The Starbury Era Begins

….is how I am looking at this.

considering he hasn’t played in over a year

I liked that Marbury showed some good effort in his man-on-man D all things considered, definitely needs to work on switching and getting around screens but hopefully that will come with more practice and stamina

he played pretty well and the most important thing is teams cannot guard us the same way b4 since marbury can actually shoot the ball

the only worried is still in the locker room… when we start playing well and his confidence gets too much to cocky and start talking about how he should be starting instead of rondo…

if he keeps his head down and plays his role… i can smell 18th banner coming… given that KG is healthy and well rested

It was Stephon Marbury, thought it was a great debut for him on the floor, and for a guy that hasnt played basketball in a while he was more than i expected, he even ran the offense effectively with ray and was pretty good on D…this guy can really reaaly help us if he stays in the right mindset…Pierce was way offf tonight and we got the win, great game for ray

Well, how come the Pacers, without Danny Granger, were allowed to go on a 13-0 run in the second quarter, and who was supposed to be guarding Brandon Rush?

But never mind. Perkins made about eight great defensive playes and bailed the team out.

Marbury was great! He will do wonders for our bench!

You can take this to the bank: Stephon, like any other player in the NBA will try to do his best to be a starting 5 player. He has the ability to be one. So I believe he will slowly but surely try to absorb everything thats thrown his way and try to do better than Rondo. Thats the nature of a player than has faith in his own game. Im sure he is not the kind to sit quetly in his corner be content just to be a sub. I just dont think he will be happy being a sub if he thinks he can run the team better than anybody else in a Celtic uniform.
He just has to be careful on how he goes about becoming the PG he can be. He can score better than Rondo at this stage of both’s career. Rondo is a better rebounder and defender. So we will see. Maybe he can be more efficient than Rondo; maybe he cant be; but it seems a foregone conclusion that he is going to do his best to outplay Rondo. His problem will be to undertyake that task without rubbing the rest of the team the wrong way. The competition will be fierce and good for the team; we should score more points henceforth; probably will be scored more points again also, so we have to wait and see how it goes. But we need a guard tht can take it to the basket besides TA. Rondo is just learning to lay it in; He is still missing that consistent 15 footer that Stephon has. So it should be a good competition; Let it begin and may the best player win and the second best player accept it and remain a quality asset for the team. We should be happy with our situation if both players play for the good of the team. Time will tell.

Where are all the Marbury haters?

;-)

I know it’s only one game, but I feel A LOT better about our bench now. Can you imagine this team at full strength in a few weeks? We’re gonna be pretty scary if Marbury continues to play like he did tonight.

- Perk is officially a Serious Problem. Played like a little girl in the last 3 minutes, trying his very best to lose the game. No really, I think he forgot that the goal was to have the CELTICS win, not the Pacers. Unbelievable. Doc said before the game that Perk’s having some problems… they need to fixed quick.
- Marbury was excellent. It is GREAT to have somebody like that coming off our bench. Bodes very, very well for our chances at another ring.
- Mikki was very good. But… seemed again like he may have hands of stone… if so, they will have to play him accordingly… take it easy on those passes to the inside, etc.
- For the entire 1st half, I thought I was watching Invasion Of The Body Snatchers… Pacers were playing like the Celtics — tight defense, aggressive offense, penetration, etc. — and the Cs couldn’t get to the paint, couldn’t buy a rebound, played totally porous defense. What was THAT about?? Got better in the 2nd half…
- Still, it felt like they were getting all the rebounds.
- Let’s not forget the refs. They were terrible. Again. We might as well stop pointing out when they’re terrible, and just talk about when they’re good. I guess that means we stop talking about the refs altogether.

Thats ok that you dont understand what im trying to say, Ancient

You can see it already… when he came in the 2nd time, it was seriously like we just got a Big Fourth. Huge difference to the 2nd unit… and to the first unit too, because it’s clear that if this continues he’s gonna be in with the first team too, depending on the opponent and how Rondo’s doing. Marbury could make the difference for us… enough to go all the way again.

I almost had a heart-attack watching Perk and Big Baby passing and fumbling the ball with 3 minutes left in the game. Before the 3 point play, I was screaming into the TV telling doc to take Big Baby out there. Perk needs to take a page from Leon and learn how to catch the ball on offense.

holy guacamole! mr. marbury fit right in. his 1st half probs. with the switches on d were not there in the second half and he was playing within the team concept, as opposed to how sam came in last year. our bigs were all good at times and bad too-all of them. powe wasnot shooting in the 1st half- he was throwing it at the hoop, but got some nice put backs later. when bbd came in late in the 4th, hemessed up 3-4 plays in a row then hit the big shots at the end. perkwas awesome on the boards and with the blocks, but he came in sleepy late in the 4th. mikki was part of the 2nd team that won the game for us with marbury running the o, but he also looked like he ran around a lot in the 1st half, out of control. rr and .ra were the game.

just throwing it out there

MARBURY IS AN EXPERT AT RUNNING THE PICK AND ROLL.. AND ALL OF YOU WILL SOON FIND OUT JUST HOW GOOD OF A PASSER HER IS.. HE IS NOT IN THE TOP 20 ASSIST IN NBA HISTORY FOR NO REASON… WTACH HIS GAME WITH THE KNICKS.. AND WATCHED HIM IN NEW JERSEY

man his pass is like a bullet…these guys be better prepared to get the pass and shoot…
pierce could learn something…bcoz pierce does not pass with the same speed as steph and rando do…

I think it Marbury may have found a home.

Rondo better get his game bring his game every night… or Marbury could be the new starting PG.

Marbury played a good game considering his long layoff and unfamiliarity with what the Cs run. What I was most impressed with was his impeccable since of timing with Ray Allen (and the rest of the Cs to a lesser degree). Every pass to Ray off the pick was on stride and in rhythm—like they’ve been doing it for years. He also ran the offense pretty well, even getting to the 2nd option on one of the 4 sets he learned before the game—something Doc said was nice considering some of the players that have been here all year don’t even do that. Steph’s going to raise the level of everyone on that 2nd unit AND be able to feed the ball to Ray in great positions to score.

Once we get KG back and Marbury learns the offense and gets in better playing shape I feel another streak in the offing.

Rondo is great in large part because he’s a Celtic. Put Rondo on a different kind of team — say, Miami sans Wade — and he would be, well, terrible. Total misfit, probable failure. But surrounded by the Celtics, his aggressive, distributive style makes him world class.

The same concept could be true of Marbury. If he puts his mental/character issues in order, surrounded by the Cs he could reach heights he’s never before approached. Could yet be one of the best PGs in the league. His basketball IQ is very high (like Rondo), and his natural talents are about as great as Rondo’s. He seems ready to learn to be as unselfish, and to defend as well. In rebounding he may never be as good as Rondo, and he will never be as young. But Rondo may never be as good offensively as Marbury is.

So IF (and that’s a big IF, we all agree) Marbury gets his act together, the Cs could make him an extremely valuable commodity in the NBA: a true PG that can score, defend and make his teammates shine. The sad part is that if he gets there, we may not be able to keep him because he’ll be too expensive. But you never know… he might wanna stick around this time (at least one more year?). Especially if we dominate the field in the playoffs.

As for Rondo v Marbury… I don’t think that will be a problem. This is Doc’s forte… making these situations work. And besides, Rondo has another 12-15 years, while Marbury’s star will start to flicker in 3 or 4. Meanwhile, I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if Marbury sometimes gets more PT than Rondo… especially on those Rondo off days (when we would otherwise almost surely lose). If Ubuntu is for real, that won’t bother anybody…. Rondo might be thrilled to have that kind of backup. Finally, let’s not forget how important it is to have someone available in the terrible event that Rondo gets injured (yeah, I’ve already bitten my tongue).

Marbury played surprisingly well for a guy who hasn’t played in a year. He can score. But his defense was unacceptable, particularly in the second quarter, and the team struggled for the second game in a row against an inferior opponent.

Rondo has to take his jump shots. Most of us learned in the 8th grade that when they give you an uncontested jumper from the foul line, take it. Why hasn’t Rondo learned that yet?

its way too early and even he plays like an all-star i still think it is better for him to come off the bench to give the bench more fire power in the second unit… whats the point having 4 big guns in the starting 5 while there is only one ball to play with

I didn’t like his defensive efforts. For one thing, he always went below the picks. Good defenders fight through picks, especially when they are guarding a shooter.

He was better than I thought he would be offensively. Defensively he was about what I expected, and my expectations were not high.

I’m not happy with Mikki Moore’s defense either. He’s an ok perimeter defender, but he’s really bad at defending the paint.

we get about the same out of Starbury that we got out of, say, somewhere between Cassell and Posey, we’ll be OK? I know, I know: the lockerroom. The proof will be when they lose a few games, or he hogs the ball once too often, or… oh, the possibilities…
Nice start it seems, though. Can’t wait to see a game.

1. Marbury’s contribution last nite speaks for itself and I see no reason for this, after some adjustment, to become a consistent part of the Celtic’s game. I’m also glad the fans gave him a great reception. The fans, as the “sixth man” were TEAM players last nite.
2. What really impressed me was the play of Glen Davis. He missed his first 3 or 4 outside shots and I started thinking he was going to put his head down and become a non-factor. Instead, he did as Tommy and Doc keep saying, kept shooting the ball. And the shots started to fall and Glen played a great game overall. I think last nite was a big step in his development as a player. He could have lost confidence and quit after his bad start, but he didn’t. This will only help the team.