[recap] [box score]
Ever since Paul Pierce saved Rajon Rondo from his Beckham moment by scoring 36 points in the point guard's absence in Game 2 of the Atlanta series, I've been waiting for Rondo to repay the favor. Saturday night, in Game 7 against the Philadelphia 76ers, Rondo did.
If you're reading this, you probably watched the game, but for posterity's sake: With 4:16 left and Boston clinging to a three-point lead, Paul Pierce fouled out on a bang-bang charging call drawn by Thaddeus Young. (That's all I'm gonna say about the call.) With the momentum shifting suddenly, almost unbelievably, the other way, Rondo took over, scoring the game's next seven points. He started with a driving layup, added to it with a long two-pointer at the end of the shot clock, then completed his personal 7-0 run with a deep three-pointer, 27 feet, probably as long a shot as I've ever seen him make.
Philly's Elton Brand stopped the bleeding with a tip-in at the 1:54 mark, but Rondo drew the disqualifying foul on Brand on the other end, then calmly drained both free throws. After a Jrue Holiday three and a one-for-two trip from the line from Kevin Garneett, Rondo sealed the game with another pair of free throws that put the Celtics up by ten with 53 seconds left.
Was it at least a little lucky? Sure. The two long jumpers were broken plays, end-of-the-shot-clock jobs that Rondo had little choice but to hoist. Obviously, Rondo shooting from 20-plus feet is not how Doc drew it up, and I'm sure that Philly was more than happy to let Rondo fire away from distance. But someone had to take those, and whoever took them was either going to make them or miss them. Rondo stepped up, took them, and made them.
This game was far from perfect. There were some good moments here and there -- Ray Allen drilled a couple of fourth-quarter threes after shaking off one of the worst performances he's ever had; Pierce had a couple big baskets in the third quarter to help keep the Sixers at bay; and Kevin Garnett and Brandon Bass were the team's most consistent offensive threats all evening -- but for the most part, the Celtics were once again bordering on disaster offensively. On the defensive end, they were very good, and that was enough to win the game. But the task ahead is an extraordinarily difficult one, and Boston can't play the way they did for most of the Philly series and expect to beat Miami.
As fans, though, we don't have to worry about the Heat right away. Doc and the rest of the coaching staff must concern themselves with that immediately, but for a few hours, anyway, we can enjoy this win for what it was -- a team with a championship pedigree winning in a most improbable way.
Showing posts with label Philadelphia 76ers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Philadelphia 76ers. Show all posts
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Philadelphia 82, Boston 75
[recap] [box score]
Atrocious. Simply atrocious.
There's really no other way to describe the Celtics' performance in Game 6 Wednesday night. They were out of synch almost from the tip, looking for long stretches like a group of guys who had never actually played together before. The effort was there, but that's something you should be able to take for granted in a closeout playoff game. It takes more than effort to win a playoff series, and the Celtics simply didn't bring it.
These things happen, I suppose, though perhaps not often as wholly as they did Wednesday night. The most frustrating thing is that Philly didn't play all that well, either. With just a modicum of offensive execution, the Celtics could be getting some much-needed rest in front of the TV, hoping Indiana and Miami go the distance. Instead, they'll be preparing for Game 7 in a series they have to feel they should have won by now.
I'm not sure I've ever experienced a game quite like this, to be honest. You know how there are some games where one team is playing poorly but still hanging within a few points, and the fans of the team that's winning are nervous because they know they should be up more, while the team that's losing actually feels pretty good? This game was like that, only the feeling switched from quarter to quarter. The Sixers led by three points after the first period, and I felt good: Ray Allen had picked up a couple early fouls, we hadn't really made anything, and Philly hadn't been able to build any sort of lead. But by the time Mickael Pietrus' corner three-pointer gave Boston a 36-33 (yes, you read that right) lead at halftime, I had flip-flopped. Philly had been so bad in the second quarter that it felt like Boston had lost a big opportunity by not running them out of the place.
After the third quarter, which ended with Philadelphia up 60-56, I was back to feeling cautiously optimistic. Boston was still playing horribly and Philly had started to heat up a bit, and yet the game was still there for the taking. Moreover, Boston was doing the little things -- like making free throws and getting offensive rebounds -- that often decide who wins ugly games like this one. I can't say I was sure that Boston was going to come back and win, but I felt okay, all things considered.
Alas, it didn't happen. After making their first 17 free throws, Boston missed three in a row to start the fourth, while Philadelphia found a little bit of a rhythm offensively. There were opportunities to close the gap, but the Celtics simply could not find any sort of cohesiveness on offense, and Philly's small lineup started to give Boston the same problems it did in Game 4. The final margin reflects neither how easily the Celtics could have won this game nor how poorly they played.
There's really not much to analyze in terms of Xs and Os, simply because Boston's offense was so unrecognizable. I will say that I think the Celtics really missed Avery Bradley in this one. Philly did a lot of doubling, both in the post and on the perimeter, and, as Doc pointed out in the post-game presser, our spacing was horrendous. Bradley is excellent at moving without the ball, and I think his presence would have resulted in a few easy layups; at the very least, it would have relieved some of the pressure on the offense. Defensively, we had some trouble guarding the pick-and-roll, but that's a relatively easy fix. I'm not going to get on Doc for the small lineup that I hated in Game 4 and that he rolled out again in the quarter of this one -- at that point, he had to try anything to try and steal this win.
Two days of rest before Game 7 on Saturday, and Boston definitely needs them. Ideally, the extra day will give Bradley's shoulders enough time to recover that he can give us something. At a minimum, though, it should give Rajon Rondo (43 minutes), Paul Pierce (42), and Kevin Garnett (41) time to re-charge. I'm sure there will be plenty of hysteria between now and then, but remember that the last time they had two days off with questions swirling, they won Game 5 comfortably. Here's hoping history repeats itself.
(Thursday morning update: Various outlets were reporting late last night that Bradley will be shut down for the rest of the season. It's a blow for Game 7, but the implications are even greater for a potential conference final matchup with Miami.)
Atrocious. Simply atrocious.
There's really no other way to describe the Celtics' performance in Game 6 Wednesday night. They were out of synch almost from the tip, looking for long stretches like a group of guys who had never actually played together before. The effort was there, but that's something you should be able to take for granted in a closeout playoff game. It takes more than effort to win a playoff series, and the Celtics simply didn't bring it.
These things happen, I suppose, though perhaps not often as wholly as they did Wednesday night. The most frustrating thing is that Philly didn't play all that well, either. With just a modicum of offensive execution, the Celtics could be getting some much-needed rest in front of the TV, hoping Indiana and Miami go the distance. Instead, they'll be preparing for Game 7 in a series they have to feel they should have won by now.
I'm not sure I've ever experienced a game quite like this, to be honest. You know how there are some games where one team is playing poorly but still hanging within a few points, and the fans of the team that's winning are nervous because they know they should be up more, while the team that's losing actually feels pretty good? This game was like that, only the feeling switched from quarter to quarter. The Sixers led by three points after the first period, and I felt good: Ray Allen had picked up a couple early fouls, we hadn't really made anything, and Philly hadn't been able to build any sort of lead. But by the time Mickael Pietrus' corner three-pointer gave Boston a 36-33 (yes, you read that right) lead at halftime, I had flip-flopped. Philly had been so bad in the second quarter that it felt like Boston had lost a big opportunity by not running them out of the place.
After the third quarter, which ended with Philadelphia up 60-56, I was back to feeling cautiously optimistic. Boston was still playing horribly and Philly had started to heat up a bit, and yet the game was still there for the taking. Moreover, Boston was doing the little things -- like making free throws and getting offensive rebounds -- that often decide who wins ugly games like this one. I can't say I was sure that Boston was going to come back and win, but I felt okay, all things considered.
Alas, it didn't happen. After making their first 17 free throws, Boston missed three in a row to start the fourth, while Philadelphia found a little bit of a rhythm offensively. There were opportunities to close the gap, but the Celtics simply could not find any sort of cohesiveness on offense, and Philly's small lineup started to give Boston the same problems it did in Game 4. The final margin reflects neither how easily the Celtics could have won this game nor how poorly they played.
There's really not much to analyze in terms of Xs and Os, simply because Boston's offense was so unrecognizable. I will say that I think the Celtics really missed Avery Bradley in this one. Philly did a lot of doubling, both in the post and on the perimeter, and, as Doc pointed out in the post-game presser, our spacing was horrendous. Bradley is excellent at moving without the ball, and I think his presence would have resulted in a few easy layups; at the very least, it would have relieved some of the pressure on the offense. Defensively, we had some trouble guarding the pick-and-roll, but that's a relatively easy fix. I'm not going to get on Doc for the small lineup that I hated in Game 4 and that he rolled out again in the quarter of this one -- at that point, he had to try anything to try and steal this win.
Two days of rest before Game 7 on Saturday, and Boston definitely needs them. Ideally, the extra day will give Bradley's shoulders enough time to recover that he can give us something. At a minimum, though, it should give Rajon Rondo (43 minutes), Paul Pierce (42), and Kevin Garnett (41) time to re-charge. I'm sure there will be plenty of hysteria between now and then, but remember that the last time they had two days off with questions swirling, they won Game 5 comfortably. Here's hoping history repeats itself.
(Thursday morning update: Various outlets were reporting late last night that Bradley will be shut down for the rest of the season. It's a blow for Game 7, but the implications are even greater for a potential conference final matchup with Miami.)
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Boston 101, Philadelphia 85
[recap] [box score]
This was not your typical 16-point blowout.
I think most people expected the veteran Celtics to come out strong at home in Game 5 against Philadelphia, taking back the control they gave up in blowing a big second-half lead on Friday. But it was the Sixers who seemed to dominate the first 24 minutes, making shot after shot and being opportunistic in transition. Boston didn't play poorly in the first half, but with the halftime score 50-47 in favor of the visitors, it certainly felt like the Celtics were the ones hanging on for dear life. (Looking back, there was reason to believe that things would swing toward Boston in the second half. Philly was scoring mainly on jump shots -- leading to a big free throw advantage for Boston that helped us stay close -- and they were hitting some tough looks. Boston was often getting better shots, but they simply weren't dropping.)
And it got worse before it got better. Trailing by six early in the third quarter, Kevin Garnett threw an uncertain pass out front that Andre Iguodala stole. Trying to prevent an easy dunk, Paul Pierce reached out and grabbed the Sixers forward. It was a good thought and a defensible reaction, but the result was a clear path foul, two shots and the ball -- potentially a four- or five-point possession, one of the biggest momentum-grabbing moments that can happen in a professional basketball game. But Iguodala missed both free throws, and Philly turned it over on the ensuing possession. And then, as Philly coach Doug Collins pointed out, the game turned, irreversibly, in favor of Boston.
That was when Brandon Bass, of all people, took over. He scored 18 points in the third quarter alone, two more than the entire Philly team combined. He did it first inside, with a handful of explosive dunks in traffic, precisely the kind of finish we never got from Glen Davis. He then moved out to more familiar territory, drilling a number of the midrange jumpers that have been his staple all season. Bass, who had been solid but not spectacular in the Philly series after having a tough time against Atlanta, had a game-high 27 points, and tied for the team lead with six rebounds.
If Bass gets the game ball, he owes an assist to Rajon Rondo (which he gave, by the way, in his post-game comments to David Aldrich). Rondo was, of course, the catalyst for many of Bass' buckets. But while his primary role was distributor, particularly in the third quarter, he provided much needed scoring at crucial moments -- initially in the first quarter to keep the game close; most crucially in the fourth quarter, after Boston had extended its lead out to double digits, when the offense has historically bogged down.
Honorable mention to Greg Stiemsma, who had eight of his ten points in the first quarter and blocked three shots in just 14 minutes of game action. Stiemsma has played sparingly this series and didn't see the court in Game 4, which is an indictment of Doc, really, now that we know that the rookie's foot injury isn't what kept him out of action. He was a little late closing out on a couple of Lavoy Allen foul line jumpers, but his first-quarter offense was crucial and on one second-half possession, he made a great catch on a tough pass from Ray Allen, then made a pretty left-handed dish that resulted in a couple of Bass free throws. His health permitting, Stiemsma needs to be the first big man off the bench moving forward, not Ryan Hollins.
Speaking of Ray Allen, since I gave him a hard time for his defense in Game 4, I should wrap up this post by acknowledging his play on that end of the court in Game 5. Retaking his place in the starting lineup from Avery Bradley, whose bum shoulders kept him out of this game, Allen contributed little offensively, canning one three-pointer early but making just one other shot the rest of the way. But Allen was more or less as effective as he's ever been for Boston on defense, fighting through the pain of bone spurs in his ankles to stay in the faces of Philly's younger, quicker shooters. Boston's entire defense was really good in the second half, and it feels wrong to single out just one guy. But Ray deserves special mention because of everything he's going through.
Garnett and Pierce were their usual excellent selves. Garnett against Philly's bigs is a better matchup than Pierce (with the sprained knee) versus Iguodala, and so KG is carrying a bigger offensive load than we've come to expect. Garnett overcame a slow start to score 20 points on 8-for-17, while Pierce scored 16 points, going a perfect nine for nine from the free throw line.
Back to Philly for Game 6 on Wednesday (8 p.m. Eastern, ESPN). Twice before, Boston has seized the momentum in this back-and-forth series, and twice, Philly has answered -- though to be completely honest, Boston has been complicit both times. With all the injuries, avoiding Game 7 would be huge. Boston is fully capable of winning Game 6 -- Boston has fairly dominated three of the four halves of basketball played in Philly thus far in the series -- but it's not going to be easy. It'll take the same kind of effort, only better, with one less day of rest than we had between games 4 and 5. And I expect we'll have to do it without Bradley again; Doc's pre-game comments on Monday seemed to suggest that he may be only sporadically available the rest of the way. Things aren't getting any easier, but that seems to be when these Celtics play their best.
This was not your typical 16-point blowout.
I think most people expected the veteran Celtics to come out strong at home in Game 5 against Philadelphia, taking back the control they gave up in blowing a big second-half lead on Friday. But it was the Sixers who seemed to dominate the first 24 minutes, making shot after shot and being opportunistic in transition. Boston didn't play poorly in the first half, but with the halftime score 50-47 in favor of the visitors, it certainly felt like the Celtics were the ones hanging on for dear life. (Looking back, there was reason to believe that things would swing toward Boston in the second half. Philly was scoring mainly on jump shots -- leading to a big free throw advantage for Boston that helped us stay close -- and they were hitting some tough looks. Boston was often getting better shots, but they simply weren't dropping.)
And it got worse before it got better. Trailing by six early in the third quarter, Kevin Garnett threw an uncertain pass out front that Andre Iguodala stole. Trying to prevent an easy dunk, Paul Pierce reached out and grabbed the Sixers forward. It was a good thought and a defensible reaction, but the result was a clear path foul, two shots and the ball -- potentially a four- or five-point possession, one of the biggest momentum-grabbing moments that can happen in a professional basketball game. But Iguodala missed both free throws, and Philly turned it over on the ensuing possession. And then, as Philly coach Doug Collins pointed out, the game turned, irreversibly, in favor of Boston.
That was when Brandon Bass, of all people, took over. He scored 18 points in the third quarter alone, two more than the entire Philly team combined. He did it first inside, with a handful of explosive dunks in traffic, precisely the kind of finish we never got from Glen Davis. He then moved out to more familiar territory, drilling a number of the midrange jumpers that have been his staple all season. Bass, who had been solid but not spectacular in the Philly series after having a tough time against Atlanta, had a game-high 27 points, and tied for the team lead with six rebounds.
If Bass gets the game ball, he owes an assist to Rajon Rondo (which he gave, by the way, in his post-game comments to David Aldrich). Rondo was, of course, the catalyst for many of Bass' buckets. But while his primary role was distributor, particularly in the third quarter, he provided much needed scoring at crucial moments -- initially in the first quarter to keep the game close; most crucially in the fourth quarter, after Boston had extended its lead out to double digits, when the offense has historically bogged down.
Honorable mention to Greg Stiemsma, who had eight of his ten points in the first quarter and blocked three shots in just 14 minutes of game action. Stiemsma has played sparingly this series and didn't see the court in Game 4, which is an indictment of Doc, really, now that we know that the rookie's foot injury isn't what kept him out of action. He was a little late closing out on a couple of Lavoy Allen foul line jumpers, but his first-quarter offense was crucial and on one second-half possession, he made a great catch on a tough pass from Ray Allen, then made a pretty left-handed dish that resulted in a couple of Bass free throws. His health permitting, Stiemsma needs to be the first big man off the bench moving forward, not Ryan Hollins.
Speaking of Ray Allen, since I gave him a hard time for his defense in Game 4, I should wrap up this post by acknowledging his play on that end of the court in Game 5. Retaking his place in the starting lineup from Avery Bradley, whose bum shoulders kept him out of this game, Allen contributed little offensively, canning one three-pointer early but making just one other shot the rest of the way. But Allen was more or less as effective as he's ever been for Boston on defense, fighting through the pain of bone spurs in his ankles to stay in the faces of Philly's younger, quicker shooters. Boston's entire defense was really good in the second half, and it feels wrong to single out just one guy. But Ray deserves special mention because of everything he's going through.
Garnett and Pierce were their usual excellent selves. Garnett against Philly's bigs is a better matchup than Pierce (with the sprained knee) versus Iguodala, and so KG is carrying a bigger offensive load than we've come to expect. Garnett overcame a slow start to score 20 points on 8-for-17, while Pierce scored 16 points, going a perfect nine for nine from the free throw line.
Back to Philly for Game 6 on Wednesday (8 p.m. Eastern, ESPN). Twice before, Boston has seized the momentum in this back-and-forth series, and twice, Philly has answered -- though to be completely honest, Boston has been complicit both times. With all the injuries, avoiding Game 7 would be huge. Boston is fully capable of winning Game 6 -- Boston has fairly dominated three of the four halves of basketball played in Philly thus far in the series -- but it's not going to be easy. It'll take the same kind of effort, only better, with one less day of rest than we had between games 4 and 5. And I expect we'll have to do it without Bradley again; Doc's pre-game comments on Monday seemed to suggest that he may be only sporadically available the rest of the way. Things aren't getting any easier, but that seems to be when these Celtics play their best.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Philadelphia 92, Boston 83
[recap] [box score]
I don't want to write about this game any more than you want to read about it, so this will be uncharacteristically brief. If you hadn't heard, Boston went up 14-0, had an 18-point lead in the third quarter, and lost.
Philly's execution was much better than Boston's in the fourth quarter, but this game was really lost in the third. Boston went cold, stopped going to Kevin Garnett in the post, and started forcing passes and turning the ball over. Meanwhile, some questionable calls against the Celtics allowed Philly's free throw advantage to balloon to something like 30 to 12, and Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley, and Brandon Bass all picked up their fourth fouls. With our short bench, and the fact that Bass was having his first good game in a while, having those guys sitting really hurt -- Garnett couldn't take his normal rest (which hurt in the fourth) and the offensive sparkplugs we so desperately needed were on the sidelines.
I thought Doc made some tactical errors in the fourth, too. Most importantly, I thought it was a big mistake to counter Philly's small lineup of Jrue Holiday-Louis Williams-Andre Iguodala-Thaddeus Young-Lavoy Allen with Rondo-Bradley-Ray Allen-Pierce-Garnett. Specifically, Allen instead of Bass or Mickael Pietrus made little sense to me. Allen is not a good defender, and this lineup has him trying to guard bigger men -- Iguodala or Young -- while dealing with bone spurs in his ankle that make it impossible for him to establish a strong, solid base.
Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't be so bad, because Allen, when healthy, poses obvious matchup problems on the other end. But Allen isn't healthy, and whether it's because he's out of game shape or because his ankles are really bothering him, he's been almost a complete non-factor in this series. Because he's not able to free himself up on offense, he doesn't balance out the liability on the other end of the court.
I get that Doc trusts Ray, and that Young, a combo forward, poses a tough matchup for Bass, as well. But if you have to live with a mismatch on the defensive end, you need to be able to balance it on the offensive end, and Bass does that better than Allen in Allen's current condition. And if not Bass, then how about Pietrus, who was a non-factor on offense but who at least has a chance of guarding someone.
The other mistake, I thought, was putting Rondo on Williams and Bradley on Holiday. The Sixers were playing through Williams, who came up with some big buckets. Rondo is no slouch defensively, but Bradley's supposed to be our lockdown guy, and Rondo was having problems with Williams.
We've got an extra day of rest before Game 5 on Monday, and it's one we need. Garnett played 40 minutes tonight, and this should give us some time to get Allen and Pierce (whose knee, for the second straight game, didn't appear to hamper him much) a little healthier. It does mean an extra day to stew while the Sixers have an extra day for their confidence to grow, something that could be a concern under certain circumstances. But the Celtics are veterans, familiar with this process, and used to not having things come easily. I expect they'll answer the bell yet again and win Game 5, and eventually, the series. But games like this, in addition to being frustrating to watch, may come back to haunt the team -- if not this series, then the next one.
I don't want to write about this game any more than you want to read about it, so this will be uncharacteristically brief. If you hadn't heard, Boston went up 14-0, had an 18-point lead in the third quarter, and lost.
Philly's execution was much better than Boston's in the fourth quarter, but this game was really lost in the third. Boston went cold, stopped going to Kevin Garnett in the post, and started forcing passes and turning the ball over. Meanwhile, some questionable calls against the Celtics allowed Philly's free throw advantage to balloon to something like 30 to 12, and Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley, and Brandon Bass all picked up their fourth fouls. With our short bench, and the fact that Bass was having his first good game in a while, having those guys sitting really hurt -- Garnett couldn't take his normal rest (which hurt in the fourth) and the offensive sparkplugs we so desperately needed were on the sidelines.
I thought Doc made some tactical errors in the fourth, too. Most importantly, I thought it was a big mistake to counter Philly's small lineup of Jrue Holiday-Louis Williams-Andre Iguodala-Thaddeus Young-Lavoy Allen with Rondo-Bradley-Ray Allen-Pierce-Garnett. Specifically, Allen instead of Bass or Mickael Pietrus made little sense to me. Allen is not a good defender, and this lineup has him trying to guard bigger men -- Iguodala or Young -- while dealing with bone spurs in his ankle that make it impossible for him to establish a strong, solid base.
Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't be so bad, because Allen, when healthy, poses obvious matchup problems on the other end. But Allen isn't healthy, and whether it's because he's out of game shape or because his ankles are really bothering him, he's been almost a complete non-factor in this series. Because he's not able to free himself up on offense, he doesn't balance out the liability on the other end of the court.
I get that Doc trusts Ray, and that Young, a combo forward, poses a tough matchup for Bass, as well. But if you have to live with a mismatch on the defensive end, you need to be able to balance it on the offensive end, and Bass does that better than Allen in Allen's current condition. And if not Bass, then how about Pietrus, who was a non-factor on offense but who at least has a chance of guarding someone.
The other mistake, I thought, was putting Rondo on Williams and Bradley on Holiday. The Sixers were playing through Williams, who came up with some big buckets. Rondo is no slouch defensively, but Bradley's supposed to be our lockdown guy, and Rondo was having problems with Williams.
We've got an extra day of rest before Game 5 on Monday, and it's one we need. Garnett played 40 minutes tonight, and this should give us some time to get Allen and Pierce (whose knee, for the second straight game, didn't appear to hamper him much) a little healthier. It does mean an extra day to stew while the Sixers have an extra day for their confidence to grow, something that could be a concern under certain circumstances. But the Celtics are veterans, familiar with this process, and used to not having things come easily. I expect they'll answer the bell yet again and win Game 5, and eventually, the series. But games like this, in addition to being frustrating to watch, may come back to haunt the team -- if not this series, then the next one.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Boston 107, Philadelphia 91
[recap] [box score]
As I was thinking about Game 3, in the hours leading up to it, I was struck by the thought that in the past five seasons, you could predict Boston's success in a post-season series based on how they played immediately following a game they weren't supposed to or shouldn't have lost:
1. In the 2007-08 season, the championship season, Atlanta and then Cleveland each took Boston to seven games -- but the Celtics went 8-0 in the Garden. It wasn't until the Eastern semis against the Pistons that the Celtics coughed up home court advantage, in Game 2. Boston went to Detroit, won Game 3 by 14 and the series in six.
2. The following year, Boston dropped Game 1 in Boston, eked out a win in Game 2, then took home court back in a Game 3 blowout that was the only lopsided affair of a truly epic playoff series.
3. In 2009-2010, Boston went up 3-0 on a pre-Big Three Miami, lost Game 4 in South Beach, then closed the series out in five. They then lost a winnable first game in Cleveland to LeBron James and the Cavs, bounced back with a Game 2 victory, then mysteriously didn't show up for Game 3 and got blown out at home. Rather than pack it in, the Celtics turned the momentum of the series, winning the fourth game -- then the fifth, then the series-deciding sixth. In the Finals against the Lakers, Boston rebounded from a Game 3 loss to take the next two at home, putting them on the brink of a championship that went unfulfilled when Kendrick Perkins tore his ACL in the opening minutes of Game 6.
There are exceptions, but generally speaking over the last five seasons, when Boston has found itself in a tough spot in the postseason and immediately dug themselves out of it, they've won. When they haven't, they've lost. Other than those first two series way back in 2007-08, the Celtics hadn't won a series in which they lost consecutive games -- and hadn't lost a series in which they'd avoided back-to-back losses.
Having written that all out, it seems sort of obvious -- avoid consecutive losses, and you'll do well. But before the game Wednesday night, I was nervous, and thinking "Boy, we'd better win tonight." The pressure was particularly heavy because of how poorly the team had played in both Games 1 and 2 -- we sort of assumed that the problem was a lack of focus, a failure to take Philadelphia seriously, but in this compressed season, with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen hurting, there was always the chance that we simply didn't have what we needed. A third straight lackluster performance, especially from Pierce, would have severely shaken my confidence.
Writing this a few hours after the game, I obviously feel much better. The Celtics did more or less what I hoped they'd do, which was come out and defend like they had in Boston while finally playing with some energy and purpose on offense.
What was particularly interesting about this game, however, is that despite the large margin of victory, Boston wasn't in control from the beginning. In fact, the opening moments went about as poorly for the Celtics as they could have gone. Kevin Garnett was called for two early touch fouls and Pierce missed something like his first six shots, while Philly came out hot from the field. But Rajon Rondo kept us within striking distance and Pierce finally broke through, moving quickly on the catch to escape the double team and driving and dunking on two consecutive possessions. Still, all the loose balls seemed to be falling Philly's way; down two at the end of the first quarter, Rondo made a steal but couldn't quite corral it, and the ball bounced right to Louis Williams, who made a long three-pointer at the horn. Coming on the heels of the lucky shots the Sixers hit in Game 2, and the fact that the refs had taken KG (our best offensive weapon with Pierce ailing) out of the game, it suffices to say that I was very frustrated at the end of the first quarter.
I didn't have to worry long. Boston took control in the second quarter and didn't look back. Garnett came back in and scored three straight buckets, and Boston set the tone for the rest of the game with a 33-17 second quarter. The loose balls kept finding Philly -- at one point in the third quarter, the Sixers scored on three consecutive possessions on which the Celtics deflected a pass or dribble right to another Sixer -- but Boston never lacked for a response.
Almost everyone got into the act, but credit for this win should be distributed more or less equally among Pierce (24 points, 12 rebounds), Garnett (27 and 13), and Rondo (23 points, 14 assists). Pierce shook off his knee injury, two bad games, and a rough opening few minutes to register the first real Truth-like performance since he re-tweaked his knee in Game 4 of the Atlanta series. The Sixers simply cannot guard Garnett, who is getting no protection from the officials and would be putting up even bigger numbers if Elton Brand weren't allowed to manhandle him in the post. And Rondo responded to the (oft-aimed) criticism that he too often subordinates his scoring in favor of passing by doing both beautifully. He had a number of brilliant assists in this game, including a sweet behind-the-back dish to Pierce in traffic on the break, but my favorite was a much simpler play late in the game, with the outcome more or less decided. Philly trapped the ball in the left corner and Rondo flashed in to the paint. He received a pass in the middle of the lane and was momentarily wide-open for a layup or short jumper. Most players would have taken the shot themselves. But Rondo, knowing that a) Mickael Pietrus was spotting up in the right corner, and b) the guy who was supposed to guard Pietrus would be coming over to try to challenge his shot, pivoted quickly and fired the ball to Pietrus almost before he had a chance to look. Pietrus caught the pass, and with enough time to make and eat a Croque Madame (and wash his hands afterwards!), drained the three. It was just a great instinct play from a point guard who sees the floor the way very few have in the history of this game.
The Celtics won convincingly despite getting a combined three points (on just three shots) in a combined 45 minutes at the two-spot from Avery Bradley and Ray Allen. If there's one negative about this game, that was it -- both are nursing injuries, and it'd be nice to have some assurance of meaningful offensive contribution from these two going forward. But all in all, this was a very satisfying -- and more importantly, reassuring -- win.
Game 4 is Friday night inBostonPhiladelphia (8 p.m. Eastern, ESPN). It's a must-win for Philly, and it'll be interesting to see how they react. Here's hoping that the Celtics' focus from Game 3 carries over.
As I was thinking about Game 3, in the hours leading up to it, I was struck by the thought that in the past five seasons, you could predict Boston's success in a post-season series based on how they played immediately following a game they weren't supposed to or shouldn't have lost:
1. In the 2007-08 season, the championship season, Atlanta and then Cleveland each took Boston to seven games -- but the Celtics went 8-0 in the Garden. It wasn't until the Eastern semis against the Pistons that the Celtics coughed up home court advantage, in Game 2. Boston went to Detroit, won Game 3 by 14 and the series in six.
2. The following year, Boston dropped Game 1 in Boston, eked out a win in Game 2, then took home court back in a Game 3 blowout that was the only lopsided affair of a truly epic playoff series.
3. In 2009-2010, Boston went up 3-0 on a pre-Big Three Miami, lost Game 4 in South Beach, then closed the series out in five. They then lost a winnable first game in Cleveland to LeBron James and the Cavs, bounced back with a Game 2 victory, then mysteriously didn't show up for Game 3 and got blown out at home. Rather than pack it in, the Celtics turned the momentum of the series, winning the fourth game -- then the fifth, then the series-deciding sixth. In the Finals against the Lakers, Boston rebounded from a Game 3 loss to take the next two at home, putting them on the brink of a championship that went unfulfilled when Kendrick Perkins tore his ACL in the opening minutes of Game 6.
There are exceptions, but generally speaking over the last five seasons, when Boston has found itself in a tough spot in the postseason and immediately dug themselves out of it, they've won. When they haven't, they've lost. Other than those first two series way back in 2007-08, the Celtics hadn't won a series in which they lost consecutive games -- and hadn't lost a series in which they'd avoided back-to-back losses.
Having written that all out, it seems sort of obvious -- avoid consecutive losses, and you'll do well. But before the game Wednesday night, I was nervous, and thinking "Boy, we'd better win tonight." The pressure was particularly heavy because of how poorly the team had played in both Games 1 and 2 -- we sort of assumed that the problem was a lack of focus, a failure to take Philadelphia seriously, but in this compressed season, with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen hurting, there was always the chance that we simply didn't have what we needed. A third straight lackluster performance, especially from Pierce, would have severely shaken my confidence.
Writing this a few hours after the game, I obviously feel much better. The Celtics did more or less what I hoped they'd do, which was come out and defend like they had in Boston while finally playing with some energy and purpose on offense.
What was particularly interesting about this game, however, is that despite the large margin of victory, Boston wasn't in control from the beginning. In fact, the opening moments went about as poorly for the Celtics as they could have gone. Kevin Garnett was called for two early touch fouls and Pierce missed something like his first six shots, while Philly came out hot from the field. But Rajon Rondo kept us within striking distance and Pierce finally broke through, moving quickly on the catch to escape the double team and driving and dunking on two consecutive possessions. Still, all the loose balls seemed to be falling Philly's way; down two at the end of the first quarter, Rondo made a steal but couldn't quite corral it, and the ball bounced right to Louis Williams, who made a long three-pointer at the horn. Coming on the heels of the lucky shots the Sixers hit in Game 2, and the fact that the refs had taken KG (our best offensive weapon with Pierce ailing) out of the game, it suffices to say that I was very frustrated at the end of the first quarter.
I didn't have to worry long. Boston took control in the second quarter and didn't look back. Garnett came back in and scored three straight buckets, and Boston set the tone for the rest of the game with a 33-17 second quarter. The loose balls kept finding Philly -- at one point in the third quarter, the Sixers scored on three consecutive possessions on which the Celtics deflected a pass or dribble right to another Sixer -- but Boston never lacked for a response.
Almost everyone got into the act, but credit for this win should be distributed more or less equally among Pierce (24 points, 12 rebounds), Garnett (27 and 13), and Rondo (23 points, 14 assists). Pierce shook off his knee injury, two bad games, and a rough opening few minutes to register the first real Truth-like performance since he re-tweaked his knee in Game 4 of the Atlanta series. The Sixers simply cannot guard Garnett, who is getting no protection from the officials and would be putting up even bigger numbers if Elton Brand weren't allowed to manhandle him in the post. And Rondo responded to the (oft-aimed) criticism that he too often subordinates his scoring in favor of passing by doing both beautifully. He had a number of brilliant assists in this game, including a sweet behind-the-back dish to Pierce in traffic on the break, but my favorite was a much simpler play late in the game, with the outcome more or less decided. Philly trapped the ball in the left corner and Rondo flashed in to the paint. He received a pass in the middle of the lane and was momentarily wide-open for a layup or short jumper. Most players would have taken the shot themselves. But Rondo, knowing that a) Mickael Pietrus was spotting up in the right corner, and b) the guy who was supposed to guard Pietrus would be coming over to try to challenge his shot, pivoted quickly and fired the ball to Pietrus almost before he had a chance to look. Pietrus caught the pass, and with enough time to make and eat a Croque Madame (and wash his hands afterwards!), drained the three. It was just a great instinct play from a point guard who sees the floor the way very few have in the history of this game.
The Celtics won convincingly despite getting a combined three points (on just three shots) in a combined 45 minutes at the two-spot from Avery Bradley and Ray Allen. If there's one negative about this game, that was it -- both are nursing injuries, and it'd be nice to have some assurance of meaningful offensive contribution from these two going forward. But all in all, this was a very satisfying -- and more importantly, reassuring -- win.
Game 4 is Friday night in
Monday, May 14, 2012
Philadelphia 82, Boston 81
[recap] [box score]
I'm going to get to the officiating in a second, but I want to be clear about one thing: It didn't cost us the game. The Celtics take sole responsibility for this loss. They came out with good energy and a good pace, scored the first nine points of the game, and then decided that -- just like in Game 1 -- they didn't need to show up again on the offensive end until the fourth quarter. Boston played with fire, and got burned when the Sixers hit a couple of big, tough shots.
Now, the officiating. Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that Kevin Garnett sets more moving screens than anyone in the league, that he had been setting them all night, and that the screen he set on Andre Iguodala to free up Paul Pierce on Boston's final meaningful possession was, in fact, a bad one. You still can't suddenly start calling moving screens in the final seconds of a game like that. You want to call moving screens? Fine: Do it early, make it clear that you're not putting up with it tonight. But you can't let a guy screen one way all night and then ding him for it on the game's most crucial possession.
The really frustrating thing for me is that I don't think it was a bad screen at all. The initial contact was fine, and then you can see KG leaning towards Iguodala ... but he never actually touches him. I suppose I can see why the ref called it, but he was standing right there and looking right at it. And I'm doubly frustrated because KG had been getting mauled all night inside without getting anything from the officials. It's annoying that the guy who was fouled all game is the one hit with the ticky-tack foul in the crucial moment.
But, again, the bad call didn't cost Boston the game, and as Charles Barkley said afterwards, that's why you don't screw around in the playoffs. Boston didn't put forth a maximum effort, and as a result, they lost. A bunch of weird stuff unlikely to repeat itself had to happen in order for them to lose, but Boston deserves the blame for letting themselves get into a position where that stuff could beat them.
A few additional comments:
1. Pierce was moving better to start this game, but he looked out of synch all night and was totally ineffective on offense. Down the stretch, you could see Rondo was hesitant to go to him, looking him off in the marginal situations in which he used to force the ball to him. The knee has to be bothering Pierce more than he wants us to believe.
2. In the first half we gave Philly a heavy dose of Brandon Bass pick-and-pop, but it was all baseline, and not at his preferred spot, the elbow. I'm not sure if the Sixers were forcing us into that or what, but Bass has been struggling in the playoffs and a good way to get him going would be to start giving him the ball in the spots in which he's comfortable.
3. The role players were really good tonight. Ryan Hollins and Greg Stiemsma brought a lot of energy, as did Keyon Dooling, and Mickael Pietrus nailed a couple huge three-pointers in the fourth quarter. They gave the starters more than they should need to win.
Back to Philly for Game 3 on Wednesday. If this is the Sixers' best shot, and I think it might be, then we should win the series without too much trouble.
As long as we show up, that is.
I'm going to get to the officiating in a second, but I want to be clear about one thing: It didn't cost us the game. The Celtics take sole responsibility for this loss. They came out with good energy and a good pace, scored the first nine points of the game, and then decided that -- just like in Game 1 -- they didn't need to show up again on the offensive end until the fourth quarter. Boston played with fire, and got burned when the Sixers hit a couple of big, tough shots.
Now, the officiating. Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that Kevin Garnett sets more moving screens than anyone in the league, that he had been setting them all night, and that the screen he set on Andre Iguodala to free up Paul Pierce on Boston's final meaningful possession was, in fact, a bad one. You still can't suddenly start calling moving screens in the final seconds of a game like that. You want to call moving screens? Fine: Do it early, make it clear that you're not putting up with it tonight. But you can't let a guy screen one way all night and then ding him for it on the game's most crucial possession.
The really frustrating thing for me is that I don't think it was a bad screen at all. The initial contact was fine, and then you can see KG leaning towards Iguodala ... but he never actually touches him. I suppose I can see why the ref called it, but he was standing right there and looking right at it. And I'm doubly frustrated because KG had been getting mauled all night inside without getting anything from the officials. It's annoying that the guy who was fouled all game is the one hit with the ticky-tack foul in the crucial moment.
But, again, the bad call didn't cost Boston the game, and as Charles Barkley said afterwards, that's why you don't screw around in the playoffs. Boston didn't put forth a maximum effort, and as a result, they lost. A bunch of weird stuff unlikely to repeat itself had to happen in order for them to lose, but Boston deserves the blame for letting themselves get into a position where that stuff could beat them.
A few additional comments:
1. Pierce was moving better to start this game, but he looked out of synch all night and was totally ineffective on offense. Down the stretch, you could see Rondo was hesitant to go to him, looking him off in the marginal situations in which he used to force the ball to him. The knee has to be bothering Pierce more than he wants us to believe.
2. In the first half we gave Philly a heavy dose of Brandon Bass pick-and-pop, but it was all baseline, and not at his preferred spot, the elbow. I'm not sure if the Sixers were forcing us into that or what, but Bass has been struggling in the playoffs and a good way to get him going would be to start giving him the ball in the spots in which he's comfortable.
3. The role players were really good tonight. Ryan Hollins and Greg Stiemsma brought a lot of energy, as did Keyon Dooling, and Mickael Pietrus nailed a couple huge three-pointers in the fourth quarter. They gave the starters more than they should need to win.
Back to Philly for Game 3 on Wednesday. If this is the Sixers' best shot, and I think it might be, then we should win the series without too much trouble.
As long as we show up, that is.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
A Few Thoughts on the Sixers
I know Game 1 is just a few hours away (8 p.m. Eastern), but I fell asleep at like 9 o'clock last night. This is a hurried attempt to get a few words up about Philly before the series starts.
1. The regular season games weren't competitive. The teams played three times, each registering a blowout, with Philly taking the other game rather comfortably. How much does this matter? Not a whit. This is the playoffs, and as hard as it is to glean anything useful about a playoff series from regular season games, it's even harder when the regular season matchups were as anomalous as these were.
2. Additionally, it's even harder to predict postseason success based on regular season performance with Philadelphia because of how deep they are. They've got eight guys who averaged around 25 minutes or more this year (Boston has five). But rotations tend to tighten up in the postseason, and that obviously negates some of the advantage of having a deep bench. Against the Bulls in the first round, for example, Thaddeus Young played three or four minutes per game fewer than he did in the regular season, and Jodie Meeks' playing time all but disappeared.
3. With a deep bench usually comes balanced scoring, and Philly is no exception. All eight of those guys who play at least 25 minutes per game average at least 8.4 points, but no one averages more than Louis Williams' 14.9. In fact, two of their top three scorers, Williams and Young, come off the bench.
With that said, their best player is Andre Iguodala, who has subordinated his own scoring in recent seasons to adjust to the brand of ball Philly has been playing. (He was rewarded with his first All-Star appearance this year.) Iguodala creates for his teammates from the three position as well as anyone in the league right now not named LeBron James, but he's a capable scorer who will have the ball in his hands in crunch time. It was just last year, in fact, that Iguodala scored a couple of tough baskets late in games against the Celtics; if memory serves, one was a game-winner and the other would have been if not for some last-second heroics from the Celtics. Iguodala is also a good defender, and while it's not like Paul Pierce has struggled against the Sixers in his career, he'll have to work hard for everything he gets.
4. I really believe Pierce's knee is the x-factor here. He's really hurting. Atlanta doubled him a couple of times in the second half of Game 6 and Pierce turned it over, both times because he was unwilling or unable to put all his weight on that injured leg and make a strong, assertive pass out of the double. He left a couple crucial jumpers in the Hawks series woefully short, likely due to not getting his usual lift. Even on the late layup he did score in Game 6, he barely got off the ground. Philadelphia is pretty good defensively, and if Pierce isn't close to 100 percent, then it's hard to see where the points are going to come from.
5. I wouldn't be totally surprised if Doc puts Ray Allen back in the starting lineup at some point during this series. Avery Bradley really struggled offensively in the Hawks series, shooting just 37 percent from the field and making two of ten three-pointers. With Pierce hobbled, Boston may want to spread the floor for him, and Allen does that in a way that Bradley doesn't. Doc also might want to make sure the first unit has enough offense, in case Pierce struggles, to avoid getting into a hole early. Most importantly, though, is that moving Bradley back to the second team means that he's in a better position to guard Williams, Philly's most dangerous scorer.
6. Finally, I'm a firm believer that in the playoffs, experience really matters. Both teams were equally unimpressive in closing out their first-round victories, but Chicago -- without Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, remember, gave away Game 6 by missing some free throws and not getting back on defense on Iguodala's game-winning coast-to-coast drive. Boston, on the other hand, won it by making some big stops and big baskets (and, okay, getting a little lucky that Al Horford missed a free throw). When it was over, Philly celebrated like crazy, while Boston looked relieved and a little annoyed that they hadn't taken care of business more convincingly. This stuff matters.
I haven't been able to articulate this very well, but I also think Doug Collins respects Boston and Doc too much for his team's good. Collins has done a good job in Philly, but I always feel like he talks about the Celtics not as an opponent, but more as an analyst, which was his role before he went back to the bench. In recent days, we've seen a number of coaches making public statements about the other team; Frank Vogel of Indiana, for instance, came out and said that Miami, the Pacers second-round opponent, were the floppingest team in the league. I don't think actually saying that makes a difference to the referees, but it shows the players that you're on their side. Collins, on the other hand, came out in March and said that he wouldn't sleep on Boston in the East -- this while the two teams were battling for the top spot in the Atlantic division. It may be nothing, but I'd choose my words more carefully if I were him.
1. The regular season games weren't competitive. The teams played three times, each registering a blowout, with Philly taking the other game rather comfortably. How much does this matter? Not a whit. This is the playoffs, and as hard as it is to glean anything useful about a playoff series from regular season games, it's even harder when the regular season matchups were as anomalous as these were.
2. Additionally, it's even harder to predict postseason success based on regular season performance with Philadelphia because of how deep they are. They've got eight guys who averaged around 25 minutes or more this year (Boston has five). But rotations tend to tighten up in the postseason, and that obviously negates some of the advantage of having a deep bench. Against the Bulls in the first round, for example, Thaddeus Young played three or four minutes per game fewer than he did in the regular season, and Jodie Meeks' playing time all but disappeared.
3. With a deep bench usually comes balanced scoring, and Philly is no exception. All eight of those guys who play at least 25 minutes per game average at least 8.4 points, but no one averages more than Louis Williams' 14.9. In fact, two of their top three scorers, Williams and Young, come off the bench.
With that said, their best player is Andre Iguodala, who has subordinated his own scoring in recent seasons to adjust to the brand of ball Philly has been playing. (He was rewarded with his first All-Star appearance this year.) Iguodala creates for his teammates from the three position as well as anyone in the league right now not named LeBron James, but he's a capable scorer who will have the ball in his hands in crunch time. It was just last year, in fact, that Iguodala scored a couple of tough baskets late in games against the Celtics; if memory serves, one was a game-winner and the other would have been if not for some last-second heroics from the Celtics. Iguodala is also a good defender, and while it's not like Paul Pierce has struggled against the Sixers in his career, he'll have to work hard for everything he gets.
4. I really believe Pierce's knee is the x-factor here. He's really hurting. Atlanta doubled him a couple of times in the second half of Game 6 and Pierce turned it over, both times because he was unwilling or unable to put all his weight on that injured leg and make a strong, assertive pass out of the double. He left a couple crucial jumpers in the Hawks series woefully short, likely due to not getting his usual lift. Even on the late layup he did score in Game 6, he barely got off the ground. Philadelphia is pretty good defensively, and if Pierce isn't close to 100 percent, then it's hard to see where the points are going to come from.
5. I wouldn't be totally surprised if Doc puts Ray Allen back in the starting lineup at some point during this series. Avery Bradley really struggled offensively in the Hawks series, shooting just 37 percent from the field and making two of ten three-pointers. With Pierce hobbled, Boston may want to spread the floor for him, and Allen does that in a way that Bradley doesn't. Doc also might want to make sure the first unit has enough offense, in case Pierce struggles, to avoid getting into a hole early. Most importantly, though, is that moving Bradley back to the second team means that he's in a better position to guard Williams, Philly's most dangerous scorer.
6. Finally, I'm a firm believer that in the playoffs, experience really matters. Both teams were equally unimpressive in closing out their first-round victories, but Chicago -- without Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, remember, gave away Game 6 by missing some free throws and not getting back on defense on Iguodala's game-winning coast-to-coast drive. Boston, on the other hand, won it by making some big stops and big baskets (and, okay, getting a little lucky that Al Horford missed a free throw). When it was over, Philly celebrated like crazy, while Boston looked relieved and a little annoyed that they hadn't taken care of business more convincingly. This stuff matters.
I haven't been able to articulate this very well, but I also think Doug Collins respects Boston and Doc too much for his team's good. Collins has done a good job in Philly, but I always feel like he talks about the Celtics not as an opponent, but more as an analyst, which was his role before he went back to the bench. In recent days, we've seen a number of coaches making public statements about the other team; Frank Vogel of Indiana, for instance, came out and said that Miami, the Pacers second-round opponent, were the floppingest team in the league. I don't think actually saying that makes a difference to the referees, but it shows the players that you're on their side. Collins, on the other hand, came out in March and said that he wouldn't sleep on Boston in the East -- this while the two teams were battling for the top spot in the Atlantic division. It may be nothing, but I'd choose my words more carefully if I were him.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Celts Tie Sixers Atop the Atlantic
Since I last posted:
Philadelphia 99, Boston 86
Boston 88, Washington 76
Boston 102, Charlotte 95
A lot's happened in those three games, but what's most important is really what hasn't happened: Ray Allen hasn't played. The veteran shooting guard has a sore right ankle, which he reportedly injured back on March 12, even though he didn't sit out til last Friday. I haven't seen any sort of timetable for Allen's return, but I take the fact that he was able to play with the injury for a while as a good sign, though there is of course the chance that in doing so, he injured it more seriously. Hopefully, the team and Allen are just being cautious.
Allen's absence from the lineup got even more serious in the second quarter of the Philly game, as his replacement, Mickael Pietrus, took a nasty spill and banged his head on the court, eventually being carried off on a stretcher as a precaution. (Side note: I was watching the NCAAs at the time and flipped over to ESPN to check on the Celtics game at pretty much the exact second that ESPN went to commercial. Because the medical personnel tending to Pietrus blocked much of the view, all I saw before the cameras cut away was an unidentifiable Celtic wearing a jersey with a last name that started "P-I-E". I'll cop to being a bit relieved when I found out that it was Pietrus, not Paul Pierce -- and then guilty, and then relieved -- both for Pietrus and for myself, for karma purposes -- when I learned that Pietrus had escaped serious injury and should return to action soon.)
All of this sets the stage as to why Avery Bradley has been in the starting lineup the last two games, playing 40 minutes a night. The second-year guard announced his presence in a big way against the Wizards, hitting his first seven shots on the way to a career-high 23 points. (Weird fact: the Celtics were up 19 at halftime against the Wizards, and Bradley and Greg Stiemsma were the team's leading scorers.) Bradley added 11 points against the Bobcats on Monday, and he's developed into a decent rotation player. His jumper still needs a lot of work, but one thing he's done well all year is move well without the basketball. I first noticed it when played in place of Rajon R-ndo for a few games in late January, and Pierce seemed to find him a lot on cuts to the basket. Bradley knocked down a couple of jumpers against the Wizards, but a lot of his points in the last couple of games have come on layups.
What else? Center Ryan Hollins made his Celtics debut in one of the weirdest ways I can imagine: as the bench player elected by Philly coach Doug Collins to take the free throws in place of Pietrus, who was fouled on the play he was injured. (Hollins missed the first and made the second.) The long, athletic Hollins hasn't contributed much in limited court time over his first three games, but while Stiemsma has been playing his best ball of the season of late, I expect he'll have a larger role as the season wears on, now that Jermaine O'Neal and Chris Wilcox are both done for the season.
Finally, Monday in Charlotte, Pierce put the team on his back, leading all scorers with 36 points and helping the Cs hold off the Bobcats after blowing most of yet another big first-quarter lead. The Captain is now averaging 25.5 ppg and nine boards over the last four games.
Thanks to Philly's loss to Tim Duncan-less San Antonio on Sunday, Monday's win over Charlotte puts Boston into a tie atop the Atlantic Division. Whichever team can break the tie will be rewarded with the fourth seed in the East and a likely playoff matchup with Indiana or Atlanta, rather than the seventh and a first-round battle with Miami or Chicago. While it's true that the path to the Finals will probably run through the Heat or Bulls anyway, you never know when a big upset or an untimely injury might change the playoff landscape. (Last year, for instance, #8 Memphis beat #1 San Antonio in the first round of the West playoffs.) So Boston would like to earn the Atlantic title, if possible.
So how likely is it that the Celtics can capture their fifth straight division crown? I wish I had some scientific, math-based approach that could spit out a probability, but I don't. But as the brief analysis below shows, the reality is that Boston probably is an underdog, at this point, to beat out Philadelphia.
Let's start, though, with the things that do line up in Boston's favor. First, the game on April 8th between the two teams (the third and final meeting of the season), will be played in Boston. Philly won the first two matchups, which gives them the tiebreaker, so this opportunity to pick up a full game on them will be very important. Second, while both teams have 17 games remaining, Philly has just six home games, while Boston has eight. And the Sixers (10-12 away from home so far this season), like the Celts (10-14), haven't been that great on the road.
When you dig a little deeper, though, you find things starting to swing in Philly's favor. Both teams have four back-to-backs as well as one back-to-back-to-back. Each team will be on the second night of a back-to-back when they play each other on the 8th, so advantage Boston there. But the Celtics have three tough games on the second night of their other back-to-backs -- at Chicago, vs. Atlanta, and vs. Orlando. The Sixers get Atlanta in Philly and then Toronto twice (one home, one road) on the second night of their other back-to-backs, a significantly easier configuration than Boston's. And the Cs' back-to-back-to-back also puts them at a disadvantage, I think, even though traveling to Toronto, New Jersey, and Charlotte is less daunting than at Orlando, vs. Indiana, then at Cleveland; having three of your most winnable games in a back-to-back-to-back increases the probability of a "bad" loss, something the Celtics can't afford.
The teams have six games in common: they both host Atlanta and Orlando and travel to Indiana, Miami, Toronto, and New Jersey. The teams share a seventh common opponent, Milwaukee, though Boston gets the Bucks at home and Philly has them on the road. Subtract those seven games and the one between Boston and Philadelphia, and you have nine remaining games.
Boston: Home against Utah, Miami (twice), and San Antonio; at Minnesota, Chicago, Charlotte, New York, and Atlanta.
Philadelphia: Home against Cleveland, Toronto, New Jersey, and Indiana; at Washington, Orlando, Cleveland, New Jersey, and Detroit.
To put a point on it, the combined win-loss record of the nine teams in Boston's list is currently 256-185, a winning percentage of .580. Philly's list is a combined 171-269, a winning percentage of .389. Two of the Sixers' nine opponents have a winning record; two of Boston's have a losing record.
Finally, these two teams are about to play 17 basketball games in 31 days, one final push at the end of an already grueling season. Deep and youthful, less injury prone and more able to survive injuries, Philadelphia is built far better than Boston for a a run like the one that's upcoming. Indeed, should the teams remain close, Doc Rivers may have to decide between going all-out for the division and resting the veterans, with the second alternative quite possibly being the correct one. The Celtics are still in the running, but it's going to take something remarkable -- a remarkable stretch of basketball for Boston, or a remarkable choke job by Philly -- for it to happen.
Philadelphia 99, Boston 86
Boston 88, Washington 76
Boston 102, Charlotte 95
A lot's happened in those three games, but what's most important is really what hasn't happened: Ray Allen hasn't played. The veteran shooting guard has a sore right ankle, which he reportedly injured back on March 12, even though he didn't sit out til last Friday. I haven't seen any sort of timetable for Allen's return, but I take the fact that he was able to play with the injury for a while as a good sign, though there is of course the chance that in doing so, he injured it more seriously. Hopefully, the team and Allen are just being cautious.
Allen's absence from the lineup got even more serious in the second quarter of the Philly game, as his replacement, Mickael Pietrus, took a nasty spill and banged his head on the court, eventually being carried off on a stretcher as a precaution. (Side note: I was watching the NCAAs at the time and flipped over to ESPN to check on the Celtics game at pretty much the exact second that ESPN went to commercial. Because the medical personnel tending to Pietrus blocked much of the view, all I saw before the cameras cut away was an unidentifiable Celtic wearing a jersey with a last name that started "P-I-E". I'll cop to being a bit relieved when I found out that it was Pietrus, not Paul Pierce -- and then guilty, and then relieved -- both for Pietrus and for myself, for karma purposes -- when I learned that Pietrus had escaped serious injury and should return to action soon.)
All of this sets the stage as to why Avery Bradley has been in the starting lineup the last two games, playing 40 minutes a night. The second-year guard announced his presence in a big way against the Wizards, hitting his first seven shots on the way to a career-high 23 points. (Weird fact: the Celtics were up 19 at halftime against the Wizards, and Bradley and Greg Stiemsma were the team's leading scorers.) Bradley added 11 points against the Bobcats on Monday, and he's developed into a decent rotation player. His jumper still needs a lot of work, but one thing he's done well all year is move well without the basketball. I first noticed it when played in place of Rajon R-ndo for a few games in late January, and Pierce seemed to find him a lot on cuts to the basket. Bradley knocked down a couple of jumpers against the Wizards, but a lot of his points in the last couple of games have come on layups.
What else? Center Ryan Hollins made his Celtics debut in one of the weirdest ways I can imagine: as the bench player elected by Philly coach Doug Collins to take the free throws in place of Pietrus, who was fouled on the play he was injured. (Hollins missed the first and made the second.) The long, athletic Hollins hasn't contributed much in limited court time over his first three games, but while Stiemsma has been playing his best ball of the season of late, I expect he'll have a larger role as the season wears on, now that Jermaine O'Neal and Chris Wilcox are both done for the season.
Finally, Monday in Charlotte, Pierce put the team on his back, leading all scorers with 36 points and helping the Cs hold off the Bobcats after blowing most of yet another big first-quarter lead. The Captain is now averaging 25.5 ppg and nine boards over the last four games.
Thanks to Philly's loss to Tim Duncan-less San Antonio on Sunday, Monday's win over Charlotte puts Boston into a tie atop the Atlantic Division. Whichever team can break the tie will be rewarded with the fourth seed in the East and a likely playoff matchup with Indiana or Atlanta, rather than the seventh and a first-round battle with Miami or Chicago. While it's true that the path to the Finals will probably run through the Heat or Bulls anyway, you never know when a big upset or an untimely injury might change the playoff landscape. (Last year, for instance, #8 Memphis beat #1 San Antonio in the first round of the West playoffs.) So Boston would like to earn the Atlantic title, if possible.
So how likely is it that the Celtics can capture their fifth straight division crown? I wish I had some scientific, math-based approach that could spit out a probability, but I don't. But as the brief analysis below shows, the reality is that Boston probably is an underdog, at this point, to beat out Philadelphia.
Let's start, though, with the things that do line up in Boston's favor. First, the game on April 8th between the two teams (the third and final meeting of the season), will be played in Boston. Philly won the first two matchups, which gives them the tiebreaker, so this opportunity to pick up a full game on them will be very important. Second, while both teams have 17 games remaining, Philly has just six home games, while Boston has eight. And the Sixers (10-12 away from home so far this season), like the Celts (10-14), haven't been that great on the road.
When you dig a little deeper, though, you find things starting to swing in Philly's favor. Both teams have four back-to-backs as well as one back-to-back-to-back. Each team will be on the second night of a back-to-back when they play each other on the 8th, so advantage Boston there. But the Celtics have three tough games on the second night of their other back-to-backs -- at Chicago, vs. Atlanta, and vs. Orlando. The Sixers get Atlanta in Philly and then Toronto twice (one home, one road) on the second night of their other back-to-backs, a significantly easier configuration than Boston's. And the Cs' back-to-back-to-back also puts them at a disadvantage, I think, even though traveling to Toronto, New Jersey, and Charlotte is less daunting than at Orlando, vs. Indiana, then at Cleveland; having three of your most winnable games in a back-to-back-to-back increases the probability of a "bad" loss, something the Celtics can't afford.
The teams have six games in common: they both host Atlanta and Orlando and travel to Indiana, Miami, Toronto, and New Jersey. The teams share a seventh common opponent, Milwaukee, though Boston gets the Bucks at home and Philly has them on the road. Subtract those seven games and the one between Boston and Philadelphia, and you have nine remaining games.
Boston: Home against Utah, Miami (twice), and San Antonio; at Minnesota, Chicago, Charlotte, New York, and Atlanta.
Philadelphia: Home against Cleveland, Toronto, New Jersey, and Indiana; at Washington, Orlando, Cleveland, New Jersey, and Detroit.
To put a point on it, the combined win-loss record of the nine teams in Boston's list is currently 256-185, a winning percentage of .580. Philly's list is a combined 171-269, a winning percentage of .389. Two of the Sixers' nine opponents have a winning record; two of Boston's have a losing record.
Finally, these two teams are about to play 17 basketball games in 31 days, one final push at the end of an already grueling season. Deep and youthful, less injury prone and more able to survive injuries, Philadelphia is built far better than Boston for a a run like the one that's upcoming. Indeed, should the teams remain close, Doc Rivers may have to decide between going all-out for the division and resting the veterans, with the second alternative quite possibly being the correct one. The Celtics are still in the running, but it's going to take something remarkable -- a remarkable stretch of basketball for Boston, or a remarkable choke job by Philly -- for it to happen.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Week in Review
First order of business is to explain the radio silence over the past week. Mostly, it's due to the fact that Championship Week is my favorite time of year, and I've been obsessed with college ball for the last six days or so. It'll continue through the NCAA Tournament -- and I'll probably post some tourney thoughts throughout on my basically-idle college hoops blog -- but I do pledge to pay the Celtics a little bit more attention here.
Since the last time I posted, after the Golden State win, Boston has gone 1-2, with losses to the Clippers on Wednesday and the Sixers on Friday, and a win over the Bucks on Sunday afternoon.
I never enjoy watching a Celtics loss, but dropping the game in Philly wasn't too upsetting -- nor surprising. Doug Collins has those guys playing really well after a tough start to his first season on the sidelines. Philly had played us very tough twice in December, the first matchup coming down to a Paul Pierce buzzer-beater. Collins also seems to have a particular reverence for the Boston organization and Doc Rivers, and I figured he'd get his team to play hard for him, which they did. (That they came out flat the next night against Milwaukee in a 102-74 loss to the same Bucks team that Boston held to 56 points on Sunday is perhaps the best evidence of that.) Boston hung tough, but couldn't break through and Andre Iguodala put the game away with a very difficult drive that was reminiscent of the shot that appeared to have won the game for Philly back in December (which Pierce ended up winning for the Celtics).
The Philly loss was only annoying because it came on the heels of an awful performance against the Clips at home, a game in which Boston dug itself an early hole that it couldn't quite climb out of. DeAndre Jordan had an unusually good game inside for LA, and they hit like half their three-point attempts, many by Mo Williams.
Those losses really only matter because the top seed in the East is still very much an open question. We're just one game ahead of surprising Chicago, with Miami lingering very much in striking distance. Moreover, Boston's in the midst of a stretch of winnable games, before finishing with some tougher teams and quite a few games on the road. Therefore, any loss, but particularly one at home to a sub-.500 club, matters. Boston showed last year that you don't necessarily need home court advantage to be successful, but from where I'm sitting, a path to the Finals that goes through Orlando and either Chicago or Miami looks a lot better than one that has both the Bulls and Heat as opponents.
Sunday's game against Milwaukee was something of a joke, with the tired Bucks managing just nine first-quarter points before getting only marginally better after that. Keyon Dooling's two missed free throws in the final seconds ensured that this would be a historic evening for the Celtics: a franchise low for points allowed in the shot clock era. The total would have been even lower if not for Earl Barron, a journeyman center who is on his second ten-day contract with the Bucks. Barron, playing hard in the fourth quarter to try and earn a spot on Milwaukee's roster for the rest of the season (believe it or not, despite a 26-39 record, the Bucks are only a couple of games out of the East's final playoff spot), scored ten points, the only Buck to score in double figures.
It was far from a cohesive performance offensively, however, and with three consecutive such performances under the team's belt, fans can only hope that the switch turns back on quickly. Boston is back in action Monday against New Jersey.
Quick bullets about some personnel:
- If you don't follow the team too closely, but peruse the box scores, you may have noticed a new name: Carlos Arroyo. Arroyo started the season as Miami's starting point guard, but subsequently lost that job to Mario Chalmers and was released by the Heat when they signed Mike Bibby. For the first time in this era, Boston has a true, somewhat reliable point guard behind Rajon Rondo. Arroyo's nothing special, but he's not erratic (like Sam Cassell, Stephon Marbury, and Nate Robinson) nor inexperienced (like Gabe Pruitt, Lester Hudson, and Avery Bradley). He's solid with the ball and can make the occasional jumpshot. He's good insurance if the oft-injured Delonte West can't stay healthy, and could see the court alongside West depending on Von Wafer's play and recovery from injury.
- Nenad Krstic has continued to surprise. He posted two double-doubles this week, averaging nearly 16 points and 13 rebounds in the three games. When he traded Kendrick Perkins, Danny Ainge made the point that Boston had gotten off to its fast start and beaten good teams with Shaquille O'Neal starting in the middle while Perk was out. Presumably, this meant that when Shaq came back, he'd take his starting job back. It will be interesting to see which way Doc decides to go when the Big Shamrock does get healthy.
- Glen Davis returned after ten or so days off while he rehabbed a sprained tendon in his knee. He looked good. When he went down with the injury, I remember reading something that indicated he'd been hurting all season. On Sunday, he moved around the court better than he had all year. Perhaps the time off did him some good.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Boston 84, Philadelphia 80
To call Boston's 14th consecutive win a struggle would be an understatement.
The Celtics battled two things all game Wednesday night (in addition to the Sixers): poor shooting and the officiating.
To the former point, you could tell from the get-go it was just one of those nights. Several early shots -- particularly off the fingertips of Paul Pierce -- rattled in and out, and after serious foul trouble hitting the starting unit and the bench came out cold*, it was only the excellence of Ray Allen that allowed the Cs to score even the 38 points they did score in the first half. The team got it going for brief stretches in the second half, but shot 38.8 percent from the floor for the game -- which I'm fairly sure is a season low.
To the latter point -- the officiating -- the box score doesn't tell the entire story. Philadelphia had 31 free throw attempts to Boston's 21, but until the late stages of the game, the discrepancy was much larger. In fact, the Celtics shot the game's final 12 free throws, which means that after Tony Battie missed an and-one with 4:48 remaining in the game, the Sixers had taken 31 shots from the line to Boston's nine. Some of that differential was justified, but it's a peculiar circumstance, indeed, where one team deserves 22 more free throw attempts than its opponent.
For their part, the Celtics did a nice job down the stretch of forcing the refs to give Boston the calls they had been giving Philly all night. The officials had been calling it close, and the Celts really looked to create contact in the final five minutes or so. After the aforementioned Battie miss it was 74-70, Sixers; Boston closed on a 14-6 run, getting ten points from the line. (The two lone misses from the line in the waning moments came courtesy of Shaquille O'Neal. I was surprised to see him in the game late for precisely this reason, and even more surprised to see the team use him in the screen-and-roll on a couple of late possessions.)
Boston won this game because of excellent defense and because of a champion's knack for winning close games on its less-than-great nights -- the second time in a couple of weeks Boston's pulled this latter trick on Philadelphia. Of course, so many of these games went the other way last season, and it was around this time that last year's regular season started to become disappointing. I heard tonight that Boston is now 94-14 in pre-Christmas games over the past four seasons. The post-Christmas (well, post-pre-Christmas) portion of the schedule begins Saturday, and it says here that Boston continues its winning ways in January and beyond.
*To be fair to the bench, they actually played pretty well -- other than scoring. Glen Davis shot 2-for-9 but had seven rebounds; Marquis Daniels shot 2-for-7 but had four boards and five assists. Semih Erden grabbed five boards. Von Wafer actually hit a couple of shots, and Avery Bradley had a big steal and basket early in the second quarter. Pressed into a little bit of extra duty as three starters were hit with three fouls apiece in the first half, the second unit held things together -- especially on the defensive end -- to keep the game winnable.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
The Next Lamb: The Philadelphia 76ers
Game 27: Philadelphia (11-17) at Boston (22-4)
Defensively, Boston had real trouble defending the three-point arc in the previous matchup; Philly was nine for 19 from deep, with Jodie Meeks (4-for-4) and Louis Williams (4-for-5) doing most of the damage. Paul Pierce did a nice job on Andre Iguodala last time (though Iggy made a couple of very tough shots that almost won the game down the stretch), but Pierce's job is tougher now that he's taken over ballhandling duties with Rondo out of the lineup.
Wednesday, December 22
7:30 p.m.
TV: NBA League Pass
Last meeting: Boston 102, @Philadelphia 101 (12/9/2010)
I'm writing this just a couple of hours after Philadelphia went into Chicago and lost by 45 -- yeah, 45. Obviously, if that's the Philly team that shows up Wednesday night in Boston, than the Celtics don't have much to worry about.
But I wouldn't expect that. Philly -- despite Tuesday night's loss and despite a mediocre record -- had won eight of 11 before the debacle against the Bulls, looking to turn around a season that they started 3-13. One of the three losses during their recent strong stretch came against Boston, a game that the Celtics stole on their final possession with a wonderfully drawn-up play that resulted in a Kevin Garnett layup off an alley-oop from Rajon Rondo.
I watched that game, but didn't have time to record my thoughts afterwards in a blog post, so I'm left to try and dig anything out of my memory that I can. (I know it was less than two weeks ago, but I've got a lot of stuff moving in and out of my brain during final exams.) Offense wasn't Boston's problem in that game; the Cs shot nearly 56 percent against the Sixers -- who are actually second in the league in opponents' field goal percentage at 43.5 percent (but who surrendered like 64 percent shooting to the Bulls Tuesday). One area of concern, offensively, is that Rondo had one of his bigger offensive outputs that night (19 points, 14 assists) and while his ankle rehabilitation seems ahead of schedule, it's unlikely that he'll be available Wednesday night to carry any sort of offensive load. His absence should be offset somewhat by the presence of Shaquille O'Neal, who missed the Philly game but returned to the lineup on Sunday against the Pacers. Shaq should also help on the boards, where Philly held a 39-33 advantage, including a 15-5 edge on the offensive glass.
Defensively, Boston had real trouble defending the three-point arc in the previous matchup; Philly was nine for 19 from deep, with Jodie Meeks (4-for-4) and Louis Williams (4-for-5) doing most of the damage. Paul Pierce did a nice job on Andre Iguodala last time (though Iggy made a couple of very tough shots that almost won the game down the stretch), but Pierce's job is tougher now that he's taken over ballhandling duties with Rondo out of the lineup.
It's the second half of a back-to-back for the 76ers, but the starters didn't play as much as they usually would against Chicago because of the blowout -- so fatigue shouldn't be as much of a factor, even though the Celtics haven't played since Sunday afternoon. How the 76ers respond to such a dreadful performance is an interesting question. On the one hand, they could come out eager to prove themselves and erase the memory of the previous night's performance. On the other hand, less than 24 hours may not be enough time for a young team to regroup. I'm not sure how Philly will react, but if the Celtics can jump on the Sixers early and get the crowd into the game, it could be another early night for Philly's starters.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Links of the Day (November 2, 2010)
- The Memphis Grizzlies gave Mike Conley II a big contract extension, which means Hardwood Paroxysm's Matt Moore -- a Grizz fan -- is not happy (make sure you scroll down to start reading from the bottom).
- Beckley Mason of Hoop Speak offers his two cents to teams trying to guard Rajon Rondo. Henry Abbott of TrueHoop also offers his thoughts. The Thorpe quote at the end of that article, by the way, is something I've always believed.
- Sebastian Pruiti of NBA Playbook is critical of Philadelphia coach Doug Collins' decision to foul up three late against Washington on Tuesday night. Personally, I like the strategy, though I agree with Pruiti that it's not wise to foul when the other team doesn't look like it's going to get a clean look at a three. (Though it may be too much to ask of players to recognize this and adjust the strategy accordingly.) But the real problem was that Philly, having fouled once, didn't foul a second time after the teams exchanged free throws. I don't know if Collins called for it and Andre Iguodala just couldn't get there in time, but it makes little sense to use the strategy once and then abandon it.
- TrueHoop has some statistical tidbits regarding John Wall's near quadruple-double (29 points, 13 assists, nine steals, eight turnovers). There's a nice little nugget in there about Rajon Rondo, too.
- Wall greeted the DC crowd in the Wizards home opener with this dance. He's earning something of a reputation for this. His performance at Kentucky's Midnight Madness during his lone season in Lexington spawned this hilarious video.
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.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Boston 113, Philadelphia 110
[recap] [box score]
I was tired and not feeling particularly well while watching this game, so I don't have too many observations. Rasheed Wallace is still shooting terribly from deep; Rajon Rondo needs to exert his influence more consistently; and teams are knocking down a lot of jump shots against the Celtics.
I don't have data, but it's seemed to me over the past couple of years that the Boston defense forces opponents to shoot from the outside. This year, those shots seem to be going in more consistently. Whether that's due to a defensive deficiency or just a run of bad luck, I can't say. Philly was red-hot from deep until the fourth quarter, when they cooled off just enough. I will say that all is clearly not right with the defense; Wednesday, we gave up more uncontested layups than I remember seeing in a single game in quite a while.
Quick strategy note to pay attention to moving forward: Up three with 3.7 seconds left, the Celtics employed the intentional foul strategy, denying the Sixers an opportunity to tie the game with a three. This tactic is often urged and yet rarely implemented.
For me, I like it a lot better in the college game. In the pros, the combination of the continuation rule and the rule that a team can advance the ball to midcourt with a timeout make it much harder to pull off. Fouling essentially extends the game -- which is what the trailing team is trying to do -- and requires you to shoot FTs at least as well as your opponent.
Anyway, we did it, and it worked. I don't ever recall seeing Doc do this before; I wonder if it's something we'll do moving forward, or if Philly's performance from three-point land on Wednesday made it more attractive than usual.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
I was tired and not feeling particularly well while watching this game, so I don't have too many observations. Rasheed Wallace is still shooting terribly from deep; Rajon Rondo needs to exert his influence more consistently; and teams are knocking down a lot of jump shots against the Celtics.
I don't have data, but it's seemed to me over the past couple of years that the Boston defense forces opponents to shoot from the outside. This year, those shots seem to be going in more consistently. Whether that's due to a defensive deficiency or just a run of bad luck, I can't say. Philly was red-hot from deep until the fourth quarter, when they cooled off just enough. I will say that all is clearly not right with the defense; Wednesday, we gave up more uncontested layups than I remember seeing in a single game in quite a while.
Quick strategy note to pay attention to moving forward: Up three with 3.7 seconds left, the Celtics employed the intentional foul strategy, denying the Sixers an opportunity to tie the game with a three. This tactic is often urged and yet rarely implemented.
For me, I like it a lot better in the college game. In the pros, the combination of the continuation rule and the rule that a team can advance the ball to midcourt with a timeout make it much harder to pull off. Fouling essentially extends the game -- which is what the trailing team is trying to do -- and requires you to shoot FTs at least as well as your opponent.
Anyway, we did it, and it worked. I don't ever recall seeing Doc do this before; I wonder if it's something we'll do moving forward, or if Philly's performance from three-point land on Wednesday made it more attractive than usual.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Boston 105, Philadelphia 74
I've always hated when coaches rail to the media about their team's sloppy play in a blowout victory or chew out their players on the sideline in a lopsided victory. So trust me when I say that we really didn't look all that good in this one, despite what the scoreboard says.
[recap] [box score]
Don't get me wrong; it was every bit a one-sided victory. But the third quarter was marred by seven turnovers, the exact kind of sloppy stretch we seem prone to once we build a comfortable lead. Several times, I looked at the score after another miscue and was surprised to see Boston still up 14.
These sloppy third quarters are growing a bit tiresome, even as the Celtics roll through their early season schedule. It's not something that's new this year; the team's concentration has waned with big leads each of the previous two seasons, as well. But it sure seems that these stretches are becoming more and more common -- though I don't have the data to back up or disprove it.
If I was in the habit of giving out game balls, I'd give this one to Rasheed Wallance, who scored early and often on his way to 20 points, including a cool six-for-eight from deep. 'sheed came in after Kendrick Perkins picked up a couple of early fouls against a surprisingly active Samuel Dalembert and nailed a nine-foot turnaround jumper to pick up a sluggish offense. He added a three later in the period and never really stopped.
Bullets!
[recap] [box score]
Don't get me wrong; it was every bit a one-sided victory. But the third quarter was marred by seven turnovers, the exact kind of sloppy stretch we seem prone to once we build a comfortable lead. Several times, I looked at the score after another miscue and was surprised to see Boston still up 14.
These sloppy third quarters are growing a bit tiresome, even as the Celtics roll through their early season schedule. It's not something that's new this year; the team's concentration has waned with big leads each of the previous two seasons, as well. But it sure seems that these stretches are becoming more and more common -- though I don't have the data to back up or disprove it.
If I was in the habit of giving out game balls, I'd give this one to Rasheed Wallance, who scored early and often on his way to 20 points, including a cool six-for-eight from deep. 'sheed came in after Kendrick Perkins picked up a couple of early fouls against a surprisingly active Samuel Dalembert and nailed a nine-foot turnaround jumper to pick up a sluggish offense. He added a three later in the period and never really stopped.
Bullets!
- Wallace also picked up a technical in the third quarter when he didn't get to go to the line after being fouled in the act of shooting. He carried on in typical 'sheed fashion, and in such a blowout, I was a little surprised one of the refs didn't run him.
- The game highlights have a couple instances of Rajon Rondo in all his Rondo-ness. At the end of the first quarter, he hit a ridiculous 13-footer from the baseline that I thought, at first glance, went over the top of the backboard. Upon further review, however, it appears that he may have somehow shot the right over the corner. Whether it should have counted or not, it was a remarkable shot, over seven-foot Jason Smith while falling out of bounds. Later, after a Sixers turnover, he threaded a blind, left-handed behind-the-back pass to a streaking Paul Pierce. The angle on this pass was extremely tough, as Pierce was filling the lane behind him. What made this assist particularly special, however, was that Rondo had tipped the outlet pass into the frontcourt, and surveyed the court as he chased it down. Gathering the ball right around the free throw line, he knew exactly where Pierce was, and, as importantly, knew that Thaddeus Young was lurking to challenge his layup. So he dropped a picture-perfect dime into Pierce's hands, taking Young out of the play, and the result was an easy two for Boston. These two plays were an excellent display of the $55 million dollar man's court awareness.
- First five minutes of the year for Brian Scalabrine. He got in during garbage time and showed no ill effects of either his injury suffered in the preseason or his summer off to recover from concussions. Five points for the former Human Victory Cigar, including a three-pointer.
- Lester Hudson played for another extended stretch in the fourth quarter and this time showed no qualms about displaying his offensive ability. He canned two triples in seven effective minutes. I think he's a better shooter than Gabe Pruitt, but he's not ready for a regular role with the big club the way Pruitt might have been.
- J.R. Giddens was a little bit better (read: a little less useless) than he has been, but he did nothing to make the Celtics regret not picking up his option next year.
- Boston hit 14 of 20 three-pointers. We're now at 48.6 percent from behind the arc on the young season, just two-tenths of a percent behind Phoenix. Philly, having been torched from deep previously by Orlando, has allowed opponents to shoot 45.1 percent from that distance through four games, the fifth-worst mark in the league.
- Philly shot just 36.3 percent on the game, and didn't hit a three-pointer until the waning minutes. The Celtics are the league's stingiest team in terms of field goal percentage and points against. At times, it looks simply like the opposition is missing shots, but the scheme and the players have a ton to do with that.
Next game is tonight (Wednesday) at 8 p.m. Eastern, against Minnesota. No national TV, but if you can find a way to watch this one, do it: the Wolves have former Celtics Al Jefferson and Ryan Gomes, plus RwH fave Jonny Flynn, and it's always fun to see Big Al J and Gomes compete against some of their former teammates. Plus, KG back in 'sota is always a nice experience.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Boston 100, Philadelphia 98
[recap] [box score]
Last time I posted, I gave a couple of reasons why I'd rather play Chicago than Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs: Philly's playoff experience, and Chicago's lack of defense. Watching tonight's win over the Sixers, I thought of three more:
1. I hate the Sixers. Reggie Evans is one of my two or three least favorite NBA players, and rookie Marreese Speights seems to be following in his footsteps as a first-rate punk. Throw in Philadelphia sports fans, as a group the most obnoxious of any city, and there's not a whole lot to like. Any loss to them is liable to ruin my evening.
2. I want to watch Derrick Rose. I'm in law school, and final exams are coming up, and I only have time to watch the Celtics' playoff games, at least until exams are over. Watching Rose over a best-of-seven series would be great. But I'm not going to get that chance, at least not this year, because...
3. ...Chicago can't beat Orlando in a playoff series. Philly can, but Chicago can't. Although Orlando doesn't scare me too much, it'd be nice to not have to worry about them.
I probably won't get my wish, however, because tonight's win means that Chicago only has to beat Toronto Wednesday night in order to get the #6 seed. (A Philly loss at Cleveland would similarly do the trick).
On the other hand, I shouldn't be too disappointed, because the Celtics just beat the Sixers despite not having Kevin Garnett or Ray Allen. The only active member of the so-called Big Three, Paul Pierce, certainly led this victory, with 31 points in 31 minutes, but he didn't do it on his own. He got plenty of help, including ten points and four rebounds from Leon Powe in his return after missing 12 games with an injury. Tony Allen took over for Ray Allen and scored 18 points, and Glen Davis continued a recent stretch of big statistical games.
Final game of the regular season in Wednesday night, against Washington.
Last time I posted, I gave a couple of reasons why I'd rather play Chicago than Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs: Philly's playoff experience, and Chicago's lack of defense. Watching tonight's win over the Sixers, I thought of three more:
1. I hate the Sixers. Reggie Evans is one of my two or three least favorite NBA players, and rookie Marreese Speights seems to be following in his footsteps as a first-rate punk. Throw in Philadelphia sports fans, as a group the most obnoxious of any city, and there's not a whole lot to like. Any loss to them is liable to ruin my evening.
2. I want to watch Derrick Rose. I'm in law school, and final exams are coming up, and I only have time to watch the Celtics' playoff games, at least until exams are over. Watching Rose over a best-of-seven series would be great. But I'm not going to get that chance, at least not this year, because...
3. ...Chicago can't beat Orlando in a playoff series. Philly can, but Chicago can't. Although Orlando doesn't scare me too much, it'd be nice to not have to worry about them.
I probably won't get my wish, however, because tonight's win means that Chicago only has to beat Toronto Wednesday night in order to get the #6 seed. (A Philly loss at Cleveland would similarly do the trick).
On the other hand, I shouldn't be too disappointed, because the Celtics just beat the Sixers despite not having Kevin Garnett or Ray Allen. The only active member of the so-called Big Three, Paul Pierce, certainly led this victory, with 31 points in 31 minutes, but he didn't do it on his own. He got plenty of help, including ten points and four rebounds from Leon Powe in his return after missing 12 games with an injury. Tony Allen took over for Ray Allen and scored 18 points, and Glen Davis continued a recent stretch of big statistical games.
Final game of the regular season in Wednesday night, against Washington.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Cleveland A Lot, Boston A Little
I didn't even bother watching Sunday's bloodbath in Cleveland. A great final round of the Masters was underway, and with the score 31-9 after the first period, I couldn't justify it. The skirmish between Ray Allen and Anderson Varejao was of mild interest (and which will cost Allen one game), and it sounded like Cleveland did some flexing that wasn't unnoticed on the Boston bench. At any rate, it's not something I'm too worried about.
I'm still worried about Kevin Garnett, with the news that he won't play tonight vs. Philadelphia or Wednesday vs. Washington. The way his return has been aborted and then continually pushed back just makes me feel uneasy.
Speaking of tonight's game in Philly, the result could have serious implications for who Boston plays in the first round. The Sixers are currently a half-game back of Chicago for sixth place, meaning they'd face Boston if the playoffs started today. Should the Sixers and Bulls end up with the same record, however, Philadelphia has the tiebreaker by virture of a slightly better conference record (the teams split four matchups during the regular season). A Philly win tonight means they control their own destiny on Wednesday at Cleveland (the Cavs have already clinched homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs); a loss and Chicago can claim the #6 seed (and a first-round playoff series with the banged-up Orlando Magic).
As I've previously mentioned, I'd rather play Chicago in a first round series. The Sixers have some recent playoff experience and actually play a little defense, two things that don't describe the Bulls. I'm not saying that we should or will go out and try to lose, but keeping the starters' minutes down at the expense of a loss tonight wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.
I'm still worried about Kevin Garnett, with the news that he won't play tonight vs. Philadelphia or Wednesday vs. Washington. The way his return has been aborted and then continually pushed back just makes me feel uneasy.
Speaking of tonight's game in Philly, the result could have serious implications for who Boston plays in the first round. The Sixers are currently a half-game back of Chicago for sixth place, meaning they'd face Boston if the playoffs started today. Should the Sixers and Bulls end up with the same record, however, Philadelphia has the tiebreaker by virture of a slightly better conference record (the teams split four matchups during the regular season). A Philly win tonight means they control their own destiny on Wednesday at Cleveland (the Cavs have already clinched homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs); a loss and Chicago can claim the #6 seed (and a first-round playoff series with the banged-up Orlando Magic).
As I've previously mentioned, I'd rather play Chicago in a first round series. The Sixers have some recent playoff experience and actually play a little defense, two things that don't describe the Bulls. I'm not saying that we should or will go out and try to lose, but keeping the starters' minutes down at the expense of a loss tonight wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Boston 100, Philadelphia 99
I picked a bad night to be busy. Ray Allen hits a game-winner and I missed it because I was busy with law school stuff.
[recap] [box score] [highlights]
You can look at the box score and highlights yourself. The one thing I want to say is that for those who have followed Paul Pierce's career, it's so refreshing to see him notch the game-winning assist. Not that he's an inherently selfish player; just that there was a time when everyone knew who was taking a last-second shot for Boston.
Nice screen by Glen Davis to free Ray, too. Davis had a double-double starting for Kevin Garnett, who missed his second straight game due to illness. I think I'd better get used to Davis over Powe in the lineup.
As alluded to at the end of the ESPN clip, above, Boston now owns the two longest winning streaks in the NBA this year; the 19-gamer that ended Christmas Day in Los Angeles, and this current 12-gamer. Our next game? Thursday night against those very same Lakers, at 8 p.m. on TNT. Actually, they aren't "those very same Lakers": They are of course without Andrew Bynum, though that didn't matter much against New York on Monday night - Kobe Bryant set the Madison Square Garden single-game scoring record by dropping 61 on the Knicks (highlights). I don't think the Lakers can beat us with Kobe dominating the ball like that - we're much better defensively than the Knicks. There's some speculation that Bryant went out and played the way he did because he felt responsible for Bynum's knee injury (Kobe fell on Bynum's leg, causing the torn MCL). It will be interesting to see if Kobe continues in the "I've gotta do everything" mindset, or reverts back to trusting his teammates like he did so well last year.
Speaking of Bynum, another contender suffered an injury loss that deals a serious blow to their title chances. Orlando Magic PG Jameer Nelson tore the labrum in his right shoulder after being fouled by Dallas' Erick Dampier Monday night. He may miss the rest of the season.
I' m not as high on Nelson as this guy is (scroll down to the comments section to see the friendly back and forth we had about Jameer) but this is obviously a big blow to Orlando, whose backup point guard is journeyman Anthony Johnson, and whose backup to Anthony Johnson is ... nobody. They've got to make a move, but whatever move they make, it won't compensate for the loss of Nelson. They should still win the Southeast (they currently have a nine-game lead on Atlanta), but barring similiar injuries in Cleveland or Boston, they are facing a second-round playoff series on the road. Pretty harsh for a team that's started 36-11.
[recap] [box score] [highlights]
You can look at the box score and highlights yourself. The one thing I want to say is that for those who have followed Paul Pierce's career, it's so refreshing to see him notch the game-winning assist. Not that he's an inherently selfish player; just that there was a time when everyone knew who was taking a last-second shot for Boston.
Nice screen by Glen Davis to free Ray, too. Davis had a double-double starting for Kevin Garnett, who missed his second straight game due to illness. I think I'd better get used to Davis over Powe in the lineup.
As alluded to at the end of the ESPN clip, above, Boston now owns the two longest winning streaks in the NBA this year; the 19-gamer that ended Christmas Day in Los Angeles, and this current 12-gamer. Our next game? Thursday night against those very same Lakers, at 8 p.m. on TNT. Actually, they aren't "those very same Lakers": They are of course without Andrew Bynum, though that didn't matter much against New York on Monday night - Kobe Bryant set the Madison Square Garden single-game scoring record by dropping 61 on the Knicks (highlights). I don't think the Lakers can beat us with Kobe dominating the ball like that - we're much better defensively than the Knicks. There's some speculation that Bryant went out and played the way he did because he felt responsible for Bynum's knee injury (Kobe fell on Bynum's leg, causing the torn MCL). It will be interesting to see if Kobe continues in the "I've gotta do everything" mindset, or reverts back to trusting his teammates like he did so well last year.
Speaking of Bynum, another contender suffered an injury loss that deals a serious blow to their title chances. Orlando Magic PG Jameer Nelson tore the labrum in his right shoulder after being fouled by Dallas' Erick Dampier Monday night. He may miss the rest of the season.
I' m not as high on Nelson as this guy is (scroll down to the comments section to see the friendly back and forth we had about Jameer) but this is obviously a big blow to Orlando, whose backup point guard is journeyman Anthony Johnson, and whose backup to Anthony Johnson is ... nobody. They've got to make a move, but whatever move they make, it won't compensate for the loss of Nelson. They should still win the Southeast (they currently have a nine-game lead on Atlanta), but barring similiar injuries in Cleveland or Boston, they are facing a second-round playoff series on the road. Pretty harsh for a team that's started 36-11.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Boston 110, Philadelphia 91
A franchise-best 19th straight win. An NBA record 27-2 start. And a rare opportunity for Rhymes With Hondo to catch a Celtics game live.
[recap] [box score]
As most of you surely know, the Celtics lone trip West to play the Lakers comes Christmas Day. Since I'm back in DC, the only time I'll get a chance to catch the Cs live in LA will be on February 25, when they play the Clippers at the tail end of a six-game Western swing. So I took the opportunity of a few days between the end of school and the holidays to make a trip up to Boston to see friends and take in a game.
Of course, when I made the arrangements, I didn't know that it would be something of an historic evening. Being in the building to watch these records being set was a neat experience, though, even if the game -- the outcome being never really in doubt -- wasn't the height of excitement.
At any rate, I don't think I've been this excited for Christmas Day in like 20 years! This should be the game of the NBA season; the first Finals rematch, in a decades-old rivalry renewed last spring. Los Angeles isn't playing quite at its best: After a torrid start, they've lost three of their last ten, a completely respectable stretch in any normal year. This is not a normal year, however, as the Lakers 23-5 mark is actually third-best in the league, behind not only the Celtics, but the 24-4 Cavaliers. Defense, the main thing that LA critics harped on last year, again seems to be the problem, and the Lakers have lost the focus on that end of the floor that they had to start the year. It's hard to imagine, however, that focus and intensity on either end is going to be lacking Thursday night.
I think Rajon Rondo, who has been as important to this 19-game run as any other Celtic, will be the difference between winning and losing for the Cs. The Lakers effectively neutralized him for much of the Finals last year, sagging off of him and basically ignoring him when the Celtics were on offense. This year, teams do that at their own peril, as Rondo has taken a giant step forward, attacking the basket fearlessly and finishing often once he gets there. I don't necessarily think that the "Let Rondo beat us" strategy is necessarily a bad one -- it's hard to say, as a Boston opponent, that you'd rather have the ball in Paul Pierce's hands, or Ray Allen's, or Kevin Garnett's. But Rondo needs to take that as an invitation. He's done it a lot recently, but never in a game as big as this one, and less so on the road then at home.
Tip is at 5 p.m. Eastern on ABC. Merry Christmas.
[recap] [box score]
As most of you surely know, the Celtics lone trip West to play the Lakers comes Christmas Day. Since I'm back in DC, the only time I'll get a chance to catch the Cs live in LA will be on February 25, when they play the Clippers at the tail end of a six-game Western swing. So I took the opportunity of a few days between the end of school and the holidays to make a trip up to Boston to see friends and take in a game.
Of course, when I made the arrangements, I didn't know that it would be something of an historic evening. Being in the building to watch these records being set was a neat experience, though, even if the game -- the outcome being never really in doubt -- wasn't the height of excitement.
At any rate, I don't think I've been this excited for Christmas Day in like 20 years! This should be the game of the NBA season; the first Finals rematch, in a decades-old rivalry renewed last spring. Los Angeles isn't playing quite at its best: After a torrid start, they've lost three of their last ten, a completely respectable stretch in any normal year. This is not a normal year, however, as the Lakers 23-5 mark is actually third-best in the league, behind not only the Celtics, but the 24-4 Cavaliers. Defense, the main thing that LA critics harped on last year, again seems to be the problem, and the Lakers have lost the focus on that end of the floor that they had to start the year. It's hard to imagine, however, that focus and intensity on either end is going to be lacking Thursday night.
I think Rajon Rondo, who has been as important to this 19-game run as any other Celtic, will be the difference between winning and losing for the Cs. The Lakers effectively neutralized him for much of the Finals last year, sagging off of him and basically ignoring him when the Celtics were on offense. This year, teams do that at their own peril, as Rondo has taken a giant step forward, attacking the basket fearlessly and finishing often once he gets there. I don't necessarily think that the "Let Rondo beat us" strategy is necessarily a bad one -- it's hard to say, as a Boston opponent, that you'd rather have the ball in Paul Pierce's hands, or Ray Allen's, or Kevin Garnett's. But Rondo needs to take that as an invitation. He's done it a lot recently, but never in a game as big as this one, and less so on the road then at home.
Tip is at 5 p.m. Eastern on ABC. Merry Christmas.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Boston 102, Philadelphia 78
An outstanding performance on both ends from the defending champs. The Celtics held the Sixers to 28 points in the first half -- our best defensive half of the season, and Philly's worst offensively -- and the 76ers final total is only somewhat respectable thanks to the work of Louis Williams and Marreese Speights in a 31-point fourth quarter against our second- and third-stringers.
[recap] [box score]
Scoring in the NBA really doesn't get any more balanced than this. We scored 102 points tonight despite having just four guys in double figures, and no one had more than Ray Allen's 23. But all 11 guys who played scored -- Patrick O'Bryant's sweet jump hook on the second-to-last possession took care of that. Four guys off the bench had at least eight points: ten each for Leon Powe and Tony Allen; nine for Glen Davis, and eight for Eddie House.
Rajon Rondo again played great; he set the tone with three quick steals and finished with 12 assists. Kendrick Perkins also got off to a fast start, and had four blocks. Ray continued his torrid shooting, and Pierce didn't force anything (he shot just 1-for-6 in 27 minutes).
A few quick thoughts:
-Doc used a new substitution pattern in the first quarter tonight -- at least, I don't remember seeing it before. The first sub off the bench was Glen Davis, and he came in for Garnett. Usually, Doc removes Perk from the lineup with a few minutes remaining in the first, leaving KG out there to finish the quarter. That very well could be because Perkins is often in foul trouble, but I like the idea of resting Garnett in the first quarter if possible. It manages his minutes a bit better and gives us the option to go to him earlier in the second if the bench gets in trouble.
-Brian Scalabrine looks like he's made his way into the regular rotation. He's been playing pretty well, and I commend him for playing within himself despite the fact that every time he touches the ball the crowd yells for him to shoot. Still, if he's going to play meaningful minutes, he needs to be a little more aggressive, a little more like an NBA player. Too often, he's playing without conviction offensively. (On the defensive end, he's always playing hard).
-Tommy Heinsohn was back on the broadcast tonight, and late in the game, he mentioned the importance of the Celtics not being complacent when they play in Philly, because the Sixers were bound to be steamed about this blowout. He made reference to the next game being in Philadelphia, but it's actually back in Boston on December 23rd (look for me in section 312!). I think Speights' bush-league flagrant-two on Scalabrine in the waning moments took care of any concerns about complacency. Scalabrine was driving to the bucket for a reverse layup when Speights just reached out and shoved him in the back. It led to an ejection for Speights and a jawing match between Powe and Reggie Evans (this incident reminded of how much I hate Evans, by the way). I'm sure Boston will be plenty fired up on the 23rd.
-Tony played well tonight, but again he made the boneheaded play of the game. With time winding down in the third quarter, Boston was holding for one shot, though the shot and game clocks weren't quite synched; there was maybe a second and a half difference between the two. Tony drove for a layup and missed, and as the ball was coming off the rim, the shot clock buzzer -- which is quite discernible from the game clock horn -- sounded. Tony, who was in a great position to grab the rebound and lay it back in, apparently heard the buzzer and thought the quarter had ended, as he grabbed the ball and sort of tossed it over his head while walking backward. No harm, no foul, but it still bugs me to see stuff like that.
-Next game is Saturday night in Charlotte (7 p.m. Eastern, no national TV). Despite the fact that Friday's 115-108 overtime win at Indiana moved them to just 5-10 on the year, the Bobcats should have our attention. Though we went 3-1 against them last year, the one loss was in Boston in January, and we needed that miraculous House steal and Ray three at the horn to beat them in Charlotte in November. Of the other two wins, one was closeish and the other wasn't. And the Bobcats only had Gerald Wallace for one of those games due to various injuries.
In addition to Wallace, there are two Bobcats who are most concerning. The first is point guard Raymond Felton. Rondo has some trouble against quicker point guards, and Felton is one of the quickest. He averaged 17 points and nine assists in the four games against us last year, a few ticks above his season averages in each category.
The other is Jason Richardson, who averaged nearly 30 points per game in the first three contests with Boston last year (he was held to nine in the final game in April). Richardson is the brand of two-guard (think the Hawks' Joe Johnson) that Ray Allen has trouble with: a decent shooter with a good mid-range game who can get to the rim. That's the key matchup.
With Sean May and Adam Morrison continuing to disappoint, Bobcats coach Larry Brown has been going to some small lineups, with rookie D.J. Augustin joining Felton and Richardson on the perimeter. The selection of Augustin in this summer's draft left many scratching their heads, as Augustin and Felton are similar players and there aren't too many NBA teams who have been successful playing two guys who are each six feet tall, if that, alongside each other. I'm looking forward to seeing this lineup, and not a little bit because I have something of a financial interest in Augustin's development (I need him to average 24 mpg or more in a full NBA season after his fourth year in the league).
Perhaps the best news for the Cs is that while Ray Allen was the only starter to play more than 30 minutes against Philly, the Bobcats' big guns logged heavy mileage in the overtime win at Indiana. Felton played about 48 minutes; Richardson and Wallace each played around 42.
[recap] [box score]
Scoring in the NBA really doesn't get any more balanced than this. We scored 102 points tonight despite having just four guys in double figures, and no one had more than Ray Allen's 23. But all 11 guys who played scored -- Patrick O'Bryant's sweet jump hook on the second-to-last possession took care of that. Four guys off the bench had at least eight points: ten each for Leon Powe and Tony Allen; nine for Glen Davis, and eight for Eddie House.
Rajon Rondo again played great; he set the tone with three quick steals and finished with 12 assists. Kendrick Perkins also got off to a fast start, and had four blocks. Ray continued his torrid shooting, and Pierce didn't force anything (he shot just 1-for-6 in 27 minutes).
A few quick thoughts:
-Doc used a new substitution pattern in the first quarter tonight -- at least, I don't remember seeing it before. The first sub off the bench was Glen Davis, and he came in for Garnett. Usually, Doc removes Perk from the lineup with a few minutes remaining in the first, leaving KG out there to finish the quarter. That very well could be because Perkins is often in foul trouble, but I like the idea of resting Garnett in the first quarter if possible. It manages his minutes a bit better and gives us the option to go to him earlier in the second if the bench gets in trouble.
-Brian Scalabrine looks like he's made his way into the regular rotation. He's been playing pretty well, and I commend him for playing within himself despite the fact that every time he touches the ball the crowd yells for him to shoot. Still, if he's going to play meaningful minutes, he needs to be a little more aggressive, a little more like an NBA player. Too often, he's playing without conviction offensively. (On the defensive end, he's always playing hard).
-Tommy Heinsohn was back on the broadcast tonight, and late in the game, he mentioned the importance of the Celtics not being complacent when they play in Philly, because the Sixers were bound to be steamed about this blowout. He made reference to the next game being in Philadelphia, but it's actually back in Boston on December 23rd (look for me in section 312!). I think Speights' bush-league flagrant-two on Scalabrine in the waning moments took care of any concerns about complacency. Scalabrine was driving to the bucket for a reverse layup when Speights just reached out and shoved him in the back. It led to an ejection for Speights and a jawing match between Powe and Reggie Evans (this incident reminded of how much I hate Evans, by the way). I'm sure Boston will be plenty fired up on the 23rd.
-Tony played well tonight, but again he made the boneheaded play of the game. With time winding down in the third quarter, Boston was holding for one shot, though the shot and game clocks weren't quite synched; there was maybe a second and a half difference between the two. Tony drove for a layup and missed, and as the ball was coming off the rim, the shot clock buzzer -- which is quite discernible from the game clock horn -- sounded. Tony, who was in a great position to grab the rebound and lay it back in, apparently heard the buzzer and thought the quarter had ended, as he grabbed the ball and sort of tossed it over his head while walking backward. No harm, no foul, but it still bugs me to see stuff like that.
-Next game is Saturday night in Charlotte (7 p.m. Eastern, no national TV). Despite the fact that Friday's 115-108 overtime win at Indiana moved them to just 5-10 on the year, the Bobcats should have our attention. Though we went 3-1 against them last year, the one loss was in Boston in January, and we needed that miraculous House steal and Ray three at the horn to beat them in Charlotte in November. Of the other two wins, one was closeish and the other wasn't. And the Bobcats only had Gerald Wallace for one of those games due to various injuries.
In addition to Wallace, there are two Bobcats who are most concerning. The first is point guard Raymond Felton. Rondo has some trouble against quicker point guards, and Felton is one of the quickest. He averaged 17 points and nine assists in the four games against us last year, a few ticks above his season averages in each category.
The other is Jason Richardson, who averaged nearly 30 points per game in the first three contests with Boston last year (he was held to nine in the final game in April). Richardson is the brand of two-guard (think the Hawks' Joe Johnson) that Ray Allen has trouble with: a decent shooter with a good mid-range game who can get to the rim. That's the key matchup.
With Sean May and Adam Morrison continuing to disappoint, Bobcats coach Larry Brown has been going to some small lineups, with rookie D.J. Augustin joining Felton and Richardson on the perimeter. The selection of Augustin in this summer's draft left many scratching their heads, as Augustin and Felton are similar players and there aren't too many NBA teams who have been successful playing two guys who are each six feet tall, if that, alongside each other. I'm looking forward to seeing this lineup, and not a little bit because I have something of a financial interest in Augustin's development (I need him to average 24 mpg or more in a full NBA season after his fourth year in the league).
Perhaps the best news for the Cs is that while Ray Allen was the only starter to play more than 30 minutes against Philly, the Bobcats' big guns logged heavy mileage in the overtime win at Indiana. Felton played about 48 minutes; Richardson and Wallace each played around 42.
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