Avert Your Eyes
How did the Celtics respond to their first loss of the season? They threw up a stinker in New Jersey. Thankfully for the Celtics, the Nets can barely dress eight players and had to start Trenton Hassell. I know, I was surprised he's still in the league too!
This was just a bizarre and awful game. It was played a snail's pace, and while it seemed like the Celtics couldn't shoot - mainly Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen (up until Ray made a couple late to ice it), the Nets had lineups out there that probably haven't even practiced together. The Celtics were fortunate that these unfamiliar Net lineups turned the ball over 23 times - 20 of those TOs were actually Celtics steals. Marv Albert (I had the Nets broadcast) informed me that is a league high so far this year. The turnovers really were the key to the victory tonight.
The Celtics have now played three sub-par games in a row. Hopefully they get some much needed rest and practice time before the Jazz come to town.
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Celtics Look to Bounce Back vs Nets
(6-1)
at
(0-6)
Boston Celtics (6-1) at New Jersey Nets (0-6)
Saturday, November 7
7:30 PM ET
Game #8 Away Game #4
TV: CSN HD, YES HD, LP 751, 752
Izod Center
Referees: Mark Wunderlich, Joe Forte, Eli Roe
Game Thread l Chat
The Nets are traditional rivals of the Celtics as we think back to the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals where the Nets defeated the Celtics in a hotly contested 6 game series. The Nets have fallen on hard times and this season are just marking time until they can make a play for LeBron or some other big free agent in 2010. Their ownership and even location are up in the air at this point and that can't make for a very stable club.
Both teams are playing in the second of back to back games and both teams had to travel the night before. New Jersey played at Philly and Boston played the Suns at home. However, older legs have a harder time in back to back games. If the Wolves game was any indication, this may be closer than it should be. The Nets, however have been depleted by injuries and so have just 9 players available.
The Nets are still winless after a 3 point loss to Philly on Friday. The Celtics are no longer undefeated after their loss to Phoenix and now they can get on with the rest of the season without worrying about staying undefeated. . The Celtics defense has slipped in the last two games, allowing both the Wolves and Suns to shoot over 50%. They need to get back to their commitment to defense. and the winless Nets are an ideal team to get them back on track.
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Amare Questions Perk's Maturity
Stoudemire questions Perkins' maturity - Globe
Phoenix's Amar'e Stoudemire was asked about Perkins' maturity in his sixth NBA season. The Suns forward was quite candid.
"He''s a solid player out there, he loves to get physical. He's aggressive," Stoudemire said. "He keeps a lot of confrontation going. We try to play smart basketball from our standpoint. We try to stay out of the confrontation, really and just execute our plays offensively and defensively. But seeing sometimes he wants to keep it up, always mean, always mad. He don't even have fun out there. He needs to learn to have fun on the basketball court and enjoy his life, enjoy the game."
Don't listen to him Perk. You be you.
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Daily Links 11/7
Herald Everybody loves Jared
Suns coach Alvin Gentry: C’s defense among the best ever
Grant Hill ponders what might have been in Boston
Celtics ‘D’ gets burned from too much Suns
Jared Dudley an above-par sub
Cracks in armor create imperfection
Grant Hill too tough to move
LeBron James, Cavaliers jump all over Knicks
Scouting report: Celtics at Nets
Globe Video: Rivers on Perkins
Final: Suns 110, Celtics 103
Stoudemire questions Perkins' maturity
Celtics Postgame Analysis
A long way to go
Rivers: 'We're tired right now'
Quick fix is to show more patience on offense
Stoudemire stating his case
Sunburned
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Kevin Garnett Can Still Score
Kevin Garnett doesn't want to be asked any more questions about his surgically repaired right knee, but he did manage to provide some further answers last night for any remaining pundits.
Garnett posted a season-high 26 points against Phoenix on 13-20 shooting, but it wasn't enough as the Celtics fell 110-103. Still, in weighing the positives and the negatives, a big night from Garnett certainly holds some significant weight. I think the questions and uncertainties with Garnett will quietly remain for some time, but nights like last night will eventually bridge the gap so we can all move forward for good.
Because against Phoenix, he brought out the majority of the tools in his toolbox against the defense of Amare Stoudemire and Channing Frye. He established the jump shot early on, but much to the approval of this writer, he worked his way inside as the night went on. It wasn't long before Garnett was dipping, ducking and drop stepping his way through the paint, putting in some hanging hook shots and up and unders. He also threw down a steady collection of tip-in alley-oops that came from a variety of distributors.
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Suns deal Celtics their first loss
You didn't actually think they could go 82-0, did you?
The Boston Celtics lost for the first time this season to the Phoenix Suns, 110-103. In a game that featured fast pace offense and poor defense, the Suns were able to come into the TD Garden and play their style of basketball.
"The game was fast, I will admit that," Kevin Garnett said. "Overall, I thought when it came down to it, they made shots and we didn't."
The Celtics were playing from behind for the majority of the game, and although hung around to make a game out of it, could never go on a long enough run to take the lead in the second half. Every time the Celtics would try to get something going, Phoenix would come back on the other end and hit a shot to take the wind out of the Celtics' sail.
While the Celtics went 4-18 from three-point territory, the Phoenix Suns shot a whopping 13-24 from the same distance. That was ultimately the difference in the game.
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Living by the Three and Dying by the Three
Through the first six games of the season, the Celtics shot 57-126 from deep, good for 45.2 percent. The team reached something of a peak with their three-point shooting on Tuesday against the Philadelphia 76ers when the guys knocked down 14 of their 20 attempts in the midst of a 31-point blowout.
However, the following night against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Celtics' red hot shooting from deep grew as cold as the Minneapolis weather in the heart of winter. The Celtics made just five of their 19 three-point field goal attempts against the Wolves and barely managed to squeak by Al Jefferson and company, with a 92-20 victory.
Two days later against the offensive-minded Phoenix Suns, the game plan called for the ball to be pounded down low against the likes of Amare Stoudemire and Channing Frye. The Celtics ended up losing 110-103, but 60 of those 103 points were scored in the paint. Clearly, scoring in the paint was possible against the Suns. Unfortunately, Boston apparently forgot about this strategy in the game's final three minutes and they resorted to bombing away from deep, which played a key role in the team's first loss off the season.
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No D, No Win
Clearly both teams made a pact before the game to play pickup style no-defense in this one. The only problem is that the Suns don't have Shaq and Terry Porter to slow them down anymore, so they are back to being an offensive force.
Jason Richardson couldn't miss tonight (6-7 on threes), Nash looked like the 2 time MVP of old, and Amare chipped in with 22 of his own points.
KG had a good offensive game (his new signature move is the alley-oop-layup) and all the starters scored in double figures, but the story of the game was the lack of defense. You can't count on outscoring the Suns. Oh yeah, and shooting 50% from the line doesn't help either.
You can't win them all. Tip your hat to the Suns.
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