That’s 4-0: C’s 97, Hornets 87
Posted by Zach Lowe on Nov 1, 2009
Pace: 90 possessions (medium/slow)
Off. efficiency: 107.8 points/100 possessions (league average)
Def. efficiency: 96.7 points/100 possessions (excellent)
The talk after the first three games—and especially the last two blowouts—was all about Rajon Rondo. And Rajon was good tonight but not other-worldly, perhaps because his right ankle was sore after he landed on Emeka Okafor’s foot in the 1st quarter. Rajon committed four turnovers after coughing it up just five times combined in the first three games. He’s not going to be Hall of Fame good every game.
And that’s especially true against plodding half court teams that limit the C’s transition opportunities, where Rajon’s speed and passing shine. The Hornets, when they’re going right, are one of those teams. And so tonight, when the C’s lead was trimmed to 82-80 with 6:03 to go, the good guys went to a half court offensive game featuring a lot of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett in the post. It looked like the stretch run of a playoff game.
And it looked damn good. The C’s scored on seven of their next nine possessions—15 points total—and shot 7-of-8 from the field during that span to put the game away. They scored, in fact, on every possession in that stretch in which they took a shot; the two empty trips ended in Rondo turnovers. And they scored primarily in two ways:
1) Isolation in the post. KG hit a turnaround over West from the left block to get the run going. He took West again on the right block, this time facing up, dribbling left and hitting J in the paint. Four possessions later, with the game still in doubt at 88-83, Paul Pierce set up against Peja Stojakovic on the right block, took him off the dribble and hit a little jumper in the paint.
2) The 3/4 pick and roll. The Celtics killed the Hornets with this play all night. Just killed them. The Hornets switched almost every time the C’s ran it, leaving both KG and Pierce with mismatches. They ran it on the left side of the floor two possessions in a row late, the Hornets switched and the C’s happily dumped the ball into the post so KG could go to work on Stojakovic. The first time, KG drew three defenders and dished to Rondo for a floater that made it 92-84 with 2:03 to go. Next time down, Pierce tossed it into KG on the left block again. Pierce’s man (West) and the well-meaning but not-so-good Bobby Brown both ran over to help Stojakovic—a triple-team. KG took a dribble and dished to a wide open Truth for the clinching three.
It’s nice to know this team can still play some sweet half court offense—the kind of offense you tend lean on more of in the playoffs. Pierce scored a game-high 27 on 10-of-14 shooting, and KG added 14 on 7-of-15 from the floor (but no free throw attempts, leaving KG with just seven so far this season).
The Hornets aren’t exactly the 2005 Spurs on defense, but they were 9th last season in defensive efficiency. So they’re not the Knicks, either.
This wasn’t a perfect performance. The C’s shot 54 percent, held the Hornets to 42 percent and just eight free throw attempts and yet still found themselves in a dog fight.
Why?
Basically because Chris Paul is awesome and he absolutely shredded the C’s defense on screen/rolls in the 3rd quarter. (And 16 total turnovers from the C’s in a slow-paced game didn’t help). Unlike on Friday, when the C’s had a consistent attack plan for Derrick Rose on screen/rolls, the C’s were confused and inconsistent in the way they guarded Paul on the NBA’s most important play. I guess that’s the difference between facing a point guard who is good off the dribble but shaky on the J (Rose) and one who is filthy good at both (Paul).
When Rondo went under the screen, Paul hit jump shots. When Rondo fought over the screen, Paul got into the lane and either fired up a runner or found an open New Orleans shooter. The Hornets scored 31 points on 12-of-22 shooting (including three from deep) in the 3rd quarter, and Paul either scored or assisted on nine of those 12 hoops.
It was a clinic, and for the most part, it wasn’t really anyone’s fault. Chris Paul is just going to have stretches like that. Bonus points to the C’s for limiting the Chris Paul Effect to just one quarter in the game.
The C’s didn’t do anything magical in the 1st, 2nd and 4th quarters to limit Paul and the Hornets. Their big men jumped out to try and prevent CP3 from turning the corner on screen/rolls and everyone else scrambled to plug the gaps. The C’s just happen to scramble better than anyone else in the NBA.
It also helped that Byron Scott removed Paul for the last six minutes of the 1st quarter. The C’s had no respect for his replacement, Bobby Brown; they went under every screen, content to let Bobby fire away from the perimeter, as is his prerogative. (Thanks, I’ll be here all week).
Additional thoughts, in bullet form:
• Minutes watch: 41 for Allen (probably too many), 37 for Pierce (I could stand to see that at 34, but they needed him tonight) and 33 for KG. That ties his season high and is above his average minutes per game from last season. A good sign, for sure, but let’s keep things in the low 30s. KG only broke 40 minutes three times all last season.
• It looks like turnovers are going to continue to be a problem for the C’s this year. The team is averaging about 15 turnovers per game, about the same as last season.
• I love when James Posey stops by. The crowd does, too. He’s not the player he was even two years ago, but he’s still doing those annoying James Posey things we loved so much—like poking the ball away from Pierce when the Captain tried to cross him over. The two grinned at each other after the play, and Pose smirked at Eddie House when House over-acted to convince the refs that Posey had shoved him out of bounds. Good times.
• Kendrick Perkins is officially drawing double teams in the post a few times per game. He’s 17-of-29 from the floor so far this season, so the respect is earned. This will only help the C’s perimeter game.
• Speaking of Perk, he converted a nice little drop-step lay-in on the left block early in the game. When he gets the ball there, he prefers to turn to his left and into the paint for a hook shot, and he has had trouble adjusting when defenses force back the other way. If he continues to refine the drop step/turn over his right shoulder, he’s going to be very dangerous.
• Did I hear the arena sound system playing Peanut Butter Jelly Time in the 2nd quarter!???
• Watching Julian Wright on the fast break is like watching a more talented version of Tony Allen—you know something interesting is going to happen, and that it will probably be bad and possibly cause harm to someone. Wright and Hilton Armstrong are very unrefined players, but they showed tonight that being young and active can win you minutes in the NBA. They try hard and get their hands on the ball for deflections and steals (Armstrong had three steals himself).
• Fine, Peja, you are not washed up. I take it back. (You’re just sort of washed up).
• I’m at the point now where I love it when opposing centers not named Howard or Yao isolate against Perk in the post. I just feel like Perk is going to force a miss 75 percent of the time.
• Chris Paul is the Hornets. One of my favorite things to watch is how New Orleans occasionally uses him off the ball. A few times per game, he’ll cut along the baseline and run around a back screen like he’s Ray Allen. How many points do you think Chris Paul could average playing the two? 25 per game? Sure, defense would be a problem. But wouldn’t it be fun to find out?
That’s it for tonight. The C’s go to Philly on Tuesday.
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