5 Late Night Notes

Only the true faithful would stay up till 10:30 to see the Celtics tip off with the Clippers.  And only the die hard bleeding hearts would stay up for the whole game.  So if that describes you, you are certainly in the right place (I know there were at least a dozen still in the chat when I checked).  If not, no fear, we’ll wait while you catch up.  In fact, here are some things you missed.

1. Wally and Perk are back, but neither can make up for missing Pierce.  Perkins provided some low post defense to key an early comeback (saving us from what was shaping up to be a laugher).  Wally chipped in with some surprising rebounding numbers, but other than that, both Wally and Perk looked slow and rusty.  As would be expected.  And speaking of rust, there was an Olowokandi sighting in garbage time.
2. During that first half, the only thing keeping us in the game was Tony Allen’s relentless pursuit of the rim.  He didn’t finish many layups, but he got to the line time after time and forced the issue when others were just standing around.
3. Gerald Green still looks like he’s thinking too much, but he makes a decision to shoot or drive, he looks fine.  I’ll take missed 3’s and I’ll take missed drives to the hoop, he just has to make a decision and go with it.  It is great that he’s making an effort to be unselfish and work with the offense.  But sometimes scorers just need to be relentless.
4. Speaking of wich, I’m now convinced that Al Jefferson has what it takes to succeed in this league, …no conscience at all.  He had a horrible, horrible first half.  Getting blocked repeatedly by Chris Kaman and Elton Brand.  Yet he kept coming.  He never even thought about not shooting.
5. On the other hand, the scouting report is out on the Celtics.  Double Al Jefferson and dare the rest of the team to beat you, …they won’t.  Pierce would make them pay.  Maybe Gerald will someday make them pay.  But right now there just isn’t enough firepower.