Game 2 bullets: TA, failed signings, Pierce is tired

Posted by Zach Lowe on Apr 20, 2009 15564 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2009%2F04%2F20%2Fray-allen-can-still-shoot%2FGame+2+bullets%3A+TA%2C+failed+signings%2C+Pierce+is+tired2009-04-21+02%3A21%3A09Zach+Lowehttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D1556

Quick bullet point reactions from a thrilling (but ultimately sort of disconcerting) 118-115 win. (Full analysis coming from Bryan Roy): 

• With Ben Gordon racking up 42 points on 14-of-24 shooting, Doc Rivers is going to have to explain why Tony Allen played just 4.2 seconds in this game. 

• It appears safe to classify the Stephon Marbury and Mikki Moore signings as failures. They were essentially benched for the entire second half (Moore played 35 seconds at the end of the 3rd quarter, and Marbury played five seconds at the same time). 

Bryan Roy has already pointed out Marbury’s epic -19 in the first half. But that’s only half the story. Rajon Rondo was +16 in the half, and both major Chicago runs coincided with Rondo’s absence. Here they are:

1) Rondo sat for the first 2:54 of the 2nd quarter, a stretch that started with the C’s up 35-29 and ended up with Chicago up 36-35. The Celtics failed to score on four possessions, two of which were directly attributable to Marbury. He air-balled a three to start the quarter, and, on the C’s third possession, passed up a wide open 16-foot jumper in favor of dishing to Leon Powe in traffic. Powe missed a contested lay-up. 

2) Rondo twisted his ankle with 5:03 to go in the 2nd quarter, and the Celtics scored on just two of the next eight possessions–including five straight empty trips that went like this:

                   – Marbury misses a 20-footer

                   – Joakim Noah intercepts a (really bad) Paul Pierce skip pass

                   – Eddie House misses a three-pointer.

                   – House passes up a wide open three from the right corner, instead dishing to Pierce on the right wing. Ben Gordon steps into the passing lane for an easy steal, and Pierce commits a clear path foul.

                   – Marbury throws a bad pass; Lindsay Hunter (or, as he was known tonight, Lindsay Lee Hunter) with the steal. I guess wily veterans get their middle names mentioned.

Is this all Marbury’s fault? Of course not. But count this among the games in which Rajon Rondo truly looked like the Celtics MVP for long stretches.

• Speaking of Rondo, he drew five fouls on Bulls players in the first quarter–three on Hinrich and one each on Rose and Miller. A dominant, aggressive (and borderline reckless) performance. 

• After a one-game deviation from his normal post-season substitution pattern, Doc fell back to a strategy in which one of the Big Three (or, in this case, the Big Two) is on the court at all times. There wasn’t a second in this game in which Ray Allen and Pierce were both on the bench. 

• I’m not sure Doc can keep up that substitution pattern, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen Paul Pierce more tired in all the years I’ve watched him play. I will always remember this moment as the one in which Paul Pierce first looked like an aging player to me:

6:31 left in the 4th, C’s down 100-97. The Celtics isolate for Pierce with Derrick Rose guarding him on the left wing. Pierce measures Rose, just as he’s done to hundreds of guys over the past 11 seasons, before suddenly rising for a quick jumper. Only he doesn’t rise very high. And Derrick Rose does. And Rose blocks the shot, right in Pierce’s face, a block that would be embarrassing in your local gym. 

But the play isn’t over. The ball heads toward the right sideline, where Rose dives and saves it. The ball is coming right to Pierce, who has to move forward maybe a foot to grasp it. Only he doesn’t move his legs. Instead, he reaches–a lazy, exhausted looking reach–allowing Kirk Hinrich to sprint up to the ball and knock it away from Pierce (and to himself), igniting a fast break that ends with a Noah lay-in, plus the foul.

I don’t really believe in the lazy cliche of isolating “changing of the guard” moments, but this felt like one as you watched it. I know it’s not that simple, and that Pierce has plenty of great games in him. But it was a moment.

• The Celtics grabbed 21 offensive rebounds against 29 Chicago defensive boards, meaning the C’s grabbed just over 40 percent of available offensive boards–an outstanding number. As I’ve mentioned, this is the Bulls one major weakness (they were 28th in the NBA in defensive rebounding rate), and I wondered before this game whether the C’s would look to exploit it or forsake the offensive glass in favor of transition defense. Question answered.