It’s All About The D

one more thing about the freethrows, one reason could be that the celts trust one another defensively, while lakers dont. they always knew theres going to be help, so they didnt have to foul. the lakers, as shown by that fisher foul at the end, dont. thats why fisher fouled pierce, because he didnt know if theres gona be help or not

Jeff,

You hit it on the head! The backbone of every title worthy team is the D. Offense comes and goes, defense is consistent. It’s all about “want to”. Of course you need the personel and coaching too. Thank goodness we got Thibodeau, Garnett and Posey.

tom t.is an oak. with him screaming out info and kg quarterbacking, our d stands a good chance to remain fixed.pj always had the reputation as a defense first player. keep an eye on perk- if he’s not mobile, he’s limited. will we ever see tony?

So far it looks like the Cs have scouted the Lakers well and when they play defense like they can the Lakers have some trouble on offense. When Bryant is on the bench the Lakers’ offense doesn’t seem very efficient. But the Cs have to bring
that defensive intensity to LA.

Jeff, you say “by comparison (to PP)” that KG and Ray have been quiet. That may be so statistically (not sure) and visually. Also, the media focus is on PP. But, I don’t think KG and Ray have been quiet. KG isn’t shooting great, but he’s been consistently making big plays at big times. Ray also might seem to be quiet, but he’s playing great defense on Kobe playing him one on one. This lets the other defenders stick to their men. Ray is able to stay in Kobe’s face, but is able to also anticipate his moves and force him to do things he doesn’t want to do. I don’t think Posey has done such a good job defending Kobe. I think PP can defend him well, but it’s better for the team if PP has an easier defensive assignment which could be the reason for his great offense. That’s why I don’t think KG and Ray have really been “quiet”. I think you can extend these observations to the other C’s on the floor. It’s a TEAM thing. No one should get extra praise or extra negatives. They are just doing their jobs.

This is off-topic, but ESPN must be the dumbest organization to have the announcers and production team that are doing the games. The concentration of their broadcasting team seems to be everywhere, but on announcing the game. I’ve basically had to turn the sound off. I miss some things this way and it takes away from my enjoyment of this event. I’d rather see a Celtic preparing to take a free-throw than what seems like minutes of Magic stuffing his face with some substance. Wouldn’t it have been smarter to have good announcers and a good production team. If it was me, I would have had Mike and Tommy their production team do the Celtic home games and the LA announcers do the LA home games. Mike Gorman is so superior to Breen and I’m sure Chick Hearn is as well. And Jeff Van Gundy is just plain terrible and obnoxious. Marc Jackson doesn’t seem to get a chance to say much, but I’d like to see Van Gundy gone and Jackson do the color commentary if it is necessary for ESPN to get the job. David Stern take notice. You are not helping the NBA by going along with this.

The big thing, is that Pierce has very favorable match ups in this series. He can play a bit of help D and still guard Radman. He can also burn everyone on LAL on offense. KG on the other hand has a very tough (in theory) matchup in Gasol/Odom – and of course Kobe is tough for Ray to cover. Additionally having KG shooting J’s is okay, because it gives more room for Rondo and Pierce to get in the paint.

KG’s jump shot will come back, but the C’s probably don’t continue shooting 45% from 3pt line and out rebounding LAL 2:1.

TrueGreen, you are right about Van Gundy. He has been a turnoff and condescending in a way that isn’t funny toward Mark Jackson. Jackson has been very insightful but as you said he doesn’t get to talk enough.

D is about desire. What NBAer hasn’t gotten the Xs & Os by now from their coaches and with video ad nauseum there aren’t any secret switches or techniques etc that one coach has over another. It is desire. They all can play D for a stretch (Rasheed Wallace for ex) but sustaining it is all desire.

We are going to win because we have three very good players who are locked in on what it takes (one, KG, who is borderline crazy), plus we have Rondo, Perk, Posey, PJ, Leon (must lead league in charges taken per min) who also get it.
I want it to go 6 because I have game 6 tix but I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends in LA.

The Celtics remind of the Patriots and how they analyze and win games now. They take away your strengths and make you apply your weaknesses on the court. Start with Coach Tom a great coach. I believe the C’s have more defensive players then offensive ones. KG Defensive player of the year, Perk, Rondo, Posey, PJ, Tony like KG known for their Defense 1st but of course KG can do it all. Now Ray, Paul, Powe play great defense and Eddie and Baby are not playing now but have done well.
The Lakers have more offensive players. If they shoot well as they did in the 4th quarter and the C’s defense lets up and goes into prevent defense or call it a limited movement defense like the NFL uses and it seldom works. All you do is help them build their confidence by giving them the space they need to operate. The Lakers are a great offensive team they can drive to the hoop players like Kobe, Odom and Gasol has very quick moves to the basket. Without good D the Lakers win and some nights even with good D you can lose if they shoot like they did in the 4th quarter Sunday night. Defense C’s and win #3 tonight.

I’m as big of a Celtic fan as there is but guys…let’s face…no matter how great our D is, do you really think we stand a chance tonight? It was going to be tough to beat them in LA anyway, but with Jackson already preping the officials it’s going to make our defense that much harder to execute.

Let’s go Cs

The C’s defense has gotten no credit from any of the national media. It is really a shame if you think about it, because this could be one of the best defensive teams to ever play in the NBA finals. Of course I say this as a biased observer, but they truly have done something very special in the first two games. We’ll see if that carries over into the Dunder Mifflin Center tonight, but if it does, an argument can be made and the national media should start making it or maybe they should just get out of bed with the Lakers.

GO CELTS!!

Tom T needs to see some $ so we can keep his * in Boston!

Our bench will be even more important tonight because the refs will make our bench play more minutes.

CelticsWin said: Start with Coach Tom a great coach

Don’t mean to nitpick, but I will. You left out some other coaches. There’s Doc who developed a philosophy of how the game should be played and delegated defense to Tom Thibodeau who’se done such a great job. Then there’s Clifford Ray who’s done a great job as have the other assistants (memory lapse at the moment). In other words, just as all the accomplishments of the players has been a TEAM effort, so have the accomplishments of the Coaches.

I guess I’m looking at last night lost differently from the rest of you. The Cs are 1-4 when it comes to game 3s and 0-3 when it comes to games 4 in the play-offs. They reason why they have been about to overcome losing games 3 and 4 is because they are 3-0 in games 5s. Well all of those game 5s was at home except in this series. I think now would be a good time for the Cs to win a game 4 but their current history tells me this series will be 2-2

I don’t see why every fan interprets a game through rose colored glasses. When their players struggle, it is the exception rather than the rule — the result of an off night, fatigue, or jet lag. When the opposition struggles, it is the rule rather than the exception — the players just aren’t that good.

Thus, Boston fans say: LA is dead; they barely won when Pierce and Garnett shot horrifically. But LA fans counter: Boston is dead, the lost on a night when non-Kobe starters shot 7-28 and Gasol and Kobe went 14-26 from the free throw line.

This is the reality I see:

Odom is done as an offensive contributor. He’s been overcome mentally by the stage and Garnett. But he’s still playing disruptive help defense with his length and speed.

Gasol had an off night, and hasn’t been able to really put it together offensively yet, but he’s very likely to revert to the normal 17-20 points on 55% shooting than go 3-9 again. That said, he’s played game-changing defense (in opposition to what most think). In the last 3 series, he held Boozer to 40% shooting, Duncan to 42, and Garnett to 36. He’s incredibly effective on defense, but in strange, unconventional ways. He has freakish length and plays smart position defense, tempting these elite big men to take jumpers and then making them tough by closing out with the 17 foot arms.

Garnett is not going to suddenly score 35 points on great shooting. He is what he is — the best defensive player in basketball and the reason Odom is playing like Kwame Brown, but ultimately passive and just okay on offense. Gasol’s length is bothering him, just as it bothered Duncan and Boozer — he’s 6-30 in the last 5 quarters. He’ll be better, but don’t expect

Pierce is not 100% and had an impossible time finding good looks last night. When Kobe was on Rondo, he roamed and doubled Pierce before he could penetrate. When Kobe guarded Pierce, he effectively shut down all easy opportunities. Some of that is the knee, some is spacing problems because of Rondo, some is Kobe, but Pierce probably isn’t going to shoot 60% again and carry the team easily.

Where does that leave us? With a series. An ugly, defensive, grind it out series. Kobe has cracked the Boston defense, but Odom is done, Gasol is just okay, and LA’s shooters are spotty. On the other end, LA’s defensive schemes and Pierce’s knee make it unlikely Boston gets to 100 again. Each game is probably a race to 90 or 95. It will come down to which team makes 3s and has the advantage at the FT line — which is usually a function of home court.

The Cs need to push the pace. They need to get down the floor
before the Lakers can set up their defense. An 81 point pace is not conducive to the Cs winning. It was nice to see House on the floor. He will make the Lakers pay if he is left alone.
Cassell knows his minutes are going to be limited so he wants to get as many shots off as he can before Doc pulls him. Some times those aren not the best shots that the Cs can get. Hopefully Garnett will get his shot going and Pierce’s knee is not going to bother him too much. It is nice to see Allen getting his shot back.