Logo
The Ticker
8 hours ago

Avery Bradley Likely Done For Season

On the back of a horrific game six performance, Gary Washburn of the Globe piled on with more bad news: Avery Bradley is almost certainly done for the season. Washburn: A source close to Bradley told the Globe that it’s in the “high 90s” percentile that Bradley will be shut down and will perhaps need [...]

3
2 days ago

Game 6 Will Be Wednesday Night at 8pm on ESPN

After the Thunder finished up their series by routinely dismantling the Lakers last night to send them packing in five games, a time has been announced for the C’s-Sixers Game 6 on Wednesday night. It will tipoff shortly after 8pm on ESPN. Looking ahead in the postseason, if the C’s do win Game 6, and [...]

1
2 days ago

Highlight: Rondo Leads The Break

I love this decision-making from Rajon Rondo. While leading the break, you can see him eyeballing Ray Allen, who runs the wing and spots up on the arc. The Sixers have a 1-2 disadvantage but are mostly concerned about Allen’s three balls, which allows Mickael Pietrus to make an unmolested baseline cut behind the defense. [...]

2
3 days ago

Celtics-Sixers Game 5 Tips off at 7pm

A note to all you local C’s fans out there that may be attending the game tonight at TD Garden. The game will start just after 7pm and will be broadcast nationally on TNT. However, unlike most TNT regular season games during the season, the tip will not come 15-20 minutes after the scheduled start [...]

4
11 days ago

(Video) Rajon Rondo Continues To Dominate In Postgame Interview

Rajon Rondo is a tremendous player, but he tends to have a little bit of an issue scoring the ball late in games. I won’t go as far as saying he is scared, but he does pass up shots and defer to teammates in crunch-time….well a lot. Last night though may have been his coming [...]

3
11 days ago

Video: Full Kevin Garnett Reaction After Game 1

Garnett followed up his season-best effort against Atlanta in Game 6 with a new season-high in points and another sensational double-double, as well 60 percent shooting (12-of-20) from the field. Over his past two contests, Garnett is averaging 28.5 points, 12.5 rebounds, two steals and four blocks a game. After the game, KG was candid [...]

3
Browse Archives by:

Optimism in Numbers

Jeremy Lundblad of ESPN Research has dug up some fun numbers at ESPNBoston on the dominance of the C’s starting five: 

In the past three seasons, the Celtics’ primary starting five — Allen, Pierce, Garnett, Rajon RondoKendrick Perkins – has started more games as a unit than any other in the NBA. When healthy, these guys are close to unbeatable

(snip) ™Rob Neyer

As a group, those starters are 94-25 together. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that is easily the best record of any starting five with at least 50 starts over the past three years. The next best unit is the now-defunct Pistons five of Chauncey BillupsRip HamiltonTayshaun Prince,Antonio McDyess and the Celtics’ own Rasheed Wallace. In fact, this group is establishing itself among the best in franchise history. Need proof? When in the starting lineup together, Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish went 138-38, according to Elias data. That’s a .784 win percentage — lower than the .790 percentage of the current group.

The central thrust of the piece is that if the C’s core unit stays healthy, there is no reason to consider them any less likely to win the title than the Lakers, Magic, Cavs or any other team.

The 2007-08 season ended with a parade. Last season ended in MRIs, disappointment and a commitment to replenish the bench.

So what was the difference? Quite simply, health. Specifically, the health of Garnett, who missed 25 games and the postseason.

These numbers nicely encapsulate the deal the Celtics made with themselves—and the one we enthusiastically accepted—when they made the KG/Allen trades. They accepted the potential for high-level greatness along with the risk that age and injuries could derail that greatness at any time. 

Does the 2008 title alone make the deal a success? After 22 years, I think it does.

 

One more interesting tidbit from the ESPN Boston piece: 

The highest winning percentage in games played before Christmas in the past three seasons combined (source: Elias Sports Bureau):

  W-L Pct.
Celtics 57-6 .905
Lakers 46-16 .742
Magic 46-20 .697
Suns 43-20   .683  

 

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>