Baby Was Not Bad; Melo is the Worst; and Other Corrections

by DRJ1 on Apr 18, 2011 1:26 AM EDT

I thought Baby played hard in Game 1. He hustled his tail off. He rebounded. He missed shots. It happens. But he did his job. And he was far from the worst player on the floor.

The worst player on the floor was Carmelo Anthony. It seems he will ALWAYS be the worst player for the Knicks. A walking mistake. Why? Because that man epitomizes "Hero Ball." Look that term up in the basketball dictionary, and you'll find Melo's picture. With seconds left in the game, only 2 points down... what does he do? He takes ANOTHER 28-foot 3 point shot! After missing god-knows how many before that (6, actually). If the Celtics played great team ball in the 2nd half (which they did, on both ends)... Carmelo did the opposite. Call him Mr. Hero Ball. Despite his talent, he is The Worst Player On The Court.... by far.

It's likely Melo will never be on a real winning team. Reason: him.

Next....

Before Knicks Game 1, I thought the Cs can't go all the way unless Shaq returns. I found out differently. JO CAN, yes he can... do the job. Who knew? If Jermaine plays like he did in those 22 minutes -- and if, as expected, his stamina and conditioning keep improving -- he can absolutely do what Shaq would do. And probably better, because unlike Shaq (and Perk), JO has a jumper. (And he takes charges... including a critical one in the last 3 minutes of the game.)

Of course, he has to stay healthy, and keep doing what he just did. But the point is... the Cs no longer DEPEND on Shaq's ailing body. There is another option here.

All in all, 3 great things became evident from this game:

(1) JO seems for real, as noted.

(2) The Cs took one half to calm their nerves and get to work. But they were SERIOUS in this game. They are serious about these playoffs. And that includes everybody... Rondo (about whom many of us wondered), the Big 3, JO, Delonte, Baby, Green. (Krstic I'm not sure about... but probably.) This team is ready to get the job done.

(3) As in 08, the Cs need tough early rounds to get their butts in gear, to hone both their skills and ferocity to championship level. Looks like they're going to get what they need.

Those are all great developments. Things are looking good for the Celtics.

Be respectful and keep it clean. Thanks.

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Jermaine Oneal will not make 6-6 on those jumpers every single game

His shooting touch was good tonight, as was his defense. He will be a good starter, but this isnt what you can expect every night.

Melo was bad tonight, but he isnt always that selfish, and PP didnt really play that great defense on him. Most of those shots are ones he normally makes. The worst player out there was Billups, since he had on a percentage basis way more terrible shots than Melo.

Oh, and Big Baby was absolutely terrible out there. I haven’t seen enough Celtics games this year to judge really, but he doesnt seem like a 6th man of the year candidate at all.

by NewCavsfan on Apr 18, 2011 1:53 AM EDT reply actions

Jermaine O’Neal didn’t make 6 jumpers. He made 2 or 3. If you don’t expect this kind of performance from him, you don’t know who Jermaine O’Neal is, please go look him up. Paul Pierce didn’t play get defense on him? What game were you watching? Paul contested every single Melo shot. He stripped him a few time and completely shut him down from attacking the paint. It was close to the absolutely best defense humanly possible. Rondo did an amazing job on Billups defensively. He didn’t let him post up or drive by, and forced him to take those long jumpers. Baby guarded Amare as well as anyone not named Kevin Garnett can. He forced a couple of turnovers and kept him away from the basket with the exception of once or twice. He didn’t have a great shooting night, but he was fine otherwise.

by Yogesh Raghunathan on Apr 18, 2011 2:18 PM EDT up reply actions

Not saying BBD was the worst,

but he was indeed pretty crappy out there. In fact, this has been going on for awhile now.

The problem is this. He’s simply playing a role that is much bigger than him. He’s not CAPABLE of hitting 18 ft jumpshots on a consistent basis. Fadeaways shouldn’t be in his repertoire but he obviously thinks differently. That is NOT his game and will NEVER be his game. THAT is THE bottom line. He thinks and believes he is THAT player when he’s not.

We don’t really have a better replacement at this point. Doc has no one to go with (Green – lose too much size, Nenad – lose too much speed/mobility) other than BBD.

On a sidenote, I NEVER EVER considered Melo to be as good as Wade’s or Leron’s. He has the skills, but he doesn’t have the instinct or heart. The killer instinct that Kobe has. Something I believe a player is born with. Whenever I watch him play, I just don’t see fire in his eyes. Kobe can be like “Ok, I want this. I need this. So screw all of you, I’m taking this over.” Melo does not have that. Reminds me of what JVG said of Tmac. The guy was just too talented for his own good.

"I’m going to probably fade to black,’’ he said. "To be honest, I’m not a showman guy. I’m going to fade to black. I don’t know what I will do. I’m an idealist. I have a high drive and I’m very determined. Fade to black, man, like evaporate.’’

by TheBigFive on Apr 18, 2011 6:09 AM EDT reply actions

BBD did NOT do his Job

His job is to swing the ball, set good screens, box out, rotate on defense, stay in front of his man, and hustle after the loose ball.

Instead, last night I saw: Taking too many jumpers (1 for 8), setting terrible screens (or no screen at all), failing to box out, failing to stay in front of his man (though staying in front of Amare is very difficult), and hustling after the loose ball (which he sometimes did).

Davis apparently doesn’t know his role on this team, or he refuses to play it. I’m sick and tired of watching him for extended minutes (especially at Center) both on the offensive end and defensive end.

by TomHamilton30 on Apr 18, 2011 11:09 AM EDT reply actions

2 of his 8 misses were shot-clock mandated

That leaves 6. So he missed 2 shots he should have made. If we thew out every player who has a bad shooting night, we’d have a roster of 0.

He did box out, he did defend, he did hustle. He did not set screens, but that’s relatively minor. He did his job…. not particularly well, but he was not “garbage” as many have characterized.

by DRJ1 on Apr 18, 2011 1:50 PM EDT up reply actions

I respectfully disagree

This entire season he has proven to be the worst jump shooter on the team (of all players who have gotten decent minutes). Go look it up. For this reason he shouldn’t be shooting jumpers. I’ll give you the 2 shot clock misses. That still leaves him 1 for 6, and 0 for 2 in free throws. The problem is that this has been happening more and more frequently with him.

Not setting screens is a major deal on this team. Its one of his roles and something he should be very good at. In fact I attributed Ray’s lack of open shots in the 1st half due to not getting good screens. Delonte shouldn’t be setting the best screens.. Davis should be. Instead, Davis routinely provides a matador pick or screen and pops early looking for his shot.

Who did he defend? Not Amare. Not Turiaf. Who?

by TomHamilton30 on Apr 18, 2011 2:04 PM EDT up reply actions

I thought he defended ok

Jeffries, when he had him, and Turiaf when he (sometimes) covered him. He tried on Amare…. I did see him push him around a couple of times. Other times, Amare blew by him. But nobody was stopping that guy last night, not even KG. And I saw Baby rotating aggressively. The kid worked hard, on both ends. If he had just hit 2 more shots, we’d be happy with him. (My guess is he was nervous, btw.)

Look… I’m not claiming he was great or anything. But he was not garbage, and I think Doc must be reasonably ok with his performance. So long as these guys are working HARD out there, they have a good shot at the whole enchilada. The good news is that nobody was standing around doing nuttin… which was happening a lot in the last few reg season games.

If Baby continues this kind of effort, he should have a breakout game one of these days. (Then, of course, we’ll have to worry about overconfidence. With Baby, the worries never end.)

by DRJ1 on Apr 18, 2011 2:22 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah he shoots worse than Hall of Famers and All Stars. What is your point? Ray’s lack of open shots in the 1st half was because they had a young, fast and long 6’7 Landry Fields on him who stuck to Ray Allen like glue. Unfortunately Fields couldn’t hit a shot, and got replaced by Tony Douglas, and Ray was able to get open. Where does this Baby doesn’t set screens talk come from? He set screens every time he was called to set a screen. Why would you run a pick and roll with Baby when Kevin Garnett is on the floor? He’s better off spreading the floor so the Paul, Rondo, and KG can operate on the paint than to clog the middle and pick up 3 second violations. Baby did a good job on A’mare. He stripped him early and forced him to take tough jumpers other times. A’mare blew by Baby only once that I remember (I don’t know the actual number). Most of A’mare’s fourth quarter beasting came on KG and JO.

by Yogesh Raghunathan on Apr 18, 2011 2:33 PM EDT reply actions

This is incorrect.

He shoots worse than even league average players.

League average for 16-23 ft is about 41%, Davis shoots 35%. Decidedly worse than average. Pierce is slightly above average from that range (42%) and Ray is downright elite from that range by NBA standards (48%.)

Yet somehow, Glen Davis takes more shots from that range than either of those two… see the problem here?

"Phil is obviously a good coach. You don't win that many games without being a damn good coach, ... Remember one thing: He's been very fortunate. He picks his spots. That's all I can say." - Red Auerbach

04 + 07 = 11

by Sizzlack on Apr 19, 2011 9:19 AM EDT up reply actions

Just my opinion, but...

I think part of Baby’s problem might be he’s trying to create more offense because, right now, we’re not getting a lot out of Green and the other new guys, plus Delonte missed a ton of time, etc. I think once Green, Kristic, JO, and Delonte get their swerve on a find a groove that Baby will settle back into his role.

The thing is, Baby’s been around long enough now that teams know he can put the ball on the floor and has decent moves around the hoop. They sag off, so he shoots the J. That is not the strong part of his game; no doubt.

One last thing: When KG was down in 2009 and Baby hit that jumper at the buzzer in Orlando, was anybody screaming about what lousy shooter he is? Baby loves the playoffs. If we can stay alive to get these new pieces worked in, Tack 18 up on the roof.

by Ab4PSU on Apr 18, 2011 3:43 PM EDT reply actions

Green and Davis need to be working in the screen and roll together.

They’d be perfect pick and pop players, but they don’t work off each other at all.

It’s just one iso’d or the other, on either side of the paint.

04 + 07 = 11

by Sizzlack on Apr 19, 2011 9:20 AM EDT up reply actions

Very interesting. I think they could work a good pick and roll together with Green's J and Baby's moves to the hoop.

Excellent observation.

I’ll email Doc.

by Ab4PSU on Apr 19, 2011 1:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Cause Melo definitely the worst player on the court

He was the reason the Knicks went up big. He was lights out in the 1st half. A couple of calls didnt go his way later.

I Miss Mozgov

by michael28102 on Apr 19, 2011 1:52 AM EDT reply actions

I'm with you on this one

I don’t think Melo played TERRIBLE. Yes he shot poorly, but did he make bad decisions by taking those 3’s at the end? Possibly, but if you are going to blame him for shooting a 28 footer at the game, the whole team deserves to be blamed. Dntoni obviously believed in Melo and decided not to call a timeout. If I were a Knicks fan, I would be happy with that shot. He had a great look period.

I don’t think he played HERO ball at the end. That’s what he does. That’s Carmelo Anthony. He is their go to guy esp with Billups out. Whether they were down by 2 or 3, that last shot was a good shot for Melo and the Knicks. HAD they called a timeout, now that’s a totally different topic. The ENTIRE team including the coach decided not to so you can’t blame Melo for that.

by TheBigFive on Apr 19, 2011 2:39 AM EDT up reply actions

They were out of timeouts

…as were the Cs.

by DRJ1 on Apr 19, 2011 3:07 AM EDT up reply actions

Why capital letters?

It’s a little bit annoying reading a post with so many capital letter words, it seems like reading an essay from a young and a little bit arrogant professor holding the truth.

That said, JO played great, but the importance of having the other O’Neal available is pretty obvious, given the fact they’re both crystal-made, and when you’re gonna bang all the time against Howard or Noah or (hopefully) Bynum, I fear JO won’t be enough.

"Rondoooooo!!!"

by Celtic in Rome on Apr 19, 2011 8:44 AM EDT reply actions