Guaranteed Fun

How about the stats for KG……….

hell yes! that was fun. now let me get all belichick… is there a shot perk can take without getting blocked? eddie house can’t play a lick of defense. ray allen’s not so hot at D either. how come haywood got so many offesnive boards?

but seriously, when Garnett stuffed Arenas (and kept the ball in bounds) I nearly wept for joy… that’s 1 win. 81 to go.

So where was Tony Brown’s glib half-time interview? I feel cheated.

Of course, the Raptors won by 37 tonight in New Jersey, so Sunday afternoon will be interesting.

20 and 20 wow. KG almost gave me a hernia watching him cheer on the bench.

I was saying 58W, I know just one game, but I believe.

Tremendous game, lots of postives. Two small words of advice: up by 20 with 5 MIN. to go it is okay to call the dogs off, we didn’t have to wait until the 2:30 min. mark. Opening night, I give Doc a pass on it, but we have 81 games and playoffs, we don’t have to be the NE Patriots. Rondo, still need to work on that outside shot and T. Allen on the back cut when guarding your man.

Excellent start, no more chemistry questions.

The backup PF will likely be Posey, so no need to worry.

Hey Jeff… been reading this blog ever since the big trade… hope you all don’t mind that KG brought 25,000 die hard KG/Wolves fans over to the Celtics with him.

Wanted to comment on the Jamison is invisible note.

That’s one thing I’ve noticed after watching several Wolves-Warriors and Wolves-Wizards games. KG almost always neutralizes Jamison completely. Jamison’s typical advantages are great range and very sure and quick hands and release around the basket. KG has always been unique in that he’s one of the quicker big men in the league, as well as one of the longest. Jamison may have a step on him, but when you can take one dribble from the 3 point line and dunk it (KG), you can usually make up a lot of ground.

Expect every smaller power forward to struggle against the Celtics this year. Randolph (smallish in height, certainly not girth), Jamison, Boozer and the like have a tough time with him. Watch out for Bosh on Sunday though… he typically plays KG very well and is by FAR the most similar player to Garnett that I’ve seen (out of the standard 2-3 taht come into the league as a ’Garnett" type).

Keep up the great work! Celtic’s Blog gets me through the work day!

And just a note… that is KG’s 3rd 20-20 opening night game in my recent memory. Did it against the Knicks in 03-04 I believe and again the following year, don’t remember who against though.

Nice win, although I am not sure that the Wizards looked like they gave us much of a fight. Couple thoughts:

I can not decide how I could have said that I wouldn’t trade KG for Big AL even if it was straight up.

The offense with the starters didn’t actually look very good at first. It seemed everyone was standing around watching one of the three go ISO on someone. It wasn’t until they brought in bench players that they made a run. Then once Pierce got hot everyone else seemed to catch on. Ray got hot, KG got hot…

The scary thing is I think they will actually get much better as the season progresses. Right now we couldn’t beat the Spurs. We’ll see in that 20-40 game window.

TA should never ever dribble the ball. Absolutely awful.

Scal played well, Pollard looked out of shape. Perk didn’t look too good. Rondo just okay. 2 assists?!

The commentators were acting like we were amazing. Not quite there, but we are definitely on our way.

One other thing. Anyone else notice that Pierce’s free throw shooting trouble seems to be because the first one he takes he seems to not concentrate and just throws it up there? Then the next one he settles down and really concentrates and it goes in?! He will never be able to hit that stride where he has full confidence until he starts stringing 2 together consistently. If he takes a sloppy attempt on that first one he never will.

Big Ticket, good posts, you are my go to blogger scout, great insight.

What shocked me was that it was Pierce and the 2nd unit that built up the big lead in the 2nd Q.

Our bench was not weak when it counted tonight.

If you can give Rondo props for having a good night with that line (I did think he did a good job scoring and defensively) how can you be critical of Scal’s 9pt 3 boards and 3 assist night in just 20 min?!

I say that he had an okay night due to the fact that he really didn’t create anything for teammates. He either drove successfully to the basket himself, or he handed the ball off and stood and watched. As our PG, he just had an okay night. As a scorer and defender, he had a pretty good one. We will only become great with him being the playmaker and create easy points for others.

I agree with you EJPlaya, Wizards were awful but we did come right out of the gate and force turnovers, played decent D most of the night.

Wizards live and die with the outside shooting, Areanas something like 5 for 20 range. First Quarter we came out a little stiff and we too were trying to hit the outside jumpers. Once we got some movement on offense things changed in a hurry.

Bulls, Raptors, Pistons should be some exciting games.

Cross Arenas off my “payback list”. Rasheed Wallace has said we better worry about trying to be one of the 8 playoff teams in the East. Shaq said “Who cares” when asked about the big 3. I will circle the calendar for the Pistons and Heat games. Payback is a b—-.

I think Rondo was better than ‘just okay’. He really does not look like he’ll be a drive and dish type guard. Most of the time he drove the lane, he either threw up an awkward looking layup (but made most of them) or brought it back out. I don’t think he’ll get a ton of assists from up top either… the plays are almost always going through KG at the elbow or getting swung to Pierce.

I think Rondo did exactly what the Celtics needed. He hit his open jumpers, he got to the basket when the opportunity was there, he was disruptive on defense, he must’ve done a good enough job on Mr. 25% (Arenas, 5-20 tonight) and he took pretty good care of the ball.

I still believe Center is this team’s biggest weakness. Perk isn’t going to give more than 20-25 minutes a night and Pollard is not a quality backup. They can get away with it against a lot of teams, but it could cost them in some key matchups.

Maybe Shaq said ‘’who cares’’ because he recognizes that they aren’t in the running anymore so it doesn’t really matter.

He should have been saying ‘’who cares’’ about Sheed because that man is a complete moron.

On Posey he is listed at 6’8", 215, mostly plays the 2/3. Not really a PF type guy unless you are going classic small ball, especially at 215 pds.

In Scal’s defense for tonight at least, he did help spread the offense and gave us some good hustling in the game. He also canned several long range shots when the game was in its later stages.

If Rondo isn’t going to be a drive and dish type guard, which I am not sure I agree with that based on games like the Cleveland game where he was doing just that, then our biggest weakness is at PG. Once he blows past people like he did tonight, he needs to be able to dump it off for the easy pass when people rotate. This is what Parker is so effective with. Score if it is there, but if not then get someone else something easy. Rondo can do that, but didn’t tonight.

Perk will be just fine. Haywood is a very good defensive center and no one went to the basket and dished which made him pretty ineffective. I will wait and see what Pollard can do when back in shape, because he has been a quality backup in his career.

On Rondo, what you got tonight is what you probably are going to get all season. Good defense, good driving to the lane. Anytime his man is slightly out of position trying to help a little with KG or Pierce, Rondo is to quick to the hoop if his defender is not right in front of him. I think his jumper will still be work in progress (to put it politely) throughout the season and as posted earlier much of the offense will and should go through KG. With KG in my opinion, the need for the classic back up is not needed.

I too think center is going to be the glaring weakness on this team. Even tonight when Wizards did the pick and roll with Arenas, Perk didn’t handle that well. Perk’s health is one move from making this a great season to a fairly good one.

I do think we go 6-2, no worse than 14-6 out of the gate.

a win is a win… i really am appreciating ray allen- he is not the big banana, but he got 2 key rebounds, hit his shots, and while not a great defender, he is tons better than szcerbiak. i thought wash had a bad night, but is a step down from what i expected.

What I liked about Ray Allen tonight is when the Wizards cut it to 15 from 22 or 24 and it started to get a little quiet it was Allen who came through with several good plays to help put us back close to 20 and cost from there.

The Wizards were complete garbage. They didn’t show up at all. Don’t get me wrong, our defense was good …. but it was more about their poor offense than our defense. They had some looks and bricked just about every one of them. Several unforced turnovers also.

How hilarious was the Big Baby intro to the 4th quarter? I was dying.

“laughing.. nodding head "Yes!!”"

© Homie at the end of the Halo 3 Mountain Dew Game Fuel Ad..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO-J5ImDEi8

..chugs GREEN kool aid.

Hey everyone,
Haven’t been in here in a while, certainly not since the redesign (which looks great).
One question: I tried to join the chat room, but couldn’t seem to get in despite being logged in AND downloading a new version Java.
Here’s the last sentence I saw:
“To login to chat, simply enter your username (no password required) at the prompt.”
So where’s the prompt?
Help!
Guys looked good, btw, but Washington looked awful.

That Garnett spike of the ball was the most vicious block I’ve ever seen- it was SO loud lol!!!

So many interesting matchups this year. It’s not just a matter of wins and losses — I’m truly excited to see how the team approaches each game, each opponent, how they work together, etc.

The games themselves are a reward, not just the outcome. During the Walker years, I was always wishing they’d play better basketball and felt little joy simply watching the game. I was happy when they won because they were the Celtics … but they hardly seemed like the Celtics anymore. Well, they feel like the Celtics now.

Rondo’s assist numbers are inconsequential. We know he can dish. It’s great to see him being assertive, using his quickness to get into the lane when his man doubles. That stat line is going to put some fear into some teams.

That said, I’d still like to see less one-on-one and more cutting, screen-and-rolls. There was a lot of isolation basketball and the offense at times seemed stagnant. Paul played a great game, but had a couple turnovers over-dribbling.

My other small critique — why is Paul getting himself a technical foul up 19 in the 4th quarter? He’s gotta keep better control of himself than that.

To see the defensive intensity was a thing of beauty. I am amazed by Kevin Garnett’s energy level.

PJ – Scal only had one three first of all. Second of all, 44% for an outside shooter is not a great night, but definitely solid. Can’t really compare that to Rondo hitting mostly layups. He did have a solid offensive night on his own.

Another thing was that the team offense didn’t really flow until he and House came in the game. This spread the floor and Pierce was able to create and hit some shots. Scal does a lot of little things that it is too bad that people don’t appreciate. I have said that Scal shouldn’t be the first one off the bench. I’d rather see Powe. I think Posey would have been had he not been suspended. I can however recognize that he had a good game last night and earned the minutes he was given with his play.

Lunchpail – Assist numbers from our PG are inconsequential?! That is rediculous. I agree that he should be getting to the basket, but he has got to be creating opportunities for his teammates. He really didn’t do that last night and until he does they will not be able to be elite.

Rondo had a great game. Rondo took what the defense gave him. Geez, PLAYA, 7-10 from a guy “who shoots worse than most high school seniors” is not too bad. If they stay this unselfish Rondo probably won’t light it up in the assists dept…But if he plays the kind of defense he played and stays out of foul trouble the C’s will be in great shape.

If Ricky couldn’t reach his potential with Garnett as a teammate he probably didn’t have the potential to begin with.
How could anyone not love to have this guy as a teammate?

The optimist in me thinks that if the three are that good, it takes pressure off Rondo, Allen and even Perkins to step up right away; they can hide their weaknesses. For a while, that is. Sooner or later teams might be able to expose them.
Nice first game, though. Want more of Big Baby!