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8 days ago

Painful Reminders (Part I): The Celtics Drafted JaJuan Johnson Instead of Jimmy Butler

On June 23rd, 2011, Brian Robb and I stood around a high top bar table in Tommy Doyle’s in Kendall Square.  Before us lay one of the biggest mounds of buffalo chicken wings I had ever endeavor to make disappear.  These 25 cent flappers- one of the few indulgences afforded to the participants of our [...]

19
9 days ago

Chris Wilcox: 2012-13 Final Grade

There are a number of contextually-appropriate ways to craft this post. One would be to forgo words entirely, and represent Chris Wilcox’s entire season with a series of videos. That would involve one part of this: For every eight parts of this: Note the headline on that second clip. Someone was so amused/enraged by Wilcox’s [...]

12
10 days ago

Rajon Rondo’s 2012-13 Final Grade

Here’s a sweeping general statement involving super specific statistics that may or may not mean anything: In the 1423 minutes Rajon Rondo played this season, the Boston Celtics were outscored by 1.3 points per 100 possessions. When he sat (including all contests after he tore his ACL), Boston was better than their opponents by 1.8 [...]

94
10 days ago

Avery Bradley Elected to NBA All-Defense Second Team

Avery Bradley has been a standout defender for the past couple seasons…in the regular season anyway. Now he has a trophy to prove it. The NBA announced this afternoon that the third-year guard has been elected by coaches around the league to the second-team all-NBA defensive team for the first time in his career. Bradley [...]

13
13 days ago

Paul Pierce’s Contract: Dispelling The Myths and Stating The Facts

The first domino to fall this offseason is Paul Pierce’s contract. Until Danny Ainge figures out what he’s doing there, little else matters. As we wait for this decision, we also must face the rest of the offseason, which means it is also rumor season. With that time of year, comes plenty of information floating [...]

42
14 days ago

Final Grade: Avery Bradley (C+)

In his third year in the league, in which promising players often make brash leaps from benchwarmer to starter, from starter to star, Avery Bradley took a big step back. But his regression might be deceptive. When he returned to the Celtics’ lineup on January the 2nd after two in-season months recovering from offseason shoulder [...]

9
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Fouling With The Lead 101

AP

AP

It’s baffling that Sunday’s Game 4 lasted as long as it did. Because if either team executed simple basketball strategy, neither overtimes would’ve happened.

Where Amazing Happens? More like, Where Stupid Happens.

Every team in America (high school, AAU, D-League, NCAA, YMCA, beer leagues) should closely evaluate this scenario:

  • Under 10 seconds remaining
  • Winning by three points
  • Playing defense

Why in god’s name would you not foul the team down by three points, forcing them to shoot two foul shots? And by two foul shots, I mean two points. And by two points, I mean one point shy of tying the game and sending it into overtime. And by one point shy, I mean, you’ll win the damn game.

“You play to win the game,” said Herm Edwards.

But no, you’ve got to let Ray Allen, arguably the best shooter in the game, attempt a game-tying three-pointer to force the game into overtime. He did.

But no, you’ve got to let Ben Gordon attempt a game-typing three-pointer to force the game into double OT. He did.

Why were these guys even allowed to attempt? Why not just eliminate that threat and foul?

So foul on the inbound pass. Foul as the clock runs out. Like Hack-a-Shaq, just Hack-anybody-with-a-pulse. Even foul the team’s best free throw shooter because no matter how good he is, two free throws only equals two points — as in one point shy of extending the game.

As in, the team leading will still win.

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