Oklahoma City 89, Boston 84

The game was on ESPN, but for those of you who missed it, you missed perhaps the worst fourth quarter in NBA history.

[recap] [box score]

The statistics are almost too graphic to post: by my count, according to the ESPN.com play-by-play, the teams combined to miss their last 22 shots from the floor -- 13 for Oklahoma City, nine for Boston. No one on either side made a basket during the final 9:27. The Thunder spent the final 12 minutes watching Russell Westbrook pound the ball and launch contested, ill-conceived jump shots. Boston was hardly much better, taking turns clanging shots, missing free throws, and turning the ball over.

For what it's worth, I thought Boston's defense was good enough to win -- not just in the fourth quarter, but for the whole game. Sure, the Thunder shot 57 percent from the field, but many of those makes were exactly the kind of shots the Celtics were inviting them to take: lightly-contested jumpshots. With Kevin Durant a late scratch due to an ankle injury, Boston perhaps didn't need to pack it in quite as much as they did, but credit Oklahoma City for making shots they don't usually make. Boston forced some turnovers -- and, after all, conceded only 49 points in the half.

In the third quarter, the Thunder extended its lead -- but mainly due to over-aggressive defense, not necessarily bad defense. Oklahoma City was shooting the penalty with over eight minutes to go in the period, and made 12 of 16 free throws. Boston should have eased up on the pressure a bit once they started the quarter committing so many fouls, but they weren't taking a bunch of stupid fouls or getting beat off the dribble all the time. OKC's shooting started to cool down, though they did make all three three-pointers they took in the period: two by Westbrook with Rajon Rondo's hand right in his face (keep in mind that Westbrook was 2-for-14 behind the arc on the season heading into this game), and a late-in-shot-clock heave by Royal Ivey that went in off the glass after the ball squirted to him when Rondo picked Westbrook twice as Westbrook was trying to drive.

This one, in my view, was lost on offense, and there were a ton of things the Celtics could have done differently to win this game on that end. They started the game out of synch for no particular reason, and never seemed to find any sort of flow. Shaquille O'Neal was a perfect five-for-five when he left the floor with 1:07 remaining in the first; he didn't get another opportunity in the post until 5:18 of the fourth -- a span that included 15 minutes of court time for Shaq, and this despite the fact that no Celtic was having a great game offensively. Ray Allen never got involved, and Glen Davis was so bad that we would have been better off if he hadn't gotten involved. Davis missed three free throws late in the fourth quarter (he was 2-of-6 for the game) and was the major part of a bench unit that was 1-for-10 from the line before making its final three attempts).

Even with all that, Boston still had chances. Allen had a good look at the go-ahead bucket with 30 seconds to go, but it was just a hair short. Delonte West got a great look at the game-tying three from the right corner on Boston's final possession, but couldn't knock it down. It was just one of those nights.

That's what it was, actually: just one of those nights. No lessons to be learned. No shame in losing to a Durant-less Thunder team. Just one of those nights.

Accordingly, here are just some of those bullets with a few discussion points that may be of interest:

• The Thunder opened the game with Westbrook playing several feet off Rondo. This defense is designed to keep Rondo out of the lane and to make it harder for him to get the ball to guys like Allen coming off screens. I think it's silly, but we've seen it before. What we haven't seen before, and what is totally inexplicable in my view, is Westbrook switching off of Rondo when Boston ran its 1-3 pick-and-roll to post Paul Pierce at the free throw line. If you're so unconcerned with Rondo's jumper, then just go behind the screen, hold Pierce up for a count so his man can get back to him, and go back to just chilling out ten feet off of Rondo. This play resulted in at least one ridiculous sequence which culminated in a Rondo layup after James Harden left him completely alone under the basket (presumably to double team, though Harden was basically standing in the middle of the lane, equi-distant from Rondo at the rim and Pierce at the line), and could have resulted in several more baskets on a night that Pierce had it going (he hits that 15-foot jumper over opposing point guards with regularity).
• I think the days of team's leaving Rondo that wide open may be numbered, however. He's been looking for his jumper more this season, taking it with confidence, and making it at what seems like an acceptable rate. My favorite play of this game came late in the second quarter, after Westbrook had just hit a pull-up jumper on Rondo at the other end. Rondo came down and came off a Kevin Garnett screen on the right side of the floor. KG popped to the opposite elbow, which is where he always goes on this play, and Rondo almost always passes him the ball. KG was open, but Rondo stopped and drilled the J. (In real time, I could've sworn that Rondo came off the screen, turned his head and look at a wide-open KG, then turned back and nailed the jumper -- take that, Russell! After rewinding and watching it again, I wasn't so sure that Rondo actually demonstratively looked in KG's direction, but make no mistake -- Rondo knew KG was open. It's not often that I'll praise a point guard for taking a shot when a teammate has a good look, but I loved the moxie and Rondo does need to punish teams for leaving him open.)
• Boston had a few minor injuries. Garnett took an elbow to the head on Boston's first possession, stayed on the floor after a quick 20-second timeout, came out after about three minutes, and then returned to the floor with a cartoon-like lump on the back of his noggin. Pierce left the floor briefly in the third quarter with some sort of leg problem, and could be seen limping in the waning minutes. And Rondo sat out most of the final six minutes after suffering some sort of leg injury in a collision with Ivey. Hopefully, none of these injuries are serious and the affected players won't miss any time.
• Officiating question: In the second quarter, Nick Collison drove to the bucket, drew contact from Semih Erden as he was going up for a shot, then clearly discarded Kevin Garnett with his off arm while laying the ball in. Does anyone know if the refs can wave the basket off in that spot, awarding Collison two shots (since Erden got him in the act of shooting) but not giving him the bucket that he got by virtue of committing an offensive foul? I'm not saying Collison should have been called for a foul -- but you can't just do whatever you want after you've been fouled and still get the continuation, can you?
• Westbrook was more or less a one-man band tonight. As such, he'll get all the credit for the win. Maybe I'm being too hard on the kid given that he didn't have Durant tonight or Jeff Green in either game against the Celtics, but I'm glad he's not on my team -- at least right now. He's a great defender and terrific athlete, and he can score some, but all I've seen him do in two games is pound the ball, take terrible shots, and turn the ball over at a prolific rate. In the eyes of many observers, he's already made a big leap this year, but he won't be elite in my eyes until he learns he has limitations and plays within himself.
• Then again, his teammates (those who played tonight, anyway) should be ashamed of themselves for being the biggest bunch of shrinking violets I've ever seen in the fourth quarter Friday night. You guys are NBA players, for chrissakes. Do something.

The Next Lamb: The Oklahoma City Thunder

Game 12: Oklahoma City (7-4) at Boston (9-2)

Friday, November 19

7 p.m. Eastern

ESPN

Last meeting: Boston 92, @Oklahoma City 83 (11/7/2010)

The Thunder have started to rumble a bit since the Celtics last saw them. The loss to Boston on the 7th was their third defeat in the season's first six games; they're 4-1 since (including a win in Utah), their lone loss in that period coming at the hands of the 9-1 San Antonio Spurs.

It's not clear to me what, if anything, is substantively different about the Thunder now and the Thunder two weeks ago. Kevin Durant is still a magnificent scorer. Russell Westbrook is breaking out -- his stats compare favorably with LeBron James' thus far this season -- but he still settles for jumpers too often and turns the ball over too much. They still don't have Jeff Green back from an ankle injury, which means that Serge Ibaka's 22-point outing on Monday against the Jazz is the only time this season that someone (other than Durant and Westbrook) in uniform for the Thunder on Friday has broken the 20-point barrier.

Twenty is an arbitrary number, but I think that last item is key. Last time these two teams met, Boston was pretty comfortable letting Durant and especially Westbrook take a bunch of jumpers, confident they'd miss enough. They missed a bunch early as Boston took a big lead, made a bunch in the third quarter as they launched a third-quarter comeback, then ran out of gas against the Celtics' second string. The Thunder have a deep bench with a bunch of guys who can put the ball in the basket on occasion, but the lack of a true third scoring option hurts them.

Or at least it did against Boston. The Thunder are actually the seventh-highest scoring team in the league, having breached the century mark in all but three games thus far. So it's probably not fair to say that it unilaterally hurts them.

What's the explanation, then, for OKC's struggles in the last couple meetings with Boston? One possibility is sample size. If I must go beyond that, I'll say that every time I watch the Thunder -- which mostly comes against Boston, but also in person against the Clippers and a few other random times on TV -- they spend an awful lot of time standing around and throwing up jump shots. Durant and Westbrook will go one-on-one plenty, but that's the only way they get stuff going to the basket. And Boston has been particularly good at guarding this sort of thing, especially against teams without good three-point shooters. Oklahoma City is currently the worst in the league from behind the arc.

They're tops in the NBA in FT% at nearly 88 percent, far ahead of the Lakers, who are number two. Durant takes more than nine per game and hits them at 95%; Westbrook takes eight and makes 90%. If those guys are settling for jumpers, they aren't going to the line -- and the team's offense is therefore far less potent. Boston limited the Thunder to something like 17 free throw attempts in the first meeting, and they'll look to do something similar.

Boston 114, Washington 83

Just a few bullets on a night the Celtics made two-thirds of their shots and the opposition was without its best player.

[recap] [box score]

• Shaquille O'Neal, who had 16 points and six rebounds on Saturday against Memphis, had a second straight strong game, slapping up 13 and 6 in 22 minutes. As much trouble as he gave the undersized JaVale McGee on the offensive end, however, he gave up a number of offensive rebounds to McGee on the other end, especially in the first quarter. He did seem to be making a better effort to box out later in the game, however, so perhaps he simply didn't want to expend the effort early on.
• Delonte West saw his first action of the season and didn't look he missed a beat. The second team didn't play that well during its first stretch on the court, however, coming together only after the starters had put the game out of reach. Nate Robinson was still running the point the majority of the time, something that surprised me and that I hope will change. Robinson's few high points Wednesday night came when West and Marquis Daniels initiated the offense.
• Semih Erden played well, but he needs to do a better job of going and getting the ball with two hands, especially on rebounds. He's been wearing a brace on his left shoulder for the last several games, and I thought that perhaps the injury was causing the problem. But he took two lefty hooks in the second half, and I remember him fumbling a few one-armed rebounds in his first action this season (before he started sporting the brace), so I don't think that's it.
• Glen Davis had eight rebounds, added to his league-leading total of charges drawn (16 now), and had a couple of great assists, but he did way more facing up and driving than I'm comfortable with.
• Rajon Rondo had another 13 assists. The guy always puts the ball exactly where it needs to be. Always.
• 30 minutes for Rondo, 27 for Ray Allen, 27 for Paul Pierce, 23 for Kevin Garnett, and 22 for Shaq. That's more like it.
• Washington isn't very good with John Wall, and without him, they're terrible. I have no idea how they beat Toronto by 15 the night before. Gilbert Arenas seems content to drift around the perimeter launching three-pointers, and their bigs are erratic, to put it kindly. They have some one-dimensional scorers like Nick Young and Al Thornton -- and those guys are surely more effective with a playmaker like Wall in the lineup, but there just aren't that many good basketball players there.
• I do like the way Washington coach Flip Saunders seems to be holding everyone accountable and won't let the team get away with uninspired play. He kicked the whole team out of practice some days ago, and tonight, he called a timeout two minutes and 15 seconds into the third quarter after a defensive lapse by his team -- then called another 34 seconds later after another defensive lapse on the Celtics' next possession.

Links: Entertaining NBA-related videos

• David Stern's rather dry sense of humor makes this interview with Stephen Colbert.
• Here is a video that pokes some fun at Wolves rookie Wesley Johnson.
• Here is another.
• Jimmy Kimmel had a thing during the NBA playoffs where he had some dude beat NBA stars at Pop-A-Shot. This woman is pretty remarkable.

The Next Lamb: The Washington Wizards

Game 11: Washington (3-6) at Boston (8-2)

Wednesday, November 17

7:30 pm Eastern

TV: NBA League Pass (but note, Washington, DC, readers, that it should be on a local station!)

The Washington Wizards are 2-6 when John Wall plays, and 1-0 when he doesn't. Told you that guy wasn't that good.

OK, so I was mostly wrong about Wall. Sure, he's leading the league in turnovers, like I predicted he would, but it was an easy prediction to make, him being a rookie point guard and all. Other than that statistic -- which is really not a big deal; you have to go pretty far down the list of the league leaders in turnovers to find a guy you don't want on your team -- Wall's been pretty spectacular. His jumper, a presumed area of weakness, has been fine; he's obviously capable of getting to the rim and scoring; he's finding his teammates; and he's wreaking havoc on defense (he also leads the league in steals).

He's also hurt. He sprained his foot on Saturday against Chicago, came back to finish that game, then showed up in a walking boot afterwards. He was in the Verizon Center Tuesday night as the Wizards hammered the Raptors, but he was wearing street clothes and using crutches. While Washington hasn't yet ruled Wall out for Wednesday against Boston, I'd be very surprised if the young buck suits up for what in theory is an electrifying point guard matchup between him and Rajon Rondo.

The Wizards have a decent replacement for Wall in Gilbert Arenas, though Arenas of course is hardly the player he once was. With Wall and Kirk Hinrich around, Arenas -- always a shoot-first player at the point -- can play off-guard, where his gunning is a less-bitter pill to swallow. Arenas' recent history of leg injuries might suggest that he'd struggle on the second night of a back-to-back, especially early in the season, but he did drop 30 points on the Bulls on Saturday the night after playing 32 minutes against Charlotte, so maybe not.

Without Wall, there isn't too much about Washington to talk about. Andray Blatche had a couple of big games against Boston last year, and if I recall correctly, always plays with a certain swagger against the Celtics -- going up against Kevin Garnett seems to bring that out of him. Hinrich, when he was with Chicago, always did a nice job guarding Pierce despite giving up four inches and 45 pounds. But without Wall, Hinrich will almost certainly be tasked with trying to stop Rajon Rondo. The Wizards also have JaVale McGee, a RwH favorite since his days at Nevada.

This should be an easy win for the Celtics. But followers of the team the last couple of seasons know that Boston doesn't always win the easy ones. Blowing out bad teams may be a key to post-season success, however, so Boston would do well to take the Wizards -- who definitely qualify as a bad team, even with Wall -- seriously.

The Celtics Should Be Talking to Erick Dampier

There's been an interesting discussion over at Celtics Hub regarding whether the Celtics should release Von Wafer (who has done nothing so far and is unlikey to do anything moving forward) and sign another big. The pros for such a move are summed up here; the cons are here.

I have no idea if the team has reached out to Erick Dampier, nor do I know if Dampier is even remotely interested in joining the team as an insurance policy. And make no mistake, that's all Dampier would be -- an insurance policy. The offseason signings of Jermaine O'Neal and Shaquille O'Neal were supposed to make center a position of strength for the Celtics, especially when Kendrick Perkins returns from ACL surgery, which presumably will be some time in February. If any two of those three guys are healthy, whatever big the Celtics may add is superfluous and won't see the floor much.

But Shaq has already missed six of the team's first ten games, and Jermaine is having some problems with his knees and may miss the next few weeks. It's irrational to think that the O'Neals' nagging injuries will just disappear as the season goes on. Plus, even when Perk gets back, it's not like he'll be his old self right away.

Dampier, the 14-year veteran who was cut by the Bobcats after going to Charlotte from Dallas in the Tyson Chandler trade, is the option that makes the most sense.

One option that has been suggested is that Boston bring back Stephane Lasme, the journeyman who came oh-so-close to making the team out of training camp. But at 6-8, Lasme isn't big enough to play center. While big minutes for Kevin Garnett (35 mpg) and Glen Davis (31 mpg) are an ancillary concern about the lack of center depth, Davis also isn't big enough to play center. Signing Lasme would thus only cut into Davis' minutes, and Davis is both young enough to handle his increased workload and effective enough that his being on the court a lot is not a major problem. With Lasme, KG would still have to play big minutes, and would still have to play out of position at center.

Adding a guy like Magnum Rolle isn't an attractive option because he's a rookie and lacks the experience to be a major contributor, even if Doc trusts him with substantial playing time, which he won't. The other D-League possibility being bandied about, Tiny Gallon, is both too small to play center (like Lasme) and too raw to be a contributor (like Rolle). The Celtics already have a young big man on their roster, Semih Erden. While Erden hasn't been spectacular, he's shown that he's capable enough to play an emergency role, and he has the size to play center. It's unreasonable to expect that Rolle or Lasme or Gallon would be even as effective as Erden has been in the early going.

I don't think rookie Luke Harangody, already on the Celtics roster, is the answer, either. He suffers from the same inexperience and size issues that the young guys listed above have. While he was something of a rebounding machine in college, he's shown a preference for playing the wing -- though perhaps that's in part because it looked like he might need to be able to play small forward in order to get minutes with the team.

To be sure, Dampier has his limitations. He's close to a non-factor offensively and turns the ball over a lot for a player with those limitations. But he's a decent defender, and has NBA size and experience. If the Celtics are going to cut Wafer (their last non-guaranteed contract) and thus hamper their roster flexibility, then Dampier is the only guy who makes sense.

And time is of the essence. Dampier's situation is kind of curious; he was rumored to be signing with the Rockets, but didn't, and it's unclear to me why he hasn't hooked up with Miami, where he'd be an obvious improvement over Joel Anthony. As the Heat continue to struggle on the interior, I imagine they'll make another, stronger push for Dampier, and I don't expect that Dampier will be on the market too much longer.

As far as roster flexibility goes, while it's true that Danny and Doc would be hamstrung by cutting Wafer and giving Dampier a guaranteed contract, I'm not sure for what the team would need that roster flexibility, other than another big. Delonte West's return gives the Celtics three solid backup wing players (West, Marquis Daniels, and Nate Robinson), and rookie Avery Bradley, if forced into duty due to injury, would probably be at least as effective as the young project bigs mentioned earlier. And I haven't heard of any veteran centers that are likely to become available via trade later in the season -- at least not any that could be had for Wafer's modest contract.

A bigger concern for me, if the Celtics signed Dampier, would be what happens if the O'Neals and Perkins do stay (read: get) healthy late into the season. Then they'd have a situation where they'd have four veteran centers and not nearly enough minutes to go around. For that reason, as mentioned above, I'm not sure Dampier is interested in signing with Boston. But it's a conversation worth having. It appears that center is a position that needs to be addressed, and the time for addressing it is now.

Metal Monday: Bad Habit

I'm afraid I'm taking the easy route, because I'm tired from my trip and I have a lot to do. Here's Bad Habit covering Boston's "More Than A Feeling."

Bad Habit is arena rock, but they are Swedish, which automatically makes them more metal than Boston. And Boston has heavy metal elements and influences. I know this, because it says so on Wikipedia.

As some readers know, I was at a wedding this past weekend, and this song seems to have special meaning with that group of friends. And by special meaning, I mean it's the song to which we all play air guitar at the end of the night.

Congratulations, Sevan and Julie.