Night And Pierce - What A Difference

This game was little more than a scrimmage for us. The Wizards have some excellent individual athletes but they are not a team yet.

The tide is turning and the C’s are fast becoming Rondo’s team. Funny thing for a player who was on the chopping block a few weeks ago. Rondo’s hustle for rebounds (even if it was motivated by the thought of getting a triple double) in the final minutes when the game was all but decided should not go without notice. Rondo almost always plays with heart, even though some of the times his heart might be in the wrong place. This was perhaps Rondo’s most balanced game I’ve seen him play. Not relying on his passing or shooting to the detriment of the other.

Was KG back for good or was this a momentary highlight just so we could remember the good times?

Will the team’s legs hold up tonight?

I too don’t think KG has been looking good, except for last nite. But, if you remember, on media day KG talked cooking, but the message was about having little time to develop chemistry and timing. I wonder if this is what’s been going on. I do think that he seems to have lost some lift and shots that shouldn’t be blocked are getting blocked. I think we need to give the extended training camp some more time before we say KG is thru.

Hornets game aside, pretty sure competition has alot to do with this as much as Pierces return.
we win against detroit and washington either way

Paul Pierce is the last of the old time Celtics. He played his entire career with the team. He has done everything they have ever asked him to do. He is tough as nails. He plays through injuries. He is a classy hard nosed player that rarely complains. He is the one of the last of a rare breed of player that the Celtics used to have a lot of.

pp is a stud and he is our stud, but dare i say- all this talk about rondo being our only true trading chip- pp would bring a lot more to us ina trade than rondo. i am not advocating a trade just mentioning it.

is literally like art. it’s so easy, watching C’s games all the time, to take our guys for granted. it’s not until you watch some random NBA game, for me it was bulls vs. the clippers the other night. great players, terrific athletes, but so few players have the refined, all-around, fluid offensive games that pp has.

not to say watching blake griffin and d. rose isn’t FUN, but they haven’t perfected their games like pierce has.

I think that what has evolved over the last few years with this team – and I think this year will be the most compelling example of it – is that this squad is extremely, tightly dependent on having all it’s parts.

This team is not going to win by expecting Kevin Garnett to score 20 points every game. Or Paul Pierce to post 30 every game. Or Jermaine to grab 10 rebounds every game. Or Ray to hit 5 3PT shots every game or even by expecting Rondo to post a triple-double every game.

Not only is it reality that these guys (except Rondo) aren’t at the peak of their individual ability anymore, but also, simply put – this team doesn’t really work that way.

This team is going to win because each of those guys is a threat to have such a big game on any night when the matchup is there. We may or may not have the elite individual players at every position. But very few teams can put that many quality weapons on the court at once and that means – if we are healthy – we should be able to exploit at least one serious mismatch in every game.

So you’ll have 4-5 guys on our roster scoring 10-15 points and a different guy in each night having the ‘big’ game.

With this team model, it doesn’t even make sense to try to characterize any of our individual players as an “XX points-per-game” or “XX rebounds-per-game” player. Because ALL of them are going to have lower overall numbers over time than they might on a lesser team and on any given night, they could erupt for far above their averages.

This team is all about synergy – the spacing and timing that these guys have gotten to. It makes the unit far more effective than it’s individual components. The negative, at least in this early going, is that when you replace one of those components with a replacement who just hasn’t had the years of working closely and tightly together with the Big 4 – it is going to be even less effective.

In this early going, we definitely see missed defensive rotationswhere KG and [insert other big man here] still are getting their timing. The way the C’s play defense requires that everybody have an intuitive feel for where each guy is and where they are going to be. Especially in the post where the strategy is often to intentionally guide attackers into a waiting post presence. But that only works if the help defender times his help exactly. It’s obviously looking better each game, but it’s is still very rough.

And obviously, taking Pierce out was just killer for our offense. But hopefully as time goes on, as our bench guys get more and more time together and also as subs with the starters, the drop-offs will be much less.

i know cousins is imature and has issues, but with the right coach , (doc), the right teammates (p.p., k.g. and ray ) he could be a beast like perkins was, and put up some points if we needed