Yardbarker: Boston Celtics

Well THAT was horrible to watch

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:10:04 -0500

The line for the eye wash begins to the left. You'll need it to wash the crappiest game you'll watch all year off your retinas. That, folks, was about 48 minutes of pure crap. The good news is, the Celtics came out on top of this pile of dung 86-76... making them the only winners in this mess.

KG and Ray combined to shoot 8-26. Sheed was 3-10... including 0-4 from 3. The entire offense looked disjointed and slow all night. Lucky for them, they were playing an already bad New Jersey team that was made worse by a million injuries and a player with swine flu. A full Nets squad might have blown the C's out tonight.

Alright, let's get to some positives:

The Celtics had 20 steals. 20. Part of it was some good defense, part of it was New Jersey's putrid offense.
Paul Pierce scored 16 points on 8 shots. Why he only took 8 shots is beyond me. He also had 7 assists.
Rajon Rondo shot 8 of 11, and finished with 16 points, 3 assists and 5 steals with 1 turnover.
The Celtics won... and any win is a good win.

And here's the last positive: The Celtics are off until Wednesday. Hallelujah! This 4 games in 5 nights crap is too much for this team... especially when a guy like Marquis Daniels isn't around.

Here's the box score. Click it if you dare. My advice? Go have a couple of drinks, forget this night ever happened, and we'll just talk about something else in the morning. Ok?

Video evidence of a defensive lapse, starring Rajon Rondo

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:37:59 -0500

Here's the situation: 3rd quarter, Celtics down 3 and fighting like hell to get ahead of the Phoenix Suns. Phoenix has the ball out of bounds.

As the play starts, two players flare to either side of the court, clearing space underneath the hoop. Phoenix is trying to get a play to the basket... which you can tell as both of these players aren't making moves for the ball at all. They're getting out of the way. The video freezes as Steve Nash sets a pick on Kevin Garnett, who is guarding Amare Stoudemire.

The key to this play defensively is Rajon Rondo. As the pick is set, he's too far in the lane. There's no reason to be there. There's no one cutting in the lane for a pass... and if Nash gets a big lob pass at the top of the key to set the offense... so be it. On the first video freeze, Rondo should about a step to his left just to show Stoudemire that he doesn't have a clean path to the hoop. Rondo has both feet in the lane... when his right foot, at most, is all that should be in the painted area. Right now, Amare is turning the corner and seeing nothing but daylight instead of a white jersey in his way.

As the video progresses, you'll see that for some inexplicable reason, Rondo keeps on walking towards the top of the key. He's not playing any defense at all. He didn't do anything to help KG on the pick. He didn't show to slow do the guy coming off the screen. He certainly wasn't guarding Nash. I'm not sure what Rondo was doing. On the second freeze, you see Rondo and Garnett as the two players furthest away from the hoop.

So on a Suns out of bounds play under their own basket, you've got two Celtics completely out of the play: KG because of the screen... and Rondo because he was sleeping. If the ball didn't go to Stoudemire, it could have gone to Nash for a jumper.

I'll give honorable mention to Rasheed Wallace for sticking way too close to his man when, from that position, he could have stayed in the paint, still be 100% in the passing lane, and still have been in a position to bail out his boys by being in a better position to challenge the shot. But that's secondary.

The real culprit on this play was Rajon Rondo, who never played a split-second of defense on that play. It cost the Celtics 2 points in a tight game. It's a frustrating lapse that highlights what we've heard from C's management about him taking some plays off.

Celtics Look to Keep Winless Nets Winless

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:36:00 -0500

Boston Celtics (6-1) at New Jersey Nets (0-6) Saturday, November 7 7:30 PM ET Game #8 Away Game #4 TV: CSN HD, YES HD, LP 751, 752 Izod Center Referees: Mark Wunderlich, Joe Forte, Eli Roe The Nets are traditional rivals of the Celtics as we think back to the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals where the Nets defeated the Celtics in a hotly contested 6 game series. The Nets have fallen on hard times and this season are just marking time until th...

Your Morning Dump... where there's a first time for everything

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:18:29 -0500

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying a good morning dump.

“We could have took our time on offense more. There were a couple possessions where we, myself included, shot it real quick. We didn’t make them play defense. The times we did make good passes and shared the ball real well, with at least three or four passes, they were running all over the place and we hit a majority of our shots. We have to go back to the drawing board and correct that.’’

- Rasheed Wallace (0-6 3pt fg), Boston Globe - Quick fix is to show more patience

“But we have a pretty mature team. They know that because of the amount of games that we’ve had, it’s impossible to practice. They can see the slippage. We’ve showed it on film. We talked about it. The last three games it’s all we’ve been talking about. But it’s tough to do something about it until you can get some real practice time, and we’ll get that on Monday.”...

“The only thing I didn’t like . . . I thought with about 3 minutes left, instead of searching for wide-open 2’s that we had, we went into 3 mode, and I didn’t think we had to do that. I thought several times we could’ve easily gotten to the basket for a quick 2 and we passed up 2’s to look for 3’s. And that, to me, was uncharacteristic of us.”

Doc Rivers, Herald - Cracks in armor create imperfection

You know, I'm glad the Celtics got their first loss out of the way early. First, we put an early end to that scrolling down the calendar "looking for the first loss" crap. Second, it was a nice early lesson to everyone on this team: You're not going to get away with not playing your game against good teams.

The Celtics are, obviously, a defensive team. They, obviously, didn't play good defense last night. Somewhere in almost every play, someone didn't make the right rotation... and that's what led to wide open Suns and easy baskets.

And on offense, the Celtics work the ball around. They make the extra pass. Hell, they make TOO many passes sometimes. And THAT'S what leads to wide open 3's. The Celtics are shooting lights out from 3 because after 5 or 6 passes, they've broken down the defense and they're wide open... y'know... kinda like the Suns were last night.

Let's be glad for early lessons. The good thing about a veteran team is that they learn quickly. If they come out tonight and thump Jersey with the style of play we're used to... then it's message received. If they come out and win but still play like crap... then Doc's gonna have some fun in practice on Monday.

After the jump: Page 2, where KG looked 12 years old

That's KG as a rookie, courtesy of SLAM. Compare him to last night...

The rest of the links:

Random Thoughts on the First Loss

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:28:00 -0500

The Celtics need to put out a wanted poster to try to find their defense. It has been missing for the past two games. After allowing the Wolves to shoot 52% from the floor, they allowed the Suns to shoot 50% from the field and 54% from beyond the arc. The Celtics need to get back to their commitment to defense. They'll never be the best defensive team ever allowing teams to shoot over 50%. And what's worse, they won't win the championship without making defense a priority. ...

Comments from the Other Side - Suns 11/6

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:38:00 -0500

These comments are definitely more fun to gather when the Celtics are playing well and especially when they win. Notice in the middle that one poster says that the Suns would win by 7 and that he has a source. There were a lot of questionable calls in this game. Makes you wonder. Also wondering where the Celtics' defense went to. This will be a great test for the Suns, I know they'll show up motivated to play against a potentially NBA Finals team, we'll know where we stan...

Barbosa and Scalabrine Will Miss Tonight's Game

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:57:45 -0500

The Celtics will not have the services tonight of Brian Scalabrine. He's out with back spasms. Can somebody remind Scal that you have to use your legs when lifting a keg?

According to the Globe's Gary Dzen:

Leandro Barbosa (right wrist) is on the court right now shooting for the Suns, but the speedy guard is not in uniform and will not play tonight vs. the Celtics. Barbosa was averaging 15.7 points for the Suns, so his absence is a blow for the Phoenix bench.

That's a fair trade, Scal for Barbosa.

In other pregame notes, Glen Davis says he expects to return to practice on December 1.

Exclusive Red's Army discount at the official Paul Pierce store

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:21:47 -0500

We're excited to pass along an exclusive discount to the official Paul Pierce online store.

Just head on over, pick out what you want, and use the discount code REDSARMY15 to get 15 percent off your purchase.

This exclusive deal for Red's Army readers lasts for the next week... so take advantage of the discount while it's here.

The Big 3 Things of the Week

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:11:23 -0500

Every week, we look at the Big Three things happening in Celtics-land, good and bad, and we rank them... because we just learned to count to three and we want to practice.

On the way up

1: Playing Dress Up - Ray Allen shows once again that he's got a good make-up artist... and that he also knows a good lightsaber guy.

2: From way downtown... Bang! - Rasheed Wallace is 2nd in the NBA in 3 pointers taken, and made. In the past week, he shot 10 of 20 from downtown. He is, what we thought he was.

3: Drinks are on Rondo - Finally... Rajon's got his new deal. Shuffle up and deal, boys... Rondo can finally join the high-stakes games on the back of the plane.

On the way down

3: Bricklayers - KG shot 40% last week mostly on long jumpers. Ray Allen shot 18% from 3, which is a slightly longer jumper.

2: Gidd-y up - The C's chose not to pick up JR Giddens' option for next season... making him an unrestricted free agent next summer. Man, that class of 2010 just keeps getting better.

1: Beef - What should have been a nothing story somehow got dragged out for days. Yeah, so Rondo and CP3 had a few words. Big deal. Although we shouldn't complain... it gave us an excuse to bust out some CP3 "classics".

Celtics Put Unbeaten Record On the Line Against the Suns

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0500

at Phoenix Suns (4-1) at Boston Celtics (6-0) Friday, November 6 7:30 PM ET Game #7 Home Game #4 TV: CSN HD, My45 HD, LP 757 TD Garden Referees: Bill Spooner, James Capers, Scott Wall Both teams are coming in with one day rest. The Celtics are coming off a sub-par game and 2 point win over the Timberwolves. The Suns are coming in off of their first loss, a 22 point blowout loss to the Magic. The Suns are a high scoring team, averaging 111 points per game. However, like anot...

Greg Dickerson Doesn't Appreciate Your Cursing Mr. Garnett

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:16:00 -0500

I admit that being a sideline reporter is not always an easy job. You have to fight to get interviews with players and coaches, and when you finally get them they usually turn out to be repetitive and mundane. Greg Dickerson did just that with Kevin Garnett last night, but his interview was anything but mundane. Garnett decided to curse right when Dickerson brought the mic to him, and then shot the Celtics' superstar one of the dirtiest looks you will ever see....

You can't exactly tell what he says, but you can clearly hear the f-word. I'm thinking that he said "get the f**k out of here", but I could be wrong. Too funny though.

Glen Davis of Boston Celtics wants to try NFL when basketball career is over

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:14:23 -0500

Boston Celtics forward Glen "Big Baby" Davis says he eventually wants to play in the NFL.

Comments from the Other Side - Wolves 11/4

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:45:00 -0500

The Celtics are back, healthy, and on a mission. Rasheed looks like he has been playing with them for years. I don't see how this ends well. Yea we no chance whatsoever of winning this game. Maybe it will be a bit closer than I think because the Celtics are looking past us but they'll still blow us out. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and pick the Wolves to win. For the remaining ex-Celtics, Jefferson + Gomes, this is still a lil personal I think, and would hope tha...

Celtics/Wolves Preview & Live Blog Promo

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:24:28 -0500

Celtics (5-0) vs. Minnesota (1-3)

Game time: 8pm Target Center, Minneapolis. TV - CSN; Radio - WEEI-AM (850)

Team Leaders

Scoring
Bos: Pierce - 21.6 Wolves: Al Jefferson - 16.5

Rebounding
Bos: Pierce - 6.8 Wolves: Ryan Gomes - 8.0

Assists
Bos: Rondo - 10.4 Wolves: J. Flynn - 3.3

Who'll go off: Paul Pierce. Ray Allen. Rajon Rondo. Anyone wearing green. Sorry, but I have little faith in the Wolves defense. With Kevin Love out with a hand injury, Al Jefferson is getting little help in the front court. Look for KG and Co. to feast on Gomes, Brian Cardinal, Ryan Hollins and, gasp, Mark Blount.

Who needs to be stopped: Big Al. Al Jefferson is the only legitimate scoring threat on this team. He went for 34 points (15-21 FG) and 11 rebounds in his last game against the Celtics. He's still recovering from a bad achilles, but has averaged 22 points in his last two games.

The C's will lose if... the bus breaks down en route to the arena. Seriously, if they turn the ball over repeatedly or shoot poorly they can lose. But that logic applies to any team.

Wildcard: The back-to-back factor. The Celtics are an older team, and older guys generally have a tough time on the second night of back-to-back games. Fortunately, the starters got plenty of rest during the 4th quarter of last night's blowout over Philly.

We will be having a live game blog - starting promptly at 8pm. Click here to join.

After the jump, my advanced scouting on the Wolves dancers.

Comments from the Other Side - Sixers 11/3

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:42:00 -0500

For the most part, Philly fans weren't expecting a win in this game but they were hoping for a competitive game. Unfortunately, their team didn't comply and it ended up another Celtic blowout. It amazes me when fans bash their own team instead of realizing that the Celtics are just playing that well. Did any of you watch Boston dismantle the Bulls? Offensively they were flawless. They scored every way possible and Rondo was running the show perfectly. He got the right guys sh...

Now on TruFan: Millions of reasons for Rondo to chill out

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:15:39 -0500

Rajon Rondo is taking a lot of heat for a nothing incident with Chris Paul. I mean, the league is even looking into it for some weird reason.

But why? I try to answer that on TruFan.

Depending on who you ask, Rajon Rondo is somewhere in the top 5 among the league's point guards. And while I love his fire... and I love that he takes nothing from anyone... it's in his best interests to channel it a different way. If he truly wants to be an "elite" point guard... and get all the perks (read: endorsements) that go along with that... he's got to chill out a little.

Rondo's a young guy who still has a lot to learn. And part of getting a huge contract like this is becoming more mature and representing your team, as well as yourself. The Chris Paul incident was not Rondo's finest hour, but it's also not a big deal. Yet.

Rondo CAN be one of the faces of this league. He CAN be a guy who makes a ton in endorsements. But as long as people have the inclination to take someone else's side rather than his in incidents like this... he won't.

Celtics Decline Option for JR Giddens

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:56:00 -0500

Lost in all the hoopla over Rajon Rondo's new contract is the fact that yesterday was also the deadline to pick up the option on JR Giddens for next season. The Celtics declined the option, making JR a free agent next off season. The Celtics could still decide to bring him back, offering him a league minimum contract, but I get the feeling that they aren't inclined to do so. Last season, they kept Bill Walker with the team while sending Giddens back to the D-League. Bill Walk...

Rondo Signs 5 Year Extension

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:51:00 -0500

According to Marc Spears on Yahoo, Rajon Rondo has signed a 5 year $55 million contract extension. It seems that Rondo was ready to play out his contract and test the free agency waters, where he would likely have become a prime target for teams next off season. But Danny Ainge came through and upped his offer to meet Rajon's original demands. League sources said the extension is for five years and guarantees Rondo at least $55 million. With the two sides facing a Monday deadline t...

Rajon Rondo and Chris Paul Don't Like Each Other

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:06:00 -0500

It started with the comment from Rondo that was reported by Chris Mannix on Twitter (and subsequently on every Hornets blog) that Chris Paul had the stats he does because he has the ball in his hands all the time. In tonight's game, the two point guards got tangled up under the basket at one point and they had to be separated. They each received a double technical and seemed to play well together the rest of the game. But, after the game there were more fireworks. As the teams were lea...