Celtics Sweep Heat
by Greg Payne on Feb 3, 2010 10:56 PM EST
in Boston Celtics Articles
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PrintThe Celtics completed a successful regular season sweep of Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat with a 107-102 victory at the TD Garden tonight.
- Rajon Rondo took the reins on offense, scoring 21 points, while dishing out 14 assists, grabbing six rebounds and swiping three steals.
- Celtics won the rebounding battle tonight, 41-30.
- Kevin Garnett flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 14 points, six rebounds and nine assists.
- Tony Allen played some nice defense down the stretch on Dwyade Wade, limiting the chances of any heroics.
- Eddie House had a nice game tonight: 14 points on 5-9 shooting and 2-4 from three-point nation. Doc Rivers had some nice offensive/defensive substitutions down the stretch with Eddie and TA.
- The Celtics shared the ball tonight, handing out 29 assists as a team.
- The turnover number (17) was still a little high, and the Celtics didn't do themselves any favors at the free throw line (20-31, 64.5 percent). However, nice seeing them clean up on the glass.
- Overall, it wasn't pretty at times, but it was nice seeing the Celtics close out a team down the stretch for a second straight game.
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I'm not sure I feel any better about our championship chances, but...
ROOOOONDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
USG
Greg, good job on Celtics.com chat tonight…
Rondo looked flat out dominant, KG looked like he is moving roll, PP’s injury is not serious, Marquis will practice tomorrow…let the good times roll
Rondo gets the game ball.
It sure looks as if the torch is being passed to Rondo this year to be the team leader, because he is playing and talking as one so far this year.
TA continues to impress with another strong showing.
Finally House got it going, he has not had a night like this in months it seems or is it in actuality.
With Pierce and Daniels out hurt and TA in foul trouble tonight, Doc still could not find time to put Walker in the game other than literally a few seconds.
I hope I am wrong but I get the feeling we will never see Walker this year.
very good win
gutted it out which is good to see.
Wade is incredible, Rondo is on his way to incredible, and Rasheed welllllllll not so much
I thought Sheed played a fairly decent game.
He had at least three nice post plays only turn into rim outs so his points total doesn’t really reflect how well he pushed his way into the paint several times. Tony Allen did a nice cleanup on one of them.
He was +6 for his 21 minutes, so he sure as heck wasn’t hurting the team.
Overall the bench played better in this game than in a while. Eddie obviously had his shot working for a change and that is much needed. Davis played with more hustle, forcing a jump ball and cleaning up on a second chance opportunity. Even Scal provided his usual statless +6 worth of intangibles in just 5 minutes of play! :-D
But yeah, Rondo and Wade were both incredible tonight. Rondo was my player of the game. Wade would have been if his team had won.
Honorable mentions to: Jesus Shuttlesworth for looking like he’s got his shot back – he was really elevating on his jumper. KG – for looking more and more ‘natural’ out there. And TA for holding down Wade when he was in there and for making the defensive play of the game near the end, with that steal.
Thought just the opposite
Just back from the game. I like Rasheed. Glad we have them. But you know the term “crashing the boards”? Big Baby crashed the boards. Rasheed was real lazy.
I can’t believe Danny stole Rondo at 22. He is amazing. And big props for TA.
Sheed's bad
I have never seen a lazier player. His idea of good defense is to foul any guy he’s too lazy to get in front of. He’s still chucking 3s. He shot 3-10, with a couple of TOs. He almost never fights for a rebound, and never really hard. I saw him fight quasi-hard just once tonight… near the end, to make a shot from the post. (Have you noticed too how he never bends at the waist?)
No, Rasheed is a huge negative influence on this team. My one hope, and expectation, is that KG’s return and powerful influence will help reduce some of that negativity, and that maybe by the playoffs, Sheed will be able to turn his game around. It’s a tough situation with Sheed… he’s on his last contract and it’s guaranteed. We can only hope his pride will take over at some point. But I doubt we’ll see that before the playoffs. I only hope we’ll see it at all.
There was one play in the fourth quarter
Where Celts were battling for a defensive rebound and Sheed just stood there. Did not move. And after about 5 seconds the ball fell right into his hands. He also had at least three more of those lazy let the guy pass then sipe or grab him fouls. He truly looks unmotivated. The only time he looked good tonight was when he went down in the post on offense. He had much smaller guys guarding him the entire time he was in the game and did little. I too hope that Garentt’s influence can make him turn on some kind of switch.
I'm sorry, but I just think that's extreme.
I guess its just emotions. I try to look at things more dispassionately. I don’t care as much about individual raw stats like rebounds and steals, etc., so much as how well a player actually works as part of the team. I.E., when a player is on the floor, how efficiently do they convert their possessions into points? How efficiently do they prevent the opponent from converting their possessions? That’s really all it comes down to.
Trying to read too much into body language as to whether someone is hustling or dogging it or whatever … too subjective for me. Trying to guess whether one player has hurt another’s feelings or they have an ‘attitude’ or that they are a ‘cancer’ or whatever – forget it. That stuff is complete vapor to me. Unless someone is spending time in that locker room, nothing anybody says about their character means anything. It has no credibility with me. It is a waste of time.
I limit my thoughts on ‘character’ to basic facts: The Celtics players and staff have known Sheed for a loong time. KG has been buds with him for years. They wanted him on the team badly. They knew exactly what they were getting from him and I see zero signs in any comment that suggests they aren’t getting that from him. Until I hear something like that – forget it. I don’t give a hoot what some bloggers think about his attitude and how it is supposedly destroying the team.
To the contrary, news reports portray a guy who immediately has taken steps to engage in the Boston community, who seems to care about kids and is often seen joking and laughing with his teammates. Maybe that’s all a big show to hide the real ‘cancer’ that you and a few others here seem to think he is. Frankly, I don’t particularly care.
The only thing I care about is that, as a straight up substitute for KG in our base starting lineup, our offensive efficiency with Sheed at PF is identical (1.12 points per possession) and our defensive efficiency is not quite as good (1.09 vs .97) and overall it is our second best 5-man unit. And yes, the latter unit has a decent sample size and is against first teams – its mostly accumulated during the stretch KG was out after all. Sheed is sitting firmly as our 6th best man in Net48 value. That tells me that maybe Sheed is doing his job, despite your ‘critical and objective’ observations to the contrary.
Go ahead, trust your eyes. But pardon me while I look past them to the see the results on the scoreboard.
If the two don’t match, certainly you should question the numbers. But you should also question your eyes and your ‘objectivity’.
by mmmmm on Feb 4, 2010 1:05 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Stats and effort - it's not obvious
As you know, stats can deceive, unless you look at the complete picture. Even then, there are things a stat line can never tell you… like can this player do better? Is he putting out a complete effort? Or is he lazy? These questions can be answered when you observe Rasheed standing time and time again with his hands by his side as others around him struggle for a rebound. Or when he would rather slap and foul than play good defense (which obviously takes more work). Or when he continues to chuck 3s instead of banging in the post.
If stat lines were all that counted, there would be no scouts in the NBA, or any other sport for that matter. You’d just pick guys by their stats. But you have to SEE a guy play to really know what his game is like… the effort and yes, the attitude. If a guy complains to the refs every time, despite knowing he has a rep and is a tech magnet, that’s an attitude problem. If a guy doesn’t make an effort to get balls that are close to him… that’s an attitude/motivation problem. If he continues to chuck 3s even though he NEVER hits them under pressure… that’s a problem.
He’s a KG replacement, as you said. Let’s look at his stats vs. KG’s, after CORRECTING* for the difference in playing times:
……..Sheed….. KG
PPG…. 13.3*… 14.7 (close – but KG’s been coming back from injury)
RPG…. 5.7*….. 7.3 (not close)
APG…. 1.29*…. 2.6 (not close)
FG%…. 41%…. 55% (not remotely close)
3Pt%…. 30%…. n/a
…And this is with Sheed healthy all season long, and KG working his way back from injury for a substantial number of data points.
It’s not emotional. Actually not at all… unless you call simple disgust an “emotional” response. Sheed is filling in for KG “adequately enough”, I’d say/agree. But he’s not even CLOSE to KG’s level of performance in most areas. And in terms of energy, passion, team spirit, ubuntu… he’s not in the same conversation (which even you will admit, I think).
Not sure what there is to like about Sheed so far. You can’t be enthused about him…? But as I said… it’s not hopeless. We can hope that he’ll turn it around for the playoffs. He’s had that in him in the past… we have to hope he has it again. His current level of play, and effort, will not get it done for us then.
Missed point.
And in terms of energy, passion, team spirit, ubuntu… he’s not in the same conversation (which even you will admit, I think).
You see, this is the kind of thing that i WON’T admit too.
I don’t know.
And unless you are in that locker room with those guys on an extended basis, neither do you.
Its a useless statement. For all you know, in that lockerroom, during practices, whatever, Sheed could be the team’s freakin’ King Arthur. Or he could be a snake in the grass. We simply do not know.
What bothers me is that you make statements like that as if it is fact. If it is fact, show me testimony from somebody who is truly in a credible position to know.
Not sure what there is to like about Sheed so far.
Well, if you like winning, there is a lot to like. The TEAM plays better with him in place of Kevin than any of our other bigs. And while it is a drop off, it isn’t a huge drop off. That’s about all you could possibly “like” out of your first big off the bench.
At least several members of the Celtics team/staff seem to find something they “like” in Sheed – they went out of their way to lure him into the fold.
Have you listened to any of Scal’s wednesday morning chats on 98.5 fm? He has talked about what Sheed has brought to the team in terms of personality and charisma and trash talk and energy. It doesn’t resemble anything you are saying.
Your posting of individual stats is pretty much completely useless to me. They don’t tell me anything of value because those numbers you posted are roll-ups of Sheed and KG playing in different roles with different players around them. Prior to KGs injury absence, most of Sheed’s minutes were either with the second team or in place of Perk on the first team. When KG was out, most of Sheed’s minutes were at PF with the first team.
You complain about stats that hide information yet then posted numbers that totally hide information.
The 5-man unit efficiency stats are WAY more useful than the above.
I think you need to reassess whether your ‘eye tests’ are telling you what you think.
Agree again with your comments mmmmm
Lets look at history and keep things in perspective.
Last year the Celtics were getting destroyed by centers when Perk would go to the bench, because we had no back up center to come into games for us since we had to rely on undersized Powe and Baby as back up centers.
Heading into this season the C’s needed to remedy this team weak spot of having no back up center and the need for back up insurance for KG.
Who was the best big man / center free agent available that the C’s could of signed???
It was Rasheed Wallace hands down.
With all his faults he was the best big man fee agent available so Ainge signed him as he should of to remedy our need for a back up big man..
Considering he is a 35 year old, nonathletic big man, I think he has done a decent job so far.
We no longer have centers dominating us in the low post as was the case last year.
Rasheed with his length and bulk has done a great job against the power centers this year as proven by his play against the big ones like Bynum, Shaq and Howard this year.
He is I think our best low post defender.
He is also our best low post scorer and considering that this team lacks low post scorers its nice to have Rasheed on the roster.
Rasheed is also our best shooting big man from outside after KG (Well ok behind Scal also if you want to count him) which is a great weapon (even when he has off shooting nights) because big man have to go out and defend him, which draws opposing centers away from the low post (as was the case last week with Howard and Bynum) thus allowing the C’s a free lane to the basket ( especially for Rondo who used it quite well).
Yes Rasheed has his faults, do I wish the C’s had a younger, more athletic back up center ..of course, but he is what he is.
As mentioned Rasheed was the best man available that we could sign, so until we can sign or trade to obtain a better back up big man I am happy we have the big fella and will be especially if we have to face Shaq, Howard and Bynum in the playoffs since he plays them all so well.
Agree with your Sheed observation.
He missed some bunnies tonight but did a good job getting in the low post.
He also did a nice job guarding Oneal tonight.
Could have gotten another T
But this officiating crew was all about home cookin’
by nba is the worst on Feb 4, 2010 8:32 AM EST up reply actions
I like that they didn't go into "walk it up and iso" mode
They walked it, but then guys kept moving without the ball to create a play, rather than stand around waiting for one guy to score by himself.
Good focus to convert their possessions down the stretch in a game where the Heat were shooting the lights out (52.1%!!!!!!!!) and offensive efficiency was critical.
i think after the past couple weeks its rondo’s team now.
in san antonio duncan realized with parker and manu running things they could be a championship team for longer, cause it takes the wear and tear off of duncan.
pierce, kg and ray need to tell rondo to run do his thing more and let him create shots for them. instead of pierce at the free throw line post up play to end games.
Can I get an Amen for Jesus Shuttlesworth?????????
RAY ALLEN -—→ Leading scorer for the C’s @ 23 points ……+ 9 while he was in ……..7 rebounds…..3 steals…..3 assists……..and key free throws at the end…..
Yeah……..let’s trade him!!!!!!!!!!!
btw – great great game by Rondo…….MVP of the game….
Is it Soup Yet?
Excellent Game for Ray
He made a good case for not trading him. Fine play at both ends. Maybe they should trade Pierce instead.
Ray did well when penetrating and dished the ball well
But his outside shot still looks bad. This team needs him to hit threes if it is going to win.
Good point
Paul got ZERO points, ferkrissakes. Get rid of the bum.
Yes! Way to step up!!
Now that was Celtics basketball :)
Eddie house, all I got to say is FINALLY!!! He needs to be in the 3 point contest for sure
rondo, nice!!! He had stats almost identical to Dwayne Wade! can we just pause to consider just how amazing that fact is? Dwayne Wade is one of the best players in the game right now, and it’s incredible that rondo can match him
sugar Ray, lookin good out there! Nice job stepping up in Paul’s absence.
This is the Celtics I’ve been waiting for! With Pierce and Daniels back, this team will be unstoppable! (assuming the play we say tonight is consistent every game)
~Aaron
by bostonceltics on Feb 3, 2010 11:09 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Trade Pierce
They’ve done nothing but win since he’s gone out of the lineup! :-)
... but make sure
we only play sub-500 teams the rest of the way.
by getthat18now on Feb 3, 2010 11:32 PM EST up reply actions
Not to be a jerk
but is KG’s line really flirting with a triple double? Rondo had the same number of rebounds and actually had double digits in the two other categories. Sorry, but it just felt like KG’s game was being a little overhyped.
I hear ya - a lot of what KG did was finishing what Rondo would start
but that IS his job on offense.
I was more impressed with KG’s raw physical movement, getting down the court on defense and moving laterally back & forth across the paint to disrupt lanes.
He looked much stronger and more fluid.
Exactly
His statistical contribution is not the relevant point. He’s getting stronger, healthier and better with every game… that’s the key point. That’s what needs to happen if this team is going to go far in the playoffs.
And also… his presence is the one thing that might help rein Sheed in the pre-playoff period. To the extent that’s even possible….
I agree
that he looks better. But there’s no point in overstating things by saying he was close to a triple double. I was more looking to reign in talk of being close to triple doubles than getting on KG. Being 1 or 2 short in one category is “close” IMO, anything else is just a good game.
You're right
I had missed that line in the original article. Of course you’re right. “Triple double” is a major stretch. (But maybe “flirting” means more to him than to us :)
Haha
“KG was thinking about maybe saying hi to a triple double in class at some point in the next 2-3 weeks.”
KG played well tonight
Still not where he was in that good stretch earlier this year, but he looked to be getting up a little bit bettter for rebounds. The biggest problem I saw with rebounding was when Sheed was on the court. For the most part, he simply does not jump at all for boards.
The only negative was ... the Heat FG%
That was some SICK shooting by the heat. 52% from the field – and a lot of those were tightly contested shots! They were feeling it – I’m just glad we stayed focused down the stretch and converted on most of our OWN possessions!
I like that kid Udonis Haslem. He’ll be a free agent. I wouldn’t mind if we could snag him. But I doubt Miami will let him get away.
Haslem
From what I’ve read It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that the Heat will not re sign him. I’d love to see him here but not sure how he would fit in as the 4th or 5th big. Someone will pay him that’s for sure.
by reebbertxx2001 on Feb 3, 2010 11:43 PM EST up reply actions
I believe Miami would want Haslem back
But are more concerned with retaining Wade and adding him a superstar partner. Who knows, their loss could be our gain. Would anyone argue with dumping Baby and Sheldon and adding Haslem? I don’t think so.
by KY Celts fan on Feb 3, 2010 11:46 PM EST up reply actions
KG/Rondo presser
I loved how KG handled that. After all the ruckus it seems most agree that RR did exactly what was needed.
nothing is coming easy for this team but there was good effort by many. after the game doc blames himself for too many ray minutes. doh doc, you couldn’t find 5 minutes for billy. they were rebounding. big cat davis and ray were oustanding and so was tony. i love wade. he’s no lebron but i don’t like lebron or kobe; but wade is loveable, even tho he complains too much to the refs. and all that talk especially by mike about haslem- wouldn’t he be a nice pickup next year?
Doc has been talking about Ray's minutes for many weeks
And nothing every changes. Weird, isn’t it.
Well… maybe when Quis gets back. Or Doc finds a way to listen to himself.
Just back from the game
Good to see them finally build a lead in the fourth and hold on to win after they lost nearly the entire 10-point lead in less than two minutes. I know Doc wanted Eddie in there for offense in the fourth, but he nearly blew it by waiting too long to put Tony back in. Rondo was good for most of the night, although he disappeared again for spurts in the 4th. Finally, a big night from Eddie and Big Baby also played some clutch minutes. Ray scored, but his stroke from 3 seems to be getting worse. Most of his four misses were not even close. And finally, a few decent plays by Sheed, but overall another lazy effort and more bad threes that were not even close.
sacramento
the fans are booing kevin martin tonight in case anybody cares
We can't celebrate the end of "walk-the-ball-up-and-find-Paul" in the 4th
Because it has disappeared only in the last 2 games, when Paul was not in the game. What we can HOPE is that Doc will see the results and understand, finally, that letting Rondo play his game in the 4th, as he does in every other quarter, is the correct way to win games. Still, Doc’s natural inclination to genuflect to the vets may stop him from changing his Q4 approach.
My hope is that Paul will have a talk with Doc, and explain to Doc that he, Paul, is not what he was in 07-08 and that Rondo is way, way better than he was then too. Therefore, it’s altogether clear that the days of letting Paul take over to try to win games for us in Q4s are definitely over.
although I am not a fan of the iso as it has worked lately
a lot depends on matchups. Against some teams, I would still want Paul to iso on certain guys just because the percentages are so good that he will at least get a foul out him.
Rondo had a lot of success penetrating the Heat interior, but that doesn’t work against all teams. Sometimes you need a slasher with more physical power.
The big thing though, is that most of the time I want them doing what they did tonight – run the offense. That means passing the ball and moving people without the ball until someone has an open look.
Yes
If Rondo is running the play and it ends up with Paul slashing… no problem at all. If Rondo walks down the court, passes to Paul then stands aside waiting for Paul to make his own play… that’s just ridiculous. Pretty obvious to all of us… hope Doc gets it too.
Glad to se perk playin till the end
Hes so much better than sheed we need him to close games idk about the free throws
by Perkinsschool4blind1 on Feb 4, 2010 2:38 AM EST reply actions
Two ways to tell that the officiating was completely in favor of the Celtics
1. Not a single comment complaining of a bad call or calls by the Celticsblog faithful
2. Noted referee apologist Hubie Brown called out the crew multiple times for getting it wrong…
by nba is the worst on Feb 4, 2010 8:40 AM EST reply actions
They still weren't that good
there, i complained. And yes, so did Hubie but only when they went against the heat. He called out that travel on BBD (he did take an extra step) but failed to mention the million times Dwade travels when he catches the ball….does he ever not travel? He called the ‘wipe out’ on Rondo’s play over JO (the refs got that one right, you can extend your arm without ‘clearing out’) Hubies on drugs man. KG’s block on Haslem was clean as they come (but you had to watch the CSN angle to see that) yet the refs called a foul. Hubie also said KG traveled on that play towards the end but the refs bailed him out cause he was at home, that’s total garbage. Yes, he traveled but it was a direct result of the push in the back by the defender which was called correctly. Hubie is the worst annoucner on TV (ok, maybe not worse but he gets under my skin the most with the love he has for his own voice)
The refs are usually bad in both directions, those are the facts of the matter and they usually even out (sometimes not and thats when we complain). Did you notice after Miami got those 2 T’s the refs let them do anything they wanted and blew the whistle against the C’s on everything for the rest of the quarter? I sure did. When the C’s get T’s the calls usually get worse for them and continue that way the rest of the game. Funny how that works isn’t it.
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