretty excited about him being light on his feet, until one of my friends pointed out to me that it's easy to look like you're getting off the ground for your second jump quickly when you don't get up very high on your first jump. I guess we'll have to see about that.
As a quick aside, I did get a chance to watch Royce White, the guy from Iowa State who some Cs fans were excited about before Houston scooped him up. He's a great passer for a guy his size, but nothing else stood out. I was more impressed with Terrence Jones, who the Rockets also took in the first round. Jones is a lot bigger than I thought he was, and he's got very good ball skills for a guy his size. There's still a question about his position, but I have a feeling he's gonna be a nice NBA player for them.
Boston has had a pretty busy couple of weeks themselves, actually. They sent their summer league squad to both Orlando and Vegas. And then today, they finalized a sign-and-trade deal for Houston's Courtney Lee.
We'll start with Lee, since that's the big news. The problem is that I haven't paid much attention to him during his NBA career. From what I understand, though, everyone is pretty excited about it. He can shoot -- not as well as Ray Allen, but he can shoot -- and he can defend, which was one of Allen's weak spots. And he's 26. That sounds pretty good for four years and $21.5 million, which is the contract we gave him. He'll likely settle into a backup role in the backcourt alongside the newly-acquired Jason Terry, but if Avery Bradley's shoulders haven't healed, he'll begin the season as our starting two-guard, with Terry remaining in the sixth-man role in which he thrived in Dallas.
Lee, while not a star, is clearly an NBA rotation player, and that's something we sorely needed last year. The money's good, so the signing is good. The only other factor to be considered is what we gave up for him, because it was a sign-and-trade. I don't know all the details, and it sounds like Portland is involved somehow, but the bottom line appears to be that we gave up JaJuan Johnson, E'Twaun Moore, Sean Williams, Sasha Pavlovic, and a 2nd-round pick for him.
I don't care about Williams and Pavlovic, two guys who don't fit into anyone's long-term plans. Picks are always nice to have, but what is likely to be a late second-rounder shouldn't at all be a deterrent to add a guy who will be an integral piece to what hopefully is a deep playoff run. That leaves Johnson and Moore, the two kids we took out of Purdue two drafts ago and who played very limited minutes in their first NBA seasons.
The funny thing about this trade from a RwH perspective is that other than Jared Sullinger, the guy I had planned on writing most about based on my observation of one summer league game in Vegas was Moore. I thought Moore was better in the few opportunities he had last season than Johnson was in his, and Moore was clearly the more advanced player against the Bulls in summer league action on Tuesday. Moore was on fire from the outside, but he also did a nice job running the team from the lead guard position. Lee is clearly an upgrade, but I wouldn't have been totally uncomfortable entering the season with Moore as our fourth guard. With that said, the Rockets are reportedly releasing Moore (as a second-round pick in 2011, his contract isn't guaranteed) so I think there's a chance we could eventually get him back, were we so inclined.
As for Johnson, I doubt very much that we'll be regretting this trade a couple of years from now. He's a long, tall kid with good range and athleticism, but he doesn't seem like a guy who is going to develop into a post threat, and as an inconsistent stretch 4 his value is limited. He obviously didn't get much of a chance to make a splash in his one season in green, but there isn't a lot of evidence that he'll be any good down the road.
In other words, I'm pretty happy with this deal. With Lee, Terry, Bradley, and Rajon Rondo, we've got a deep, versatile backcourt that is strong defensively.
Onto the rookies, the only guys now worth talking about at summer league. Kris Joseph didn't do anything to impress, but like most second-rounders, he wasn't likely to be a big part of the team's plans. Fab Melo didn't do anything to alleviate my concerns about him -- he wasn't a disaster, but the only positive thing I can say about him is that he runs the floor better than most guys his size.
That leaves Sullinger. The guy is a load, no question -- he's got a huge lower body. He doesn't necessarily look like an NBA player because his arms aren't defined and he looks a little flabby up top, but you could say the same thing about Charles Barkley and Glen Davis and those guys didn't have any problems from a strength perspective. Sullinger proved all he needed to prove to me with regards to his strength, in fact, by repeatedly holding off Leon Powe in the post and on rebounds. Say what you want about Powe, who was playing for Chicago's summer league squad in an attempt to find an NBA job somewhere, but Celtics fans know how strong he is and how hard he plays. If you are strong enough to handle Powe, you are strong enough to handle just about anyone at the four position.
Offensively, the game I saw was not his best of the summer, but judging his offensive ability on one summer league game would be foolish. Defensively, a big concern with him has been his pick-and-roll defense. I didn't notice him getting exploited, but similarly, defending during summer league and defending a pick-and-roll run by actual NBA players is something else entirely. We'll have to wait-and-see about him, although all the evidence points to him being able to hack it at the NBA level. The other thing that jumped out at me was his second jumpability; he got off the ground a lot more quickly than you'd expect from a guy his size. This had me pretty excited about him being light on his feet, until one of my friends pointed out to me that it's easy to look like you're getting off the ground for your second jump quickly when you don't get up very high on your first jump. I guess we'll have to see about that.
As a quick aside, I did get a chance to watch Royce White, the guy from Iowa State who some Cs fans were excited about before Houston scooped him up. He's a great passer for a guy his size, but nothing else stood out. I was more impressed with Terrence Jones, who the Rockets also took in the first round. Jones is a lot bigger than I thought he was, and he's got very good ball skills for a guy his size. There's still a question about his position, but I have a feeling he's gonna be a nice NBA player for them.
Monday, November 8, 2010
The Next Lamb: The Dallas Mavericks
Game 8: Boston (6-1) at Dallas (3-2)
Monday, November 8
8:30 p.m. (Eastern)
TV: League Pass
Despite a slow start to the season, or perhaps because of it, the Mavericks are going to prove a tough test for the Celtics.
Over the past three seasons, Boston has struggled against Dirk Nowitzki. Though the Celtics have won five of the six matchups between the two teams during those seasons, Nowitzki has averaged nearly 26 points per game. Kevin Garnett didn't play in two of those games, but Action Dirk did have 37 points with KG playing in a Boston win back in February of 2009. Moreover, the current-era Celtics have had trouble with scoring power forwards; the defensive scheme works best when Garnett can play free safety, but he can't really do that against Nowitzki.
Dallas' point guard, Jason Kidd, may also pose some problems. He's got several inches on Rajon Rondo, and he's perhaps the league's best at his position at operating in the post. He's surrounded by shooters, too, so any help the Celtics give Rondo on Kidd may come at a price. An interesting twist is that the much smaller Jason Terry, historically a sixth man, is now a starter. Doc Rivers could conceivably put Ray Allen on Kidd and Rondo on Terry. Kidd will be a tough cover for Allen, but it might eliminate part of Dallas' attack.
Finally, Dallas has a pretty good bench, even with Terry in the starting lineup. In addition to the versatile Shawn Marion, Dallas' second unit includes Brendan Haywood -- the first legitimate center Boston's second unit has faced this year. I've got no indication that Shaquille O'Neal will be back against the Mavs (though he is accompanying the team on the road trip), and I just read that Jermaine O'Neal is questionable for the game, too. Haywood is too big for Glen Davis to handle, which means that Semih Erden will need to step up. He had a terrific game against Oklahoma City, but Haywood is the most physical opponent he's seen in his brief NBA career. Fortunately for Boston, Haywood isn't totally polished offensively and doesn't always assert himself.
The Mavericks have already lost twice at home this year, and I imagine they'll be looking to make it up to the home crowd on Monday. They've also had a day off, whereas the Celtics are on the second night of a back-to-back. Doc kept Paul Pierce's and Garnett's minutes in check against the Thunder, but Rondo played 36 and Allen played 40.
Also, Rondo apparently has a mild case of plantar fascitis. This came to light after the Milwaukee game, and there was talk that Rondo would miss the Chicago game. But Rondo doesn't like sitting out, and he made it clear that he especially doesn't like sitting out against other elite point guards like the Bulls' Derrick Rose. This also likely means that we can't take much from the fact that he suited up against the Thunder -- Westbrook isn't on the same level as Rose and Rondo yet, but he's stolen some headlines this season and I'm sure Rondo wanted the opportunity to compete against him. Kidd's an elite point guard, even though he's lost a couple steps, so I expect to see Rondo in uniform on Monday.
I don't know what to make of Rondo's injury, actually. I think it was last year when Rondo put a scare into everyone by needing to be carried off the floor after a game because his feet were hurting. But it didn't affect his play then, and he hasn't shown any ill effects this season, either. Hopefully it's nothing. If it is a more serious injury, it will pose some major problems for the Celtics -- and not just against Dallas, where Rondo's far superior speed makes him as tough a matchup for Kidd as Kidd is for Rondo on the other end.
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