exhale

Spurs deserve to lose more than C’s deserve to win. But I’ll take it.

It’s wonderful to watch Ray Allen shoot the basketball. We’re watching one of the best shooters in the history of this game.

Maybe if Ginobli would stop playing reckless and stop his incessant and annoying flopping he could be healthy for a full season.

The officials repeatedly bailed San Antonio out with questionable calls, starting with Pierce’s clean block on Finley. Then the miscalled out of bounds, then the terrible blocking calls.

But the basketball gods demanded justice, and got it.

Nice to see BBD take his time and drain the shot. Confience builder. It wasn’t a game winning shot, because the C’s were up two, but it was a game-clinching shot.

BTW, I didn’t think the officials would ever let the game end. They tried to give SA 2-3 extra possessions even though there were 1.3 seconds left on the clock. Oh, and I forgot to mention the clear path foul committed on Rondo with about 2 minutes left (only BBD was ahead of him) that was not called a clear path foul.

This game was just another indication of the anti-Celtic officiating bias which is only going to get worse after the incident in Chicago. The officials will do their level best to make sure that the Celtics do not win #18 this year. I’m an unabashed conspiracy theorist— I think David Stern is a snake— and tonight’s game only reinforced my beliefs.

It was actually fitting that Parker missed those 4 ft’’s down the stretch, considering the way we gagged up the game in boston down the stretch in boston against the spurs earlier in the season

Tony Parker a pure shooter? Not in a million years. Better scorer than Rondo? Certainly, but his outside shooting, though improved, doesn’t look much better than Rondo’s. He didn’t hit a jump shot all night.

wow defense can be fun. only 4 turnovers. kg made the difference with his presence and his 5 for 5 shooting in the 2nd half .even mikki moore was playing good d. 8 rebounds for mikki. the team won this game—ubuntu. i agree with your rondo- parker comparison. paker can easily drive past rondo, and it’s a bit harder for rondo, but then, he has a bum ankle. i have also got to agree with brick about the refs- we have got tommieitis.

Somthings wrong with the officiating in basketball. Any fan has at least some idea of this. The good news is sometimes it doesnt matter.

Does anybody know how Rondo is doing? I didn’t like the way he hobbled around after getting that turnover and getting fouled by Parker.

team defense was much better tonight, but Moore and Marbury still have a lot of work to do; Moore was playing way too far off Bonner, and he was very ineffective at stopping any penetration in the lane

Perk was good on D most of the time, with the glaring exception of PG drives to the right (his left); for the last half dozen games, this has been almost a guaranteed 3 point play for the other team; for some inexplicable reason, he reaches across his body with his right hand, fails to block the layup and commits a foul; he’s usually good about going up with his left hand in other situations; I wonder why he forgets in this situation; if he’d slide left and go straight up with his left hand, he’d be less likely to foul and more likely to alter or block the shot; a little commented on fact: he’s a beast defensively when he goes to his right (other team’s left), but he routinely gets crossed up when he goes left and reaches with his right hand

Perk was outstanding on D tonight, both Tommy and Doc singled out his performance. He had 5 blocks and made Duncan look as uncomfortable as anybody can.

But it’s great to get.

Only concern is R2’s ankle-isn’t that the 3rd time in like 4 games that he’s tweaked it? Is it going to be OK?

When was the last time we saw this team have only 4 in the game. Usually they’ve already racked up that many mid way thru the 1st quarter. Nice to see the guys take care of the ball for change.

You must think back to all the horrible officiating we’ve seen this year to appreciate how relatively great these refs were. For most of the game, they were invisible… the way they’re supposed to be. A few questionable calls near the end, but man… I will take this crew, as they were, for EVERY GAME PLEASE. Think about the alternatives… blind, clueless, probably corrupt morons. This is what we’ve come to. We need to appreciate a crew that ONLY makes a few mistakes at the end. Pathetic, ain’t it?

Just wanna point out how well Mikki played. Only ONE foul, ZERO turnovers, 2-2 shooting. Who was that guy anyway? Same guy who up till now was a foul and turnover machine? Amazing what a little KG can do. Marbury’s stepping up too. Was that like the first charge he’s taken in his career, or what?

This game was a lot of fun. Even the first half was fun… I actually laughed at how many ways the Cs found to miss layups. But the flow was good… they were GETTING the layups, and it was clear they weren’t going to continue putting on that comedy show in the 2nd half.

It looks like this team, with all it’s new and young parts, is going to hit its peak stride just in time for the playoffs. As planned.

Pierce and Ray both play 40 minutes and Bill Walker barely gets to stand up. Good win, but Doc still frustrates me.

Parker is a pure shooter? He is a better shooter than Rondo, but not great by any means.

I was cursing at Big Baby all night until some big rebounds on the Parker misses and the big shot at the end, very good for him as he looked a bit lost at times.

Perk is a BEAST, both offense and defense!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bruce Bowen and his dirty little tricks, man just wish Bill Walker would go take him down.

Parker wont be the same player if he cant get away from taking 4 steps every layup!

Did you guys notice how Perk frustrated Duncan with his physical play?

add scal, tony and leon AND a full time kg and it’s a different game. Baby and Leon have benefitted from the extra pt so when we’re at full strength we’re going to be a very deep team. the only thing i wish we had was another guy to shoot the three. if marbury can start hitting from the outside that would make us virtually unstoppable

The Celtics bench is always into every game and the players on the floor never quit, but last nite there just seemed to be some intangible present that has been missing for awhile. Obviously I’m talking about KG. His 2nd 7 minute stint was great and filled with stuff we haven’t seen in a long time, but I think he brought more to the game from the bench than he did from the floor. I listened to the game on Comcast and during one time out KG got into Mikki Moore about how to defend Matt Bonner—-make him go left. I seemed like Bonner disappeared after that and Mikki had, in my opinion, his best game as a Celtic. Also, as great as BBD has been playing lately there seemed to be something extra last nite.——- Need to add to what others have said about Perk’s great game.——-And think about this, two of the biggest shots of the game taken near the end by Perk and Baby. It’s amazing of the influence KG can bring to the team with only being on the floor for 14:39.

TrueGreen, you couldn’t be more right. Great pickup on Mikki/Kg re Bonner. I have been awestruck by the development of Perk from a hands-of-stone, dumb defending, double clutching oaf out there to a very solid NBA center with above average defense and an offense whose number can reliably be called now and then. I gave credit to Perk and the coaches but was reminded last night that KG inspires Perk. KG gets some credit for Perk’s growth in my opinion.

But I want to give props to Doc and the coaches for Big Baby’s shot. Most of us who watch the games DO NOT want to see the ball in BBD’s hands from 12-15’ in a tight moment. But the coaches have said all along that he makes them in practice and they want him to take that shot. And into the head of an emotional kid went that confidence and THAT is what took that shot last night at the end. That isn’t a result of a drawn up play or holler coaching. It is about assessing the player and sticking with a belief – not easy in the pressure cooker of NBA coaching.

So, I like seeing Walker come in too and wanted to see more of O’Bryant (who is MIA in Toronto), and expect good things from Giddens if only they’d play him, but, you know what, the coaches DO handle players well. That shot was not just one shot. That was a whole season gelling in a player.

It wasn’t pretty. Both teams seemed to be daring the other team to win, and the officiating was obviously hoping the SAS would pull it off. Some thoughts on the above comments:

1) Rondo vs. Parker. I love the C’s — been following them since Larry Bird. But I think this comparison is inappropriate. Parker has 3 rings. Besides Duncan, no player on the SAS commands a double team, and often Duncan is covered one-on-one. Parker’s points thus come in traffic and with him creating his space. He also finishes fast breaks more consistently. Often Parker is the focus of the opponent’s defense (they try to shut down his game). Rondo is an awesome athlete, and developing great decision making skills. With KG, Allen, and Pierce on the floor Rondo will almost never be the focus of the opponent’s defense. Rondo is much better at rebounding, and I hope Rondo continues to grow in his shot selection and finishing his layups. He is one of the elite point guards in the league, but I think Parker edges him out (despite the 4 missed FT’s yesterday).

2) Agree with all who have said KG’s presence is already felt. His presence in the huddle and on the court makes them focus more consistently on each play and each possession. KG is the key to success.

We’ll beat Orlando for sure (upcoming game). I think the entire season may pivot on the April 12 game with Cleveland. If we can somehow win that one on the road (provided all our players are healthy), we have broken the psychological advantage that the Cavaliers have with home court advantage. We already beat them without KG in Boston, so there is hope. But with the last 15 games being won by the home team, this game may determine who wins the Eastern Conf Finals.

but who would have thought his outside jumper and teardrops would have been better than his layups?! Rondo’s overall work was very good but those 6-7 missed layups were frustrating. You’d think after coming up short on a couple he’d adjust, but he kept doing it. I am not sure I would go so far as our PG being better that game. Had Parker hit 2 of the 4 I’m not sure it would have been close. He was abusing us at will for much of the game. Rondo did it when it mattered though. I sure wish he’d stop dribbling out the clock going nowhere… He really puts us in a bad spot a lot of times.