[recap] [box score]
I gotta admit it, I wasn't terribly confident heading into Game 2. Already without Ray Allen and now down Rajon R-ndo, our best player in Game 1, I figured Tuesday night was probably a lost cause. I was still pretty sure we'd win the series, but I was thinking we'd more than likely be heading back to Boston down 0-2.
But from the very moment that Paul Pierce stole the opening tip and powered past one defender, spun around another, and laid the ball in, I started to get a feeling that all was not lost, and that we were about to see a vintage Pierce performance. That feeling grew over the next few minutes, as Pierce scored Boston's next seven points, as well: a pull-up jumper; a skip between two Atlanta defenders for a running banker and the foul; another jumper. Largely due to his efforts, the first quarter ended with the score tied at 24.
Truthfully(!), I expected nothing less from the Captain. He was outstanding in the point forward role when R-ndo was out earlier in the year, and after a 12-point performance in Game 1, you just knew he would come up with a big-time performance in this one. The question, though, was whether it would be enough. At his age, in this season, there was no way he could carry us for the whole game. And he didn't. Instead, he paced himself after a 13-point first, coasting through quarters two and three with ten points, before exploding for another 13 in the fourth. All told, he racked up 36 points in 44 minutes, added four assists, and pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds for good measure.
Pierce was far from perfect in this game. He shot 12-for-26, which is good, not great. He made a couple of really strange, lazy passes early in the third quarter, and made a few crucial errors in the fourth quarter. Yet he made up the mistakes with more than enough huge plays. To wit: After Boston climbed back from down 11 to finally take the lead, Pierce tried an ill-advised spin move around Kirk Hinrich that Hinrich snuffed out; Pierce was called for a loose-ball foul trying to recover the ball. A few possessions later, however, Pierce got a dunk on the break, then hit an assassin-like three in transition to push the lead to seven. On Atlanta's next possession, Avery Bradley stripped Ivan Johnson, but Pierce double-dribbled in transition. To make matters worse, he bought Johnson's pump-fake on the ensuing play, and fouled the Atlanta rookie as he was draining a long jumper, resulting in an improbable three-point play that left the game in jeopardy. But on the very next trip, Pierce hit a tough pull-up, restoring order with 2:30 to go.
He wasn't perfect, but he didn't have to be. He was Paul Pierce. And Paul Pierce, when he's playing like Paul Pierce, is spectacular, flaws and all.
Pierce wasn't alone. Kevin Garnett had 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Avery Bradley looked much more comfortable than he did in Game 1 and provided some much needed offense and his usual strong D. Brandon Bass was quiet again, but better. No one off the bench really had a huge impact, but they all managed to play minutes without giving up too much.
A few words about the Hawks: Boston's defense was great tonight, along the lines of what it was in the final three quarters of Game 1, but the Hawks were positively puzzling on offense over the final 15 minutes or so, once they had stretched their lead to double digits. To say even that they have terrible shot selection is probably too generous, since it at least implies that they are being somewhat selective in the shots they take. Jeff Teague dazzled for much of the game, then failed to adjust when Boston clogged the lane against him and forced some tough shots. Joe Johnson was uncharacteristically unassertive for most of the night, then rocketed a crazy 26-footer off the backboard down five with 12 on the shot clock and 1:15 on the game, which effectively sealed Atlanta's fate. Ivan Johnson tried several times to create his own offense down the stretch, which is the last thing the Hawks want. It's hard to blame him, though; he's probably learned from Josh Smith, the classic "remembers-his-makes, forgets-his-misses" guy whose refusal to stay off the perimeter has put a ceiling on both his personal development and the development of his team.
Even worse for the Hawks, Smith hurt his knee while battling for rebounding position with Garnett, and missed the final 4:30 or so. (Incidentally, a lot of people will want to say that Smith's departure cost the Hawks the game, but Boston had taken the lead by then and Atlanta had been lost offensively for several minutes by that point.) There's no word, as of this writing, the extent of Smith's injury or whether he'll miss any time. As confounding as Smith can be at times, he's one of their catalysts on offense and is a huge presence on the boards and on the defensive end. He'd be sorely missed, particularly given that Atlanta is already down a couple of bigs.
Game 3 is Friday night in Boston, at 7;30 on ESPN. The Celtics need to win the next two to keep this momentum going.
Boston started the year with one of the worst benches in the league; due to injuries and the suspension, 60% of our starting lineup was filled with guys who were slotted for reserve roles when the season began just four months ago. There's an understanding among NBA types that the bench only matters in the regular season, that starters win playoff games, but that presupposes that the second unit consists of guys who, at a minimum, are competent replacement-level NBA players. Not many guys on Boston's revamped second unit fit that category.
Showing posts with label Joe Smith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joe Smith. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Monday, March 2, 2009
Detroit 105, Boston 95
We need Kevin Garnett back.
[recap] [box score] [highlights]
Rather than be refreshed after the All-Star Break, too often since Garnett went down we've looked sluggish on both ends of the court. It's ab obvious thing to say, but there's an important element of intensity missing when he's out of the lineup.
Some good things came out of this game with the Pistons, however. Glen Davis is getting good enough at that 17-foot jumper that I'm almost comfortable with him taking it as long as he's wide open. Kendrick Perkins showed a lot more post-up game than I had seen in a while. And Paul Pierce, who had recently looked like he was nursing some sort of injury beyond the dislocated thumb he suffered against the Clippers last Wednesday, had a familiar spring in his step (a spring that slowed considerably as the afternoon wore on; Pierce didn't come out of the game until the final seconds).
***
It looks like we bit too early on Mikki Moore. Sunday night, power forwards Joe Smith and Drew Gooden were bought out by the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Sacramento Kings, respectively. Smith was a rumored buyout candidate all year and was definitely on Boston's wish list, but it appears that Boston brass decided they couldn't take the chance that they wouldn't become available. Smith and Gooden would be more useful, but we'll have to make do with Moore. The front office's collective hands may have been tied by the injuries to Garnett and Brian Scalabrine, too; we needed someone, fast.
The Celtics lose twice in this situation, however. Not only do they no longer have room on their roster to sign one of these veteran big men, but as both Smith and Gooden have ties to Cleveland, one of them -- most likely Smith -- is going to end up on the roster of the strongest competition in the East. Come to think of it, that may have been a consideration in locking up Moore; there was no guarantee we'd get Smith even if he was bought out.
Having seen Moore for a couple games now, I'm a little concerned. The issue is that Moore is smaller than I thought. I'm not the most devout follower of the NBA outside the Celtics, and I always assumed he was a banger, probably because he always has kind of a mean look on his face. But he isn't. He's seven-feet tall and weighs 225 pounds, and his arms are, well, skinny for an NBA player his size. I like Moore's jumper, but I wish he was a little bit bigger and more physical.
Next game is Wednesday at New Jersey (no national TV). Friday is the big showdown with the Cavs in Boston, at 8 p.m. Eastern on ESPN.
[recap] [box score] [highlights]
Rather than be refreshed after the All-Star Break, too often since Garnett went down we've looked sluggish on both ends of the court. It's ab obvious thing to say, but there's an important element of intensity missing when he's out of the lineup.
Some good things came out of this game with the Pistons, however. Glen Davis is getting good enough at that 17-foot jumper that I'm almost comfortable with him taking it as long as he's wide open. Kendrick Perkins showed a lot more post-up game than I had seen in a while. And Paul Pierce, who had recently looked like he was nursing some sort of injury beyond the dislocated thumb he suffered against the Clippers last Wednesday, had a familiar spring in his step (a spring that slowed considerably as the afternoon wore on; Pierce didn't come out of the game until the final seconds).
***
It looks like we bit too early on Mikki Moore. Sunday night, power forwards Joe Smith and Drew Gooden were bought out by the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Sacramento Kings, respectively. Smith was a rumored buyout candidate all year and was definitely on Boston's wish list, but it appears that Boston brass decided they couldn't take the chance that they wouldn't become available. Smith and Gooden would be more useful, but we'll have to make do with Moore. The front office's collective hands may have been tied by the injuries to Garnett and Brian Scalabrine, too; we needed someone, fast.
The Celtics lose twice in this situation, however. Not only do they no longer have room on their roster to sign one of these veteran big men, but as both Smith and Gooden have ties to Cleveland, one of them -- most likely Smith -- is going to end up on the roster of the strongest competition in the East. Come to think of it, that may have been a consideration in locking up Moore; there was no guarantee we'd get Smith even if he was bought out.
Having seen Moore for a couple games now, I'm a little concerned. The issue is that Moore is smaller than I thought. I'm not the most devout follower of the NBA outside the Celtics, and I always assumed he was a banger, probably because he always has kind of a mean look on his face. But he isn't. He's seven-feet tall and weighs 225 pounds, and his arms are, well, skinny for an NBA player his size. I like Moore's jumper, but I wish he was a little bit bigger and more physical.
Next game is Wednesday at New Jersey (no national TV). Friday is the big showdown with the Cavs in Boston, at 8 p.m. Eastern on ESPN.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Utah 90, Boston 85
A frustrating loss, but one that needs to be kept in persepective.
[recap] [box score]
The big difference in tonight's game was that Kevin Garnett went out just before halftime with what they're calling a sprained right knee. Apparently the knee has been bothering him a bit of late, and when he went up for a rebound on a break, he seemed to tweak it a bit on takeoff. It was a scary moment, as it always is when there's a non-contact knee injury. But it looked like KG wanted to return, and probably would have if it was, say, the playoffs. As frustrated as I get when the Celtics lose, shutting him down for the night in the hopes that he can come back Sunday against Phoenix was the right move.
And yes, Utah was also missing their power forward, Carlos Boozer. But Boston is definitely the least deep of the title contenders this year; more than any other team, the Celtics are reliant on their starters, in particular Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen. We can't realistically expect to win against a good team like the Jazz without one of those three, particularly in a place as difficult to win as Utah.
This game was winnable, though. The Celtics hit just 19 of 29 free throws. And I didn't much like the offense down the stretch. We went to the pick and roll with Rondo and Pierce, like we did against Dallas last week, but Pierce wasn't hitting his shots, probably because he played more than 45 minutes and was battling a very physical Utah defense the whole night (because I'm trying to keep this loss in perspective, I'm not going to complain about the officiating, which was inconsistent, at best, all night). Pierce picked up one offensive foul on that play, and missed almost everything else. We went to the well too early, and too often. When we have Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo (who caused some problems for Deron Williams in the fourth quarter), we shouldn't run that play into the ground. We've got other options.
The cap to the frustrating night came when Utah missed a free throw with eight seconds left up three, but got the offensive rebound and sealed the game. Boston had no timeouts left, and the three-point shooting team was in. With no timeouts remaining, Doc couldn't sub in, and that left Allen and Pierce on the low block, and Utah overwhelmed them and got the board. When I was watching them line up, I was worried about that exact thing happening, but I guess with no timeouts, there's nothing Doc could have done.
Time to put this one past us. Hopefully KG will be fine for Sunday (2:30 p.m. Eastern on ABC) and we can get a win against a Suns team that has put up an average of 141 points in two games since firing Terry Porter. Alvin Gentry has re-installed their uptempo offense, and even though both those offensive explosions came against the hapless Los Angeles Clippers, 141 points against any NBA team is impressive.
Patrick O'Bryant, we hardly knew ye. The young center -- whom Boston signed as a free agent in the offseason -- was shipped to Toronto in a three-way deal that resulted in Raptors reserve point guard Will Solomon being sent to Sacramento. Boston's take? Another heavily-protected second-round pick from Sacramento, quite similar to the Cassell deal. Like the Cassell move, this is a clear money-saving measure - the picks are protected enough that it's quite possible we'll never actually get them.
I had hoped that O'Bryant -- our only true backup center -- would evolve into something under the tutelage of Clifford Ray, but it seems as though he lacks the toughness, defense, and half-court offense to fit into the Celtics' current plans.
Shipping Cassell and O'Bryant out leaves us with two roster spots open to sign players who may be bought out in the coming days. The most desirable target is Oklahoma City veteran power forward Joe Smith, who was part of the Tyson Chandler trade a few days ago that was rescinded after Chandler failed a physical. Smith has been a buyout candidate all year, and would be a very nice fill-in for our undersized bench corps.
The other rumor is Sacramento power forward Mikki Moore, whom the Kings were allegedly trying hard to move before the trade deadline. I'd rather have Smith, but Moore would be better than nothing.
I suppose it's possible that if Boston signs both of them if both are bought out. However, I still wouldn't rule out Cassell returning to the team. I have to wonder if the injury to Tony Allen had something to do with the O'Bryant trade: did we move Cassell with the intention of signing a guy like Smith, then have second thoughts about leaving our backcourt so thin when it was realized that Allen would miss two months? It's hard to imagine that the front office didn't at least suspect that Allen would miss significant time, but anything's possible. Either way, a frontcourt contributor has to be our top priority, but I would be surprised to see a backcourt acquisition down the stretch here. The Knicks' Stephon Marbury is probably the target, though we still need him to be bought out before we can sign him. If not the Starchild, then Cassell seems like the most likely option. I don't know of other guards who are likely to be bought out. Under NBA rules, Cassell cannot re-sign with Boston until 30 days have passed from the day he was traded, but I can't see any other team picking him up in the interim. Even if there was interest from other contenders, I'm sure his preference would be to return to Boston.
There were some rumors that we were trying to get Andres Nocioni, traded from the Chicago Bulls to the Kings as part of a deal for Brad Miller and John Salmons. I can see the appeal of Nocioni -- a tenacious defender with a bit of a mean streak who can hit the three; someone in the mold of James Posey, who was so key to the title last year and who signed with New Orleans in the offseason. But the rumored deal included some size: O'Bryant, Scalabrine, Glen Davis, along with Tony Allen. I've gotten conflicting reports on whether it was just all or some of that group, but either way, I'm glad we didn't do it. We could probably use Nocioni, but it doesn't make sense to bolster the wing at the expense of an already undersized second-team frontcourt.
Despite a lot of small deals, it was a relatively quiet trade deadline in terms of biggest impact deals. The biggest move and the one that matters to the Celtics was the Orlando Magic acquiring Houston point guard Rafer Alston (the Rockets then filled their hole at the point by acquiring Memphis' Kyle Lowry, who will share time at the 1 with Aaron Brooks). Jameer Nelson's season-ending shoulder injury left the Magic with a big hole, and if Alston can knock down some three-pointers, the Magic might not miss a beat.
[recap] [box score]
The big difference in tonight's game was that Kevin Garnett went out just before halftime with what they're calling a sprained right knee. Apparently the knee has been bothering him a bit of late, and when he went up for a rebound on a break, he seemed to tweak it a bit on takeoff. It was a scary moment, as it always is when there's a non-contact knee injury. But it looked like KG wanted to return, and probably would have if it was, say, the playoffs. As frustrated as I get when the Celtics lose, shutting him down for the night in the hopes that he can come back Sunday against Phoenix was the right move.
And yes, Utah was also missing their power forward, Carlos Boozer. But Boston is definitely the least deep of the title contenders this year; more than any other team, the Celtics are reliant on their starters, in particular Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen. We can't realistically expect to win against a good team like the Jazz without one of those three, particularly in a place as difficult to win as Utah.
This game was winnable, though. The Celtics hit just 19 of 29 free throws. And I didn't much like the offense down the stretch. We went to the pick and roll with Rondo and Pierce, like we did against Dallas last week, but Pierce wasn't hitting his shots, probably because he played more than 45 minutes and was battling a very physical Utah defense the whole night (because I'm trying to keep this loss in perspective, I'm not going to complain about the officiating, which was inconsistent, at best, all night). Pierce picked up one offensive foul on that play, and missed almost everything else. We went to the well too early, and too often. When we have Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo (who caused some problems for Deron Williams in the fourth quarter), we shouldn't run that play into the ground. We've got other options.
The cap to the frustrating night came when Utah missed a free throw with eight seconds left up three, but got the offensive rebound and sealed the game. Boston had no timeouts left, and the three-point shooting team was in. With no timeouts remaining, Doc couldn't sub in, and that left Allen and Pierce on the low block, and Utah overwhelmed them and got the board. When I was watching them line up, I was worried about that exact thing happening, but I guess with no timeouts, there's nothing Doc could have done.
Time to put this one past us. Hopefully KG will be fine for Sunday (2:30 p.m. Eastern on ABC) and we can get a win against a Suns team that has put up an average of 141 points in two games since firing Terry Porter. Alvin Gentry has re-installed their uptempo offense, and even though both those offensive explosions came against the hapless Los Angeles Clippers, 141 points against any NBA team is impressive.
Patrick O'Bryant, we hardly knew ye. The young center -- whom Boston signed as a free agent in the offseason -- was shipped to Toronto in a three-way deal that resulted in Raptors reserve point guard Will Solomon being sent to Sacramento. Boston's take? Another heavily-protected second-round pick from Sacramento, quite similar to the Cassell deal. Like the Cassell move, this is a clear money-saving measure - the picks are protected enough that it's quite possible we'll never actually get them.
I had hoped that O'Bryant -- our only true backup center -- would evolve into something under the tutelage of Clifford Ray, but it seems as though he lacks the toughness, defense, and half-court offense to fit into the Celtics' current plans.
Shipping Cassell and O'Bryant out leaves us with two roster spots open to sign players who may be bought out in the coming days. The most desirable target is Oklahoma City veteran power forward Joe Smith, who was part of the Tyson Chandler trade a few days ago that was rescinded after Chandler failed a physical. Smith has been a buyout candidate all year, and would be a very nice fill-in for our undersized bench corps.
The other rumor is Sacramento power forward Mikki Moore, whom the Kings were allegedly trying hard to move before the trade deadline. I'd rather have Smith, but Moore would be better than nothing.
I suppose it's possible that if Boston signs both of them if both are bought out. However, I still wouldn't rule out Cassell returning to the team. I have to wonder if the injury to Tony Allen had something to do with the O'Bryant trade: did we move Cassell with the intention of signing a guy like Smith, then have second thoughts about leaving our backcourt so thin when it was realized that Allen would miss two months? It's hard to imagine that the front office didn't at least suspect that Allen would miss significant time, but anything's possible. Either way, a frontcourt contributor has to be our top priority, but I would be surprised to see a backcourt acquisition down the stretch here. The Knicks' Stephon Marbury is probably the target, though we still need him to be bought out before we can sign him. If not the Starchild, then Cassell seems like the most likely option. I don't know of other guards who are likely to be bought out. Under NBA rules, Cassell cannot re-sign with Boston until 30 days have passed from the day he was traded, but I can't see any other team picking him up in the interim. Even if there was interest from other contenders, I'm sure his preference would be to return to Boston.
There were some rumors that we were trying to get Andres Nocioni, traded from the Chicago Bulls to the Kings as part of a deal for Brad Miller and John Salmons. I can see the appeal of Nocioni -- a tenacious defender with a bit of a mean streak who can hit the three; someone in the mold of James Posey, who was so key to the title last year and who signed with New Orleans in the offseason. But the rumored deal included some size: O'Bryant, Scalabrine, Glen Davis, along with Tony Allen. I've gotten conflicting reports on whether it was just all or some of that group, but either way, I'm glad we didn't do it. We could probably use Nocioni, but it doesn't make sense to bolster the wing at the expense of an already undersized second-team frontcourt.
Despite a lot of small deals, it was a relatively quiet trade deadline in terms of biggest impact deals. The biggest move and the one that matters to the Celtics was the Orlando Magic acquiring Houston point guard Rafer Alston (the Rockets then filled their hole at the point by acquiring Memphis' Kyle Lowry, who will share time at the 1 with Aaron Brooks). Jameer Nelson's season-ending shoulder injury left the Magic with a big hole, and if Alston can knock down some three-pointers, the Magic might not miss a beat.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Cs Say Goodbye to Sam Cassell
For now, anyway.
Cassell and cash to Sacramento for a second-round draft pick ... a conditional one ... in 2015. It appears that we've essentially paid the Kings to take Cassell off our hands.
That's not entirely accurate, but it's not entirely inaccurate, either. I set out to try and lay out the implications of the deal, but the only thing that makes my head spin more than NBA salary cap considerations is trying to explain NBA salary cap considerations to others. As is often the case, the CelticsBlog community has some great insights (though some of those, like theories of Oklahoma City trading Joe Smith to Sacramento, are now outdated -- more on this a little later).
This seems to have financial benefits to both teams, as Boston saves luxury tax money and Sacramento will likely cut Cassell, bolstering themselves with whatever money Boston sent them in the deal.
To me, this makes it unlikely that we do a trade before Thursday's trade deadline. Cassell would have been a good throw-in for salary purposes in such a deal. The speculation is that we're freeing up a roster spot to sign a veteran who gets bought out.
Who might that be? Estranged (and strange) Knicks guard Stephon Marbury has been discussed for months now, but he's not going anywhere without a buyout, and I haven't heard any movement on that front in some time.
Before he was traded to New Orleans today (along with Chris Wilcox, for Tyson Chandler), Joe Smith seemed a likely candidate to be bought out by Oklahoma City. He would have been a very nice addition, though the Celtics would likely have had to outbid many contenders -- including Smith's old team, the Cleveland Cavaliers -- for his services.
That window seems closed at this point. By trading Chandler, New Orleans has likely thrown its chances of a deep playoff run away in the name of saving money. However, they can at least spin it as a move made for basketball reasons, given Chandler's injury problems this year and the added depth of Smith and Wilcox up front). Were they to cut Smith and his $4.8 million salary, that'd be a difficult argument to make, and there'd be quite an uproar at the Hornets ignoring a playoff run despite currently hanging on to the sixth seed in the West through a myriad of injuries to important players. There's already something of an outcry from players and fans. I just can't see them cutting Smith.
That might leave us back with Cassell, which I'm not thrilled about. He hurt us more than he helped us last year, and Eddie House and Gabe Pruitt have shown they are more than capable of backing up Rajon Rondo at the point. Giving Doc Rivers a full bench to use can be a dangerous thing to do.
Cassell and cash to Sacramento for a second-round draft pick ... a conditional one ... in 2015. It appears that we've essentially paid the Kings to take Cassell off our hands.
That's not entirely accurate, but it's not entirely inaccurate, either. I set out to try and lay out the implications of the deal, but the only thing that makes my head spin more than NBA salary cap considerations is trying to explain NBA salary cap considerations to others. As is often the case, the CelticsBlog community has some great insights (though some of those, like theories of Oklahoma City trading Joe Smith to Sacramento, are now outdated -- more on this a little later).
This seems to have financial benefits to both teams, as Boston saves luxury tax money and Sacramento will likely cut Cassell, bolstering themselves with whatever money Boston sent them in the deal.
To me, this makes it unlikely that we do a trade before Thursday's trade deadline. Cassell would have been a good throw-in for salary purposes in such a deal. The speculation is that we're freeing up a roster spot to sign a veteran who gets bought out.
Who might that be? Estranged (and strange) Knicks guard Stephon Marbury has been discussed for months now, but he's not going anywhere without a buyout, and I haven't heard any movement on that front in some time.
Before he was traded to New Orleans today (along with Chris Wilcox, for Tyson Chandler), Joe Smith seemed a likely candidate to be bought out by Oklahoma City. He would have been a very nice addition, though the Celtics would likely have had to outbid many contenders -- including Smith's old team, the Cleveland Cavaliers -- for his services.
That window seems closed at this point. By trading Chandler, New Orleans has likely thrown its chances of a deep playoff run away in the name of saving money. However, they can at least spin it as a move made for basketball reasons, given Chandler's injury problems this year and the added depth of Smith and Wilcox up front). Were they to cut Smith and his $4.8 million salary, that'd be a difficult argument to make, and there'd be quite an uproar at the Hornets ignoring a playoff run despite currently hanging on to the sixth seed in the West through a myriad of injuries to important players. There's already something of an outcry from players and fans. I just can't see them cutting Smith.
That might leave us back with Cassell, which I'm not thrilled about. He hurt us more than he helped us last year, and Eddie House and Gabe Pruitt have shown they are more than capable of backing up Rajon Rondo at the point. Giving Doc Rivers a full bench to use can be a dangerous thing to do.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
