What They’re Saying The Day After: “We’re Awful”
Posted by Zach Lowe on Nov 21, 2009
Here’s Doc Frank Dell’Apa’s game story in the Globe:
“I just think our team’s playing awful overall,’’ Rivers said. “I don’t think it’s the beginning of the games. I’ve been saying it for a week now. We’re making up stuff on the floor on offense and de fense. We’re not executing. We’re not trusting each other. And, we’re going to win games still, but we’re not going to win against good teams.’’
Also via Dell’Apa: Rondo is saying all the right things about being essentially benched for in the fourth quarter for the second time this season:
“Whatever the team needs,’’ Rondo said. “[House] was doing the job; he missed some shots but he was keeping the defense honest and he played solid on the defensive end. I’m not really being selfish and saying I have to be in in the fourth quarter. If we won I’d be happy.
The only thing that bothers me? His admission that House “was keeping the defense honest.” It should be Rondo’s #1 goal in life right now to find some way to keep defenses honest. I’m sure he understands this.
From the same story, Sheed continues to swat away criticisms of his record-setting three-jacking and his 28 percent shooting from deep:
“I ain’t worried about it, honestly,’’ said Wallace, after he missed all eight 3-point attempts. “I probably rushed about two or three of them. Other than that, it’s good looks, they’re just not going for me. I’m not worried about my offense now. It’s still early in the season, I know I won’t be shooting like this for the duration of the season.”
Ok, Sheed. I’ll remember that last statement, and I’ll trust you that it’s true, for now.
From the same story: Marquis Daniels is dealing with some sort of injury with his left hand, and the C’s rough practices aren’t helping, according to Doc:
“His hand has been bothering him for a while,’’ coach Doc Rivers said before the game. “The officiating is terrible in practice – we don’t call anything. So, he realized that and decided to tape it.’’
We get some of the opposing viewpoint, after the jump.
Here’s Ben Q. Rock of the Magic blog Third Quarter Collapse on what, in my view, was the single biggest issue in the game:
[Jason] Williams had the unenviable task of containing the Celtics’ Rajon Rondo, arguably the league’s fastest player. Rondo’s jumper, though, is a work-in-progress, so Williams just let him take ‘em if he wanted to. Williams used Rondo’s glaring offensive weakness against him, and effectively took him out of the game that way.
Zach McCann of Orlando Magic Daily, the Magic-themed blog in the TrueHoop Network, sums up the mixed emotions Magic fans seem to have about Vinsanity:
But overall, Carter used 37 possessions (29 shots, four free-throws, six turnovers) to score 26 points, a ratio that Zach Randolph wouldn’t even be proud of. With the way Howard couldn’t sniff the basket, and with Jameer Nelson missing with a knee injury, a lot of responsibility fell on Carter to handle the scoring load — and he did just that, firing from anywhere and everywhere, often early in the shot clock.
In the Herald, Perk complains about the refs:
“I mean, I wasn’t into the game today,” he said. “I was taken out by the refs or whatever, a few calls or whatever.”
A word on this: Perk does not help his cause with his complaining and the fact that he is an aggressive, temperamental player. I mean, how many times have we seen Perk get into those mini-confrontations under the hoop, when his arms get tangled up with an opposing player and he swings his arm extra-violently to free himself up. All big guys get tangled up now and then, and all of them get into the occasional chippy exchange. But Perk usually finishes those exchanges with a little extra flourish of aggression. It’s part of what makes him a player we all love. But it does not help his cause with officials.
So when Matt Barnes is tip-toeing along the sideline and Perk maybe puts a feather’s worth of weight on Barnes’s hip with one his hands, well, he’s not getting the benefit of the doubt.
And for the record: The blocking call that represented Perk’s fourth foul was the right call. He was moving.
Speaking of Perk, D12 gives the Beast some respect in the Herald:
“He is a great defender,” Howard said before recording a nine-point, 15-rebound performance – much of it while Perkins wallowed on the bench in foul trouble.
“I’d say he’s probably one of the best low-post defenders in the game today, and he’s underrated, but he’s gotten better from his first year to now,” he said. “He’s a big body, a traditional center, and he knows how to use his body well.”
In the same story, Doc confirms what we can all see about KG: He’s not 100 percent. Will he ever be again? Doc seems cautiously hopeful.
“One day he’s explosive, one day he’s not, one day he’s healthy, one day he’s not, and that’s just gonna take time.”
Whether he’s 100 percent or 80 percent, nobody brings the effort like KG. He was fantastic last night defensively.
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