M&M Boys Integral In Deterring Green In Motown

by Steve Weinman on May 27, 2008 12:20 AM EDT in NBA Articles

A Daily Babble Production

It was an angering three hours spent in front of the television last night.

The effort from the Celtics drove me absolutely crazy -- to the point that I realized after the fact that I spent the game overheating and growing short on breath. Rough times.

There's a lot to be legitimately peeved about on the green side, but sometimes, it's more worthwhile to take a deep breath and get ready to move past a loss. This is one of those times. Just seems like a wiser idea than forcing my head to explode by actually writing out the unhappiness brought out by Game 4 against the Pistons.

But it is also worth remembering that it takes two to tango. Sometimes, our team is really bad (the Celtics certainly were), but that often isn't the whole story. Sometimes, the other team is pretty good, too. At the very least, there are two members of the Pistons' frontcourt who earned some praise for their efforts this time around.

Antonio McDyess and Jason Maxiell embarked on a tag team mission to pull the Celts down last night, and they emerged from said mission quite successful.

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ESPN's broadcasters couldn't say enough about McDyess, and they couldn't have been more right. He was outstanding. His early jump-shooting from mid-range helped the Pistons get off to a fast start, and his desire helped carry them through the rest of the contest.

Simply put, McDyess played hungrier basketball than the Celtics did last night. He was the first one to rebounds and loose balls. He was the one not backing down from anyone in the green. He was the one who managed to tip a jump ball away from Kevin Garnett. He created second chances from his team by nabbing 7 of his 16 total rebounds on the offensive end. He hit his jump shots, got inside for a couple and went an effective 5-for-6 from the foul line en route to a 21-point performance on 8-for-14 shooting.

Beyond the statistics, McDyess clearly led the Pistons' first team in energy all night long, and his enthusiasm proved contagious to those around him. Just an excellent effort.

Meanwhile, Jason Maxiell came off the bench for a performance that went beyond mere Energizer Bunny excitement levels. He did a little bit of everything. Dunked emphatically on the fast break. Finished buckets plus the foul. Hit two of his three foul shots (good for a guy who had shot 43.5 percent from the line prior to the game). Knocked down mid-range jump shots. And, of course, he had the highlight reel block on Kevin Garnett's fast-break dunk attempt that we'll be seeing all over television for most of the upcoming week.

Antonio McDyess and Jason Maxiell have earned the tip of our caps. Hard-nosed, Blue-collar basketball. Hungry baskeball. Though I say it grudgingly, well done, fellas.

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Comments

Just dropped by to read some DB at CB! Well stated, SW … and while I’d usually leave some more extensive comments, I’m just too darned upset right now to want to even think[/i] about this horrible game. Suffice it to say that my Mom, (who I call the Biggest Celtic Fan In The World), was completely disgusted … with the refs, Doc, [i]and[/i] the players, and if she had not been out of ginger snaps, there would have undoubtedly been a mess to clean up near the TV, (long story, but she throws them at the TV when she gets upset with games … usually the officiating). Anyway … I hope the C’s find something positive to take away from this one … I’m sure as heck struggling to do the same. One word sums this game up for me: [i]Ugly (ouch)!

by Bahku on May 27, 2008 1:15 AM EDT reply actions

Funny how our mood changes game to game. After game 3, you’d thought this could be over in 5. Seven baby, seven! Hard to believe that with as good a shake as you’re going to get from the refs on the road, that we couldn’t find somebody with any kind of offensive rhythm to help pull this one out. Big difference in their top scorer vs ours seems to be that Rip keeps moving and moving to try to get open while Pierce looks slower. Makes for harder baskets for Paul. Allen seems to be quick enough. He just cannot shoot anymore.

by celty86 on May 27, 2008 5:44 AM EDT reply actions

I’m always reluctant to blame the coach but this time I feel Doc contributed more than his share to the loss last night. The Pistons clearly were going to jam Pierce and Garnett and let the other Celtics try to beat them – a good plan when the other three on the floor are a struggling two-guard and two non-shooters. In my opinion, the coach should have gone small with Posey and House. This would have spread the floor more and also (possibly) forced the Pistons to go with only one big to match up.

Nobody cheering for the C’s could have liked the game last night, but realistically the team is playing on borrowed time with a second-year point guard and no adequate back-up. That is the one position where inconsistency just kills your team.

by lemonadesky on May 27, 2008 6:21 AM EDT reply actions

One good thing about last nite is they called alot of the fouls that Hamilton usually gets away with. Hopefully this will be a trend. Also, McDyess has killed us in every game. We need to control him.

by TrueGreen on May 27, 2008 6:57 AM EDT reply actions

Danny AInge had to be hoping for more when he traded Wally, delonte and the number 5 pick for ray allen. During the regular season ray was Ok but there were too many 4-14 games for my taste. I know it’s easy to pick on a guy when he’s down but despite some game winners and a brief stretch where he shot well I felt all year that Ray was a disappointment. Now I would gladly take regular season Ray over playoff Ray. I don’t think I have ever seen a player of his skill disappear so completely. If he were shooting better we would have beaten atlanta and cleveland much easier. the sad thing is I don’t see his play changing the rest of the playoffs even if we somehow manage to pull out this series. Of course ray isn’t the only reason we lost last night – no one played well and Garnett disappeared too. It’s bizarre to me that after winning game 3 we came out and played like we did last night. we knew what was coming and we let ithappen anyhow. I don’t think we have the mental makeup to win a championship

by Red2 on May 27, 2008 8:14 AM EDT reply actions

It does indeed take two to tango. Detroit was playing “Celtic-like” defense at the start of the game. They were swarming the ball and making passes very very difficult and decent shots next to impossible. By the time things settled down a bit, the Celts were in full fledged brick throwing mode.

Kudos to McDyess from me too. The guy was a rock last night (and all series really).

by redzdeadbabyredzdead on May 27, 2008 9:39 AM EDT reply actions

At the start it seemed as if the Cs thought the game would be
an extension of game 3. Unfortunately for the Cs, the Pistons
came out like a team who would be down 3-1 with another loss. Det played smarter, harder and more effectively.
McDyess and Maxiell are both quality players who have to be kept
off the boards and guarded on the perimeter. Maxiell’s block on
the KG dunk was excellent hustle.

by Greg37 on May 27, 2008 10:10 AM EDT reply actions

Good points, Lemon. Sadly, I can’t see Doc showing any imagination and going small. He will ride Ray-Ray into the ground. The team may be heading there with him. I hope not!

by celty86 on May 27, 2008 12:14 PM EDT reply actions

the m boys were great and we weren’t. we got the correct calls from the refs-no complaints. ray is killing us-let’s be patient-what else can we do? doc did not kill us but he has a game plan sticks to it and rarely makes adjustments, it seems, within the game, or when he does it’s 5 minutes later than it should be. we are being exposed as a not multidimensional team.

by nazzbo on May 27, 2008 12:35 PM EDT reply actions