Perfect Texas 3 Step

wow, they just keep rolling along. Never loose there cool. I love this team!

Nice win. Good teams having a tough night in someone else’s building find a way to hang around close and have a shot at the game at the end. Well done.

Here’s my big problem. Sam is becoming exactly what I was afraid he would. He is a shoot first point guard who doesn’t know when to stop. Sure he had 6 assists, but they weren’t shots that he created some great lane for the most part. Guys hit open jumpers when he swung the ball. You can’t keep shooting and go 1-9 when you have the guys we have on this team. PASS THE BALL SAM!!!

House would have played every bit as well as Sam did. He was 1-2 and 2-2 for 4 pts with 3 assists in 9 minutes. I just don’t think that he is any less of a player than Sam and if Sam keeps up with his requirement of forcing shots we are going to start having trouble.

The biggest surprise stat of the game was 22 boards for Dirk! Wow. Great win C’s in spite of an off night.

If the critics haven’t been silenced yet, they will never be silenced imo. They will be grasping at straws though. :D

i was sure they were going to lose this game, and they pulled it out. KG was cold, Ray was cold, Rondo cold… just about everyone seemed inefficient on the offense tonight. Paul was the man down the stretch (we’ll forgive the missed free throws) on the defensive end.

I predicted they’d win 56 this year. Happily, it looks like I’m going to be wrong :-)

Bring on NO.

Sam has had 1 game since he has been here that I would consider a big success. That was SA. This is his stat line since he has been here: 36% fg 16% 3pt 2.3 assists and 1.5 turnovers. Take that one game out and he has been a big flop. I agree that shoot first works if you are shooting well, but when you are not you should stop.

My point is that House is the better player. He got 1/3rd of Sam’s minutes tonight but outplayed him on offense and defense. I’ll take his coming in and shooting. Plus, he passes the ball better at this point. The only way we needed him was if Rondo goes down. Then I still want him backing up House.

. This is his stat line since he has been here: 36% fg 16% 3pt 2.3 assists and 1.5 turnovers. Take that one game out and he has been a big flop. I agree that shoot first works if you are shooting well, but when you are not you should stop.

My point is that House is the better player. He got 1/3rd of Sam’s minutes tonight but outplayed him on offense and defense. I’ll take his coming in and shooting. Plus, he passes the ball better at this point. The only way we needed him was if Rondo goes down. Then I still want him backing up House.

Give me a break. First, why would you take out the San Antonio game? He’s played a total of 5 games. He’s a point guard learning a completely new system. You were expecting him to come in and be as effective as possible right from the start? The notion that House passes the ball better than Cassell is ridiculous. Cassell stabilizes the offense far more than House possibly can. Even if Sam isn’t shooting the ball well, at the very least, he can bring the ball up against pressure more effectively and set up teammates better than House.

I am completely disgusted by the anti sam comments. This is just insanity. he was the highest plus minus on the team today at 15 for heavens sake and he led the bench to whip the Dallas bunch. He hit the game winner two games ago. Do you think he will shoot poorly the rest of the year. NO. Do you think he is selfish? Are you serious??? I absolutely guarantee that the biggest cement heads who think they know the game and are clueless even they will get it very very soon. He is a future hall of famer and will be a great coach aftr he retires. And we will win a couple key games because of shots he makes

UN-BELIEV-ABLE. This team cannot be rattled!

Sam can’t even play full-time PG in the half-court, because he doesn’t know all the sets yet. The team has been on a long road trip with no practice time. Cut the guy some slack.

why all the hat for sam i am are people still bitter over his fouling rondo or something

We won, right? Or did I miss something. How people can nitpick after huge victories is beyond me. I guess Rondo deserves never to play again after the night he had then. On championship teams, different guys step up on different nights, all in the name of the TEAM winning the game. Individual analysis is saved for teams who don’t win, take the critiques of guys specific games to the Wolves’ blog, it will fit in much better there. I was at the game tonight and it was a thing of beauty, watching Ray hit that shot and the Celts pulling it out when they had several subpar individual performances. It left the Mavs fans scratching their heads, believe me. Save the criticism for at least a game we lose, as infrequent as that happens now.

yeah. i dont get any of them sam haters.

think about it. we SWEPT texas. can you remember how long it was that we just went 0-for-texas EVERY year? We freakin swept all three of them and they’re all as good as they’ve been at any time in the last decade (exept maybe dallas). No one’s done it in 7 years. The last team to do it didn’t win the championship, but still. This has to be one of the top achievements of the year for this team unless they win it all or something. ;D

why is everybody hating on sam cassell?

Hey, where’s the postgame podcast?

I need my fix man..

I love Sam…Its is only EJ who is nitpicking on Sam, and while we are at it…since Rondo was horrendous tonight, why not bench him for the rest of the season… ;D

“nice professional win” Maybe the C’s need that on tshirts… ;D

I did notice something about Dirk’s late drives & it was pointed out by Barkley in the LA game. Dirk tries to AVOID contact when shooting or going to rim. He went out of his way to avoid KG on his last drive. No basket, no foul. That won’t win the Mavs close games. No wonder Avery screams his head off for 48 minutes.

Incidently, did anyone hear that woman screaming throughout the game? That drove me batty.

hey guys, i disagree with djplaya about sam but his argument is valid and he likes the horses that got us this far especially eddie. posey continues to be a monster. and sam was not bad on d. and he steadied the game and the pace.

Not ’’hating’’ on Sam. I am just pointing out the fact that he is no better than House and taking his minutes. Sam has a bad habit of shooting whether or not he is ’’on’’ and doesn’t stop. Early in the year I agree that House was having trouble bringing the ball up the floor against pressure, but that hasn’t been the case for 20-30 games. House shoots better than Sam, House plays better defense than Sam, House can play that point spot just fine. We did not need Sam. I very may well eat those words by the end of the season, but I don’t think House deserved for his minutes to be cut for a player who isn’t any better and very possibly worse.

Wahz- if you think Sam Cassell is a Hall of Famer, then you might not want to throw out Cement Head insults. That is about as ridiculous a comment as we see on here. At least mine is backed up with #’s, however short spanned they are. If you truly believe that then maybe you ought to look at your OWN knowledge of the game…

My fear is that as he has become more comfortable on the team, he has started taking bad shots without trying to involve the 2nd unit. You can call that hating all you want, but it’s a fact. He can’t come on to this team and try to force himself into the leadership role. I don’t know how many of you noticed, but last night when he and Ray were on the break 2-1 and Ray threw that one handed bounce pass a little behind him and it went out of bounds? Sam turned to ray and motioned for him to use 2 hands on the bounce pass? Ray looked at him in disgust? THAT is Sam’s mentality! Ray Allen is a definite candidate for the Hall of Fame, a key piece to this team, and Sam is trying to teach him passing drills in front of everyone. WE DON’T NEED THAT!

I’m a converted anti-Sam. Sam has been a shooter for his entire career. He hasn’t had one practice with the C’s, doesn’t know the offense, etc. He seems more Celtic-like when KG plays at the same time, which hasn’t been often. Sam is playing terrific defense which he’s not supposed to do. And it was Sam who made the pass to RA last nite. If Sam was hitting his shots last nite this wouldn’t be a discussion. We need scoring off the bench and this is why we got Sam. Let’s also remember that other guys missed shots last nite.

It isn’t as much the hitting or missing of shots, rather the fact that his first thought is to shoot it whether or not he is making them or missing badly. Ray can come in and miss 10 in a row because he is a pure shooter. One of the best of all times. Sam is not however and when he comes in looking to score first, everyone out there on the 2nd unit sits and watches. It stalls the offense.

You are right on about him playing a bit better with KG and Ray and PP. Of COURSE he passes more to them. The problem is that he is the BACKUP PG and will be playing with the 2nd unit for the most part. One thing we don’t want is Rondo looking over his shoulder when he is struggling and Sam coming in. Rondo is a much better PG than Sam is at this stage. I just don’t want Sam to disrupt the chemistry.

I disagree completely though about his defense. He is getting blown past routinely which causes others to have to rotate to his man.

Anyone want to address the Sam vs. Ray allen issue that I mentioned above?! You just don’t do that to a superstar!

EJPLAYA — can’t you just enjoy what is going on with this team? Give it a rest, please. Sam has already pretty much won one game for this team and he has yet to practice with them!

Re: Sam. I think the criticism extremely unwarranted. Sam is by far the best floor general the Celts have right now, even better than Rondo. Rondo is the better talent and should be the better player most nights moving forward, but when the team is struggling Sam is the best at calming the ship and getting it moving in the right direction. That’s no knock on Rondo at all…it’s the fact that Sam is a 15-year vet and has always been smart about how to manage a game.

Yes, Sam is shoot-first. But as we saw last night, even if his shot is off and he shoots a lot he still has a net positive impact on the game. This isn’t true of House, because let’s face it, House isn’t a point guard. He’s a short shooting guard that can dribble. And there’s no shame in that. In fact, that is a positive of Sam being here…House can maximize what he’s good at instead of struggling to be something that he’s not. This is good for the team.

Now, Sam has worn out his welcome in most places he’s been after awhile but that shouldn’t be the case here. He’s in the perfect situation for both himself and the team, he knows it, and all involve are better off for the union.

vinnie – If you read any of my past posts I have been enjoying this team for years, not just this year. I have been accused of drinking the kool-aid ever since I have been on here. I voiced my concern about bringing Sam in and disrupting the team. At first he was trying to fit into what we were doing. He is now starting to play his own game. THAT is my concern. Nothing more. I like Sam just fine on our team if he knows his role. He talked a big game, but the fact is that he comes in and tries to dominate. One game that he hit shots does not change the rest of them that he didn’t. It is the TA argument. One out of 5 does not equal added value. That is not what we need on this team. I simply want House out there instead of him because IMO he is a better player and brings a more complete game to the table. If you have trouble backing up your difference in my opinion, then don’t comment on it and move on to one that you agree with. Simply stating ‘’give it a rest’’ doesn’t add anything. I am glad to hear how I am wrong so we can debate this. That is what these blogs are for you know!

drza44 – Care to explain House having more assists in less minutes? Less turnovers? House is not a starting caliber PG, but definitely a solid backup that can flat out shoot the ball better than Sam.

Sam has worn out his welcome for the reasons that I have stated above which is why I am pointing out that he is slipping into that mode. I don’t want to be sitting here at the end of the year with him having worn out his welcome at the expense of our championship. If he plays his limited role he increases our chances possibly. If he doesn’t he hurts them.

As far as Sam allowing House to maximize what he is good at, he can’t do that playing 1/3 of his normal minutes.