Celtics Find Home To Their Liking
by Fafnir on Dec 30, 2011 10:07 PM EST
in Boston Celtics Games
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PrintBy taking care of the hapless Detroit Pistons. After two nail biting road games to start the season and one blow out the wrong way it was a great win for the C's. The Pistons are a bad team, and in this shortened NBA season you need to beat the bad teams, especially at home. Jermaine O'Neal finally broke out of his complete funk and Paul Pierce returned to the lineup with a well rounded effort on both ends of the floor.
Random Thoughts after the jump.
The Captain made everything look better for the first unit, restoring order to the offense. His stat line was a solid 12/4/5 on 50% shooting with only 1 turnover.
Another side effect of Pierce's return was that Rondo reigned back his aggressiveness, only taking 8 shots and earning no trips to the free throw line. He also had only 5 assists. He played well, but more in line with the role we've seen in the past when the Big 3 share the lineup with him.
Jermaine O'Neal finally showed up tonight with 19 points and 7 rebounds, Detroit has a rather small and weak front court to challenge him and he took advantage. Hopefully he can build on this success to give the C's some offense going forward.
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Thats more like it...
It was just Detroit but nice to see the C’s finally get there 1st win of the year.
Game ball I think should be sliced 3 ways and shared by Pierce, J.O and Bass who all had pretty solid nights.
Great to see Pierce out on the court, as he played rather well on both ends of the court considering this was his 1st game played all year long.
I loved tonight how the C’s set up J.O. and how he was determined to score in the paint.
He is a effective in the paint scorer and offers the C’s a in the paint scoring presence big that they lack, so I hope its a trend we will see continue as the season progresses.
Bass was impressive also especially on offense end of the court, both out in the perimeter and in the paint.
He really knows how to use his body to create space to get his shot off on offense, something Baby had problems doing.
Overall it was great to see the 3 game losing streak end and to see the C’s end the year on a positive note.
It's a start
Well it’s good to see the Celtics break into the win column tonight. Great to see Paul Pierce back and looking in mid-season form. Hard to glean much from this game as the Pistons are just a terrible team but every win counts. . They came out hot in the 2nd half and stayed aggressive to close out the Pistons early. The Pistons are pathetic though so it’s not time to get carried away. Thankfully the Wizards look to be imploding and trying to get Flip Saunders fired. Hopefully it’s just a start and there will be much better performances to come. Three more games like this against bad teams should put the Celtics back on track.
From Doc Rivers 12/28/11 --- "I just thought we played tired," Rivers said. "We looked old tonight."
Minnesota up 95-94 on Miami, 2:36 left
NBA Officiating - Corrupt? Incompetent? Which is worse? Does it matter? It sucks.
Yep.
Suck. Oh well. At any rate, they didn’t look quite so dominant against the ‘winless’ T-Wolves.
I wonder if the wolves employed any zone variance? I’ll have to catch the recap.
NBA Officiating - Corrupt? Incompetent? Which is worse? Does it matter? It sucks.
Rigged
Did you see that LeBron charge? They call it on the Wolves for blocking foul and LeBron gets and 1 for it .
by SparzWizard on Dec 30, 2011 10:41 PM EST up reply actions
David Stern probably wanted it that way…hahahahhaha
by Hammerhead7 on Dec 30, 2011 10:42 PM EST up reply actions
the cheat, wade and their refs make me sick
Particularly wade is still hitting people all over the arms in the face, plays completely dangerous, gets away with it every time and then flops all over the place on offense and gets phantom foul calls.
Cheat scrubs and rookies now look like allstars because the refs are giving them all superstar treatment.
The refs are there to bail them out every time they mess up so they virtually can’t lose.
Oh come on now, it’s not like we even have a remote chance to finish ahead of Miami in the final standings. You guys should really start to care less about other teams when your own is losing three in a row to start the season.
by P2 on Dec 30, 2011 11:54 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
It aint about the other teams
it’s about the indescepency and blatant criminal activity of the referees. Ive never heard the announcers call out the refs this much before in my life. And that lebron foul was Bullshyt. The guy bulldozes everyone and gets a foul. thats not even freakin basketball. i pray they never win a title.
It's true...
Even on TNT they are blatantly calling out the refs over and over. It’s funny – every broadcast network except NBA tv mentions something about the bad calls these days. Such a bureaucracy
Rondo ftw
It distorts reality.....
Stern’s Ref adjusted NBA…. the nightmare world we live in
Heat 4 and 0
C’s 1 and 3
If Games were called fairly
Heat 2 and 2
C’s 3 and 1
Celtic Chat Handle: Bird
by David Henderson on Dec 31, 2011 8:06 AM EST up reply actions
JO and Ray played pick/roll/pop together all night.
And Pierce and Bass – great synergy between those two.
NBA Officiating - Corrupt? Incompetent? Which is worse? Does it matter? It sucks.
Marquis "brick" Daniels
Would love to see Marquis make a shot outside of 4 feet at some point during this season. At least he is hitting the side of the rim now which is progress.
From Doc Rivers 12/28/11 --- "I just thought we played tired," Rivers said. "We looked old tonight."
+1
He is the only Celtic I have given up on.
Since Detroit is not going to do much this season, can we pry Gordon, Daye, or even Prince off them? Kind of like replacements (better ones) for Marquis and Sasha (but who would we give them in return? or better yet what can we offer them?)
Daye’s probably a wash right now and the other two contracts wouldn’t work under our cap. Besides, we don’t really have a need for them anyway. We wouldn’t be able to guarantee the minutes they’d want.
"Can't eat sushi in Utah, brother. Landlocked."
by IsItTheShoes on Dec 30, 2011 10:51 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
We don't want Gordon for the same reason we didn't want Rip
Ray apparently does not get along with either of those two guys. Apparently some long-standing issue.
None of those guys really fills a need on our roster right now – though I’ve always like Prince’s game.
NBA Officiating - Corrupt? Incompetent? Which is worse? Does it matter? It sucks.
Win # 1
JO had a great game. Hope he keep it up;
PP, welcome back! 12 points in 23 minutes considering he has not practiced or played in pre-season is good stat line.
Brandon Bass, contributed. So did RA. He has been solid for the C’s out of the gate.
Nice first win, but hope we can push our tempo up and score more with relative ease.
Paul Pierce
Paul Pierce was outstanding tonight especially for it being his first game back. However it does contradict the reasons being given for other Celtics struggling early in the season. Pierce hardly got a training camp, preseason, or practices yet came out tonight like he hadn’t missed a beat. Paul Pierce’s performance tonight is a perfect example of how so many excuses of being rusty, not enough practice, out of shape, tired or whatever can be overcome by great players…
From Doc Rivers 12/28/11 --- "I just thought we played tired," Rivers said. "We looked old tonight."
nice win
a lot of good things tonight. The only two things that carried over from prior games that were a bit troubling is Dooling’s inability to run the offense with Rondo and PP out of the game AND Sasha having issues making shots during the last quarter.
JO’s best game that I can remember as a C by far. If only he played like that every game this team could be a contender.
Agree...
Consistency of solid play is the key for J.O.
Sure he will have off nights, but if the C’s want to be competitive this year they will need him to be as effective in each game as possible and to have as few off nights as possible.
Same can be said for KG.
I think
he was hammered penetrating to the basket, then fell hard to the court and maybe hurt something.
Not sure what though.
KG continues to struggle
KG looked absolutely terrible once again even after a day off and playing at home. He appears too slow to protect the paint or grab rebounds. A perfect example was in the first quarter and he had great position for a rebound but moved slowly and allowed Greg Monroe to get by him for the offensive board. At least 4 times in the first half KG was in solid position for a rebound but he continually tips the ball instead of trying to take it out of the air. At this point KG seems only able to wait for the ball or try and tip it instead of aggressively pursuing it. He can still shoot 15 foot jumpers but that isn’t enough. He shows zero urgency offensively, instead waiting for defenders so he can pass the ball out. Even Tommy Heinsohn pointed out how KG is holding onto the ball too long instead of quickly going to the basket. Pierce converted a great 3 pointer off a KG pass which was spectacular but again KG looked like he had zero intention to score. KG had one measly rebound until grabbing a couple late when the game was effectively over.
It is obvious that KG is not moving well at all and it’s becoming more of a concern with each passing game as the Celtics have no chance of making a deep playoff run with the version of KG we have seen through the first 4 games.
From Doc Rivers 12/28/11 --- "I just thought we played tired," Rivers said. "We looked old tonight."
I just disagree so strongly with that.
KG wasn’t even playing in the low post. Monroe was almost always technically JO or Stiemsma’s man.
Most of Monroe’s points were indeed on offensive rebound put backs. But that’s just slop that misses the main point. The only reason those boards were available was because our defense – lead by KG – was forcing them to take first shots from way, way outside and they were missing. They shot just 43%. They missed 45 shots! The fact that 6 of them fell into Monroe’s hands is incidental. We grabbed 25 of them. The point of our defense is to force them to take a low percentage first shot and then grab the defensive rebound. We did that. As the game progressed we kept making them use up more and more of the shot clock. And if you actually watched closely, KG was at the heart of it, controlling the top of the paint.
Detroit has traditionally been a miss-and-crash team the last few years. They take poor first shots and depend heavily on crashing the boards for put-backs. Monroe still has this mentality, though I expect Larry Frank to eventually beat it out of him. It is a losing strategy.
I could really care less how many points or rebounds KG individually scores / grabs. When he’s moving the defense around and forcing the other team to take long jump shots with little time left on the clock, then he’s doing his job.
NBA Officiating - Corrupt? Incompetent? Which is worse? Does it matter? It sucks.
KG is definitely counted on to score points and rebound
I also watched Monroe grab those offensive rebounds and saw where KG was in position for the rebound and tried to tip it or slam it down on the court for some reason instead of going up strong and grabbing the ball. KG did attempt to defend Monroe on several occasions. Monroe was 9-12 from the field with 9 rebounds as you said so he did have a successful night in the paint.
I agree Detroit is a terrible team no one can argue that. It was still nice to see JO assert himself offensively, hopefully it’s something he can do with more consistency as the season progresses.
And not caring whether KG scores points or grabs rebounds is interesting. He is counted on, among other things to grab rebounds and score points. That is just as much a part of his “job” as one of the highest paid players in NBA than just playing solid position defense. To say KG is doing a sufficient job when he doesn’t score or rebound putting an incredibly low ceiling on his expected production. Fact is KG was again tentative on the offensive end and struggled in getting to several rebounds he had gotten into position to grab. Those are definitely huge causes for concern in the early parts of the season…
From Doc Rivers 12/28/11 --- "I just thought we played tired," Rivers said. "We looked old tonight."
I too worry about the rebounding
especially those times that they were just tipped. The thing is, he could have easily gotten them — meaning he missed them. I’ll just think that’s not going to happen every game.
As for asserting himself in the offensive end, I disagree. I think what we saw from KG tonight is about what we’d expect him to do. The thing with our offense is it gets the starters in a really good flow: look at the stats for the starters tonight. Not one of them attempted 10 or more shots, and they combined for a total of 18 assists between the 5 of them. If KG does what he does tonight, and our offense is in the same flow, I’d gladly take it. No use in forcing him to do more if it’s not needed.
I measure production on the scoreboard.
KG’s ‘production’ will show up on that. I guarantee that over time, you will see that KG’s net +/- stats will be very, very positive.
Points will happen. Rebounds will happen. But worrying about them as individual counting stats is just secondary. Yes, doing them is part of the job. But the team scores are the most important thing.
NBA Officiating - Corrupt? Incompetent? Which is worse? Does it matter? It sucks.
Definitely hope those thoughts come to fruition
Totally agree with you there and keep in mind I am not one of those who says constantly to trade KG or undervalues what he brings to the team.
But on the other hand I do think he really is struggling. He wants to get in defensive position, wants to grab rebounds, wants to score over shorter players and knows what to do but he just can’t get the job done right now. As Tommy Heinsohn pointed out, he just is taking too long when getting the ball instead of making a quick move. It’s looks like he is just waiting to get rid of the ball instead of being aggressive.
I really hope it’s just rust, trying to get his legs and adjusting to his new teammates. Shudder to think that we might be witnessing an all time great on a steep decline at a time when the Celtics team can’t afford for that to happen…
From Doc Rivers 12/28/11 --- "I just thought we played tired," Rivers said. "We looked old tonight."
I agree with mmmmm about stats not being that important for KG (especially in just 4 games)
But I was thinking the same thing as you and Tommy on that play. Actually for the first 4 games, it seems like KG is looking to pass before he even receives the ball. In the first 3 games with Pierce out I was hoping he would be more aggressive offensively and it just never happened. I’ve been watching him for so long and I know he is always about the team and efficiency, he doesn’t want to jack up bad shots. However I feel like he is selling himself short because his jumper and post game have always been high%.
There are 2 or 3 major player problems left
…and KG is by far the biggest one. (Another is Quis, btw.) Gotta agree with warnerjohn on this one. KG looked positively impotent on defense, soft on rebounds, and other than his jumper, virtually unable to finish at the rim.
- Whoever KG was guarding (Monroe, often) shot at will, and usually hit. Like KG wasn’t even there.
- As warnerjohn pointed out, KG’s not fighting for rebounds, but is instead content to tip-and-hope.
- Other than wide-open dunks, KG has not been finishing at the rim except by fall-away jumper.
As players age, the last thing to go is their shot. If THAT’S what’s happening with KG, then I think the season is hopeless.
But we don’t know anything for certain yet. KG could come back to his prior normal.
On the other hand, it’s also possible that he sees this as his last year in the pros, and with retirement directly ahead, his fire has gone out. Right NOW, the evidence points toward the unhappy latter conclusion. But we’ll see….. the fat lady hasn’t sung yet. Hell, she’s just gettin’ warmed up.
The rebounding more than the scoring
is what worries me. If he’s not rebounding, then who is on this team? Rondo and Pierce are our best rebounders, and as good as they are at their respective positions in that area, I don’t think that’s going to cut it.
I know it was just against a team we were supposed to beat.
But it was very satisfying to see all the different parts of this team finally start to work smoothly together.
Pierce adds so much to the spacing and pace of the offense.
KG & JO finally started to look more in time on defense. Early in the game, JO missed a rotation that resulted in an easy layup for Detroit and KG and he exchanged some words. I don’t think it was angry or anything – more like instructional. But after that, they started to tighten up. Forced the Pistons to use more and more shot clock and to take more and more jump shots. The Pistons kept having their clock run out and taking long jumpers with 2 seconds left.
Monroe was their leading scorer, but a ton of his points were put backs of missed first shots (6 of his 9 rebounds were offensive).
NBA Officiating - Corrupt? Incompetent? Which is worse? Does it matter? It sucks.
KG and J.O.....
when they are on there games defensively are a great and formidable front court defensive duo.
The question is how often this year and in how many games will they be able to be effective defensively at there ages which takes alot of work and stamina?
Thats the biggest question which time will only give us the answer to.
Hopefully both J.O and KG will be able to muster solid defensive games far more often then they do not, since the C’s will need both of them to do so if they want to be competitive this year.
well, obviously it starts with them - those two are the back bone of the D
but hopefully as time goes on, the other bigs will also get more and more in sync with the way the team D is supposed to work.
NBA Officiating - Corrupt? Incompetent? Which is worse? Does it matter? It sucks.
Great to get off the snide
The Captain looked great and props to JO. Ray and Bass also looked good. Rondo looked hurt or something. Only fair to mention that the Pistons just might be the worst team in the NBA
true - all you can take is that when they were supposed to beat a team, they did execute.
But that in itself is important at this stage. You want to know that all the parts are functional or at least capable of being functional.
NBA Officiating - Corrupt? Incompetent? Which is worse? Does it matter? It sucks.
Wizards might be worse
I think Blatche and company are trying to get Flip Saunders fired. Should be two incredibly easy games for the Celtics coming up…
From Doc Rivers 12/28/11 --- "I just thought we played tired," Rivers said. "We looked old tonight."
yeah, I tend to agree - the wizards probably are worse.
Detroit has some good mid-level talent – just no real stars. But Larry is a good coach and they will get better as they learn his system.
NBA Officiating - Corrupt? Incompetent? Which is worse? Does it matter? It sucks.
Schneid?
But, right, yes, indeed, a win is good
"Celtics bring order and structure to a chaotic world"
by Tenacious D on Dec 31, 2011 12:01 AM EST up reply actions
Daniels etc.
I have asked this before: what do people see in Daniels? (inconsistent at best- does nothing very well, but nothing really bad= average player). Did not see game but descriptions above tell me that Doc finally tried pick and rolls with a shooter/post rather than always Rondo/post. By forcing the defense to honor a shooter like allen/pierce, it causes pick and pops for the post players (and all of our post players can hit a 15 footer pretty well) and defender can’t just go under the screen like they do with Rondo. Nice adjustment by Doc- lets hope he remembers to do this more often.
Good defender
as long as he isn’t trying to contain Melo or Lebron. Expect him to make life hard for most shooting guards and small forwards. He also attacks the lane, and honestly, I think he should stick to that instead of trying to get him for open corner threes and such.
daniels
he just doesn’t seem to have any urgency out there. I can’t remember seeing him block a shot or overplay a passing lane for a steal. I suspect he is a good position defender- but he seems to get a pass from any criticism on these posts (even before his injury). I like that he is unselfish, and willing to do anything without complaint. That in itself is an NBA miracle, but I would like to see a bit more.
he had two blocks earlier, and one at the end of the first quarter-buzzer, I think. also, he does all the smart little things in the defense such as running out to shooters even when he gets picked off (and besides, we know that overplaying for a steal isn’t really what the team preaches. they’d rather the difficult and contested shot be taken)
Daniels game is NEVER about urgency. He's a deceptive mover.
But paolost is correct, he’s a very good defender in general. And while he’s not a great shooter, he is good at penetrating the paint and generally a smart ball player.
He’s not a starter quality guy at this point, but he’s a nice guy to have on the bench.
Also, keep in mind he was unable to play basketball – even practice – for about 6 months. So he’s still getting his own game back. If he gets his game back to where it was before his injury, he’ll be very valuable off the bench.
NBA Officiating - Corrupt? Incompetent? Which is worse? Does it matter? It sucks.
+1
He’s got a decent post game that can be used on smaller defenders. He also has touch around the basket and has some sneaky moves to get there. Unfortunately his jumper is terrible and he should forget trying to spread the floor with his jumper.
I think he also didn’t get the benefit of what looked like some obvious foul calls especially in the first two games. If he get 5 or 6 more points at the line in either rather than the resulting 3-4missed FGA, his stats would look better than they do and the outcome of at least game one might have differed.
"What good is a man who won't take stand? What good is a cynic with no better plan? I believe in a better way." Ben Harper
by rondolicious on Dec 31, 2011 8:09 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
The most refreshing part of the win
was the defense. It was definitely there tonight (the opposing team didn’t score 60 points by halftime? wow) and the better flowing offense. It looked tentative in the first few possessions but started to pick up early in the first. Also, first time I’ve seen Dooling make good plays as the PG (though it still takes him relatively long to get into the sets).
Right here
He proved me wrong offensively but he is worse than I thought on defense Monroe destroyed him tonight
by JuJuan some moore on Dec 30, 2011 11:18 PM EST up reply actions
Monroe
Well, the only times he actually “destroyed” JO was when he or a teammate missed and he was able to grab the offensive rebound and he was able to put in the easy layup. Monroe, however, completely dominated Greg. He just didn’t have the body to stay with him down low and if memory serves me correctly, Monroe almost made a 6-0 run by himself with Greg defending him.
The first quarter JO got beat at least 4 times I don’t know if there is any website to watch the replay but he was unable to stop Monroe. Monroe is a very good center and wasn’t able to stop JO either. I’m still not excited about jermaine but I’m no longer worried he will die on the court
by JuJuan some moore on Dec 30, 2011 11:58 PM EST up reply actions
one good game against one of the worst teams in the NBA
and three pretty bad games so far. I would say the bad still outweighs the good. Look forward to him playing well against a team that has a clue. That said, and as I posted earlier, have to give him props tonight on the offensive end.
one in the bag. i would like to see at least 40 or so, but win or lose, let’s go c;s. the pistons are really bad so when we badmouth the c’s what has dumars been thinking? bass grows on you. he seems to be under cotrol most of the time. as others have already said, pp set a nice pace and played like the captain.
As the great Yogi Berra pointed out, " it ain't over till it's over"
This was only the 2nd game I managed to watch, after that farce of a New York game, which was handed to N.Y. by the refs, so it was nice to watch a decent and necessary blowout win, albeit against a lesser team.
This shortened season still has a long way to go, and the Cs are still in pre-season mode, and working their way out of it.
Pierce’s return was key, as he not only helped spread the floor and put up some points, but most importantly, gave the club a morale boost just by his presence on the floor.
While O’neal won’t put up those numbers every game on offense, he won’t have to; it’s enough for the other teams to know that he’s still a threat, and that they can’t afford to sag off on him, which means fewer double teams to worry about.
Bass has been a very pleasant addition, and adds a dynamic force to the 2nd team. He really hustles. When the 2nd unit will come together a bit better, and this will happen over the course of the season, as they get to know one another, it will allow Rivers to rest the starters more and more.
My only concerns this season, until the playoffs, will be the 2nd game of back to backs, [ since there’s no such thing in the playoffs ] and keeping the team healthy.
Lygafe.
Lionel Gaffen / Fotomix,
Lygafe
Lionel Gaffen / Fotomix | International Hockey Forums > Europe > ISRAEL
Israel Recreational Hockey Association 2009-2010 & 2010-2011 [ Lygafe ] | Israel Ice Skating Federation - From the Media [ Lionel Gaffen ]
Yeah, it isn't important that JO scores 19 every night
The important thing is that he should be more confident about his shot and other teams will have to respect it.
I love the fact that only 32 PFs were called tonight. Refs kept their whistles in their pockets and let the teams just play.
NBA Officiating - Corrupt? Incompetent? Which is worse? Does it matter? It sucks.
If only they would do that every game, it would make for a much better style of play.
The players should always decide the games, not the refs.
Unfortunately, after watching so many games, in so many team sports, that’s a bit of wishful thinking on my part, but I believe that the NBA are the worst offenders in that respect.
Lygafe
Lionel Gaffen / Fotomix | International Hockey Forums > Europe > ISRAEL
Israel Recreational Hockey Association 2009-2010 & 2010-2011 [ Lygafe ] | Israel Ice Skating Federation - From the Media [ Lionel Gaffen ]
The Truth Returns
I’m pretty sure we can all agree the C’s are a different team with Pierce in the lineup. He adds a top scoring option, as well as an underrated defender and a leader. I think we got lost in the hubbub of the Big 3 and Allen’s shooting and Garnett’s defense and intensity that we forgot how much Pierce really means to the Celtics. I think the big question is, if Garnett or Allen missed the first 3 games instead of Pierce, would the Celtics have gone 0-3? I don’t think we lose that Kicks game if Pierce played opposed to Allen because Pierce would give us a defender against Carmelo Anthony.
Anyways, it’s good to see Jermaine O’Neal look alive and maybe he can start making a more offensive impact on the Celtics.
I think pierce instead of allen could of gotten us atleast 1 game out of the 3 (more likely 2)
The knicks game and the hornets game. Heat I give the benefit of the doubt. Of course that is purely speculation, and the team could have still lost all 3 with Pierce who knows.
What I'm really excited about is JO
getting some points in the paint. If he can score there with relative consistency, and he stays healthy, we may have something similar to the way the C’s played with Shaq in the lineup.
Holding back on judgements
Temper your excitement, although we can hope. My brother who has followed JO more than I have tells me that JO does well against lesser opponents, but is not nearly as impressive aginst stronger competition.
Here’s to the hope that he can change that pattern with the quality of teammates he has on the Celtics to help his confidence and poise and ultimately his effectiveness in doing what the team needs from him against all levels of opponents.
by SteveZ from Edgemont on Dec 31, 2011 9:40 PM EST up reply actions
Wish doc put the rookies in a little earlier
I want JJ to get time and prove what hes got, but to me it seems like when he goes in he is almost star struck by the whole nba experience. Even things like passing the ball or catching a long rebound seem to be scary when hes involved. I want the kid to get some decent minutes….but he has to earn them some how
by Kgwillkillyou on Dec 30, 2011 11:24 PM EST via mobile reply actions
I look forward to seeing more of Jajuan also
I think he can definitely make an impact and the Celtics could use another big man. Jajuan obviously has too sleight a frame to battle in the post at this point in his development. But he does have length and can defend big men outside the paint like he was doing briefly against Andrea Bagnanni in the preseason Raptors game. The referees gave a bunch of chincy rookie foul calls against him but it was basically just good defense on Jajuan’s part and you could see the potential there. He also can provide additional blocked shots (a la Stiemsma) and can knock them down himself from all over the floor.
Doc needs a game plan for the second night of back to backs that doesn’t ask so much of the starters. I hope it means seeing a bit more of Jajuan and E’twuan (behind the rest of the bench) and sitting the starters earlier.
One nice thing about Rondo's game tonight..
He didn’t have a tremendous game overall but nonetheless continued his pattern of taking and making jump shots consistently
JO looked great and proved me wrong tonight
He had swagger, his shots were falling and he was active defensively and on the boards. JO showed up tonight – showed he can still do it. If he can do that with consistency then we can challenge anyone.
Paul Pierce played great, but what else do you expect? That’s Paul Pierce.
I think we looked sharp and I’m excited about this win. Bass looked good. If we can keep playing this way with all our guys ballin at once, I don’t count out another banner and a few more numbers hanging high above courtside. If all our guys are going then we have too many weapons for anyone to stop.
JO's resurgence may be linked to the refs FINALLY treating him fairly
Because in the first 3 games, the refs were hammering him mercilessly, and it got to him. Today was the first time he’s been able to show what he can do. Looked real good.
PP too.
Now if KG could relight his fire, if Quis could find his range again (man, that guy’s in a bad shooting slump), and if someone could please learn to play backup PG — we’d have ourselves a pretty good team!
Good game
It was sad (almost) to see how far Detroit has fallen off in just a few years. I’ve hated them for decades but damn, that’s a team in need of an identity.
It’s funny how I had almost forgotten the impact of PP. Defenses must have a game plan for him and especially with KG off to a slow offensive start, we needed a defense (albeit a bad one) to have to contend with PP the outside shooter as well as PP who still can turn it on and go to the basket.
I’m hoping the KG we have seen the first few games is a result of a 35 year old with an extended off-season and virtually no training camp, a veteran who knows he has time to turn on the engine during the regular season. The other option, that he’s lost a step or two more and some of his intensity, is too much for me to handle right now.
JO: at least the defense knew he was there.
Quis: how I would have loved a healthy Jeff Green playing most of his minutes.
Rondo: a perplexing (frustrating) player whose jets can take over a game but then cool off for others. Was he hurt? Bored? Took a step back because PP returned? Thank God his outside shots continues to look much better than last year. Will he get to be good enough that teams have to guard him?
My body went this way so maybe KG....
I lost my first step either late 33 or early 34. That is, when I first noticed it. I lost my 2nd at about 37. Before 33, I could go out and run cold, but after 33 I had to jog and then run quite a bit before actually playing. I think Daniels will improve. He never was a long range shooter, needs to keep his jumpers inside foul line range. But I think he will get braver as he finds his health is ok, and that’s where his offense used to be – driving to the rim. If he doesn’t improve, Speights will take his minutes and we will be ok.
If KG has lost a second step, He may have to play center and let Bass start at PF. I’m very impressed with Bass.
Off the subject a bit but I’m thinking that Dooling is a better shooter then I thought he was and a poorer PG than I thought he was.
Bradley hasn’t played much but has looked bad when he does. He can get free and shoot (and miss) but doesnt seem to be able to get free and make the good pass.
I'm not the Devil's Advocate but I consiider him a close friend
I will say this again
MARSHON BROOKS. WE SHOULD KEPT HIM.
Look how he’s playing in Nets, He’s averaging 15pts. He would be that scoring power from the bench that we need now.
Oh and what we get for him in Draft? Jajuan Johnson? Really?
This move in Draft 2012 by Danny was bad… what we lost, dudes….
Because the Nets have minutes to give him.
If he were on the C’s, I doubt he’d get as much meaningful minutes as well. And besides, the C’s never intended to get Brooks — that was as much part of the Nets deal. The whole trade between picks.
DUDE!
Nets played him 21 mins per game while JJJ only played 3 minutes each game. even michael jordan cannot score 15pts within 3 minutes each game
Reggie Miller...
what was that, 9 in 20 seconds?
by spinetingler on Jan 1, 2012 10:10 PM EST up reply actions
You might be right on this one
For some reason it seems jj is timid from what i read. I can understand if it’s bradley. But i disn’t expect it from jj
4 points and 1 rebound in 6 minutes
If he plays brooks 21 minutes per game he averages 14 points and 3.5 rebounds per game plus we need depth in size not in shooting. With brooks we would have rondo dooling Allen Bradley Moore and brooks for two spots that’s way too many. The guy has played 6 minutes through 4 career games give him a chance
by JuJuan some moore on Jan 1, 2012 2:04 AM EST up reply actions
and if you watched the games he played in
he was fast, athletic and wide on defense. they can certainly use him in pick and roll but his screen is not there yet like Stiemsma.
PT - this looks way better Doc
STARTERS
Kevin Garnett, PF 26
Paul Pierce, SF 23
Jermaine O’Neal, C 29
Ray Allen, SG 29
Rajon Rondo, PG 28
BENCH
Keyon Dooling, G 21
Marquis Daniels, SG 22
Sasha Pavlovic, SF 14
Brandon Bass, PF 22
Greg Stiemsma, C 16
JaJuan Johnson, F 3
E’Twaun Moore, G 3
Avery Bradley, SG 3
Celtic Chat Handle: Bird
by David Henderson on Dec 31, 2011 9:48 AM EST reply actions
Add two more
Chris Wilcox
Mickael Pietrus
call me carzy
These old guys need more “run” not less…more mins in more games in the next 4-6 weeks to get in shape…good gosh,Rondo is dragging these last 2 games
Then the last 20+ games Doc manages mins for the playoffs
Thank goodness Pierce looks good
Thre first two games I couldn’t help but think that he would have made all the difference. Not only could he provide solid defense against Melo/Lebron, but they’d have to expend energy guarding him. As opposed to lying in wait in the passing lanes, then when they missed the ball watching Daniels clang a 20 footer.
by Aluminum Penguin on Dec 31, 2011 12:25 PM EST reply actions
Took care of business against Detriot
:)
In my morning after review, the Celtics did a good job against a lesser opponent. I think that things will be helter skelter for a few weeks until Doc and the players get more comfortable with each other. This is still de facto preseason to me but the pressure is there to win games because of the shortened season. Starting Two and Ten well breaking in Stiesma, Dooling, Marquis, and Jermaine O’Neal is a bad idea. But overplaying your Big Four runs the risk of injury and fatigue.
So games like last night are needed where the Celtics maintain double digit leads for greater than twenty minutes.
Boston Celtics - 2008 World Champions
Boston Bruins - 2011 Stanley Cup Champions
New England Patriots - Super Bowl xxxvi, xxxviii, and xxxix champions
Boston Red Sox - 2004, 2007 World Series Champions
Miami Heat admit taking Boston play
These guys are unbelievable. Miami really studies Boston. lol
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