The only problem is Perkins. He’s terrible. Why on earth did we cut Batista?

I made a comment weeks ago that we will at times look very much like the Boston Globetrotters, bingo!

Batista is still a head scratcher for me. For the past several years we have stocked up on 2 and 3s at the expense of the big boys.

Perk health and foul issues are a concern. Pollard still damaged goods. Scal as I predict will look better than he has the past several years but still he’s not a long term answer. Baby and Powe are pretty raw to expect the level of play we are hoping for. I don’t want KG banging with centers even if East centers are relatively as a group weak.

I hope Danny has an “ace” of a trade we don’t know about yet for big boy help.

When we’re blowing teams out and there is a break in the action, could perhaps the Garden brass pipe in a little Globetrotter music?

With all signs that the Big 3 are for real and that this team is showing all the signs of going deep to the possible finals and beyond; why would anyone entertain the thought of a possible Kobe trade.

Is it possible a Kobe deal could make the Celts even better, yes it is potentially possible. However there is just as much the likelihood that things wouldn’t work out as well.

I am super content with our Big 3 and I don’t want to be too greedy where something like that comes back and bites you in the rump. Ridiculous in my mind that SI could put us as the #2 destination for Kobe.

Another head scratcher and I don’t have dandruff.

I will be the first to admit I have been on the anti-Scal bandwagon for two years; but I felt when we got Ray and KG that Scal will begin to pay dividends with vets and not in the middle of a youth movement.

Scal will never live up to the $3M in all liklihood but the guy can do the intangibles and I will learn to appreciate his contributions to the team, slowly becoming a Scal fan.

That was an awesome article, one of the best I’ve seen on celitcs blog…I didn’t see the game, so I think I appreciated that more…these comments however are brutal.

Perkins is horrible?? Not even close, and I love how the guy is whining because we cut Batista, as if he would have played in place of Perkins anyway…moron.

Powe, Scal and Perk are plent for this club, especially with KG running the show…also don’t forget both Posey and Pierce can play 4 if necessary…so everyone stop whining about lack of depth in the frontcourt…it isn’t an issue.

Perkins got a lot of made up fouls from the refs today. My favorite thing about the game (besides the big 3) was KG standing up almost the entire 4th quarter with that insane look on his face cheering on the 3rd unit.

 I was at the game tonight, and the celtics looked GREAT. KG looked great in the lowpost but about 5 of his rimmed out. He looked great and I LOVE SO MUCH how they use him to pressure the defense and run the offense thru him in the post. If there’s no double he is unstoppable and gonna score, and when the double comes he always finds the open man and gets an easy score for us, its a win/win. It is great.

Our defense looked so good tonight, we looked great. Ray looked so good taking it on his drives when they pressed him, and when not his shot is SO money, unstoppable. Vintage Pierce tonight as well, on the attack, on fire, looked awesome. All 3 make the right plays and are great passers and just complement each other so beautifully. Its perfect.

Almost forgot my man Big Baby lookin nice tonight. Rondo and Perkins played very well too. And actually, Scalabrine played great too, great passes! House and Pruitt looked very good, and posey and powe did well but didnt play as much. Good game, we were looking great.

Perk had 4 fouls in 14 minutes. Frontcourt depth is a concern. But, as I’ve stated before, it’s a lot more fun to be worrying about the backup center, then it is to be worried about everyone not named Paul Pierce :)

forget batista, he’s a bum, there’s a reason he couldnt crack the HAWKS rotation, and couldnt make our team EVEN WITH OUR BACKUP CENTER OUT. He’s nothing, forget him. We’re looking GREAT, and its a non-issue.

Loved what I saw tonight. And Modawg is right anyone who thinks Perk is a moron is an idiot. Gotta love the fact that I could barely see any empty seats at a preseason game.

Modawg we miss you hear come back to Boston for just the NBA season.
From your boy WhiteChalkLiT

I meant to say anyone who thinks Perk is terrible is a moron……..damn my dislexia

Please, oh please do not trade for Kobe….

Batista being cut could mean Ainge is talking to Chris Webber or PJ Brown.

I can’t thank you enough for this game recap. Has to be the most entertaining play-by-play I’ve read since … I can’t remember. Great humor and great insight. I’m stuck in California with no League Pass yet, but you brought the game to me. Thanks!

After watching the highlights, it looks like Perk played pretty well. But you couldn’t tell that from the box score. So I take back my terrible comment, but it would be nice to have a solid backup like Batista on the squad.

a very good game synopsis up top. the knicks flat out stank but our defense was magnificent in that the players executed and moved their feet to get to their spots, the ball, the boards, their man. we won by 40 points- it could have been 50-60. these kind of one sided games can become very boring or ho hum, but it wasn’t.we have been in the desert too long and i enjoyed watching everyone. as a scal downer in the past, he played well with passion and had at least 4 boards, tho his hands were shaky grabbing the boards.

Really nice write up for someone who is out of town. docextension, nice to see a Scal-hater softening up. I hope more follow. He wasn’t as bad as his critics claimed last year. He just tried to do too much. This year he will be the biggest gainer from the “Big 3” and Posey. No, probably Perk will. I didn’t see the game but I doubt that Perk is “terrible”. With Scal, Powe, Big Baby and Pollard (and KG) we can fill the 5 spot. This is as ridiculous a worry as the backup PG issue. House, Pruitt, T & R Allen all can bring the ball up. We aren’t a PG-first team.

perk covered the whole boxscore 4pts (100% 2nd time) 1 reb 1 ast 2 stls 1 blk
ast stls and blks help out as much as anything else
as long as he keeps working on his defense im happy

Rondo is doing well he is playing in control, House is out to proove he can play point and he will. Pruitt was playing against a 3rd unit but I thought it was his best game and will become a good guard as he learns.
Perk still is young and he is assertive he will figure it out with Clifford Ray and learn to bump in the low post and slide on defense and set picks without knocking people down. KG will guide him to be a good player like Robinson taught Duncan. If we had Pollard and he could play 15 minutes a game that would be good and take the pressure off possibly putting KG at Center but I think Powe will have to be the backup Center for now he is the same size as Ben Wallace and assertiveness so I think he can hold his own as backup center and that will keep KG at the high Post so he can pass from there and be our 7ft Tom Brady. This will lessen the risk of injury for KG and not tire him out as much. Personally I think this is the key to our success this year. Scal has been playing great his best game yet. Ray Allen could be the most relaxed player I have seen at 32 still goes by people with ease. Pierce looked great. Big Baby is the best interior passer in a long time. Powe just keeps getting better. I was impressed with the passing its been a long time coming. We didn’t play the Spurs, Pistons, Suns, Mavericks etc but the team work was impressive.

So… THAT’S how professionals play basketball?! Incredible! And fun to watch. Thank you KG. Thank you Danny.

Hankfinkel and Petula, Looks like you two have a great chemistry together. Wonderful article. Good humor. Good coverage. I watched the game last night(thanks to free preview of NBA league pass), but it was still enjoyable to read your version. Keep it coming!

Just a few thoughts:
1. After hearing of the Kobe business—LA could have had KG if they had the guts to get him. Danny is my hero he had the guts and the owners backed him. I love DA.
2. Scals—we will now see what Danny saw in him. He just needed players that he could support.
3. Doc—I felt he signed the contract he did for next year because I didn’t think he wanted to return after that. After hearing a Bill Russell story I now know differently. Russ, Bird and Red were having a discussion. Red described that he set the framework for what the team would do and then let the players play. Before Russ could respond Bird quipped that Red was OVERPAID. After hearing Doc describe yesterday morning’s walk thru—Do this, done and on the next. Etc, etc. Last year do this, okay you did such and such wrong, over and over again and maybe they got it. Now Doc has nothing to do, he knew it and thus thought he would be overpaid if he did go after a huge contract.
4. Ray Allen—What have we missed over the past years. This quy is sweet, he just knows how to play.
5. Places to pass to. Last year—PP attracts 4 defenders and looks to pass. No one in position to receive a pass. This year—Ray Allen and Eddie House are always in position to receive a pass, as is Perk.
6. House comes in as backup point last nite. Is pressured and has trouble bringing up the ball. 20 sec timeout, discussion, no more trouble bringing ball up. Imagine this happening last year.
7. Ubunto—-Danny Ainge—-guts and courage. This team is just great.

Mr Freeze said:
  The only problem is Perkins. He’s terrible.

Doc spoke about Perk in post-game interview. He also said he spoke to Perk at half time. Last nite Perk was standing up to Curry and something got started between them. Doc told Perk something like {sometimes playing tough means walking away}.Perk did that in second half and no more foul troubles. Perk had one foul called setting a pick for Ray Allen. This is old habit from last year where players didn’t know how to use pick and Perk had to move to close space. Ray knows how to use a pick and these fouls will be eliminated. Perk also talked in pre or post game interview about how much he was learning from KG. Anti-Perk people will change their minds real soon. For truth in advertising purposes—I’ve always been a Perk fan and will always stick up for him.

hey great article. light enough to be entertaining, but still enough meat to give us a little insight into the game. kudos

Last comment: we’re back to the ‘80s. For those who didn’t have a chance we’re seeing basketball played the way it should be again. It’s a beautiful game when played the right way. One more last comment: KG on PP. KG said PP will appear to be the most improved of the 3 because he will now be able to play the right way. (not a quote, just the jist of the comment). You can already see that just by seeing him drive to the basket last nite. One defender and PP uses his body perfectly to keep from getting the shot blocked.

an addition- ray allen is so smooth. i was dubious at the trade, not about allen, but about youth for age. the experience shows. he’s a winner, a class act and a smooth leader of men. and he can drive to the hoop and he knows how to pick his spots.

In regards to Perk –
1- a couple of those fouls were cheap fouls that shouldn’t have been called.

2- Powe comes in and puts up 8 pts and 7 boards, Scal adds 5 more pts and 5 more boards. Where is the problem?! Batista who?!

3- Curry had 5 fouls in 16 minutes and so I call that a well done job by Perk. His agressive play may have kept him out of the game some, but it also helped cause the exit of Curry. I take that tradeoff any day.

4- Some people want to whine and complain no matter what the outcome. We just won by 40 in a laugher in the 3rd preseason game! Our stars sat the whole 4th quarter and the reserves increased the lead against their first string.

Other thoughts:

Pruitt looked much better than he has.
Our D looks really solid.
These three want to share the ball which is going to be a big advantage.
Big Baby is sure quick on his feet for a fat man!

Hard to make a real evaluation when the opponent doesn’t show up. (WOW, the Knicks look awful) But Toronto did show up in the first game and the team looked similar. Looking forward to the Nets game. That should be a closer game so we’ll probably get to see how coaching decisions and how we break a press without Rondo in the lineup goes. This looks very good so far.

Biggest improvement is in the defense where it looks like Thibodeau is being allowed to implement a real NBA defense. They still blitz and switch more than they should. But it isn’t their main defense so they’re in rebounding position more often than not. Some bad defensive habits from last season need to be broken on the defensive end and this will be a very good team on both ends of the court.

I’m less concerned about Perk’s backups than Rondo’s. Pruitt should end up in the NBDL so I would like to have seen how House would do at the point for extended minutes. Davis is clearly a player for 10 minutes at a time. If Scal shows the same fire on the boards as he did last night he is also. Powe is also so there is plenty of depth there. I think both Rondo and Perk will have foul trouble.

I like Perk and think IF he stays healthy and out of silly foul trouble we are set. Time will tell.

I don’t think Batista a bum, I think he, like Scal can hold the fort.

If Pollard also has injuries issues like he currently has and Perk has a health relapse, it seems like it may fall on Powe, possibly even Baby. I don’t think it is wise to have KG banging with centers.

Now if Powe and Baby step up, then more power to us, if they can’t then its a crack in our “bench” that the naysayers have been warning against.

You always got a guy at the end of the bench. I just assume it be Batista than another 2 or 3 that won’t see any action unless a blow out in the last 3 min. of the game.

Perk did seem to settle down in the second half….Gabe proved that he has game (still a rookie and won’t contribute right away)…and now for Batista—when the Slowskys bought his jersey I knew it was time for him to go…Davis needs to lose at least 30 pounds..he does have some serious skills but, the weight is an issue…the jury is still out on Wallace…his lack of pt should be a hint to us…Jones- sure hope he uses his minutes to showcase his talent for another team…I still think DA will bring in another vet…GPA simply looked super…it should be a fun year !

Perkins is not terrible. He got two mystery fouls called agains him – especially the second double foul that went agains him and Curry.

Batista got cut, because Glen Davis brings exactly the same things to the table, and then some (passing ability, lateral speed, shooting – you name it).