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19 hours ago

Greg Stiemsma’s Contract To Become Fully Guaranteed

The C’s gave their 26-year-old rookie a vote of confidence before Tuesday’s game. By not waiving the seven-footer, Stiemsma’s contract will become fully guaranteed on Friday, allowing the shot blocker to breath a little bit and perhaps unpack some boxes for good in Beantown. Here’s Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston with some reaction from Stiemsma and [...]

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1 day ago

5 Questions With Kemba Walker

I had a chance to talk with Bobcats rookie Kemba Walker prior to the Celtics game against Charlotte on Tuesday night.  Here is what the UConn star, who is averaging 12.3 points, 4 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game had to say. 1. How much communication have you had with Michael Jordan this year? Walker: [...]

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2 days ago

I Am Awesome!

Yes. This is a “pat myself on the back” post because a) I’m a jackass and b) I predicted something correctly. Back on January 8th, I predicted that the next ten games will tell us everything we need to know about this Celtics’ team. If they struggled, it was time to blow it up. If [...]

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3 days ago

Pierce Wins Eastern Conference Player Of Week

One day before he’s scheduled to pass Larry Bird for second on the Celtics’ all-time scoring list, Paul Pierce won the Eastern Conference Player of the Week award. Pierce averaged 22 points, 6.3 assists and 5.8 rebounds in four Boston wins, playing point forward in Rajon Rondo’s absence. Pierce is only 9 points behind Bird [...]

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4 days ago

Garnett’s Wondrous 3-point Rant

Via ESPN Boston’s Chris Forsberg, who knows a great, playful rant when he hears one, here’s Kevin Garnett discussing his not-so-newfound aptitude for three-point shooting after the C’s took down the Grizzlies. “When I walk around the streets, y’all stop acting like y’all shocked that I can shoot 3’s. Everybody in Boston, everybody in the [...]

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4 days ago

5 Questions With O.J. Mayo

I talked with Memphis guard O.J. Mayo prior to the Celtics-Grizzlies, Super Bowl Sunday game at the Garden.  Here is what the 4th year man out of USC, who is averaging 12.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2 assists per game had to say. 1. You started every game your first two years in the league, [...]

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Revisiting ’93 Again: Was it goal-tending?

Last week, CelticsHub gave a brief tribute to Alonzo Mourning on the evening the Heat retired his number. For us, the most memorable Zo moment was his last-second go-ahead jumper to give Charlotte a 3-1 series win over Boston in the first round of the ’93 playoffs.

Zo’s jumper went through the net with 0.4 seconds left, leaving the C’s to try a desperation inbounds alley-oop from Kevin McHale to Dee Brown. The play worked, and Dee Brown had a decent chance to catch the ball and lay it in, only Kendall Gill knocked it away. Sixteen years later, I was convinced that Gill goal-tended the ball, and I called on readers to find a clip of the play. One reader delivered. Here it is; McHale’s inbounds pass starts at the 4:30 mark.

My first reaction is: How in the world did NBC not have a better camera angle for this? My second reaction is: perhaps I’ve been wrong all of these years? I honestly cannot tell from the clip exactly what happened on this play. Does Gill touch the ball? Is it ever on the rim or in the cylinder? 

Dare I even ask whether there is a better clip out there somewhere? Because, to me, that replay is inconclusive. Damn. 

It is fun to see the Celtics go berzerk and sprint, as a unit, over to referee Bob Delaney in protest as Delaney just stands there silently until a security guard with a mullet walks him off the court. Great screen by X-Man to free up Dee Brown for the cut to the hoop, and McHale’s pass was even better than I’d remembered. The analyst (who was it? can anyone tell?) criticizes Chris Ford before the play for having McHale make the pass, since McHale is a tall guy who could leap and tap the ball into the basket. But Ford rightly had confidence that McHale could throw the pass better than anyone on the team. Great stuff.

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