Celtics Steamroll Pistons
by Greg Payne on Mar 15, 2010 10:51 PM EDT
in Boston Celtics Games
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PrintCeltics bounce back in a big way with a 119-93 thrashing of the Pistons. Granted, Detroit's only 23-43 (now 23-44), but still. Solid win.
- Find me a guy who didn't play well tonight. Starters got us off to a great start and the bench picked up where they left off.
- 34 assists on 46 baskets. The ball movement tonight was 2008-esque.
- Michael Finley lit it up. 6-7 from the field, 3-4 from the nation, for a total of 15 points.
- Except for the 3-6 performance from the free throw line, Kendrick Perkins put in a quality night's work. 11 points and 8 boards.
- Paul Pierce was efficient in his 17 minutes. 15 points on 4-6 shooting. 12 of those points came in the first quarter. Paul tweaked his back apparently just before halftime, but it isn't being heralded as anything serious.
- Nice to see Nate Robinson get up for the dunk off the feed off the backboard from Tony Allen with 43.5 left in the fourth. First dunk for Nate in a Boston uniform.
Solid, solid win tonight. Maybe it's the uniforms? Whatever it is, let's hope it continues. The next week will throw some pretty legit opponents at the C's (Houston, Dallas, Utah, Denver). Should be a good test as the playoffs continue to draw near.
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a win is a win is a win
they played hard, they challenged shots, they rebounded, kept turnovers down, pushed the pace…good win
- JoeB
Oh yeah and that's a picture of Big Baby up there.
13 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist-Made 2 out of 3 jump shots. I’m happy!!!!
Yea he played a good game....
Too bad they are far and few between though.
Lets hope this game can get Baby going as we need him if want a shot in the playoffs.
Agree that Baby has lately and overall this year played with nice hustle and effort...
its just that his production and contribution to the team this year has not been what I think many expected and hoped it would be coming into this season.
Go figure
I’ve been waiting each game through for Nate’s first dunk…and I turned this game off with like 5 minutes left.
Haha oh man
Oh well, it’ll grace plenty of highlight videos. Hopefully SportsCenter will pick it up. Give the C’s some love.
Yeah, Tommy was screaming at the refs for that!
’Love it.
Mostly I love that Quis & Tony seemed to have it all timed and lined up for Nate – pretty sweet for guys who have only been playing together for a few weeks!
It was bush league
You’re beating a team by 30 points near the end of the game and it’s time to showboat. That’s the kind of stuff Robinson pulled in NY.
Great win by the team tonight. Robinson, however, is not a point guard. He dribbles endlessly even more than Rondo and is not suited for the position. Pretty much the same player as Eddie House, which makes you wonder why bother with the trade. Both players can get hot and light it up and both players have off nights. Both this year have been more off than on. But to give up Bill Walker as well was a big mistake. Some discount Walker’s scoring with the Knicks, but I don’t. I don’t care if it’s the Knicks or the Matewan NJ High School team. You put up 20 points a few times and it’s worth noting.
by lemonade sky on Mar 16, 2010 12:31 AM EDT up reply actions
Well... the ridiculous thing
…was not what Nate did, but what the REF did. Nate hung there just long enough to make sure he could get down safely… it’s a long way down for him. Ref was wrong, and a real jerk for calling that.
Nice win.
The whole team gets the game ball tonight.
The good Celtics no doubt showed up tonight…..
The question now is if we can keep the bad Celtics from reappearing again as they have unfortunately so often this year after we have played a great game?
Finley sure has looked good since we signed him…he kind of reminds me of a poor mans version of James Posey.
'Nothing poor about him.
He’s a solid, experienced professional basketball player.
But yeah, he does bring a lot of similar skills to Posey.
He hasn’t shown as much yet on defense, but he is a pretty smart defensive player and as he learns the Celtic’s help defensive schemes his defensive ratings will improve. I don’t anticipate any problem there since the Spurs use a very similar defensive philosophy.
Good sign. The Celtics have turned the corner
The Celtics now can beat bad teams and win games they are supposed to win . 2 games in a row (3, if you counter the 76ers). They can beat bad teams on a regular basis now. That’s good.
Next targets, the mid-echelon teams, then onto taking out the elites. There are still games left to get ready for the playoff.
Celtics are healing and getting well
And feeling good. Health brings energy.
Just like old times, eh?
Uniforms
When the game started and I saw those uniforms, I told my family they were gonna bring us a win tonight. Let’s wear them every game from here on out. Ha!
And, I sure hope a “tweak” isn’t serious!
and the best part...
is that it never seems to get old for them… I love it.. :)
Me? I'm just a girl who loves the Celtics...
Everybody in their Role
For once , it looks the team took shots as they came,with non one forcing the issue. Particularly the bench gang, with Quis, Babs, and Nate taking 8, Sheed 4,
No one is calling for Doc's head tonight.
Great atmosphere. Keep it going.
Doc
Still sorry. We had a huge lead and still playing the starters. Tonight would have been a perfect example to transition from starters to bench without going all bench. His rotations and lack of using guys at the right moment is going to kill us.
DRJ1...
Celtics win the battle of the boards {36-27}…and win the game.
Any further questions?
offensive and defensive efficiency
They dominated by securing defensive rebounds (28-19). The offensive boards were tied at 8.
They created that defensive rebound disparity by making sure the Pistons missed lots of shots and NOT missing their own (they shot 62.2%!!!).
Think about it – they only missed 28 of their 74 FG attempts. They grabbed 8 of their own misses so there weren’t alot left for Detroit to grab – hence the Pistons only had 19 defensive rebounds. That’s still ~68% going to the defense – but from a small pool.
Conversely, the Pistons missed 35 of their 68 FGAs – we grabbed 28 of those – for a little above average rate of ~80%. Even if we had only grabbed 68% like they did we still would have had more rebounds because the pool was bigger.
Being efficient on offense leaves few rebounds for the opponent.
Being efficient on defense means the opponent will miss more shots – and so more rebounds for the taking.
Control the boards...and you control the game!
It`s the most accurate “barometer” of Basketball success.
Rebounds are to Hoops…what pitching is to Baseball.
More like stolen bases or RBIs.
They are a good thing, but secondary to what is really important: points.
The most accurate barometer is points differential. Not rebounds.
You win the game by scoring more points than your opponent. They don’t give you a win just because you out-rebounded someone.
Being efficient on offense and defense will naturally result in you usually ‘winning’ the rebounding battle as a side effect.
Let the other team pound you on the boards...and see how many games you win!
Controlling the boards = Controlling the game
Defense : Limit the opponent to one shot
Offense : Crashing the boards to create second/third shots
Victory is guaranteed!
I've never once said 'let the other team pound the boards'
What I’ve dismissed is the importance of the rebound total rankings. They are not at all an accurate measure of either how good a team is at rebounding or of whether a team can win.
Most specifically I’ve pointed out that _offensive_rebounds_ are a terrible indicator.
If you want to lead the league in rebounds, the formula is pretty simple: Just go out and miss all your own shot attempts (like Detroit does) and allow your opponent to take a ton of shots (they’ll miss some and you should be able to grab most (2/3)of those if you are even a mediocre rebounding team).
You’ll lead the league in rebounds, but you’ll suck.
Why is it so hard for you to admit that teams play at different paces?
Why is it so hard for you to admit that the rebound totals are not comparable?
Can you admit that the most important stats in the game are the points scored and allowed?
Can you understand that in each game each team within a game gets almost exactly the same number of possessions? So they each have almost exactly the same number of chances to score?
Can you understand that rebounds only come from missed shots?
Do you understand that for different teams the number of missed shots (both by themselves and by their opponents) is different (because they play at different paces and have different FG percentages, both made and allowed)?
Can you then accept that different teams get a different number of chances at grabbing rebounds?
Can you accept that the best way to measure how good a team is at grabbing rebounds is by the percentage of chances they actually grab?
Can you understand that every time you grab a defensive rebound you’ve 100% stopped the opponent from scoring on that possession?
Can you understand that when you grab an offensive rebound you are improving the chances of scoring on that possession, but that it isn’t 100%?
Those are all basic facts. If you can’t accept those proven facts, then we’re done.
I’ve NEVER said that getting rebounds wasn’t important or desirable. But far more important than grabbing rebounds is controlling scoring on each possession. You want to make your opponent miss (which creates defensive rebound opportunities) and you don’t want to miss your own shots (which reduces offensive rebound opportunities).
...m takes a deep breath...
…surveys the landscape, struggling to decide what to do: try again, or give it up?…. he’s torn… “hopeless tends to stay hopeless, so why waste the pixels?” fights with “but I gotta correct this stuff!”
Let me help you. Choose the former. :)
mmmmm will come around...
Afterall, even you finally came to the realization that the 2009-10 are, for lack of a better term, crap!
Let the Good Times Roll
Let them knock you around. Let the good times roll, let them make you a clown. Sorry, couldnt resist. This was a nice win! If KG and Paul can just get healthy things will be looking up. What I would really like to see is a winning streak of at least 6 or 8 games going into the playoffs with at least a couple of wins against quality opponents.
I enjoy that
Marquis and Nate play so great together, and have found a rhythm and gotten used to eachother already. Glad that BBD had a great game. Lets hope this continues, and the carry the momentum to the next game. There are so many factors into why we won this game, and why we lost some others. The TO’s were not as high, and the rebounds were great. Everyone did what they were supposed to do, and that is why we won. There was EFFORT!!! And no lackluster play!! :)
Me? I'm just a girl who loves the Celtics...
Good game
Played well obviously against very little resistance from the disastrous Pistons (Dumars has buried that team for the next four years). Good for the team’s confidence I’m sure. Let’s hope it carries over against good teams…
The Pistons were Injured
No Stuckey, no Ben Wallace, Prince went down in the first half. This was like beating up a handicapped person.
They’ll beat the Knicks on St. Patrick’s Day. Then on to Texas and… well, I won’t say it.
Still
I think we can all agree that beating up a handicap person is an achievement. Of sorts.
by TheOutletPass on Mar 15, 2010 11:57 PM EDT up reply actions
sometimes you just need to kick some crutches out from some cripples before you can really feel good about yourself
Is it Soup Yet?
Snatch Away Their Crutches Beat them Over the Head
A crutch can make a great weapon, but you have to snatch it away first and use it to bash in their heads.
This is all too weird
A lady in my home town just got killed that way last friday…Beaten to death by her crutches.
i believe they are also recognizing the
i believe they are also recognizing the value of big starts.
basketball is a game of points. late points don’t count any more
than early points. they all add up. also have you noticed how much
better they look on the bench when they grab an early lead.
this team needs to come out early in the game to succeed.
Just wanna express by total DISGUST with the ref
…who called a tech on:
(1) Perk, for walking and talking at the same time. I mean, he did NOTHING. Whatever he might have said was certainly not directed at the ref. Disgusting. But that tech was not nearly as putrid as the one on….
(2) Nate, for “hanging on the rim” for a grand total of ONE SECOND – less than average in the NBA. I mean, that was just a total JERK of a ref who apparently didn’t like the fact that the Cs were making the Pistons look so bad, and maybe overdoing the dramatic flair a bit… so he slaps Nate with a tech?? For nothing? (Keep in mind that Nate hanging from the rim means that he’s looking at a LONG way down… he’s so tiny. He has to make sure that he can get down cleanly.)
There REALLY should be fines applied to refs who call techs without good reason. Certainly, the Cs should appeal both of these techs… they’ll probably get them both repealed. CERTAINLY Nate’s.
Good thing he didn't have the ball at the end of the game.
Robinson probably would have scored a basket for the Pistons.
by lemonade sky on Mar 16, 2010 12:35 AM EDT up reply actions
Nate didn't have a great game
…but he was good enough. He certainly HAS had great games for the Cs already… games he saved, even. I like Nate, like the trade.
the celtics get less leeway from refs than other teams
but that is well documented at this point.
nate was showboating, plus who cares – it could not possibly have had less of an impact on the outcome of the game. there are plenty of undue fouls that do have an impact and those are the ones worth getting salty about.
Actually, he was not showboating
…unless you mean he was by dunking at all, which is not the source of the tech. He took a very reasonable length of time to look down, make sure he’s safe, and let go. Ref was dead wrong, and a total jerk.
Please note: "jerk" is a euphemism
…for something else.
I agree the ref was wrong and a jerk
but will say the same about Robinson. You just don’t show up the other team like he did and get respect.
by lemonade sky on Mar 16, 2010 1:15 AM EDT up reply actions
I think he was just trying to entertain the crowd
…really, there didn’t seem to be anything mean-spirited or negative about it. Just kids having fun.
i don't think it was a question of time hanging on the rim
it was the way he curled up into a ball in the air
How weird is this thing with Finley
… where he shoots 6-7, and the only shot he misses is a wide open look which he AIRBALLS? That’s the 2nd time we’ve seen that with him. What is that about? Whatever it is, it’s pretty funny…..
Feel pretty confident when he shoots
If we can get him decent shots, he can make a difference in the playoffs.
by TheOutletPass on Mar 16, 2010 1:16 AM EDT up reply actions
Man, this is unbelievable...
200 comments on our loss to the Cavs and only 60 on our big win againsts the Pistons?
Nice… really nice.
Great win even though I haven’t watched because of my brother and his nonsense…
Let’s play like we played today and we’ll be alright until the end of the season.
GO CELTICS!
I was going to mention that
before the Pistons game. It seems that when the Celtics lose, and just totally suck in a game, we can have as high as 400 comments from posters, complaining about what the C’s didn’t do, how we suck, how Doc needs to be fired.. etc… Then when we win games, which is what everyone wants, there’s usually an average of 80 comments or less on the win… I don’t get it?
Do people enjoy talking about the losses more than the wins?
Me? I'm just a girl who loves the Celtics...
Theory
My theory is that losses bring people out because they’re upset and need support. They get it by communicating with other people, so they can feel like they are not alone on the boat in the middle of the storm. Some come to rage, which is kinda like punching your fist into the wall, some to understand what the hell just happened, some to share their perceptions, and some, a very few, to gloat.
Most of the ones who SEEM to be gloating are not… they just wanna be reassured about the team in which they’ve invested so much emotion… so they say very negative things sometimes, looking for someone to refute it, and do a good job of it hopefully.
When the Cs win, it’s “business as usual.” They’re supposed to win, first of all. And second, when all’s well in the world, there’s no need for counseling with others.
Anyway… it’s a theory.
It makes sense...
like you said, its easier to know that you can talk about your complaints and ideas with other people who have the same feelings as you do.
And we do expect the C’s to win, so a win doesn’t generate as many opinions as a loss. There’s not much to talk about in a win, because everything went right, (hopefully)…
But nonetheless, your theory makes perfect sense. I just for some reason saw it as a little annoying, because I thought people just wanted to talk about the struggles.. But I am wrong.. :)
Thanks!
Me? I'm just a girl who loves the Celtics...
It human nature
When your team loses and plays badly there are certainly a lot more questions to ask and things to discuss. Especially when they lose to what is the best team in the league or when they lose to a team like the Nets. When they destroy an awful team like the Pistons, which they are expected to and should do, there certainly is not as much to talk about.
Tony Allen
You said tell me someone who didn’t play well. It seemed like he turned the ball over almost every time he touched it, except the backboard pass to Nate. Granted he hasn’t played in a while and was probably rusty, but you asked.
They don't always get a choice on the road
If the home team elects to wear darks, then they would have to play their whites.
Of course, most teams play whites at home and in theory they could play these green & gold unis as their regular road darks for most games.
And at home they always have that option.
I liked the look. But it breaks with the Celtic’s classic green & white. Tradition is important.
Ray Allen looked like he was still a Seattle SuperSonic out there …
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