Are We Back?

3 areas of minor concern are Daniels play,Nate in halfcourt and KG back to back…..come playoffs Finley plays more,Rondo plays 40+mins and there are no back to backs…problem solved

one of their better games. every time i see big baby, i think what a great football player he would be. he’s not so hot at bball, but his energy effects this team in a good way. he is hustling but out of control, and the wild situations he gets into must stimulate the geezers. i was ready to throw perk under the bus in the 1st period, but he woke up and played a solid game. pp has a way to go but his warrior spirit seems to have thawed out and decided to show itself. ray is shooting daggers again. i will feel better about kg, tho i feel he is doing great, when i see some blocked shots. the blocked shot or lack of seems to be the hallmark to me og how kg’s legs are performing.

Getting closer, looking healthy, playing team ball. I think we are aiming to peak at the right time, and I am very happy about that. I feel vindicated in saying that we definitely have a chance to advance throughout the playoffs….as good a chance as anyone. I do not think that Cleveland has won the East yet, or that the Lakers have won the championship! Good work Doc and team, in staying focused and not letting the hype get to you. I am so grateful that we are not in “rebuilding” mode, and hope that we won’t tear the team apart to “rebuild” next year either. Adding and tweaking are fine.

I love how the Celts have rediscovered “team” ball and UBUNTU!

The Celtics played very well— Rondo was outstanding during the last six minutes—but Caron Butler missed alot of shots, too. We’ll just have to see if the Celtics can continue to play well against good teams.

And he was a real weakness for the team through their supposed ‘bored’ stretch.

Glen seems to be looking a little more like the guy we saw last year in the playoffs…wonder if his thumb was more of a problem than he let on…The rotation on D is what jumps out at me over the last couple of games..KG must be feeling better or he’s adjusted to the brace, either way it’s a good sign…btw…welcome back #34

They had a long stretch of bad and not so good games and many of us said the window was closed. Now, they have played well in 4 straight games. Not a big enough sample for me to say they have turned it around completely and are back. If they keep this level of play up for 10-15 games, then I think we can seriously consider them being back. Even then, I don’t think they have the horses to win the eastern conference, but they will certainly make it interesting.

As for Glen Davis, he continues to have the most hustle on the team and the least basketball smarts or ability.

The Celts “exposed” the Mavs as possibly being “fraudulent”.

Despite their very impressive record, Dallas ranks 14th in points allowed, 12th in points scored.

Dallas lost to NY by 34 points, one week earlier, at home.

Still, the Celts did look good….I would love to see my many earlier predictions blow up in my face!!!

It’s funny how much better this team is when he is looking for his shot more often. I think it says a lot about him as a player and a teammate that he looks to set up his teammates so often—that is, it says he’s the anti-Kobe—but the team is much better served by his being “selfish.” A couple weeks ago, either DRJ1 or mmmmm pointed out that Pierce should be taking 18 shots a night. Well, he’s gotten there the last few games and look at the results.

That said, unlike most I don’t think of Dallas as a real contender. I like the win, don’t get me wrong, but the teams in the west with a shot are LA, Denver, Utah, and (if Parker’s healthy and Ginobli continues to play as well as he has the last couple weeks) San Antonio. So I’m looking more at Monday’s game as a sort of barometer.

Milwaukee won in Denver last night. Can we please get that third seed and avoid them in the first round. Please?

While one man can’t alone win in this league, you do need a go to scorer. Pierce is that guy for us. It is no coincidence that the Celtics improved play over the last few games coincides with Pierce’s improved play.

KG is the defensive leader and Pierce is the offensive leader. Both need to be on top of thier games if we are to have a chance. Overall we seem to be headed in the right direction and I hope this trend continues. It makes me still hold out hope we can get that 18th banner.

The last 4 games we were even or better on the boards than our opponents.
Just 5 games ago when we would lose bad to nets and the like, we would get dominated on the boards. I dont know if there is a correlation to be beating badly in the rebounding game to the battle of the score of the game, but at any rate it is awesome to see PP and Rondo rebounding once again and the Celtics getting W’s.

Is how I have always felt after regular season games, win or lose. Sure, you can definetly consider this a good win. It will only help to build momentum for the real season(playoffs). This attitude is also why I remain hopeful the C’s can still get it done. They never get too down after a loss, or too high after a win.

They are two of the better rebounders at their positions and i respect that , so thats why i mentioned those two players, not to call them out or anything.

It was nice to see Rondo get 10 rebounds last nught. With that said i dont expect him to get 8-10 rebounds a game either but i didnt like the less than 1rpg prior to this winning streak during our last struggling streak. And PP nad a certain avg per game and during our lull before this streak he wasnt even coming close to pulling his self appointed load.

I love them both and want to see them both continue to pressure the boards and wreak havoc on the opponents game plan..

How can an opponent execute their offensive game plan when we got the board.

Thats a good point, the team never gets too high or low, its us fans who expertise in that.

I guess its easy to sit in our armchairs and see that they were getting dominated on the boards and thats why we were getting blown out at home even.

Its another thing to get out on the court and get those rebounds. Rebounding is hard and tiring work ,not every player has it in him to go out their and get tired out on the blocks and get bruised up ,then have to sprint full speed to get back to where the ball went on the court., otherwise every team would have a guy with a 10rpg avg on their team and one or two more very close.

So the Celtics demeanor of not getting too high or too low but just going out there and doing whatever it takes , goes a long way in my book. Go Celtics

I think the Celtics’ current performance is on par with quasi-contenders like Dallas, Denver and Atlanta.

I think they still need to push on a little further to join the ranks of the Lakers, Magic and Cavaliers.

They are going in the right direction and making good progress though. A lot to like.

Some of the comments about Davis today are weird. He is ALL over the glass and he is getting better at not getting blocked. Additiopnally PP has figured out that when Davis is ion the game he has a real shot at the rebound and so he hangs around waiting to pick up loose balls. Davis has almost totally changed his game this year to incorporate something we desperately need. I am very happy with him and his all out effort.

Also, yeah we don’t need Daniels so much for ball handling now and Finley truly replaces him. Finley is playing better than Daniels but we still need Marquis to come in and play hard d and slash. Finley is already playing his game Marquis seems disrupted somehow. In the playoffs we can hope Doc knows who to play…

Somone needs to get on KG about his position D. Otherwise he is looking better. I saw him get blown by twice yesterday but its less frequent. I just hope TT or someone can chew on him. He is getting rebounds and getting his hands up.

Hoping PP can look like he is 18 when we play Denver too.

Yep Ray never stopped trying and the stats suggest he’ll be fine when getting days off in between games.

RR is staying in front of his man the last two weeks…jumper looks better, ft % keeps going up..fingers crossed..

Sheed is just a train wreck on offense. His d is generally ok but sheesh.

Everybody’s so careful to say that they did well BUT… but this, but that, buts all over the place. Sure it’s only been 4 games. Sure only one of them was against a good team. That’s not what I see. I’m looking at one thing only: THE CELTICS. Don’t care who they’re playing… ok, maybe a little… But the MAIN thing for me… the thing that puts a smile on my face and patience in my heart… is that they just played two GREAT games of basketball. They played the RIGHT WAY, the way they and VERY few others know how. Tight, terrific defense, and very aggressive, highly unselfish offense. And this wasn’t even their best; their best awaits the playoffs.

So what’s with all the hesitation and butt-covering? What, do you think they’re going to FORGET how to play if they don’t show it to you game after game? Huh??

For me it’s enough to know that: (1) everybody’s healthy, most especially Paul and KG – who were huge question marks until recently (this is more than half the battle already), (2) Sheed is showing signs of life, so it’s reasonable to believe he’s gonna throw that infamous switch of his, (3) the Big 4 (3+Rondo) are playing at or near their highest level; their skills are undiminished, by anything, and (4) the team as a whole is perfectly capable of playing both great defense and great offense.

With those factors true, I have NO DOUBT that they’re ready. Of COURSE there are tweaks, improvements, minor issues to work on, etc…. that process NEVER ends. The only thing that can stop Doc from saying “we gotta get better, we gotta get better”… is champagne.

So if they lean back for a game or two or three between now and the end of the season… who cares? What, these games MATTER all of a sudden? Of course not. If Doc decides to experiment a little, if he decides to sit all our starters for a game, or if they just decide to be lazy for a night… so what? THESE GAMES DO NOT MATTER. The only thing that matters is that they’re ready. And they are. They don’t need to prove it endlessly.

Can they get far in the playoffs? Can they get to the Finals? Are you kidding? I’m thinking of getting Doc a new shirt already.

The Celtics played very well. Great game for PP and RR. It is wonderful to see Paul attacking the rim and Rajon scoring in the crunch time. However, it is a little bit too early for me to say that we are back, though we are definitively on the right tracks. 4 wins in a row – I like it very much. Keep it going guys!

This team is back on track. They are getting healthy, something they haven’t been all season. Seriously, how many games have we had this team as healthy as they are right now? What, one, two, that is about it. If you look at it, PP has been hampered by injuries the last month or more, KG has just started to look good since his last problem, BBD is now healthy and we have added a dynamic player in Nate. Why is everyone here questioning this group so much? I understand ‘guarded optimism’ and all but now is not the time for it.

the c’s played a great game and as drj1 describes, the right way. that was heartwarming. i do believe, that the 1st team is following the right and enlightened path- move the ball- go for the rebound-move the feet on d. i would still like to see some consistency from perk, but he is improving. the second team seems to revolve around sheed who has not been consistent and that needs to improve. come on sheed-hustle like baby and get the lead out.

then yes, they’re back. if not, then they’re not. what we’ve seen lately is encouraging – that’s for sure.