An Exercise in Recapping Blowouts: The Celts are 5-0

Disclaimer:  This may come off as hubris but too be honest, I’m not superstitious: it’s hard to recap blow outs.  How much can you glean from a 31 point win?  The answer is actually quite a bit.  However, I preemptively apologize because the following reads more like musings from a game that didn’t even have a hand to get out of.

If you’re a fan of Australian hip hop, than you’re probably familiar with Urthboy’s “Over Before it Began” I personally don’t know what he’s talking about but he might as well have been talking about this game.  Despite the slow (and painfully ugly start) by both teams, once the Celtics gained control they not only never let it go, but they stomped on any hope the Sixers had with the strongest bench play of the season.

Some may say this game was over sooner, but I believe a game isn’t truly out of reach until Shelden Williams dribbles the ball half-way up the court and makes two turn around jumpers, all of which started with around seven and a half minutes to go in the game.

Rasheed Wallace undoubtedly had his best game as a Celtic and served as the benchmark (pun definitely intended) for how well the bench played in this game.  This is, I’ll admit, a bit unfair.  It’s fairly obvious that ‘Sheed is still a starter in this league, who is relishing in the opportunity to be the sixth man of the year.  He might not be the first guy to do this type of thing, but he may be the first guy to have this type of impact from the get-go.  Adding to his growing lore in Boston, Sheed scored 20 points on 7-10 shooting with 6 triples.  I’ll be honest.  When the Celtics first signed ‘Sheed, I was worried that, as with many aging big man who shoot the three a lot, he would camp out on the arc and never enter the paint.  I realize now that I didn’t fully grasp Wallace’s interior defensive prowess.  He’s miles long, which means he alters so many shots in the lane and puts those paws (and in one case tonight, his legs) in so many passing lanes, deflecting balls and snatching errant passes.  His impact thus far can really not be understated.

As aforementioned, Shelden Williams had another solid game off the bench, although it could have easily gone the other way.  In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to reveal a quick anecdote from watching the game tonight.  I like to keep a running diary of interesting plays and thoughts about what players are doing effectively or ineffectively (we’ll call it my In-Game Transcript) and I admit, at one point right before the half I wrote a rant on everything I thought of about Shelden Williams based on a 45 second span.  Enjoy: “Shelden Williams keep shooting himself in the foot.  He shows up in the box score as having very productive games but he has no hands and makes bonehead play after bonehead play.  Giddens comes in for the last five seconds of the third quarter, plays great help D forcing AI to take an off-balance shot and Williams bails him out.  Then on the second of Iguodala’s free throws,  Williams blows securing the rebound and nearly gives AI another shot before the buzzer.  Luckily the C’s crashed the boards as a team and were able to corral the loose ball.  How many teams crash the boards on a second free throw attempt with mere milli seconds left?  I love this team.”

What followed this were examples of “ways Williams is redeeming himself” until I realized that Shelden had played his way into my heart and I changed my perspective faster than the Grinch on Christmas morning. He could have let that bad exchange bother him, but he didn’t.  He could have sulked and tried to do nothing but safely rebound the ball and box out, but he didn’t.  He aggressively crashed the boards, he made great cuts to the basket, and fearlessly took jump shots (as mentioned before here on Celtics Hub, Shelden’s shooting may come back to haunt us, but if he’s going to take them, I want him to take them with confidence).  He finished with 11 and 7 in 23 minutes.  Seriously, if you’re asking for more (which I admittedly was) you’re asking too much.

Before the bench came in and took control of the game, the starters worked hard on merely staying in the game.  Garnett really didn’t shoot well the entire game and Ray Ray just didn’t play well.  He got caught on a few plays dribbling the clock away trying to post Lou Williams up and blew two inside shots he really should have had.  Ray will be fine, but I think if he has more games like this one and like the eggs he laid in playoffs’ past, he might be playing his way back on this team at a huge discount, of which I would be in favor!

The biggest bright spot from starters has been actually shining all season.  I really can’t remember the last time I’ve seen Pierce so dominant game in, game out.  I know the C’s have only played five games but he’s played at a 2008 Finals level for all of them.  I think a lot of it has to do with all that champagne he wasn’t drinking over the offseason.  This is purely speculation, but I’d say by winning a ring Pierce felt like all the doubters would go away and people would finally respect him and let him do what he does- get to line, bury jumpers in your face, and get by you with his size and quickness.  That new jewelry though, doesn’t bestow special respect powers, Pierce has had to work again and he’s reaping the benefits.  There was a time tonight in the fourth quarter (when ‘Sheed came off the floor if I’m not mistaken) where the camera caught Pierce’s face on the bench and I swear, even in his full warm-ups he looked thinner and younger.  He’s dominating the offensive end without forcing anything and he set the tone defensively guarding Lebron in the first game of the season and hasn’t looked back.  Both AI and Thaddeus Young played well-under their abilities and Pierce gets a lot of credit for the time he was out there.

Speaking of minutes, the starters finally got some rest, albeit for the fact that the C’s really didn’t need them.  Pierce and Ray both had 31, but they weren’t hard minutes and the Bigs were both in the low twenties.  Rondo played 28, but he’s got to earn that money- minute by minute.  There may come a time where we have to add Wallace to this Minutes Watch dealie as he played 24 tonight, but fun up-by-a-lot minutes are very different from tough grind-it-out minutes. Let’s leave the worrying for later in the season.

Some quick bullets that Zach Lowe may have touched (by an Angel? Yes, A basketball one) on before I wrap this up:

• The “Quiet Assassin” had 6 points, 4 assists, and 4 boards in 28 minutes to go along with some tough D (unfortunately for Jason Kapono, any D is tough D).
• I don’t know Rondo personally but he seems like a really passionate person.  He almost seems like the guy who, if someone said to him, “You can’t lead the league in assists” he’d pass up tear drops and contested lay-ups only to have to put a little extra mustard on his dump-offs.  Some say the C’s, and most notably Rondo, were over-passing in the first half but, too be honest, I don’t see that as a bad thing (Caveat: The C’s are beating teams by double digits.  I guess I won’t start worrying until they are not).
• Speaking of Rondo, did you see the “student becomes the master” moment in the second quarter.  Pierce drives into the lane and did that shot fake where he fakes using his momentum and then changes direction to do a step-through to the basket (that might have been the most unclear description of a move I have ever written). Pierce didn’t finish it, instead he tried to kick it out to Shelden Williams but was called for a three second violation.  Don’t worry though Paul, you’ll get it.  You just have to put in the time at the gym and maybe you’ll be as good as Rondo (I should probably change my wording given last Sunday’s game, but I won’t).
• Andre Iquodala is freakishly athletic.  Not much of a news flash but I thought I’d mention it considering how he knifed through the C’s interior defense, which is very good.
• I could easily see Samuel Dalembert playing for the Knicks.  Couldn’t you see this same thing happening except instead of Zach Randolph, it’s Dalembert making a fool of himself and the Knicks?  Oh and he also complains more than Wallace and Perkins combined.  Which, if you’re only the casual Celtics’ fan (which I know you aren’t if you’ve gotten this far in the article) is a lot.  If you asked him, he has never fouled anyone in his life.
• Kevin Garnett’s favorite footballer Didier Drogba was seen saying bad words on camera on Sportcenter.  Has Drogba become a fan of KG?  Pure speculation, but their mouths don’t lie…or say nice things.
• I couldn’t get through this entire article without mentioning Rondo’s “Larry Bird Horse” Shot.  It was sweet.  Here’s how I described watching it from my In-Game Transcript:  “Rondo comes down for the final shot and decides to take on Jason Smith.  Poor, poor Jason Smith.  You get in for the last three seconds to use your length to protect the basket and you get punked by a “Larry Bird Horse” Shot.  Not even the adoration of Mike Gorman will keep you warm on that one.”
• JR Giddens has been reprogrammed.  He used to be an athletic slasher and scorer coming out of college.  Now he’s the all around team player, whose afraid of being offensive (as in scoring the ball, not being rude).  Still you can’t hate on the attitude.  Tonight he actually got some meaningful minutes (as in amount, not as in changing the outcome of the game) and played okay.  They only way you get better is by playing.  Seriously, just ask Shelden Williams.  Despite how frustrating Williams is to watch sometimes, he’s putting up numbers.  I hope the same can hold true for JR.  Now that it is official that the Celtics are not picking up his option, he’s essentially playing for his job next year, whether or not it’s with the Celtics.

The Celtics are now 5-0 and they are blowing the bad teams out and playing really well against good teams.  One would think that this could get boring (at least from a pure basketball standpoint) but the Celtics work hard to keep it interesting.  Rather than giving away baskets and getting lazy with a lead, their players refuse to give up and slack off.  When the Celtics build a lead, they try things they wouldn’t normally feel comfortable doing in a close game. Rondo is practicing his cross-court passes and improving on dishing the ball with even more deftness off penetration.  Marquis is slowly extending the range on his jumpshot, swishing a long jumper from about a step inside the arc tonight.  Shelden Williams is desperately trying to find his hands and get his timing down on some alley oops from Rondo.

If the Celtics continue to build these leads they can continue to work on these subtle improvements.  The bench can also get more PT and gain more trust from Doc.  This includes guys like Giddens, Hudson, and (gasp!) maybe even TA (but probably not).

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