Half Hearted Wins Count Too

by Jeff Clark on Nov 5, 2008 11:45 PM EST in Boston Celtics Games

The opponent tonight was one of the worst teams in the league and the Celtics mostly played down to the competition. It was a sloppy, half hearted effort, which turned out to be enough.

The Thunder (that still seems odd) came out strong and pumped up in the first quarter. Once the Celtics wiped the sleep out of their eyes, they easily took over the 2nd quarter.

Headed into the third, they had every opportunity to put the game away, but chose instead to treat the night like a pickup game. They were trying around the back passes in traffic, dribbling off their feet, and settling for long jumpshots. The body language was poor and it was flat out boring to watch.

On the positive side, the Celtics defense stepped up a bit, holding OKC to 25 percent shooting in the 2nd and 3rd quarters (according to the recap). Then again, maybe the Thunder are just that bad.

If the Celtics had taken the opponent a little more seriously and finished them off earlier in the second half, the would have gotten the rest of the 4th off to watch the bench play out garbage time. Instead, it seems like Doc was almost punishing the players by making them play the rest of the 4th even when the lead was hovering around 15 points.

So while Doc has made it a stated goal to play the big three less, we saw Pierce play 39 minutes and Allen 38. I was hoping to see a little from Bill Walker and Gabe Pruitt in scrub time, but I guess I'll have to wait for another day.

It was sloppy and boring but it still counts as a W in the record books, and that's all that matters today.

Final - 11.5.2008	1	2	3	4	Total
Boston Celtics	21	30	19	26	96
Oklahoma City Thunder	29	15	11	28	83

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Comments

Not exactly easy to ‘get up’ to play the worst team on a back to back. Esp. when they won this easily playing as they did. Saving energy for tougher games I guess.

by NoraG1 on Nov 6, 2008 12:47 AM EST reply actions

dead on Jeff- we played a poor game

by Red2 on Nov 6, 2008 7:34 AM EST reply actions

Having seen the game in person, poor isn’t a strong enough word. Really lazy, half-hearted (good word) approach to the game from beginning to end. More or less took it off on both ends of the floor.

by CoachBo on Nov 6, 2008 7:47 AM EST reply actions

a win is a win, but come on, these guys are sloppy both sides of the ball. too many mins. for pp who didn’t deserve them. he was throwing up a lot of shots before there was any ball movement. let’s use pruitt and walker to see what we’ve got, especially against the weak sisters.

by nazzbo on Nov 6, 2008 8:53 AM EST reply actions

not impressed

I haven’t been impressed with any game I have seen yet this year. In fact, I have been disappointed that the offense has not been crisper. The second team is totally dysfunctional. I would like to see it with a real point guard like Pruitt and move Tony to 3 and House to the 2. It couldn’t be any worse than it is now.

And what is the matter with their shooting? Did the NBA change the height of the baskets this year?

by ForexPirate on Nov 6, 2008 10:15 AM EST reply actions

I am not quite sure what makes Pruitt a “real” PG as compared to House or, indeed, Tony Allen. As a matter of fact, he does exactly what House does on most possessions: dribbles the ball up, and sits in the corner as a shooter in the half-court set.

For crying out loud, Tony Allen has more PG skills in his drive-and-dish routine than Pruitt.

That is not meant to be a knock on Pruitt — he’s a good player, solid shooter and perimeter defender, but applying this board’s definition of “true” PG, he isn’t any more true than anyone on the roster save for Rondo.

by kozlodoev on Nov 6, 2008 1:00 PM EST up reply actions

point taken – pruitt is not a pass first pg but he has better handles than either allen or house. the real point was to free the scorers house and allen to score the ball rather than worry about setting up the offense. house’s touch has been off – he shoots better when he just has to focus on scoring the ball.

by ForexPirate on Nov 6, 2008 7:35 PM EST up reply actions

Rajon Rondo

I look at Chris Paul and start to think about what a complete point guard is. I really though Rondo would assert himself more even in the early games of the season. I’ kinda disappointed. How do people feel about him this year?

by richardlight on Nov 6, 2008 10:59 AM EST reply actions

Like the Bird Celtics

The mid 80’s Celtics used to let teams hang around until mid 4th period and then – door shuts, game over – that’s what I was reminded of last night.

I agree with Nazzbo. Last night seemed like a good time to insert Pruitt and Walker but let’s remember that this system has produced two pretty nice looking bigs. I’m optimistic Bradley is in same status.

Richardlight is looking for a comment re Rondo. Chris Paul was worth his high draft status and Rondo is better than his #19 (or whatever). He couldn’t shoot on draft night and he’s not much better now. But he is good and improved vs last year in all around game. Both Brian Shaw and Dee Brown joined the Celtics as great athletes with poor shots and both left the league as 3 pt specialists so it can happen.

by Wildblu1 on Nov 6, 2008 3:18 PM EST reply actions

Another Comment

I follow Jeff Green since he’s the guy we might have had. I don’t think we lost a future star. He and Corey Brewer are both under-performing thier draft rank

Finally about the last two nights. Whether the rest of team was complacent or not, Perk has been very quick and aggressive blocking shots. Against Houston he hit several face up jumpers. He’s not an all star but he is improved vs last season. With he and Rondo, Tony, Powe and BBD all looking improved we are in pretty good shape.

by Wildblu1 on Nov 6, 2008 3:31 PM EST reply actions